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Josephine of Leuchtenberg

Josephine of Leuchtenberg (Joséphine Maximilienne Eugénie Napoléone de Beauharnais; 14 March 1807 – 7 June 1876), also Josefina, was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 to 8 July 1859 as the wife of King Oscar I. She was also Princess of Bologna from birth and Duchess of Galliera from 1813. She was regarded as politically active during the reign of her spouse and acted as his political adviser, actively participating in government affairs. She is acknowledged as having introduced more liberal laws regarding religion.

Early life
Joséphine was born on 14 March 1807 in Milan, Italy. She was the first of six children of Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1781–1824), and his wife, Princess Augusta of Bavaria (1788–1851). Her paternal grandmother and namesake was Joséphine Tascher de La Pagerie, the first wife of Napoleon; she was given the name 'Joséphine' by Napoleon's request. Her maternal grandfather was King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.

At birth, she was given the title Princess of Bologna by Napoleon, and later she was also made Duchess of Galliera. She spent her first seven years in Italy. The family spent their days in Villa Bonaparte in Milan and at their summer residence in Monza outside Milan. In 1812, they received a visit from the former Empress Joséphine. In 1813, her father Eugène turned down the offer from his father-in-law to join the forces against Napoleon. In 1814, Augusta joined her father at his military headquarters at Mantua, where she gave birth to Théodolinde de Beauharnais, Joséphine's youngest sister. A little later, Joséphine and her siblings joined their mother in the fortress at Mantua in a procession of carriages with their courtiers. After the defeat of Napoleon that same year, her parents left for her maternal grandfather in Bavaria, and a little later, Joséphine and her siblings followed them in the company of Baron Darnay, earlier her father's secretary. Reportedly, this was a memory that stayed with Joséphine. Her father was given the title Duke of Leuchtenberg and the former principality of Eichstätt in Bavaria as a fief. Her childhood is described as happy. The family spent their summers at Eichstätt and their winters in Munich with Augusta's family.

Education
Joséphine could speak French, German and Italian and studied history and geography with Professor Le Sage; botany and natural science with Professor Martinus; mathematics, physics and astronomy with Professor Siebers.

Marriage to the Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway
Charles XIV John of Sweden feared the legitimist policy of the Congress of Vienna, and wished to give the House of Bernadotte connections through blood with old royal dynasties of Europe. The marriage of his son and heir to the throne, Crown Prince Oscar, was the solution to this problem, and in 1822, he finally forced his son to agree to marry and to make a trip to Europe to inspect a list of potential candidates for the position of Crown Princess and Queen. In this list, a Princess of Denmark was the first alternative; a Princess of Leuchtenberg was the second; a Princess of Hesse was the third and a Princess of Weimar was the fourth. Charles XIV John had chosen Josephine of Leuchtenberg as candidate number two, because she had connections both to the old dynasties of Europe through her mother, and to the House of Bonaparte through her father, and thus, she "joined the new interests with the old", as he expressed the matter.

Engagement and wedding
Crown Prince Oscar declined marriage to a Danish Princess, but expressed his interest in the Princess of Leuchtenberg after his first meeting with Joséphine on 23 August 1822 in Eichstätt. The couple reportedly developed a mutual attraction and fell in love when they saw each other, and therefore, the marriage was accepted by both families and duly arranged. Joséphine took lessons in the Swedish language and corresponded with Oscar until the wedding. Her father was reportedly not against her conversion to Lutheranism, but the Swedish representatives had apparently thought it necessary to offer her the option to keep her religion. Although she was a devout Catholic, she agreed to raise her children in the Lutheran religion. She brought a Catholic priest, and regularly attended mass and confession in her private Catholic chapel. The Pope had given his consent to this. In Sweden, the law of 1781, Toleransediktet, declared freedom of religion for foreigners and immigrants, and Joséphine, as well as her mother-in-law Désirée, could be regarded as such. For Swedes, however, the conversion from the Lutheran Church to another religion formally meant confiscation of property and banishment from the country. The situation in Norway was similar. The Lutheran clergy was against the match, but the King had his way.

Princess Joséphine married the Crown Prince by proxy at the Palais Leuchtenberg in Munich on 22 May 1823. They also conducted a wedding ceremony in person on 19 June 1823 in Stockholm, Sweden. The first wedding ceremony was Catholic, and the second wedding ceremony was Lutheran. Through her mother (her maternal line of Hesse and upward through Hanau and Ansbach, Baden-Durlach and Kleeburg), Joséphine was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden and Charles IX of Sweden, making her children descendants of Gustav Vasa. Through her maternal grandfather, Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, she was also one of the descendants of Renata of Lorraine, granddaughter of Christian II of Denmark.

Josephine arrived in Sweden in the company of her mother-in-law, Queen Desideria, who had been absent for eleven years. They arrived in Manilla outside Stockholm 13 June 1823, where they were welcomed by King Charles XIV John, Crown Prince Oscar, military salutes and great crowds, and escorted to Haga Palace, where Josephine was embraced by Princess Sophia Albertina, Abbess of Quedlinburg. The second wedding ceremony took place six days later. Six days after her arrival in Sweden, her middle name 'Napoléonne' was removed. This was because Sweden had fought against Bonaparte in the recent war. She had brought with her several pieces of exclusive jewelry made in Paris for her paternal grandmother, which are still among the possessions of the Royal Houses of Sweden, Denmark and Norway (via Louise and Märtha of Sweden). In Sweden, she was known by the Swedish version of her name: Josefina. In her retinue, she brought with her Bertha Zück, who she made her treasurer, and her Catholic confessor Jacob Lorenz Studach: until their death, they enjoyed such a close relationship that they were referred to as "The Trio". Josephine was escorted to Sweden by a temporary lady-in-waiting, Countess Aurora Wilhelmina Brahe, but once arrived, Countess Elisabet Charlotta Piper and, from 1836, Countess Charlotta Skjöldebrand served as her Överhovmästarinna or senior lady-in-waiting.

Crown Princess

Josephine was a social success in Sweden from the moment of her arrival, both as a private person in the circles of high society as well as a public person, and was to become more popular as Queen than her predecessor and successor. Already as Crown Princess, she was able to play the representational part that her mother-in-law was not able to fulfill, and she played a great role in making the new dynasty popular in Sweden. In the summer of 1824, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess visited Christiania in Norway, where they engaged in many public appearances to make the monarchy popular. Oscar had been given the task of temporary Viceroy during his visit, and Josephine was present in a box when he appeared before the Storting. After this, they made a trip through Sweden to present her to the public. She was described as charming, beautiful and dignified, and she was also regarded as gifted: she impressed by being able to speak the Swedish language almost fluently at her arrival. At a ball in 1838 Fritz von Dardel described her: "As for the Crown Princess, she was beautiful and dignified, perhaps too thin but very intelligent and quite delightful toward all. No one has anything to reproach her for other than for her Catholic religion." Her relationship to her father-in-law was very warm. The King treated her with great affection and, for example, used to hide sweets in his pockets, which she searched through and, at one occasion, found a jewel hidden in a sweet. On 21 August 1823, Charles XIV John declared that this day, the same date he had been elected Crown Prince, should be the name day for Josephine, and henceforth be celebrated as Josephine-Day. The first such celebration took place that day at Drottningholm Palace, and Josephine Day was celebrated in Sweden for decades after that: it became a tradition for the public in Stockholm to travel to Drottningholm Palace at that day, where festivities had been arranged for them, and cheer for Josephine, who greeted them from a balcony. Her relationship with her mother-in-law, however, was somewhat tense during the first years, as Queen Désirée reportedly felt neglected by her spouse, and that her place as a Queen was overshadowed by Josephine's popularity. After the initial years, however, the relationship between Josephine and Désirée became more friendly and harmonious.

The relationship between Josephine and Oscar was initially described as a mutually happy one, and the couple shared their interests in culture, painting, writing and singing. Oscar and Josephine had five children, of whom two were to become kings of Sweden and Norway. However, Oscar was known for his extramarital affairs, a fact that deeply tormented Josephine, who suffered from jealousy. Oscar was to resume his contact with Jacquette Löwenhielm after the wedding, though Josephine is initially not believed to have been aware of this: however, in 1826, she gave the first signs of being aware of his affairs in her diary, and in 1828, she wrote of painful suspicions of adultery and also that it pained her to be constantly pregnant. In 1832, a year after the birth of her last child, she wrote in her diary about the contemporary view that a woman was expected to endure a husband's extramarital affairs: A woman should suffer in silence, and that she found this contemporary view unjust. In 1835, her pain over Oscar's behavior caused her to take a trip to the spa Medevi to calm her nerves. Her husband's relationship with the famed actress Emilie Högquist was well known. It was also not a temporary affair, but a serious relationship, which began in 1836 and resulted in two sons: Max in 1839 and Hjalmar in 1840. In 1837, Oscar and Emilie Högquist met in Bad Ems. Josephine described the years of Oscar's relationship with Emilie Högquist as a walk "through fire". Josephine and Oscar, however, continued to appear together in public, and her dignified behavior placed the sympathies on her side. Oscar became unpopular because of it, and King Charles XIV John reprimanded him for it out of sympathy for Josephine's suffering. During her later years as Crown Princess, this situation, which contributed to a conflict between the monarch and the Crown Prince, introduced Josephine to politics as she became active as a mediator between her spouse and her father-in-law.

Josephine was interested in gardening and painting. Her interest in art was active and genuine. She supported the career of the painter (and Catholic convert) Sofia Adlersparre, and also encouraged the artistic interest and talent of her own daughter, Princess Eugenie, who became a talented amateur artist. In 1836, she received a visit from her mother and her brother and two sisters. In 1843, she visited her mother in Munich.

Josephine was very much involved in social reforms and philanthropy. At her arrival in Sweden, she formed a close relationship with Princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden, who introduced her to this work by engaging her in Välgörande Fruntimmerssällskapet (The Charitable Women's Society) for the support of poor women. After the death of Sophia Albertine, she took over the protection of this organization, as she would do for the charity organizations of Queen Désirée and her daughter-in-law Queen Louise after their deaths. She also founded several charitable organizations herself. Already as a Crown Princess, she received petitioners asking for help twice a week, and her activity expanded over the years. Her main focus was the support of poor women and children. She founded the Sällskapet de fattigas vänner ('Friends of the Poor Society') for poor widows in 1826; Sällskapet för uppmuntran av öm och sedlig modersvård ('Society for Tender and Proper Motherly care') for the support of poor mothers in 1827; Sällskapet för arbetsamhetens uppmuntran ('Society for Work Encouagement'), an employment agency for women in 1833; and Kronprinsessans slöjdskola för fattiga flickor ('The Crown Princess' Handcrafts School for Poor Girls'). . Josephine, though deeply religious and influenced by the Christian idea of charity, did not believe it to be the task of religion but of the state to provide welfare, and she kept the two issues separate in her charity work. In her library, there were works about early Christian socialism, which appear to have been thoroughly read.

Josephine had her own Catholic chapel at the Royal Palace. Privately, she is known to have tried to influence her mother-in-law to be more than a Catholic in name only: in 1844, her confessor stated that she had managed to convince her mother-in-law to attend confession for the first time in fifty years. Oscar always supported her religious rights, regardless of their personal relationship. As for the children, she could not interfere in their religion, however, she did speak with them of religion: she and her confessor sorted out everything they could find mutual in Catholicism and Lutheranism, and about these things, she felt free to talk about with her children without interfering.

Josephine took a great interest in Catholicism in Sweden and Norway. Upon her arrival, she found the Catholic congregation in Stockholm to be neglected. Among other things, it did not have a proper church building, and she felt that the current Catholic priest, Jean Baptiste Gridaine, who was also the confessor of her mother-in-law, damaged the reputation of the Catholics because of it. Upon the death of Gridaine in 1833, he was replaced by her own confessor Studach. 16 September 1837, the Sankta Eugenia Church in Stockholm was founded in her presence, the effort of her and Studach's work: this was the first Catholic church in Scandinavia since the Reformation, and became the first apostolic vicariate in Scandinavia: Norway was incorporated in 1841. She attended mass there herself on Sundays.

Queen of Sweden and Norway

In 1844, Josephine became Queen of Sweden and Norway at the accession of her spouse. She was crowned in Sweden 28 September 1844. There had been some opposition: the religious debate was more heated in the 1840s than it had been in 1829, when Queen Desideria had been crowned, but Oscar solved the matter by declaring that he would not be crowned himself if she was not. In Norway, there was more serious opposition to the coronation of a Catholic. The official reason was that the ceremony was unnecessary, as the queen had no position in the Norwegian constitution, but it is acknowledged that the real reason was her religion: Queen Desideria had in fact not been crowned in Norway either. Because of this, Oscar refused to be crowned in Norway as well.

At the time Josephine became queen, Fredrika Bremer wrote of her, that she: "... prefers to act out of her own pulse and will. Granted, I have not heard this from court, but I believe it to be the truth. Out of the two royal spouses, she is, without question, believed to be the stronger character." After Oscar ascended to the throne, he discontinued extramarital affairs. The relationship between Josephine and Oscar was repaired, and continued to be good during his reign and until his death. The degree of her political influence during the reign of Oscar is debated. She was said to have acted as his adviser and to have exerted influence in several matters. Reportedly, Oscar felt pressured by his responsibility, and relied upon her support. It is confirmed that, when a crisis occurred, the king and the queen withdrew in private to discuss the matter before the king made a decision. Their private conferences were witnessed by the curious court, who could sometimes observe them discussing the matter in the palace garden out of hearing range.

Foreign policy can be seen to have been affected by her sympathies and views. In her correspondence with her aunt, the Prussian queen Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, it is evident that she actively negotiated for peace in the First Schleswig War of 1848. During the war, she informed her aunt that Sweden had decided to assist Denmark against Prussia to defend its independence, and that she hoped that Prussia would be willing to engage in peace negotiations. The result was that Prussia had Count Albert von Pourtalès sent to Sweden to enter in peace negotiations with Josephine personally. In parallel, she assured the Queen and King of Prussia of her personal regard and offered them a safe haven if they should ever be forced out of Prussia. She is confirmed to have played an important part in the secret diplomacy of Oscar I, where she also promoted her younger son, Oscar, before her elder son Charles. Her contact with Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie of the French is regarded to have been of certain importance during the 1850s European crisis. Josephine was by referred to as pro-French and anti-Russian. She was pointed out, among others by her son, Charles, to have been responsible for the November treaty between Sweden-Norway, France and Great Britain against Russian expansionism in 1855. Josephine is thought to have been the instigator of the laws providing equal inheritance for men and women in 1845, reforms in the prisons and social care, and the abolition of the guilds in 1846. During the European Revolutions of 1848, riots broke out in Stockholm 19 March 1848, called Marsoroligheterna, and continued for four days. Rebels on the streets demanded a Republic and tried to cause an armed rebellion. The royal family was, according to Count Löwenhielm, pale and seriously worried when he visited them at the time. Josephine reportedly asked Oscar not to fire at the crowds during the riots. Eventually, however, the riots were subdued with fire by the military. With the exception of suspicion in the religious question, however, Josephine's involvement in politics does not appear to have been ill-regarded, but rather she was considered as a good influence.

Her Catholicism was the only thing which somewhat affected her popularity within some circles of society. Her religion combined with her reputed political activity caused rumours that she exerted undue influence in regards to religious issues. By the 1840s, there was an intense political debate about freedom of religion, which in parallel caused more anti-Catholicism in a country where the attitude had previously been indifferent, and this exposed Josephine more or less direct attacks in the press. She did in fact use her influence for the benefit of the Catholics, and she cooperated with Pope Gregory XVI in this issue. Josephine is believed to have been behind several laws regarding the religious policies. From 1851, she supported the first female Catholic order to be active in Sweden since the reformation, when the nuns of the Filles du Coer de Marie established themselves in Stockholm to take care of the Catholic children's schooling. In 1853–1854, Swedish Lutherans were given the permission to attend Catholic sermons.

In 1853, there was a case where six Swedish women were reported to have converted to the Catholic faith. Josephine, who was at the time working to introduce freedom of religion, asked Oscar to convince the minister of religion to postpone the investigation against the women. This was also done. In 1856, Oscar expressed himself in favor of freedom of religion. However, in 1857, Oscar became ill and incapacitated, and Crown Prince Charles became regent. Charles, who was anti-Catholic, worked against his mother's plans, and used the help of people such as the vicar Nils Johan Ekdahl, who belonged to the opponents of the Queen because of her religion and political influence. Ekdahl preached during this time, that as there had been no tolerance for Queen Christina of Sweden, who had been a Swede and a queen regnant and converted to Catholicism: "...so much less would it be for a foreign Queen, who entered the nation by marriage". The six female converts were put on trial in 1858, after which they were banished and had their property was confiscated. However, by that time, that old law was considered to shame the reputation of Sweden and the banishment a scandal, and in 1860, Charles saw himself obliged to finally introduce freedom of religion. The female converts, who emigrated to Lyon in France, returned to Sweden after the introduction of freedom of religion.

Josephine was also Queen of Norway. She reportedly appreciated the Norwegian nature as it reminded her of Bavaria. She greatly influenced the interior of the Royal Palace in Christiania, which was completed in 1849, took an interest in Norwegian art and often visited art exhibitions in Christiania. The Oscarshall Palace was reportedly mostly inspired by her.

The year of 1852 has been described as hard for her: in the company of her husband, daughter Princess Eugénie and son Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland, she visited her mother on her death bed in Bavaria. On their way back, they visited Norway, where Gustaf died of pneumonia. In 1856, she had St. Olav Church (now St. Olav's Cathedral), the first Catholic Church since reformation, ignited in Christiania in Norway.

She had a tense relationship with her eldest son. Charles had been deeply in love with her maid of honor Sigrid Sparre. This had happened during the same time when negotiations were being conducted to marry Charles to Louise of Prussia in 1846. Josephine had separated Charles and Sparre by expelling Sparre from court in 1848, though she did not manage to save the marriage alliance with Prussia. Charles never forgave Josephine for separating him from Sparre, and further more, it also caused him to be strongly anti-Catholic, because he blamed his mother's decision on her Catholic confessor Jacob Lorenz Studach. Josephine also disliked Charles for being impulsive, economically irresponsible and morally loose. In 1852, the first time Charles served as regent, during the royal couple's trip to Germany, it was noted that she said farewell to Charles and his advisers with the remark: "Well, now we will leave, and the gentlemen will rule...", a comment perceived as cold and skeptical.

In 1857, Oscar I became ill. The illness of the monarch made it necessary for a regency, and crown prince Charles was seen as the obvious choice. Queen Josephine opposed Charles being appointed regent during the incapacity of the King. The rumors claimed that the reason was that she was aware of the fact that Charles would never allow her any influence on the affairs of state. During this time, there is a known occasion, which attracted attention. The King and the Queen showed themselves to the public in the capital in their carriage. At this point, the King was too weak to wave, but Josephine did in fact hold and moved his hand in a wave. She also nudged him to make him aware of what was happening. This caused rumors that she was afraid to lose her political position. Mathilda d'Orozco described this view in a contemporary letter where she defended the queen against it: "She is pushing the King, it is said, the poor thing, to make him greet people, when they are out. She is guarding him, not as an angel of mercy, not as a slave of duty, a martyr - no, as a virago, concerned only for her reign. This is so hard, so ungrateful...." In the autumn of 1857, she was forced to accept the appointment of Charles as regent. She gave him her appreciation for the advisers he had chosen, but this also meant the end of her political activity. Queen Josephine was admired for her selfless nursing of him the two years he was ill before his death.

Queen dowager
In 1859, Oscar died, thereby making Josephine queen dowager; although she was only officially titled as such in the late 1860s, when her mother-in-law, Queen Dowager Désirée, died. It is noted, that she followed the French tradition by wearing violet as a mourning colour rather than black: violet was her favourite colour in any event, and she would wear it for the rest of her life. As queen dowager, she lost all political influence and devoted herself to her charitable activities and her interest in the Catholic congregation and its issues.

Charles XV considered her too old fashioned and formal and their views were seldom shared. Charles XV made himself known for a decadent life style: he was rumored to engage in Oriental debaucheries with the Armenian Ohan Demirgian, and his life at the summer residence Ulriksdal Palace was compared to that at Versailles, which brought the crown in disrepute, something which had also been Josephine's fear. Her relationship with Queen Louise has been described as very good. In 1866, she shared the royal couple's negative views about the parliamentary reform. Queen Dowager Josephine was known for acting as nurse during illness in the family, and her relationship with Charles improved in his last years, when his health deteriorated and he became a Freemason and thereafter saw fewer differences in Catholicism and Protestantism.

Josephine kept informed about the political events, though she could no longer affect them. In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, she supported Austria against Prussia, whose expansionism she feared. In 1870, Josephine expressed how deeply she felt against the introduction of the new Catholic doctrine of Papal infallibility. She regarded this as a doctrine which would in high degree repulse the Catholic church in the eyes of the Protestant world. She reportedly suffered when her cousin Emperor Napoleon III of France was dethroned in 1870. After the Battle of Sedan, she assured the imprisoned Napoleon III that she would never forget that she was a member of the Beauharnais family. She invited the son of Napoleon III, the Prince Imperial, to Sweden, though he did not accept the invitation. She also expressed dislike of the annexation of the Papal States, and called 1870 a terrible year. Josephine nursed her daughter-in-law Queen Louise at her death bed in 1871.

In 1872, Charles XV died, and Josephine's younger son Oscar II succeeded to the throne. At the time of Charles' death, Josephine was on a trip to see her sister, Amélie, Dowager Empress of Brazil, in Portugal. On the way, she visited Paris and saw King Amadeo I and Queen Maria Vittoria of Spain in El Escorial. In Lisbon, her dying sister wished for her to see the Sintra National Palace and Monserrate Palace before her return. She returned to Sweden two days after the death of Charles. Upon the death of Jacob Lorenz Studach in 1873, Josephine negotiated with the Pope about who would be the most suitable replacement for missionary Bishop of the Catholic Church in Scandinavia. She wished to have the Bishop of Speyer, Bonifatius von Haneberg. The Pope however appointed Johann Georg Huber.

Josephine supported the first post-reformation Catholic Churches in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1862 and in Bergen, Norway in 1866. In 1865, she supported the foundation of the Catholic school of the nuns of the order of Saint Joseph of Chambéry in Oslo. She founded Stiftelsen Konung Oscar I:s minne (The Foundation of the Memory of Oscar I), a home and asylum for poor married women in 1873 and Stiftelsen Josephinahemmet (The Josephine Home Foundation) a home for poor Catholics in 1873: both these institutions were managed by the nuns of the German Order of Saint Elisabeth.

On 13 June 1873, Josephine celebrated what has been called the second biggest celebration of her life, when she received the public's adoration during the celebration of her fifty years in Sweden. She was reportedly very moved, and her own words in a letter are often quoted: "This was a day of a half a century, that I shall never forget until my dying day: my heart will always keep it in fond memory... at last, my dearest friend, have I with movement witnessed, how Protestant Sweden so unanimously celebrated a Catholic Queen. I thank and praise God for it..."

In 1875, she visited Pope Pius IX in Rome, a pilgrimage she had long wished to make. She traveled incognito under the name 'Countess of Tullgarn' and in the company of only four courtiers. On 22 May 1875 she reached Rome after Berlin, Munich and Innsbruck, and received King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and was guided by him through town. She had a long history of contact with the Pope regarding her Catholic work in Scandinavia, and the Pope had in 1852 contemplated awarding her the Golden Rose, but refrained because he was afraid that this would be ill perceived in a Protestant country. 3 June 1875, Josephine was given communion by the Pope followed by a public dinner, alongside her niece Princess Mathilde Viano and her maid of honor Rosalie Muffat, who was the first non-royal woman to have done both. After Rome, she visited Naples, Bologna and Milan and saw former Empress Eugénie of France in Salzburg.

Death
Queen Josephine died in Stockholm in 1876 at the age of 69 and received a Catholic burial. Her last words were: "I am going home now. I am very happy."

Issue
Josephine had five children with Oscar; four sons and one daughter:
 * 1) Charles XV of Sweden & IV of Norway (1826–1872)
 * 2) Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland (1827–1852)
 * 3) Oscar II of Sweden (1829–1907)
 * 4) Princess Eugenie of Sweden and Norway (1830–1889)
 * 5) Prince August, Duke of Dalarna (1831–1873)

title: Josephine of Leuchtenberg


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text: User talk:80.178.146.156

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Bingen am Rhein

Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

The settlement's original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the Via Ausonia, a Roman military road that linked the town with Trier. Bingen is well known for, among other things, the story about the Mouse Tower, in which the Bishop of Hatto I of Mainz was allegedly eaten by mice. Saint Hildegard von Bingen, an important polymath, abbess, mystic and musician, one of the most influential medieval composers and one of the earliest Western composers whose music is widely preserved and performed, was born 40 km away from Bingen, in Bermersheim vor der Höhe. Bingen am Rhein was also the birthplace of the celebrated poet Stefan George, along with many other influential figures.

Location
Bingen is situated just southeast of the Rhine knee by the Bingen Forest (Binger Wald – actually a low mountain range), which rises west of the town. Rising to the north on the other side of the Rhine is the Rheingau range, the Taunus's southwesternmost outcrop. In Bingen the river Nahe empties into the Rhine Gorge. Bingen forms the southern limit of the UNESCO Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site. The Rochusberg (mountain) is nearly completely surrounded by the town site.

Population development
(each time at 31 December)

Antiquity
Even before the Romans came, people lived here, because the location favoured transport, being at the confluence of the Nahe and Rhine Rivers, and the Rhine's entry into the gorge. The first settlement seems to have been a Celtic (Gaulish) settlement by the name of Binge – meaning "rift". In the early first century AD, Roman troops were stationed in Bingen on the Rhine Valley Road, and rendered the local name as Bingium in Latin. There the Romans erected a wooden bridge across the Nahe and constructed a bridgehead castrum. A Roman Mithraic monument, which included a mutilated sculpture representing the nativity of Mithra from a rock, was discovered in Bingen; one of its inscriptions is dated 236.

Medieval period
The presbyter Aetherius of Bingen founded sometime between 335 and 360 a firmly Christian community. Bearing witness to this time is Aetherius's gravestone, which can still be seen in Saint Martin's Basilica. After the fall of the Limes, the town became a Frankish royal estate and passed in 983 by the Donation of Verona from Otto II to Archbishop Willigis of Mainz. Under Otto III the Binger Kammerforst (forest) came into being. Under Willigis, some way up the river Nahe, the stone Drususbrücke (bridge) was built.

The inhabitants of Bingen strove time and again for independence, which led in 1165 through disputes between the Archbishop of Mainz and the Emperor to destruction. In the 13th century, Bingen was a member of the Rhenish League of Towns. The building of Klopp Castle (Burg Klopp) in the mid 13th century could well be seen as being tied in with this development. A last attempt was the town's unsuccessful participation in the German Peasants' War in 1525. From the Archbishop the Cathedral Chapter of Mainz acquired the town in two halves in 1424 and 1438. Until the late 18th century Bingen remained under its administration. Like many towns in the valley, Bingen suffered several town fires and wars.

Modern period
From 1792 to 1813, the town was, as part of the département of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg – both names meaning "Thunder Mountain"), French after French Revolutionary troops had occupied the Rhine's left bank. In 1816, after the Congress of Vienna, the town passed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt while today's outlying centre of Bingerbrück went to Prussia's Rhine Province, making Bingen a border town until 1871, when the German Empire was founded.

On 7 June 1969, the formerly Prussian municipality of Bingerbrück was amalgamated. On 22 April 1972 came Dromersheim's and Sponsheim's amalgamation with Bingen. The epithet am Rhein has been borne since 1 July 1982.

For the State Garden Show in 2008 in Bingen, the Rhineside areas in the town underwent extensive modernization.

Jewish history
Benjamin of Tudela mentioned a Jewish community in Bingen in the mid-12th century. Christian inhabitants attacked the small Jewish quarter on Rosh Hashanah in 1198 or 1199, and the Jews were driven from the city. Jews again lived in Bingen as moneylenders in the middle of the 13th century under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Mainz. In 1343, French Jews settled in Bingen. In 1405, the archbishop declared a moratorium on one-fifth of the debts owed to Jews by Christians, and subsequently the archbishops repeatedly extorted large sums. Noted rabbis who taught in the small community included Seligmann Oppenheim, who convened the Council of Bingen (1455–56) in an unsuccessful attempt to establish his authority over the whole of Rhineland Jewry. After the proposal was opposed by Moses Minz, the matter was referred to Isaac Isserlein, who rejected the project. The Jews were again expelled from Bingen in 1507, and did not return until the second half of the 16th century. The Jewish population was 465 in 1933, and 222 in 1939 due to flight and emigration. The 169 Jews who remained in Bingen in 1942 were sent to concentration camps, and only four ultimately returned. The synagogue was demolished in 1945, and the community was not reestablished after World War II.

Town council
The council is made up of 36 members. The mayor since 2012 has been the CDU politician Thomas Feser. Seats are apportioned thus:

Coat of arms
The town's arms show Saint Martin cutting off a piece of his cloak for a poor man and, in a small inescutcheon in dexter chief, the Wheel of Mainz.

Main sights

 * Mouse Tower
 * Former monastery church, the Basilica of St. Martin, from the 15th century with Romanesque crypt
 * Klopp Castle (Burg Klopp)
 * Rochuskapelle
 * Drususbrücke (bridge) with Romanesque bridge chapel
 * Old Rhine Crane
 * Haferkasten ("Oat Shed", from after 1689) with Stefan-George-Museum
 * Puricellipalais, an Empire style building from 1780
 * Old Graveyard from the 19th century with Napoleon monument
 * Historical Museum on the theme "Hildegard of Bingen"
 * Roman villa rustica in the Bingen Forest
 * Rhine Floodplain Special Protection Area
 * Bingerbrück Reiter Signal Box technological cultural monument
 * A new concept was introduced with the Route der Industriekultur Rhein-Main ("Rhine-Main Industrial Culture Route"), along which industrial building works on the 160 km between Miltenberg and Bingen are linked together into an adventure route about the Industrial Age in southern Germany. Already 700 buildings are scientifically catalogued.

Bingen 2008 State Garden Show
Bingen was from 18 April to 19 October 2008 host for the Rhineland-Palatinate State Garden Show. The event was held along a 2.8 km stretch of the Rhine waterfront on 24 ha of exhibition area. With 1.3 million visitors, the expected number of 600,000 was greatly exceeded.

Regular events

 * Bingen swingt – jazz festival
 * Binger Open Air Festival – Alternative festival
 * Breakpoint – worldwide, one of the demoscene's biggest events (no longer held)
 * Nacht der Verführung – (literally "Night of Seduction") wine festival in the vines
 * Rhein im Feuerzauber – great firework event
 * Rochusfest (Saint Roch's Festival) – church festival with folk character, Bishopric of Mainz pilgrimage
 * Winzerfest (winemakers' festival) – lasting 11 days, the longest wine festival on the Rhine

Economy and infrastructure
The region is characterized economically by winegrowing, especially as in Bingen three winegrowing areas (Rheinhessen, Mittelrhein and Nahe) meet. The town is also the winegrowing Bereich's (Bereich Bingen) namesake in German wine law.

Other industries that once did business in Bingen when there was a harbour have left the town over the years. The service industries here today are found mainly in the industrial park (Autobahn interchange Bingen-Ost / Kempten / Industriegebiet) and in the Scharlachberg commercial park.

Tourism also plays an important role.

Resident businesses

 * NSM-Löwen (slot machines)
 * Oerlikon Balzers Coating Germany GmbH

Rail
The main railway station, Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof, lies in the outlying centre of Bingerbrück. It is served by InterCity trains as well as one ICE line.

Bingen (Rhein) Stadt station lies 2 km farther east, right across from the historical harbour crane. This station is important only for local transport. There is also a stop in Bingen-Gaulsheim. The reason that two railway stations arose in Bingen is historical. The main railway station was originally a Prussian border station built by the Rhenish Railway Company on its West Rhine Railway, whilst the station in town belonged to the Hessian Ludwig Railway.

The stops at Drususbrücke on the Bingen Hbf-Bad Kreuznach line and Bingen-Kempten and Büdesheim-Dromersheim on the Bingen/Rhein Stadt–Alzey line are no longer served.

Road
Bingen lies next to Autobahnen A 60 and A 61, which are linked to the town by Bundesstraße 9.

Water
Only private transport is still of importance today. The cargo harbour has been abandoned. The former winter harbour is now a marina.

There are landing stages of the tourist lines Köln-Düsseldorfer, Bingen-Rüdesheimer Fahrgastschifffahrt and Rösslerlinie. A passenger ferry and a car ferry link Bingen with Rüdesheim.

Until the late 1970s Bingen was a piloting station.

Education

 * University of Applied Sciences Bingen
 * Stefan-George-Gymnasium
 * Hildegardisschule, Bishopric of Mainz Catholic private school
 * Rochus-Realschule
 * Rupertus Hauptschule
 * Berufsbildende Schule Bingen (vocational school)
 * Bingen town library
 * Folk high school

Born before 1900

 * Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), abbess and author, mystic, writer, composer, musician, and medic. After her the Bingen girls' school (Gymnasium and vocational school), the Hildegardisschule ("Higa"), is named. On 7 October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named her a Doctor of the Church.
 * Bertha of Bingen (c. 600's)
 * Joseph Albrecht von Ittner (1754–1825), writer
 * Philipp Foltz (1805–1877), painter
 * Ferdinand Allmann (1828–1912), Mayor of Bingen and Member of the Landstände of the Grand Duchy of Hesse
 * Heinrich Brück (1831–1903), Bishop of Mainz
 * Johann Baptist Hilsdorf (1835–1918), photographer and father of Theodor and Jacob
 * Karl Johann Brilmayer (1843–1905), Catholic priest, writer and Rhenish Hessian local historian
 * Alice Bensheimer (1864–1935), politician and feminist
 * Theodor Hilsdorf (1868–1944), photographer
 * Stefan George (1868–1933), poet
 * Carl Friedberg (1872–1955), pianist and music pedagogue
 * Jacob Hilsdorf (1872–1916), photographer
 * Pankraz Blank (born 1882), Member of the Landtag (Zentrum)
 * Saladin Schmitt (1883–1951), theatre researcher, producer and theatre manager
 * Fritz Nathan (architect) (1891–1960), leading Jewish architect who designed synagogues, department stores, and the first skyscraper in Mannheim

Born 1900 and later

 * Max Richter (geologist) (1900–1983), geologist and paleontologist, professor at the Freie Universität Berlin
 * August Weimer (1908–1980), trade unionist and politician (CDU), Member of the Bundestag
 * Anton Philipp Brück (1913–1984), ecclesiastical historian, librarian at the Martinus-Bibliothek
 * Günter Duffrer (born 1922), docent for pastoral liturgy at the Episcopal Seminary, diocesan president of church choirs in the Bishopric of Mainz
 * Claire Marienfeld (born 1940), politician, former Bundestag Armed Forces Commissioner
 * Mary Roos (born 1949), singer and actress
 * Tina York (born 1954), singer
 * Thomas Kling (1957–2005), lyric poet
 * Peter Frey (born 1957), journalist
 * Frank Schröder (actor) (born 1964), singer and actor
 * Dajan Šimac (born 1982), footballer
 * Jan Schlaudraff (born 1983), footballer and first national player from Bingen

Twin towns – sister cities
Bingen am Rhein is twinned with:

 * 🏴 Hitchin, England, United Kingdom (1958)
 * 🇫🇷 Nuits-Saint-Georges, France (1960)
 * 🇫🇷 Venarey-les-Laumes, France (1967)
 * Prizren, Kosovo (1968)
 * 🇹🇷 Anamur, Turkey (2011)
 * 🇨🇿 Kutná Hora, Czech Republic (2011)

title: Bingen am Rhein


text:
File:Gothic big.jpg

The image sent by Ed Trice, who agreed to release it under GFDL.

title: File:Gothic big.jpg


text:
Vincent Tan

Vincent Tan Chee Yioun (born 1952) is a Malaysian Chinese businessman and investor. He is the founder of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, a diversified conglomerate listed on the Malaysian stock exchange. Besides holding stakes through the Berjaya Corporation group of companies, Tan's other stakes include interest in internet–related businesses, water utilities, media, retail and telecommunications.

In 2010, he entered the Forbes billionaire list with an estimated worth of USD 1.6 billion (RM4.2 billion). Tan's success in the Malaysian business sector has been attributed in part to his close association with prominent Malay political figures. As of May 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $695 million, making him the 28th richest person in Malaysia.

Early life
Tan was born in Batu Pahat in 1952, and studied at Batu Pahat High School. Tan had originally planned to study law in New Zealand, but as his father's business was failing, he found work as a clerk in a bank instead. He then sold life insurance for AIA and became an agency manager at AIA by the age of 23.

Tan then started private companies in trading, credit, general insurance and real estate. He started a joint venture with Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance that became United Prime Insurance. In 1981, he won a McDonald's franchise in Malaysia, took an advance operations course at Hamburger University, and became the managing director of McDonald's Malaysia in 1982.

Berjaya Corporation
In 1984, Tan moved into Berjaya, which purchased 48% of the consumer durables company Regnis the same year. Tan had association with the then finance minister Daim Zainuddin. In 1985, Tan bought 51% of Sports Toto from the Malaysian government. Pre-tax profit of Sports Toto rose from RM 5 million in 1985 to RM 36 by April 1989. He injected his shares in Sports Toto into Berjaya to gain control of Berjaya. In 1988, he swapped his shares in Berjaya for Raleigh Bhd, a lost-making company linked to Daim, which was then renamed Inter-Pacific and turned into Berjaya's holding company. Under his leadership, Berjaya's pretax profit rose from RM 700,000 in 1984 to RM 70 million in 1989.

In 2010, Tan received a gaming license for his wholly owned subsidiary Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd. However the license was revoked in October 2010, and as of July 2018 the government said it had no plans to reissue it.

Below are the listed subsidiaries under Berjaya Corporation Berhad:
 * Berjaya Land Berhad
 * Berjaya Sports Toto Berhad
 * Berjaya Food Berhad (including Pappa Rich brand)
 * REDtone International Berhad
 * Berjaya Philippines Inc.

Cardiff City
In May 2010, Tan became the owner of Cardiff City after a consortium of Malaysian investors (led by Dato Chan Tien Ghee) bought 30% of the club's shares.

In May 2012, the consortium said they would invest £100 million to increase the stadium's capacity and build a new training ground, providing they were given permission to rebrand the club from blue to red. The plans sparked outrage among Cardiff supporters, who quickly organised an emergency meeting to discuss how they would respond to the proposal. The plans were subsequently dropped.

One month later, the club went ahead with the rebranding, to expand Cardiff's appeal in foreign markets. Cardiff's badge was redesigned to include a red dragon, while their home kit was changed from blue to red. The club's £30 million debt to the Langston Corporation was also cleared.

In April 2013, following Cardiff's promotion to the Premier League, Tan promised to spend £25 million to help Cardiff establish themselves in the top flight, and publicly stated his interest in listing his 36.1% stake on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). An initial public offering (IPO) would sell shares in the club to the public for the first time, in an attempt to gain capital to expand the business.

In October 2013, Tan created more controversy after suspending Iain Moody, the club's head of recruitment, who had apparently overspent by £15 million during the summer transfer window. Moody was initially added to the backroom staff by then manager Malky Mackay, and helped Cardiff sign several players ahead of their inaugural Premier League campaign. He was replaced by Alisher Apsalyamovby, a 23-year-old Kazakh who was previously on work experience with the club and is a friend of Tan's son. A few months later, following an investigation over Apsalyamovby's visa, he was forced to leave the club.

Despite going over budget during the summer, Mackay publicly stated his plans to boost his squad during the January transfer window, which upset Tan, who said that no money would be made available. Mackay said he would not resign following Tan's criticism, and was subsequently backed by Cardiff fans. Towards the end of December, Tan told Mackay to resign or be sacked. He managed two more games before being sacked. After his sacking, it was alleged that Mackay had sent texts of an anti-Chinese nature, which was defended by Dave Whelan, owner of his subsequent employers Wigan Athletic. Tan responded by calling both of them racists, and saying "I hope that stops at two racists in Wigan, not snowballing to 2,000 or 20,000 racists in Wigan."

On 2 January 2014, former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær was hired as Mackay's replacement, but he was unable to save Cardiff from relegation. Solskjær left the club later that year and was replaced by Russell Slade.

In October 2016, Tan hired Neil Warnock, at the time the oldest working coach in Britain, as manager. By 2018, Cardiff City was promoted to the Premier League once again. In their one season back in the Premier League, they finished 18th and were relegated back to the Championship.

FK Sarajevo
In December 2013 Tan bought Bosnian club FK Sarajevo. Under the deal, Cardiff will cooperate with FK Sarajevo, exchanging players and taking part in a football academy, yet to be established, which Tan has said will lure new talents. FK Sarajevo have since brought in players such as Miloš Stojčev, Džemal Berberović and Nemanja Bilbija, who helped the club win the 2013–14 Bosnian Cup, their first title since winning the domestic Premier League in 2006–07. Prior to the Cup triumph, Robert Jarni was brought in as manager of the club in December 2013 by Tan, but was dismissed after only four months (on 7 April 2014, while the team were still in the semi-finals of the Bosnian Cup) because the club had failed to keep their chances of winning the premier league title alive during the later stages of the 2013-14 season. In July 2014 FK Sarajevo played a friendly match against Tan's Cardiff City FC U21, winning 4–1. FK Sarajevo qualified for the Play-off round of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, where they lost to German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In May 2014, the heaviest rains and floods in 120 years hit Bosnia and the surrounding region. The worst affected areas were the towns of Doboj and Maglaj, which were cut off from the rest of the country when all major roads flooded. Damage from landslides and floods was estimated to run into hundreds of millions of euros and twenty-four people were killed. The cost of the disaster, officials said, could exceed that of the Bosnian War. In June 2014, Tan made a personal donation of €114,000, while the people of Malaysia raised a total of €169,000 toward Bosnia's flood relief fund.

On 17 July 2014, during the halftime break of the Europa League qualifying match between FK Sarajevo and Norwegian club FK Haugesund at the Olympic Stadium in Sarajevo, Tan presented pledges of assistance of €255,000 each to two hospitals in Doboj and Maglaj, to be used for medical equipment. He said in a pre-match interview, "Because of my involvement with Sarajevo Football Club, when I heard about the floods, I urged the Sun newspaper to run a campaign to raise donations to help Bosnia."

KV Kortrijk
KV Kortrijk was bought for 5 million euro by Vincent Tan on 12 May 2015. In 2019, Tan has convinced the club to sign Malaysian teen sensation Luqman Hakim Shamsudin of Selangor F.C. for a five-year contract.

Los Angeles FC
In 2014, it was announced that Tan was part of a large ownership group involved with Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC, who joined the league in 2018.

Reports from 2017 indicate that Tan is looking to sell Cardiff City, his stake in Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles FC, and his professional teams in Bosnia and Belgium. In 2020, Tan sold his 20% stake in the club.

Horse racing
In April 2014, Tan (through one of his representatives) bought a two-year-old colt from Doncaster Bloodstock Breeze-Up Sales for £190,000. It will be trained by Australian Jeremy Gask in Wiltshire. Eamonn Wilmott, Gask's business partner, said: "We are very excited, and pleased to have Mr Tan involved. The horse looks exceptional and dominated the parade rings outside the sales."

Philanthropy
Tan is the founder of the Better Malaysia Foundation, which provides interest-free loans and scholarships to students in need. In 2011 he was featured on Forbes Asia's list of Heroes of Philanthropy due to his pledge to donate half his fortune to social causes.

In 2017, Vincent Tan donated RM500,000 to Mercy Malaysia and Tzu Chi Malaysia, bringing the total sum of his donations to both organizations to RM7.6 million.

Honours of Malaysia

 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia :
 * Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - PSM.svg Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (1991)
 * Kelantan :
 * My-KEL Order of the Life of the Crown of Kelantan 1925-2006.svg Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Life of the Crown of Kelantan (SJMK) – Dato' (2005)
 * Pahang :
 * MY-PAH Order of the Crown of Pahang - Grand Knight - SIMP.svg Grand Knight of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (SIMP) – formerly Dato', now Dato' Indera (1989)
 * Terengganu :
 * MY-TER Order of the Crown of Terengganu - SPMT - SMT - AMT.svg Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Terengganu (SPMT) – Dato' (1991)
 * MY-TER Order of Sultan Mahmud I of Terengganu - SSMT.svg Member Grand Companion of the Order of Sultan Mahmud I of Terengganu (SSMT) – Dato' Seri (1997)

title: Vincent Tan


text:
Shelling of Mainila

The Shelling of Mainila (Mainilan laukaukset, Skotten i Mainila), or the Mainila incident (Ма́йнильский инциде́нт), was a military incident on 26 November 1939 in which the Soviet Union's Red Army shelled the Soviet village of Mainila (Ма́йнило) near Beloostrov. The Soviet Union declared that the fire originated from Finland across the nearby border and claimed to have had losses in personnel. Through that false flag operation, the Soviet Union gained a great propaganda boost and a casus belli for launching the Winter War four days later.

Historians have now concluded that the shelling of Mainila was a fabrication carried out by the Soviet NKVD state security agency.

Background
The Soviet Union had signed international and mutual nonaggression treaties with Finland: the Treaty of Tartu of 1920, the Non-aggression Pact between Finland and the Soviet Union signed in 1932 and again in 1934, and further the Charter of the League of Nations. The Soviet government attempted to adhere to a tradition of legalism, and a casus belli was required for war. Earlier in the same year, Nazi Germany had staged the similar Gleiwitz incident to generate an excuse to withdraw from its nonaggression pact with Poland. Also the Soviet war games held in March 1938 and 1939 had been based on a scenario where border incidents taking place at the village of Mainila would have sparked the war.

The incident
Seven shots were fired, and three Finnish observation posts detected their fall. These witnesses estimated that the shells detonated approximately 800 m inside Soviet territory. Finland proposed a neutral investigation of the incident, but the Soviet Union refused and broke diplomatic relations with Finland on November 29.

Materials in the private archives of Soviet party leader Andrei Zhdanov show that the incident was orchestrated to paint Finland as an aggressor and launch an offensive. The Finnish side denied responsibility for the attacks and identified Soviet artillery as their source—indeed, the war diaries of nearby Finnish artillery batteries show that Mainila was out of range of all of them, as they had been withdrawn to prevent such incidents.

The Soviet Union then renounced the non-aggression pact with Finland and, on 30 November 1939, launched the first offensives of the Winter War.

Aftermath
John Gunther, an American journalist and author wrote in December 1939 that the incident "was as clumsy and obviously fabricated as all such 'incidents' have been since Mukden in 1931". The Finns conducted an immediate investigation, which concluded that no Finnish artillery or mortars could have reached the village of Mainila. Field Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim had ordered all Finnish guns drawn back out of range. Finnish border guards testified they had heard the sound of artillery fire from the Soviet side of the border.

Russian historian Pavel Aptekar analyzed declassified Soviet military documents and found that the daily reports from troops in the area did not report any losses in personnel during the time period in question, leading him to conclude that the shelling of Soviet troops was staged.

In his 1970 memoir, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote on the start of the Winter War: "We had fired our salvo, and the Finns had replied with artillery fire of their own. De facto, the war had begun. There is, of course, another version of the facts: it's said that the Finns started shooting first and that we were compelled to shoot back. It's always like that when people start a war. They say, "You fired the first shot," or "You slapped me first, and I'm only hitting back."

On 18 May 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin denounced the Winter War, saying it had been a war of aggression.

1941 Finnish shelling of Mainila
During the Continuation War, the 18th Division of the Finnish Army reached Rajajoki on 31 August 1941 and started preparations for taking the village of Mainila. Their division commander Colonel Pajari recognized the propaganda value and arranged for an artillery strike on the village to be witnessed by combat camera personnel, and the village was taken a couple of days later. In his report to HQ in Mikkeli, Pajari stated that "on 31st August 1941 the 18th division conducted the Shelling of Mainila."

title: Shelling of Mainila


text:
Thomas Simpson

Thomas Simpson FRS (20 August 1710 – 14 May 1761) was a British mathematician and inventor known for the eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathematics, can be debated: this rule had been found 100 years earlier by Johannes Kepler, and in German it is called Keplersche Fassregel, or roughly "Kepler's Barrel Rule".

Biography
Simpson was born in Sutton Cheney, Leicestershire. The son of a weaver, Simpson taught himself mathematics. At the age of nineteen, he married a fifty-year old widow with two children. As a youth, he became interested in astrology after seeing a solar eclipse. He also dabbled in divination and caused fits in a girl after 'raising a devil' from her. After this incident, he and his wife fled to Derby. He moved with his wife and children to London at age twenty-five, where he supported his family by weaving during the day and teaching mathematics at night.

From 1743, he taught mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Simpson was a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1758, Simpson was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

He died in Market Bosworth, and was laid to rest in Sutton Cheney. A plaque inside the church commemorates him.

Early work
Simpson's treatise entitled The Nature and Laws of Chance and The Doctrine of Annuities and Reversions were based on the work of De Moivre and were attempts at making the same material more brief and understandable. Simpson stated this clearly in The Nature and Laws of Chance, referring to Abraham De Moivre's The Doctrine of Chances: "tho' it neither wants Matter nor Elegance to recommend it, yet the Price must, I am sensible, have put it out of the Power of many to purchase it". In both works, Simpson cited De Moivre's work and did not claim originality beyond the presentation of some more accurate data. While he and De Moivre initially got along, De Moivre eventually felt that his income was threatened by Simpson's work and in his second edition of Annuities upon Lives, wrote in the preface:

"After the pains I have taken to perfect this Second Edition, it may happen, that a certain Person, whom I need not name, out of Compassion to the Public, will publish a Second Edition of his Book on the same Subject, which he will afford at a very moderate Price, not regarding whether he mutilates my Propositions, obscures what is clear, makes a Shew of new Rules, and works by mine; in short, confounds, in his usual way, every thing with a croud of useless Symbols; if this be the Case, I must forgive the indigent Author, and his disappointed Bookseller."

Work

The method commonly called Simpson's Rule was known and used earlier by Bonaventura Cavalieri (a student of Galileo) in 1639, and later by James Gregory; still, the long popularity of Simpson's textbooks invites this association with his name, in that many readers would have learnt it from them.

In the context of disputes surrounding methods advanced by René Descartes, Pierre de Fermat proposed the challenge to find a point D such that the sum of the distances to three given points, A, B and C is least, a challenge popularised in Italy by Marin Mersenne in the early 1640s. Simpson treats the problem in the first part of Doctrine and Application of Fluxions (1750), on pp. 26–28, by the description of circular arcs at which the edges of the triangle ABC subtend an angle of pi/3; in the second part of the book, on pp. 505–506 he extends this geometrical method, in effect, to weighted sums of the distances. Several of Simpson's books contain selections of optimisation problems treated by simple geometrical considerations in similar manner, as (for Simpson) an illuminating counterpart to possible treatment by fluxional (calculus) methods. But Simpson does not treat the problem in the essay on geometrical problems of maxima and minima appended to his textbook on Geometry of 1747, although it does appear in the considerably reworked edition of 1760. Comparative attention might, however, usefully be drawn to a paper in English from eighty years earlier as suggesting that the underlying ideas were already recognised then:
 * J. Collins A Solution, Given by Mr. John Collins of a Chorographical Probleme, Proposed by Richard Townley Esq. Who Doubtless Hath Solved the Same Otherwise, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 6 (1671), pp. 2093–2096.

Of further related interest are problems posed in the early 1750s by J. Orchard, in The British Palladium, and by T. Moss, in The Ladies' Diary; or Woman's Almanack (at that period not yet edited by Simpson).

Simpson-Weber triangle problem
This type of generalisation was later popularised by Alfred Weber in 1909. The Simpson-Weber triangle problem consists in locating a point D with respect to three points A, B, and C in such a way that the sum of the transportation costs between D and each of the three other points is minimised. In 1971, Luc-Normand Tellier found the first direct (non iterative) numerical solution of the Fermat and Simpson-Weber triangle problems. Long before Von Thünen's contributions, which go back to 1818, the Fermat point problem can be seen as the very beginning of space economy.

In 1985, Luc-Normand Tellier formulated an all-new problem called the “attraction-repulsion problem”, which constitutes a generalisation of both the Fermat and Simpson-Weber problems. In its simplest version, the attraction-repulsion problem consists in locating a point D with respect to three points A1, A2 and R in such a way that the attractive forces exerted by points A1 and A2, and the repulsive force exerted by point R cancel each other out. In the same book, Tellier solved that problem for the first time in the triangle case, and he reinterpreted the space economy theory, especially, the theory of land rent, in the light of the concepts of attractive and repulsive forces stemming from the attraction-repulsion problem. That problem was later further analysed by mathematicians like Chen, Hansen, Jaumard and Tuy (1992), and Jalal and Krarup (2003). The attraction-repulsion problem is seen by Ottaviano and Thisse (2005) as a prelude to the New Economic Geography that developed in the 1990s, and earned Paul Krugman a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008.

Publications

 * Treatise of Fluxions (1737)
 * The Nature and Laws of Chance (1740)
 * The Doctrine of Annuities and Reversions (1742)
 * A Treatise of Algebra (1745)
 * Elements of Plane Geometry. To which are added, An Essay on the Maxima and Minima of Geometrical Quantities, And a brief Treatise of regular Solids; Also, the Mensuration of both Superficies and Solids, together with the Construction of a large Variety of Geometrical Problems  (Printed for the Author; Samuel Farrer; and John Turner, London, 1747) [The book is described as being Designed for the Use of Schools and the main body of text is Simpson's reworking of the early books of The Elements of Euclid. Simpson is designated Professor of Geometry in the Royal Academy at Woolwich.]
 * Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical (1748)
 * Doctrine and Application of Fluxions. Containing (besides what is common on the subject) a Number of New Improvements on the Theory. And the Solution of a Variety of New, and very Interesting, Problems in different Branches of the Mathematicks (two parts bound in one volume; J. Nourse, London, 1750)
 * Select Exercises in Mathematics (1752)
 * Doctrine and Application of Fluxions. Containing (besides what is common on the subject) a Number of New Improvements on the Theory. And the Solution of a Variety of New, and very Interesting, Problems in different Branches of the Mathematicks (two parts bound in one volume; J. Nourse, London, 1750)
 * Select Exercises in Mathematics (1752)

title: Thomas Simpson


text:
Robin Ellis

Anthony Robin Ellis (born 8 January 1942) is a British actor and cookery book writer best known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark in the 29 episodes of the 1975 BBC classic series Poldark, adapted from a series of books by the British author Winston Graham. He also appeared in Fawlty Towers, Cluedo, The Good Soldier (an adaptation of the Ford Madox Ford novel), Elizabeth R (playing Essex), The Moonstone, Bel Ami, Sense and Sensibility (which also featured Clive Francis), The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, She Loves Me (in which he sings) and Blue Remembered Hills (written by Dennis Potter). In 2015–17 and 2019 he appeared in the Poldark series remake as Reverend Halse.

Life and career
Ellis was born in Ipswich, Suffolk. He was educated at the independent Highgate School in Highgate in north London, and at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge where he read history and appeared in over 20 plays. His first West End performance was in Sheridan's The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, as Captain Jack Absolute. He went on to play in The Real Inspector Hound at the Criterion Theatre and Widowers' Houses at the Royal Court. He was part of the innovative Actors' Company, founded in 1972 by Ian McKellen and Edward Petherbridge, organised and run democratically by the actors themselves. In that repertory company he appeared in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ruling the Roost, The Way of the World, The Wood Demon, The Bacchae, Tartuffe, King Lear and Knots (based on the R. D. Laing book).

Ellis's big break came in 1975 with his first major role in a popular television series. He played the heart throb Ross Poldark in the BBC 1 series, Poldark.

In 1969, he played Ames in the film Arthur? Arthur!. Ellis co-starred with Lee Remick in the Merchant Ivory film The Europeans (1979), based on the novel by Henry James, playing the role of John Acton. Ellis appeared in the CBS mini-series The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (playing Howard Carter, the Englishman who discovered the tomb of King Tut), in the British TV drama Heartbeat and in a BBC adaptation of A Dark-Adapted Eye (1994) a psychological thriller written by Ruth Rendell.

Ellis also had a long career in the theatre, including a stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He appeared there in a musical version of The Comedy of Errors playing Pinch; in King Lear playing Edmund; Troilus and Cressida playing Achilles; and in Much Ado About Nothing playing Don Pedro. His last West End theatre performance was with Zoë Wanamaker in Sylvia by A.R. Gurney at the Apollo Theatre in 1996.

He is a well-known voiceover artist, and co-owned a voiceover agency called Voices in London for many years. He has narrated documentaries, including Fall of the Wall, The Second Russian Revolution, The Death of Yugoslavia and End of Empire.

He is the author of a memoir entitled Making Poldark about the series (originally published by Bossiney Books, ISBN 0-906456-00-2). Making Poldark was expanded and revised in 2012, and republished by Palo Alto Publishing (ISBN 9780983939818). An audio version of his memoir was released on Audible in June 2015.

He had a recurring role in the BBC/Mammoth adaptation of Poldark as Reverend Halse.

In 2021, he played the Ghost in an online production of Hamlet, produced by the Gorilla Repertory Theater in New York, which was scheduled for completion in autumn 2021.

Cookbook writer
His first cookbook, Delicious Dishes for Diabetics: A Mediterranean Way of Eating, was published in 2011. The US edition was titled Delicious Dishes for Diabetics: Eating Well with Type 2 Diabetes.

His second cookbook, Healthy Eating for Life, came out in 2014. His third cookbook, Mediterranean Cooking for Diabetics: Delicious Dishes to Control or Avoid Diabetes was published in 2016 by Little, Brown UK. His fourth cookbook, Robin Ellis's Mediterranean Vegetarian Cooking was published in June 2020 by Little, Brown UK.

Personal life
Ellis lives with his wife Meredith in southwest France. His younger brothers are the actor Jack Ellis and the director Peter Ellis, who died in 2006.

title: Robin Ellis


text:
User talk:Thofmann

Hello, "Thofmann" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

P.S.: There's no need to have an article with no text other than "See [link to some other article]". Put "#REDIRECT " followed by a link to the article and ait is automatically redirected; see Redirect for more info. Cheers, -- Infrogmation 14:53, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)
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title: User talk:Thofmann


text:
Station Group Gardermoen

Station Group Gardermoen (Norwegian: Gardermoen flystasjon) is located about 50 km north of Oslo, Norway. It is colocated with Norway's main airport, Oslo Airport, Gardermoen.

335 Squadron and 717 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force are stationed at Gardermoen, which operates respectively C-130J-30 Super Hercules transport aircraft and Dassault Falcon 20 electronic warfare aircraft.

History
The Norwegian Army started using Gardermoen as a camp already in 1740, when it was called Fredericksfeldt. The first flight took place in 1912, and by 1920 there were multiple hangars at the airport.

During the German invasion of Norway in World War II the Germans bombed the airport, but built it up with two 2000-meter runways during the war.

The military airport was founded on December 1, 1996, with new installations for 1,2 billion NOK. The airfield is built to easily expand cheaply and fast whenever needed. On October 8, 1998 the main airport serving Oslo was moved from Fornebu to Gardermoen. The new airport had among other facilities two runways.

The Air Force was considering moving its operations at Gardermoen to Rygge Air Station by consent of the Chief of Defence of Norway, General Sigurd Frisvold in the 2003-2004 period; however, this proposition was turned down by the Norwegian Parliament's Defence Committee. Thus, the air station currently remains operational.

title: Station Group Gardermoen


text: User talk:64.239.192.182

title: User talk:64.239.192.182


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Suba people (Kenya)

The Suba (Abasuba) are a heterogeneous Bantu group of people in Kenya with an amalgamation of clans drawn from their main tribes Ganda people, Luhya people, and Soga who speak the Suba language that is closely similar to the Ganda language spare some lexical items borrowed from Luo. Their population is estimated at 157,787, with substantial fluent speakers. They migrated to Kenya from [[Uganda and settled on the two Lake Victoria islands of Rusinga and Mfangano, others also settled on the mainland areas including Gembe, Gwassi, Kaksingri of Suba South and Migori and are believed to be the last tribe to have settled in Kenya. The immigrants to present-day Subaland trace their ancestry among Ganda people, Luhya people, Soga people, and the Luo people. The evidence supporting this is the fact that some Suba groups speak languages similar to Luganda, Lusoga and the Luhya. The Suba groups tracing ancestry among the Kenyan tribes preceded those groups from Uganda in present-day Subaland and are the numerous and influential ones. Those groups from Uganda are mostly concentrated in Rusinga and Mfangano islands with small pockets of them being found in mainland Kenya. Linguistically, the Suba are highly influenced by the neighbouring Luo, to the point of a language shift having taken place among large portions of the mainland Suba. As a result, their own language has been classified as endangered. Despite this language shift, the Suba have kept a distinct ethnic identity. The Rusinga Festival is held in December of every year as a cultural festival to celebrate and preserve Suba culture and language.

A community cultural festival known as Rusinga Island Cultural, Religious and Arts Festival popularly known as RICRAF is an annual community event which celebrates the cultural heritage of the indigenous Abasuba peoples of Rusinga Island, celebrates the island's archeological significance and gives the islanders a platform to showcase cultural arts and industry.

The Abagirango (Suna Girango) is another group that is usually erroneously grouped together with the Abasuba of Suba South and Suba North, since they also call themselves Abasuba. But, this is because Girango had a son named Musuba (Suba) and this Musuba had many children than his other brothers, for instance, Tegi and Gire hence descendants of Musuba calling themselves Abasuba meaning Musuba's people. Suba clans in Suna include Simbete, Sweta, and Wiga; and they have a clear and distinct ancestry that goes back to forefathers who crossed red Sea from Misri as illustrated below:

Ragwe<--Siora<--Montheya<--Girango<--Musubaabs

Their language is also distinct and very different from the Olusuba language spoken by the Abasuba of Homa Bay County. The Suna people speak the Ekisuba/Egesuba language which is the same language spoken by their brothers the Suba people (Tanzania). Currently, those who claim to speak Ekisuba actually speak igikuria (bunchari dialect) which is the same language as the Ekisuba/Egesuba spare the name difference.

General Information
There are also people in Tanzania (Tarime, Musoma and Rorya Districts, Mara Region) who call themselves Suba, and are part of the Abagirango since their language and cultural heritage is the same.

The Suba people who settled on the islands include smaller clans called the Eluzinga or'Chula', meaning the people of the islands. This group includes the following clans: Waware, Awakiwanga (Kaswanga), Wanyama, Waregi, Awamasengere (Kamasengere), Wasaki and Awangoze (Ngodhe), while others were called the Awibuang'ano/Awaivuang'ano (Mfangano/Fang'ano). This group includes Wakula, Wasamo, Wagimbe, Wiramba who are related to Awakiimba (Kakiimba), Awisokolwa and Waozi. Other groups also poured into Mfangano due to the pressure from advancing Luos in Central Nyanza especially in areas around Imbo Naya. They settled in Mfangano and they include; Wayokia, Wakisasi/Awakisori, Wakiara/Wakiala. Others include Kamreri, Kayanja and Waondo who are found in Mirunda Gembe Suba North. Other clans began forming when the people did much more expansion onto the islands. For example, there are other clans whose clan names were distinguished by their new geographic location.

The clan that predominantly lives the closest to Lake Victoria and is the bigger of the sub groups is the people that go by the name Awigassi or Gwasii and they happen to reside upon the Gwasii Hills, Gwassi and Wakula are related since their forefathers Kiboye and Witewe were brothers before escaping to the east after a revolt in the Bagandan Kingdom in the year 1700. Waware were also involved in this struggle. Other groups that reside on a hill are the Uregi who reside on the Uregi Hills of Meari which is a town in the Nyanza province as well as Awangoe residing in the Ungoe Hills. The Awakune or Kaksingri clan live along the lake from Gingo to a small fishing village called Sindo to Ragwe and Ngeri, and they are closely related with Uregi who live in the Uregi Hills since their forefathers came from the same home. Today many people in the islands and the highlands subsequent to Lake Victoria still retain the original Suba dialect that is the Olusuba that is closely related to the Ganda language, and Lusoga although it is heavily influenced by the bigger Dholuo and Kuria in some areas through interaction. As a result of that interaction, the Olusuba has borrowed a significant amount of lexical items from Dholuo and Kuria that were absent in the original Luganda-like Olusuba dialect.

Further information upon the tribesmen's expansion remained unclear pretty unclear considering that the Niger-Congo family has the largest number of dialects within Africa. Distinguishing the different dialects become rather difficult because they all predominantly use the noun class system. With that being said it has become rather unclear as to how deep into Kenya the Suba people managed to travel being as distinguishing them from other dialects becomes harder and harder as the language is slowly being influenced by its neighboring language, Luo. Suba scholars have taken the initiative to rewrite the History and more information is now available.

Other Suba speakers are found in the Southern shores of the Lake in Muhuru Bay. They are generally called Muhuhuru People and they also speak the Suba language. Some pockets of Uregi, Gwassi, and Kaksingri are also found in Muhuru Bay in Migori county.

Even the greater Suna people who based in Migori county usually identify themselves as Suba and are linguistically and culturally distinct and are unconnected to the Abasuba from Suba district. The Suna people are a heterogeneous group that comprises Luo and splinter tribes from the Kuria. The Suna have however integrated clans originally part of the Olusuba speaking Suba such as Waware, Wiga and Kaswanga into their various sub-groups. The Suna people are the Abagirango or Girango people who call themselves Abasuba because Girango had a son named Musuba (Suba) and not because they are related to the Olusuba speaking Suba of Homa Bay County who are descended of migrants from Buganda and Busoga that entered Kenya through Rusinga and Mfangano Islands by boats.

However, the correct name for the Suna people is ABAGIRANGO although they are referenced as Suna/Suba-Girango to distinguish them from the Olusuba speaking Suba of Homa Bay County who are distinct in terms of heritage from the Abagirango. The term Suba was originally used by Luos to refer to splinter tribes from their main tribes of Kisii, Kuria and Luhya and the term later became the name of the Olusuba speaking people of Homa Bay County who migrated from Uganda escaping the expansion of the Buganda Kingdom. They settled in Kenya as refugees and they had a well formed and a very organised language, political system and economic activities. The Suba in Suna Migori County, Kenya refers to a heterogeneous people of Luo, and Kuria. A clear evidence of this is a town named Suba Kuria in Migori County, Kenya. The Suna Abasuba include the Wasweta (Kadika, Katiga, Kakrao,), Wasimbete (Bahiri kiberi, Bahiri ng'ong'o, bahiri Nkena, Miaro, Nchogu) and Wiga (Wakwena, Nyasasi, Wanje, Nyathocho, Kamsuru).

Their original language is Ekisuba/Egesuba which has several dialects such as sweta, simbiti, surwa, kine, etc. Currently, they speak a language that includes a combination of Kisuba and Egikuria language – that is the bunchari dialect, and many of the communities interact freely with the Suba people in Tanzania (Surwa, Sweta, Simbiti, Hacha, Nguruimi, Kine etc.) and the Kuria (Rianchoka, Banchari, Batimbaru etc.) people. Clans of Suna people; Wasweta, Kadika, Wiga, Wanje, Katiga, Kakaeta, Kanyameda, Wasimbete, Wakwera, Wanyara, Kamn'go'ngo

2010.

Culture
The culture of the Suba People is very distinct from those of the Luo. The Suba people practice circumcision as an initiation process from boyhood to adulthood. Mostly boys are circumcised. In some clans, even girls are circumcised. Suna Girango circumcision process is very similar to their neighbors the kuria even the saro names, for instance, Nginaro, Misungu, Gitang'osa, Kirina, etc.

Clans had roles assigned to them such as circumcision, animals sacrifices and dispute settlements.

Subas were also involved in rain Making sacrifices such as animal sacrifices to appease the gods and clan spirits called Emisambwa singular Omusambwa in Suba District. These were carried out in special shrines which can still be found across Suba such as Utende, Kwitutu, Mungusa and Kiboye Shrines. Subas also revered snakes such as the Python and they believed that Clan spirit dwelled amongst them. An example is given of the spirit of Gumba in Rusinga and Mungusa of Kaksingri.

Dowry included 30heads of Cattle but this also depends upon the purity of the lady to be married. A lady with a child would attract lower number of heads of cattle. Her age mates would accompany her with songs to her new home and celebrate. Alcohol made from Sorghum and Cassava was served as a form of celebration. Ladies also decorated their tummy with special drawings.

During funerals there were gifted elders who would carry Engawvo a type of shield and a long spear and Chant around the homestead while adorned with twigs.

Suba people also practiced rock art as witnessed in the caves of Kwitone in Gulwe Mfangano.

The Suba people are cattle farmers- a culture that they borrowed from the Luos. Even though the Luo no longer keep large herds of cattle, the Suba still keep cattle in large numbers. This is especially common in Migori District in Suba west division where cattle rustling between Kurians and Girango people is common. Subas also loved sport fishing where there was a special species they went for. The Abasuba also commonly practice polygamy, some of the members of the clan are named to have had even ten wives.

Language barrier
One of the biggest issues relating to the Suba language declination is the sole fact that Kenya viewed the language as inferior. The education system is teaching English and Luo to the newer generations of Suba children thus impairing the possibilities of the language to come back. Some even say that the fluent language speakers are middle-aged and have yet to establish a system to rebuild the language so that it may take proper footing as one of Africa's many languages, thus it has established a language status of at risk. Many blame the elders as they do not take proper measures to ensure the language's existence by teaching their young ones from an early onset. The biggest concern deriving from the pressures of reviving the language is the fear that their children will begin to build an identity crisis while attending school, considering that it is taught in either English or Luo.

Other than the Rusinga Festival, one of the most recent efforts to preserve the dying language has been the production of a Bible in Suba. Efforts to translate the Bible into Suba started as early as 1988, but it was only completed in 2011.

Notable Suba people

 * Tom Mboya
 * Mbadi John Ng'ongo, politician
 * Ezekiel Odero, televangelist
 * Philip Ochieng, journalist
 * Millie Odhiambo, politician
 * John Henry Okwanyo, politician

 * S.F. Onyango Mbeo, politician
 * Michael George Okeyo, ambassador

General references

 * Amadi Allela student at the Technical University of Kenya. www.twitter.com/allela_amadi

title: Suba people (Kenya)


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Talk:Capablanca chess

Regarding the nature of the Archbishop and the Chancellor
In fact, if Carrera was a chess theorist, Capablanca probably based the game on a first draft of the Archbishop and the Chancellor. Carrera himself probably saw the imbalance of the added knight moves and knew about the setups where it was easy to exploit it by lining up the Archbishop or the Chancellor with an unprotected pawn. This is a more plausible explanation for the references to lack of play of the game during his lifetime than that he published it and somehow forgot it. 24.49.51.83 (talk) 15:12, 5 November 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Capablanca chess


text: User talk:66.99.246.226

title: User talk:66.99.246.226


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Asphodelaceae

Asphodelaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asparagales. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, but the circumscription has varied widely. In its current circumscription in the APG IV system, it includes about 40 genera and 900 known species. The type genus is Asphodelus.

The family has a wide, but scattered, distribution throughout the tropics and temperate zones; for example, Xanthorrhoea is endemic to Australia, while the Aloes are unique to Africa and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Many of the family's genera are cultivated as ornamentals, with some being highly collectible and sought-after, such as Haworthia and Gasteria, as well as their intergeneric hybrids with Aloe (x Gasteraloe, x Gastorthia, x Haworthaloe, etc.), while a few are grown commercially for cut flowers. Two species of Aloe, A. vera and A. maculata, are grown for their leaf sap, which contains digestive enzymes, and has medicinal and cosmetic applications.

Description
Members of the Asphodelaceae are diverse, with few characters uniting the three subfamilies currently recognized. The presence of anthraquinones is one common character. The flowers (the inflorescence) are typically borne on a leafless stalk (scape) which arises from a basal rosette of leaves. The individual flowers have jointed stalks (pedicels). A disk of woody tissue (a hypostase) is present at the base of the ovule.

The subfamily Xanthorrhoeoideae contains only the genus Xanthorrhoea, native to Australia. Plants typically develop thick woody stems; the flowers are arranged in a dense spike. Members of the subfamily Asphodeloideae are often leaf succulents, such as aloes and haworthias, although the subfamily also includes ornamental perennials such as red hot pokers (Kniphofia). Members of the subfamily Hemerocallidoideae are varied in habit. Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are one of the widely grown members of this subfamily.

Phylogeny
The order Asparagales can be divided into a basal paraphyletic group, the "lower Asparagales", which includes the Asphodelaceae as defined here, and a well-supported monophyletic group of "core Asparagales", comprising Amaryllidaceae sensu lato and Asparagaceae sensu lato. Three separate families were at one time recognized (e.g. in the first APG system of 1998): Asphodelaceae, Hemerocallidaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the three are closely related, although Rudall considered that the combination into a single clade was not supported by morphological analysis. The most recent APG classification, the APG IV system of 2016, places the three former families into a single family, the Asphodelaceae sensu lato. The former families are treated as three subfamilies: Asphodeloideae, Hemerocallidoideae and Xanthorrhoeoideae.

The following phylogenetic tree for Asphodelaceae sensu lato is based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the DNA sequences of the chloroplast genes rbcL, matK, and ndhF. All branches have at least 70% bootstrap support. Of the 36 genera recognized by the authors, 29 were sampled. Eccremis was not sampled, but is added here because it is known to be closely related to Pasithea and is often combined with it. Hodgsoniola belongs somewhere in the grade from Tricoryne to Johnsonia. The unsampled genera, Astroloba, Chortolirion and Gasteria, belong to subfamily Asphodeloideae.

History
The family now called Asphodelaceae has had a complex history; its circumscription and placement in an order have varied widely.

In the Cronquist system of 1981, members of the Asphodelaceae were placed in the order Liliales. Cronquist had difficulty classifying the less obviously delineated lilioid monocots; consequently, he placed taxa from both the modern orders Asparagales and Liliales into a single family Liliaceae.

In some of the older systems of plant taxonomy, such as the Cronquist system, the plants that now form the family Dasypogonaceae were also considered to belong to this family. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Dasypogonaceae belongs to the commelinids and is therefore not even in the same order as Asphodelaceae.

The decision to group three formerly separate families, Asphodelaceae sensu stricto, Hemerocallidaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae, into a single family first occurred as an option in the APG II system of 2003. The name used for the broader family was then Xanthorrhoeaceae; earlier references to the Xanthorrhoeaceae relate only to the subfamily Xanthorrhoeoideae. The changes were a consequence of improvement in molecular and morphological analysis and also a reflection of the increased emphasis on placing families within an appropriate order.

The APG III system of 2009 dropped the option of keeping the three families separate, using only the expanded family, still under the name Xanthorrhoeaceae. Anticipating a decision to conserve the name Asphodelaceae over Xanthorrhoeaceae (which came to pass in 2017), the APG IV system uses Asphodelaceae as the name for the expanded family. The three previous families were then the subfamilies Asphodeloideae, Hemerocallidoideae and Xanthorrhoeoideae. Earlier these three had been treated as separate families.

The family Asphodelaceae was made a nomen conservandum (conserved name) in 2017. Previously, the name Xanthorrhoeaceae had priority. This was anticipated in the APG IV family lists.

Genera
The genera listed below are from the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, with the division into subfamilies based on APWeb.

The nothogenus Gasteraloe contains hybrids between Aloe and Gasteria.

The genus Xeronema is now placed in a separate family, the Xeronemataceae.

title: Asphodelaceae


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Goudhurst

Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around 12 miles south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079.

The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and Curtisden Green. Hamlets include Bedgebury Cross, Iden Green, Stonecrouch and Winchet Hill.

Etymology
The word Goudhurst is derived from Goud Hurst, the "Good Hurst" (an opening in a forest) due to the hill's strategic position within the local landscape. A less plausible (but attractive) derivation is the Old English guo hyrst, meaning Battle Hill, or the wooded hill on which a battle has been fought. The name apparently commemorates a battle fought on this high ground in Saxon times. The spelling has evolved over the centuries: Gmthhyrste (c. 1100), Guthurst or Guhthersts (c. 1200), Gudhersts (1232), Guthhurste (1278), Goutherst (1316), Goodherst (1610), then the current-day spelling.

History
The village was one of those involved in the Wealden iron industry; it was a centre for the growing of hops and for weaving. A group of weavers' cottages stands opposite the church.

The Battle of Goudhurst in 1747 led to the end of the Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers and the execution of local gang leader Thomas Kingsmill whose body was hung in chains in the village.

The village's recent history is documented in the Goudhurst Jubilee Book (1935), Goudhurst Coronation Book (1937) and Goudhurst and Kilndown Millennium Book (2001, ISBN 0-9527822-1-9) which contain reminiscences, directories, historical notes, matters of local intelligence and records of celebrations starting from the 1800s or before. The books were printed as limited editions with the authors recording the written and the oral history of the village.

In 2023 Peter A Harding published "After the War was Over" (2023) ISBN 978-1-3999-5260-6 which captures his memories of an idyllic childhood at Goudhurst during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

St Mary's Church
The church stands on a hill and its tower commands views of the surrounding countryside. For this reason it was a major surveying point in the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) to measure the precise distance and relationship between the Paris Observatory and the Royal Greenwich Observatory, supervised by General William Roy. Sightings were made to Frant to the west, Tenterden to the east, Wrotham Hill to the north and Fairlight Down to the south.

St Mary's church was founded in 1170 by Robert de Crevecour. The church has been altered and restored many times over the centuries. Until 1637 it had a tall spire which was destroyed by lightning in that year. In 1638 three London masons rebuilt the west tower. During the Victorian era the church was restored by the architects William Slater and Richard Carpenter. The church contains a remarkable painted wood and gesso effigy to Sir Alexander Culpeper (d.1599) and his wife Constance.

Bedgebury
Bedgebury is one of the oldest estates in Kent: having given its name to the de Bedgebury family, it passed into the hands of the Culpeper family in 1450. When the estate was sold in 1680, a new house was built which itself became a girls' school in the 1920s (closed in the summer of 2006). In 2007 the school was purchased by the Bell Educational Trust, an educational charity. In the summer of 2007 the school reopened as the Bell Bedgebury International School, and the grounds also played host to the Bell Bedgebury Language Centre. In November 2010, the owners decided to close and sell the school. – the riding school and 125 acres were sold separately and are now independent. Bedgebury Pinetum is nearby. It was acquired by the Forestry Commission in 1924.

Village Green
A former Glebe Field at the East end of St Mary's Church was registered as a village green by Kent County Council in June 2016. It is 2.47 acres in extent and is surrounded by trees and hedges. It is owned by the Diocese of Canterbury and is maintained by Goudhurst Parish Council which has a long lease for this purpose. A volunteer group called The Friends of Goudhurst Village Green has been established with the aim to protect and preserve Goudhurst Village Green for the use of the residents of Goudhurst Parish by right, for lawful sports and pastimes, in perpetuity. St Mary's Church is permitted to use the village green for parking for occasional events such as large weddings and funerals.

Public transport
In the past, the branch railway line from Paddock Wood had a station for the village. It was opened on 1 October 1892 and was originally named 'Hope Mill for Goudhurst and Lamberhurst' before being renamed to 'Goudhurst' on 4 September 1893, the day the final part of the line came into service – the extension to Hawkhurst via Cranbrook; physically, the station was about half a mile from the centre of Goudhurst, and somewhat further from Lamberhurst. The station was closed on 12 June 1961 because of lack of use, passenger numbers having dropped to fewer than 200 per day. The track was lifted in 1964, and in 1967 the station sites were offered for sale.

At present, the only public transport for Goudhurst are two bus routes operated by Arriva Southern Counties – the 26 to Maidstone, and the 297 which runs to Tunbridge Wells in the west and Tenterden and Ashford in the east.

Education
The village is in the Cranbrook School catchment area.

Notable people

 * Ernest Alfred Benians (1880–1952), academic and historian, was born in Goudhurst.
 * William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford (1768–1856), owned the Bedgebury Estate and built Kilndown in the 1840s.
 * Harry Christophers (b 1956), conductor, was born in Goudhurst.
 * Leonard Benjamin Franklin (1862–1944), barrister and politician, was born in Goudhurst.
 * Sir Jeffrey Gilbert ( 1674–1726 ), jurist and author, was born in Goudhurst.
 * Stephen Groombridge (1755–1832), astronomer, was born in Goudhurst.
 * Daniel Horsmanden (1691–1778), judge, was born in Goudhurst.
 * Sir George Johnson (1818–1896), eminent physician who became recognized as an authority on cholera and kidney diseases, was born in Goudhurst.
 * Stephen Law (d c. 1788), Governor of Bombay from 1739–42, lived in Goudhurst at the time of his death.
 * William Howard Vincent Levett (1908–55), Kent and England cricketer, was born in Goudhurst.
 * Richard Milbourne (d 1624), bishop, was vicar of Goudhurst 1611–15
 * Alfred Mynn (1807–61), cricketer, was born in Goudhurst.
 * William Rootes (1894–1964), founder of Rootes Group was born in Goudhurst.
 * Sir James Stirling (1836–1916), jurist and Privy Councillor, lived at Finchcocks in Goudhurst from 1890 until his death

Newspapers
Newspapers available in Goudhurst are the free and Maidstone extra owned by KM Group and yourtunbridgewells and yourmaidstone both owned by KOS Media

Radio
The Local radio station is KMFM West Kent however KMFM Maidstone is also available. County-wide stations Heart Kent, Gold (radio) and BBC Radio Kent are available.

title: Goudhurst