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Sverre of Norway

Sverre Sigurdsson (Sverrir Sigurðarson) (c. 1145/1151 – 9 March 1202) was the king of Norway from 1184 to 1202.

Many consider him one of the most important rulers in Norwegian history. He assumed power as the leader of the rebel party known as the Birkebeiner in 1177, during their struggle against King Magnus Erlingsson. After Magnus fell at the Battle of Fimreite in 1184, Sverre ruled as sole king of Norway. Differences with the Church, however, led to his excommunication in 1194. Another civil war began against the church-supported Baglers, which lasted beyond Sverre's death in 1202.

The most important historical source on Sverre's life is his biography, the Sverris saga, in part written while Sverre was alive. This saga is likely biased, since the foreword states that part was written under Sverre's direct sponsorship. Correspondence between the pope and the Norwegian bishops can be used as an alternate source when it comes to church affairs. The saga and the letters mostly agree about the hard facts.

Supposedly, King Sverre was short, so he usually directed his troops from horseback during battles. The contrast is great to the traditional Norse warrior ideals where the king was expected to lead his men from the front of the battle line. Sverre was a talented improviser, both in political and military life. His innovative tactics often helped the Birkebeiners against more tradition-bound opponents. During battle he had his men operate in smaller groups, while previously tactics similar to the shield wall had been preferred. This made the Birkebeiners more mobile and adaptable.

Early life
According to the saga, Sverre was born in 1151 to Gunnhild and her husband Unås, a comb maker from the Faroes. When Sverre was five, the family moved to the Faroes where Sverre was raised in the household of Unås' brother Roe, bishop of the Faroes on Kirkjubøargarður in Kirkjubøur. It was here that Sverre studied for the priesthood and was ordained. The priest school of Kirkjubøur must have been of a high standard, for Sverre was later described as very well educated. The legend says that he was hidden in a cave near the village. This cave actually exists and gave the mountain Sverrihola (303 m, "Sverre's cave") on the south tip of Streymoy its name.

Sverre, however, was not suited for a priestly life. The saga states that he had several dreams which he interpreted as a sign that he was destined for greater things. Further, in 1175, his mother revealed that Sverre was really the son of King Sigurd Munn. In the following year, Sverre travelled to Norway to seek his destiny.

Paternity
The tale told in Sverre's saga is the official version. Historians have questioned the veracity of it, especially with regard to Sverre's alleged paternity. Some historians have considered his claim to be King Sigurd's son to be false, as did many of his contemporaries. Others have believed the paternal claim to be true, while most historians have found that the paternal question cannot be given a definite answer. Although the fact that kings fathered illegitimate sons was taken for granted, other facts indicate that Sverre was in his early thirties when he came to Norway, such as the age of his own sons and nephews. It has been cited against Sverre's claim that according to Canon law, one had to be at least 30 years old to be eligible for the priesthood. If Sverre was 30 years old when he became a priest, this would place his birth no later than 1145, making his paternal claim impossible, as Sigurd Munn was born in 1133. This particular objection has lost credence as it has become clear that this age limit was routinely ignored in Scandinavia at the time. However, other objections remain, such as the fact that Sverre consistently refused to undergo an ordeal by fire to prove his claims. At the time, such a trial was routine for new claimants to the throne, and belief in its efficacy seems to have been universal; yet Sverre refused to undergo it. If Sverre's claim was false, however, he would lack royal legitimacy, dooming his plans to failure. Regardless, his motivation is clear: to capture the throne of Norway, whether he could prove royal blood or not. After all, Norway had seen other claimants, since Harald Gille, whose paternity was equally questionable.

The fact that Sigurd Munn's daughter Cecilia acknowledged Sverre as the son of Sigurd is inconclusive. Sverre's actions offered her a welcome possibility to divorce from the marriage with Folkvid the Lawspeaker, into which she claimed to have been forced by Erling Skakke.

Support from Earl Birger Brosa of Sweden is more a sign of pragmatic politics on the part of the Swedes, as their ally party in Norway needed a new leader and had chosen Sverre. Sverre was not the Earl's first choice, however. They had first supported Øystein Møyla, who had died at the Battle of Re in 1177. The Swedish dynastic lines were themselves engaged in civil war, and the current rulers of the family after King Erik were at war with the Danish king Valdemar. Erling Skakke had submitted to Valdemar some decades earlier, and it was beneficial for the Swedes at the time to support the opponents of Erling's regime, namely Sverre.

Norway in 1176
In 1176, Norway was slowly recovering from decades of multiple civil wars. The causes were largely due to the lack of any clear succession laws. According to the old customs, all the king's sons, legitimate or illegitimate, had equal right to the throne. It was customary for brothers to rule the kingdom together, but when quarrels arose, war was frequently the result.

Sigurd Munn, claimed by Sverre as his father, had been slain by his brother Inge Krokrygg in 1155. Sigurd's son Håkon Herdebrei had been chosen to be king by his father's followers. The conflict was now a regional conflict, with King Inge having the strongest support in Viken, while most of Håkon's followers were from Trøndelag. Inge Krokrygg fell in 1161. His party then took the five-year-old Magnus Erlingsson as king. Magnus was the son of Erling Skakke and Kristin, daughter of King Sigurd the Crusader. In 1162, at the Battle of Veøy, Håkon Herdebrei fell and his faction began to fall apart. In 1164 Magnus was crowned by Archbishop Øystein Erlendsson. With the Church and most of the aristocracy on his side, Magnus' kingship seemed secure. Several uprisings followed, but they were all suppressed. Erling Skakke had been regent during his son's minority and continued to be the country's real ruler even after Magnus had come of age.

Sverre meets the Birkebeiners
Thus when Sverre came to Norway he found the prospects for a successful uprising to be small. Distraught, he travelled east and came to Östergötland in Sweden just before Christmas. There he met with the local ruler, Birger Brosa, who was married to Sigurd Munn's sister, Brigit Haraldsdotter. Sverre revealed to Birger Brosa his claim to the throne, but Birger was at first unwilling to give any aid. He was already supporting another group, the Birkebeiners — the Birchlegs. This group had risen in 1174 under the leadership of Øystein Møyla who claimed to be the son of King Øystein Haraldsson. They had received the name Birkebeiners because their poverty led some of them to wind the bark of the birch about their legs, instead of wearing shoes. But in January 1177, the Birkebeiners met a crushing defeat at the Battle of Re and Øystein fell. Sverre met with the remnants in Värmland. After some initial doubts, Sverre let himself be persuaded to become the Birkebeiners' next leader.

Rise to power

Upon Sverre's initial contact, the Birkebeiners had been reduced to a ragtag army of brigands and vagabonds with no more than 70 men, according to the saga. Many regard Sverre's achievement of forging them into a force of skilled and professional soldiers as proof of his leadership qualities.

Difficult years
During the early years as leader of the Birkebeiners, Sverre and his men were almost constantly on the move. The Birkebeiners were generally viewed as troublemakers with little chance of success by the general populace, who most of all desired peace. Although peasant gatherings were no match for the battle hardened Birkebeiners, Magnus or Erling Skakke frequently had the Birkebeiner on the run.

In June 1177, Sverre first led his men to Trøndelag where Sverre was proclaimed as king at Øretinget. Since this was the traditional place to choose a king, the event carried important symbolic weight. The Birkebeiners then moved south to Hadeland, where they were forced northwards again. Sverre then decided to turn west, attempting to take Bergen by surprise. At Voss, however, the Birkebeiners were ambushed by the local peasants. Although the Birkebeiners were victorious, the surprise element on Bergen was eliminated, forcing the group eastwards again. After almost freezing to death on Sognefjell, they wintered in Østerdal.

The next spring, after a short stay in Viken, Sverre and the Birkebeiners returned to Trøndelag. The Birkebeiners now shifted to a more confrontational strategy. However, an attack on Nidaros ended in defeat at the Battle of Hatthammeren (Slaget på Hatthammeren). After fleeing south, they met Magnus' army in Ringerike, with the skirmish ending in a tactical victory for the Birkebeiners. Encouraged, the Birkebeiners returned to Trøndelag and managed to subdue the region enough to stay in Nidaros during the winter.

In the spring of 1179, Magnus and Erling Skakke attacked Nidaros, forcing another apparent retreat. Confident that the Birkebeiners had again fled southwards, Magnus and his men were complacent. Sverre, however, had turned around at Gauldal and marched again upon the city. The two armies met 19 June in the Battle of Kalvskinnet. Erling Skakke was killed in a battle that ended in a clear victory for Sverre. This victory secured Sverre's hold on Trøndelag.

Victory over the Heklungs

After Sverre's victory at Kalvskinnet, the war changed somewhat in character. The Trønders accepted Sverre as their king; the two sides were now much more equal in power. At some point, Magnus' party acquired the nickname Heklungs (Heklunger). Hekle is Old Norse for hood and is here probably meant to imply the traditional monk garb.

Several battles now followed. Magnus Erlingsson again attacked Trøndelag in the spring of 1180, this time reinforced by conscripts from western Norway. But in the Battle of Ilevollene (Slaget på Ilevollene), just outside Nidaros, the Heklungs were again defeated and Magnus fled to Denmark. With Magnus out of the country, Sverre could sail south and occupy Bergen, but his hold on the region remained weak.

Determined to achieve a decisive victory against the Birkebeiners, Magnus returned with his fleet the next year. The two forces met at sea 31 May 1181 in the Battle of Nordnes. The battle ended in a tactical victory for the Birkebeiners; the Heklungs fled when Magnus was mistakenly believed to have been killed. With his men in poor shape, Sverre decided to withdraw to Trøndelag. Some attempts at negotiation were now made, but these soon broke down. Magnus would not accept Sverre as co-king with equal status, and Sverre could not accept becoming Magnus' vassal.

With Magnus controlling western Norway from his seat at Bergen, it became problematic for Sverre to keep his men supplied. Sverre therefore led his men south to Viken, a firm Heklung stronghold. He could therefore let his men plunder here with little damage to his cause. However, Magnus exploited Sverre's absence well. In November he raided Trøndelag and managed to seize and burn the Birkebeiner fleet. Sverre had to return or risk losing his one secure foothold.

During summer 1182, Magnus made an attempt to take Nidaros by siege, but was repulsed with grave losses when the Birkebeiners launched a surprise night attack. Sverre now started an extensive shipbuilding program. Without a fleet, he could have no hopes of expanding his influence further south. In spring 1183 Sverre attacked Bergen with parts of his new fleet. Avoiding detection by the enemy scouts, he caught the Heklungs off guard, seizing their entire fleet. Magnus fled to Denmark, leaving crown and sceptre behind.

In the sea battles of medieval Scandinavia, the side with the largest and highest ships would usually have an advantage, since this meant the crew could attack the enemy from above with projectiles and other weapons. Sverre built the largest ship afloat at the time, the Mariasuda. Because of its great size, the seaworthiness of the Mariasuda was rather poor and it would only be useful within the narrow fjords. Either because of luck or good strategy such a situation would soon arise.

Early spring 1184, Magnus returned to Viken from Denmark with new ships. In April he sailed north towards Bergen. At about the same time, Sverre had gone to Sogn to put down a local uprising and was still there when Magnus came to Bergen in June. After chasing out the few Birkebeiners there, Magnus set sail again, having heard news of Sverre's current position. The two fleets met 15 June at Fimreite in the long and narrow Sognefjord. The Battle of Fimreite proved to be the final struggle between Birkebeiners and Heklungs. Magnus had several large ships, but none as huge as the Mariasuda. While the Mariasuda held up half of the enemy fleet, the rest attacked the outlying enemy ships. Panic began to spread as the Heklungs fled aboard their larger ships. These ships soon became overloaded and began to sink. Many of the wounded and tired men could not keep themselves afloat and drowned, including King Magnus. Most of the Heklung leadership fell there, along with a huge number of men at both sides. Leaderless, the Heklungs were now broken as a political party. Sverre could now finally, after a six-year struggle, claim to be the sole and uncontested king of Norway.

Troubled reign

Now that the dissatisfied priest and his band of vagrants and outcasts had become king and rulers of Norway, Sverre worked to consolidate his power. He placed his loyal men in high positions (sysselmann) throughout the kingdom and negotiated marriage alliances between the old and new nobility. Sverre himself married the Swedish princess Margaret, daughter of Erik the Saint and sister of King Knut Eriksson of Sweden.

Although Norway had seen several conflicts in the previous decades, the victor had reconciled with his opponents. Reconciliation in Sverre's case, however, proved to be difficult. It was a long war with more casualties than previous conflicts. Most of the older noble dynasties had lost men and thirsted for vengeance. Further, that many people of non-noble origin were now elevated to noble standing was difficult for many to accept. Peace was not to last long.

Kuvlungs and Øyskjeggene
Autumn 1185 the Kuvlungs (Kuvlungene) rose in Viken. Their leader, Jon Kuvlung, was a former monk and was claimed to be the son of Inge the Hunchback. This group was in many ways the direct successor of the Heklungs, with many of its members coming from former Heklung families. The Kuvlungs soon gained control of eastern and western Norway, the old Heklung strongholds.

In autumn 1186, the Kuvlungs attacked Nidaros. This offensive took Sverre by surprise; he took refuge in the recently constructed stone castle Sion. The Kuvlungs, unable to take the castle, were forced to retreat. In 1188 Sverre sailed south with a large fleet. They first met at Tønsberg, but neither side dared to offer battle. The Kuvlungs slipped away to Bergen. Sverre attacked Bergen just before Christmas. Jon Kuvlung was killed, which ended the Kuvlung rising. Some minor uprisings followed, but these never rose above banditry and were suppressed on a local scale.

The next serious threat came in 1193 with the Øyskjeggene (the Isle Beards). This group's pretender to the throne was Sigurd, a child claimed to be the bastard son of Magnus Erlingsson. The real leader was Hallkjell Jonsson who was Magnus' brother-in-law. Conspiring with the earl of Orkney, Harald Maddadsson, Hallkjell gathered most of his men on the Orkney and Shetland Islands, hence the name of the group. After establishing themselves in Viken, the Øyskjeggene sailed on to Bergen. Although they occupied the city itself and the surrounding regions, a force of Birkebeiners held on in Sverresborg castle. In spring 1194 Sverre sailed south to confront the Øyskjeggene. The two fleets met 3 April in the Battle of Florvåg (slaget ved Florvåg). Here the battle experience of the Birkebeiner veterans proved to be decisive. Hallkjell fell with most of his men.

Sverre and the church
The Church of Norway had been organized under the Archbishopric of Nidaros in 1152. Øystein Erlendsson, who had become archbishop in 1161, had been one of Magnus Erlingsson's main supporters. In return, the church had secured its position as an independent institution and also gained several other privileges.

Øystein had returned to Nidaros from England in 1183, and during his last years a state of truce existed between church and king. When Øystein died on 26 January 1188, Eirik Ivarsson, bishop of Stavanger, was elected as his successor. Sverre now probably hoped that his relationship with the church could be normalised. He therefore approached Eirik with hopes of being crowned — the definite proof of recognition. However, in Eirik's eyes, Sverre was little more than a usurper and king-murderer.

The situation now escalated into an open breach as Sverre began building up a list of privileges that were contrary to the church law made by St. Olaf, the traditional founder of the Norwegian Church. Eirik on his side preached against the king and his men, and sent letters of complaint to the Pope, but in the short term his offensive weapons were few. In 1190 Sverre attempted to force the archbishop into submission, claiming that Eirik had broken the law by having 90 armed men in his service. According to law, the archbishop's guard was limited to 30 men. Rather than submit to the king's will, Eirik fled to Lund where the Danish archbishop had his seat. From there he sent a delegation to Rome asking the pope for advice.

With the archbishop absent, Sverre tightened his grip on the bishops, and on Nikolas Arnesson in particular. Nikolas was the half-brother of Inge Krokrygg and had become bishop of Oslo in 1190 against Sverre's wish. After the destruction of the Øyskjeggs at Florvåg, Sverre arranged a meeting with Nikolas where he claimed to have proof that the bishop had colluded with the Øyskjeggs. The king accused Nikolas of treason and threatened severe punishment. Nikolas submitted, and on 29 June, together with the other bishops, he crowned Sverre. Sverre's domestic priest was elected bishop of Bergen.

Meanwhile, archbishop Eirik had at last received a reply from Rome. In a letter dated 15 June 1194, Pope Celestine III laid out the foundational rights of the Norwegian Church supporting Eirik on every point. Empowered by this letter, Eirik could take the step of excommunicating Sverre and order the Norwegian bishops to join him in exile in Denmark.

The following spring, Sverre sent the still loyal Tore, bishop of Hamar, to Rome to plead his case before the pope. He returned in early 1197, according to the saga, carrying a papal letter which annulled the excommunication of Sverre. In Denmark, Tore is said to have fallen ill and died under suspicious circumstances, but not before pawning the papal letter. The pawnbrokers then travelled to Norway and delivered it to Sverre who used it for everything it was worth. No other sources confirm this story and most historians now agree that the letter was forged.

With the death of Pope Celestine in January 1198, the conflict entered a short lull until the new pope, Innocent III, had brought himself up to date, but then the conflict was further escalated. In October, Innocent III placed Norway under interdict and in letters to Eirik accused Sverre of forgery. He also sent letters to admonish neighboring kings to dispossess Sverre. They did the contrary: Sweden continued actively to support the Birkebeiners and John of England sent mercenaries to help Sverre. In 1200 Innocent found it necessary to warn the Archbishop of Canterbury not to accept further gifts from Sverre.

Around this time someone close to Sverre wrote a speech against the bishops, En tale mot biskopene. In this work, the unknown author discussed the relationship between King and Church. By referring to well known theological works such as the Decretum Gratiani and the writings of Augustine of Hippo, the author attempted to prove that the excommunication of Sverre was unjust and thus not binding. The author also tried to defend the right of Sverre to appoint bishops. To support this view he had to interpret Norwegian law, since the Church had long considered this to be simony. By now Sverre had his hands full with the church-supported Bagler rising, and the direct struggle with the church became a sideshow, at least for him personally.

The Bagler war
During spring 1196 the Bagler party was formed at Halør in Denmark in opposition against Sverre. Their leaders were Nikolas Arnesson, the nobleman Reidar Sendemann from Viken and Sigurd Jarlsson, a bastard son of Erling Skakke. Eirik the Archbishop also gave his support. As their king, they chose Inge Magnusson, supposedly the son of Magnus Erlingsson. They then sailed back to Norway.

Sverre happened to be in Viken, and the two forces soon encountered each other, although no major battles were fought. Sverre gave his eldest son, Sigurd Lavard, the responsibility of guarding a ballista he had had built. However, the Baglers launched a surprise night attack during which the ballista was destroyed and Sigurd and his men were chased away. Sverre was furious and never gave his son a command again. After some more indecisive fighting, Sverre sailed north to Trondheim, where he spent the winter. The Baglers had Inge hailed as king on Borgarting and soon established a firm control over the Viken region, with Oslo as their main seat.

In spring 1197, Sverre called out the leidang from the northern and western parts of the country, and in May he was able to sail south to Viken with more than 7000 men, a considerable force. The Birkebeiners attacked Oslo 26 July, and after many casualties on both sides, the Baglers were forced inland. Sverre now spent some time war-taxing the region, but with his leidang troops close to mutiny, Sverre withdrew to Bergen where he had decided to spend the winter. This was to be a near fatal mistake. The Baglers had meanwhile travelled north to Trøndelag by land where they had entered Nidaros with little opposition. The garrison at Sverresborg held fast for a while until their commander Torstein Kugad changed sides and let the Baglers into the castle. The Baglers had Sverresborg completely dismantled. Sverre's home region was now in enemy hands.

The year 1198 was to be the nadir of Sverre's fortunes. In May Sverre launched his attempt to recapture Trøndelag. This time Sverre failed to achieve surprise and the Birkebeiner fleet consisted mostly of smaller ships. In the sea battle that followed, the Birkebeiners were soundly beaten. In the aftermath of this battle the Baglers further consolidated their hold on Trøndelag and many went over to what they believed to be the winning side.

After his defeat, Sverre limped back to Bergen. He was soon followed by a numerically superior Bagler army under the leadership of Nikolas Arnesson and Hallvard of Såstad. Sverre continued to hold Bergenhus fortress. This castle proved to be impregnable, giving the Birkebeiners a secure base of operation. The following summer was to be called the "Bergen's summer" and was dominated by indecisive skirmishing in the Bergen area. On 11 August the Baglers set fire to Bergen. The destruction was complete, even the churches were burnt down. Facing starvation, Sverre slipped away with most of his men to Trøndelag.

In Trøndelag, most of the population was still loyal to Sverre, and many of those who had joined the Baglers now changed sides again. Sverre was also able to play on the Baglers' brutality at Bergen. The Trønders promised to provide Sverre with a new fleet, in all 8 large ships were constructed and several transport ships were converted. The Baglers sailed into the Trondheimsfjord in early June. On 18 June 1199 the two fleets met at the Battle of Strindafjord (slaget på Strindfjorden). Here Sverre won a crushing victory, and the surviving Baglers fled to Denmark.

Sverre could now take control over Viken and prepared to spend the winter in Oslo, but the countryside remained largely hostile. Early the next year, a spontaneous uprising took place as huge numbers of people started drifting towards Oslo to throw the Birkebeiners out. This peasant army was untrained and without organization and was no match for the battle-hardened Birkebeiners. In a battle on 6 March 1200 the peasants were defeated piecemeal. However, the Birkebeiners' grip on the region was still weak, and Sverre decided to sail back to Bergen.

With Sverre gone, the Baglers could return in force from Denmark and soon they had re-established their hold on Eastern Norway. The two sides then spent a year raiding each other's territories with no lasting gains for either side, although the Birkebeiners had the upper hand at sea.

In Spring 1201 Sverre sailed out from Bergen with a large leidang force in what would be his last campaign season. With this army he could demand war taxes without opposition on both sides of the Oslofjord during the summer. In September he set up camp at Tønsberg and laid siege to Tønsberg Fortress, which was garrisoned by Reidar Sendemann and his men. The siege dragged on because the other Bagler leaders dared not send a relief force and the garrison did not fall for any of Sverre's tricks. At last, on 25 January, Reidar and his men surrendered, and Sverre decided to sail back to Bergen.

During the return journey Sverre fell ill, and by the time they reached Bergen, the king was dying. On his death bed, Sverre appointed his sole living son, Håkon, as his heir and successor and in a letter advised him to seek reconciliation with the Church. Sverre died 9 March 1202. He was buried in Christ Church, Bergen, which was destroyed in 1591.

title: Sverre of Norway


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L'Île-Rousse

L'Île-Rousse (Lìsula,, or Isula Rossa, ; Isola Rossa, ; lit. 'Red Island') is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.

It was founded in 1758 by Pasquale Paoli to create a port that would not be in the hands of the Genoese (such as Calvi). As Italian was until 1848 the administrative language of Corsica, the town was originally named Isola Rossa (Red Island) from the eponymous reddish color of a rocky islet that served as a natural harbor.

Along with Saint-Florent and Tox, it is one of only three communes in the département to have a French name — all the others have kept their Italian names despite the repeated demands of Corsican nationalists.

History
Inhabited since very ancient times (between 5000-3000 BC), l'Île-Rousse was in 1000 BC a small, prosperous town called Agilla; it was dependent on Tyre in Phoenicia. Destroyed by the Phoenician fleet of Calaris (Galeria), Agilla came under Roman rule as Rubico Rocega (red rock) until the 4th century AD. Being so close to the sea, it was threatened by pirates and other potential enemies, and was not inhabited for several centuries except for fishermen and peasants who lived on the products of the sea and earth around the villages of Santa Reparata and Monticello.

In the 17th century, merchants from Santa-Reparata-di-Balagna established shops to trade by sea with the coastal villages of the Balagne, Nebbio, and the west of the Cap Corse. About 1759, Pasquale Paoli, who often came to Balagne, decided to equip Corsica with a port in the northwest of the island to try to cut the sea traffic between Genoa and Calvi. His plans prepared, he persuaded the Balagne government, sitting in Algajola, to authorize him to create a fort protecting the port (the Scalu) on 10 December 1765. L’Île-Rousse was born from this decision.

Climate
L'Île-Rousse has a hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa). The average annual temperature in L'Île-Rousse is 16.9 C. The average annual rainfall is 473.8 mm with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.9 C, and lowest in February, at around 10.4 C. The highest temperature ever recorded in L'Île-Rousse was 39.6 C on 5 July 1993; the coldest temperature ever recorded was -1.3 C on 28 December 1996.

Description
Built on a bay bounded to the northwest by the rocky islets of red porphyry which give it its name, and to the south by an immaculate white sand beach, l’Île-Rousse is presented to the tourist in all its beauty, extending westwards from the sea to the hill of the Sémaphore and the col de Fogata.

The old town of Pascal Paoli, le Père de la Patrie (the Father of the Fatherland), is made up of paved streets, almost rectilinear and oriented north-south. From the quays of the commercial port installed on 3 of the 6 small islands, the fishing port and the bridges which link the harbor complex to the coast and the market with its twenty one columns, the fortifications and the houses of the old city grew over the years, from 1765 into the first half of the 19th century.

Certain houses with their interior Florentine staircases are remarkable. The first church built in 1740 and destroyed in 1936 gave its name to the rue Notre-Dame. The church dedicated to Notre Dame de Miséricorde is next to an old Franciscan convent, while the parish church of l’Île-Rousse, the Immaculée Conception de Marie, is on the west of the main square, with its enormous date palms (planted 1890) in the shade of which it is good to play a game of pétanque.

The new town blends harmoniously with the old at the place Paoli, shaded by hundred year old plane trees, where it is good to take the summer air. The old town offers visitors the chance to stroll on the old paving stones, partly restored, along streets with historic names: Pasquale Paoli, Napoleon, les frères Arena (Arena brothers), Louis Philippe, Agilla..

Built by Pascal Paoli, equipped by its municipal officials, after 1815 with a blazon decorated with the royal fleur-de-lis of France and run for than a half-century by elected Bonapartist officials, l’Île-Rousse is a town with a share in the history of Corsica. Its contradictions make it an attractive and unexpected place for the tourists who come each year to sit down under the plane trees of its beautiful central square.

Notable people

 * Pasquale Paoli
 * Battista Acquaviva

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title: L'Île-Rousse


text: Talk:Web banner

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Hotchkiss et Cie

Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Compagnie was a French arms and, in the 20th century, automobile manufacturer first established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. He moved to France and set up a factory, first at Viviez near Rodez in 1867, manufacturing arms used by the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, then moving at Saint-Denis near Paris in 1875. It was merged into and succeeded by Thomson-CSF, now Thales Group.

Arms
An example of the company's output was the Hotchkiss revolving cannon (see picture from a privately circulated book dated 1874 by Alfred Koerner, later chairman of the company). The cannon had five barrels each able to fire 43 shells a minute a distance of one mile; it was made in four sizes from 37 mm to 57 mm, the largest intended for naval use. At the turn of the twentieth century, the company introduced the gas-operated Hotchkiss machine gun, a sturdy and reliable weapon which was widely used during World War I and thereafter by the French Army.

Cars
At the start of the twentieth century the company started building cars. Information provided by the company for the International Universal Exhibition of 1900, at which it displayed a variety of cannons, said the St Denis factory employed around 400 staff and had 600 machine tools. The first Hotchkiss car, a 17 CV four-cylinder model, appeared in 1903. The badge for the marque consisted of a pair of crossed cannons—a salute to the company's first products.

A factory fire nearly killed all projects. Despite this, a six-cylinder model followed in 1906. During World War I, they mass-produced the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun, tank parts and other weapons. In 1933, they developed the Hotchkiss H35 tank.

In 1920, there was an unsuccessful attempt to build Hotchkiss cars by a British arm of Hotchkiss in the United Kingdom—only a prototype was made. The company made several successful racing cars. Hotchkiss racers won the Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo in 1932, 1933, 1934, 1939, 1949 and 1950.

The Hotchkiss 680 was an important model between the wars—it had a six-cylinder, 3-litre engine. In 1937, the company merged with Amilcar. J. A. Grégoire joined the company as a designer. After World War II, the 680 continued. The first new car post war was a 13 CV four-cylinder model. From 1947, two-litre flat-four models are frequently called Hotchkiss-Grégoire. In 1954, Hotchkiss purchased French manufacturer Delahaye, closing down their automotive line but continuing to produce Hotchkiss-Delahaye trucks for a few months before eliminating the Delahaye name completely. After 1954, Hotchkiss manufactured Jeeps under licence from Willys.

In 1956, Hotchkiss merged with French weapon manufacturer Brandt, producing jeeps at their factory near Paris for the French military until 1966. The firm was merged into Thomson-Houston in 1966 and in 1970 stopped producing vehicles. In the early 1970s, the Hotchkiss marque disappeared, as the French conglomerate came to be known as Thomson-Brandt. This, in turn, was nationalized in 1982 to form Thomson SA.

Tanks
The Char léger modèle 1935 H, Commonly known as the Hotchkiss H35 was a light tank produced by the company in the mid 1930s. Initially designed by Hotchkiss in 1933, it was put into service in 1936. An estimated 1,200 vehicles were built between September 1936 and June 1940, however it remained in service with multiple countries as late as 1952. Unlike many other vehicles of the time, the H35 was not made of riveted rolled homogenous armoured plates - rather, it was almost entirely cast iron. This gave it increased structural strength, especially against HE (high explosive) rounds. A spiritual successor to the Renault FT-17, the tank was intended for a very similar role: a cavalry tank, lightly armoured, nimble, and supported by infantry. For the time, it had formidable armour and proved combat effective against German armour during the Battle of France. It was almost entirely immune to frontal fire from the Panzer II and could only be effectively neutralised by more formidable Panzer IIIs and IVs. Due to a weak main armament, many Hotchkiss H35 tanks were converted into the Hotchkiss H39 - with a slightly more powerful 37mm cannon, a more powerful engine and slightly more armour on the turret. Several Hotchkiss tanks were captured by Nazi Germany and converted to Panzerjäger (Marder I) assault guns.

Hotchkiss drive
The name of the Hotchkiss firm was given to a form of power transmission from a vehicle's engine by shaft to the differential on its rear axle, which through leaf springs both locates the rear axle and transmits drive forces.

title: Hotchkiss et Cie


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Shrewsbury River

The Shrewsbury River is a short stream and navigable estuary. The stream is approximately 8 mi (13 km) long and is located in Monmouth County in Central New Jersey.

It extends east-northeast from its head of navigation at Oceanport to its confluence with the Navesink River estuary, then entering 1 mi (1.6 km) north in a narrow channel to Sandy Hook Bay at Highlands. The south shore runs about the entire length of the northern border of Long Branch. The estuary is protected from the open Atlantic Ocean on its eastern side by a long barrier peninsula that extends north to become Sandy Hook. Jersey Shore resort communities on the peninsula include Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright. On the inner side of the estuary, the bedroom community of Rumson on the end of the peninsula, separating the Shrewsbury and Navesink estuaries, is among the wealthiest communities in the United States.

The estuary provides a popular marina for pleasure craft and recreational fishing. Marine species like Fluke (summer flounder), striped bass, bluefish and weakfish are popular fish targeted by local anglers.

Tributaries

 * Navesink River
 * Pleasure Bay

Bridges

 * Capt. Joseph Azzolina Memorial Bridge
 * Bascule Bridge
 * Gooseneck Point Bridge

title: Shrewsbury River


text:
Max Mirnyi

Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi (Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player.

Mirnyi became a doubles specialist following his singles career, in which he reached a career-high of World No. 18 (August 2003) and finished in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years despite only winning one ATP singles title (2003 Rotterdam Open). He represented Belarus in Davis Cup competition from April 1994, where he holds a record of 47 wins and 27 losses in 35 ties played. He reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in June 2003 and won ten Grand Slam titles: Men's doubles in the 2000 and 2002 US Open and the 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2012 French Open; and mixed doubles in the 1998, 2007, and 2013 U.S. Opens and 1998 Wimbledon.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Mirnyi carried the flag of Belarus at the Opening Ceremony on 27 July 2012, and won the gold medal in the mixed doubles with Victoria Azarenka on 5 August 2012.

His nickname is "The Beast of Belarus"

Career
Mirnyi won the 1998 US Open and 1998 Wimbledon mixed doubles titles while partnering with Serena Williams, and lost the final of the 1999 Australian Open while partnering with her. His best performance at a Grand Slam in singles came when he got to the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open, defeating Attila Sávolt, Antony Dupuis, Dominik Hrbatý and Roger Federer before losing to Andre Agassi. In the 2004 Davis Cup, he and Vladimir Voltchkov defeated Russia 3–2 and Argentina 5–0, reaching the semifinals, where they lost to the United States. In 2006, he scored an upset against James Blake at Wimbledon. That same year, he and Jonas Björkman defeated the Bryan brothers in men's doubles at the 2006 French Open. In 2011, he and Daniel Nestor defeated Juan Sebastián Cabal and Eduardo Schwank at the 2011 French Open. In 2012, he and Daniel Nestor defeated the Bryan brothers, both at the Queen's Club, UK, and again at the 2012 French Open.

title: Max Mirnyi


text:
Remember

Remember may refer to:

Film and television

 * Remember? (1939 film), a film starring Robert Taylor and Greer Garson
 * Remember? (2018 film), an Italian-French romance film
 * Remember (1926 film), an American silent drama film
 * Remember (2015 film), a Canadian film by Atom Egoyan, starring Christopher Plummer
 * Remember (2022 film), a Korean film
 * "Remember" (Star Trek: Voyager), a 1996 episode of Star Trek: Voyager
 * "Remember" (Desperate Housewives), a 2006 two-episode season finale of Desperate Housewives
 * "Remember" (The Walking Dead), a 2015 episode of the television series The Walking Dead
 * Remember (TV series), a 2015 South Korean television series

Albums

 * Remember (Big Bang album), 2008
 * Remember (Crystal Lewis album), 1992
 * Remember (Hiroyuki Sawano album), 2019
 * Remember (Mikuni Shimokawa album), 2006
 * Remember (Rusted Root album), 1996
 * Remember (S.E.S. album), 2017
 * Remember (T-ara EP), 2016
 * Remember (The Fiery Furnaces album), 2008
 * Remember (Winner album), 2020
 * Re:member (Ólafur Arnalds album), 2018
 * Remember (The Great Adventure), by Michael Rother, 2004
 * Remember..., 1978 live album by Jonas Ian
 * Remember, a Starbucks exclusive John Lennon compilation album

Singles

 * "Remember" (Becky Hill and David Guetta song), 2021
 * "Remember" (Disturbed song), 2002
 * "Remember" (Fayray song), 2002
 * "Remember" (Flow song), 2006
 * "Remember" (Gryffin and Zohara song), 2019
 * "Remember" (High and Mighty Color song), 2008
 * "Remember" (Irving Berlin song), 1925
 * "Remember" (John Lennon song), 1970
 * "Remember" (Pink Lady song), 1980
 * "Remember" (Steve Angello song), 2015
 * "Remember (Sha-La-La-La)", by Bay City Rollers, 1973
 * "Remember (The First Time)", by Eric Gable, 1989
 * "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", by The Shangri-Las, 1964
 * "Remember", by Bryan Adams from Bryan Adams, 1980
 * "Remember", by BT, 1996
 * "Remember", by Earshot, 2014
 * "Remember", by Free from Fire and Water, 1970
 * "Remember", by JJ Lin from Stories Untold (album), 2019
 * "Remember", by Josh Groban and Tanja Tzarovska from the film Troy, 2004
 * "Remember", by Liam Payne from LP1, 2019
 * "Remember", by the Linda Lindas from Growing Up, 2022
 * "Remember", by Meghan Trainor from I'll Sing with You, 2011
 * "Remember", by Seinabo Sey from I'm a Dream, 2018
 * "Remember", by Ten Mile Tide, 2001
 * "Remember", by The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Are You Experienced, 1967
 * "Remember", by The Underdog Project, 2004

People

 * Remember Baker (1737–1775), American company captain of the Green Mountain Boys
 * Remember L. H. Lord (1864-1938), American businessman and politician

Other uses

 * "Remember", a sonnet by Christina Rossetti
 * Remember, a fantasy novella by Mateiu Caragiale

title: Remember


text:
Remembering

Remembering may refer to:

 * Recall (memory), the retrieval of events or information from the past
 * Remembering (Grant Green album), 1961
 * Remembering – Part 1, a compilation album by rock group Thin Lizzy

title: Remembering


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Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad

Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad (or Abbad I; 984 – 25 January 1042) (أبو القاسم بن عباد) was the eponymous founder of the Abbadid dynasty; he was the first independent Muslim ruler of Seville in Al-Andalus ruling from 1023 until his death in 1042.

Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad was a qadi (religious judge) when he was named governor of Seville by the caliph of Cordoba, Yahya ibn Ali ibn Hammud al-Mu'tali, in 1023. However, with the Caliphate of Cordoba losing its integrity, the Abbadids, a Sevillan family of Arabic origins, seized control.

As a result, later in 1023, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad declared Seville independent from Córdoban rule, establishing the taifa of Seville.

title: Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad


text:
Ecstasy (emotion)

Ecstasy is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject with an object of their awareness. In classical Greek literature, it refers to removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function."

Total involvement with an object of interest is not an ordinary experience. Ecstasy is an example of an altered state of consciousness characterized by diminished awareness of other objects or the total lack of the awareness of surroundings and everything around the object. The word is also used to refer to any heightened state of consciousness or intensely pleasant experience. It is also used more specifically to denote states of awareness of non-ordinary mental spaces, which may be perceived as spiritual (the latter type of ecstasy often takes the form of religious ecstasy).

Description
From a psychological perspective, ecstasy is a loss of self-control and sometimes a temporary loss of consciousness, which is often associated with religious mysticism, sexual intercourse and the use of certain drugs. For the duration of the ecstasy the ecstatic is out of touch with ordinary life and is capable neither of communication with other people nor of undertaking normal actions. The experience can be brief in physical time, or it can go on for hours. Subjective perception of time, space or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy. For instance, if one is concentrating on a physical task, then any intellectual thoughts may cease. On the other hand, making a spirit journey in an ecstatic trance involves the cessation of voluntary bodily movement.

Types
Ecstasy can be deliberately induced using religious or creative activities, meditation, music, dancing, breathing exercises, physical exercise, sexual intercourse or consumption of psychotropic drugs. The particular technique that an individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually also associated with that individual's particular religious and cultural traditions. Sometimes an ecstatic experience takes place due to occasional contact with something or somebody perceived as extremely beautiful or holy, or without any known reason. "In some cases, a person might obtain an ecstatic experience 'by mistake'. Maybe the person unintentionally triggers one of the probably many, physiological mechanisms through which such an experience can be reached. In such cases, it is not rare to find that the person later, by reading, looks for an interpretation and maybe finds it within a tradition."

People interpret the experience afterward according to their culture and beliefs (as a revelation from God, a trip to the world of spirits or a psychotic episode). "When a person is using an ecstasy technique, he usually does so within a tradition. When he reaches an experience, a traditional interpretation of it already exists." The experience together with its subsequent interpretation may strongly and permanently change the value system and the worldview of the subject (e.g. to cause religious conversion).

In 1925, James Leuba wrote: "Among most uncivilized populations, as among civilized peoples, certain ecstatic conditions are regarded as divine possession or as union with the divine. These states are induced by means of drugs, by physical excitement, or by psychical means. But, however produced and at whatever level of culture they may be found, they possess certain common features which suggest even to the superficial observer some profound connection. Always described as delightful beyond expression, these awesome ecstatic experiences end commonly in mental quiescence or even in total unconsciousness." He prepares his readers "... to recognize a continuity of impulse, of purpose, of form and of result between the ecstatic intoxication of the savage and the absorption in God of the Christian mystic."

"In everyday language, the word 'ecstasy' denotes an intense, euphoric experience. For obvious reasons, it is rarely used in a scientific context; it is a concept that is extremely hard to define."

title: Ecstasy (emotion)


text:
User:Danpjames27

Im Daniel

danpjames16@hotmail.com

title: User:Danpjames27


text:
Personal equity plan

A personal equity plan (PEP) was a form of tax-privileged investment account in the United Kingdom, available between 1986 and 1999.

History
The plans were introduced by Nigel Lawson in the 1986 budget to encourage equity ownership among the wider population. PEPs were allowed to contain collective investments such as unit trusts. The single company PEP, which was allowed to contain shares of a single company, was introduced in 1992. PEPs were superseded by individual savings accounts in 1999, and remaining accounts were converted to individual savings accounts in 2008.

Types and privileges
Growth in a PEP was free from capital gains tax within the fund and on encashment. Income was free from income tax. When introduced in 1986, the fund was limited to £2,400 (annual allowance), but later increased to two types of PEP: the "general PEP" with an annual allowance of £6,000 and the "single company PEP" with an annual allowance of £3,000.

Investments in a general PEP were limited to qualifying collective investments. Qualifying investments had at least half of their assets invested in the UK, later extended to the European Union. The qualification rule for existing PEPs was removed in 2001.

Single company PEPs could be invested in one company only. One way they could be used was to hold windfall shares received by members from mutual bodies when they became listed companies.

Evolution
Beginning 6 April 1999, the Advanced Corporation Tax relief on share dividends received on a PEP was halved, partially ending their tax-exempt status. From 6 April 2004 all relief on dividends was removed, although no additional tax at the higher rate was due where otherwise it might have been. Gains on capital, and all other forms of income such as cash interest and bond income, remained tax-free. Significant cash holdings for any length of time were discouraged by HM Revenue and Customs; the holdings in a PEP were supposed to be shares or corporate bonds.

Replacement
Following the introduction of individual savings accounts on 6 April 1999, no new contributions could be made into PEPs. Existing funds retained their tax privileges and could be transferred to alternative managers. The distinction between general and single company PEPs was removed. On 6 April 2008, PEP accounts automatically became stocks and shares individual savings accounts.

title: Personal equity plan


text:
V-mail

V-mail, short for Victory Mail, was a hybrid mail process used by the United States during the Second World War as the primary and secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad. To reduce the cost of transferring an original letter through the military postal system, a V-mail letter would be censored, copied to film, and printed back to paper upon arrival at its destination. The V-mail process is based on the earlier British Airgraph process.

Operation and function
V-mail correspondence was on small letter sheets, 17.8 by, that would go through mail censors before being photographed and transported as thumbnail-sized image in negative microfilm. Upon arrival to their destination, the negatives would be printed. The final print was 60% of the original document's size, creating a sheet 10.7 by. According to the National Postal Museum, "V-mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space could be reserved for war materials. The 37 mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack. The weight of that same amount of mail was reduced dramatically from 2,575 pounds to a mere 45." This saved considerable weight and bulk in a time in which both were hard to manage in a combat zone.

In addition to postal censorship, V-mail also deterred espionage communications by foiling the use of invisible ink, microdots, and microprinting, none of which would be reproduced in a photocopy.

British 'Airgraph'
The airgraph was invented in the 1930s by the Eastman Kodak Company in conjunction with Imperial Airways (now British Airways) and Pan-American Airways as a means of reducing the weight and bulk of mail carried by air. The airgraph forms, upon which the letter was written, were photographed and then sent as negatives on rolls of microfilm. A General Post Office (GPO) poster of the time claimed that 1,600 letters on film weighed just 5 oz, while 1,600 ordinary letters weighed 50 lb. At their destination, the negatives were printed on photographic paper and delivered as airgraph letters through the normal Royal Engineers (Postal Section) - also known as the Army Postal Services (APS) - systems.

In 1940, the British Minister of Transport, Lieutenant Colonel John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, put forward the idea that airgraphs be used to reduce both the bulk and weight of mail travelling between the Middle East Force (MEF) and the UK. The matter was referred to the APS and the GPO, who jointly investigated the possibility of using airgraphs. This eventually led to a service being instituted between England and Egypt in 1941 when 70,000 airgraphs were sent in the first batch and took three weeks to reach their destination.

Kodak had offices in Cairo that were capable of processing airgraph negatives, but it was not until the appropriate equipment arrived from America to their Cairo office that the APS was able to provide a return service to the UK.

In the theatres of war, the whole airgraph operation was coordinated by the APS. Completed airgraph forms were collected by the A/FPOs and forwarded to the Kodak processing plants, which were co-located with the Base APOs.

The use of the airgraph was not rationed and its postage was also set at three pence (3d). Although the airgraph proved to be immediately popular, its use was limited because of its size (approx; 11cm x 13cm; 4" x 5") and lack of privacy, so when sufficient aircraft capacity became available, its use declined in favour of the air letter.

The airgraph service was later extended to: Canada (1941), East Africa (1941), Burma (1942), India (1942), South Africa (1942), Australia (1943), New Zealand (1943), Ceylon (1944), and Italy (1944).

Historical antecedents
The U.S. military's V-mail was based on British Airgraphs, which were based on Eastman Kodak's patent obtained from New York City banker George McCarthy. Prior to that, a similar system was deployed during the Franco-Prussian War which used carrier pigeons to send primitive microfilm strips across German lines, developed from French optician René Dagron's first patent granted for microfilm in 1859. Dagron's microfilm patent was additionally based on British scientist John Benjamin Dancer, who created microfilm in 1839.

In literature
The narrator of Breakfast at Tiffany's takes to going through the trash-basket outside his neighbour Holly Golightly's door:

 * The same source made it evident that she received V-letters by the bale. They were always torn into strips like bookmarks. I used occasionally to pluck myself a bookmark in passing. Remember and miss you and rain and please write and damn and goddamn were the words that recurred most often on these slips; those, and lonesome and love.

title: V-mail


text:
Friardel

Friardel is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of La Vespière-Friardel.

title: Friardel


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Fumichon

Fumichon is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.

title: Fumichon


text:
Garcelles-Secqueville

Garcelles-Secqueville is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Le Castelet.

title: Garcelles-Secqueville


text:
Le Gast

Le Gast is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Noues de Sienne.

title: Le Gast


text:
Space Age

The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the space race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and continuing to the present.

This period is characterized by changes in emphasis on particular areas of space exploration and applications. Initially, the United States and the Soviet Union invested unprecedented amounts of resources in breaking records and being first to meet milestones in crewed and uncrewed exploration. The United States established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the USSR established the Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR to meet these goals. This period of competition gave way to cooperation between those nations and emphasis on scientific research and commercial applications of space-based technology.

Eventually other nations became spacefaring. They formed organizations such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). When the USSR dissolved the Russian Federation continued their program as Roscosmos.

In the early 2020s, some journalists have used the phrase "New Space Age" in reference to a resurgence of innovation and public interest in space exploration as well as commercial applications of low Earth orbit (LEO) and more distant destinations. New developments include the participation of billionaires in crewed space travel, including space tourism and interplanetary travel.

Foundational developments to suborbital spaceflights

Some vehicles reached suborbital space much earlier than the launch of Sputnik. In June 1944, a German V-2 rocket became the first manmade object to enter space, albeit only briefly. In March 1926 American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid fuel rocket. This was considered by some to be the start of the Space Age, although it did not reach outer space.

Since Germans undertook the sub-orbital V-2 rocket flight in secrecy, it was not initially public knowledge. Also, the German launches, as well as the subsequent sounding rocket tests performed in both the United States and the Soviet Union during the late 1940s and early 1950s, were not considered significant enough to define the start of the space age because they did not reach orbit. A rocket powerful enough to reach orbit could also be used as an intercontinental ballistic missile, that could deliver a warhead to any location on Earth. Some commentators claim this is why the orbital standard is commonly used to define when the space age began.

1957 to 1970s/1980s: Initiating Space Race
The Space Race was the first era of the Space Age. It was a race between the United States and the Soviet Union which began with the Soviet Union's October 4, 1957, launch of Earth's first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 during the International Geophysical Year. Weighing 83.6 kg and orbiting the Earth once every 98 minutes. The race resulted in rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and other areas. One of the underlying motivations for the space race was military. The two nations were also in a nuclear arms race following the Second World War. Both nations made use of German missile technology and scientists from their missile program. The advantages, in aviation and rocketry, required for delivery systems were seen as necessary for national security and political superiority.

The Cold War era competition between the United States and Soviet Union is one of the reasons the space age happened at that time. Since then the space age continues for the generation of scientific knowledge, the innovation and creation of markets, inspiration, and agreements between the space-faring nations. Other reasons for the continuation of the space age are defending Earth from hazardous objects like asteroids and comets.

Much of the technology developed for space applications has been spun off and found additional uses, such as memory foam. In 1958 the United States launched its first satellite, Explorer 1. The same year President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly known as NASA.

Prior to the first attempted human spaceflight, various animals were flown into outer space to identify potential detrimental effects of high g-forces in takeoff and landing, microgravity, and radiation exposure at high altitudes.

The Space Race reached its peak with the Apollo program that captured the imagination of much of the world's population. From 1961 to 1964, NASA’s budget was increased almost 500 percent, and the lunar landing program eventually involved some 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. The Soviet Union proceeded tentatively with its own lunar landing program which it did not publicly acknowledge, partly due to internal debate over its necessity and the untimely death (in January 1966) of Sergey Korolev, chief engineer of the Soviet space program.

The landing of Apollo 11 was watched by over 500 million people around the world and is widely recognized as one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Since then, public attention has largely moved to other areas.

The last major leap of in the USSR-USA Space Race was the Skylab and Salyut programs, which established the first space stations for the U.S. and USSR in Earth orbit following termination of both countries' moon programs.

1970s/1980s to 2010s: Diversification
At the conclusion of the Apollo program, crewed flights from the United States were rare, then ended while the shuttle program was getting ready to kick into gear, and the space race had been over since the Apollo-Soyuz test project of 1975, started a period of U.S.–Soviet co-operation. The Soviet Union continued using the Soyuz spacecraft.

The shuttle program restored spaceflight to the U.S. following the Skylab program, but the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 marked a significant decline in crewed Shuttle launches. Following the disaster, NASA grounded all Shuttles for safety concerns until 1988. During the 1990s funding for space-related programs fell sharply as the remaining structures of the now-dissolved Soviet Union disintegrated and NASA no longer had any direct competition.

Since then, participation in space launches has increasingly widened to include more governments and commercial interests. Since the 1990s, the public perception of space exploration and space-related technologies has been that such endeavors are increasingly commonplace.

NASA permanently grounded all U.S. Space Shuttles in 2011. NASA has since relied on Russia and SpaceX to take American astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

2010s to present: New Space

In the early 21st century, the Ansari X Prize competition was set up to help jump-start private spaceflight. The winner, Space Ship One in 2004, became the first spaceship not funded by a government agency.

Several countries now have space programs; from related technology ventures to full-fledged space programs with launch facilities. There are many scientific and commercial satellites in use today, with thousands of satellites in orbit, and several countries have plans to send humans into space. Some of the countries joining this new race are France, India, China, Israel and the United Kingdom, all of which have employed surveillance satellites. There are several other countries with less extensive space programs, including Brazil, Germany, Ukraine, and Spain.

As for the United States space program, NASA is currently constructing a deep-space crew capsule named the Orion. NASA's goal with this new space capsule is to carry humans to Mars. The Orion spacecraft is due to be completed in the early 2020s. NASA is hoping that this mission will “usher in a new era of space exploration.”

Another major factor affecting the current Space Age is the privatization of space flight. A significant private spaceflight company is SpaceX which became the proprietor of one of world's most capable operational launch vehicle when they launched their current largest rocket, the Falcon Heavy in 2018. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has put forward the goal of establishing a colony of one million people on Mars by 2050 and the company is developing its Starship launch vehicle to facilitate this. Since the Demo-2 mission for NASA in 2020 in which SpaceX launched astronauts for the first time to the International Space Station, the company has maintained an orbital human spaceflight capability. Blue Origin, a private company founded by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is developing rockets for use in space tourism, commercial satellite launches, and eventual missions to the Moon and beyond. Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic is concentrating on launch vehicles for space tourism. A spinoff company, Virgin Orbit, air-launches small satellites with their LauncherOne rocket. Another small-satellite launcher, Rocket Lab, has developed the Electron rocket and the Photon satellite bus for sending spacecraft further into the Solar System, the company also plans to introduce the larger Neutron launch vehicle in 2025.

Elon Musk has the stated that the main reason he founded SpaceX is to make humanity a multiplanetary species, and cites reasons for doing it including: To ensure the long-term continuation of our species and protecting the "light of consciousness". He also said, "You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars."

The Space Age marked a major comeback and return with the launch of NASA's Space Launch system during the Artemis 1 mission on November 16, 2022; it marked the first time a human rated spacecraft had been to the Moon in nearly 50 years, as well as the return of United States capability to get astronauts to the Moon with the Space Launch System and Orion. Additional goals for the 2020s include completion of the Lunar Gateway, mankind’s first space station around the Moon, and the first crewed moon landing since the Apollo era with Artemis 3.

Arts and architecture
The Space Age is considered to have influenced:
 * Automotive design: Virgil Exner's Forward Look, 1957-1961
 * Googie architecture
 * Space Age fashions by André Courrèges, Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne, Rudi Gernreich, Emanuel Ungaro, Jean-Marie Armand, Michèle Rosier, and Diana Dew
 * Furniture design of the 1950s and '60s by Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, Eero Aarnio, and Verner Panton
 * Amusement park attractions, such as TWA Moonliner and Mission: Space.
 * Cold War playground equipment

Music
The Space Age also inspired musical genres:
 * Space age pop
 * Space music
 * Space rock
 * Space-themed music

title: Space Age


text:
Abbad II al-Mu'tadid

Abu ʿAmr ʿAbbad II al-Muʿtadid (المعتضد بالله أبو عمرو عبَّاد; died 28 February 1069), a member of the Abbadid dynasty, was the second independent emir of Seville (reigned 1042–1069) in Al-Andalus. His father, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad, had established the Taifa of Seville, and Abbad became its emir when Abu al-Qasim died in 1042. He initially had amicable relations with his neighbour Ferdinand I, Count of Castile and King of León, and tolerated the Christian faith in his own lands. Among other acts of friendship, he authorized the transfer of Saint Isidore's relics from Seville to the Basilica of San Isidoro in León.

Al-Muʿtadid expanded his territory by conquering numerous Islamic taifas (independent principalities), including those of Mértola (1044–45), Huelva (1051), Algeciras (1055), Ronda (1065) and Arcos (1069). In 1053, he invited a number of minor Berber princes from the south to his palace in Seville, suffocating them to death by treating them to an open steam bath, having first sealed up all of the openings in the bathhouse. He also fought against the Zirids of Granada and the Aftasids of Badajoz, but with no conclusive results. In 1063, when Ferdinand I appeared with an army on the outskirts of Seville, Al-Muʿtadid was forced to acknowledge his suzerainty and to pay him tribute.

Al-Muʿtadid died in 1069 and was succeeded by his son, al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad.

title: Abbad II al-Mu'tadid


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Serra (Tomar)

Serra is a former civil parish in the municipality of Tomar, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Serra e Junceira. The population is 1299 (2001), the area 33.52 km2, with a density of 38.8/km2.

title: Serra (Tomar)


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Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (born 1 April 1933) is a French physicist. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips for research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms. Currently he is still an active researcher, working at the École normale supérieure (Paris).

Early life
Cohen-Tannoudji was born in Constantine, French Algeria, to Algerian Sephardic Jewish parents Abraham Cohen-Tannoudji and Sarah Sebbah. When describing his origins Cohen-Tannoudji said: "My family, originally from Tangier, settled in Tunisia and then in Algeria in the 16th century after having fled Spain during the Inquisition. In fact, our name, Cohen-Tannoudji, means simply the Cohen family from Tangiers. The Algerian Jews obtained the French citizenship in 1870 after Algeria became a French colony in 1830."

After finishing secondary school in Algiers in 1953, Cohen-Tannoudji left for Paris to attend the École Normale Supérieure. His professors included Henri Cartan, Laurent Schwartz, and Alfred Kastler.

In 1958 he married Jacqueline Veyrat, a high school teacher, with whom he has three children. His studies were interrupted when he was conscripted into the army, in which he served for 28 months (longer than usual because of the Algerian War). In 1960 he resumed working toward his doctorate, which he obtained from the École Normale Supérieure under the supervision of Alfred Kastler and Jean Brossel at the end of 1962.

Career
After his dissertation, he started teaching quantum mechanics at the University of Paris. From 1964-67, he was an associate professor at the university and from 1967-1973 he was a full professor. His lecture notes were the basis of the popular textbook, Mécanique quantique, which he wrote with two of his colleagues. He also continued his research work on atom-photon interactions, and his research team developed the model of the dressed atom.

In 1973, he became a professor at the Collège de France. In the early 1980s, he started to lecture on radiative forces on atoms in laser light fields. He also formed a laboratory there with Alain Aspect, Christophe Salomon, and Jean Dalibard to study laser cooling and trapping. He even took a statistical approach to laser cooling with the use of stable distributions.

In 1976, he took sabbatical leave from the Collège de France, and lectured at Harvard University and MIT. At Harvard, he was a Loeb Lecturer for two weeks, and at MIT, he was a visiting professor.

His work eventually led to the Nobel Prize in physics in 1997 "for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light", shared with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips. Cohen-Tannoudji was the first physics Nobel prize winner born in an Arab country.

In 2015, Cohen-Tannoudji signed the Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change on the final day of the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The declaration was signed by a total of 76 Nobel Laureates and handed to then-President of the French Republic, François Hollande, as part of the successful COP21 climate summit in Paris.

Awards

 * 1979 – Young Medal and Prize, for distinguished research in the field of optics.
 * 1991 – Research Award of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
 * 1993 – Charles Hard Townes Award
 * 1994 – honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Uppsala University, Sweden
 * 1996 – Quantum Electronics Prize of the European Physical Society
 * 1996 – CNRS Gold medal
 * 1997 – Nobel Prize, for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
 * 2010 – Legion of Honour

Selected works
The main works of Cohen-Tannoudji are given in his homepage.

 * Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu, and Frank Laloë. 1973. Mécanique quantique. 2 vols. Collection Enseignement des Sciences. Paris. ISBN 2-7056-5733-9 (Quantum Mechanics. Vol. I & II, 1991. Wiley, New-York, ISBN 0-471-16433-X & ISBN 0471164356).
 * Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Gilbert Grynberg and Jacques Dupont-Roc. Introduction à l'électrodynamique quantique. (Photons and Atoms: Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics. 1997. Wiley. ISBN 0471184330)
 * Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Gilbert Grynberg and Jacques Dupont-Roc, Processus d'interaction photons-atomes. (Atoms-Photon Interactions : Basic Processes and Applications. 1992. Wiley, New-York. ISBN 0471625566)
 * Claude Cohen-Tannoudji. 2004. Atoms in Electromagnetic fields. 2nd Edition. World Scientific. Collection of his most important papers.

title: Claude Cohen-Tannoudji