Passage 1:A Hungarian Fairy TaleA Hungarian Fairy Tale (original title: Hol volt, hol nem volt) is a 1987 Hungarian film directed by Gyula Gazdag.PlotAndris is achild living in Budapest. He is conceived when his mother Maria is attracted to a mysterious stranger during a performance of The Magic Flute. The strangerdisappears after the conception, and as a result Andris does not know his father. The law states that a boy should have his father's name, even if the father isunknown, to avoid the taint of illegitimacy. When Maria tries to register Andris with the child custody department, Andris is given the name of a fictitious father.She enters on Andris' birth certificate the name of the bureaucrat she is dealing with, Antal Orban.Maria dies when she is hit on the head by a falling brick, anaccident resulting from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, leaving Andris suddenly motherless. He then goes off in search of his nonexistent father.Along the way he meets and is helped by The Girl, the young nurse who delivered him, and who is alone like Andris. Meanwhile, the kindly Orban becomes tired ofthe tyrannical bureaucracy, and decides to destroy the files of children he has helped to legitimize by giving them fictitious fathers. He then sets out to findAndris. Andris and The Girl finally meet Orban, and they form their own family.They meet scouts being trained as instruments of the state, and the scouts pursueAndris, Orban and The Girl. The three of them climb onto the back of a stone eagle, which takes off in flight.CastDávid Vermes - AndrisFrantišek Husák - AntalOrbanMária Varga - MariaEszter Csákányi - The GirlAccoladesThe film won the following awards:Fantafestival 1988 - Best Actress (Mária Varga)LocarnoInternational Film Festival 1987 - Bronze Leopard (Dávid Vermes) (Special Grand Prize)Salerno International Film Festival 1989 - Grand Prix (GyulaGazdag)Sitges Film Festival 1987 - Best Film (Gyula Gazdag)External linksA Hungarian Fairy Tale at IMDbPassage 2:The Girl of My DreamsThe Girl of My Dreamsis a lost 1918 British silent film romance directed by Louis Chaudet and starring Billie Rhodes.CastBillie Rhodes - The WeedJack McDonald - George BassettLamarJohnstone - Kenneth Stewart (*as Lamar Johnston)Golda Madden - Madelin StewartJane Keckley - Ma WilliamsFrank MacQuarrie - Pa WilliamsBen Suslow - JedWilliams (*as Benjamin Suslow)Leo Pierson - Ralph LongPassage 3:The Woman of My Dreams (2010 film)The Woman of My Dreams (Italian: La donna della miavita, also known as The Woman of My Life) is a 2010 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Luca Lucini and starring Alessandro Gassman, Luca Argentero,Stefania Sandrelli, and Valentina Lodovini.PlotLeonardo and Giorgio are two brothers with very different characters. Leonardo is sensitive and reliable, whileGiorgio is an unstable womanizer. After a suicide attempt, Leonardo meets Sara, not knowing that she is Giorgio's ex, and in time they fall in love.With difficulty,and only after the involvement of Giorgio's mother Alba, they restore their friendship.CastAlessandro Gassman as  GiorgioLuca Argentero as  LeonardoValentinaLodovini as  SaraStefania Sandrelli as  AlbaGiorgio Colangeli as  SandroSonia Bergamasco as  CarolinaGaia Bermani Amaral as IreneLella Costa as  Alba'sfriendFranco Branciaroli as AlbertoFrancesca Chillemi as herselfSee alsoList of Italian films of 2010Passage 4:Arthur Maria RabenaltArthur Maria Rabenalt (25 June1905 – 26 February 1993) was an Austrian film director, writer, and author. He directed more than 90 films between 1934 and 1978. His 1958 film That Won'tKeep a Sailor Down was entered into the 1st Moscow International Film Festival. Two years later, his 1960 film Big Request Concert was entered into the 2ndMoscow International Film Festival. His career encompassed both Nazi cinema and West German productions. He also wrote several books on the 1930s and1940s wave of German cinema.CareerIn his early teens, Rabenalt began his stage career directing operas at theatres in Darmstadt, Berlin and Gera. From thenon to the mid-1920s he worked (though uncredited) as a production assistant on several films such including G. W. Pabst's Joyless Street (1925). After Nazi's riseto power, Rabenalt made his feature film debut directing the musical comedy, What Am I Without You (1934), which was then shortly followed with the release ofthe comedy Pappi (1934). He continued to work in different genres, including The Love of the Maharaja (1936), and Men Are That Way and Midsummer Night'sFire which were released in 1939.        Through out the 1940s, Rabaenalt worked with melodramatic dramas and comedy. Some of his early films in the 1940s,such as Riding for Germany, supported Nazi ideology. In 1989, he said "I had only made circus films and chamber-type entertainment films since 1941. The onlyNazi film I knew was ... rides for Germany (1941), and it was admired. The first films of mine that were distributed again after the war were Circus Renz (1943)and Regimental Music (shot in 1944 under the title The Guilty of Gabriele Rottweil, the film only came to the cinemas in 1950). The controversy about ... rides forGermany came much later.After the war he resumed his stage career as a director, beginning with the East German production, Chemistry and Love (1948),satire on anti-capitalism based on a play by Bela Balasz. He continued to work on productions for East German state studio DEFA until 1948. In the 1950s, hemoved into more mainstream entertainment, including the Weimar horror remake of Alraune (1952), which starred Hildegard Knef and Erich vonStroheim.            From 1960, Rabanalt worked only in television, adapting classic comedies and operettas for a mainstream audience. He also wrote severalerotic pulp fiction books as well as memoirs and factual books about Nazi Germany.Selected filmographyPublished booksTanz and Film [1] (1960)Das Theater derLust (1982)Theater ohne Tabu [2] (Emsdetten, 1970)Der Operetten-Bildband  Bühne Film Fernsehen [3] (1980)Mimus eroticus [4] (Hamburg, 1965/67)JosephGoebbels und der Grossdeutsche Film [5] (Munich, 1985)Gesammelte Schriften [6] (Hildesheim, 1999)Passage 5:Gyula GazdagGyula Gazdag (born 19 July 1947in Budapest) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter and actor.FilmographyDirectorThe Long Distance Runner [Hosszú futásodra mindig számíthatunk...] (1969,documentary short)The Selection [A válogatás] (1970, documentary short)The Whistling Cobblestone [A sípoló macskakő] (1971)The Resolution [A határozat](1972, documentary)Singing on the Treadmill [Bástyasétány hetvennégy] (1974)Swap [A kétfenekű dob] (1978)The Banquet [A bankett] (1982,documentary)Lost Illusions [Elveszett illúziók] (1983)Package Tour [Társasutazás] (1985, documentary)A Hungarian Fairy Tale [Hol volt, hol nem volt...](1987)Stand Off [Túsztörténet] (1989)Hungarian Chronicles [Chroniques hongroises] (1991, documentary)A Poet on the Lower east Side [Egy költö a Lower EastSide-ról] (1997, documentary)Actor25, Firemen's Street Tüzoltó utca 25. (1973)Dreaming Youth [Álmodó ifjúság] (1974)Confidence Bizalom (1980)Colonel Redl[Oberst Redl] 1985Working West (1992)External linksGyula Gazdag at IMDbPassage 6:Siman-Tov GanehSiman-Tov Ganeh (Hebrew: - ;1924–1968) was an Israeli soldier who was rewarded with the Hero of Israel.BiographySiman-Tov Ganeh was born in the Old City of Jerusalem to aGeorgian-Jewish family, son of a member of the Jewish Battalions and a volunteer in the British army's Expeditionary Force during the Second World War. Whenthe 1936–1939 Arab revolt broke out, his family was forced to leave the Old City and move to Zikhron Moshe. As a boy he worked in a cigarette factory, and in1941 his father fell captive in Crete. He also served in the Royal Navy, and served on supply ships. In April 1946, he was discharged and worked as a taxi drivershortly before joining the Lehi underground movement.Ganeh joined the 8th Brigade at the beginning of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and served in the 89thBattalion. In November 1948, he participated in the Battle of Iraq Suwaydan, in which he continued to treat the wounded and respond to the shooting whilemortally wounded and under heavy fire. For his part in the operation, he was awarded the Hero of Israel medal.After the battle, Siman-Tov's two legs were cut offand replaced with prosthetic legs. Following the war he studied carpentry and worked for a while as a taxi driver. He got married in 1950 and was a father ofthree. His middle son was named Ma'agan, after being born on the day Ganeh was saved from the Ma'agan disaster which he had witnessed. During the Six-DayWar he volunteered to gather soldiers from transportation stations. In 1967, he began to work as a contractor in military camps. In March 1968, he was hit by anold shell that was ignited from the heat and was killed. After his death, mourning orders were held in IDF units.Passage 7:Ben PalmerBen Palmer (born 1976) is aBritish film and television director.His television credits include the Channel 4 sketch show Bo' Selecta! (2002–2006), the second and third series of the E4 sitcomThe Inbetweeners (2009–2010) and the Sky Atlantic comedy-drama Breeders (2020). Palmer has also directed films such as the Inbetweeners spin-off, TheInbetweeners Movie (2011) and the romantic comedy Man Up (2015).BiographyPalmer was born and raised in Penny Bridge, Barrow-in-Furness. He attendedChetwynde School.His first directing job was the Channel 4 sketch show Bo' Selecta!, which he co-developed with its main star, Leigh Francis. Palmer directed thesecond and third series of the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners in 2009 and 2010, respectively.FilmographyBo' Selecta! (2002–06)Comedy Lab (2004–2010)Bo! in theUSA (2006)The Inbetweeners (2009–2010)The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)Comedy Showcase (2012)Milton Jones's House of Rooms (2012)Them from That Thing(2012)Bad Sugar (2012)Chickens (2013)London Irish (2013)Man Up (2015)SunTrap (2015)BBC Comedy Feeds (2016)Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back (2016)Back(2017)Comedy Playhouse (2017)Urban Myths (2017–19)Click & Collect (2018)Semi-Detached (2019)Breeders (2020)Passage 8:Elliot SilversteinElliot Silverstein(born August 3, 1927) is a retired American film and television director. He directed the Academy Award-winning western comedy Cat Ballou (1965), and otherfilms including The Happening (1967), A Man Called Horse (1970), Nightmare Honeymoon (1974), and The Car (1977). His television work includes four episodesof The Twilight Zone (1961–1964).CareerElliot Silverstein was the director of six feature films in the mid-twentieth century. The most famous of these by far isCat Ballou, a comedy-western starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin.The other Silverstein films, in chronological order, are The Happening, A Man CalledHorse,  Nightmare Honeymoon, The Car, and Flashfire.Other work included directing for the television shows The Twilight Zone, The Nurses, Picket Fences, andTales from the Crypt.While Silverstein was not a prolific director, his films were often decorated. Cat Ballou, for instance, earned one Oscar and was nominated forfour more. His high quality work was rewarded in 1990 with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Directors Guild of America.AwardsIn 1965, at the 15th Berlin


Passage 1:Alasdair MórAlasdair Mór mac Domhnaill was a younger son of Domhnall mac Raghnaill—the eponymous ancestor of Clan Donald. He first appears onrecord in 1253, when it is recorded as witnessing a charter by his brother, Aonghus Mór, to Paisley Abbey. According to the 19th century Clan Donald historiansAngus and Archibald Macdonald, Alasdair Mór must have been a prominent man as he is the only recorded brother of Aonghus Mór. He is recorded in the Annalsof Connacht, in the year 1299, as being a man noted for being a "generous and bounteous man". In that year he was slain in a conflict with Alasdair of Argyll andthe MacDougalls. He is said to have had at least five sons: Dòmhnall, Gòraidh, Donnchadh, Eoin and Eachann. Alasdair Mòr was succeeded in the representationof his clan by Dòmhnall. Today he is considered to be the eponymous ancestor of Clan MacAlister.Passage 2:Kaya AlpKaya Alp (Ottoman Turkish:  ,lit. 'Brave Rock') was, according to Ottoman tradition, the son of Kızıl Buğa or Basuk and the father of Suleyman Shah. He was the grandfather of Ertuğrul Ghazi,the father of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman I. He was also famously known for being the successing name of Ertokus Bey’s son Kaya Alp. He was adescendant of the ancestor of his tribe, Kayı son of Gun son of Oghuz Khagan, the legendary progenitor of the Oghuz Turks.Passage 3:Lyon CohenLyon Cohen(born Yehuda Leib Cohen; May 11, 1868 – August 17, 1937) was a Polish-born Canadian businessman and a philanthropist. He was the grandfather of singer/poetLeonard Cohen.BiographyCohen was born in Congress Poland, part of the Russian Empire, to a Jewish family on May 11, 1868. He immigrated to Canada with hisparents in 1871. He was educated at the McGill Model School and the Catholic Commercial Academy in Montreal. In 1888, he entered the firm of Lee & Cohen inMontreal; later became partner with his father in the firm of L. Cohen & Son; in 1895, he established W. R. Cuthbert & Co; in 1900, he organized the CanadianImprovement Co., a dredging contractor; in 1906, he founded The Freedman Co. in Montreal; and in May 1919, he organized and became President of CanadianExport Clothiers, Ltd.  The Freedman Company went on to become one of Montreal’s largest clothing companies.In 1897, Cohen and Samuel William Jacobsfounded the Canadian Jewish Times, the first English-language Jewish newspaper in Canada. The newspaper promoted the Canadianization of recent EastEuropean Jewish immigrants and encouraged their acceptance of Canadian customs as Cohen felt that the old world customs of immigrant Jews were one of themain causes of anti-Semitism. In 1914, the paper was purchased by Hirsch Wolofsky, owner of the Yiddish-language Keneder Adler, who transformed it into theCanadian Jewish Chronicle.He died on August 17, 1937, at the age of 69.PhilanthropyCohen was elected the first president of the Canadian Jewish Congress in1919 and organized the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada. Cohen was also a leader of the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society (later the Baron deHirsch Institute) and the United Talmud Torahs, a Jewish day school in Montreal. He also served as president of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim and president ofthe Jewish Colonization Association in Canada.Personal lifeCohen married Rachel Friedman of Montreal on February 17, 1891. She was the founder and Presidentof Jewish Endeavour Sewing School. They had three sons and one daughter:Nathan Bernard Cohen, who served as a lieutenant in the World War; he marriedLithuanian Jewish immigrant Masha Klonitsky and they had one daughter and one son:Esther Cohen andsinger/poet Leonard Cohen.Horace Rives Cohen, who wasa captain and quartermaster of his battalion in World War I;Lawrence Zebulun Cohen, student at McGill University, andSylvia Lillian Cohen.Passage 4:Gilbert deInsulaGilbert de Insula (Anglicised: Gilbert of the Isles) was a son of Domhnall mac Alasdair, who received a charter for unspecified lands in the Stirlingshireregion, in the year 1330. He also received a charter for half the lands of Glorat in the parish of Campsie. Today, Gilbert de Insula is considered to be a grandsonof Alasdair Mór. He is also considered to possibly be the ancestor of the Alexanders of Menstrie.CitationsPassage 5:Henry KrauseHenry J. "Red" Krause, Jr.(August 28, 1913 – February 20, 1987) was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the WashingtonRedskins.  He played college football at St. Louis University.Passage 6:Fred Le DeuxFrederick David Le Deux (born 4 December 1934) is a former Australian rulesfootballer who played with Geelong in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He is the grandfather of Tom Hawkins.Early lifeLe Deux grew up in Nagambie andattended Assumption College, after which he went to Bendigo to study teaching.FootballWhile a student at Bendigo Teachers' Training College, Le Deux played forthe Sandhurst Football Club. He then moved to Ocean Grove to take up a teaching position and in 1956 joined Geelong.A follower and defender, Le Deux made 18appearances for Geelong over three seasons, from 1956 to 1958 He was troubled by a back injury in 1958, which kept him out of the entire 1959 VFL season.In1960 he joined Victorian Football Association club Mordialloc, as he had transferred to a local technical school.FamilyLe Deux's daughter Jennifer was married toformer Geelong player Jack Hawkins. Jennifer died in 2015. Their son, Tom Hawkins, currently plays for Geelong.Passage 7:Domhnall mac CaileinDomhnall macCailein or Donald Campbell was a 13th-14th century Scottish nobleman and the Sheriff of Wigtown.LifeAccording to Campbell tradition, Domhnall was the secondson of Cailean Mór; however, contemporary evidence seems to suggest that Domhnall was the elder brother to Niall mac Cailein.First mentioned in 1296, when hedid homage to King Edward I of England at Dumbarton on 28 August 1296, his name is included on the Ragman Roll. He was on the side of the English in 1304under the orders of John de Botetourt, Justiciar of Galloway, Annan, and the valley of the Nith. Domhnall was part of the jury that, on 31 August 1304, undertookan inquiry as to certain privileges claimed by Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick. After switching over to the Scottish cause, Domhnall was a signatory to theDeclaration of Arbroath. He received a grant of the half lands of Red Castle in the county of Forfar, and also lands of Benderloch in Lorne.Family andissueDomhnall married Amabilla and had the following known issue;Duncan (d.1367), married the heiress Susanna Crawford of Loudon daughter of ReginaldCrawford, and is the ancestor of the Campbells of Loudoun. Had issue.NotesPassage 8:Domhnall mac AlasdairDomhnall mac Alasdair was a son of Alasdair Mórmac Domhnaill, and a member of Clann Domhnaill. Domhnall is attested by the fifteenth-century manuscript National Library of Scotland Advocates' 72.1.1 (alsoknown as 1467 MS and 1450 MS). He may be identical to Domhnall of Islay. The latter's attestations suggest that he was a contestant to the Clann Domhnailllordship, and may have possessed the chiefship.CitationsPassage 9:Abd al-MuttalibShayba ibn Hāshim (Arabic:   ; c. 497–578),better known as Abd al-Mualib, (Arabic:  , lit. 'Servant of Muttalib') was the fourth chief of the Quraysh tribal confederation.He was the grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.Early lifeHis father was Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf,: 81 the progenitor of the distinguished Banu Hashim, aclan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca. They claimed descent from Ismā'īl and Ibrāhīm. His mother was Salma bint Amr, from the Banu Najjar, a clan of the Khazrajtribe in Yathrib (later called Madinah). Hashim died while doing business in Gaza, before Abd al-Muttalib was born.: 81 His real name was "Shaiba" meaning 'theancient one' or 'white-haired' because of the streak of white through his jet-black hair, and is sometimes also called Shaybah al-amd ("The white streak ofpraise").: 81–82 After his father's death he was raised in Yathrib with his mother and her family until about the age of eight, when his uncle Muttalib ibn AbdManaf went to see him and asked his mother Salmah to entrust Shaybah to his care. Salmah was unwilling to let her son go and Shaiba refused to leave hismother without her consent. Mualib then pointed out that the possibilities Yathrib had to offer were incomparable to Mecca. Salmah was impressed with hisarguments, so she agreed to let him go. Upon first arriving in Mecca, the people assumed the unknown child was Muttalib's servant and started calling him 'Abdal-Muttalib ("servant of Muttalib").: 85–86Chieftain of Hashim clanWhen Mualib died, Shaiba succeeded him as the chief of the Hāshim clan. Following hisuncle Al-Mualib, he took over the duties of providing the pilgrims with food and water, and carried on the practices of his forefathers with his people. Heattained such eminence as none of his forefathers enjoyed; his people loved him and his reputation was great among them.: 61 'Umar ibn Al-Khaāb'sgrandfather Nufayl ibn Abdul Uzza arbitrated in a dispute between 'Abdul-Mualib and arb ibn Umayyah, Abu Sufyan's father, over the custodianship of theKaaba. Nufayl gave his verdict in favour of 'Abdul-Mualib. Addressing arb ibn Umayyah, he said:Why do you pick a quarrel with a person who is taller thanyou in stature; more imposing than you in appearance; more refined than you in intellect; whose progeny outnumbers yours and whose generosity outshinesyours in lustre? Do not, however, construe this into any disparagement of your good qualities which I highly appreciate. You are as gentle as a lamb, you arerenowned throughout Arabia for the stentorian tones of your voice, and you are an asset to your tribe.Discovery of Zam Zam Well'Abdul-Mualib said thatwhile sleeping in the sacred enclosure, he had dreamed he was ordered to dig at the worship place of the Quraysh between the two deities Isāf and Nā'ila. Therehe would find the Zamzam Well, which the Jurhum tribe had filled in when they left Mecca. The Quraysh tried to stop him digging in that spot, but his sonAl-ārith stood guard until they gave up their protests. After three days of digging, 'Abdul-Mualib found traces of an ancient religious well and exclaimed,"Allahuakbar!" Some of the Quraysh disputed his claim to sole rights over water, then one of them suggested that they go to a female shaman who lived afar. Itwas said that she could summon jinns and that she could help them decide who was the owner of the well. So, 11 people from the 11 tribes went on theexpedition. They had to cross the desert to meet the priestess but then they got lost. There was a lack of food and water and people started to lose hope of evergetting out. One of them suggested that they dig their own graves and if they died, the last person standing would bury the others. So all began digging their owngraves and just as Abdul-Mualib started digging, water spewed out from the hole he dug and everyone became overjoyed. It was then and there decided thatAbdul-Muttalib was the owner of the Zam Zam well. Thereafter he supplied pilgrims to the Kaaba with Zam Zam water, which soon eclipsed all the other wells in


Passage 1:Theodore Roosevelt Sr.Theodore Roosevelt Sr. (September 22, 1831 – February 9, 1878) was an American businessman and philanthropist from theRoosevelt family. Roosevelt was also the father of President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He served as amember of the plate-glass importing business Roosevelt & Son.Roosevelt helped found the New York City Children's Aid Society. Related to this, and largelythrough his initiative,. . . a permanent Newsboys' Lodging house [was] established . . . where nightly several hundred stray  boys . . . were given a clean bed in awarm room for five cents, a fraction of what was charged by the lowest kind of commercial flophouse.He also helped found the Metropolitan Museum of Art, theAmerican Museum of Natural History, and the New York Children's Orthopedic Hospital. A participant in New York society life, he was described by one historian asa man of both "good works and good times". In December 1877, Roosevelt was nominated to be Collector of the Port of New York but was rejected by the U.S.Senate.FamilyRoosevelt was born in Albany, New York to businessman Cornelius Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill. His four elder brothers were Silas, James,Cornelius Jr., and Robert. His younger brother, William, died at the age of one.Roosevelt married Martha Stewart Bulloch of Roswell, Georgia, on December 22,1853. She was the younger daughter of Major James Stephens Bulloch and Martha "Patsy" Stewart. Mittie was also a sister of the American Civil War'sConfederate veteran Irvine Bulloch and half-sister of Civil War Confederate veteran James Dunwoody Bulloch. They married at her family's historic mansion,Bulloch Hall in Roswell. Theodore Sr. and Martha had four children:Anna Roosevelt in 1855Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in 1858, who became the 26th president of theUnited StatesElliott Roosevelt (socialite) in 1860, who was the father of future First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and father-in-law of President Franklin D.RooseveltCorinne Roosevelt in 1861His son's recollectionsOf Theodore Sr., or "Thee" as he was known, his namesake son, in his autobiography described him inthe following words:My father, Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and greatunselfishness. He would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness, cowardice, or untruthfulness. As we grew older, he made us understand thatthe same standard of clean living was demanded for the boys as for the girls; that what was wrong in a woman could not be right in a man. With great love andpatience, and the most generous sympathy and consideration, he combined insistence on discipline. He never physically punished me but once, but he was theonly man of whom I was ever really afraid. I do not mean that it was a wrong fear, for he was entirely just, and we children adored him. ...I never knew anyonewho got greater joy out of living than did my father, or anyone who more whole-heartedly performed every duty; and no one whom I have ever met approachedhis combination of enjoyment of life and performance of duty. He and my mother were given to hospitality that at that time was associated more commonly withsouthern than northern households. ...My father worked hard at his business, for he died when he was forty-six, too early to have retired. He was interested inevery social reform movement, and he did an immense amount of practical charitable work himself. He was a big, powerful man, with a leonine face, and hisheart filled with gentleness for those who needed help or protection, and with the possibility of much wrath against a bully or an oppressor. ... [He] was greatlyinterested in the societies to prevent cruelty to children and cruelty to animals. On Sundays, he had a mission class." In a 1900 letter, Roosevelt described hisfather, writing:I was fortunate enough in having a father whom I have always been able to regard as an ideal man. It sounds a little like cant to say what I amgoing to say, but he did combine the strength and courage and will and energy of the strongest man with the tenderness, cleanness, and purity of a woman. Iwas a sickly and timid boy. He not only took great and untiring care of me—some of my earliest remembrances are of nights when he would walk up and downwith me for an hour at a time in his arms when I was a wretched mite suffering acutely with asthma—but he also most wisely refused to coddle me, and made mefeel that I must force myself to hold my own with other boys and prepare to do the rough work of the world. I cannot say that he ever put it into words, but hecertainly gave me the feeling that I was always to be both decent and manly, and that if I were manly nobody would laugh at my being decent. In all mychildhood he never laid hand on me but once, but I always knew perfectly well that in case it became necessary he would not have the slightest hesitancy in doingso again, and alike from my love and respect, and in a certain sense, my fear of him, I would have hated and dreaded beyond measure to have him know that Ihad been guilty of a lie, or of cruelty, or of bullying, or of uncleanness or cowardice. Gradually I grew to have the feeling on my account, and not merely on his."To combat his poor physical condition, his father encouraged the young Roosevelt to take up exercise. To deal with bullies, Roosevelt started boxing lessons. Twotrips abroad had a permanent impact: family tours of Europe in 1869 and 1870, and of the Middle East 1872 to 1873.Support for the Union during the CivilWarTheodore Sr. was an active supporter of the Union during the Civil War. He was one of the Charter Members of the Union League Club, which was founded topromote the Northern cause. He has not been listed as such, probably because his wife was a loyal supporter of the Confederacy, and her brothers IrvineStephens Bulloch and James Dunwoody Bulloch were fighting for the Confederate Army. It was perhaps because of her active support of the Confederate Armythat Theodore Sr. hired a replacement to fulfill his draft obligation in the Army of the Potomac. During the war, he and two friends, William Earl Dodge Jr. andTheodore B. Bronson, drew up an Allotment System, which amounted to a soldier's payroll deduction program to support families back home. He then went toWashington, lobbied for, and won acceptance of this system, with the help of Abraham Lincoln himself. Theodore Sr. and Mr. Dodge were appointed AllotmentCommissioners from New York State. At their expense, the two men toured all New York divisions of the Army of the Potomac in the field to explain this programand sign interested men up, with a significant degree of success. In 1864, the Union League Club recruited money and food to send Thanksgiving Dinner to theentire Army of the Potomac. Theodore Sr. served as Treasurer for this generous outpouring of support for the troops. The elder Roosevelt meticulously listedevery donation received in a Union League Report dated December 1864.Orthopedic HospitalRoosevelt founded the New York Orthopedic Hospital. His youngerdaughter Corinne wrote this account of its origins: Bamie was born with a curved spine, and Roosevelt found a young doctor, Charles Fayette Taylor, who haddeveloped groundbreaking methods of treating physical defects in children, including braces and other equipment. Roosevelt then organized what appeared to bea social party for the upper crust of New York City. When the would-be revelers arrived, however, what they saw to their great surprise, were small children innew braces specially constructed for them. Moved to tears by the sight, one of the wealthiest socialites, Charlotte Augusta Gibbes (wife of financier/philanthropistJohn Jacob Astor III) said, "Theodore, you are right; these children must be restored and made into active citizens again, and I for one will help you in yourwork." That same day enough money was collected to start the hospital. Friends of Roosevelt used to see him coming and note the look in his eyes only to say tohim, "How much is it, this time, Theodore?"Other philanthropic interestsIn addition to contributing large sums to the Newsboys' Lodging-house (as noted above),he also contributed to the Young Men's Christian Association, organized the Bureau of United Charities, and was a commissioner of the New York State Board ofCharities. He was a director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and of the American Museum of Natural History.Nomination for Collector to the Port of New York,and deathIn October 1877, Roosevelt was nominated by President Rutherford Hayes to the position of Collector of Customs at the Port of New York. One ofHayes's main reasons for nominating Roosevelt was to embarrass New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, whom Hayes considered corrupt, and who was demandingthe renomination of the incumbent Collector, future President Chester A. Arthur. Conkling, as a member of the Senate committee tasked with considering theappointment, used endless delaying tactics, and the resulting battle made national headlines and left Roosevelt Sr. feeling humiliated and disillusioned.As theprocess dragged on, Roosevelt started experiencing severe stomach cramps caused by a gastrointestinal tumor, misdiagnosed as peritonisis. In December, twodays after his appointment was finally rejected in the Senate by a vote of 25 to 31, Roosevelt collapsed. Initially he kept the extent of his illness hidden from hiselder son, who was away attending Harvard. In February, however, 19-year-old Theodore Jr. was informed and immediately took a train from Cambridge to NewYork, where he missed his father's death by a few hours. The senior Roosevelt had been 46.A devout Christian who led his children in daily prayers, Roosevelt'sfuneral was held in Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, which was filled to overflowing. The voice of his former pastor (William Adams) broke several times in thecourse of his remarks in the service.Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was profoundly affected by the early death of his father and spent months in a deep state ofgrief.LegacyBiographer H. W. Brands argued that the timing of his death contributed heavily to the younger Theodore's psychology, since the future presidentknew his father fully while growing up, but missed knowing his father man-to-man, and therefore absorbed a view of his father entirely in his role as a parent,untempered by much realization of his human imperfection. Theodore Jr.'s sister Corinne remarked that "when [Theodore Jr.] was entering upon his duties asPresident of the United States, he told me frequently that he never took any serious step or made any vital decision for his country without thinking first whatposition his father would have taken on the question."Historian David McCullough, in the introduction to his book about President Roosevelt's youth, remarked:Ithink it is fair to say that one can not really know Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth President of the United States, without knowing the sort of man his fatherwas. Indeed, if I could have one wish for you the reader, it would be that you come away from the book with a strong sense of what a great man TheodoreRoosevelt, Sr. was.In 2012, historian Douglas Brinkley ranked Roosevelt first in a list of fathers of presidents of the United States, citing his instilling his son with


Passage 1:Paul De WeertPaul De Weert (born 27 November 1945) is a Belgian rower. He competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics and the 1976 SummerOlympics.Passage 2:Paul de LongpréPaul de Longpré (1855–1911), was a French painter of flowers, who worked mainly in the United States.Early lifePaul deLongpré was born in Lyon, France, in 1855, and was an entirely self-taught artist. From age 12, he practiced successfully in Paris as a painter of fans. In 1876, at21, he first exhibited at the Paris Salon. Having lost his money by the failure of a Paris bank, he moved in 1890 to New York City and in 1896 held an exhibition offlower paintings which secured him instant recognition.Life in HollywoodDe Longpré arrived in Los Angeles, Southern California with his family in 1899. DaeidaWilcox, with husband H. H. Wilcox the founders of Hollywood, was so eager to attract culture to the town that she gave him her homesite for his estate, three lotson Cahuenga on the north of Prospect (later Hollywood Boulevard), in exchange for three of his paintings.In 1901, Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois designed alandmark residence for the 3 acres (1.2 ha) estate, in the Mission Revival style. The house included an art gallery to sell prints of de Longpré's paintings, and wassurrounded by the expansive "Le Roi de Fleur" flower gardens. Estate tours became a popular tourist destination off an exclusive Balloon Route trolley spur of theLos Angeles Pacific Railroad, that later became a Pacific Electric Redcar line, and with print sales additional sources of income for de Longpré.Paul de Longpré islisted in the 1900 US Census, Los Angeles City Ward 5, Precincts 38 B and 73 A, with his wife Josephine and daughters Blance, Alice, and Pauline. His occupationis listed as Artist, but the last name is misspelled as De Lonpre, It indicates Paul, Josephine, Blance, and Alice were born in France, and Pauline was born in NewYork City. The architect Louis Bourgeois also taught French to de Longpré's daughters, and later married his daughter Alice.Paul de Longpré died at home in LosAngeles at age 56, on 29 June 1911.Afterwards, the family moved back to France. The increased property values in rapidly developing Hollywood resulted indemolition of the gardens by 1924, and the house in 1927.WorksDe Longpré only painted specimens of flowers. With a delicacy of touch and feeling for color heunited scientific knowledge and art. He also knew how to give expression to the subtle essence of the flowers. Painting floral scenes almost exclusively inwatercolors, in the 1900s de Longpre found inspiration in the 4,000 rose bushes he planted on his Hollywood estate. The finest of his paintings include DoublePeach Blossoms and White Fringed Poppies (1902) – both widely known through popular reproductions.LegacyIn present-day Hollywood, the street De LongpreAvenue, and De Longpre Park on it are both named for him.Passage 3:Paul de ScherffPaul de Scherff (14 July 1820 – 22 July 1894) was a Luxembourgianpolitician.De Scherff was born in Frankfurt to F. H. W. von Scherff-Arnoldi, who was minister plenipotentiary of the King-Grand Duke to the German FederalDiet.  After studying law, Paul de Scherff came to Luxembourg. For six years he was avocat géneral, and later became president of the superior court, at the ageof 34. From 24 June 1856 to 11 November 1858 he was Administrateur général (Minister) for Public Works and Railways in the Simons Ministry. From 1869 to1871, and then again from 1886 to 1892 he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Centre, and was President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1869until 1872.When the walls of the fortress of Luxembourg were demolished in the 1870s and 1880s, Paul de Scherff was working in the ministry of public works,where he dealt with the building of the municipal parks.He married Marie Pescatore on 14 September 1842, daughter of Constantin Jos. Antoine Pescatore andniece of Theodore Pescatore.  De Scherff was a practising member of the Reformed Church.FootnotesPassage 4:Paul de CordonPaul de Cordon (born in 1908 inToulouse - died in 1998 in Paris) was a French photographer known for his photographs of the circus and the Crazy Horse Saloon. He was also recognized for hisportraits and his nudes for which he was, in 1964, considered one of the greatest photographers in the world together with Guy Bourdin and Lucien Clergue. Heproduced portraits of many personalities such as Johnny Hallyday, Gilbert Bécaud, Mireille Darc, Jacques Brel, Fernand Raynaud, Anna Karina, Samy Davis Jr.,Jeanne Moreau, Steve McQueen and his long-time friends, Daniel Sorano and Jacques Dufilho as well as Gonzague Saint Bris with whom he was very close  andwho nicknamed him “The Toulouse-Lautrec of photography’’. In 1961 he participated alongside Edouard Boubat, Agnès Varda, Man Ray, Frank Horvat, WilliamKlein and Robert Doisneau in the mythical exhibition "Metamorphosis and invention of a face" around the portrait of Anne- Marie Edvina. He was also anequestrian, fashion and advertising photographer, notably for Nikon and Beaulieu. He collaborated with Europe 1 in the years 1960/70. Paul de Cordon even triedhis hand at television by co-presenting the Cirques du Monde program with Jean Richard on channel A2. His works are present in prestigious collections such asthose of the National Library of France (BNF), the Rodin museum and W.M. Hunt.Early yearsPaul de Cordon was born in Toulouse. His father, Comte Pierre deCordon, was a cavalry officer; his mother, Marthe de Boyer-Montegut, a cultivated, book-loving woman, was the daughter of Paul de Boyer- Montégut, who, formany years, was mayor of Cugnaux, near Toulouse, where he owned the château de Maurens.It was in Maurens that Paul de Cordon, as a child, spent hisholidays and it was there that he discovered horses which were to become one of the great passions of his life. His grandfather Boyer-Montegut was what was theFrench call, a “Homme de cheval’’ whose four-in-hand teams were renowned in Toulouse and across the region. As a child, he also lived for several years in Mainz(Germany), where his father was stationed after the First World War. It was around this time that he started taking pictures with a small camera, a gift from hisparents. He learned the basic techniques from an old German photographer during long hours spent in his shop.It was also in Germany where his attraction to thecircus was born. The large travelling circuses, like Althoff, then crisscrossed the country with quality shows and numerous animals.As a teenager, he was aboarder in a Paris school. He was then able to discover a very intense artistic and cultural life thanks to his aunt, the Marquise du Crozet, his mother's elder sister.He attended performances by Serge de Diaghilev's Ballets Russes which, after the war, came on tour every year to Paris. He went to the theater and visitedexhibitions with his first cousin, Aimar du Crozet, who was much older than him and took him "under his wing" to serve as his guide to the Paris of the 1920s.Aimar du Crozet also had a passion for horses and races. He was the owner of Master Bob, who won the 1924 Paris Grand Steeple Chase * and who became sofamous an athlete that he is mentioned by Ernest Hemingway at the start of his book ‘’Death in the Afternoon’’.After his studies Paul de Cordon enlisted in the18th Dragons cavalry regiment. More than a true military vocation, it was once again the love of horses that motivated him.At that time almost all the cavalryregiments were mounted and each maintained and trained horses to enter in show jumping events and steeple chases, in which both officers andnoncommissioned officers participated. In the 1930s, he thus took part in dozens of races on tracks in France and across Europe.After the 18th Dragons he wasassigned to the 2nd Hussards, in Tarbes, the “Chamborant’’, where he continued his favorite activities; training and riding horses. By an amusing coincidence, hisgreat-grandmother on his mother’s side was Louise de Séganville, daughter of Colonel Baron de Séganville who had been the regiment’s commanding officerbetween 1813 and 1815.It was at the 2nd Hussards that he had two encounters that would mean a lot in his life. He befriended Jacques Dufilho who, afterinterrupting his studies in dental prosthesis, had signed an eighteen-month enlistment contract. * Dufilho will become one of his dearest friends when they meetagain after the war. There he also meets Jean Devaivre who completed his military service at “Chamborant’’. Jean Devaivre then went to work in cinema andbecame a great director, it was he who enabled Paul de Cordon, after the war, to embark on a new life.Devaivre was not only a cineaste but also an authenticcharacter actor: working during the occupation for the German group Continental Films in Paris, he was at the same time a very active member of the Frenchresistance. His exploits include flying from the Nevers region to London clandestinely after having made the journey from Paris to Nevers in the afternoon... bybicycle. Bertrand Tavernier's film “Laissez-passer’’ is directly inspired by his life, as recounted in his autobiography, “Action’’.In 1939, the 2nd Hussards broke upinto reconnaissance groups which took part in the 1940 battles on the Ardennes front, * Paul de Cordon participated in these actions in a mounted squadron andwas taken prisoner by the Germans. He ended his captivity in the fortress of Colditz where he was liberated by the US military on April 16, 1945.In 1945 hemarried Dilette de Rigaud de Vaudreuil and they had three children. He remained in the army for a few more months and was assigned to the Cadre Noir inSaumur.Second lifeAfter a few months in Saumur, he decided to leave the army. In 1947 Jean Devaivre who had just directed “La dame d’onze heure" with PaulMeurisse, a film of astonishing modernity, offered him a job as his assistant and Paul de Cordon accepted.He was Devaivre’s first assistant director for “La fermedes sept péchés" ( he was also the stuntman for scenes on horseback) and for "Vendetta en Camargue" where he reunited with Jacques Dufilho. At that time, inaddition to being a stuntman he was also an acrobatic and burlesque dancer.At the beginning of the 1950s, Paul de Cordon decided to become a professionalphotographer. He set up a studio in Paris and started developing relations with various clients in the press, advertising agencies, fashion designers, show business...He also began to develop a large-scale personal project on the circus and the Crazy Horse Saloon cabaret. He spent many nights with his camera at Medrano, atthe Bouglione brothers' Cirque d’Hiver and at the Crazy Horse Saloon. Until the 1990s he also traveled the world to visitcircuses and bring back photos. Overthese years, he has developed close ties with the great dynasties of the circus ring : Schumann, Rancy, Knie, Gruss, Bouglione, Houcke, Medrano, Fratellini etc ...In all these families the horse occupied a central role in their performances. This equestrian culture and Paul de Cordon’s experience as a horseman facilitated andconsolidated links with all these artists and strengthened their mutual confidence and friendship. His taste for spectacle, ballets and theater helped him toappreciate and better understand the work represented by all these artists. During these years, in addition to his work as a photographer, Paul de Cordon wrote a


Passage 1:Arthur Lehman GoodhartArthur Lehman Goodhart  (1 March 1891 in New York City – 10 November 1978 in Oxford) was an American-born academicjurist and lawyer; he was Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, 1931–51, when he was also a Fellow of University College, Oxford. He was thefirst American to be the Master of an Oxford college, and was a significant benefactor to the college.Early life and educationArthur Goodhart was born to a Jewishfamily in New York City, the youngest of three children born to Harriet "Hattie" (née Lehman) and Philip Julius Goodhart. His siblings were Howard LehmanGoodhart and Helen Goodhart Altschul (married to Frank Altschul). His maternal grandfather was Mayer Lehman, one of three brothers who co-founded theinvestment banking firm Lehman Brothers. Goodhart was educated at the Hotchkiss School, Yale University and Trinity College, Cambridge. At Yale, he was aneditor of campus humor magazine The Yale Record. After returning to the United States, he practised law until World War I. Following the war, he started topursue an academic career in law, initially at Cambridge University and later at Oxford University where he became Professor of Jurisprudence and subsequentlythe Master of University College. He was editor of the Law Quarterly Review for fifty years.CareerRejected for service with British forces in World War I, in 1914,Goodhart became a member of the U.S. forces when the U.S. joined the war in 1917; he became counsel to the U.S. mission to Poland, in 1919.Goodhart wascalled to the bar by the Inner Temple 1919, and became a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and university lecturer in jurisprudence; he edited theCambridge Law Journal, 1921–5, and the Law Quarterly Review, 1926. In 1931 he moved to Oxford to become professor of jurisprudence. He gave up that chairwhen he became Master of University College, Oxford, 1951–63. Subsequently, he was an Honorary Fellow of the college until his death in 1978. In 1952 hedelivered the Hamlyn Lectures.As a member of the Law Revision Committee, Goodhart helped to promote improvements in various branches of the law.PersonallifeArthur Goodhart was married to Cecily Goodhart (née Carter), a devout Anglican. They had three children: Sir Philip Goodhart; William Goodhart, LordGoodhart of Youlbury; and Charles Goodhart (after whom Goodhart's law is named).LegacyStudents during Goodhart's Mastership of University College includedBob Hawke, matriculated 1953, who was later Prime Minister of Australia.The Goodhart Quad and the Goodhart Building (to the east, overlooking the quad andused for student accommodation) at University College, Oxford, off Logic Lane, are named in his memory. The largest lecture theatre in the Sir David WilliamsBuilding, which houses the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge, is also named "The Arthur Goodhart Lecture Theatre" after him. Cecily's Court, a smallopen area containing a fountain, located between the Goodhart Building and 83–85 High Street, is named in memory of Goodhart's wife.Honours and titles1938Honorary bencher, Lincoln's Inn1943, King's Counsel1948, Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). As a US citizen, an honoraryknighthood, and name not prefixed "Sir"1952, Fellow of the British AcademyHe received honorary degrees from twenty universitiesHonorary Fellow, TrinityCollege, CambridgeHonorary Fellow, University College, OxfordPassage 2:Christopher ShinnChristopher Shinn (born 1975) is an American playwright. His playDying City (2006) was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and Where Do We Live (2004) won the 2005 Obie Award, Playwriting.Early lifeShinn wasborn in Hartford, Connecticut in 1975 and lives in New York. He earned a BFA, Dramatic Writing, from New York University.The Royal Court Theatre in Londonproduced his first play Four and commissioned several plays from him. Shinn said: "The fifteen years I was embraced by the Court allowed me to become theartist I am today."CareerIn an article about Shinn, Rob Weinert-Kendt observed: "If playwright Christopher Shinn has a signature character, it is the manipulativevictim — the half-sympathetic, half-deplorable sort of person whose suffering is real but who uses it as rationale for bad behavior." As an example, in Dying City,"Shinn conjured twin terrors: a pair of brothers, one a straight soldier shipping off to Iraq, the other a successful gay actor."Four was produced by the Royal CourtTheatre in their Young Writers' Festival in 1998. The play was produced by the Worth Street Company at the TriBeCa Playhouse, New York City, in July 2001,directed by Jeff Cohen. It was produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club at Stage II in association with the Worth Street Company in January 2002.Other Peoplepremiered at the Royal Court Theatre, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in March 2000, directed by Dominic Cooke and featuring Daniel Evans, Doraly Rosen, JamesFrain, and Neil Newbon. The play opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizonss New Theater Wing in October 2000. The play takes place in the East Village in1997 shortly before Christmas, and involves roommates, current and former, all artists in various fields.Where Do We Live opened Off-Broadway at the VineyardTheatre, running from May 11, 2004, to May 30, 2004. Directed by Shinn, the cast featured Emily Bergl, Daryl Edwards, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Luke MacFarlane,Burl Moseley, Jacob Pitts, Aaron Stanford, Liz Stauber and Aaron Yoo. The play won the 2005 Obie Award, Playwriting and was nominated for the 2005 GLAADMedia Awards, Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway and Off-Broadway. It was first produced at the Royal Court in May 2002.His play Dying City wasproduced Off-Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, from February 15, 2007, in previews, officially on March 4, 2007, to April 29,2007. Directed by James Macdonald the cast starred Rebecca Brooksher and Pablo Schreiber. The play had its world premiere in 2006 at the Royal Court Theatrein London. The play was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.Shinn's play Now or Later premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London from 3September 2008 to 1 November 2008. Directed by Dominic Cooke, the cast featured Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Marsh, Adam James, Domhnall Gleason, NancyCrane and Pamela Nomvete. The play takes place during a U.S. presidential election and focuses on the crisis that the gay son of the Democratic candidate isundergoing. The play had its US premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company, Boston in October 2012. Adriane Lenox, Tom Nelis and Grant MacDermott arefeatured, with direction by Michael Wilson.His adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre Company American AirlinesTheatre, from January 6, 2009, to March 29, 2009. The play was directed by Ian Rickson and starred Mary-Louise Parker as Hedda Tesman, Michael Cerveris asJorgen Tesman, Peter Stormare as Judge Brack, and Paul Sparks as Ejlert Lovborg.Teddy Ferrara was commissioned by the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, andpremiered there from February 2, 2013, to March 3, 2013, directed by Evan Cabnet. The play involves a gay college student, Gabe, whose life is complicated by atragedy on campus. The play was produced in London at the Donmar Warehouse in October 2015, directed by Dominic Cooke.An Opening in Time premiered atHartford Stage, running from September 17 to October 11, 2015, directed by Oliver Butler. The play is set in New England and focuses on Anne, in her 60s,seeking to reconnect with a man from her past.Against premiered at the Almeida Theatre, running from August 12 to September 30, 2017, directed by IanRickson and starring Ben Whishaw. The play is about a Silicon Valley billionaire who goes on a quest to try to get America to address its problem with violence.Hisadaptation of Judgment Day premiered at Park Avenue Armory on December 5, 2019.The Narcissist premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre, running fromAugust 26 to September 24, 2022, directed by Josh Seymour and starring Harry Lloyd and Claire Skinner. The play is about a political consultant who is beingcourted by a Senator as his personal life faces crisis.Other workHe wrote Sandcastle for "The 24 Hour Plays" which was performed on September 24, 2001,starring Liev Schrieber and Lili Taylor. He wrote Dance of Life for the 2003 version of "The 24 Hour Plays", which was performed at the American Airlines Theatrein September 2003 and starred Rachel Dratch, Catherine Kellner and Sam Rockwell.He participated in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six Books where hewrote a piece based upon a book of the King James Bible.He wrote a short play for Headlong's 2011 project Decade about the impact and legacy of 9/11.He hasalso written short plays for Naked Angels, and the New York International Fringe Festival.Shinn's plays are published in collections from Theatre CommunicationsGroup and Methuen, and in acting editions from Dramatists Play Service.Shinn teaches playwriting at The New School for Drama.BibliographySource: InternetOff-Broadway DatabaseFour—1998, Royal Court TheatreOther People—2000, Royal Court TheatreThe Coming World—2001, Soho Theatre, LondonWhere Do WeLive—2002, Royal Court TheatreWhat Didn't Happen—2002, Playwrights HorizonsOn the Mountain—2005, Playwrights HorizonsDying City—2006, Royal CourtTheatreNow or Later—2008, Royal Court TheatreHedda Gabler (adaptation)—2009, Roundabout Theatre Company, American Airlines TheatrePicked—2011,Vineyard TheatreTeddy Ferrara—2013, Goodman TheatreAn Opening in Time—2015, Hartford StageAgainst—2017, Almeida TheatreJudgment Day(adaptation)—2019, Park Avenue ArmoryThe Narcissist—2022, Chichester Festival TheatreAwards and honorsFor Dying City, Shinn was a 2008 Pulitzer Prizefinalist, was nominated for the 2007 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, and was nominated for the TMA Award for Best New Play (2006). Shinn won theObie Award in Playwriting (2005) for Where Do We Live and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Most Promising Playwright (2003) for Where Do We Live Hewas shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play (2008) for Now or Later and the South Bank Show Award for Theatre (2008) for Now orLater. In 2020, he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation for Judgment Day.He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting(2005). He has received grants from the NEA/TCG Residency Program and the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and he is a recipient of the Robert Chesley Award forLesbian and Gay Playwriting.He was a 2019-2020 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard. In 2020–2021, he was a Cullman Fellow at New York Public Library.PersonallifeShinn is openly gay. In 2012, Shinn was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, and had part of his left leg amputated.Passage 3:FionaMcIntoshFiona McIntosh (born 1960) is an English-born Australian author of adult and children's books. She was born in Brighton, England and between the agesof three and eight, travelled a lot to Africa due to her father's work. At the age of nineteen, she travelled first to Paris and later to Australia, where she has lived


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 western islands, centered in Rome; however, this did not come to fruition as his father was overthrown by the newEmperor Phocas, who had him and his father executed, along with his younger brothers, in the Harbor of Eutropius, Chalcedon.Early life and familyTiberius wasthe second son of Byzantine Emperor Maurice, and Constantina. He was named in honor of Emperor Tiberius II, his maternal grandfather. He had an olderbrother, Theodosius, four younger brothers, Peter, Paul, Justin, and Justinian, and three sisters, Anastasia, Theoctiste, and Cleopatra. Maurice was not only thefirst Byzantine emperor since Theodosius I to produce a son, but his and Constantina's ability to produce numerous children was the subject of popularjokes.Maurice had served as magister militum per Orientem, the commander of Byzantine forces in the East, securing decisive victories over the SassanianEmpire. The ruling Byzantine Emperor, Tiberius II, weakened by illness, named Maurice one of his two heirs, alongside Germanus, planning to divide the empirein two, giving Maurice the Eastern half. However, Germanus declined, and therefore, on 13 August 582, Maurice was married to Constantina and declaredemperor. Tiberius II died the following day, and Maurice became sole emperor.Later lifeAccording to his father's will, written in 597 when he was suffering fromsevere illness, Maurice intended for Tiberius to rule Italy and the western islands, centered in Rome, rather than Ravenna, with Theodosius ruling 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 one would rule North Africa, and the other Illyricum, including Greece, with Domitian of Melitene as their guardian. HistorianJohannes Wienand suggests that in this arrangement, Theodosius would serve as senior augustus, Tiberius as junior augustus, and the younger brothers ascaesars.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 ledby the Green faction, Maurice and his family boarded a warship bound for Nicomedia.  Theodosius may have been at that time in the Sasanian Empire, on adiplomatic mission, or, according to some sources, was later sent by Maurice to request aid from the Sassanian Emperor Khosrow II.Phocas was crowned emperorthe 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 (72km) 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 on 27 November 602, Tiberius and his three younger brothers were put to death, followed by Mauricehimself. Their remains were gathered by Gordia, Tiberius' aunt, and interred at the Monastery of Saint Mamas, which she had founded. Theodosius wassubsequently captured and executed when he returned, while Constantina and her daughters were taken under the protection of Cyriacus II, the Patriarch ofConstantinople.Passage 2:Augustus II the StrongAugustus II (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector ofSaxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in the years 1697–1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to theAlbertine line of the House of Wettin.Augustus' great physical strength earned him the nicknames "the Strong", "the Saxon Hercules" and "Iron-Hand". He liked toshow 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 fingerwhile two of the strongest men in his court held the other end. He is also notable for fathering a very large number of children.In order to be elected king of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Augustus converted to Roman Catholicism. As a Catholic, he received the Order of the Golden Fleece from the Holy RomanEmperor and established the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest distinction. As Elector of Saxony, he is perhaps best remembered as a patron of the artsand architecture. He transformed the Saxon capital of Dresden into a major cultural centre, attracting artists from across Europe to his court. Augustus alsoamassed an impressive art collection and built lavish baroque palaces in Dresden and Warsaw. In 1711 he served as the Imperial vicar of the Holy RomanEmpire.His reigns brought Poland some troubled times. He led the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Great Northern War, which allowed the Russian Empireto 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. Augustusruled Poland with an interval; in 1704 the Swedes installed 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 royal Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, but his heart rests in theDresden Cathedral. His only legitimate son, Augustus III of Poland, became king in 1733.Early lifeAugustus was born in Dresden on 12 May 1670, the youngerson of 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 after the death of their father on 12 September 1691. Augustus was well educated, and spent someyears in travel and in fighting against France.Augustus married Kristiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth in Bayreuth on 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 diedwithout legitimate issue and Augustus became Elector of Saxony, as Friedrich Augustus I.Conversion to CatholicismTo be eligible for election to the throne of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697, Augustus had to convert to Roman Catholicism. The Saxon dukes had traditionally been called "champions of theReformation". Saxony had been a stronghold of German Protestantism and Augustus' conversion was therefore considered shocking in Protestant Europe.Although the prince-elector guaranteed Saxony's religious status quo, Augustus' conversion alienated many of his Protestant subjects. As a result of theenormous expenditure of money used to bribe the Polish nobility and clergy, Augustus' contemporaries derisively referred to the Saxon duke's royal ambitions ashis "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 Saxonywell-integrated in their camp. According to the Peace of Augsburg, Augustus theoretically had the right to re-introduce Roman Catholicism (see Cuius regio, eiusreligio), or at least grant full religious freedom to his fellow Catholics in Saxony, but this never happened. Saxony remained Lutheran and the few RomanCatholics residing in Saxony lacked any political or civil rights. In 1717, it became clear just how awkward the situation was: to realize his ambitious dynasticplans in Poland and Germany, it was necessary for Augustus' heirs to become Roman Catholic. After five years as a convert, his son—the future AugustusIII—publicly avowed his Roman Catholicism. The Saxon Estates were outraged and revolted as it became clear that his conversion to Catholicism was not only amatter 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 the Reichstag. Toplacate the other Protestant states in the Empire, Augustus nominally delegated the directorship of the Protestant body to Johann Adolf II, Duke ofSaxe-Weissenfels. However, when the Elector's son also converted to Catholicism, the Electorate faced a hereditary Catholic succession instead of a return to aProtestant Elector upon Augustus's death. When the conversion became public in 1717, Brandenburg-Prussia and Hanover attempted to oust Saxony from thedirectorship and appoint themselves as joint directors, but they gave up the attempt in 1720. Saxony would retain the directorship of the Protestant body in theReichstag until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, despite the fact that all remaining Electors of Saxony were Catholic.The wife of Augustus, theElectress Christiane Eberhardine, refused to follow her husband's example and remained a staunch Protestant. She did not attend her husband's coronation inPoland and led a rather quiet life outside Dresden, gaining some popularity for her stubbornness.King of Poland for the first timeFollowing the death of Polish KingJohn III Sobieski and having converted to Catholicism, Augustus won election as King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697 with the backing ofImperial Russia and Austria, which financed him through the banker Berend Lehmann. At the time, some questioned the legality of Augustus' elevation, sinceanother candidate, François Louis, Prince of Conti, had received more votes. Each candidate, Conti and Augustus, was proclaimed as king by a differentecclesiastical authority: (the Primate Michaŀ Radziejowski proclaimed Conti and the bishop of Kujawy, Stanisław Dąmbski proclaimed Augustus, with JacobHeinrich von Flemming swearing to the pacta conventa as Augustus's proxy). However, Augustus hurried to the Commonwealth with a Saxon army, while Contistayed in France for two months.Although he had led the imperial troops against Turkey in 1695 and 1696 without very much success, Augustus continued thewar of the Holy League against Turkey, and after a campaign in Moldavia, his Polish army eventually defeated the Tatar expedition in the Battle of Podhajce in1698. 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 chaoticPolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was, however, soon distracted from his internal reform projects by the possibility of external conquest. He formed an


Passage 1:Hafsa HatunHafsa Hatun (Ottoman Turkish:  , "young lioness") was a Turkish princess, and a consort of Bayezid I, Sultan of theOttoman Empire.LifeHafsa Hatun was the daughter of Isa Bey, 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, Isa was sent into exile in Iznik, shorn of hispower, where he subsequently died. Her marriage strengthened the bonds between the two families.CharitiesHafsa Hatun's public works are located within herfather's territory and may have been built before she married Bayezid. She commissioned a fountain in Tire city and a Hermitage in Bademiye, and a mosqueknown as "Hafsa Hatun Mosque" between 1390 and 1392 from the money she 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 Roman general prominent in the SecondPunic War, and Aemilia Paulla. Although drawing similarities to prototypical examples of virtuous Roman women, such as Lucretia, Cornelia puts herself apartfrom the rest because of her 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 Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, grandson of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, when he wasalready in middle age. The union proved to be a happy one, and together they had 12 children, which is very unusual by Roman standards. Six of them were boysand six were girls. Only three are known to have survived childhood: Sempronia, who married her cousin Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, and the two Gracchibrothers (Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus), who would defy the political institutions of Rome with their attempts at popular reforms.After her husband's death, shechose to remain a widow while still enjoying a princess-like status and set herself to educating her children. She even refused the marriage proposal of KingPtolemy VIII Physcon because she is made to be a virtuous and dutiful wife after the death of her only husband. However, her refusal could simply be justified bythe 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 studiedliterature, Latin, and Greek. Cornelia took 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 of receiving 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 supported her sonsTiberius 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 herchildren to "jewels" and other precious things, according to Valerius Maximus.After their violent deaths, she retired from Rome to a villa in Misenum but continuedto receive guests. Her villa saw the likes of many learned men, including Greek scholars, who came from all over the Roman world to read and discuss their ideasfreely. 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 her childrenItis 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 anormal practice in Ancient Roman society. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to characterize the extent of Cornelia's involvement in the political careers of herchildren, yet there is important evidence to support the fact that she was, at the very least, engaged.A common social practice in Rome was extending thepolitical 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's daughter) to her cousin reaffirmed the continuation of the great Scipio lineage, seeing as though the legacy of Scipio Africanus had to be continuedsomehow. Scipio Aemilianus saw important growth in his political prestige as a result of this marriage, although not enough to compare to his brothers-in-law andtheir revolutionary political reforms.One of the most important aspects of the life of Cornelia is her relationship with her adult sons. Most of the information thatwe 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 duringtheir political careers, especially during Gaius’.Plutarch writes of how Gaius removed a law that disgraced Marcus Octavius, the tribune whom Tiberius haddeposed, because Cornelia asked him to remove it.  Plutarch states that the people 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 harvesters to help provideresistance (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 thou abuse Cornelia, who gave birth to Tiberius?" And since the one who had uttered the abuse was charged witheffeminate practices, "With what effrontery," said Gaius, "canst thou compare thyself with Cornelia? Hast thou borne such children as she did? And verily all Romeknows 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 Latinbiographer (ca. 110-24 BC), include several excerpts from a letter supposedly composed by Cornelia to Gaius (her younger son). If the letters are authentic, theywould make Cornelia one of only four Roman women whose writings survive to the present day, and they would show how Roman women wielded considerableinfluence in political families. Additionally, this would make Cornelia the first woman in her own family who wrote and passed down the importance of writing toher posterity. 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 thedeath of his brother Tiberius in 133 BC). The wording in the letter is very interesting, insomuch as it uses the first person, is very assertive and displays copiousamounts of raw emotion, which may have been new and unusual for a woman writing at that time, particularly to a man of such important social standing. Thetwo 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 beautifulthan 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 fora long time and for many reasons, and they will be as they are now rather than have our country be destroyed and perish....I would dare to take an oathsolemnly, swearing that, except for those who have murdered Tiberius Gracchus, no enemy has foisted so much difficulty and so much distress upon me as youhave 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 havethe least anxiety possible in my old age; and that, whatever you did, you would wish to please me most greatly; and that you would consider it sacrilegious to doanything of great significance contrary to my feelings, especially as I am someone with only a short portion of my life left. Cannot even that time span, as brief asit 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 family stop behavinginsanely? When will we cease insisting on troubles, both suffering and causing them? When will we begin to feel shame about disrupting and disturbing ourcountry? But if this is altogether unable to take place, seek the office of tribune when I will be dead; as far as I am concerned, do what will please you, when Ishall not perceive what you are doing. When I have died, you will sacrifice to me as a parent and call upon the god of your parent. At that time does it not shameyou 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 allowyou to 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 troublefor your entire life that at no time would you be able to make yourself 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 thatthe Gracchi were heavily influenced by Cornelia's speech more than by her rearing. Later in history, Marcus Fabius Quintilian (ca. 35- ca. 100) would reassertAtticus's view of Cornelia's letters when he said "we have heard that their mother Cornelia had contributed greatly to the eloquence of the Gracchi, a womanwhose extremely learned speech also has been handed down to future generations in her letters" (Inst. Orat. 1.1.6).4While Cicero's reference to Cornelia's lettersmake it clear that elite Romans of the time period were familiar with Cornelia's writings, today's historians are divided about whether today's surviving fragmentsare authentically Cornelia's words. Instead, the fragments are likely to have been propaganda circulated by the elite optimate faction of Roman politics, who wereopposed to the populist reforms of Cornelia's sons. The letters appear to present Cornelia (a woman with considerable cultural cachet) as opposed to her son'sreforms, and Gaius as a rash radical detached from either the well-being of the Roman Republic or the wishes of his respected mother—meaning that thesurviving fragments could either be outright contemporary forgeries or significantly altered versions of what Cornelia actually wrote.The Cornelia statueAfter herdeath, 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 ina public space". Her statue endured during the revolutionary reign of Sulla, and she became a model for future Roman women culminating with the portrait saidto be of Helena, Emperor Constantine's mother, four hundred years later. Later, anti-populist conservatives filed away the reference to her sons and replaced itwith a reference to her as the daughter of Africanus rather than the mother of the Grachii.Changing legacy over timeThe historical Cornelia remains somewhatelusive. The figure portrayed in Roman literature likely represents more what she signified to Roman writers than an objective account. This significance changed


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 then1349–1355). 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 ofeconomic boom for Brabant, marks the rise of the duchy's towns, which depended on imports of English wool for their essential cloth industry. During John'sminority, 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 fatherin the year of his death (1312). By 1356 his daughter and son-in-law were forced to accept the famous Joyous Entry as a condition for their recognition, sopowerful had the states of Brabant become.The marital alignment with France was tested and failed as early as 1316, when Louis X requested Brabant to ceasetrade with Flanders and to participate in a French attack; the councillors representing the towns found this impossible, and in reprisal Louis prohibited all Frenchtrade with Brabant in February 1316, in violation of a treaty of friendship he had signed with Brabant in the previous October.The French alliance, 1332–1337Afterhis initial period of maintaining independent neutrality from both France and England failed, neighbouring sovereigns in the Low Countries, stimulated as a matterof policy by Philip VI of France, became John's enemies; among the adversaries of John were the Count of Flanders, the prince-bishop of Liège, and counts ofHolland and Guelders. In 1332, a crisis with the king of France arose over John's hospitality to Robert, count of Artois, during his journey to eventual asylum atthe 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 coalitionof Philip's friends came to a truce, followed by a pact at Compiègne by which John received a fief from Philip worth 2000 livres and declared himself a vassal ofFrance. His oldest son, Jean, was betrothed to Philip's daughter Marie, and it was agreed that the Brabançon heir would complete his education at the Frenchcourt in Paris and that Robert of Artois would be expelled from Brabant.The support of France strengthened John's hand with his feudal suzerain, the Holy RomanEmperor. 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 invasionof Lombardy (1327). The separation of Brabant from the Empire was completed by the Burgundian dukes of Brabant in the fifteenth century.Meanwhile, theprinces of the Low Countries settled their differences and formed a coalition against Brabant with a defensive alliance in June 1333. War was briefly brought to theDuchy of Brabant in the summer of 1334, but resolved by a peace brokered by Philip at Amiens. The French king declared that John had to hand over the town ofTiel 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 Englishalliance, 1337–1345When Edward III of England decided to press his claim to the crown of France in 1337, John, who was his first cousin, became an ally ofEngland during the first stage of the Hundred Years' War. King Edward's diplomatic offensive to draw Brabant away from France, produced a sympatheticresponse 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, andhe sweetened his offers with a promise of £60,000, an immense sum, and to make good any losses of revenue that might result from penalties by the king ofFrance. The same month of July 1337 John promised Edward 1,200 of his men-at-arms in the event of an English campaign 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 theopen when Edward landed with his troops at Antwerp July 1338. John received the promised subsidy (March 1339) and agreed in June to betroth John's seconddaughter, Margaret, to Edward, the Black Prince, heir to the English throne. Two seasons of inconclusive campaigning that ravaged the north of France leftEdward penniless at the end of 1341; he returned home, and when he returned to the fray, it was to Brittany: he never returned to the Low Countries.The Frenchalliance, 1345–1355Though John was requesting papal dispensation for the marriage of Margaret and the Black Prince in 1343, the alliance with Englandunravelled as Edward's coffers emptied and his attentions turned elsewhere. In September 1345 representative of France and Brabant met at the Château deSaint-Germain-en-Laye to sign preliminary agreements, and by a treaty signed at Saint-Quentin, June 1347, Brabant was retained as an ally by France. Margaretwas now to marry Louis of Male, who had inherited the title of count of Flanders, but whose power over the Flemish communes was virtually nil. A point of disputewith 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 Brabançoncontrol. Despite the diplomacy of Edward, John remained true to his French commitments until his death in December 1355.FamilyIn 1311, as his father's gestureof rapprochement with France, John married Marie d'Évreux (1303–1335), the daughter of Count Louis d'Évreux and Margaret of Artois. They had sixchildren: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 – 1March 1399), Lady of Turnhout, married at Tervuren on 1 July 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 Limburgand 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 youngand buried in Tervuren.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 allof his three legitimate sons had died, John was forced to declare his eldest daughter Joanna his heiress, which provoked a succession crisis after his death. JohnIII was buried in the Cistercian Abbey of Villers, Belgium. The standard history is Piet Avonds, Brabant tijdens de regering van Hertog 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 JohnII, Duke of Brittany, and Beatrice of England. She is also known as Marie de Dreux.FamilyHer maternal grandparents were Henry III of England and Eleanor ofProvence, Henry was a son of King John of England. John was son of Henry II of England and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine.Her sister was Blanche of Brittany, wifeto Philip of Artois and mother of Margaret of Artois, Robert III of Artois and Joan of Artois, Countess of Foix. Margaret was mother of Jeanne d'Évreux, Queen ofFrance.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 of AncreMahaut of Châtillon (1293–1358), married Charles of ValoisBeatrix of Châtillon, married in 1315 Jean de Dampierre, Lord ofCrèvecœurIsabeau of Châtillon (d. 19 May 1360), married in May 1311 Guillaume I de Coucy, Lord of CoucyMarie of Châtillon, married Aymer de Valence, 2ndEarl of PembrokeEleanor of Châtillon, married Jean III Malet, Lord of GranvilleJoan of Châtillon, married Miles de Noyers, Lord of MaisyDescendantsThrough herdaughter 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, and Joanna of Bourbon, who became Queen of France. Mahaut's other daughter was Blanche of Valois, who married Holy Roman EmperorCharles IV and was the mother of Katharine of Bohemia.AncestryPassage 3:René of AnjouRené of Anjou (Italian: Renato; Occitan: Rainièr; 16 January 1409 – 10July 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). Havingspent 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 memberof the House of Valois-Anjou, a cadet branch of the French royal house, and the great-grandson of John II of France.  He was a prince of the blood, and for mostof his adult life also the brother-in-law of the reigning king Charles VII of France. Other than the aforementioned titles, he was for several years also Duke of Barand 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, byYolanda 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-law Charles, were brought up under the guardianship of their mother. The elder son, Louis III, succeeded to the crown of Sicily andthe 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, Dukeof 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 were attached tothe 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 Reimsin 1429, he was present at the consecration of Charles VII. When Louis of Bar died in 1430, René inherited the duchy of Bar. The next year, on his father-in-law'sdeath, he succeeded to the duchy of Lorraine. The inheritance was contested by the heir-male, Antoine de Vaudemont, who with Burgundian help defeated Renéat 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 herecovered 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, HolyRoman Emperor Sigismund, at Basel in 1434. This proceeding roused the anger of the Burgundian duke, Philip the Good, who required him early in the next yearto return to his prison, from which he was released two years later on payment of a heavy ransom. At the death of his brother Louis III in 1435, he succeeded tothe 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, cemented