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Curtiss NC-4

The NC-4 is a Curtiss NC flying boat that was the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, albeit not non-stop. The NC designation was derived from the collaborative efforts of the Navy (N) and Curtiss (C). The NC series flying boats were designed to meet wartime needs, and after the end of World War I they were sent overseas to validate the design concept.

The aircraft was designed by Glenn Curtiss and his team, and manufactured by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, with the hull built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Corporation in Bristol, Rhode Island.

In May 1919, a crew of United States Navy and US Coast Guard aviators flew the NC-4 from New York State to Lisbon, Portugal, over the course of 19 days. This included time for stops for numerous repairs and crewmen's rest, with stops along the way in Massachusetts, Nova Scotia (on the mainland), Newfoundland, and twice in the Azores Islands. Then its flight from the Azores to Lisbon completed the first transatlantic flight between North America and Europe, and two more flights from Lisbon to northwestern Spain to Plymouth, England, completed the first flight between North America and Great Britain. This accomplishment was somewhat eclipsed in the minds of the public by the first nonstop transatlantic flight, made by the Royal Air Force pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown two weeks later.

Background
The transatlantic capability of the NC-4 was the result of developments in aviation that began before World War I. In 1908, Glenn Curtiss had experimented unsuccessfully with floats on the airframe of an early June Bug craft, but his first successful takeoff from water was not carried out until 1911, with an A-1 airplane fitted with a central pontoon. In January 1912, he first flew his first hulled "hydro-aeroplane", which led to an introduction with the retired English naval officer John Cyril Porte who was looking for a partner to produce an aircraft with him to attempt win the prize of the newspaper the Daily Mail for the first transatlantic flight between the British Isles and any point in the United States of America, Canada, or Newfoundland—not necessarily nonstop, but using just one airplane. (e.g. changing airplanes in Iceland or the Azores was not allowed.)

Emmitt Clayton Bedell, a chief designer for Curtiss, improved the hull by incorporating the Bedell Step, the innovative hydroplane "step" in the hull allowed for breaking clear of the water at takeoff. Porte and Curtiss were joined by Lt. John H. Towers of the U.S. Navy as a test pilot. The 1914 America flying boat produced by Porte and Curtiss was a larger aircraft with two engines and two pusher propellers. The members of the team hoped to claim the prize for a transatlantic flight, however their ambitions were curtailed on 4 August 1914 with the outbreak of World War I in Europe.

Development continued in the U.S. and Porte now back in the Royal Navy's flight arm the RNAS, commissioned more flying boats to be built by the Curtiss Company. These could be used for long-range antisubmarine warfare patrols. Porte modified these aircraft, and he developed them into his own set of Felixstowe flying boats with more powerful engines, longer ranges, better hulls and better handling characteristics. He shared this design with the Curtiss Company, which built these improved models under license, selling them to the U.S. Government.

This led in a set of four similar aircraft, the NC-1, NC-2, NC-3 and the NC-4, the U.S. Navy's first series of four huge Curtiss NC flying boats made for the Navy by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. The NC-4 made its first test flight on 30 April 1919.

World War I had ended in November 1918, before the completion of the four Curtiss NCs. Then in 1919, with several of the new floatplanes in its possession, the officers in charge of the U.S. Navy decided to demonstrate the capability of the seaplanes with a transatlantic flight. However it was necessary to schedule refueling and repair stops that were also for crewmen's meals and sleep and rest breaks—since these Curtiss NCs were quite slow in flight. For example, the flight between Newfoundland and the Azores required many hours of night flight because it could not be completed in one day.

Transatlantic flight
The U.S. Navy's transatlantic flight expedition began on 8 May 1919. The NC-4 started out in the company of two other Curtiss NCs, the NC-1 and the NC-3 (with the NC-2 having been cannibalized for spare parts to repair the NC-1 before this group of planes had even left New York City). The three aircraft left from Naval Air Station Rockaway, with intermediate stops at the Chatham Naval Air Station, Massachusetts, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, before flying on to Trepassey, Newfoundland, on 15 May. Eight U.S. Navy warships were stationed along the northern East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada to help the Curtiss NCs in navigation and to rescue their crewmen in case of any emergency.

The "base ship", or the flagship for all of the Navy ships that had been assigned to support the flight of the Curtiss NCs, was the former minelayer USS Aroostook (CM-3), which the Navy had converted into a seaplane tender just before the flight of the Curtiss NCs. With a displacement of just over 3,000 tons, Aroostook was larger than the Navy's destroyers that had been assigned to support the transatlantic flight in 1919. Before the Curtiss NCs took off from New York City, Aroostook had been sent to Trepassey, Newfoundland, to await their arrival there, and then provide refueling, relubrication, and maintenance work on the NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4. Next, she steamed across the Atlantic meet the group when they arrived in England.

On 16 May, the three Curtiss NCs departed on the longest leg of their journey, from Newfoundland to the Azores Islands in the mid-Atlantic. Twenty-two more Navy ships, mostly destroyers, were stationed at about 50 mi spacings along this route. These "station ships" were brightly illuminated during the nighttime. Their sailors blazed their searchlights into the sky, and they also fired bright star shells into the sky to help the aviators to stay on their planned flight path.

After flying all through the night and most of the next day, the NC-4 reached the town of Horta on Faial Island in the Azores on the following afternoon, having flown about 1200 mi. It had taken the crewmen 15 hours, 18 minutes, to fly this leg. The NCs encountered thick fog banks along the route. Both the NC-1 and the NC-3 were forced to land on the open Atlantic Ocean because the poor visibility and loss of a visual horizon made flying extremely dangerous. NC-1 was damaged landing in the rough seas and could not become airborne again. NC-3 had mechanical problems.

The crewmen of the NC-1, including future Admiral Marc Mitscher, were rescued by the Greek cargo ship SS Ionia. This ship took the NC-1 in tow, but it sank three days later and was lost in deep water.

The pilots of the NC-3, including future Admiral Jack Towers, taxied their floatplane some 200 nmi to reach the Azores, where it was taken in tow by a U.S. Navy ship.

Three days after arriving in the Azores, on 20 May, the NC-4 took off again bound for Lisbon, but it suffered mechanical problems, and its pilots had to land again at Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores, having flown only about 150 mi. After several days of delays for spare parts and repairs, the NC-4 took off again on 27 May. Once again there were station ships of the Navy to help with navigation, especially at night. There were 13 warships arranged along the route between the Azores and Lisbon. The NC-4 had no more serious problems, and it landed in Lisbon harbor after a flight of nine hours, 43 minutes. Thus, the NC-4 became the first aircraft of any kind to fly across the Atlantic Ocean – or any of the other oceans. By flying from Massachusetts and Halifax to Lisbon, the NC-4 also flew from mainland-to-mainland of North America and Europe. Note: the seaplanes were hauled ashore for maintenance work on their engines.

The part of this flight just from Newfoundland to Lisbon had taken a total time 10 days and 22 hours, but with the actual flight time totaling just 26 hours and 46 minutes.

The NC-4 later flew on to England, arriving in Plymouth on 31 May to great fanfare, having taken 23 days for the flight from Newfoundland to Great Britain. For the final flight legs – from Lisbon to Ferrol, Spain, and then from Ferrol to Plymouth – 10 more U.S. Navy warships were stationed along the route. A total of 53 U.S. Navy ships had been stationed along the route from New York City to Plymouth.

Most of the flight route taken by the NC-4 was indicated on the map of the North Atlantic published by Flight magazine on 29 May 1919, while the NC-4 was still on the mainland of Portugal.

The feat of making the first transatlantic flight was somewhat eclipsed shortly afterwards by the first nonstop transatlantic flight by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in a Vickers Vimy biplane, when they flew from Newfoundland to Ireland nonstop on 14–15 June 1919, in 16 hours and 27 minutes. Consequently, Alcock and Brown won a prize of £10,000 offered by the newspaper, Daily Mail, which had been first announced in 1913, and then renewed in 1918, to "the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane in flight from any point in the United States, Canada, or Newfoundland to any point in Great Britain or Ireland, in 72 consecutive hours." The conditions also stipulated that "only one aircraft may be used for each attempt." Hence, there was no possibility of changing to a fresh aircraft in Iceland, Greenland, the Azores, and beyond.

Alcock and Brown also made their flight nonstop, even though this was not specified in the rules given by the Daily Mail. Conceivably, any aviators could have made stops on Iceland, Greenland, or the Azores along the way for refueling, as long as they completed the entire flight within 72 hours. The rule that "only one aircraft may be used" eliminated the possibility of having fresh aircraft, with their fuel tanks already topped off, and new oil in their crankcase(s), waiting for the pilot or pilots to change from one exhausted airplane to a fresh one.

The Curtiss NCs were never entered into the above competition – because the U.S. Navy never planned for their flight to be completed in fewer than 72 hours.

Flight crew
The crewmen of the NC-4 were Albert Cushing Read, the commander and navigator; Walter Hinton and Elmer Fowler Stone (Coast Guard Aviator #1), the two pilots; James L. Breese and Eugene S. Rhoads, the two flight engineers; and Herbert C. Rodd, the radio operator. Earlier, E.H. Howard had been chosen to go as one of the flight engineers, but on 2 May, Howard lost a hand in misjudging his distance from a whirling propeller. Consequently, he was replaced by Rhoads in the crew.

After the crossing
After arriving at Plymouth, England, the crewmen of the NC-4, who had been reunited with the crewmen of the less-successful NC-1 and NC-3, went by train to London, and there they received a tumultuous welcome. Next, they visited Paris, France, to be lionized again.

The NC-4 was dismantled in Plymouth, and then loaded onto USS Aroostook (CM-3), the base ship for the Curtiss NC's transatlantic flight, for the return journey to the United States. Aroostook arriving in New York Harbor on 2 July 1919.

Following the return of all three of the aircrews on board the ocean liner USS Zeppelin (1914), a goodwill tour of the East Coast of the United States and the Gulf Coast of the Southern States was carried out by the aircrew.

On 9 February 1929, Congress passed Public Law 70-714 (45 Stat. 1157), awarding Congressional Gold Medals to Lt. Commander John H. Towers for "conceiving, organizing, and commanding the first trans-Atlantic flight", and the six men of the flight crew "for their extraordinary achievement in making the first successful trans-Atlantic flight, in the United States naval flying boat NC-4, in May 1919." The Navy created a military decoration known as the NC-4 Medal.

It is very rare that a Congressional Gold Medal in miniature form be authorized for wear on a naval or military uniform.

The NC-4 is property of the Smithsonian Institution, since it was given to that institution by the Navy after its return home. However, this aircraft was too large to be housed in either the older Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building in Washington, D.C., or in its successor, the 1976-completed National Air and Space Museum main building, also in Washington. A smaller model of the NC-4 is kept in the Milestones of Flight Gallery in the National Air and Space Museum, a place of honor, along with the original Wright Flyer of 1903; Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis of 1927; Chuck Yeager's Glamorous Glennis X-1 rocket plane of 1947, and an X-15 rocket aircraft. As of 1974, the reassembled NC-4 is on loan from the Smithsonian to the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida.

Operators

 * United States Navy
 * United States Navy

Notable appearances in media
Frederick Ellsworth Bigelow (1873–1929), famous for the "Our Director March", wrote a march called "The NC4" dedicated to the men of the NC4.

title: Curtiss NC-4


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Roton

In theoretical physics, a roton is an elementary excitation, or quasiparticle, seen in superfluid helium-4 and Bose–Einstein condensates with long-range dipolar interactions or spin-orbit coupling. The dispersion relation of elementary excitations in this superfluid shows a linear increase from the origin, but exhibits first a maximum and then a minimum in energy as the momentum increases. Excitations with momenta in the linear region are called phonons; those with momenta close to the minimum are called rotons. Excitations with momenta near the maximum are called maxons.

The term "roton-like" is also used for the predicted eigenmodes in 3D metamaterials using beyond-nearest-neighbor coupling. The observation of such a "roton-like" dispersion relation was demonstrated under ambient conditions for both acoustic pressure waves in a channel-based metamaterial at audible frequencies and transverse elastic waves in a microscale metamaterial at ultrasound frequencies.

Models
Originally, the roton spectrum was phenomenologically introduced by Lev Landau in 1947. Currently there exist models which try to explain the roton spectrum with varying degrees of success and fundamentality. The requirement for any model of this kind is that it must explain not only the shape of the spectrum itself but also other related observables, such as the speed of sound and structure factor of superfluid helium-4. Microwave and Bragg spectroscopy has been conducted on helium to study the roton spectrum.

Bose–Einstein condensation
Bose–Einstein condensation of rotons has been also proposed and studied. Its first detection has been reported in 2018. Under specific conditions the roton minimum gives rise to a crystal solid-like structure called the supersolid, as shown in experiments from 2019.

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

title: Roton


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Carolina Rediviva

Carolina Rediviva is the main building of the Uppsala University Library in Uppsala, Sweden. The building was begun in 1820 and completed in 1841. The original architect was Carl Fredrik Sundvall. Later additions to the building have been designed by Axel Johan Anderberg and Peter Celsing. The name, literally "Carolina Revived", was given in remembrance of the old Academia Carolina building, which had functioned as the university library for most of the 18th century (see Uppsala University Library). Carolina Rediviva is the oldest and largest university library building in the country. It is also the site where the Codex Argenteus and the Cancionero de Upsala are kept.

Exhibition
By the entrance hall of the library there is an exhibition hall where some of the most important objects in the library can be seen. Among the items are the Codex Argenteus, the map Carta marina, and a first edition of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. The library contains also books stolen from Poland in 17th century by Swedish army (e.g. Łaski's Statute or Nicolaus Copernicus books). According to treaty of Oliwa (1660), all these elements should be returned to Poland but till now, Sweden has returned only approximately 0.1% of them.

title: Carolina Rediviva


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Hwacheon County

Hwacheon County is a county in Gangwon Province, South Korea. The northern border is, in some places, within nine kilometres of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Neighboring counties are Cheorwon to the northwest and north, Yanggu to the east, Chuncheon to the south, and the Gyeonggi-do province to the southwest. The county consists largely of mountains and rivers, between which are small farming communities, military bases and military training grounds. The area is renowned for its rivers, lake trout, indigenous otters, and natural scenery.

Demographics
As of 2005, the population of Hwacheon stood at 23,822. 12,471 of these people were male; 11,351 were female. Only 90 of these people (0.38%) were foreign residents - 20 male and 70 female. The average household was home to 2.4 people, and 3,577 of the population (15%) was aged 65 or older. These numbers do not reflect soldiers stationed in the area, which are estimated at approximately 35,000 personnel.

Prehistory and three kingdom period
Artifacts from the Neolithic period were found in Wirari area in 1964.An ancient residential area was found in Yongamri. The discovery of the remains in Woncheonri in 2011 showcased the presence of Baekje influence in the region.

Goryeo and Joseon periods
The region was called Nangcheon County during the Goryeo period, and was a dependent county of Chuncheon. In 1644, the county was abolished and was merged under Kimhwa County, but the county was restored in 1653.The county received its current name in 1897.

Modern history
Before 1900, Hwacheon was extremely sparsely populated, with only a few small villages alongside major rivers, due to its rugged terrain and harsh winters. In 1919, the region participated in protests as part of the March 1st movement on March 23 and March 28,with the March 23 protest led by Cheondoists. Hwacheon Dam was completed in 1944 and the electricity it generated proved to be a boon. After liberation of korea in 1945, the region was initially administered by the DPRK until the ROK took administration from the DPRK during the korean war. The region was the source of conflict during the Korean War due to its strategic value as both a power plant and potential weapon (by intentionally flooding downstream areas). It ended up well inside allied territory with the establishment of the DMZ to the north in 1953.

Climate
Hwacheon has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen: Dwa) with cold, dry winters and hot, rainy summers.

Culture
As Gangwon Province is South Korea's coldest region, Hwacheon is home to the yearly Hwacheon Sancheoneo ice fishing festival in which thousands of visitors try to catch as many sancheoneo (, wild trout) as possible. This takes place in the Hwacheoncheon (stream) during nearly the entire month of January. The festival organizers claim there are roughly 1,000,000 visitors annually. The Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival is classified by CNN as one of the 7 wonders of winter.

Other annual events in Hwacheon include the jjokbae (, water raft) Festival in late July, the Tomato Festival in mid-August, and the Dragon Festival.

Food
Hwacheon is famous for its samgyeopsal, a pork dish offered at nearly every restaurant in town. Pork is cooked on a grill over hot coals, cut into bite-sized pieces, and wrapped in a lettuce leaf along with garlic, hot peppers, rice, and various other vegetables and sauces, then eaten by hand. Variants of the meal include using marinated beef.

Tourism

 * Paroho lake

Paroho is an artificial lake measuring 38.9 km2 in area. Built during the Japanese colonial rule in 1944, the hydroelectric power station was constructed by the Japanese in order to support the defense industry for their ongoing invasion of the continent.

 * Peace Dam

Peace Dam is correspondence dam completed on October 19, 2005, under construction Geumgangsandaem by North Korea. Total storage capacity, one hundred million tons 26.3, length 601 m, height 125 m is a large dam. There are the Bimokpark and Mulmunhall on the left the entrance. Mulmunhall promote the importance of water resources and has been operating a restaurant and other facilities.

Symbol Mark
The image of the flowing water is derived from Hwacheon's  resource, "water," which means high-level welfare through informationization and ideal administrative services. Combining the image of a bird and the shape of water, Hwacheon's Korean initial ㅎ is modeled.

Sister cities

 * Seocho-gu, Seoul
 * 🇨🇦 Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada

title: Hwacheon County


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Inje County

Inje County is a county in Gangwon Province, South Korea. It has the lowest population density of any South Korean county. The county seat is Inje-eup, which located near the center of the county.

History
Inje is located in the North of Gangwon Province. Inje County has been called multiple names throughout its history. It was first known as Jeojokhyeon in the Goguryeo Kingdom, then Heejaehyeon in the Silla Kingdom, and Inje in the Goryeo Dynasty. The area was then known as Youngsohyeon and once again later on became Inje in the Joseon Dynasty. It was finally raised to the status of Inje county in August of 1896. At the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1945, Korea was split into 13 distinctive administrative zones, and Inje County was located in Kangwon Province, and for a short time was under the administration of North Korea. After the Partition of Korea, this historical province was split in half and Inje County fell under the jurisdiction of South Korea.

Korean War
The Republic of Korea Army ROK) 5th Infantry Division recaptured Inje town in Operation Rugged in April 1951 as the UN Forces advanced to the Kansas Line, north of the 38th Parallel.

Inje town was lost again to the Chinese People's Volunteer Army during the Fifth Phase Offensive in late April 1951 and was recaptured in the UN May-June 1951 counteroffensive.

In 1951 the US Marine Corps 1st Medical Battalion operated a field hospital in Inje town.

The 40th Infantry Division assumed responsibility for the defense of the Kansas Line from the 24th Infantry Division from February 1952 supported by the ROK 3rd Infantry Division.

After the war ended, Inje County continued to be a strategic location for the military. The Korea Combat Training Center is located there. The Republic of Korea Army's III Corps headquarters and its subordinate units are scattered in bases throughout the county.

Environment
Inje is located in the Taebaek Mountains and has a landscape dominated by flora. Many species inhabit several areas of the county, not only mountains but rivers also.

Fauna

 * Asiatic Black Bear : In Korea, the Asiatic Black Bear can be found in the areas of Paekdusan, Seoraksan, and Jirisan, but it is becoming increasingly rare in South Korea.
 * Musk deer : Among the Musk deer in the northern hemisphere, this species in the North-East is divided into seven subspecies. This subspecies found in the mountains around Mokpo and Jeonranamdo is also reported to be distributed Manchuria, Amur, Ussuri and Eastern Siberia as well as South Korea.

Flora

 * Senecio koreanus : The Senecio Koreanus is a Korean Endemic Species.
 * Carex chordorhiza : The Carex Chordorhiza is a perennial plant growing with sphagnum in a swamp, at first grows straight and then crawls laterally to take root. From its joint it grows a flower stem of up to 20 cm. Its leaves are flat and 1~1.5 cm wide with colors of gray and green. The heads are egg-like and numbered 2~4 which are 5~7 cm long. Male flowers come out upward but female ones downward without any bracts.
 * Megaleranthis saniculifolia : Megaleranthis Saniculifolia is also a Korean Endemic Species and clings to Ranunculaceae. It inhabits the Jeombongsan, Sobaeksan, Jirisan and Taebaeksan areas. Living in the swamps or ridges in deep mountains, the perennial plant sprouts in stubbles. It's between 30 and 40 cm tall. Leaves come from the root of the plant and are divided into three parts at the end, a long leafstalk may be split into two or three parts again.

Geography
Among the basic local governments in Korea, it ranks second in terms of area after Hongcheon and most of Inje-gun on the 38th parallel belonged to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Also the remaining areas were incorporated into Shinnam-myeon and Naeyeon, Hongcheon-gun. After the Korean War, most of the borders of Gangwon-do went north and became Inje-gun, but the inner side was not restored and remained under the jurisdiction of Hongcheon-gun. There are many famous hills, such as Jinbu-ryeong, Misiryeong, Hangyeryeong, Eunbi-ryeong, and Gom-Bae-ryeong. Although it is in the Yeongseo area, it is a point connecting Yeongseo and Yeongdong, so the rent is inevitable. It is also sad that it took 102 steps (which has now been disbanded) to go to Gangwon Province at all, but it is natural that it is a very difficult area to serve.

The dwelling is formed on a narrow flatland along the river, and the Inbukcheon River, which runs through Naerincheon Stream, Seohwa, and Wontong area, meets in Inje-eup and flows into Soyangho Lake.

Inje-gun was Chuncheon because it was located in the Soyanggang River basin in the northern region, and its language also uses a Yeongseo dialect similar to Chuncheon. .[8] However, it is difficult to see it as a living area in Chuncheon at present, but the road to go quickly to the construction of the Soyanggang Dam has been submerged, and in the midst of this, the expansion of 44th street has led to active exchanges between Hongcheon - Inje - Sokcho. Expansion Hongcheon - Inje - Sokcho It can be seen as an extended East Seoul living area.

Like the front area of Gangwon-do, it is very cold in winter. The average annual temperature is 10,1 °C, the average temperature of January, the coldest month, is -5,2 °C, the average temperature of August, the coldest month is 23,3 °C, and the lowest temperature ever recorded in January 1981 is -25, 9 °C, the highest temperature ever recorded on January is -25,9 °C all-time, 37,7 °C on August 1, 2018. The average annual precipitation is 1,210 mm.

Located on the border of Mt. [9] And on January 8, 2021, -29.1 °C was unofficially recorded at Hyangrobong, making it the coldest in the country.

Instead, you might think summer is cool, but it's not at all. It would be better than the rear area, but even in summer, as long as it doesn't rain, 30 °C is so hot that it's standard. As mentioned above, during the heatwave in 2018, 37.7 °C was recorded. Think of it as a typical continental climate.

Climate
Inje has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen: Dwa) with cold, dry winters and hot, rainy summers.

Daecheong peak
Daecheong Peak is the highest peak in the Mt. Seorak ranges and is located near at the boundary of Inje county and Yangyang county with an altitude of 1,708m.

The beautiful snow scenes around Daecheong peak are widely known. Inje county is quite cold from early November, with snow falling around its higher peaks. In 2007, the first heavy snow of the year was recorded as early as 16 November.

Tourism
Inje is a modest tourist destination for outdoor activities. It is home to the highest bungee jump in South Korea. It also host the Inje Speedium Resort Circuit.

Ice fishing festival
Because of its cold climate, many ice-fishing festivals often occur in Inje and the wider Gangwon-do area. However, the ice fishing in Inje is one of the main attractions in winter with 6,000 tourists per weekday and over 10,000 on weekends.

title: Inje County


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Alford

Alford may refer to:

People

 * Alford (surname)

Places

 * Australia
 * Alford, South Australia

 * England
 * Alford, Lincolnshire
 * Alford Manor House
 * Alford Windmill
 * Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Alford
 * Alford, Somerset
 * Alford Crossways

 * Scotland
 * Alford, Aberdeenshire
 * Alford Valley Railway

 * United States
 * Alford, Florida
 * Alford, Indiana
 * Alford, Massachusetts

Other uses

 * Alford plea, in US law
 * North Carolina v. Alford, the Supreme Court case concerning the Alford plea

title: Alford


text:
Council of Four Lands

The Council of Four Lands (ועד ארבע ארצות, Va'ad Arba' Aratzot) was the central body of Jewish authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the second half of the 16th century to 1764, located in Lublin. The Council's first law is recorded as having been passed in 1580. Seventy delegates from local kehillot met to discuss taxation and other issues important to the Jewish community. The "four lands" were Greater Poland, Little Poland, Galicia (with Podolia) and Volhynia. The earliest form of the Council was organized in 1514 by Sigismund I the Old and Abraham of Bohemia was put in charge of it.

In Polish it was referred to as the Jewish Sejm (Sejm Żydowski). In Latin it was referred to as the Jewish General Congress (Congressus Generalis Iudaicus, or Congressus Generalis Iudaeorum).

The terms "Council of Three Lands" and "Council of Five Lands" and more have also been used for the same body. In 1623 the Jewish communities from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania withdrew from the "Council of Four Lands" and established "the Council of the Land of Lithuania" (Va’ad Medinat Lita, sometimes translated as simply "the Council of Lithuania". )

Place in Jewish European life

The great number of the Jewish population of Poland, its importance in the industrial life of the country, and the peculiarities of the political and class organization of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were the reasons why the Jews of Poland formed a separate class enjoying liberal autonomy within the sphere of their communal and spiritual interests, the outcome of which was their exemplary communal organization. A Jewish community, with its administrative, judicial, religious, and charitable institutions, constituted a unit of self-government. The term "Kahal" denoted both the community (a community was also known as a Kahilah Kadisha or Holy Community) and the autonomous communal administration, the two concepts being identical. The administrative functions: the assessment of state and communal taxes, the supervision of charitable institutions, etc. of the Kahal were performed by elective Kahal elders, while its rabbis ("doctores Judæorum") had charge of religious and judicial affairs.

Number of delegates and frequency of meetings
During the second half of the seventeenth century the sessions of the Council occurred once or twice a year, more frequently at Yaroslav than at Lublin. The number of delegates cannot be exactly ascertained. One source notes that one representative to the Council was elected from each Kahal, and that to these Kahal delegates were added the six leading rabbis of Poland. It appears from the Kahal pinkeses that only the most important Kahals of each region sent their delegates to the Council.

The capitals (Poznań, Kraków, Lwów, and Ostrog) of the "four lands" each sent two or even more delegates. The signatures of fifteen to twenty-five delegates—though often the signatures of the six rabbis only—are usually found attached to the extant decisions of the wa'ads. The total number of delegates, together with the rabbis, evidently reached thirty.

In the eighteenth century the operations of the Council became more and more limited; its sessions took place less regularly, mostly at Jaroslaw. One of the last important congresses was that held at Jaroslaw in the fall of 1753. Among other matters considered was the famous dispute between the rabbis Jacob Emden and Jonathan Eybeschutz over the Shabbethaian movement, resulting in the latter's acquittal on the charge of heresy in 1753. However, this ruling was later overturned by the Council in 1756, when Eybeschutz was placed under ban.

Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Shmuel of Lublin states in the introduction to his book Yad Eliyahu that he remembers attending meetings of the Council of Four Lands as a child. He writes, "During my youth I was raised among many people of our nation, within the holy community of Lublin. In my days there was a meeting of scholars, the wise men of Yisrael, during the Gramitz Fairs every year... I imbibed their words thirstily..."

In 1764 the Polish Diet ordered the discontinuation of Jewish general congresses (Vol. Legum, vii. 50) and the activity of the Council of Four Lands came to an end. The reason for the Diet's decision was that the Council had failed to deliver the taxes it had collected. The subsequent partition of Poland among Russia, Austria, and Prussia, changing, as it did, the whole Kahal system, was unfavorable to the existence of such central autonomous bodies as the Council.

Activity
Its activity may be divided into four branches:
 * 1) Legislative
 * 2) Administrative
 * 3) Judicial
 * 4) Spiritual and cultural.

title: Council of Four Lands


text:
Emetophilia

Emetophilia, also known as Roman shower, is the sexual arousal from vomiting, being vomited on or watching others vomit. The fetish is considered a paraphilia.

title: Emetophilia


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Crown of the Kingdom of Poland

The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Corona Regni Poloniae) was a political and legal idea formed in the 14th century, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. According to this concept, the state ceased to be the patrimonial property of the monarch or dynasty, but became a common good of the political community of the kingdom. Such an idea allowed the state to function even in periods of interregnum and led to the formation of a system characteristic of Poland based on the parliamentarism of the nobility and the free election of the ruler. At the same time, the idea of the crown went beyond existing political boundaries; lands lost in the past were considered to belong to it.

The idea of the Crown in Central Europe first appeared in Bohemia and Hungary, from where the model was taken by kings Ladislaus the Short and Casimir III the Great to strengthen their power. During the reign of Louis the Great in Poland, who spent most of his time in Hungary, as well as during the interregnum following his death and the regency during the minority of his daughter Jadwiga, the idea was adopted by the lords of the kingdom to emphasize their own role as co-responsible for the state.

The development of the concept of corona regni in Poland
The concept of corona regni appeared earliest in the early 12th century in England. In the thirteenth century, when it was well-formed, the term corona regni Angliae denoted non-transferable and imperishable royal dignity, power and rights, primarily the king's judicial power, but also the state as such, also understood as a defined territory, including lost lands. In the 14th century, the concept of the Crown standing above the King emerged; the King had no right to infringe on the rights of the Crown and deplete its possessions. The crown, hitherto the crown jewel, becomes a self-contained and permanent legal entity. Similar processes have occurred in other European countries.

In France, the term appears a little later, and refers primarily to the royal domain, but also to the lands of royal vassals. This is of particular importance in the process of incorporation of fief lands into the royal domain. The principle of non-transferablity and imperishability of the crown's rights, served in the 14th century to cancel many land grants in the previous period. The concept of corona regni appears in many kingdoms of Europe, in each in a slightly different sense, related to local specifics. In Aragon, for example, the Crown is basically a common name for a range of kingdoms and territories linked virtually only by the person of a common ruler, the King of Aragon.

For Poland, however, the most important is the emergence of the concept of corona regni in Hungary, where it happens already at the end of the 12th century. Originally, it is primarily the concept of the kingdom as a territorial entity, directly related to the Arpad dynasty, as heirs to the crown of St. Stephen and his descendants. The separation occurs in the period of the Anjou, who derive their authority from the diet's acceptance of succession in the female line. The key point, however, is the accession to the throne and the reign of Sigismund of Luxembourg, when there is a clear separation of the Holy Crown of the Kingdom from the person of the King, when the Hungarian estates clearly declare that the ruler has obligations to the Crown, which they will demand to be respected. Over the course of the 15th century in Hungary, the Crown acquires a distinct legal personality, standing above the king and the estates and becoming the de facto sovereign. What distinguishes Hungary from other countries is that the concept of corona regni there is inseparably linked to the physically existing royal jewel, the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen, which thereby acquires a unique significance.

In Bohemia, the emergence of the concept of corona regni comes relatively late, as in the mid-14th century, and is primarily associated with the territorial expansion of the state and the drive to consolidate it. Above all, the loss of the Bohemian kings of the Luxembourg dynasty's hopes for the throne of Poland gave rise to the need to unite the Silesian principalities with the Bohemian throne. In 1348 Charles IV established the feudal organization of the state and introduced the notions of corona regni Bohemiae, into which the Silesian and Upper Lusatian lands were incorporated as directly dependent on it. Thus, they were henceforth bound not only to the person of the King, but to the perpetual Crown. Later, the development of estate representation, resistance to Wenceslaus IV's desire to diminish its importance, and finally the period of interregnums and the Hussite wars, led to the formation of the Crown as standing above the king and the estates.

Major political events
The history of Poland as an entity has been traditionally traced to c. 966, when the pagan prince Mieszko I and the West Polans adopted Christianity. The Baptism of Poland established the first true Polish state, though the process was begun by Mieszko's Piast ancestors. His son and successor, Bolesław I the Brave, Duke of Poland, became the first crowned King of Poland in 1025.

Union of Krewo
The Union of Krewo was a set of prenuptial agreements made in the Kreva Castle on August 13, 1385. Once Jogaila confirmed the prenuptial agreements on August 14, 1385, Poland and Lithuania formed a personal union. The agreements included the adoption of Christianity, repatriation of lands "stolen" from Poland by its neighbours, and terras suas Lithuaniae et Russiae Coronae Regni Poloniae perpetuo applicare, the clause which formed the personal union. After being baptized at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków on February 15, 1386, Jogaila began to formally use the name Władysław. Three days after his baptism, the marriage between Jadwiga and Władysław II Jagiełło took place.

Union of Lublin
The Union of Lublin created the single state of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on July 1, 1569 with a real union between the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Before then, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania only had a personal union. The Union of Lublin also made the Crown an elective monarchy; this ended the Jagiellonian dynasty once Henry de Valois was elected on May 16, 1573 as monarch.

On May 30, 1574, two months after Henry de Valois was crowned King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania on February 22, 1574, he was made King of France, and was crowned King of France on February 13, 1575. He left the throne of the Crown on May 12, 1575, two months after he was crowned King of France. Anna Jagiellon was elected after him.

Constitution of 1791
The Constitution of May 3, 1791 is the second-oldest, codified national constitution in history, and the oldest codified national constitution in Europe; the oldest being the United States Constitution. It was called the Government Act (Ustawa Rządowa) Drafting for it began on October 6, 1788, and lasted 32 months. Stanisław II Augustus was the principal author of the Constitution, and he wanted the Crown to be a constitutional monarchy, similar to the one in Great Britain. On May 3, 1791, the Great Sejm convened, and they read and adopted the new constitution. It enfranchised the bourgeoisie, separated the government into three branches, abolished liberum veto, and stopped the abuses of the Repnin Sejm.

It made Poland a constitutional monarchy with the King as the head of the executive branch with his cabinet of ministers, called the Guardians of the Laws. The legislative branch was bicameral with an elected Sejm and an appointed Senate; the King was given the power to break ties in the Senate, and the head of the Sejm was the Sejm Marshal. The Crown Tribunal, the highest appellate court in the Crown, was reformed. The Sejm would elect their judges for the Sejm Court (the Crown's parliamentary court) from their deputies (posłowie).

The Government Act angered Catherine II who believed that Poland needed permission from the Russian Empire for any political reform; she argued that Poland had fallen prey to radical Jacobinism that was prominent in France at the time. Russia invaded the Commonwealth in 1792. The Constitution was in place for less than 19 months; it was annulled by the Grodno Sejm.

Politics
The creation of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was a milestone in the evolution of Polish statehood and the European identity. It represented the concept of the Polish kingdom (nation) as distinctly separate from the person of the monarch. The introduction of the concept marked the transformation of the Polish government from a patrimonial monarchy (a hereditary monarchy) to a "quasi-constitutional monarchy" (monarchia stanowa) in which power resided in the nobility, the clergy and (to some extent) the working class, also referred to as an "elective monarchy".

A related concept that evolved soon afterward was that of Rzeczpospolita ("Commonwealth"), which was an alternate to the Crown as a name for the Polish state after the Treaty of Lublin in 1569. The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was also related to other symbols of Poland, such as the capital (Kraków), the Polish coat of arms and the flag of Poland.

Geography
The concept of the Crown also had geographical aspects, particularly related to the indivisibility of the Polish Crown's territory. It can be also seen as a unit of administrative division, the territories under direct administration of the Polish state from the Middle Ages to the late 18th century (currently part of Poland, Ukraine and some border counties of Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania, among others). Parts formed part at the early Kingdom of Poland, then, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until its final collapse in 1795.

At the same time, the Crown also referred to all lands that the Polish state (not the monarch) could claim to have the right to rule over, including those that were not within Polish borders.

The term distinguishes those territories federated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from various fiefdom territories (which enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy or semi-independence from the King), such as the Duchy of Prussia  and the Duchy of Courland.

Prior to the 1569 Union of Lublin, Crown territories may be understood as those of the Kingdom of Poland proper, inhabited by Poles, or as other areas under the sovereignty of the Polish king (such as Royal Prussia) or the szlachta. With the Union of Lublin, however, most of present-day Ukraine (which had a negligible Polish population and had until then been governed by Lithuania), passed under Polish administration, thus becoming Crown territory.

During that period, a term for a Pole from the Crown territory was koroniarz (plural: koroniarze) – or Crownlander(s) in English – derived from Korona – the Crown.

Depending on context, the Polish "Crown" may also refer to "The Crown", a term used to distinguish the personal influence and private assets of the Commonwealth's current monarch from government authority and property. It often meant a distinction between persons loyal to the elected king (royalists) and persons loyal to Polish magnates (confederates).

Provinces
After the Union of Lublin (1569) Crown lands were divided into two provinces: Lesser Poland (Polish: Małopolska) and Greater Poland (Polish: Wielkopolska). These were further divided into administrative units known as voivodeships (the Polish names of the voivodships and towns are shown below in parentheses).

Greater Poland Province

 * Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship (województwo brzesko-kujawskie, Brześć Kujawski)
 * Gniezno Voivodeship (województwo gnieźnieńskie, Gniezno) from 1768
 * Inowrocław Voivodeship (województwo inowrocławskie, Inowrocław)
 * Kalisz Voivodeship (województwo kaliskie, Kalisz)
 * Łęczyca Voivodeship (województwo łęczyckie, Łęczyca)
 * Mazovian Voivodeship (województwo mazowieckie, of Mazowsze, Warsaw)
 * Poznań Voivodeship (województwo poznańskie, Poznań)
 * Płock Voivodeship (województwo płockie, Płock)
 * Podlaskie Voivodeship (województwo podlaskie, Drohiczyn)
 * Rawa Voivodeship (województwo rawskie, Rawa)
 * Sieradz Voivodeship (województwo sieradzkie, Sieradz)
 * Prince-Bishopric of Warmia

Lesser Poland Province

 * Bełz Voivodeship (województwo bełzkie, Bełz)
 * Bracław Voivodeship (województwo bracławskie, Bracław)
 * Czernihów Voivodeship (województwo czernihowskie, Czernihów)
 * Kijów Voivodeship (województwo kijowskie, Kijów)
 * Kraków Voivodeship (województwo krakowskie, Kraków)
 * Lublin Voivodeship (województwo lubelskie, Lublin)
 * Podole Voivodeship (województwo podolskie, Kamieniec Podolski)
 * Ruś Voivodeship (województwo ruskie, Lwów)
 * Sandomierz Voivodeship (województwo sandomierskie, Sandomierz)
 * Wołyń Voivodeship (województwo wołyńskie, Łuck)
 * Duchy of Siewierz (Siewierz)

Royal Prussia Province (1569–1772)
Royal Prussia (Prusy Królewskie) was a semi-autonomous province of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1772. Royal Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land (Kulmerland), Malbork Voivodeship (Marienburg), Gdańsk (Danzig), Toruń (Thorn), and Elbląg (Elbing). Polish historian Henryk Wisner writes that Royal Prussia belonged to the Province of Greater Poland.

Principality of Moldavia (1387–1497)
The history of Moldavia has long been intertwined with that of Poland. The Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned Moldavians (under the name Wallachians) as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under King Władysław I, against the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The Polish state was powerful enough to counter the Hungarian Kingdom which was consistently interested in bringing the area that would become Moldavia into its political orbit.

Ties between Poland and Moldavia expanded after the Polish annexation of Galicia in the aftermath of the Galicia–Volhynia Wars and the founding of the Moldavian state by Bogdan of Cuhea. Bogdan, a Vlach voivode from Maramureș who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathian Mountains in 1359, took control of Moldavia, and succeeded in transforming it into an independent political entity. Despite being disfavored by the brief union of Angevin Poland and Hungary (the latter was still the country's overlord), Bogdan's successor Lațcu, the Moldavian ruler also likely allied himself with the Poles. Lațcu also accepted conversion to Roman Catholicism around 1370, but his gesture was to remain without lasting consequences.

Petru I profited from the end of the Hungarian-Polish union and moved the country closer to the Jagiellon realm, becoming a vassal of Władysław II on September 26, 1387. This gesture was to have unexpected consequences: Petru supplied the Polish ruler with funds needed in the war against the Teutonic Knights, and was granted control over Pokuttya until the debt was to be repaid; as this is not recorded to have been carried out, the region became disputed by the two states, until it was lost by Moldavia in the Battle of Obertyn (1531). Prince Petru also expanded his rule southwards to the Danube Delta. His brother Roman I conquered the Hungarian-ruled Cetatea Albă in 1392, giving Moldavia an outlet to the Black Sea, before being toppled from the throne for supporting Fyodor Koriatovych in his conflict with Vytautas the Great of Lithuania. Under Stephen I, growing Polish influence was challenged by Sigismund of Hungary, whose expedition was defeated at Ghindăoani in 1385; however, Stephen disappeared in mysterious circumstances.

Although Alexander I was brought to the throne in 1400 by the Hungarians (with assistance from Mircea I of Wallachia), this ruler shifted his allegiances towards Poland (notably engaging Moldavian forces on the Polish side in the Battle of Grunwald and the Siege of Marienburg), and placed his own choice of rulers in Wallachia. His reign was one of the most successful in Moldavia's history, but also saw the first confrontation with the Ottoman Turks at Cetatea Albă in 1420, and later even a conflict with the Poles. A deep crisis was to follow Alexandru's long reign, with his successors battling each other in a succession of wars that divided the country until the murder of Bogdan II and the ascension of Peter III Aaron in 1451. Nevertheless, Moldavia was subject to further Hungarian interventions after that moment, as Matthias Corvinus deposed Aron and backed Alexăndrel to the throne in Suceava. Petru Aron's rule also signified the beginning of Moldavia's Ottoman Empire allegiance, as the ruler agreed to pay tribute to Sultan Mehmed II.

The principality of Moldavia covered the entire geographic region of Moldavia. In various periods, various other territories were politically connected with the Moldavian principality. This is the case of the province of Pokuttya, the fiefdoms of Cetatea de Baltă and Ciceu (both in Transylvania) or, at a later date, the territories between the Dniester and the Bug rivers.

Towns in Spisz (Szepes) County (1412–1795)

As one of the terms of the Treaty of Lubowla, the Hungarian crown exchanged, for a loan of sixty times the amount of 37,000 Prague groschen (approximately seven tonnes of pure silver), 16 rich salt-producing towns in the area of Spisz (Zips), as well as a right to incorporate them into Poland until the debt was repaid. The towns affected were: Biała, Lubica, Wierzbów, Spiska Sobota, Poprad, Straże, Spiskie Włochy, Nowa Wieś, Spiska Nowa Wieś, Ruszkinowce, Wielka, Spiskie Podgrodzie, Maciejowce, Twarożne.

Duchy of Siewierz (1443–1795)
Wenceslaus I sold the Duchy of Siewierz to the Archbishop of Kraków, Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki, for 6,000 silver groats in 1443. After that point it was considered to be associated with the Lesser Poland Province and was the only ecclesiastical duchy in Lesser Poland. The junction of the duchy with the Lesser Poland Province was concluded in 1790 when the Great Sejm formally incorporated the Duchy, as part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (1466–1772)
The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie, ) was a semi independent ecclesiastical state, ruled by the incumbent ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia, and a protectorate of Kingdom of Poland, later part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Peace of Thorn (1466–1772)

Lauenburg and Bütow Land
After the childless death of the last of the House of Pomerania, Bogislaw XIV in 1637, Lauenburg and Bütow Land again became a terra (land, ziemia) of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1641 it became part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the 1657 Treaty of Bydgoszcz, which amended the Treaty of Wehlau, it was granted to the Hohenzollern dynasty of Brandenburg-Prussia in return for her help against Sweden in the Swedish-Polish War under the same favorable conditions the House of Pomerania had enjoyed before. Lauenburg and Bütow Land was officially a Polish fiefdom until the First Partition of Poland in 1772 when King Frederick II of Prussia incorporated the territory into Prussia and the subsequent Treaty of Warsaw in 1773 made the former conditions obsolete.

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (Courland) (1562–1791)
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia is a duchy in the Baltic region that existed from 1562 to 1791 as a vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1791 it gained full independence, but on March 28, 1795, it was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Third Partition of Poland. The duchy also had colonies in Tobago and Gambia

Duchy of Prussia (1569–1657)
The Duchy of Prussia was a duchy in the eastern part of Prussia from 1525 to 1701. In 1525 during the Protestant Reformation, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert of Hohenzollern, secularized the Prussian State of the Teutonic Order, becoming Albert, Duke in Prussia. His duchy, which had its capital in Königsberg (Kaliningrad), was established as a fief of the Crown of Poland, as had been Teutonic Prussia since the Second Peace of Thorn in October 1466. This treaty had ended the War of the Cities or Thirteen Years' War and provided for the Order's cession of its rights over the western half of its territories to the Polish crown, which became the province of Royal Prussia, while the remaining part of the Order's land became a fief of the Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569). In the 17th century King John II Casimir of Poland submitted Frederick William to regain Prussian suzerainty in return for supporting Poland against Sweden. On July 29, 1657, they signed the Treaty of Wehlau in Wehlau (Polish: Welawa; now Znamensk), whereby Frederick William renounced a previous Swedish-Prussian alliance and John Casimir recognised Frederick William's full sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia. Full sovereignty was a necessary prerequisite for upgrading the Duchy to Kingdom of Prussia in 1701.

Duchy of Livonia (Inflanty) (1569–1772)
The Duchy of Livonia was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – and later a joint domain (Condominium) of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Caffa
In 1462, during the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, Caffa placed itself under the protection of King Casimir IV of Poland. The proposition of protection was accepted by the Polish king but when the real danger came, help for Caffa never arrived.

title: Crown of the Kingdom of Poland


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National Library of Sweden

The National Library of Sweden (Kungliga biblioteket, KB, meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish association published abroad. Being a research library, it also has major collections of literature in other languages.

Collections
The collections of the National Library consist of more than 18 million objects, including books, posters, pictures, manuscripts, and newspapers. The audio-visual collection consists of more than 10 million hours of recorded material.

The National Library is also a humanities research library, with collections of foreign literature in a wide range of subjects. The library holds a collection of 850 broadsides of Sweden dating from 1852.

The National Library also purchases literature about Sweden written in foreign languages and works by Swedes published abroad, a category known as suecana. The National Library has been collecting floppy disks, CD-ROMs, and other electronic storage media since the mid-1990s, along with e-books, e-journals, websites, and other digital material.

In 1953, the National Library purchased considerable amounts of Russian literature from Leningrad and Moscow. These books were to form the basis of a Slavonic library in Stockholm. These plans were consolidated in an agreement made in 1964 between the Lenin Library in Moscow and the National Library in which the respective libraries agreed to exchange their countries' literature.

Legal deposit
According to the Swedish Legal Deposit Act publishers of printed material must send one copy of every object to the National Library and six other research libraries. Publishers of music, film, radio and TV must similarly submit copies to the library. In some cases only a sample of broadcast material has to be submitted.

In 2012, the Legal Deposit Act for Electronic Material was passed. It states that starting in 2013, publishing companies and public authorities must deliver digitally published content to the National Library.

History
The obligation to collect all printed works in Swedish was laid down in 1661 in an ordinance from the Swedish Privy Council Chancery. The ordinance (legal deposit) ordered all printers in Sweden to send two copies of every publication printed to the Chancery before the material was distributed. One copy was to go to the Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet), the other to the National Library. The motive for this provision stemmed not from a desire to preserve publications for posterity but from a desire to monitor their contents.

Library cooperation
The library is responsible for coordinating all Swedish libraries, including public libraries.

The National Library is responsible for supplying information to higher education and research, which includes obtaining central license agreements for research and university libraries to increase access to various databases. The National Library developed and maintains LIBRIS, the national library database system. LIBRIS is freely available to the public via the Internet and contains more than five million titles held in 300 Swedish libraries. The Swedish ISBN Agency is a unit within the National Library. It is responsible for assigning ISBNs having Sweden's country prefix of 91- (and 978-91-).

The library is a partner of the World Digital Library.

History
The roots of what we now know as the National Library go back to the days of King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. The king collected books on a variety of subjects including history, science, and theology, as well as maps. The collections were expanded by Eric XIV, Johan III, and Charles IX and kept in the palace known as Tre Kronor (The Three Crowns). Some books were purchased abroad, while others were confiscated from Swedish monasteries dissolved in the Protestant Reformation. King Gustavus Adolphus gave away parts of the royal book collection in 1620: those books were the foundation of the Uppsala University Library.

The collection was also expanded through booty taken during the Thirty Years War. These captured treasures included the episcopal library of Würzburg in 1631, the University of Olomouc library in 1642, and the royal library of Prague in 1649. It was in this connection that the 13th-century “Devil's Bible” (the Codex Gigas) came to Stockholm. Queen Christina took much of this material with her to Rome after she abdicated the Swedish throne, but the royal collections continued to grow during the reign of Charles X Gustav through additional spoils of war and purchases abroad. The manuscript collection also includes the Anglo-Saxon Stockholm Codex Aureus.

Under the Chancery Decree of 1661, all book printers in Sweden were required by law to submit two copies of everything they printed – one copy for the National Archives and the other for the National Library. Rather than to acquire newly published literature for research purposes, the decree reflected the desire of a great power to exert state control and censorship.

Much of the library went up in flames during the Tre Kronor Palace fire of 1697 when 17,286 bound volumes and 1,103 manuscripts were lost. Only 6,700 volumes and 283 manuscripts survived. Thereafter, the books were stored temporarily in various noble palaces in Stockholm, first in Count Lillie's house on what was then Norrmalm Square (1697–1702), and later in the Bonde Palace (1702–1730), and Count Per Brahe's house on Helgeandsholmen (1730–1768). Finally, in 1768, the collections could be moved into the northeast wing of the new royal palace.

The collection grew further in its new home when the Antiquities Archive was dissolved in 1780 and most of the books kept there were transferred to the National Library. In 1792, Gustav III donated his private library of 14,500 works and four years later, Gustav IV Adolf donated 7,500 works. As a result, the National Library owned about 40,000 works by 1814.

Several large book collections, either donated or purchased, came to the National Library in the 19th century. Space was limited in the palace and a new home for the collections was required. In 1877, the National Library moved into new, dedicated premises in Humlegården. The library began installing electric lighting in 1887, but the library was not fully electrified until 1964.

Book thefts
In 2004, it was discovered that dozens of rare books from its collection had been stolen. The subsequent investigation revealed that the thief was Anders Burius, a senior librarian working at the National Library. At least 62 books were stolen and then auctioned off at a German auction house. The police investigation was closed in 2006 and reopened in 2014 upon appeal. The investigation closed after a year and a half with no books repatriated.

In 2011, the first book was returned to the library-an atlas by Cornelius Wytfliet. It had been bought by a map dealer in New York from a Sotheby's auction in 2003. Its value was estimated at $450,000. In 2015, some books were repatriated to Sweden by the U.S. Attorney's Office. In 2021, ten books were returned. As of 2021, 17 out of 62 stolen books have been returned. The library maintains a list of the missing books.

The building
At first, the royal book collections were kept in the Royal Palace (Tre Kronor), which burned down in 1697. The National Library moved into its current building in Humlegården in December/January 1877/1878. The building was designed by Gustaf Dahl and built using cast iron. Two wings were added in 1926–27.

The National Library was reopened in spring 1997 after comprehensive remodeling and additions. Two large underground stacks, which were built into the bedrock below the building, now contain the bulk of the library's collections, while library patrons, other visitors, and employees share the space in the main building.

The new section, called the Annex, contains auditoriums, exhibition rooms, and a newspaper reading room. Many Swedish daily newspapers and a large number of foreign newspapers are available on microfilm and in a digital search tool in the Microfilm Reading Room.

Organization
The National Library is a state agency that reports to the Ministry of Education and Research. Gunilla Herdenberg has been the National Librarian of Sweden since March 2012.

Audiovisual media
Until 2009, the Swedish National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images collected and archived audiovisual material. In 2009, the archive became a part of the National Library and ceased to be an independent institution.

Digital collections
Beginning 24 March 1997, the National Library also archived the Swedish part of the World Wide Web as part of a project called kulturarw3 (a play on words; kulturarv is Swedish for cultural heritage). Initially, the contents were not available to the public due to copyright issues, but after 2004 visitors to the library could access the archive from dedicated read-only computers on library premises.

In 2010, mass digitization of Swedish newspapers began, and as of 2016, over 12 million pages had been processed.

In 2020, the library, along with the university libraries in Lund, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Uppsala, and Umeå, launched a project to digitize physical materials printed in Sweden.

title: National Library of Sweden


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Brook Benton

Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), known professionally as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter whose music transcended rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres in the 1950s and 1960s, with hits such as "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly".

His last hit was the 1970 ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia." Benton scored more than 50 Billboard chart hits as a singer/songwriter and with hits he wrote for other performers.

Early life and career
Benton began singing gospel music in a Methodist church choir in Lugoff, South Carolina, where his father was choir master.

In 1948, Benton went to New York where he joined The Langfordaires and The Jerusalem Stars before joining The Sandmen. Epic Records signed The Sandmen in 1954, immediately sending the group to record at the Columbia studios in New York. Columbia placed The Sandmen on its Okeh Records. Upon a second recording session, Okeh decided to push Benton as a solo artist. Benton recorded his first solo, "The Kentuckian Song," the theme from a movie of the same name.

Benton switched to RCA Records's Vik subsidiary in 1957, where he had a single chart appearance, 1958's "A Million Miles From Nowhere," which peaked at No. 82 on U.S. charts. He wrote two songs that charted for other performers, Clyde McPhatter's "A Lover's Question" and Nat King Cole's "Looking Back."

In 1958, Benton signed with Mercury Records, where he recorded hits "It's Just A Matter Of Time," "Endlessly," "Thank You Pretty Baby," "So Many Ways," "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)," "A Rockin' Good Way" (both duets with Dinah Washington), "Kiddio," "The Boll Weevil Song," and "Hotel Happiness."

One of Benton's sisters was the original artist to record "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)", in 1958, under the title "You've Got What It Takes", using the stage name Dorothy Pay, as the B-side of her single "Strollin' with My Baby". In August 1959 Benton partnered with Dinah Washington to record the song and their version, released in January 1960, was hugely successful on both the pop and R&B charts, reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot R&B sides chart for 10 weeks, becoming one of the most successful R&B singles of the 1960s.

Success
In 1959, he finally made his breakthrough with hits like "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly". "It's Just a Matter of Time" peaked at No. 3 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart, sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. "Endlessly" made it to No. 12. Both of the first two hits were written by Benton with Clyde Otis. They were originally offered to Nat King Cole, but when Otis became an A&R manager and producer at Mercury, he convinced Benton to sign with the label and record them himself, while asking Cole not to record the songs as planned. Benton followed this success with a series of hits, including "So Many Ways" (No. 6), "Hotel Happiness" (No. 3), "Think Twice" (No. 11), "Kiddio" (No. 7), and "The Boll Weevil Song" (No. 2). In 1960, he had two top 10 hit duets with Dinah Washington: "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (No. 5) and "A Rockin' Good Way (to Mess Around and Fall in Love)" (No. 7).

In the mid 1960s, Benton recorded for RCA Records and Reprise Records with minimal commercial success. Then, in 1968, he signed with Cotillion Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, where, the following year, he enjoyed his last major hit with "Rainy Night in Georgia", written by Tony Joe White and produced and arranged by Arif Mardin, a million-seller which topped the Billboard R&B chart. Cornell Dupree played guitar on the song. Benton recorded a total of five albums with Mardin, including a gospel album, during his stay at Cotillion.

Benton eventually charted a total of 49 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with other songs charting on Billboard's rhythm and blues, easy listening, and Christmas music charts. The last album made by Benton was Fools Rush In, which was released posthumously in 2005. He also had records released on various other labels, including All-Platinum, Brut, Olde Worlde, Stax and Groove Records.

Death
Weakened from spinal meningitis, Benton died of pneumonia in Queens, New York City, at the age of 56 on April 9, 1988. He was survived by his wife, Mary Benton, and six children: Brook Jr., Vanessa, Roy, Is'real, Gerald, and Benjamin.

title: Brook Benton


text:
Rive Gauche

The Rive Gauche (Left Bank) is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two parts. When facing downstream, the southern bank is to the left, whereas the northern bank (or Rive Droite) is to the right.

The Rive Gauche is associated with artists, writers and philosophers, including Colette, Margaret Anderson, Djuna Barnes, Natalie Barney, Sylvia Beach, Erik Satie, Kay Boyle, Bryher, Caresse Crosby, Nancy Cunard, H.D., Janet Flanner, Jane Heap, Maria Jolas, Mina Loy, Henry Miller, Adrienne Monnier, Anaïs Nin, Jean Rhys, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Renee Vivien, Edith Wharton Pablo Picasso, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, Henri Matisse, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Baldwin, as well as dozens of other members of the great artistic community at Montparnasse.

The phrase implies a sense of bohemianism, counterculture and creativity. Some of its famous streets are the Boulevard Saint-Germain, Boulevard Saint-Michel, the Rue de Vaugirard, Rue Bonaparte and the Rue de Rennes.

The Latin Quarter is situated on the Rive Gauche, within the 5th and 6th arrondissements in the vicinity of the University of Paris. In the 12th century, the philosopher Pierre Abélard helped create the neighborhood when, due to his controversial teaching, he was pressured into relocating from the prestigious Île de la Cité to a less conspicuous residence. As he and his followers populated the Left Bank, it became famous for the prevalence of scholarly Latin spoken there. The area's origin story formed the basis of the saying, "Paris 'learned to think' on the Left Bank".

title: Rive Gauche


text:
Alford, Lincolnshire

Alford (pronounced ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, at the foot of the Lincolnshire Wolds, which form an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The population was recorded as 3,459 in the 2011 Census and estimated at 3,830 in 2021. It lies between the towns of Mablethorpe, Louth, Spilsby, and Skegness and acts as a local retail centre.

History
Alford is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Alforde. There was a settlement at Alford in pre-Norman times and it provided a place to cross the beck. This is intimated in the 'ford' part of its name.

The town occupied an important position historically and a charter was obtained by William Well, lord of the manor of Alford, in 1283 for a market to be held on Tuesdays and two annual fairs - one at Whitsun and the other in November. These remained active until 1939 with the bull fair continuing until 1972. A cattle market was established in 1911 but closed in 1987.

In 1810 a purpose built theatre was being used by Joseph Smedley at a cost of seven Guineas.

The railway was opened in 1848 but was closed in 1970 with the demolition of the Grimsby to Boston line.

Governance
An electoral ward of the same name exists. This stretches east to the coast, with a population of 4,531 recorded in the 2011 census.

Amenities
Alford's retail outlets cater mainly for local demand. Shops include a pharmacy, a grocery, two butchers (the later one opened in November 2016) and DIY and hardware stores. There are three supermarkets, in Church Street, West Street and Hamilton Road. The five public houses are the Half Moon Hotel, Windmill Hotel, George, Anchor and White Hart. Four of these still operate as such – the Half Moon has a tea shop attached and is a venue for local activities. The Anchor has been renovated as a bed-and-breakfast establishment. The Windmill is now a hotel, while the White Hart is still a traditional pub.

The town has no banks, as the last, Lloyds Bank, closed in September 2018. There is still a Yorkshire Building Society office. Banking facilities are available at the Post Office, which operates in the Quicky Supermarket in West Street.

H & M Ducos Pottery, established in London in 1972, moved to Alford in 1973 and became the Alford Pottery. It acquired premises in Commercial Road in 1978 to manufacture tableware that is exported worldwide. The firm set up the Alford Craft Market, the Alford Festivals of arts and crafts, the Alford Folk Club (now an acoustic club), the Alford Morris Dancing club, the former Alford Jazz Festival, the former Alford Film Society, and other organisations. Alford Craft Market Centre is a cooperative venture selling works from local and regional craftsmen. With help from a substantial National Lottery grant, it provides various classes and workshops to allow the public to experience art and craft activities on a regular basis.

There are National Health private dentists in South Street and a doctor's surgery in West Street. A crematorium opened at the entrance to the town in 2008.

The charter market day is Tuesday. The main market is run by the town council in the marketplace, with stalls for groceries, greengroceries, fishmongers and other items, and a popular auction. The Alford Craft Market has been held in the Market Place every late Spring and August bank holiday since 1975, in the grounds of Alford Manor House. The summer weekly Craft Market now takes place in the Corn Exchange and the Christmas Extravaganza at the Manor House on the first Friday in December. The cattle market closed in 1987 and the site became the Co-op Car Park. In February 2019, the Alford Promotions group was set up by shop-owners and councillors to organize community events, including a Christmas Market, the first of which was held on 30 November 2019.

Schools
Alford has three schools: one primary school and two secondary schools. They are located on different sides of Alford.

Employment and transport
Most factories have closed in the last few years. The main sources of employment are newer businesses on the Safelincs industrial estate in West Street and the schools, nursing homes and smaller firms.

Beeching's Way Industrial Estate in the south-west of the town includes printing and manufacturing firms, a builders' merchant and a postal sorting office. It was built on the disused lines of the East Lincolnshire Railway from Grimsby to Boston, which closed on 5 October 1970, along with the local station. The naming of the industrial estate as Beeching's Way is a reminder of Richard Beeching, who masterminded the nationwide rail cutbacks under publicly owned British Railways at the behest of the Department of Transport.

The town's previous largest employer was C. S. Martin, later Finnveden Powertrain Ltd, which closed its doors in 2010. After redundancies, the factory now operates as Gnutti Carlo UK Ltd.

There is a daytime Monday-to-Friday bus service to Skegness, a single Wednesday service to Boston, and occasional local and school bus services open to other passengers.

Alford also has bus connections to Mablethorpe and Spilsby, and one service a day to and from Louth. The nearest railway station is in Thorpe Culvert.

Demography
The population was recorded as 3,459 in the 2011 Census and estimated at 3,789 in 2019. Alford electoral ward recorded a population of 4,531 on the 2011 census.

Windmill
Alford is known for its Grade I listed five-sailed windmill, a tower mill built in 1837 by Sam Oxley, an Alford millwright. In its heyday, it ground 4-5 tons of corn a day. It ceased to operate in 1955, but after two years' idle, it was restored to full working order in 1957 and is used commercially to produce stone-ground organic flour and cereal, as the only surviving windmill in the town of the three in 1932, each with a different number of sails (four, five and six). Other working windmills in the county remain at Lincoln, Heckington, Boston, Waltham, Kirton in Lindsey, Sibsey, Moulton, and Burgh le Marsh.

Manor House
Alford Manor House is one of the country's largest thatched buildings of its kind. In 2006, it was refurbished with National Lottery funding through English Heritage. Interactive exhibits were installed and accessibility increased for disabled visitors. It has a tearoom and open gardens.

The Manor House has two permanent exhibitions. "Alford Remembers" has First World War memorabilia and a photography exhibition by Edwin Nainby, who was born in Gedney in January 1842 and died in Alford in July 1908. The youngest son of a Quaker, he was first in business as a photographer in Long Sutton and moved to Alford in 1873. There are over 750 glass photography plates exhibited. The annual events at the Manor House include a Christmas Tree exhibition, a tractor rally and a threshing day. There is a local museum at the back of the Manor House (Hackett's Barn), displaying the time when Alford thrived as a Victorian market town.

Corn Exchange
The Corn Exchange was given by East Lindsey District Council to a specially instituted body composed solely of volunteers, as a centre for cultural, social and community activities.

Education
Alford has a primary school, one of England's few remaining grammar schools, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, founded in 1566, and John Spendluffe Technology College. The grammar school received a mixed Ofsted day-inspection report in 2007. The technology college was gauged as "requiring improvement" at a full Ofsted inspection in March 2019.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from the Belmont TV transmitter.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Lincolnshire on 94.9 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Lincolnshire on 102.2 FM and DAB radio station, Lincs FM.

The town is served by the local newspaper, LincolnshireWorld (formerly Alford Standard).

Religious sites
The Anglican Parish Church of Alford is dedicated to St Wilfrid, a 7th-century English bishop. Built in the 14th century, then restored with additions from 1860, it stands at the junction of Church, South and West streets. It includes St Lawrence's Chapel. The original features include a 14th-century screen, a Jacobean pulpit, traces of 16th-century glass and a 17th-century tomb in the chancel. The church founded a school in the Elizabethan period. Regular services and some annual community events such as a flower show are held. The war memorial in the churchyard commemorates local victims of the two world wars and in Northern Ireland.

Alford has a Methodist church, an Independent Congregational church, and Alford Christian Fellowship.

Some 4 mi from Alford, in the village of Markby, is St Peter's Church, the one remaining thatched church in Lincolnshire.

Notable people
In order of birth:
 * Captain John Smith (1580–1631) was an explorer of New England, whose name he coined, and was reputedly saved by the Native American "princess" Pocahontas. He lived in Great Carlton, 4 mi to the north, and went to school in Alford.
 * Anne Hutchinson, born Anne Marbury (1591–1643), Puritan settler and religious reformer in New England.
 * Edward Hutchinson (1613–1675), Alford-born son of Anne Hutchinson, became prominent as a soldier and a politician in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
 * William Wentworth (1616–1697), born in Alford, was a follower of the Puritan John Wheelwright and an early settler in New Hampshire.
 * Bendix Hallenstein, shopkeeper, married here in 1861
 * Susanna Cole (1633 – c. 1713), born in Alford, was captured and raised by American Indians after her family was massacred at New Netherland.
 * William Charles Ellis (1780–1839), born in Alford, was a pioneer in the "humane treatment" of mental illness.
 * Elizabeth Dawbarn (died 1839), born in Alford, was a Baptist religious pamphleteer.
 * George Manville Fenn (1831–1909), novelist, taught in Alford.
 * Enid Stamp-Taylor (1904–1946), film actress, is buried in Alford parish church.
 * Tony Richardson (1943–2007), footballer born in Alford, played for Nottingham Forest, Cheltenham Town and Bradford City.

title: Alford, Lincolnshire