Passage 1:Tiberius (son of Maurice)Tiberius (Greek: Τιβέριος, died 27 November 602) was the second son of Byzantine Emperor Maurice and his wife Constantina. His father intended him to inherit Italy and the westernislands, centered in Rome; however, this did not come to fruition as his father was overthrown by the new Emperor Phocas, who had him and his father executed, along with his younger brothers, in the Harbor ofEutropius, Chalcedon.Early life and familyTiberius was the second son of Byzantine Emperor Maurice, and Constantina. He was named in honor of Emperor Tiberius II, his maternal grandfather. He had an older brother,Theodosius, four younger brothers, Peter, Paul, Justin, and Justinian, and three sisters, Anastasia, Theoctiste, and Cleopatra. Maurice was not only the first Byzantine emperor since Theodosius I to produce a son, buthis and Constantina's ability to produce numerous children was the subject of popular jokes.Maurice had served as magister militum per Orientem, the commander of Byzantine forces in the East, securing decisivevictories over the Sassanian Empire. The ruling Byzantine Emperor, Tiberius II, weakened by illness, named Maurice one of his two heirs, alongside Germanus, planning to divide the empire in two, giving Maurice theEastern half. However, Germanus declined, and therefore, on 13 August 582, Maurice was married to Constantina and declared emperor. Tiberius II died the following day, and Maurice became sole emperor.LaterlifeAccording to his father's will, written in 597 when he was suffering from severe illness, Maurice intended for Tiberius to rule Italy and the western islands, centered in Rome, rather than Ravenna, with Theodosiusruling in the East, centered in Constantinople. Theophylact Simocatta, a contemporary source, states that the remainder of the empire would be split by Maurice's younger sons, and Byzantist J. B. Bury suggests onewould rule North Africa, and the other Illyricum, including Greece, with Domitian of Melitene as their guardian. Historian Johannes Wienand suggests that in this arrangement, Theodosius would serve as senior augustus,Tiberius as junior augustus, and the younger brothers as caesars.In 602 Maurice ordered the Byzantine army to winter beyond the Danube, causing troops exhausted by warfare against the Slavs to rise up, and declarePhocas their leader. The troops demanded Maurice abdicate in favor of Theodosius or General Germanus. On 22 November 602, facing riots in Constantinople led by the Green faction, Maurice and his family boarded awarship bound for Nicomedia.  Theodosius may have been at that time in the Sasanian Empire, on a diplomatic mission, or, according to some sources, was later sent by Maurice to request aid from the SassanianEmperor Khosrow II.Phocas was crowned emperor the next day, on the 23rd, after he arrived in the capital. After surviving a storm, Tiberius and his family landed at Saint Autonomos, near Praenetus, 45 miles (72 km)from Constantinople, but were forced to stay there due to Maurice's arthritis, which left him bed-ridden. They were captured by Lilios, an officer of Phocas, and brought to the Harbor of Eutropius at Chalcedon, where on27 November 602, Tiberius and his three younger brothers were put to death, followed by Maurice himself. Their remains were gathered by Gordia, Tiberius' aunt, and interred at the Monastery of Saint Mamas, whichshe had founded. Theodosius was subsequently captured and executed when he returned, while Constantina and her daughters were taken under the protection of Cyriacus II, the Patriarch of Constantinople.Passage2:Augustus II the StrongAugustus II (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in theyears 1697–1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin.Augustus' great physical strength earned him the nicknames "the Strong", "the Saxon Hercules" and"Iron-Hand". He liked to show that he lived up to his name by breaking horseshoes with his bare hands and engaging in fox tossing by holding the end of his sling with just one finger while two of the strongest men inhis court held the other end. He is also notable for fathering a very large number of children.In order to be elected king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Augustus converted to Roman Catholicism. As a Catholic,he received the Order of the Golden Fleece from the Holy Roman Emperor and established the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest distinction. As Elector of Saxony, he is perhaps best remembered as a patron ofthe arts and architecture. He transformed the Saxon capital of Dresden into a major cultural centre, attracting artists from across Europe to his court. Augustus also amassed an impressive art collection and built lavishbaroque palaces in Dresden and Warsaw. In 1711 he served as the Imperial vicar of the Holy Roman Empire.His reigns brought Poland some troubled times. He led the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the GreatNorthern War, which allowed the Russian Empire to strengthen its influence in Europe, especially within Poland. His main pursuit was bolstering royal power in the Commonwealth, characterized by broaddecentralization in comparison with other European monarchies. He tried to accomplish this goal using foreign powers and thus destabilized the state. Augustus ruled Poland with an interval; in 1704 the Swedesinstalled nobleman Stanisław Leszczyński as king, who officially reigned from 1706 to 1709 and after Augustus' death in 1733 which sparked the War of the Polish Succession.Augustus' body was buried in Poland's royalWawel Cathedral in Kraków, but his heart rests in the Dresden Cathedral. His only legitimate son, Augustus III of Poland, became king in 1733.Early lifeAugustus was born in Dresden on 12 May 1670, the younger sonof John George III, Elector of Saxony and Princess Anna Sophie of Denmark. As the second son, Augustus had no expectation of inheriting the electorate, since his older brother, Johann Georg IV, assumed the post afterthe death of their father on 12 September 1691. Augustus was well educated, and spent some years in travel and in fighting against France.Augustus married Kristiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth in Bayreuthon 20 January 1693. They had a son, Frederick Augustus II (1696–1763), who succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony and King of Poland as Augustus III.While in Venice during the carnival season, his older brother,the Elector Johann Georg IV, contracted smallpox from his mistress Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz. On 27 April 1694, Johann Georg died without legitimate issue and Augustus became Elector of Saxony, as FriedrichAugustus I.Conversion to CatholicismTo be eligible for election to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697, Augustus had to convert to Roman Catholicism. The Saxon dukes had traditionally beencalled "champions of the Reformation". Saxony had been a stronghold of German Protestantism and Augustus' conversion was therefore considered shocking in Protestant Europe. Although the prince-elector guaranteedSaxony's religious status quo, Augustus' conversion alienated many of his Protestant subjects. As a result of the enormous expenditure of money used to bribe the Polish nobility and clergy, Augustus' contemporariesderisively referred to the Saxon duke's royal ambitions as his "Polish adventure".His church policy within the Holy Roman Empire followed orthodox Lutheranism and ran counter to his new-found religious and absolutistconvictions. The Protestant princes of the empire and the two remaining Protestant electors (of Hanover and Prussia) were anxious to keep Saxony well-integrated in their camp. According to the Peace of Augsburg,Augustus theoretically had the right to re-introduce Roman Catholicism (see Cuius regio, eius religio), or at least grant full religious freedom to his fellow Catholics in Saxony, but this never happened. Saxony remainedLutheran and the few Roman Catholics residing in Saxony lacked any political or civil rights. In 1717, it became clear just how awkward the situation was: to realize his ambitious dynastic plans in Poland and Germany,it was necessary for Augustus' heirs to become Roman Catholic. After five years as a convert, his son—the future Augustus III—publicly avowed his Roman Catholicism. The Saxon Estates were outraged and revolted asit became clear that his conversion to Catholicism was not only a matter of form, but of substance as well.Since the Peace of Westphalia, the Elector of Saxony had been the director of the Protestant body in theReichstag. To placate the other Protestant states in the Empire, Augustus nominally delegated the directorship of the Protestant body to Johann Adolf II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. However, when the Elector's son alsoconverted to Catholicism, the Electorate faced a hereditary Catholic succession instead of a return to a Protestant Elector upon Augustus's death. When the conversion became public in 1717, Brandenburg-Prussia andHanover attempted to oust Saxony from the directorship and appoint themselves as joint directors, but they gave up the attempt in 1720. Saxony would retain the directorship of the Protestant body in the Reichstaguntil the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, despite the fact that all remaining Electors of Saxony were Catholic.The wife of Augustus, the Electress Christiane Eberhardine, refused to follow her husband'sexample and remained a staunch Protestant. She did not attend her husband's coronation in Poland and led a rather quiet life outside Dresden, gaining some popularity for her stubbornness.King of Poland for the firsttimeFollowing the death of Polish King John III Sobieski and having converted to Catholicism, Augustus won election as King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697 with the backing of Imperial Russia andAustria, which financed him through the banker Berend Lehmann. At the time, some questioned the legality of Augustus' elevation, since another candidate, François Louis, Prince of Conti, had received more votes.Each candidate, Conti and Augustus, was proclaimed as king by a different ecclesiastical authority: (the Primate Michaŀ Radziejowski proclaimed Conti and the bishop of Kujawy, Stanisław Dąmbski proclaimed Augustus,with Jacob Heinrich von Flemming swearing to the pacta conventa as Augustus's proxy). However, Augustus hurried to the Commonwealth with a Saxon army, while Conti stayed in France for two months.Although hehad led the imperial troops against Turkey in 1695 and 1696 without very much success, Augustus continued the war of the Holy League against Turkey, and after a campaign in Moldavia, his Polish army eventuallydefeated the Tatar expedition in the Battle of Podhajce in 1698. This victory compelled the Ottoman Empire to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. Podolia and Kamieniec Podolski returned to Poland. An ambitious ruler,Augustus hoped to make the Polish throne hereditary within his family, and to use his resources as Elector of Saxony to impose some order on the chaotic Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was, however, soondistracted from his internal reform projects by the possibility of external conquest. He formed an alliance with Denmark's Frederick IV and Russia's Peter I to strip Sweden's young King Charles XII (Augustus' cousin) ofhis possessions. Poland's reward for participation in the Great Northern War was to have been the Swedish territory of Livonia. Charles proved an able military commander, however, quickly forcing the Danes out of thewar and then driving back the Russians at Narva in 1700, thereby allowing him to focus on the struggle with Augustus. However, this war ultimately proved as disastrous for Sweden as for Poland.Charles defeatedAugustus' army at Riga in July 1701, forcing the Polish-Saxon army to withdraw from Livonia, and followed this up with an invasion of Poland. He captured Warsaw on 14 May 1702, defeated the Polish-Saxon armyagain at the Battle of Kliszów (July 1702), and took Kraków. He defeated another of Augustus' armies under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Adam Heinrich von Steinau at the Battle of Pułtusk in spring 1703, andbesieged and captured Toruń.By this time, Augustus was certainly ready for peace, but Charles felt that he would be more secure if he could establish someone with whom he had more influence on the Polish throne. In1704 the Swedes installed Stanisław Leszczyński and tied the commonwealth to Sweden, which compelled Augustus to initiate military operations in Poland alongside Russia (an alliance was concluded in Narva insummer 1704). The resulting civil war in Poland (1704-1706) and the Grodno campaign (1705-1706) did not go well for Augustus. Following the Battle of Fraustadt, on 1 September 1706, Charles invaded Saxony,forcing Augustus to yield the Polish throne to Leszczyński by the Treaty of Altranstädt (October 1706).Meanwhile, Russia's Tsar Peter had reformed his army, and he dealt a crippling defeat to the Swedes at the Battle ofPoltava (1709). This spelled the end of the Swedish Empire and the rise of the Russian Empire.King of Poland for the second timeThe weakened Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth soon came to be regarded as almost aprotectorate of Russia. In 1709 Augustus II returned to the Polish throne under Russian auspices. Once again he attempted to establish an absolute monarchy in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but was facedwith opposition from the nobility (szlachta, see Tarnogród Confederation). He was handicapped by the mutual jealousy of the Saxons and the Poles, and a struggle broke out in Poland which was only ended when theking promised to limit the number of his army in that country to 18,000 men. Peter the Great seized on the opportunity to pose as mediator, threatened the Commonwealth militarily, and in 1717 forced Augustus andthe nobility to sign an accommodation favorable to Russian interests, at the Silent Sejm (Sejm Niemy).For the remainder of his reign, in an uneasy relationship, Augustus was more or less dependent on Russia (and to alesser extent, on Austria) to maintain his Polish throne. He gave up his dynastic ambitions and concentrated instead on attempts to strengthen the Commonwealth. Faced with both internal and foreign opposition,however, he achieved little. In 1729 he established the Grand Musketeers Company in Dresden, one of the oldest Polish officers' schools, which in 1730 was relocated to Warsaw.Augustus died at Warsaw in 1733.Although he had failed to make the Polish throne hereditary in his house, his eldest son, Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, succeeded him to the Polish throne as Augustus III of Poland although he had to be installed bythe Russian Army during the War of the Polish Succession.LegacyAugustus II and the artsAugustus is perhaps best remembered as a patron of the arts and architecture. He had beautiful palaces built in Dresden, a citythat became renowned for extraordinary cultural brilliance. He introduced the first public museums, such as the Green Vault in 1723, and started systematic collection of paintings that are now on display in the OldMasters Gallery.From 1687 to 1689, Augustus toured France and Italy. The extravagant court in Versailles—perfectly tailored to fit the needs of an absolute monarch—impressed him deeply. In accordance with the spiritof the baroque age, Augustus invested heavily in the representative splendor of Dresden Castle, his major residence, to advertise his wealth and power.With strict building regulations, major urban development plans,and a certain feeling for art, the king began to transform Dresden into a renowned cultural center with one of Germany's finest art collections, though most of the city's famous sights and landmarks were completedduring the reign of his son Augustus III. The most famous building started under Augustus the Strong was the Zwinger. Also known are Pillnitz Castle, his summer residence, Moritzburg Castle and Hubertusburg Castle,his hunting lodges. He greatly expanded the Saxon Palace in Warsaw with the adjacent Saxon Garden, which became the city's oldest public park and one of the first publicly accessible parks in the world. He alsoexpanded the Wilanów Palace.He granted composer Johann Adolph Hasse the title of the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Kapellmeister in 1731.A man of pleasure, the king sponsored lavish court balls, Venetian-styleballi in maschera, and luxurious court gatherings, games, and garden festivities. His court acquired a reputation for extravagance throughout Europe. He held a famous animal-tossing contest in Dresden at which 647foxes, 533 hares, 34 badgers and 21 wildcats were tossed and killed. Augustus himself participated, reportedly demonstrating his strength by holding the end of his sling by just one finger, with two of the strongest menin his court on the other end.GalleryMeissen porcelainAugustus II successfully sponsored efforts to discover the secret of manufacturing porcelain. In 1701 he rescued the young alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger, whohad fled from the court of the king of Prussia, Frederick I, who had expected that he produce gold for him as he had boasted he could.Augustus imprisoned Böttger and tried to force him to reveal the secret ofmanufacturing gold. Böttger's transition from alchemist to potter was orchestrated as an attempt to avoid the impossible demands of the king. Being an alchemist by profession rather than a potter, gave Böttger anadvantage. He realised that the current approaches, which involved mixing fine white substances like crushed egg shells into clay, would not work. Rather, his approach was to attempt to bake clay at highertemperatures than had ever before been attained in European kilns. That approach yielded the breakthrough that had eluded European potters for a century. By the king's decree, the Royal-Polish and Electoral-SaxonPorcelain Manufactory was established in Meissen in 1709. The manufacture of fine porcelain continues at the Meissen porcelain factory.Order of the White EagleIn November 1705 in Tykocin, Augustus founded theOrder of the White Eagle, Poland's first and preeminent order of chivalry. In 1723 he bought the Großsedlitz estate near Dresden, and after expanding the palace and garden complex, in 1727 he organized there the firstever festivities of the Order of the White Eagle. In Warsaw, the Saxon Garden (Polish: Ogród Saski) commemorates the role of Augustus II in expanding the city's public places.OtherAugustus II was called "the Strong"for his bear-like physical strength and for his numerous offspring (only one of them his legitimate child and heir). The most famous of the king's children born out of wedlock was Maurice de Saxe, a brilliant strategistwho attained the highest military ranks in the kingdom of France. In the War of the Polish Succession he remained loyal to his employer Louis XV of France, who was married to the daughter of Augustus's rival StanisławI Leszczyński.Augustus was 1.76 meters (5 ft 9 in) tall, above average height for that time, but despite his extraordinary physical strength, he did not look big. In his final years he suffered from diabetes mellitus andbecame obese, at his death weighing some 110 kilograms (240 lb). Augustus II's body was interred in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków—all but his heart, which rests at the Dresden Cathedral.FilmIn 1936 Augustus wasthe subject of a Polish-German film Augustus the Strong directed by Paul Wegener. Augustus was portrayed by the actor Michael Bohnen.Illegitimate issueThe Electress Christiane, who remained Protestant and refusedto move to Poland with her husband, preferred to spend her time in the mansion in Pretzsch on the Elbe, where she died.Augustus, a voracious womanizer, never missed his wife, spending his time with a series ofmistresses:1694–1696 with Countess Maria Aurora von Königsmarck1696–1699 with Countess Anna Aloysia Maximiliane von Lamberg1698–1704 with Ursula Katharina of Altenbockum, later Princess ofTeschen1701–1706 with Maria Aurora, later married von Spiegel, a woman of Turkish origin captured as a toddler named Fatima at the Siege of Buda (1686) and brought up in Sweden as the goddaughter of MariaAurora von Königsmarck1704–1713 with Anna Constantia von Brockdorff, later Countess of Cosel1706–1707 with Henriette Rénard1708 with Angélique Debargues, French dancer and actress1713–1719 with MariaMagdalena of Bielinski, by her first marriage Countess of Dönhoff and by the second Princess Lubomirska1720–1721 with Erdmuthe Sophie of Dieskau, by marriage of Loß1721–1722 with Baroness Kristiane ofOsterhausen, by marriage of StanisławskiSome contemporary sources, including Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, claimed that Augustus had as many as 365 or 382 children. The number is extremely difficult to verify. Perhaps


Passage 1:Hafsa HatunHafsa Hatun (Ottoman Turkish:  , "young lioness") was a Turkish princess, and a consort of Bayezid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.LifeHafsa Hatun was the daughter of IsaBey, the ruler of the Aydinids. She was married to Bayezid in 1390, upon his conquest of the Aydinids. Her father had surrendered without a fight, and a marriage was arranged between her and Bayezid. Thereafter, Isawas sent into exile in Iznik, shorn of his power, where he subsequently died. Her marriage strengthened the bonds between the two families.CharitiesHafsa Hatun's public works are located within her father's territoryand may have been built before she married Bayezid. She commissioned a fountain in Tire city and a Hermitage in Bademiye, and a mosque known as "Hafsa Hatun Mosque" between 1390 and 1392 from the moneyshe received in her dowry.See alsoOttoman dynastyOttoman EmpirePassage 2:Cornelia (mother of the Gracchi)Cornelia (c. 190s – c. 115 BC) was the second daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, a Romangeneral prominent in the Second Punic War, and Aemilia Paulla. Although drawing similarities to prototypical examples of virtuous Roman women, such as Lucretia, Cornelia puts herself apart from the rest because ofher interest in literature, writing, and her investment in the political careers of her sons. She was the mother of the Gracchi brothers, and the mother-in-law of Scipio Aemilianus.BiographyCornelia married TiberiusSempronius Gracchus, grandson of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, when he was already in middle age. The union proved to be a happy one, and together they had 12 children, which is very unusual by Romanstandards. Six of them were boys and six were girls. Only three are known to have survived childhood: Sempronia, who married her cousin Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, and the two Gracchi brothers (Tiberiusand Gaius Gracchus), who would defy the political institutions of Rome with their attempts at popular reforms.After her husband's death, she chose to remain a widow while still enjoying a princess-like status and setherself to educating her children. She even refused the marriage proposal of King Ptolemy VIII Physcon because she is made to be a virtuous and dutiful wife after the death of her only husband. However, her refusalcould simply be justified by the fact that she had a desire for more independence and freedom in the manner in which her children were to be raised.Later in her life, Cornelia studied literature, Latin, and Greek. Corneliatook advantage of the Greek scholars she brought to Rome, notably the philosophers Blossius (from Cumae) and Diophanes (from Mytilene), who were to educate young men. She had been taught the importance ofreceiving an education and came to play an extensive role in her sons' education during the "bygone republican era," resulting in the creation of a "superior breed of Roman political leader." Cornelia always supportedher sons Tiberius and Gaius, even when their actions outraged the conservative patrician families in which she was born. She took a lot of pride in them, comparing her children to "jewels" and other precious things,according to Valerius Maximus.After their violent deaths, she retired from Rome to a villa in Misenum but continued to receive guests. Her villa saw the likes of many learned men, including Greek scholars, who camefrom all over the Roman world to read and discuss their ideas freely. Rome worshipped her virtues, and when she died at an advanced age, the city voted for a statue in her honor.Role in the political careers of herchildrenIt is important to note that M. I. Finely advances the argument that "the exclusion of women from any direct participation in political or governmental activity" was a normal practice in Ancient Roman society.Therefore, it is extremely difficult to characterize the extent of Cornelia's involvement in the political careers of her children, yet there is important evidence to support the fact that she was, at the very least, engaged.Acommon social practice in Rome was extending the political line of a family through dynastic marriages, especially when two families were rising to power at about the same time. The marriage of Sempronia (Cornelia'sdaughter) to her cousin reaffirmed the continuation of the great Scipio lineage, seeing as though the legacy of Scipio Africanus had to be continued somehow. Scipio Aemilianus saw important growth in his politicalprestige as a result of this marriage, although not enough to compare to his brothers-in-law and their revolutionary political reforms.One of the most important aspects of the life of Cornelia is her relationship with heradult sons. Most of the information that we have on her role during this time is what Plutarch wrote in both the Life of Tiberius Gracchus and the Life of Gaius Gracchus. She is portrayed as active during their politicalcareers, especially during Gaius’.Plutarch writes of how Gaius removed a law that disgraced Marcus Octavius, the tribune whom Tiberius had deposed, because Cornelia asked him to remove it.  Plutarch states that thepeople all approved of this out of respect for her (due to her sons and her father). Plutarch also writes that Cornelia may have helped Gaius undermine the power of the consul Lucius Opimius by hiring foreign harvestersto help provide resistance (which suggests that harvesters were supporters of the Gracchi).Plutarch also writes that, when one of Gaius's political opponents attacked Cornelia, Gaius retorted:"What," said he, "dost thouabuse Cornelia, who gave birth to Tiberius?" And since the one who had uttered the abuse was charged with effeminate practices, "With what effrontery," said Gaius, "canst thou compare thyself with Cornelia? Hastthou borne such children as she did? And verily all Rome knows that she refrained from commerce with men longer than thou hast, though thou art a man."This remark suggests that the Gracchi used their mother'sreputation as a chaste, noble woman to their advantage in their political rhetoric.Cornelia's letter excerptsThe manuscripts of Cornelius Nepos, the earliest Latin biographer (ca. 110-24 BC), include several excerpts froma letter supposedly composed by Cornelia to Gaius (her younger son). If the letters are authentic, they would make Cornelia one of only four Roman women whose writings survive to the present day, and they wouldshow how Roman women wielded considerable influence in political families. Additionally, this would make Cornelia the first woman in her own family who wrote and passed down the importance of writing to herposterity. The letters may be dated to just before Gaius' tribunate in 122 BC (Gaius would be killed the following year in 121 BC, over a decade after the death of his brother Tiberius in 133 BC). The wording in the letteris very interesting, insomuch as it uses the first person, is very assertive and displays copious amounts of raw emotion, which may have been new and unusual for a woman writing at that time, particularly to a man ofsuch important social standing. The two excerpts read as follows:"You will say that it is a beautiful thing to take on vengeance on enemies. To no one does this seem either greater or more beautiful than it does to me,but only if it is possible to pursue these aims without harming our country. But seeing as that cannot be done, our enemies will not perish for a long time and for many reasons, and they will be as they are now ratherthan have our country be destroyed and perish....I would dare to take an oath solemnly, swearing that, except for those who have murdered Tiberius Gracchus, no enemy has foisted so much difficulty and so muchdistress upon me as you have because of the matters: you should have shouldered the responsibilities of all of those children whom I had in the past, and to make sure that I might have the least anxiety possible in myold age; and that, whatever you did, you would wish to please me most greatly; and that you would consider it sacrilegious to do anything of great significance contrary to my feelings, especially as I am someone withonly a short portion of my life left. Cannot even that time span, as brief as it is, be of help in keeping you from opposing me and destroying our country? In the final analysis, what end will there be? When will our familystop behaving insanely? When will we cease insisting on troubles, both suffering and causing them? When will we begin to feel shame about disrupting and disturbing our country? But if this is altogether unable to takeplace, seek the office of tribune when I will be dead; as far as I am concerned, do what will please you, when I shall not perceive what you are doing. When I have died, you will sacrifice to me as a parent and call uponthe god of your parent. At that time does it not shame you to seek prayers of those gods, whom you considered abandoned and deserted when they were alive and on hand? May Jupiter not for a single instant allow youto continue in these actions nor permit such madness to come into your mind. And if you persist, I fear that, by your own fault, you may incur such trouble for your entire life that at no time would you be able to makeyourself happy."In the early 40s BC, Cicero, Nepos's contemporary, referenced Cornelia's letters. Cicero portrayed his friend Atticus as arguing for the influence of mothers on children's speech by noting that the letters'style appeared to Atticus to show that the Gracchi were heavily influenced by Cornelia's speech more than by her rearing. Later in history, Marcus Fabius Quintilian (ca. 35- ca. 100) would reassert Atticus's view ofCornelia's letters when he said "we have heard that their mother Cornelia had contributed greatly to the eloquence of the Gracchi, a woman whose extremely learned speech also has been handed down to futuregenerations in her letters" (Inst. Orat. 1.1.6).4While Cicero's reference to Cornelia's letters make it clear that elite Romans of the time period were familiar with Cornelia's writings, today's historians are divided aboutwhether today's surviving fragments are authentically Cornelia's words. Instead, the fragments are likely to have been propaganda circulated by the elite optimate faction of Roman politics, who were opposed to thepopulist reforms of Cornelia's sons. The letters appear to present Cornelia (a woman with considerable cultural cachet) as opposed to her son's reforms, and Gaius as a rash radical detached from either the well-being ofthe Roman Republic or the wishes of his respected mother—meaning that the surviving fragments could either be outright contemporary forgeries or significantly altered versions of what Cornelia actually wrote.TheCornelia statueAfter her death, a marble statue of Cornelia was erected, but only the base has survived; it is "the first likeness of a secular Roman woman set up by her contemporaries in a public space". Her statueendured during the revolutionary reign of Sulla, and she became a model for future Roman women culminating with the portrait said to be of Helena, Emperor Constantine's mother, four hundred years later. Later,anti-populist conservatives filed away the reference to her sons and replaced it with a reference to her as the daughter of Africanus rather than the mother of the Grachii.Changing legacy over timeThe historical Corneliaremains somewhat elusive. The figure portrayed in Roman literature likely represents more what she signified to Roman writers than an objective account. This significance changed over time as Roman society evolved,in particular the role of women. The problems in interpreting the literature are compounded by the fact only one work allegedly attributed to Cornelia herself survives, and classicists have questioned its authenticitysince the nineteenth century. The Cornelia Fragments, detailed above, purport to constitute what remains of a letter written in 124 BC to her son, Gaius, and were preserved later in the manuscripts of Cornelius Nepos,who wrote on the Gracchi. In the letter, Cornelia expresses strong opposition to Gaius’ intentions to stand for the tribunate. She also urges him not to continue the revolutionary policies of his older brother TiberiusGracchus, which led ultimately to his death. The fragments were likely included in Nepos’ Life of Gaius Gracchus, now lost.Controversy over the Fragments’ authenticity has focused on the letter’s style andcontent.  While a consensus seems to agree that the fragments do resemble the writing style and language of an educated Roman aristocrat of the late second century BC, several observe Cornelia’s rebuking of Gaius’policies in the letter seems to conflict what is understood about her positions preserved in other sources. The vehemence with which she addresses Gaius seems to conflict, to some scholars, with what is believedregarding her maternal devotion. Because of these doubts, some scholars hypothesize the Fragments constitute either a later forgery created by someone wishing to separate Cornelia's political ideologies from those ofher sons, while others suggest they are a much later fabrication, representing a "rhetorical exercise" wherein the writer attempted to recreate what Cornelia might have said, and the letter was inadvertently included aslegitimate source material in Aemilius Probus’ edition of Nepos’ works in the 5th century AD. These theories themselves prove problematic, as the letter constitutes only one data point, and are therefore insufficient inreconstructing broad conclusions about Cornelia's political ideals or making inferences about nebulous ideas of "maternal devotion." As has also been pointed out, if they do in fact represent the work of a forger, he wasan expert in the grammar, language, and writing style of the late 2nd  century Roman elite. A majority seems to believe that the Fragments are authentic and represent a private letter written by a highly educatedwoman, who never intended her stern rebuke to be read by anyone but her son.With the Fragments being the only primary source material produced by Cornelia that survive, the reconstruction of the historical Corneliarelies mainly on how later Roman writers saw her. This is problematic because Roman depictions of Cornelia clearly change over time. The earliest image of Cornelia, painted largely by Plutarch's views, is of anaristocratic woman, spending much of her time living extravagantly in her family's villa, who because of her family's wealth, opportunities, and interest in education (particularly Greek), receives the best-possibleeducation in Latin and Greek rhetoric.  She is somewhat controversial, both for her sons’ political policies and for having developed (and frequently making use of) such strong rhetorical abilities, despite being a woman.These early accounts emphasize her education and abilities but place comparatively much less emphasis on her maternal role.Over subsequent centuries Cornelia evolved in the eyes of Roman writers, and her memorywas adapted to fit their agendas. Her educational achievement and abilities were de-emphasized in favor of her example of "idealized maternity."   Her education was incorporated into her role as mother: education inorder to pass it on to her sons. She was excised from the political controversy that surrounded her family and transformed into a heroic figure. As historian Emily Hemelrijk concludes, "the Cornelia we know is to a highdegree a creation of later times."Modern representationsAn anecdote related by Valerius Maximus in his Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX (IV, 4, incipit) demonstrates Cornelia's devotion to and admirationfor her sons. When women friends questioned Cornelia about her mode of dress and personal adornment, which was far more simple and understated than was usual for a wealthy Roman woman of her rank and station,Cornelia indicated her two sons and said, haec ornamenta mea [sunt], i.e., "These are my jewels."She is memorialized as Cornelia Gracchi, her name gilded on the Heritage Floor, of Judy Chicago's iconic feministartwork, The Dinner Party (1974–1979).See alsoWomen in RomeScipio-Paullus-Gracchus family treeNotesPassage 3:Vera MiletićVera Miletić (Serbian Cyrillic: Вера Милетић; 8 March 1920 – 7 September 1944) was aSerbian student and soldier. She was notable for being the mother of Mira Marković, posthumously making her the mother-in-law of Serbian president Slobodan Milošević.Personal lifeHer cousin was DavorjankaPaunović who was the personal secretary of Communist Party of Yugoslavia leader Josip Broz Tito.Passage 4:Eldon HowardEldon Howard was a British screenwriter. She was the mother-in-law of Edward J. Danziger andwrote a number of the screenplays for films by his company Danziger Productions.Selected filmographyA Woman of Mystery (1958)Three Crooked Men (1958)Moment of Indiscretion (1958) (with BrianClemens)Innocent Meeting (1959)An Honourable Murder (1960)The Spider's Web (1960)The Tell-Tale Heart (1960)Highway to Battle (1961)Three Spare Wives (1962)Passage 5:Maria ThinsMaria Thins (c. 1593 – 27December 1680) was the mother-in-law of Johannes Vermeer and a member of the Gouda Thins family. She was raised in a devout Dutch Catholic family with two sisters and a brother. Outliving her parents andsiblings, she received inheritances over the years, making her a wealthy woman. She married a prosperous brickmaker, Reynier Bolnes, in 1622. They had three children together, Catharina, Willem, and Cornelia. By1635, Bolnes verbally and physically abused his wife and daughters. Thins moved to Delft with her daughters. Her son Willem stayed with his father. Thins was a wealthy woman due to the separation settlement of herhusband in 1649 and the estates she inherited from her family. Her daughter Catharina married Johannes Vermeer, an artist, art dealer, and operator of the family's inn in Delft. Vermeer and Catharina lived at Thinshouse by 1660. The couple had fifteen children, four of whom died in infancy. Raising nearly a dozen children strained Vermeer financially. He relied on the support from his mother-in-law. During the Franco-Dutch War(1672–1674), Vermeer became impoverished. Thins reduced the money she provided to Catharina and her husband due to the loss of income during that period. Vermeer died in 1675, and Thins died five years later.Catharina was the only one of Thins' children to survive her. Thins drew up her will to maximize what she could provide for her grandchildren and their education, while limiting how much might be taken by Catharina'screditors. Catharina died in 1687.Early lifeMaria was born c. 1593 in Gouda to a prominent Dutch Catholic family, Catharina van Hensbeeck (d. 1633) and William Thin (d. 1601). They lived in the house named DeTrapjes (The Little Steps) in Gouda. Maria had three siblings, none of whom were married. Her sister Elisabeth became a nun. She also had a sister Cornelia and a brother Jan. Since none of her siblings married, Thinsultimately inherited a large estate. The family conducted mass in their home, while at the time it was illegal for a group of Roman Catholics to assemble in Gouda. The local sheriffs broke up a religious meeting at theirhouse in 1619.Garrit Camerling (d. 1627) of Delft became her stepfather in 1605 when he married Catharina van Hensbeeck. She was related to Abraham Bloemaert (1566–1651) through her cousin Jan Geensz Thins.Before her marriage, Thins lived in Delft with a prosperous young woman who was her friend.Marriage and childrenIn 1622, Maria Thins married Reynier Bolnes (ca. 1593–1676), a prominent and prosperousbrickmaker. Thins was an heiress when she married, and she collected art, including several in the style of Utrecht Caravaggists.ChildrenThins had three children, the youngest of whom was Catharina Bolnes (c.1631–1688), nicknamed Trijntge. She also had a son Willem, and a daughter Cornelia. Around 1635, Reynier became verbally and physically abusive with her and her children. At the age of nine, Catharina ran toneighbors because she thought that Reynier's abuse of Cornelia could kill her. Reynier confessed that he physically abused Cornelia and would do it again if Thins beat their son Willem. Reynier and Willem began eatingseparately from the female members of the family, and the father encouraged his son to be abusive and noncompliant with Thins.Divided familyThins moved to Delft in 1642 to get away from her abusive husband. JanGeensz Thins, who was her guardian and cousin, purchased a home for her there the prior year. Jan became Thin's guardian following the early death of her father. Thins attained custody of her daughters in 1641 andmoved with them to Delft. William stayed with his father, whose business began to fail. Thins lived on Oude Langendijk next to the Jesuit Catholic Church in the Catholic section of Delft called paepenhoek (the Papists'Corner).Thins received half of her husband's assets, a substantial amount, in 1649. By 1653, Reynier Bolnes was bankrupt. Thins derived income from annuities, interest income, and property rentals, including


Passage 1:John III, Duke of BrabantJohn III (Dutch: Jan; 1300 – 5 December 1355) was Duke of Brabant, Lothier (1312–1355) and Limburg (1312–1347 then 1349–1355). He was the son of John II, Duke of Brabant,and Margaret of England.John and the towns of BrabantThe early fourteenth century, a period of economic boom for Brabant, marks the rise of the duchy's towns, which depended on imports of English wool for theiressential cloth industry. During John's minority, the major towns of Brabant had the authority to appoint councillors to direct a regency, under terms of the Charter of Kortenberg granted by his father in the year of hisdeath (1312). By 1356 his daughter and son-in-law were forced to accept the famous Joyous Entry as a condition for their recognition, so powerful had the states of Brabant become.The marital alignment with Francewas tested and failed as early as 1316, when Louis X requested Brabant to cease trade with Flanders and to participate in a French attack; the councillors representing the towns found this impossible, and in reprisalLouis prohibited all French trade with Brabant in February 1316, in violation of a treaty of friendship he had signed with Brabant in the previous October.The French alliance, 1332–1337After his initial period ofmaintaining independent neutrality from both France and England failed, neighbouring sovereigns in the Low Countries, stimulated as a matter of policy by Philip VI of France, became John's enemies; among theadversaries of John were the Count of Flanders, the prince-bishop of Liège, and counts of Holland and Guelders. In 1332, a crisis with the king of France arose over John's hospitality to Robert, count of Artois, during hisjourney to eventual asylum at the English court. In response to French pressure John reminded Philip that he did not hold Brabant from him but from God alone. A brief campaign of a coalition of Philip's friends came toa truce, followed by a pact at Compiègne by which John received a fief from Philip worth 2000 livres and declared himself a vassal of France. His oldest son, Jean, was betrothed to Philip's daughter Marie, and it wasagreed that the Brabançon heir would complete his education at the French court in Paris and that Robert of Artois would be expelled from Brabant.The support of France strengthened John's hand with his feudalsuzerain, the Holy Roman Emperor. Though he was technically the Emperor's feudal vassal, John had been able to ignore Emperor Louis IV's summons to join him in his intended invasion of Lombardy (1327). Theseparation of Brabant from the Empire was completed by the Burgundian dukes of Brabant in the fifteenth century.Meanwhile, the princes of the Low Countries settled their differences and formed a coalition againstBrabant with a defensive alliance in June 1333. War was briefly brought to the Duchy of Brabant in the summer of 1334, but resolved by a peace brokered by Philip at Amiens. The French king declared that John had tohand over the town of Tiel and its neighbouring villages Heerewaarden and Zandwijk to the count of Guelders and to betroth his daughter Marie to the count's son, Reinoud.The English alliance, 1337–1345When EdwardIII of England decided to press his claim to the crown of France in 1337, John, who was his first cousin, became an ally of England during the first stage of the Hundred Years' War. King Edward's diplomatic offensive todraw Brabant away from France, produced a sympathetic response from Duke John. Disrupting the staple connection between the towns of Flanders and the sources of English wool should divert it to the towns ofBrabant, notably the recently established wool exchange. Edward protected Brabançon merchants in England from arrest or the confiscation of their goods, and he sweetened his offers with a promise of £60,000, animmense sum, and to make good any losses of revenue that might result from penalties by the king of France. The same month of July 1337 John promised Edward 1,200 of his men-at-arms in the event of an Englishcampaign in France, Edward to pay their salary. In August Edward pledged not to negotiate with the king without prior consultation with the duke. The alliance, kept secret at John's insistence, came into the open whenEdward landed with his troops at Antwerp July 1338. John received the promised subsidy (March 1339) and agreed in June to betroth John's second daughter, Margaret, to Edward, the Black Prince, heir to the Englishthrone. Two seasons of inconclusive campaigning that ravaged the north of France left Edward penniless at the end of 1341; he returned home, and when he returned to the fray, it was to Brittany: he never returned tothe Low Countries.The French alliance, 1345–1355Though John was requesting papal dispensation for the marriage of Margaret and the Black Prince in 1343, the alliance with England unravelled as Edward's coffersemptied and his attentions turned elsewhere. In September 1345 representative of France and Brabant met at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye to sign preliminary agreements, and by a treaty signed atSaint-Quentin, June 1347, Brabant was retained as an ally by France. Margaret was now to marry Louis of Male, who had inherited the title of count of Flanders, but whose power over the Flemish communes wasvirtually nil. A point of dispute with the count of Flanders had been the Lordship of Mechelen, a strategic enclave within Brabant: it was agreed that it would now come under full Brabançon control. Despite the diplomacyof Edward, John remained true to his French commitments until his death in December 1355.FamilyIn 1311, as his father's gesture of rapprochement with France, John married Marie d'Évreux (1303–1335), thedaughter of Count Louis d'Évreux and Margaret of Artois. They had six children:Joanna, Duchess of Brabant (24 June 1322 – 1406). Married first to William IV, Count of Holland and second to Wenceslaus I, Duke ofLuxembourg.Margaret of Brabant (9 February 1323 – 1368), married at Saint-Quentin on 6 June 1347 Louis II, Count of FlandersMarie of Brabant (1325 – 1 March 1399), Lady of Turnhout, married at Tervuren on 1July 1347 to Reginald III of Guelders.John of Brabant (1327–1335/36), married Marie of France (1326–1333), daughter of King Philip VI of France, but died soon after with no issue, buried in Tervueren.Henri of Brabant(d. 29 October 1349), Duke of Limburg and Lord of Mechelen in 1347. Died young and buried in Tervuren in 1349.Godfrey of Brabant (d. aft. 3 February 1352), Lord of Aarschot in 1346. Also died young and buried inTervuren.John also had a son born from Maria van Huldenberg, who founded the House of Brant: John I Brant, 1st Lord of Ayseau.In 1355, after all of his three legitimate sons had died, John was forced to declare hiseldest daughter Joanna his heiress, which provoked a succession crisis after his death. John III was buried in the Cistercian Abbey of Villers, Belgium. The standard history is Piet Avonds, Brabant tijdens de regering vanHertog Jan III (1312–1356) (Koninglijke Academie, Brussels) 1991.== Notes ==Passage 2:Marie of Brittany, Countess of Saint-PolMarie of Brittany (1268–1339) was the daughter of John II, Duke of Brittany, andBeatrice of England. She is also known as Marie de Dreux.FamilyHer maternal grandparents were Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, Henry was a son of King John of England. John was son of Henry II ofEngland and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine.Her sister was Blanche of Brittany, wife to Philip of Artois and mother of Margaret of Artois, Robert III of Artois and Joan of Artois, Countess of Foix. Margaret was mother ofJeanne d'Évreux, Queen of France.MarriageShe married Guy IV, Count of Saint-Pol, in 1292, their children were as follows:John of Châtillon (d. 1344), Count of Saint PolJames of Châtillon (d.s.p. 1365), Lord ofAncreMahaut of Châtillon (1293–1358), married Charles of ValoisBeatrix of Châtillon, married in 1315 Jean de Dampierre, Lord of CrèvecœurIsabeau of Châtillon (d. 19 May 1360), married in May 1311 Guillaume I deCoucy, Lord of CoucyMarie of Châtillon, married Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of PembrokeEleanor of Châtillon, married Jean III Malet, Lord of GranvilleJoan of Châtillon, married Miles de Noyers, Lord ofMaisyDescendantsThrough her daughter Mahaut, Marie was the maternal grandmother of Marie of Valois, Isabella of Valois, who became Duchess of Bourbon and was the mother of Louis II, Duke of Bourbon, andJoanna of Bourbon, who became Queen of France. Mahaut's other daughter was Blanche of Valois, who married Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and was the mother of Katharine of Bohemia.AncestryPassage 3:René ofAnjouRené of Anjou (Italian: Renato; Occitan: Rainièr; 16 January 1409 – 10 July 1480) was Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1434 to 1480, who also reigned as King of Naples as René I from 1435 to 1442(then deposed). Having spent his last years in Aix-en-Provence, he is known in France as the Good King René (Occitan: Rei Rainièr lo Bòn; French: Le bon roi René).René was a member of the House of Valois-Anjou, acadet branch of the French royal house, and the great-grandson of John II of France.  He was a prince of the blood, and for most of his adult life also the brother-in-law of the reigning king Charles VII of France. Otherthan the aforementioned titles, he was for several years also Duke of Bar and Duke of Lorraine.BiographyRené was born on 16 January 1409 in the castle of Angers. He was the second son of Duke Louis II of Anjou,King of Naples, by Yolanda of Aragon. René was the brother of Marie of Anjou, who married the future Charles VII and became Queen of France.Louis II died in 1417 and his sons, together with their brother-in-lawCharles, were brought up under the guardianship of their mother. The elder son, Louis III, succeeded to the crown of Sicily and the Duchy of Anjou; René then became Count of Guise. In 1419, when René was only ten,he was legally married to Isabella, elder daughter of Charles II, Duke of Lorraine.René, then only ten, was to be brought up in Lorraine under the guardianship of Charles II and Louis, cardinal of Bar, both of whom wereattached to the Burgundian party, but he retained the right to bear the arms of Anjou. He was far from sympathizing with the Burgundians. Joining the French army at Reims in 1429, he was present at the consecrationof Charles VII. When Louis of Bar died in 1430, René inherited the duchy of Bar. The next year, on his father-in-law's death, he succeeded to the duchy of Lorraine. The inheritance was contested by the heir-male,Antoine de Vaudemont, who with Burgundian help defeated René at Bulgneville in July 1431. The Duchess Isabella effected a truce with Antoine, but the duke remained a prisoner of the Burgundians until April 1432,when he recovered his liberty on parole on yielding up as hostages his two sons, John and Louis.René's title as duke of Lorraine was confirmed by his suzerain, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, at Basel in 1434. Thisproceeding roused the anger of the Burgundian duke, Philip the Good, who required him early in the next year to return to his prison, from which he was released two years later on payment of a heavy ransom. At thedeath of his brother Louis III in 1435, he succeeded to the Duchy of Anjou and County of Maine. The marriage of Marie of Bourbon, niece of Philip of Burgundy, with John, Duke of Calabria, René's eldest son, cementedpeace between the two families.Joanna II, queen of Naples, had chosen Louis III as her presumptive heir and upon Louis' death offered it to René to inherit her kingdom after her death. After appointing a regency in Barand Lorraine, he set sail for Naples in 1438.Naples, however, was also claimed by Alfonso V of Aragon, who had been first adopted and then repudiated by Joanna II. In 1441 Alfonso laid a six-month siege to Naples.René returned to France in the same year, and though he retained the title of king of Naples his effective rule was never recovered. Later efforts to recover his rights in Italy failed. His mother Yolande, who hadgoverned Anjou in his absence, died in 1442.René took part in the negotiations with the English at Tours in 1444, and peace was consolidated by the marriage of his younger daughter, Margaret, with Henry VI ofEngland at Nancy.René now made over the government of Lorraine to his son John, who was, however, only formally installed as Duke of Lorraine on the death of Queen Isabella in 1453. René had the confidence ofCharles VII, and is said to have initiated the reduction of the men-at-arms set on foot by the king, with whose military operations against the English he was closely associated. He entered Rouen with him in November1449.After his second marriage with Jeanne de Laval, daughter of Guy of Laval and Isabella of Brittany, René took a less active part in public affairs, devoting himself to composing poetry and painting miniatures,gardening and raising animals. The fortunes of his house declined in his old age: in 1466, the rebellious Catalans offered the crown of Aragon to René. His son John, unsuccessful in Italy, was sent to take up theconquest of that kingdom but died —apparently by poison— at Barcelona on 16 December 1470. John's eldest son Nicholas perished in 1473, also under suspicion of poisoning. In 1471, René's daughter Margaret wasfinally defeated in the Wars of the Roses. Her husband and her son were killed and she herself became a prisoner who had to be ransomed by Louis XI in 1476.René retired to Aix-en-Provence and in 1474 made a will bywhich he left Bar to his grandson René II, Duke of Lorraine; and Anjou and Provence to his nephew Charles, count of Le Maine. King Louis XI seized Anjou and Bar, and two years later sought to compel René toexchange the two duchies for a pension. The offer was rejected, but further negotiations assured the lapse to the crown of the duchy of Anjou and the annexation of Provence was only postponed until the death of theCount of Le Maine. René died on 10 July 1480 at Aix, but was buried in the cathedral of Angers. In the 19th century, historians bestowed on him the epithet "the good".He founded an order of chivalry, the Ordre duCroissant, which preceded the royal foundation of St Michael but did not survive René.ArtsThe King of Sicily's fame as an amateur painter formerly led to the optimistic attribution to him of many paintings in Anjou andProvence, in many cases simply because they bore his arms. These works are generally in the Early Netherlandish style, and were probably executed under his patronage and direction, so that he may be said to haveformed a school of the fine arts in sculpture, painting, goldsmith's work and tapestry. He employed Barthélemy d'Eyck as both painter and varlet de chambre for most of his career.Two of the most famous worksformerly attributed to René are the triptych of the Burning Bush of Nicolas Froment of Avignon in Aix Cathedral, showing portraits of René and his second wife, Jeanne de Laval, and two illuminated Book of Hours in theBibliothèque nationale de France and the British Library. Among the men of letters attached to his court was Antoine de la Sale, whom he made tutor to his son John. He encouraged the performance of mystery plays;on the performance of a mystery of the Passion at Saumur in 1462 he remitted four years of taxes to the town, and the representations of the Passion at Angers were carried out under his auspices.He exchanged verseswith his kinsman, the poet Charles of Orléans. René was also the author of two allegorical works: a devotional dialogue, Le Mortifiement de vaine plaisance (The Mortification of Vain Pleasure, 1455), and a love quest, LeLivre du Cuer d'amours espris (The Book of the Love-Smitten Heart, 1457).  The latter fuses the conventions of Arthurian romance with an allegory of love based on the Romance of the Rose.  Both works wereexquisitely illustrated by his court painter, Barthélémy d'Eyck.  Le Mortifiement survives in eight illuminated manuscripts. Although Barthélémy's original is lost, the extant manuscripts include copies of his miniatures byJean le Tavernier, Jean Colombe, and others. René is sometimes credited with the pastoral poem "Regnault and Jeanneton", but this was more likely a gift to the king honoring his marriage to Jeanne de Laval.KingRené's Tournament Book (Le Livre des tournois or Traicte de la Forme de Devis d'un Tournoi; c. 1460) describes rules of a tournament. The most famous and earliest of the many manuscript copies is kept in the FrenchNational Library. This is—unusually for a deluxe manuscript—on paper and painted in watercolor.  It may represent drawings by Barthélemy d'Eyck, intended as preparatory only, which were later illuminated by him oranother artist.  There are twenty-six full and double page miniatures. The description given in the book is different from that of the pas d'armes held at Razilly and Saumur; conspicuously absent are the allegorical andchivalresque ornamentations that were in vogue at the time. René instead emphasizes he is reporting on ancient tournament customs of France, Germany and the Low Countries, combining them in a new suggestion onhow to hold a tournament. The tournament described is a melee fought by two sides. Individual jousts are only briefly mentioned.As a patron, René commissioned translations and retranslations of classical works intoFrench prose. These include Strabo, which Guarino da Verona completed in 1458; and Ovid's Metamorphoses by an unknown translator, completed in 1467.Marriages and issueRené married:Isabelle, Duchess ofLorraine (1400 – 28 February 1453) on 24 October 1420Jeanne de Laval, on 10 September 1454, at the Abbey of St. Nicholas in AngersHis legitimate children by Isabelle were:John II (2 August 1424 – 16 December1470), Duke of Lorraine and King of Naples, married Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, by whom he had issue. He also had several illegitimate children.Louis (16 October 1427 – between 22May and 16 October 1444), Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson and Lieutenant General of Lorraine. At the age of five, in 1432, he was sent as a hostage to Dijon with his brother John in exchange for their captive father. Johnwas released, but Louis was not and died of pneumonia in prison.Nicholas (2 November 1428 – 1430), twin with Yolande.Yolande (2 November 1428 – 23 March 1483), married Frederick of Lorraine, count ofVaudemont; mother, among others, of Duke René II of Lorraine.Margaret (23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482), married King Henry VI of England, by whom she had a son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.Charles(1431 – 1432), Count of Guise.Isabelle (died young).René (died young).Louise (1436 – 1438).Anna (1437 – 1450, buried in Gardanne).He also had three illegitimate children:John, Bastard of Anjou (d. 1536), Marquisof Pont-à-Mousson, married 1500 Marguerite de Glandeves-Faucon.Jeanne Blanche (d. 1470), Lady of Mirebeau, married in Paris 1467 Bertrand de Beauvau (d. 1474).Madeleine (d. aft. 1515), Countess of Montferrand,married in Tours 1496 Louis Jean, seigneur de Bellenave.Cultural referencesHe appears as "Reignier" in William Shakespeare's play Henry VI, part 1. His alleged poverty for a king is satirised. He pretends to be theDauphin to deceive Joan of Arc, but she sees through him. She later claims to be pregnant with his child.René's honeymoon, devoted with his bride to the arts, is imagined in Walter Scott's novel Anne of Geierstein(1829). The imaginary scene of his honeymoon was later depicted by the Pre-Raphaelite painters Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.In 1845 the Danish poet Henrik Hertz wrote the playKing René's Daughter about René and his daughter Yolande de Bar; this was later adapted into the opera Iolanta by Tchaikovsky.René and his Order of the Crescent were adopted as "historical founders" by the LambdaChi Alpha fraternity in 1912, as exemplars of Christian chivalry and charity. Ceremonies of the Order of the Crescent were referenced in formulating ceremonies for the fraternity.In conspiracy theories, such as the onepromoted in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, René has been alleged to be the ninth Grand Master of the Priory of Sion.La Cheminée du roi René (The Fireplace of King René), op. 205, is a suite for wind quintet,composed in 1941 by Darius Milhaud.Chant du Roi René (Song of King René) is a piece for organ (or harmonium) by Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911) from his collection of Noels (Op.60).  The theme used throughoutthis piece was alleged to have been written by René (Guilmant's source was Alphonse Pellet, organist at Nîmes Cathedral).ArmsRené frequently changed his coat of arms, which represented his numerous and fluctuatingclaims to titles, both actual and nominal.The Coat of arms of René in 1420; Composing the arms of the House of Valois-Anjou (top left and bottom right), Duchy of Bar (top right and bottom left), and of the Duchy of


Passage 1:Bernie BonvoisinBernard Bonvoisin (French pronunciation: [bna b̃vwaz̃]), known as Bernie Bonvoisin (French pronunciation: [bni b̃vwaz̃], born 9 July 1956 in Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine), is aFrench hard rock singer and film director. He is best known for having been the singer of Trust.He was one of the best friends of Bon Scott the singer of AC/DC and together they recorded the song "Ride On" which wasone of the last songs by Bon Scott.External linksBernie Bonvoisin at IMDbPassage 2:Caspar BabypantsCaspar Babypants is the stage name of children's music artist Chris Ballew, who is also the vocalist and bassist ofThe Presidents of the United States of America.HistoryBallew's first brush with children's music came in 2002, when he recorded and donated an album of traditional children's songs to the nonprofit Program for EarlyParent Support titled "PEPS Sing A Long!" Although that was a positive experience for him, he did not consider making music for families until he met his wife, collage artist Kate Endle. Her art inspired Ballew to considermaking music that "sounded like her art looked" as he has said. Ballew began writing original songs and digging up nursery rhymes and folk songs in the public domain to interpret and make his own. The first album,Here I Am!, was recorded during the summer of 2008 and released in February 2009.Ballew began to perform solo as Caspar Babypants in the Seattle area in January 2009. Fred Northup, a Seattle-based comedyimprovisor, heard the album and offered to play as his live percussionist.  Northrup also suggested his frequent collaborator Ron Hippe as a keyboard player. "Frederick Babyshirt" and "Ronald Babyshoes" were theCaspar Babypants live band from May 2009 to April 2012. Both Northup and Hippe appear on some of his recordings but since April 2012 Caspar Babypants has exclusively performed solo. The reasons for the changewere to include more improvisation in the show and to reduce the sound levels so that very young children and newborns could continue to attend without being overstimulated. Ballew has made two albums of Beatlescovers as Caspar Babypants. Baby Beatles! came out in September 2013 and Beatles Baby! came out in September 2015.Ballew runs the Aurora Elephant Music record label, books shows, produces, records, andmasters the albums himself. Distribution for the albums is handled by Burnside Distribution in Portland, Oregon.Caspar Babypants has released a total of 17 albums. The 17th album, BUG OUT!, was released on May 1,2020. His album FLYING HIGH! was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album. All 17 of the albums feature cover art by Ballew's wife, Kate Endle."FUN FAVORITES!" and "HAPPY HITS!" are twovinyl-only collections of hit songs that Caspar Babypants has released in the last couple of years.DiscographyAlbumsPEPS (2002)Here I Am! (Released 03/17/09) Special guests: Jen Wood, Fysah ThomasMore Please!(Released 12/15/09) Special guests: Fred Northup, Ron HippeThis Is Fun! (Released 11/02/10)  Special guests: Fred Northup, Ron Hippe, Krist Novoselic, Charlie HopeSing Along! (Released 08/16/11) Special guests:Fred Northup, Ron Hippe, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Stone Gossard, Frances England, Rachel LoshakHot Dog! (Released 04/17/12) Special guests: Fred Northup, Ron Hippe, Rachel Flotard (Visqueen)I Found You! (Released12/18/12) Special guests: Steve Turner (Mudhoney), Rachel Flotard (Visqueen), John RichardsBaby Beatles! (Released 09/15/13)Rise And Shine! (Released 09/16/14)Night Night! (Released 03/17/15)Beatles Baby!(Released 09/18/2015)Away We Go! (Released 08/12/2016)Winter Party! (Released 11/18/16)Jump For Joy! (Released 08/18/17)Sleep Tight! (Released 01/19/18)Keep It Real! (Released 08/17/18)Best Beatles!(Released 03/29/19)Flying High! (Released 08/16/19)Bug Out! (released 05/1/20)Happy Heart! (Released 11/13/20)Easy Breezy! (Released 11/05/21)AppearancesMany Hands: Family Music for Haiti CD (released2010) – Compilation of various artistsSongs Stories And Friends: Let's Go Play – Charlie Hope (released 2011) – vocals on AlouetteShake It Up, Shake It Off (released 2012) – Compilation of various artistsKeep HopingMachine Running – Songs Of Woody Guthrie (released 2012) – Compilation of various artistsApple Apple – The Harmonica Pocket (released 2013) – vocals on Monkey LoveSimpatico – Rennee and Friends (released2015) – writer and vocals on I Am Not AfraidSundrops – The Harmonica Pocket (released 2015) – vocals on Digga Dog KidPassage 3:Richard T. JonesRichard Timothy Jones (born January 16, 1972) is an Americanactor. He has worked extensively in both film and television productions since the early 1990s. His television roles include Ally McBeal (1997), Judging Amy (1998–2005), CSI: Miami (2006), Girlfriends (2007), Grey'sAnatomy (2010), Hawaii Five-0 (2011–2014), Narcos (2015), and Criminal Minds (2017). Since 2018, he has played Police Sergeant Wade Grey on the ABC police drama The Rookie.His film roles include portrayals ofLamont Carr in Disney's Full Court Miracle (2003), Laveinio "Slim" Hightower in Rick Famuyiwa's coming-of-age film The Wood (1999), Mike in Tyler Perry's dramatic films Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and Why Did IGet Married Too? (2010), and Captain Russell Hampton in the Hollywood blockbuster Godzilla (2014).Early lifeJones was born in Kobe, Japan, to American parents and grew up in Carson, California. He is the son ofLorene, a computer analyst, and Clarence Jones, a professional baseball player who at the time of Jones' birth was playing for the Nankai Hawks in Osaka. He has an older brother, Clarence Jones Jr., who works as ahigh school basketball coach. They would return to North America after Clarence's retirement following the 1978 season. His parents later divorced. Jones attended Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance,California, then graduated from Tuskegee University.CareerSince the early 1990s, Jones has worked in both film and television productions.His first television role was in a 1993 episode of the series California Dreams.That same year, he appeared as Ike Turner, Jr. in What's Love Got to Do with It. From 1999 to 2005, he starred as Bruce Calvin van Exel in the CBS legal drama series Judging Amy.Over the next two decades, Jonesstarred or guest-starred in high-profile television series such as Ally McBeal (1997), CSI: Miami (2006), Girlfriends (2007), Grey's Anatomy (2010), Hawaii Five-0 (2011–2014), Narcos (2015), and Criminal Minds(2017).His film roles include portrayals of Lamont Carr in the Disney film Full Court Miracle (2003), Laveinio "Slim" Hightower in Rick Famuyiwa's coming-of-age film The Wood (1999), and Mike in Tyler Perry's dramaticfilms Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), and Captain Russell Hampton in the Hollywood blockbuster Godzilla (2014).From 2017 to 2018, Jones played Detective Tommy Cavanaughin the CBS drama series Wisdom of the Crowd.Since February 2018, Jones has played the role of Sergeant Wade Gray in the ABC police procedural drama series The Rookie with Nathan Fillion.Personal lifeJoshua MediaMinistries claims that its leader, David E. Taylor, mentors Jones in ministry, and that Jones has donated $1 million to its efforts.FilmographyFilmTelevisionPassage 4:Billy MilanoBilly Milano (born June 3, 1964) is anAmerican heavy metal and hardcore punk musician. He is the singer and occasionally guitarist and bassist of crossover thrash band M.O.D., and was the singer of its predecessor, Stormtroopers of Death. Prior to thesebands, Milano played in early New York hardcore band the Psychos, which also launched the career of future Agnostic Front vocalist Roger Miret. Milano was also the singer of United Forces, which included hisStormtroopers of Death bandmate Dan Lilker. Milano managed a number of bands, including Agnostic Front, for whom he also co-produced the 1997 Epitaph Records release Something's Gotta Give and roadie forAnthrax.DiscographyStormtroopers of Death albumsStormtroopers of Death videosMethod of Destruction (M.O.D.)MasteryPassage 5:Lamman RuckerLamman Rucker  (born October 6, 1971) is an American actor.Rucker began his career on the daytime soap operas As the World Turns and All My Children, before roles in The Temptations, Tyler Perry's films Why Did I Get Married?, Why Did I Get Married Too?, and Meet theBrowns, and its television adaptation. In 2016, he began starring as Jacob Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf. Rucker is married to Kelly Davis Rucker, a graduate of Hampton University.As of 2022, he stars in BET+ drama The Black Hamptons.Early lifeRucker was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Malaya (née Ray) and Eric Rucker. He has partial ancestry from Barbados. Rucker spent hisformative years in the greater Washington, DC, Maryland area. He first had an interest in acting after he was placed in many child pageants.  His first acting role was as Martin Luther King in the 4th grade. He was in thedrama club in 7th grade and then attended high school at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. Rucker studied at Carnegie-Mellon University and Duquesne University.On August 29, 2019, he sharedpersonal life experiences that he credits for his success with the Hampton University football team.CareerHis major role came in 2002 when he assumed the role of attorney T. Marshall Travers on the CBS daytime soapopera As the World Turns opposite Tamara Tunie. He left the series the following year and portrayed Garret Williams on ABC soap opera All My Children in 2005. He also had the recurring roles on the UPN sitcoms All ofUs and Half & Half.Rucker is best known for his roles in the Tyler Perry's films. He co-starred in Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and  Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010). He played Will Brown in 2008 film Meet TheBrowns. He later had a starring role on Perry's sitcom Meet the Browns reprising his role as Will from 2009 to 2011. The following year after Meet the Browns, Rucker was cast in the male lead role opposite Anne Hechein the NBC comedy series Save Me, but left after pilot episode. He later had roles in a number of small movies and TV movies. Rucker also had regular role opposite Mena Suvari in the short-lived WE tv drama series,South of Hell.In 2015, Rucker was cast as one of leads in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf. He plays Jacob Greenleaf, the eldest son of Lynn Whitfield' and Keith David'scharacters.FilmographyFilmTelevisionAward nominationsPassage 6:Percy Redfern CreedPercy Redfern Creed (13 May 1874 – November 1964), author of How to Get Things Done, 1938, The Merrymount Press, revisedas Getting Things Done, 1946, The Merrymount Press.BiographyBorn in Dublin, Ireland. Educated in England at Marlborough College (where he held a Classical Scholarship for 5 years) and at Trinity College, CambridgeUniversity (admitted 7 October 1892.)After leaving Cambridge University he entered the British Army. After seven years of service (including service in India and South Africa), he left the Army with the rank of Captainand took a position in the British House of Commons. He left this position to join the staff of The Times newspaper. He gave up newspaper work to accept an invitation from Lord Cromer to act as his Chief of Staff in aNational campaign of which Lord Cromer was the Leader. When this campaign was over he accepted an offer from Lord Roberts to act in a similar capacity to him in his famous National Service Campaign.On theoutbreak of World War I, he rejoined his regiment, the Rifle Brigade, and was appointed to the Headquarters Staff in the War Office in London. In April 1915 Lord Kitchener sent him forth as his Personal Representative,with a free hand and full responsibility, to force an Emergency Pace and Streamlined Methods in the Production of Munitions. In the course of this mission—which was successfully fulfilled within 3 months—he came intopersonal contact with King George V, Mr. Henry Asquith (the Prime Minister), and other Leading Men of the day.Thus he had the experience of serving in succession under Lords Cromer, Roberts, and Kitchener—thethree Big Men of Action of that generation—with a free hand and full responsibility to carry out their Policies.He moved to America in 1923. Prior to publication of his revised version of his book entitled Getting ThingsDone, he made an extensive study of American methods of Organization.He served as a Special Consultant in a Government Department in Washington for 14 months. Before going to Washington he worked as amember of a Trade Union in a Defense Plant—12 hours a night, 6 nights a week.In 1925, Creed was interviewed by The Christian Science Monitor. At the time he was a sportswriter. He was interviewed regarding hisfounding of a "Sportsmanship Brotherhood" in Boston:The object of the brotherhood is "to foster and spread the spirit of sportsmanship throughout the world," and its code of honor—the code of a sportsman—is that heshall:Keep the rules;Keep faith with his comrades, play the game for his side;Keep himself fit;Keep his temper;Keep from hitting a man when he is down;Keep down his pride in victory;Keep a stout heart in defeataccepted with good grace;Keep a sound soul and a clean mind in a healthy body.From Marlborough College RegisterPercy Redfern Creed: Son of Revd. J. C. Creed of Moyglare Glebe, Maynooth, Ireland. Born: 13 May1874. Arrived at Marlborough College as a Foundation Scholar in January 1888. His boarding house was B2 where his Housemaster was Mr A. C. Champneys. He was a member of the college's 1stCricket XI in theSummer of both 1891 and 1892. He left Marlborough in July 1892 and went on to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the Army in 1897 (The Rifle Brigade) and retired from the Army in 1904. During WorldWar I he rejoined the Army in 1915 with the rank of Captain and retired from the Army again in 1920.The only other details about him which have come to hand concern his cricketing ability. At the end of his final termhere (27 July 1892) he played cricket for Marlborough College in the annual two-day match at Lords Cricket Ground in London against Rugby School. Batting at Number 3, he scored 211 runs (out of a team total of 432runs) and more or less guaranteed that Marlborough would win the match. In the College magazine ("The Marlburian") it described his cricketing abilities as follows:A fine bat with good cutting and driving powers, weakon the leg side, but too indifferent to the game. Fair field, at some times a brilliant one, but too slow in returning the ball.From The Rifle BrigadeHave established the following, that Percy Redfern CreedTransferred intoThe Rifle Brigade as a regular Army officer from the 9th Bn RB, which was the West Meath Militia, on 1 December 1897, as a 2/LtJoined the 3rd Bn RB in Umballah (India) in February 1898.  Still a 2/Lt.  3RB marched toRawalpindi arriving on 26 November 1898, having left Umballah on 24 October1899 – Still in Rawalpindi with 3RB.  Promoted to Lt 4 Dec 18991900 – Still in Rawalpindi.  Member of 3RB Polo Team which won the AllIndia Regimental Polo Cup1901 – 18 Jan went with 3RB to Meerut.  2 March left 3RB for The Rifle Depot, here in the barracks in Winchester1902 – Promoted to Captain on 22 Jan 1902. Joined 4RB on 2 August 1902 inSouth Africa (Bloemfontein)1903 – 13 Jan to 4 Feb sailed from S. Africa on board HM Troopship 'Ortona', arriving in Southampton (or sailed in the SS Kinfauns Castle from Cape Town to Southampton 10 to 27December 1902, as he is included in The Times list of officers on that ship). Proceeded to Chatham.  Played in the battalion rackets pair which reached the semi-final of the Army Championship.1904 – 9 March CaptCreed retired1914 – Capt Creed joined 7th Bn RB on 19 September1915 – 20 May 7RB crossed to FranceHave been unable to establish at what time Capt Creed left 7RB to join the staff.  He appears to have retired in1915.BibliographyBooks"The Boston Society of Natural History, 1830-1930." (1930) (See Boston Society of Natural History.)How to Get Things Done (1938)G. T. D. (1939)Getting Things Done (1946)Articles"Childrenas Town Planners" for Journal of Education, 17 October 1932.Passage 7:The Notorious B.I.G.Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G.,Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is cited in various media lists as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known forhis distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.Born and raised inBrooklyn, New York City, Wallace signed to Sean "Puffy" Combs' label Bad Boy Records as it launched in 1993, and gained exposure through features on several other artists' singles that year. His debut album Ready toDie (1994) was met with widespread critical acclaim, and included his signature songs "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". The album made him the central figure in East Coast hip hop, and restored New York's visibility at a timewhen the West Coast hip hop scene was dominating hip hop music. Wallace was awarded the 1995 Billboard Music Awards' Rapper of the Year. The following year, he led his protégé group Junior M.A.F.I.A., a team ofhimself and longtime friends, including Lil' Kim, to chart success.During 1996, while recording his second album, Wallace became ensnarled in the escalating East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. Following TupacShakur's murder in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, speculations of involvement in Shakur's murder by criminal elements orbiting the Bad Boy circle circulated as a result of Wallace's public feudwith Shakur. On March 9, 1997, six months after Shakur's murder, Wallace was murdered by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting while visiting Los Angeles. Wallace's second album Life After Death, a doublealbum, was released two weeks later. It reached number one on the Billboard 200, and eventually achieved a diamond certification in the United States.With two more posthumous albums released, Wallace has certifiedsales of over 28 million copies in the United States, including 21 million albums. Rolling Stone has called him the "greatest rapper that ever lived", and Billboard named him the greatest rapper of all time. The Sourcemagazine named him the greatest rapper of all time in its 150th issue. In 2006, MTV ranked him at No. 3 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, calling him possibly "the most skillful ever on the mic". In 2020, hewas inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Life and career1972–1991: Early lifeChristopher George Latore Wallace was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on May 21, 1972, theonly child of Jamaican immigrant parents. His mother, Voletta Wallace, was a preschool teacher, while his father, Selwyn George Latore, was a welder and politician. His father left the family when Wallace was two yearsold, and his mother worked two jobs while raising him. Wallace grew up at 226 St. James Place in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill, near the border with Bedford-Stuyvesant. Raised Catholic, Wallace excelled at Queen of AllSaints Middle School, winning several awards as an English student. He attended St Peter Claver Church in the borough. He was nicknamed "Big" because he was overweight by the age of 10. Wallace claimed to havebegun dealing drugs at about age 12. His mother, often at work, first learned of this during his adulthood.He began rapping as a teenager, entertaining people on the streets, and performed with local groups, the OldGold Brothers as well as the Techniques. His earliest stage name was MC CWest. At his request, Wallace transferred from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene to George Westinghouse Career andTechnical Education High School in Downtown Brooklyn, which future rappers Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes were also attending. According to his mother, Wallace was still a good student but developed a "smart-ass"attitude at the new school. At age 17 in 1989, Wallace dropped out of high school and became more involved in crime. That same year in 1989, he was arrested on weapons charges in Brooklyn and sentenced to fiveyears' probation. In 1990, he was arrested on a violation of his probation. A year later, Wallace was arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine. He spent nine months in jail before making bail.1991–1994: Earlycareer and first childAfter release from jail, Wallace made a demo tape, Microphone Murderer, while calling himself Biggie Smalls, alluding both to Calvin Lockhart's character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again and to his