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George II Rákóczi and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. The Tatars of the Crimean Khanate and the Nogai Horde conducted almost annual slave-raids in the eastern territories controlled by the Commonwealth.
In the late 17th century, the king of the weakened Commonwealth, John III Sobieski, allied with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I to deal crushing defeats to the Ottoman Empire. In 1683, the Battle of Vienna marked the final turning point in the 250-year struggle between the forces of Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottomans. For its centuries-long opposition to Muslim advances, the Commonwealth would gain the name of "Antemurale Christianitatis" (bulwark of Christianity). During the | 9,100 |
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next 16 years, the Great Turkish War would drive the Turks permanently south of the Danube River, never again to threaten central Europe.
By the 18th century, destabilization of its political system brought Poland to the brink of civil war. The Commonwealth was facing many internal problems and was vulnerable to foreign influences. An outright war between the King and the nobility broke out in 1715, and Tsar Peter the Great's mediation put him in a position to further weaken the state. The Russian army was present at the Silent Sejm of 1717, which limited the size of the armed forces to 24,000 and specified its funding, reaffirmed the destabilizing practice of "liberum veto", and banished the | 9,101 |
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king's Saxon army; the Tsar was to serve as guarantor of the agreement. Western Europe's increasing exploitation of resources in the Americas rendered the Commonwealth's supplies less crucial.
In 1768, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Control of Poland was central to Catherine the Great's diplomatic and military strategies. Attempts at reform, such as the Four-Year Sejm's May Constitution, came too late. The country was partitioned in three stages by the neighboring Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy. By 1795, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been completely erased from the map of Europe. Poland and Lithuania | 9,102 |
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were not re-established as independent countries until 1918.
# State organization and politics.
## Golden Liberty.
The political doctrine of the Commonwealth was "our state is a republic under the presidency of the King". Chancellor Jan Zamoyski summed up this doctrine when he said that "Rex regnat et non-gubernat" ("The King reigns but ["lit." 'and'] does not govern"). The Commonwealth had a parliament, the Sejm, as well as a "Senat" and an elected king ("Pic. 1"). The king was obliged to respect citizens' rights specified in King Henry's Articles as well as in "pacta conventa", negotiated at the time of his election.
The monarch's power was limited in favor of a sizable noble class. Each | 9,103 |
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new king had to pledge to uphold the Henrician Articles, which were the basis of Poland's political system (and included near-unprecedented guarantees of religious tolerance). Over time, the Henrician Articles were merged with the pacta conventa, specific pledges agreed to by the king-elect. From that point onwards, the king was effectively a partner with the noble class and was constantly supervised by a group of senators. The Sejm could veto the king on important matters, including legislation (the adoption of new laws), foreign affairs, declaration of war, and taxation (changes of existing taxes or the levying of new ones).
The foundation of the Commonwealth's political system, the "Golden | 9,104 |
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Liberty" (, a term used from 1573 on), included:
- election of the king by all nobles wishing to participate, known as "wolna elekcja" (free election);
- Sejm, the Commonwealth parliament which the king was required to hold every two years;
- "pacta conventa" (Latin), "agreed-to agreements" negotiated with the king-elect, including a bill of rights, binding on the king, derived from the earlier Henrician Articles.
- "religious freedom" guaranteed by Warsaw Confederation Act 1573,
- "rokosz" (insurrection), the right of szlachta to form a legal rebellion against a king who violated their guaranteed freedoms;
- "liberum veto" (Latin), the right of an individual Sejm deputy to oppose a decision | 9,105 |
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by the majority in a Sejm session; the voicing of such a "free veto" nullified all the legislation that had been passed at that session; during the crisis of the second half of the 17th century, Polish nobles could also use the liberum veto in provincial sejmiks;
- "konfederacja" (from the Latin "confederatio"), the right to form an organization to force through a common political aim.
The three regions (see below) of the Commonwealth enjoyed a degree of autonomy. Each voivodship had its own parliament (sejmik), which exercised serious political power, including choice of poseł (deputy) to the national Sejm and charging of the deputy with specific voting instructions. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania | 9,106 |
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had its own separate army, treasury and most other official institutions.
Golden Liberty created a state that was unusual for its time, although somewhat similar political systems existed in the contemporary city-states like the Republic of Venice. Both states were styled "Serenissima Respublica" or the "Most Serene Republic". At a time when most European countries were headed toward centralization, absolute monarchy and religious and dynastic warfare, the Commonwealth experimented with decentralization, confederation and federation, democracy and religious tolerance.
This political system unusual for its time stemmed from the ascendance of the szlachta noble class over other social classes | 9,107 |
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and over the political system of monarchy. In time, the szlachta accumulated enough privileges (such as those established by the Nihil novi Act of 1505) that no monarch could hope to break the szlachta's grip on power. The Commonwealth's political system is difficult to fit into a simple category, but it can be tentatively described as a mixture of:
- confederation and federation, with regard to the broad autonomy of its regions. It is, however, difficult to decisively call the Commonwealth either confederation or federation, as it had some qualities of both;
- oligarchy, as only the szlachta (nobility)around 15% of the populationhad political rights;
- democracy, since all the szlachta were | 9,108 |
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equal in rights and privileges, and the Sejm could veto the king on important matters, including legislation (the adoption of new laws), foreign affairs, declaration of war, and taxation (changes of existing taxes or the levying of new ones). Also, the 15% of Commonwealth population who enjoyed those political rights (the szlachta) was a substantially larger percentage than in majority European countries even in the nineteenth century; note that in 1820 in France only about 1.5% of the male adult population had the right to vote, and in 1840 in Belgium, only about 5%.
- elective monarchy, since the monarch, elected by the szlachta, was Head of State;
- constitutional monarchy, since the monarch | 9,109 |
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was bound by pacta conventa and other laws, and the szlachta could disobey any king's decrees they deemed illegal.
## Shortcomings.
The end of the Jagiellon dynasty in 1572after nearly two centuriesdisrupted the fragile equilibrium of the Commonwealth's government. Power increasingly slipped away from the central government to the nobility.
When presented with periodic opportunities to fill the throne, the "szlachta" exhibited a preference for foreign candidates who would not find another strong dynasty. This policy often produced monarchs who were either totally ineffective or in constant debilitating conflict with the nobility. Furthermore, aside from notable exceptions such as the able | 9,110 |
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Transylvanian Stefan Batory (1576–86), the kings of foreign origin were inclined to subordinate the interests of the Commonwealth to those of their own country and ruling house. This was especially visible in the policies and actions of the first two elected kings from the Swedish House of Vasa, whose politics brought the Commonwealth into conflict with Sweden, culminating in the war known as The Deluge (1655), one of the events that mark the end of the Commonwealth's Golden Age and the beginning of the Commonwealth's decline.
The Zebrzydowski rebellion (1606–1607) marked a substantial increase in the power of the Polish magnates, and the transformation of "szlachta democracy" into "magnate | 9,111 |
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oligarchy". The Commonwealth's political system was vulnerable to outside interference, as Sejm deputies bribed by foreign powers might use their liberum veto to block attempted reforms. This sapped the Commonwealth and plunged it into political paralysis and anarchy for over a century, from the mid-17th century to the end of the 18th, while its neighbors stabilized their internal affairs and increased their military might.
## Late reforms.
The Commonwealth did eventually make a serious effort to reform its political system, adopting in 1791 the Constitution of 3 May 1791, which historian Norman Davies calls the first of its kind in Europe. The revolutionary Constitution recast the erstwhile | 9,112 |
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Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a Polish–Lithuanian federal state with a hereditary monarchy and abolished many of the deleterious features of the old system.
The new constitution:
- abolished the liberum veto and banned the szlachta's confederations;
- provided for a separation of powers among legislative, executive and judicial branches of government;
- established "popular sovereignty" and extended political rights to include not only the nobility but the bourgeoisie;
- increased the rights of the peasantry;
- preserved religious tolerance (but with a condemnation of apostasy from the Catholic faith).
These reforms came too late, however, as the Commonwealth was immediately invaded | 9,113 |
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from all sides by its neighbors, which had been content to leave the Commonwealth alone as a weak buffer state, but reacted strongly to attempts by king Stanisław August Poniatowski and other reformers to strengthen the country. Russia feared the revolutionary implications of the May 3rd Constitution's political reforms and the prospect of the Commonwealth regaining its position as a European power. Catherine the Great regarded the May constitution as fatal to her influence and declared the Polish constitution Jacobinical. Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin drafted the act for the Targowica Confederation, referring to the constitution as the "contagion of democratic ideas". Meanwhile, Prussia and | 9,114 |
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Austria used it as a pretext for further territorial expansion. Prussian minister Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg called the constitution "a blow to the Prussian monarchy", fearing that a strengthened Poland would once again dominate Prussia. In the end, the May 3 Constitution was never fully implemented, and the Commonwealth entirely ceased to exist only four years after the its adoption.
# Economy.
The economy of the Commonwealth was dominated by feudal agriculture based on the plantation system (serfs). Slavery was forbidden in Poland in the 15th century, and formally abolished in Lithuania in 1588, replaced by the second enserfment. Typically a nobleman's landholding comprised a "folwark", | 9,115 |
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a large farm worked by serfs to produce surpluses for internal and external trade. This economic arrangement worked well for the ruling classes in the early era of the Commonwealth, which was one of the most prosperous eras of the grain trade. The economic strength of Commonwealth grain trade waned from the late 17th century on. Trade relationships were disrupted by the wars, and the Commonwealth proved unable to improve its transport infrastructure or its agricultural practices. Serfs in the region were increasingly tempted to flee. The Commonwealth's major attempts at countering this problem and improving productivity consisted of increasing serfs' workload and further restricting their freedoms | 9,116 |
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in a process known as export-led serfdom.
Urban population of the Commonwealth was low compared to Western Europe. Exact numbers depend on calculation methods. According to one source, the urban population of the Commonwealth was about 20% of the total in the 17th century, compared to approximately 50% in the Netherlands and Italy ("Pic. 7"). Another source suggests much lower figures: 4–8% urban population in Poland, 34–39% in the Netherlands and 22–23% in Italy. The Commonwealth's preoccupation with agriculture, coupled with the szlachta's privileged position when compared to the bourgeoisie, resulted in a fairly slow process of urbanization and thus a rather slow development of industries.
While | 9,117 |
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similar conflicts among social classes may be found all over Europe, nowhere were the nobility as dominant at the time as in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. There is, however, much debate among historians as to which processes most affected those developments, since until the wars and crises of the mid-17th century the cities of the Commonwealth had not markedly lagged in size and wealth behind their western counterparts. The Commonwealth did have numerous towns and cities, commonly founded on Magdeburg rights. Some of the largest trade fairs in the Commonwealth were held at Lublin. See the geography section, below, for a list of major cities in the Commonwealth (commonly capitals of voivodships).
Poland–Lithuania | 9,118 |
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played a significant role in the supply of 16th century Western Europe by the export of three sorts of goods, notably grain (rye), cattle (oxen) and fur. These three articles amounted to nearly 90% of the country's exports to western markets by overland- and maritime trade.
Although the Commonwealth was Europe's largest grain producer, the bulk of her grain was consumed domestically. Estimated grain consumption in the Polish Crown (Poland proper) and Prussia in 1560–70 was some 113,000 tons of wheat (or 226,000 "łaszt" – a "łaszt", or "last", being a large bulk measure; in the case of grain, about half a ton). Average yearly production of grain in the Commonwealth in the 16th Century was 120,000 | 9,119 |
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tons, 6% of which was exported, while cities consumed some 19% and the remainder was consumed by the villages. Commonwealth grain achieved far more importance in poor crop years, as in the early 1590s and the 1620s, when governments throughout southern Europe arranged for large grain imports to cover shortfalls in their jurisdictions.
Still, grain was by far the largest export commodity of the Commonwealth. The owner of a folwark usually signed a contract with merchants of Gdańsk, who controlled 80% of this inland trade, to ship the grain north to that seaport on the Baltic Sea. Many rivers in the Commonwealth were used for shipping purposes: the Vistula, Pilica, Bug, San, Nida, Wieprz, Neman. | 9,120 |
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The rivers had relatively developed infrastructure, with river ports and granaries. Most of the river shipping moved north, southward transport being less profitable, and barges and rafts were often sold off in Gdańsk for lumber. Hrodna become an important site after formation of a customs post at Augustów in 1569, which became a checkpoint for merchants travelling to the Crown lands from the Grand Duchy.
From Gdańsk, ships, mostly from the Netherlands and Flanders, carried the grain to ports such as Antwerp and Amsterdam. Besides grain, other seaborne exports included carminic acid from Polish cochineal, lumber and wood-related products such as ash, and tar. The land routes, mostly to the | 9,121 |
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German lands of the Holy Roman Empire such as the cities of Leipzig and Nuremberg, were used for export of live cattle (herds of around 50,000 head) hides, furs, salt, tobacco, hemp, cotton (mostly from Greater Poland) and linen.
The Commonwealth imported wine, fruit, spices, luxury goods (e.g. tapestries, "Pic. 5"), clothing, fish, beer and industrial products like steel and tools. A few riverboats carried south imports from Gdańsk like wine, fruit, spices and herring. Somewhere between the 16th and 17th centuries, the Commonwealth's trade balance shifted from positive to negative.
With the advent of the Age of Discovery, many old trading routes such as the Amber Road ("Pic. 4") lost importance | 9,122 |
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as new ones were created. Poland's importance as a caravan route between Asia and Europe diminished, while new local trading routes were created between the Commonwealth and Russia. Many goods and cultural artifacts continued to pass from one region to another via the Commonwealth. For example, Isfahan rugs imported from Persia to the Commonwealth were actually known in the West as "Polish rugs" ().
Commonwealth currency included the złoty and the grosz. The City of Gdańsk had the privilege of minting its own coinage.
# Military.
The military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth evolved from the merger of the armies of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The army was | 9,123 |
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commanded by the Hetman. The most unusual formation of the army was the heavy cavalry in the form of the Polish winged hussars. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy never played a major role in the military structure, and ceased to exist in the mid-17th century.
Commonwealth forces were engaged in numerous conflicts in the south (against the Ottoman Empire), the east (against the Tsardom of Muscovy, later known as the Russian Empire) and the north (the Kingdom of Sweden); as well as internal conflicts (most notably, numerous Cossack uprisings). For the first century or so, the Commonwealth military was usually successful, but became less so from around the mid-17th century. Plagued by insufficient | 9,124 |
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funds, it found itself increasingly hard-pressed to defend the country, and inferior in numbers to the growing armies of the Commonwealth's neighbors.
The Commonwealth was formed at the Union of Lublin of 1569 from the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The armies of those states differed from the organization common in the west of Europe, as according to Bardach, the mercenary formations (Polish: "wojsko najemne"), common there, never gained popularity in Poland. Brzezinski, however, notes that foreign mercenaries did form a significant portion of the more elite infantry units, at least till the early 17th century. In the 15th century Poland, several other formations formed | 9,125 |
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the core of the military. There was a small standing army, "obrona potoczna" ("continuous defense") about 1,500–3,000 strong, paid for by the king, and primarily stationed at the troubled south and eastern borders. It was supplemented by two formations mobilized in case of war: the pospolite ruszenie (Polish levée en masse – feudal levy of mostly noble knights-landholders), and the "wojsko zaciężne", recruited by the Polish commanders for the conflict (it differed from Western mercenary formations in that it was commanded by Polish officers, and dissolved after the conflict has ended).
Several years before the Union of Lublin, the Polish "obrona potoczna" was reformed, as the Sejm (national | 9,126 |
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parliament of Poland) legislated in 1562–1563 the creation of "wojsko kwarciane" (named after "kwarta" tax levied on the royal lands for the purpose of maintaining this formation). This formation was also paid for by the king, and in the peacetime, numbered about 3,500–4,000 men according to Bardach; Brzezinski gives the range of 3,000–5,000. It was composed mostly of the light cavalry units manned by nobility (szlachta) and commanded by hetmans. Often, in wartime, the Sejm would legislate a temporary increase in the size of the "wojsko kwarciane".
Following the end of the Commonwealth, Polish military tradition would be continued by the Napoleonic Polish Legions and the Army of the Duchy of | 9,127 |
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Warsaw.
# Culture.
## Science and literature.
The Commonwealth was an important European center for the development of modern social and political ideas. It was famous for its rare quasi-democratic political system, praised by philosophers, and during the Counter-Reformation was known for near-unparalleled religious tolerance, with peacefully coexisting Roman Catholic, Jewish, Orthodox Christian, Protestant and Muslim (Sufi) communities. In the 18th century, the French Catholic Rulhiere wrote of 16th century Poland: "This country, which in our day we have seen divided on the pretext of religion, is the first state in Europe that exemplified tolerance. In this state, mosques arose between | 9,128 |
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churches and synagogues.” The Commonwealth gave rise to the famous Christian sect of the Polish Brethren, antecedents of British and American Unitarianism.
With its political system, the Commonwealth gave birth to political philosophers such as Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503–1572) ("Pic. 9"), Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (1530–1607) and Piotr Skarga (1536–1612). Later, works by Stanisław Staszic (1755–1826) and Hugo Kołłątaj (1750–1812) helped pave the way for the Constitution of 3 May 1791, which Norman Davies calls the first of its kind in Europe.
Kraków's Jagiellonian University is one of the oldest universities in the world (established in 1364), together with the Jesuit Academy of Wilno | 9,129 |
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(established in 1579) they were the major scholarly and scientific centers in the Commonwealth. The Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, Polish for "Commission for National Education", formed in 1773, was the world's first national Ministry of Education. Commonwealth scientists included: Martin Kromer (1512–1589), historian and cartographer; Michał Sędziwój (1566–1636), alchemist and chemist; Jan Brożek ("Ioannes Broscius" in Latin) (1585–1652), polymath: a mathematician, physician and astronomer; Krzysztof Arciszewski ("Crestofle d'Artischau Arciszewski" in Portuguese) (1592–1656), engineer, ethnographer, general and admiral of the Dutch West Indies Company army in the war with the Spanish Empire for | 9,130 |
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control of Brazil; Kazimierz Siemienowicz (1600–1651), military engineer, artillery specialist and a founder of rocketry; Johannes Hevelius (1611–1687), astronomer, founder of lunar topography; Michał Boym (1612–1659), orientalist, cartographer, naturalist and diplomat in Ming Dynasty's service ("Pic. 11"); Adam Adamandy Kochański (1631–1700), mathematician and engineer; Baal Shem Tov (הבעל שם טוב in Hebrew) (1698–1760), considered to be the founder of Hasidic Judaism; Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt (1728–1810), astronomer and mathematician ("Pic. 12"); Jan Krzysztof Kluk (1739–1796), naturalist, agronomist and entomologist, John Jonston (1603–1675) scholar and physician, descended from Scottish | 9,131 |
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nobility. In 1628 the Czech teacher, scientist, educator, and writer John Amos Comenius took refuge in the Commonwealth, when the Protestants were persecuted under the Counter Reformation.
The works of many Commonwealth authors are considered classics, including those of Jan Kochanowski ("Pic. 10"), Wacław Potocki, Ignacy Krasicki, and Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz. Many "szlachta" members wrote memoirs and diaries. Perhaps the most famous are the "Memoirs of Polish History" by Albrycht Stanisław Radziwiłł (1595–1656) and the "Memoirs" of Jan Chryzostom Pasek ("ca." 1636–"ca." 1701). Jakub Sobieski (1590–1646) (father of John III Sobieski) wrote notable diaries. During the Khotyn expedition in 1621 | 9,132 |
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he wrote a diary called "Commentariorum chotinensis belli libri tres" (Diary of the Chocim War), which was published in 1646 in Gdańsk. It was used by Wacław Potocki as a basis for his epic poem, "Transakcja wojny chocimskiej" ("The Progress of the War of Chocim"). He also authored instructions for the journey of his sons to Kraków (1640) and France (1645), a good example of liberal education of the era.
## Art and music.
The two great religious cultures of the Commonwealth, Latin and Eastern Orthodox, coexisted and penetrated each other, which is reflected in the great popularity of icons ("Pic. 13") and the icons resembling effigies of Mary, as well as the metal dresses typical of the Orthodox | 9,133 |
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Church in the predominantly Latin territories of today's Poland (Black Madonna) and Lithuania (Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn). The implementation of post-Renaissance naturalism and the sentimentality of the Polish baroque in Orthodox painting as well as the creation of the Cossack Baroque style in architecture, also inspired by Polish patterns, were the major factors of Latin infiltration into Eastern Orthodox art ("Pic. 3").
A common art form of the Sarmatian period were coffin portraits, particular to the culture of the Commonwealth, used in funerals and other important ceremonies. As a rule, such portraits were nailed to sheet metal, six- or eight- sided in shape, fixed to the front of a | 9,134 |
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coffin placed on a high, ornate catafalque.
Another characteristic is common usage of black marble. Altars, fonts, portals, balustrades, columns, monuments, tombstones, headstones and whole rooms (e.g. Marble Room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, St. Casimir Chapel of the Wilno Cathedral and Vasa Chapel of the Wawel Cathedral) were decorated with black marble.
Music was a common feature of religious and secular events. To that end many noblemen founded church and school choirs, and employed their own ensembles of musicians. Some, like Stanisław Lubomirski built their own opera houses (in Nowy Wiśnicz). Yet others, like Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz and Krzysztof Radziwiłł were known for their sponsorship | 9,135 |
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of arts which manifested itself in their permanently retained orchestras, at their courts in Wilno. Musical life further flourished during the reign of the Vasas. Both foreign and domestic composers were active in the Commonwealth. King Sigismund III brought in Italian composers and conductors, such as Luca Marenzio, Annibale Stabile, Asprilio Pacelli, Marco Scacchi and Diomedes Cato for the royal orchestra. Notable home grown musicians, who also composed and played for the King's court, included Bartłomiej Pękiel, Jacek Różycki, Adam Jarzębski, Marcin Mielczewski, Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński, Damian Stachowicz, Mikołaj Zieleński and Grzegorz Gorczycki.
Magnates often undertook construction | 9,136 |
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projects as monuments to themselves: churches, cathedrals, monasteries ("Pic. 14"), and palaces like the present-day Presidential Palace in Warsaw and Pidhirtsi Castle built by Grand Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski "herbu" Pobóg. The largest projects involved entire towns, although in time many of them would lapse into obscurity or be totally abandoned. Usually they were named after the sponsoring magnate. Among the most famous is the town of Zamość, founded by Jan Zamoyski and designed by the Italian architect Bernardo Morando. The magnates throughout Poland competed with the kings. The monumental castle Krzyżtopór, built in the style "palazzo in fortezza" between 1627 and 1644, had several courtyards | 9,137 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
surrounded by fortifications. Due to efforts of powerful Radziwiłł family, the town of Nesvizh in today's Belarus came to exercise significant influence in many domains – the Nesvizh manufactures of firearm, carpets, kontusz sashes and tapestries as well as school of painting produced renowned and luxury items.
The fascination with the culture and art of the Orient in the late Baroque period is reflected by Queen Marie's Chinese Palace in Zolochiv. 18th century magnate palaces represents the characteristic type of Baroque suburban residence built "entre cour et jardin" (between the entrance court and the garden). Its architecture – a merger of European art with old Commonwealth building traditions | 9,138 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
are visible in Wilanów Palace in Warsaw ("Pic. 15"), Branicki Palace in Białystok and in Warsaw, Potocki Palace in Radzyń Podlaski and in Krystynopol, Raczyński Palace in Rogalin and Sapieha Palace in Ruzhany.
## "Szlachta" and Sarmatism.
The prevalent ideology of the "szlachta" became "Sarmatism", named after the Sarmatians, alleged ancestors of the Poles. This belief system was an important part of "szlachta" culture, penetrating all aspects of its life. Sarmatism enshrined equality among "szlachta", horseback riding, tradition, provincial rural life, peace and pacifism; championed oriental-inspired attire ("żupan", "kontusz", "sukmana", "pas kontuszowy", "delia", "szabla"); and served to | 9,139 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
integrate the multi-ethnic nobility by creating an almost nationalistic sense of unity and of pride in the Golden Freedoms.
In its early, idealistic form, Sarmatism represented a positive cultural movement: it supported religious belief, honesty, national pride, courage, equality and freedom. In time, however, it became distorted. Late extreme Sarmatism turned belief into bigotry, honesty into political naïveté, pride into arrogance, courage into stubbornness and freedom into anarchy. The faults of Sarmatism were blamed for the demise of the country from the late 18th century onwards. Criticism, often one-sided and exaggerated, was used by the Polish reformists to push for radical changes. | 9,140 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
This self-deprecation was accompanied by works of Prussian, Russian and Austrian historians, who tried to prove that it was Poland itself that was to blame for its fall.
## Demographics and religion.
The Commonwealth comprised various identities: Poles, Lithuanians, Czechs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Ruthenians (Belarusians and Ukrainians), and Vlachs (Romanians). Sometimes inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were called Litvins, a Slavic term for people from Lithuania, regardless of their ethnicity (with the exception of Jews, who were called Litvaks). Shortly after the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Commonwealth's population was around 7 million, with roughly of 4.5 million Poles, 750,000 | 9,141 |
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Lithuanians, 700,000 Jews and 2 million Ruthenians. In 1618, after the Truce of Deulino, the Commonwealth population increased together with its territory, reaching 12 million people, which was composed roughly of 4.5 million Poles, 3.5 million Ukrainians, 1.5 million Belarusians, 750,000 Lithuanians, 750,000 Old Prussians, 500,000 Jews, and 500,000 Livonians. At that time nobility was 10% of the population, and burghers were 15%. The average population density per square kilometer was: 24 in Mazovia, 23 in Lesser Poland, 19 in Great Poland, 12 in Lublin palatinate, 10 in the Lvov area, 7 in Podolia and Volhynia, and 3 in the Ukraine. There was a tendency for the people from the more densely | 9,142 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
inhabited western territories to migrate eastwards. In the period from 1648 to 1657, populations losses are estimated at 4 m. Coupled with further population and territorial losses, in 1717 the Commonwealth population had fallen to 9 m, with roughly 4.5 m/50% Poles, 1.5 m/17% Ukrainians, 1.2 m Belarusians, 0.8 m Lithuanians, 0.5 m Jews, and 0.5 m others. Just before the first partition of Poland, the Commonwealth's population stood at some 14 million, including around 1 million nobles, 4.7 million Uniates and 400,000 Orthodox Christians. In 1792, the population was around 11 million and included 750,000 nobles.
## Warsaw Confederation and religious freedom.
Historian Norman Davies wrote: “Certainly, | 9,143 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
the wording and substance of the declaration of the Confederation of Warsaw of 28 January 1573 were extraordinary with regards to prevailing conditions elsewhere in Europe; and they governed the principles of religious life in the Republic for over two hundred years."
Poland has a long tradition of religious freedom. The right to worship freely was a basic right given to all inhabitants of the Commonwealth throughout the 15th and early 16th century. Complete freedom of religion was officially recognized in Poland in 1573 during the Warsaw Confederation. Poland kept religious freedom laws during an era when religious persecution was an everyday occurrence in the rest of Europe. The Commonwealth | 9,144 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
was a place where the most radical religious sects, trying to escape persecution in other countries of the Christian world, sought refuge. In 1561 Bonifacio d’Oria, a religious exile living in Poland, wrote of his adopted country's virtues to a colleague back in Italy: "You could live here in accordance with your ideas and preferences, in great, even the greatest freedoms, including writing and publishing. No one is a censor here."
"This country became a place of shelter for heretics” – Cardinal Hosius, papal legate to Poland.
To be "Polish", in remote and multi-ethnic parts of the Commonwealth, was then much less an index of ethnicity than of religion and rank; it was a designation largely | 9,145 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
reserved for the landed noble class (szlachta), which included Poles, but also many members of non-Polish origin who converted to Catholicism in increasing numbers with each following generation. For the non-Polish noble such conversion meant a final step of Polonization that followed the adoption of the Polish language and culture. Poland, as the culturally most advanced part of the Commonwealth, with the royal court, the capital, the largest cities, the second-oldest university in Central Europe (after Prague), and the more liberal and democratic social institutions had proven an irresistible magnet for the non-Polish nobility in the Commonwealth. Many referred to themselves as "gente Ruthenus, | 9,146 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
natione Polonus" (Ruthenian by blood, Polish by nationality) since the 16th century onwards.
As a result, in the eastern territories a Polish (or Polonized) aristocracy dominated a peasantry whose great majority was neither Polish nor Catholic. Moreover, the decades of peace brought huge colonization efforts to nowadays Ukraine, heightening the tensions among nobles, Jews, Cossacks (traditionally Orthodox), Polish and Ruthenian peasants. The latter, deprived of their native protectors among the Ruthenian nobility, turned for protection to cossacks that facilitated violence that in the end broke the Commonwealth. The tensions were aggravated by conflicts between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Greek | 9,147 |
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Catholic Church following the Union of Brest, overall discrimination of Orthodox religions by dominant Catholicism, and several Cossack uprisings. In the west and north, many cities had sizable German minorities, often belonging to Lutheran or Reformed churches. The Commonwealth had also one of the largest Jewish diasporas in the world – by the mid-16th century 80% of the world's Jews lived in Poland ("Pic. 16").
Until the Reformation, the szlachta were mostly Catholic or Eastern Orthodox ("Pic. 3, 13"). However, many families quickly adopted the Reformed religion. After the Counter-Reformation, when the Catholic Church regained power in Poland, the szlachta became almost exclusively Catholic, | 9,148 |
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despite the fact that Catholicism was not a majority religion (the Catholic and Orthodox churches counted approximately 40% of the population each, while the remaining 20% were Jews and members of various Protestant churches).
The Crown had about double the population of Lithuania and five times the income of the latter's treasury. As with other countries, the borders, area and population of the Commonwealth varied over time. After the Peace of Jam Zapolski (1582), the Commonwealth had approximately 815,000 km area and a population of 7.5 million. After the Truce of Deulino (1618), the Commonwealth had an area of some 990,000 km and a population of 11–12 million (including some 4 million Poles | 9,149 |
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and close to a million Lithuanians).
## Languages.
- Polish – officially recognized; dominant language, used by most of the Commonwealth's nobility and by the peasantry in the Crown province; official language in the Crown chancellery and since 1697 in the Grand Duchy chancellery. Dominant language in the towns.
- Latin – off. recog.; commonly used in foreign relations and popular as a second language among some of the nobility.
- French – not officially recognized; replaced Latin at the royal court in Warsaw in the beginning of the 18th century as a language used in foreign relations and as genuine spoken language. It was commonly used as a language of science and literature and as a second | 9,150 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
language among some of the nobility.
- Ruthenian – also known as "Chancellery Slavonic"; off. recog.; official language in the Grand Duchy chancellery until 1697 (when replaced by Polish); used in some foreign relations its dialects (modern Belarusian and Ukrainian) were widely used in the Grand Duchy and eastern parts of the Crown as spoken language.
- Lithuanian – not officially recognised; but used in some official documents in the Grand Duchy and, mostly, used as a spoken language in the northwest part of the Grand Duchy (in Lithuania Proper) and the northern part of Ducal Prussia (Polish fief).
- German – off. recog.; used in some foreign relations, in Ducal Prussia and by minorities | 9,151 |
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in the cities especially in the Royal Prussia.
- Hebrew – off. recog.; and Aramaic used by Jews for religious, scholarly, and legal matters.
- Yiddish – not officially recognized; used by Jews in their daily life
- Italian – not officially recognised; used in some foreign relations and by Italian minorities in cities.
- Armenian – off. recog. used by the Armenian minority.
- Arabic – not officially recognised; used in some foreign relations and by Tatars in their religious matters, they also wrote Ruthenian in the Arabic script.
# Legacy.
The Duchy of Warsaw, established in 1807, traced its origins to the Commonwealth. Other revival movements appeared during the November Uprising (1830–31), | 9,152 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
the January Uprising (1863–64) and in the 1920s, with Józef Piłsudski's failed attempt to create a Polish-led "Międzymorze" ("Between-Seas") federation that would have included Lithuania and Ukraine. Today's Republic of Poland considers itself a successor to the Commonwealth, whereas the Republic of Lithuania, re-established at the end of World War I, saw the participation of the Lithuanian state in the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth mostly in a negative light at the early stages of regaining its independence, although this attitude has been changing recently.
# Administrative divisions.
While the term "Poland" was also commonly used to denote this whole polity, Poland was in fact only | 9,153 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
part of a greater wholethe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which comprised primarily two parts:
- the Crown of the Polish Kingdom (Poland proper), colloquially "the Crown"
- the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, colloquially "Lithuania"
The Commonwealth was further divided into smaller administrative units known as voivodeships ("województwa"). Each voivodeship was governed by a Voivode ("wojewoda", governor). Voivodeships were further divided into "starostwa", each "starostwo" being governed by a "starosta". Cities were governed by castellans. There were frequent exceptions to these rules, often involving the "ziemia" subunit of administration.
The lands that once belonged to the Commonwealth are | 9,154 |
343234 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish–Lithuanian%20Commonwealth | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
now largely distributed among several Central and East European countries: Poland, Ukraine, Moldova (Transnistria), Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Also some small towns in Slovakia, then within the Kingdom of Hungary, became a part of Poland in the Treaty of Lubowla.
Other notable parts of the Commonwealth, without respect to region or voivodship divisions, include:
- Lesser Poland (), southern Poland, with two largest cities, its capital at Kraków (Cracow) and Lublin in the north-east;
- Greater Poland (), west–central Poland around Poznań and the Warta River system;
- Masovia (), central Poland, with its capital at Warszawa (Warsaw);
- Lithuania Proper (), the catholic, | 9,155 |
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or, perhaps, in some cases ethnically Lithuanian, part of Grand Duchy in the northwest of it;
- Samogitia (, ), an autonomous area of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the westernmost part of it, the western part of Lithuania Proper;
- Royal Prussia (), at the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, was an autonomous area since the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), incorporated into the Crown in 1569 with the Commonwealth's formation;
- Pomerelia (), Pomerania around Gdańsk (Danzig), western part of Royal Prussia;
- Ruthenia (), the eastern Commonwealth, adjoining Russia;
- Duchy of Livonia (), a joint domain of the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Parts lost to Sweden in the 1620s and in 1660;
- | 9,156 |
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Duchy of Courland (), a northern fief of the Commonwealth. It established a colony in Tobago in 1637 and on St. Andrews Island at the Gambia River in 1651 (see Couronian colonization);
- "Silesia () was not within the Commonwealth, but small parts belonged to various Commonwealth kings; in particular, the Vasa kings were dukes of Opole (Oppeln) and Racibórz (Ratibor) from 1645 to 1666."
Commonwealth borders shifted with wars and treaties, sometimes several times in a decade, especially in the eastern and southern parts. After the Peace of Jam Zapolski (1582), the Commonwealth had approximately 815,000 km area and a population of 7.5 million. After the Truce of Deulino (1618), the Commonwealth | 9,157 |
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had an area of some 1 million km (990,000 km) and a population of about 11 million.
# Geography.
In the 16th century, the Polish bishop and cartographer Martin Kromer published a Latin atlas, entitled "Poland: about Its Location, People, Culture, Offices and the Polish Commonwealth", which was regarded as the most comprehensive guide to the country.
Kromer's works and other contemporary maps, such as those of Gerardus Mercator, show the Commonwealth as mostly plains. The Commonwealth's southeastern part, the Kresy, was famous for its steppes. The Carpathian Mountains formed part of the southern border, with the Tatra Mountain chain the highest, and the Baltic Sea formed the Commonwealth's | 9,158 |
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northern border. As with most European countries at the time, the Commonwealth had extensive forest cover, especially in the east. Today, what remains of the Białowieża Forest constitutes the last largely intact primeval forest in Europe.
# See also.
- History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648)
- History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1648–1764)
- History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–1795)
- Historical powers
- List of Polish Coats of Arms
- List of szlachta
- Polish heraldry
- Lithuanian nobility
- History of the Germans in Poland
- History of the Jews in Poland
- History of Poland
- History of Lithuania
# Notes.
a. Name in native and official | 9,159 |
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languages:
- ("Karaleŭstva Polskaje і Vialikaje Kniastva Lіtoŭskaje")
b. Some historians date the change of the Polish capital from Kraków to Warsaw between 1595 and 1611, although Warsaw was not officially designated capital until 1793. The Commonwealth Sejm began meeting in Warsaw soon after the Union of Lublin and its rulers generally maintained their courts there, although coronations continued to take place in Kraków. The modern concept of a single capital city was to some extent inapplicable in the feudal and decentralized Commonwealth. Warsaw is described by some historians as the capital of the entire Commonwealth. Wilno, the capital of the Grand Duchy, is sometimes called the second | 9,160 |
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capital of the entity.
# Sources.
- Henryk Litwin, "Central European Superpower", "BUM Magazine", October 2016.
- S. C. Rowell (2014). "Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire within East-Central Europe, 1295–1345" (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series). Cambridge University Press, .
- S. C. Rowell, Darius Baronas (2015). "The conversion of Lithuania. From pagan barbarians to late medieval Christians". Vilnius, .
- Robert Frost (2015). "The Oxford History of Poland–Lithuania: Volume I: The Making of the Polish–Lithuanian Union, 1385–1569". Oxford University Press,
- Daniel Z. Stone (2014). "The Polish–Lithuanian State, 1386–1795". University of Washington Press. pp. | 9,161 |
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. From pagan barbarians to late medieval Christians". Vilnius, .
- Robert Frost (2015). "The Oxford History of Poland–Lithuania: Volume I: The Making of the Polish–Lithuanian Union, 1385–1569". Oxford University Press,
- Daniel Z. Stone (2014). "The Polish–Lithuanian State, 1386–1795". University of Washington Press. pp. xii, 374.
- Zenonas Norkus (2017). "An Unproclaimed Empire: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania: From the Viewpoint of Comparative Historical Sociology of Empires", Routledge, 426 p.
# External links.
- Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures: Poland's Heritage
- Knowledge passage
- The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth–Maps, history of cities in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania | 9,162 |
343280 | Guevenatten | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guevenatten | Guevenatten
Guevenatten
Guevenatten () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.
# Administration.
Guevenatten is a part of the Sundgau.
# Geography.
Situated 6 km northwest of Dannemarie, Guevenatten occupies a rather rare site in Sundgau, because it is perched on the line of crests separating the valleys of Traubach and Soultzbach, both tributaries of the left bank of releases her(it).
Guevenatten stretches along the R.D.14, twice connecting the RN83 (Main road 83) to Dannemarie by Traubach-le-Haut. On the north of the village, the Sternenberg is the highest point in the municipality at 370 m.
The village preserved a rural character. The surface of the banns is | 9,163 |
343280 | Guevenatten | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guevenatten | Guevenatten
it is perched on the line of crests separating the valleys of Traubach and Soultzbach, both tributaries of the left bank of releases her(it).
Guevenatten stretches along the R.D.14, twice connecting the RN83 (Main road 83) to Dannemarie by Traubach-le-Haut. On the north of the village, the Sternenberg is the highest point in the municipality at 370 m.
The village preserved a rural character. The surface of the banns is of 217 ha, the used agricultural space represents 87,2%. The woody surface, included in the agricultural space, is of 58 ha of which 35ha of municipal forest.
# See also.
- Communes of the Haut-Rhin département
# References.
- INSEE
# External links.
- Official website | 9,164 |
343283 | MEP | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MEP | MEP
MEP
MEP may refer to:
# Organisations and politics.
- Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka
- Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre in Paris
- Massachusetts Environmental Police, the Commonwealth's primary enforcement agency of boating and recreation vehicle laws
- Member of the European Parliament, an elected politician in the European Union
- Model European Parliament, a simulation of the European Parliament for students
- Ministry of Environmental Protection (disambiguation)
- Hope for Portugal Movement (), a minor political party in Portugal
- Mission Essential (formerly Mission Essential Personnel), an American defense contractor
- Paris | 9,165 |
343283 | MEP | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MEP | MEP
Foreign Missions Society (), a French Catholic missionary organization
- People's Electoral Movement (Aruba) (), an Aruban political party
- People's Electoral Movement (Venezuela) (), a left-wing political party of Venezuela
# Industry and technology.
- Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a NIST program that provides business and technical assistance to manufacturers
- Mean effective pressure, of internal combustion engines
- Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, a part of the building design industry
- Media-embedded processor (MeP), a CPU design from Toshiba Semiconductor
- Message exchange pattern, a communications protocol concept
- Multi-engine piston, a pilot's rating | 9,166 |
343283 | MEP | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MEP | MEP
edia-embedded processor (MeP), a CPU design from Toshiba Semiconductor
- Message exchange pattern, a communications protocol concept
- Multi-engine piston, a pilot's rating class
# Science.
- Mars Exploration Program, a NASA program for the exploration of Mars
- Megakaryocyte–erythroid progenitor cell
- Melanophlogite, a rare silicate mineral and polymorph of silica (SiO)
- Motor evoked potentials, action potentials generated through direct stimulation of the cerebral motor cortex
# Other uses.
- Meopham railway station (station code: MEP), in England
- Mersing Airport (IATA airport code: MEP), an airport in Malaysia
- Miriwoong language (ISO 639 code: mep), an Australian language | 9,167 |
343281 | Raymond Sommer | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raymond%20Sommer | Raymond Sommer
Raymond Sommer
Raymond Sommer (31 August 1906 – 10 September 1950) was a French motor racing driver. He raced both before and after WWII with some success, particularly in endurance racing. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in both and , and although he did not reach the finishing line in any subsequent appearance at the Le Mans, he did lead each event until 1938. Sommer was also competitive at the highest level in Grand Prix motor racing, but did not win a race. He won the French Grand Prix in 1936, but the event that year was run as a sports car race. After racing resumed in the late 1940s, Sommer again won a number of sports car and minor Grand Prix events, and finished in fourth | 9,168 |
343281 | Raymond Sommer | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raymond%20Sommer | Raymond Sommer
place in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, the second round of the newly-instituted Formula One World Drivers' Championship. He was killed toward the end of 1950, when his car overturned during a race at the Circuit de Cadours.
# Biography.
Sommer was born in Mouzon, in the Ardennes "département" of France, into a wealthy Sedan carpet-making family. His father, Roger Sommer, broke the Wright Brothers' record for the longest flight in 1909. It was not until 1931 that Raymond started to display daredevil tendencies of his own, entering motor races in a privateer Chrysler Imperial. The following year, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, despite having to drive over 20 hours solo after his teammate, | 9,169 |
343281 | Raymond Sommer | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raymond%20Sommer | Raymond Sommer
Luigi Chinetti, retired ill. During the 1930s, Sommer was to dominate the French endurance classic, winning again in 1933 driving an Alfa Romeo alongside Tazio Nuvolari. He also led every race until 1938, only to suffer a mechanical failure, once when 12 laps in the lead. Sommer traveled to Long Island, New York, to compete in the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup where he finished fourth behind the winner, Nuvolari.
However, his tendency to run in his own privately entered Alfa Romeos did him no favours on the Grand Prix scene, and although a regular top-10 finisher in "Grands Épreuves" he never won a race. At the time, the German manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union were the dominant force in Grand | 9,170 |
343281 | Raymond Sommer | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raymond%20Sommer | Raymond Sommer
Prix racing, together with the French Bugatti team. Sommer turned to sports cars once more, and in 1936 he won the French Grand Prix with Jean-Pierre Wimille, and the Spa 24 Hours endurance race with co-driver Francesco Severi. More wins came his way including at the "Marseilles Three Hours" at Miramas, the Grand Prix de Tunisie and La Turbie hill climb competition in 1938 and 1939 with Alfa Romeo 308 until the outbreak of World War II, where he played an active part in the French Resistance movement.
Following the war, Sommer quickly returned to winning ways, claiming victory in the 1946 René Le Bègue Cup race at Saint-Cloud. At the 1947 Turin Grand Prix in Valentino Park he won the first | 9,171 |
343281 | Raymond Sommer | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raymond%20Sommer | Raymond Sommer
ever Grand Prix for Enzo Ferrari as an independent constructor. The following season, Sommer switched from the Ferrari team, again for a privately owned car, this time a Talbot-Lago. In 1950, the Formula One World Championship began and Sommer drove in two Grand Prix races for Ferrari and three in a privately entered Talbot-Lago, retiring in all but one.
In July 1950 he won the Aix les Bains Circuit du Lac Grand Prix with a Ferrari 166.
In September 1950, he entered the Haute-Garonne Grand Prix in Cadours, France, where the steering failed on his 1100 cc Cooper and the car overturned at a corner. Sommer, wearing his traditional canvas helmet, was instantly killed.
# Major career wins.
- | 9,172 |
343281 | Raymond Sommer | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raymond%20Sommer | Raymond Sommer
in all but one.
In July 1950 he won the Aix les Bains Circuit du Lac Grand Prix with a Ferrari 166.
In September 1950, he entered the Haute-Garonne Grand Prix in Cadours, France, where the steering failed on his 1100 cc Cooper and the car overturned at a corner. Sommer, wearing his traditional canvas helmet, was instantly killed.
# Major career wins.
- French Grand Prix 1936
- Grand Prix de Marseilles 1932, 1937, 1946
- Grand Prix de Tunisie 1937
- Grand Prix de L'U.M.F. 1935
- Gran Premio del Valentino 1947
- Madrid Grand Prix 1949
- Spa 24 Hours 1936
- Turin Grand Prix 1947
- 24 Hours of Le Mans 1932, 1933
# External links.
- Raymond Sommer profile at Grand Prix encyclopedia | 9,173 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
James Keir
James Keir FRS (20 September 1735 – 11 October 1820) was a Scottish chemist, geologist, industrialist, and inventor, and an important member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham.
# Life and work.
Keir was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, in 1735 as the eighteenth child of John and Magdaline Keir. James attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh where he met and formed a lasting friendship with Erasmus Darwin.
At the age of 22, Keir joined the army and was commissioned into the 61st Regiment (now the Gloucestershire Regiment). During the seven years' war he was stationed with his regiment in the West Indies. He became lieutenant | 9,174 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
on, 31 March 1759, captain-lieutenant on 16 May 1766, and captain on 23 June of the same year.
In the spring of 1768 he resigned his commission, being disappointed at not meeting with more sympathy in his studies from his brother-officers. He found, however, one congenial friend in Alexander Blair, afterwards a captain in the 69th regiment of foot. While in the army Keir wrote a treatise on the art of war, which was accidentally burnt at his publishers, and a pamphlet addressed to the Marquis of Granby in favour of the sale of commissions. At this same period he used to rise at four o'clock in the morning to read the classics and military writers, and he translated many chapters of Polybius.
Keir | 9,175 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
ultimately settled at Hill Top, West Bromwich, Staffordshire, and devoted himself to chemistry and geology. In 1772, with others, Keir leased a long-established glassworks at Amblecote near Stourbridge, which he managed. Partners included Samuel Skey (who manufactured vitriol near Bewdley) and John Taylor (a leading Birmingham manufacturer). While there, Keir continued his chemical experiments, particularly into the properties of alkalis. A paper by him "On the Crystallisations observed on Glass" was communicated to the Royal Society by his friend George Fordyce and printed in the Society's "Philosophical Transactions" in 1776.
Early in the same year Keir completed his translation of Macquer's | 9,176 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
"Dictionnaire de Chymie", with additions and notes, published at London in two quarto volumes. In 1777 he issued a "Treatise on the Different kinds of Elastic Fluids or Gases" (new edition, 1779). Keir had become friends with Matthew Boulton, and in the autumn of 1768 he first met James Watt at Boulton's house.
In 1778 Keir gave up his glass business to undertake, in the absence of Boulton and Watt, the sole charge of their engineering works at Soho, Birmingham near Handsworth. He declined, however, the offer of a partnership on account of the financial risk, and limited his connection with the firm to the letter-copying machine department.
In 1779 he invented and took out a patent for an | 9,177 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
alloy of copper, zinc, and iron, which could be forged hot or cold. It has been said to be almost identical with what later became known as Muntz metal.
In 1780 Keir, in conjunction with Alexander Blair (then retired from the army), established a chemical works at Tipton, near Dudley, for the manufacture of alkali from the sulfates of potash and soda, to which he afterwards added a soap manufactory. The method of extraction proceeded on a discovery of Keir's. A nearby road was called Soap Factory Road, though it is now called Factory Road.
When Joseph Priestley came to Birmingham in 1780, he found an able assistant in Keir, who had discovered the distinction between carbon dioxide gas and | 9,178 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
atmospheric air. Keir worked closely with Priestley to investigate the properties of gases. On 3 May 1787 Keir communicated to the Royal Society some "Experiments on the Congelation of the Vitriolic Acid", and on 1 May 1788 "Remarks on the Principle of Acidity, Decomposition of Water, and Phlogiston". Another paper, on "Fossil Alkali", appeared in 1788 in the "Transactions of the Society of Arts". Keir published the first part of his "Dictionary of Chemistry" in 1789. He discontinued it upon becoming convinced of the weakness of his theory of phlogiston.
On 20 May 1790, Keir communicated to the Royal Society "Experiments and Observations on the Dissolution of Metals in Acids, and their Precipitations, | 9,179 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
with an Account of a new compound Acid Menstruum, useful in some technical operations of parting metals". This paper contains suggestions which may have contributed to the discovery of the electro-plate process. It was translated into German later the same year by Augustin Gottfried Ludwig Lentin as " Versuche und Beobachtungen über die Auflösung der Metalle in Säuren ... "
About 1794, Keir and Blair purchased land in the Tividale area, on the borders of Dudley and Tipton, on which they established the Tividale colliery. Keir studied the mineralogy of Staffordshire, and in 1798 wrote an article on it for Stebbing Shaw's "History of Staffordshire". He also gave Shaw information on Staffordshire | 9,180 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
manufacturing.
Sir Humphry Davy, while visiting Gregory Watt at Birmingham in 1800, was introduced to Keir. In February 1811 Keir forwarded to the Geological Society "An Account of the Strata in sinking a Pit in Tividale Colliery", accompanied by a number of specimens.
On 19 December 1807, while Keir was staying with Blair at Hilton Park, his house at West Bromwich was burnt, though most of his books and papers were saved. For a time he lived at a small farmhouse in the neighbourhood.
Keir died at West Bromwich on 11 October 1820, and was buried there at All Saints Church, Charlemont. By his marriage in 1770 to Susanna Harvey (1747–1802) he had an only child, Amelia (1780–1857), who in 1801 | 9,181 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
married John Lewis Moilliet of Geneva and later Abberley, afterwards merchant and banker of Birmingham.
# Selected non-scientific writings.
In 1791 Keir wrote, at the special desire of the widow, a memoir of his friend Thomas Day, author of "Sandford and Merton". During the same year Keir's avowal of sympathy with the French revolution at a public dinner on 14 July exposed him to much virulent abuse. He defended himself and Priestley in various pamphlets, such as the "Extinguisher Maker", "T. Sobersides", and "High Church Politics". In 1793 Keir published a pamphlet entitled 'The Martial Character of Nations,' arguing that the French were not likely to become so pacific as to make national | 9,182 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
defence less necessary. Ten years later he wrote "Reflections on the Invasion of Great Britain by the French Armies; on the Mode of Defence; and on the useful application of the National Levies" (1803).
Keir, who frequently amused himself by writing poetry, suggested to Darwin many improvements (afterwards adopted) for the second part of the "Botanic Garden". The most valuable portion of his correspondence was destroyed by the fire at his daughter's residence, Abberley Hall, Worcestershire, on 25 December 1845. A selection from what was saved, with a sketch of his life, was printed for private circulation in 1859.
# Honours and memorials.
- Keir was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of | 9,183 |
343282 | James Keir | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James%20Keir | James Keir
Defence; and on the useful application of the National Levies" (1803).
Keir, who frequently amused himself by writing poetry, suggested to Darwin many improvements (afterwards adopted) for the second part of the "Botanic Garden". The most valuable portion of his correspondence was destroyed by the fire at his daughter's residence, Abberley Hall, Worcestershire, on 25 December 1845. A selection from what was saved, with a sketch of his life, was printed for private circulation in 1859.
# Honours and memorials.
- Keir was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London on 8 December 1785.
- Keir is remembered by the Lunar Society Moonstones in Birmingham.
# External links.
- Attribution | 9,184 |
343286 | Toffoli gate | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toffoli%20gate | Toffoli gate
Toffoli gate
In logic circuits, the Toffoli gate (also CCNOT gate), invented by Tommaso Toffoli, is a universal reversible logic gate, which means that any reversible circuit can be constructed from Toffoli gates. It is also known as the "controlled-controlled-not" gate, which describes its action. It has 3-bit inputs and outputs; if the first two bits are both set to 1, it inverts the third bit, otherwise all bits stay the same.
# Background.
An input-consuming logic gate "L" is reversible if, for any output "y", there is a unique input "x" such that applying "L"("x") = "y". If a gate "L" is reversible, there is an inverse gate "L"′, which maps "y" to "x" for which "L"′("y") = "x". From common | 9,185 |
343286 | Toffoli gate | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toffoli%20gate | Toffoli gate
logic gates, NOT is reversible, as can be seen from its truth table below.
The common AND gate is not reversible, however. The inputs 00, 01 and 10 are all mapped to the output 0.
Reversible gates have been studied since the 1960s. The original motivation was that reversible gates dissipate less heat (or, in principle, no heat). If we think of a logic gate as consuming its input, information is lost since less information is present in the output than was present at the input. This loss of information loses energy to the surrounding area as heat, because of thermodynamic entropy. Another way to understand this is that charges on a circuit are grounded and thus flow away, taking a small quantity | 9,186 |
343286 | Toffoli gate | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toffoli%20gate | Toffoli gate
of energy with them when they change state. A reversible gate only moves the states around, and since no information is lost, energy is conserved.
More recent motivation comes from quantum computing. Quantum mechanics requires the transformations to be reversible and allows more general states of the computation than classical computers (superpositions).
# Universality and Toffoli gate.
Any reversible gate that consumes its inputs and allows all input computations must have no more input bits than output bits, by the pigeonhole principle. For one input bit, there are two possible reversible gates. One of them is NOT. The other is the identity gate, which maps its input to the output unchanged. | 9,187 |
343286 | Toffoli gate | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toffoli%20gate | Toffoli gate
For two input bits, the only non-trivial gate is the controlled NOT gate, which XORs the first bit to the second bit and leaves the first bit unchanged.
Unfortunately, there are reversible functions that cannot be computed using just those gates. In other words, the set consisting of NOT and XOR gates is not universal. If we want to compute an arbitrary function using reversible gates, we need another gate. One possibility is the Toffoli gate, proposed in 1980 by Toffoli.
This gate has 3-bit inputs and outputs. If the first two bits are set, it flips the third bit. The following is a table of the input and output bits:
It can be also described as mapping bits {a, b, c} to {a, b, c XOR (a | 9,188 |
343286 | Toffoli gate | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toffoli%20gate | Toffoli gate
AND b)}.
The Toffoli gate is universal; this means that for any Boolean function "f"("x", "x", ..., "x"), there is a circuit consisting of Toffoli gates that takes "x", "x", ..., "x" and some extra bits set to 0 or 1 to outputs "x", "x", ..., "x", "f"("x", "x", ..., "x"), and some extra bits (called garbage). Essentially, this means that one can use Toffoli gates to build systems that will perform any desired Boolean function computation in a reversible manner.
# Related logic gates.
- The Fredkin gate is a universal reversible 3-bit gate that swaps the last two bits if the first bit is 1; a controlled-swap operation.
- The "n"-bit Toffoli gate is a generalization of Toffoli gate. It takes | 9,189 |
343286 | Toffoli gate | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toffoli%20gate | Toffoli gate
"n" bits "x", "x", ..., "x" as inputs and outputs "n" bits. The first "n"−1 output bits are just "x", ..., "x". The last output bit is ("x" AND ... AND "x") XOR "x".
- The Toffoli gate can be realized by five two-qubit quantum gates.
- A related quantum gate, the Deutsch gate, can be realized by five optical pulses with neutral atoms.
# Relation to quantum computing.
Any reversible gate can be implemented on a quantum computer, and hence the Toffoli gate is also a quantum operator. However, the Toffoli gate can not be used for universal quantum computation, though it does mean that a quantum computer can implement all possible classical computations. The Toffoli gate has to be implemented | 9,190 |
343286 | Toffoli gate | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toffoli%20gate | Toffoli gate
ean that a quantum computer can implement all possible classical computations. The Toffoli gate has to be implemented along with some inherently quantum gate(s) in order to be universal for quantum computation. In fact, any single-qubit gate with real coefficients that can create a nontrivial quantum state suffices.
A Toffoli gate based on quantum mechanics has been successfully realized in January 2009 at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
# See also.
- Fredkin gate
- Reversible computing
- Bijection
- Quantum computing
- Quantum gate
- Quantum programming
- Adiabatic logic
# External links.
- CNOT and Toffoli Gates in Multi-Qubit Setting at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project. | 9,191 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
Emperor Guangwu of Han
Emperor Guangwu (born Liu Xiu; 15 January 5 BC – 29 March 57), courtesy name Wenshu, was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty, restorer of the dynasty in AD 25 and thus founder of the Later Han or Eastern Han (the restored Han Dynasty). He ruled over parts of China at first, and through suppression and conquest of regional warlords, the whole of China was consolidated by the time of his death in 57.
Liu Xiu was one of the many descendants of the Han imperial family. Following the usurpation of the Han throne by Wang Mang and the ensuing civil war during the disintegration of Wang's short-lived Xin dynasty, he emerged as one of several descendants of the fallen dynasty | 9,192 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
claiming the imperial throne. After assembling forces and proclaiming himself emperor in the face of competitors, he was able to defeat his rivals, destroy the peasant army of the Chimei, known for their disorganization and marauding, and finally reunify China in AD 36.
He established his capital in Luoyang, east of the former capital Chang'an, ushering in the Later/Eastern Han dynasty. He implemented some reforms (notably land reform, albeit not very successfully) aimed at correcting some of the structural imbalances responsible for the downfall of the Former/Western Han. His reforms gave a new 200-year lease of life to the Han Dynasty.
Emperor Guangwu's campaigns featured many able generals, | 9,193 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
but curiously, he lacked major strategists. That may very well be because he himself appeared to be a brilliant strategist; he often instructed his generals on strategy from afar, and his predictions generally would be accurate. This was often emulated by later emperors who fancied themselves great strategists but who actually lacked Emperor Guangwu's brilliance—usually to great disastrous results.
Also unique among emperors in Chinese history was Emperor Guangwu's combination of decisiveness and mercy. He often sought out peaceful means rather than bellicose means of putting areas under his control. He was, in particular, one rare example of a founding emperor of a dynasty who did not kill, | 9,194 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
out of jealousy or paranoia, any of the generals or officials who contributed to his victories after his rule was secure.
# Family background.
Liu Xiu was the sixth generation descendant of Emperor Jing of the Western Han dynasty. He was the son of Liu Qin (劉欽), magistrate (i.e., head official) of Nandun county (南頓令). Liu Qin was the son of Liu Hui (劉回), vice governor in charge of military affairs for Julu commandery (鉅鹿都尉). Liu Hui was the son of Liu Wai (劉外), governor of Yulin commandery (鬱林太守). Liu Wai was the son of Liu Mai (劉買), known posthumously as Marquess Jie of Chongling (舂陵節侯). Liu Mai was the son of Liu Fa (劉發), known posthumously as Prince Ding of Changsha (長沙定王). The prince of | 9,195 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
Changsha was a brother of Emperor Wu, a famous emperor of the Former Han and the son of Emperor Jing. As a descendant of Liu Fa, this also made Liu Xiu third cousin to the Gengshi Emperor.
Liu Qin was married to the daughter of one Fan Chong (樊重), and he and his wife had three sons – Liu Yan, Liu Zhong (劉仲), and Liu Xiu. Liu Qin died early, and the brothers were raised by their uncle Liu Liang (劉良). Liu Yan was ambitious, and ever since Wang Mang usurped the Han throne in 8 and established the Xin dynasty, Liu Yan was constantly considering starting a rebellion to restore the Han Dynasty. Liu Xiu, in contrast, was a careful man who was content to be a farmer. However, his brother-in-law Deng | 9,196 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
Chen (鄧晨), the husband of his sister Liu Yuan (劉元), who believed in a prophecy that a man named Liu Xiu would be emperor, constantly encouraged him to be more ambitious.
# Participation in his brother's rebellion.
In 22, with virtually the entire empire rebelling against Wang Mang's incompetent rule, Liu Yan prepared his rebellion. He planned, along with his brothers, and Li Tong (李通) and his cousin Li Yi (李軼), to kidnap the governor for Nanyang Commandery (roughly modern Nanyang, Henan) and call for the people of the commandery to join him. When the young men of their home territory of Chongling heard about the rebellion, they were all scared to join—until they saw that Liu Xiu was part of | 9,197 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
the rebellion as well, figuring that if even a careful man like Liu Xiu was part of the rebellion, the rebellion was carefully planned.
However, the news of the plan leaked out, and Li Tong and Li Yi barely escaped with their lives (but their family was slaughtered). Liu Yan changed his plan and persuaded two branches of the Lülin – the Xinshi Force (新市兵) and Pinglin Force (平林兵) to join forces with him, and they had some military success. Encouraged, Liu Yan made a frontal assault against Wancheng (宛城), the capital of Nanyang Commandery—and suffered a major loss. Liu Yan and Liu Xiu, along with their sister Liu Boji (劉伯姬), survived, but their brother Liu Zhong and sister Liu Yuan died in the | 9,198 |
343279 | Emperor Guangwu of Han | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor%20Guangwu%20of%20Han | Emperor Guangwu of Han
battle. Liu Yan's allies, seeing his defeat, considered leaving him, but Liu Yan was able to persuade them, along with another branch of the Lülin, the Xiajiang Force (下江兵), to join him. In 23, they had a major victory against Xin forces, killing Zhen Fu (甄阜), the governor of Nanyang Commandery.
# As official under Gengshi Emperor.
## The ascension of Gengshi Emperor.
By this point, many other rebel leaders had become jealous of Liu Yan's capabilities, and while a good number of their men admired Liu Yan and wanted him to become the emperor of a newly declared Han Dynasty, they had other ideas. They found another local rebel leader, Liu Xuan, a third cousin of Liu Yan, who was claiming the | 9,199 |
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