title: Chimney sweep

text: One of the characters in the Mary Poppins books is "The Sweep". Appearing on a few occasions, this chimney sweep is a workman frequently present on Cherry Tree Lane where the plot is set. He has worked for several of the families living there, including the main characters' Banks family. He believes it is good luck to shake hands with a sweep, so encourages all who meet him to shake hands with him. The Sweep is particularly friendly with the Banks children and, on one occasion takes them along for fireworks. In the film and the musical made on the basis of the book, the character of the sweep is merged with that of Bert, and becomes a much more prominent character. His superstition about shaking hands with a sweep is referenced in the song "Chim Chim Cher-ee". The composite character of Bert and the Sweep is portrayed by Dick Van Dyke in the 1964 film.


title: Chimney sweep

text: In 1890 Empress Elisabeth of Austria aroused much public attention when expressing her firm support for her favorite daughter, Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, marrying for love rather than dynastic considerations. The Empress declared that ""Marie may marry even a chimney sweep, if she so desired"". In practice, however, Archduchess Marie's chosen bridegroom was no chimney sweep, but just a minor and undistinguished member of the reigning Habsburg family.


title: Chimney sweep

text: In 1951 film "Alice in Wonderland", Bill the Lizard works as the chimney sweep and was voiced by Larry Grey.


title: Chimney sweep

text: Today, chimney sweeps are still operating, as venting systems for coal, heating oil, natural gas, and wood- and pellet-burning appliances need to be maintained. There is a greater understanding of the dangers of flue deposits and carbon monoxide and gases from combustion. The standard chimney brush is still used, along with more modern tools (such as vacuum cleaners, cameras, and special chimney cleaning tools). Most sweeps are done from the bottom of the chimney, rather than the top, to prevent the dispersion of dust and debris and because it is safer for the chimney sweep to do the sweeping from this position. Inspection may be done from the bottom or top, or both if accessible. Chimney sweeps often encounter a range of unexpected objects in chimneys ranging from dead birds to tools, notes, love letters, and other pieces of ephemera.


title: Chimney sweep

text: Most modern chimney sweeps are professionals, and are usually trained to diagnose and repair hazards along with maintenance such as removal of flammable creosote, firebox and damper repair, and smoke chamber repair. Some sweeps also offer more complicated repairs such as flue repair and relining, crown repair, and tuckpointing or rebuilding of masonry chimneys and cement crowns.


title: Chimney sweep

text: In the United States, the two trade organizations that help to regulate the industry are the Chimney Safety Institute of America and The National Chimney Sweep Guild. Certification for chimney sweeps are issued by two organizations: Certified Chimney Professionals and The Chimney Safety Institute of America, which was first to establish certification and requires sweeps to re-test every three years or demonstrate the commitment to education by earning CEUs through CSIA or the National Fireplace Institute to bypass the test. Certification for chimney sweeps who reline chimneys are issued by Certified Chimney Professionals and the Chimney Safety Institute of America. CEU credits may be obtained from these organizations and regional associations as well as private trainers.


title: Chimney sweep

text: In the United Kingdom Chimney Sweeping is unregulated however many sweeps have organised themselves into trade associations including the Association of Professional Independent Chimney Sweeps, the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps, and The National Association of Chimney Sweeps. As well as offering support to members they provide training and representation to DEFRA and other interested parties.


title: The Kindness of Strangers (film)

text: The Kindness of Strangers is a 2019 internationally co-produced drama film, written and directed by Lone Scherfig. It stars Zoe Kazan, Tahar Rahim, Esben Smed, Andrea Riseborough, and Caleb Landry Jones.


title: The Kindness of Strangers (film)

text: It had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 7, 2019. It was released in the United States on February 14, 2020, by Vertical Entertainment.


title: The Kindness of Strangers (film)

text: On the run from an abusive husband, Clara tries to survive on the New York streets with her two children during a harsh winter. She has the help of lonely Alice, doltish Jeff, and the sad chef Marc.


title: The Kindness of Strangers (film)

text: In February 2017, it was announced Lone Scherfig would direct the film, from a screenplay she wrote, with HanWay Films, Ingenious Media, Apollo Media, Creative Alliance, Strada Films, Telefilm Canada, Danish Film Institute, Nadcon, D'Artaganan and Entertainment One serving as producers. In February 2018, Andrea Riseborough, Tahar Rahim and Zoe Kazan joined the cast of the film. In March 2018, Bill Nighy, Caleb Landry Jones and Jay Baruchel joined the cast of the film. In September 2018, it was announced the title was "The Kindness of Strangers".


title: The Kindness of Strangers (film)

text: Principal photography began in March 2018, and took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, New York City, and Copenhagen, Denmark.


title: The Kindness of Strangers (film)

text: According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, of critics have given the film a positive review based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "A talented onscreen ensemble is done no favors by "The Kindness of Strangers", which searches for meaning and comes up empty." Metacritic reports a score of 32 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Alan Johnson

text: Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007, Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009, Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Labour Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle from 1997 to 2017.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson served in the Cabinet during both the Tony Blair government and that of Gordon Brown. He served under Blair as Minister of State for Universities from 2003 to 2004, as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2004 to 2005, and as President of the Board of Trade from 2005 to 2006.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Born in London on 17 May 1950, the son of Stephen and Lillian Johnson, he was orphaned at the age of 13 when his mother died, his father having previously abandoned the family. Following this, in 1964 Johnson and his elder sister Linda moved to a council flat in Pitt House, Battersea, immediately adjacent to the Winstanley and York Estates, a traumatic change from their previous address in Notting Hill. Johnson describes how he and his sister faced hostility from other tenants unhappy because others were unable to obtain council housing at this time, which forced Linda to become the primary care-giver and meant that their flat was often broken into and targeted for vandalism. Linda, herself aged only 16 at that time, has since been recognised as the hero of Johnson's poignant 2013 memoir "This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood". He passed the eleven-plus exam and attended Sloane Grammar school in Chelsea, now part of Pimlico Academy, and left school at the age of 15. He then worked at Tesco before becoming a postman at 18. He was interested in music and joined two pop music bands. Johnson joined the Union of Communication Workers, becoming a branch official. He joined the Labour Party in 1971, although he considered himself a Marxist ideologically aligned with the Communist Party of Great Britain. A full-time union official from 1987, he became General Secretary of the union in 1992.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Before entering parliament Johnson was a member of Labour's National Executive Committee. During this time he was the only major union leader to support the abolition of Clause IV.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Just three weeks before the 1997 general election, Johnson was selected to stand for parliament in the safe Labour seat of Hull West and Hessle when the previous incumbent, Stuart Randall, stood down suddenly. Randall subsequently became a member of the House of Lords.


title: Alan Johnson

text: He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Dawn Primarolo in 1997 and achieved his first ministerial post at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 1999. He was moved to the Department for Education and Skills in 2003 as Minister for Higher Education although he had left school at 15.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson, along with other ministers in Tony Blair's government, and many other MPs, attracted much criticism for voting on 18 March 2003 for the Iraq war: "to use all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction" leading to the UK joining the US invasion of Iraq two days later. He responded to such criticism on 21 February 2007 by saying "The whole cabinet believed the intelligence we were presented [with] and we made our case to the British people based on it in good faith. As we all now know, that intelligence was wholly wrong. We will be judged historically as to whether getting rid of Saddam Hussein, despite all the consequences, was a positive thing or that the consequences outweigh the positives of getting rid of a brutal tyrant."


title: Alan Johnson

text: In September 2004, Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed Johnson to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions following resignation of Andrew Smith. Following the 2005 election, Johnson was initially announced on 6 May 2005 as being "Secretary of State for Productivity, Energy and Industry", but after just a week, on 13 May, it was declared that the new title would not be used, after widespread derision of the new name, because the abbreviation for Johnson's title, Productivity, Energy and Industry Secretary, would have been "PENIS". The department's old name was kept and Johnson served as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. On 5 May 2006, one day after the 2006 local elections, his brief was changed to that of Secretary of State for Education and Skills, replacing Ruth Kelly.


title: Alan Johnson

text: During his time as education secretary, Johnson brought in new ideas and proposals, including encouraging parents to spend more time with their children in a bid to help them progress with their literacy and numeracy skills. Johnson has also previously expressed some concerns over diplomas, and has opened up debate in parliament on the subject of what parental situation is best. He stated that in his view, it is the parents themselves who make the difference, not their marital situation. Johnson looked at improving pay and working conditions for teachers during his tenure as Education Secretary.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson became Secretary of State for Health on 28 June 2007, succeeding Patricia Hewitt in Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. He later criticised breast cancer patient Debbie Hirst because she attempted to buy the cancer drug Avastin, which the NHS had denied her. Johnson told Parliament, patients "cannot, in one episode of treatment, be treated on the NHS and then allowed, as part of the same episode and the same treatment, to pay money for more drugs. That way lies the end of the founding principles of the NHS".


title: Alan Johnson

text: When there was a problem with "C.difficile" at hospitals managed by the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, they dismissed their "blameless" chief executive "both unlawfully ... and unfairly" and agreed to pay her £250,000, much less than the sum that they were told that defending a case for unfair dismissal would cost. When the proposed payment became known, Johnson intervened and the Department of Health ordered the trust to withhold more than two-thirds of the severance payment, although its director general of finance, performance and operations said that "it was 'not unfair'" that she should receive the money. When the case came to the Court of Appeal, the payment was restored in a judgement that was highly critical of the Department, including quoting her complaint that Johnson had made "personal comments made about me ... without any reference to the Trust, or informing me, ... regarding my severance value and its non-payment".


title: Alan Johnson

text: On 5 June 2009, Johnson was appointed to the position of Home Secretary during a reshuffle, replacing the first female holder of the post, Jacqui Smith.


title: Alan Johnson

text: In October 2009, Johnson sacked the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), Professor David Nutt. Nutt had accused the government of "distorting" and "devaluing" research evidence in the debate over illicit drugs, criticising it for making political decisions with regard to drug classifications in rejecting the scientific advice to downgrade MDMA (Ecstasy) from a class A drug, and rejecting the scientific advice not to reclassify cannabis from class C to class B drug. Johnson wrote to the professor: "It is important that the government's messages on drugs are clear and as an advisor you do nothing to undermine public understanding of them. I cannot have public confusion between scientific advice and policy and have therefore lost confidence in your ability to advise me as Chair of the ACMD".


title: Alan Johnson

text: In January 2010, Professor Nutt established the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, with the aim of publishing honest drug information. By 2 April 2010, seven members of the ACMD had resigned.


title: Alan Johnson

text: In February 2010, it came out in court that MI5 had known that Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, had been tortured or mistreated by the American services, despite earlier statements to the contrary. In response, Johnson insisted that the media coverage of the torture had been "baseless, groundless accusations". He also said Government lawyers had not forced the judiciary to water down criticism of MI5, despite an earlier, draft ruling by Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls that the Security Service had failed to respect human rights, deliberately misled parliament, and had a "culture of suppression" that undermined government assurances about its conduct.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson publicly stated in May 2006 he expected to stand for the post of Leader of the Labour Party when Tony Blair stepped down. Johnson told the BBC in an interview on 9 November 2006 that he would in fact be supporting Brown and standing as deputy leader. He was successfully nominated onto the ballot paper for Labour Deputy leader with most number of nominations. On 24 June 2007, Johnson was narrowly beaten for the deputy leadership by Harriet Harman. He led in rounds 2 to 4 of the voting, until he was overtaken by Harman in the last round, eventually finishing with 49.56% of the vote.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Having been touted in the media as a possible successor to outgoing Labour leader Gordon Brown, Johnson announced to the BBC on 12 May 2010 that he would not be standing in the forthcoming leadership contest, and would instead be backing David Miliband.


title: Alan Johnson

text: In November 2014, amid criticism within the party of its leader Ed Miliband, Johnson again denied speculation that he was a potential leadership candidate.


title: Alan Johnson

text: In 2010, there was much speculation that Johnson was going to stand as a candidate for the London Mayoral election after announcing that he was not going to contest the leadership. Many of Johnson's close allies encouraged him to stand for the Mayoralty and he was thought to have been considering it. However, Johnson decided not to stand for the Labour Party selection for Mayor and instead backed Oona King for the candidacy, but she lost to Ken Livingstone. In 2011, there was speculation that Livingstone could be deselected as the Labour candidate in favour of Johnson but that did not happen. In 2012, after Livingstone's defeat by Boris Johnson, many Labour members said that Johnson should have been the Labour candidate. Johnson then revealed that he did consider standing for Mayor of London but he felt that his allegiance was to Hull. However, he said that he would not stand for Mayor of London in the 2016 elections as he wanted to stay on as an MP.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson is a strong supporter of electoral reform, advocating the Alternative Vote Plus (AV+) system as recommended by the Jenkins Commission. He indicated that he would seek support within the Labour Party for an amendment to the government's Bill on Electoral Reform, to add AV+ as an additional choice in the referendum. In 2010, it was rumoured that he would step down as an MP to trigger a by-election in Hull, to stand on a proportional representation ticket. He supported the Yes! to Fairer Votes campaign in the referendum on 5 May 2011. He appeared as one of the main Labour supporters of the Yes! campaign at a London event on 3 May 2011, at which Ed Miliband also appeared.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Writing for the Blairite "Progress" magazine in 2013, Johnson described trade union officials as "fat, white, finger-jabbing blokes on rostrums shouting and screaming" and said in 2014 that "A perception that Labour is in the pocket of the unions is damaging to the party ... The precious link between Labour and the unions becomes a liability rather than an advantage when it is allowed to look like a transaction."


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson was chosen as Shadow Chancellor in Ed Miliband's first shadow cabinet, appointed on 8 October 2010. His first major speech was the Opposition response to the comprehensive spending review. The BBC reported that he had made several "gaffes" in his role as Shadow Chancellor and "in an interview he appeared not to know the rate of National Insurance paid by employers, and he was also reported to have clashed with his party leader over the policy of introducing a graduate tax to replace university tuition fees. He resigned as Shadow Chancellor on 20 January 2011 after three and a half months in the job, citing personal reasons. He was replaced by Ed Balls.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum, and was chair of the Labour Party's 'Labour In For Britain' campaign.


title: Alan Johnson

text: A critic of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, just before Corbyn was elected leader in 2016 for the second time, Johnson told Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson of "The Times": "He is totally incompetent and incapable of being the leader of a political party and he knows it. Corbyn was 'useless' in the EU referendum campaign." Concerning moderates like himself: "We’ve got to recapture this party again otherwise it’s dead and finished and gone". Johnson stood down at the 2017 general election. He was succeeded as MP by Emma Hardy.


title: Alan Johnson

text: In January 2020, he appeared as a contestant on reality singing show "The Masked Singer" dressed as a pharaoh.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson has been married three times. His first marriage was to Judith Elizabeth Cox, with whom he has one son and two daughters. After their divorce, he married Laura Jane Patient in 1991; the couple had a son, Ollie, born in 2000. The couple divorced in February 2014. In December 2015, Johnson married his third wife, businesswoman Carolyn Burgess.


title: Alan Johnson

text: His hobbies include music, tennis, reading, cooking, football, and radio. He supports Queens Park Rangers.


title: Alan Johnson

text: His memoir of childhood, "This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood", was published in 2013. It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize (2014), and the Orwell Prize, Britain's top political writing award.


title: Alan Johnson

text: His second volume of memoirs, "Please, Mister Postman" (2014), dealt with Johnson's time as a postman and as a union representative. It won the Specsavers National Book Awards "Autobiography of the Year".


title: Alan Johnson

text: His third volume of memoirs, "The Long and Winding Road" (2016), covered Johnson's time as a politician in the UK Parliament.


title: Alan Johnson

text: His fourth and final volume of memoirs, "In My Life: A Music Memoir" (2018), covered Johnson's lifelong interest in music.


title: Alan Johnson

text: Johnson's first work of fiction, a thriller titled "The Late Train to Gipsy Hill", was published in 2021. In 2022, he wrote "One Of Our Ministers Is Missing", a crime novel.


title: John J. Fisher

text: John Joseph Fisher (born June 1, 1961) is an American businessman. He is the owner of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics and has stakes in Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes and Scotland's Celtic F.C. He is the son of Gap Inc. founders Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher.


title: John J. Fisher

text: Fisher is the son of Doris Feigenbaum Fisher and Don Fisher, the co-founders of Gap, Inc. Fisher attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Princeton University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1983. After college, Fisher worked in the mailroom at the Republican National Committee and worked as a fundraiser for then-President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush. He then attended graduate school at Stanford University School of Business, where he earned a master's degree in Business Administration. Fisher, who is Jewish, has two brothers: Robert J. Fisher and William S. Fisher.


title: John J. Fisher

text: After graduate school, he took a job for a real estate company that did business with his parents' company, the Gap. The business was not successful and he became president of Pisces Inc., the Fisher family's investment management company. He established a relationship with Lewis Wolff to jointly purchase several Fairmont hotels in San Francisco, which led to his investment in the Oakland Athletics. He also has stakes in Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes and Scotland's Celtic football club.


title: John J. Fisher

text: Fisher has been the majority owner of the Athletics since he and Wolff closed on their joint purchase of the team in 2005 and is now also the managing general partner. In November 2016, Wolff sold his 10% share in the Athletics to Fisher giving Fisher full ownership of the team.


title: John J. Fisher

text: Fisher chairs the board of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP Foundation), dedicated to training teachers for the KIPP public charter school network., and co-chair of the Charter School Growth Fund.


title: John J. Fisher

text: In 2019, it was revealed that Fisher, with his mother Doris F. Fisher and brothers William S. Fisher and Robert J. Fisher, had donated nearly $9 million to a dark money group that opposed Barack Obama in the 2012 election.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Michael Servetus (; as real name; ; also known as "Miguel Servet", "Miguel de Villanueva", "Revés", or "Michel de Villeneuve"; 29 September 1509 or 1511 – 27 October 1553) was a Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer, and Renaissance humanist. He was the first European to correctly describe the function of pulmonary circulation, as discussed in "Christianismi Restitutio" (1553). He was a polymath versed in many sciences: mathematics, astronomy and meteorology, geography, human anatomy, medicine and pharmacology, as well as jurisprudence, translation, poetry, and the scholarly study of the Bible in its original languages.


title: Michael Servetus

text: He is renowned in the history of several of these fields, particularly medicine. He participated in the Protestant Reformation, and later rejected the Trinity doctrine and mainstream Catholic Christology. After being condemned by Catholic authorities in France, he fled to Calvinist Geneva where he was denounced by John Calvin himself and burned at the stake for heresy by order of the city's governing council.


title: Michael Servetus

text: For a long time, it was held that Servetus was probably born in 1511 in Villanueva de Sigena in the Kingdom of Aragon, present-day Spain. The day of 29 September has been conventionally proposed for his birth, due to the fact that 29 September is Saint Michael's day according to the Catholic calendar of saints, but there is no evidence supporting this date. Some sources give an earlier date based on Servetus' own occasional claim of having been born in 1509. However, in 2002 a paper published by Francisco Javier González Echeverría and María Teresa Ancín suggested that he was born in Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre. It has also been held that his true name was "De Villanueva" according to the letters of his French naturalization (Chamber des Comptes, Royal Chancellorship and Parlement of Grenoble) and the registry at the University of Paris.


title: Michael Servetus

text: The ancestors of his father came from the hamlet of Serveto, in the Aragonese Pyrenees. His father was a notary of Christian ancestors from the lower nobility ("infanzón"), who worked at the nearby Monastery of Santa Maria de Sigena. It was long believed that Servetus had just two brothers: Juan, who was a Catholic parish priest, and Pedro, who was a notary. But, it has been recently documented that Servetus actually had two more brothers (Antón and Francisco) and at least three sisters (Catalina, Jeronima, and Juana). Although Servetus declared during his trial in Geneva that his parents were "Christians of ancient race", and that he never had any communication with Jews, his maternal line actually descended from the Zaportas (or Çaportas), a wealthy and socially relevant family from the Barbastro and Monzón areas in Aragon. This was demonstrated by a notarial protocol published in 1999.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Servetus' family used a nickname, "Revés", according to an old tradition in rural Spain of using alternate names for families across generations. The origin of the Revés nickname may have been that a member of a (probably distinguished) family living in Villanueva with the surname Revés established blood ties with the Servet family, thus uniting both family names for the next generations.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Servetus attended the Grammar Studium in Sariñena, Aragón, near Villanueva de Sijena, under master Domingo Manobel until 1520. From course 1520/1521 to 1522/1523, Michael Servetus was a student of the Liberal Arts in the primitive University of Zaragoza, a Studium Generale of Arts. The Studium was ruled by the Archbishop of Saragossa, the Rector, the High Master ("Maestro Mayor"), and four "Masters of Arts", which resembled Art professors in the Arts Faculties of other primitive universities. Servetus studied under High Master Gaspar Lax, and masters Exerich, Ansias, and Miranda. During those years this education center had been significantly influenced by Erasmus's ideas. Ansias and Miranda died soon, and two new professors were appointed: Juan Lorenzo Carnicer and Villalpando. In 1523 he got his BA and next year his MA. From course 1525/1526 ahead, Servetus became one of the four Masters of Arts in the Studium, and for unknown reasons, he traveled to Salamanca in February 1527. But on 28 March 1527, also for unknown reasons, master Michael Servetus had a brawl with High Master (and uncle) Gaspard Lax, and this probably was the cause of his expulsion from the Studium, and his exile from Spain for the Studium of Toulouse, trying to avoid the strong influence of Gaspar Lax in any Spanish Studium Generale.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Near 1527 Servetus attended the University of Toulouse where he studied law. Servetus could have had access to forbidden religious books, some of them maybe Protestant, while he was studying in this city.


title: Michael Servetus

text: In 1530 Servetus joined the retinue of Emperor Charles V as page or secretary to the emperor's confessor, Juan de Quintana. Servetus travelled through Italy and Germany and attended Charles' coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in Bologna. He was outraged by the pomp and luxury displayed by the Pope and his retinue, and so decided to follow the path of reformation. It is not known when Servetus left the imperial entourage, but in October 1530 he visited Johannes Oecolampadius in Basel, staying there for about ten months, probably supporting himself as a proofreader for a local printer. By this time, he was already spreading his theological beliefs. In May 1531 he met Martin Bucer and Wolfgang Fabricius Capito in Strasbourg.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Two months later, in July 1531, Servetus published "De Trinitatis Erroribus" ("On the Errors of the Trinity"). The next year he published the work "Dialogorum de Trinitate" ("Dialogues on the Trinity") and the supplementary work "De Iustitia Regni Christi" ("On the Justice of Christ's Reign") in the same volume. After the persecution of the Inquisition, Servetus assumed the name "Michel de Villeneuve" while he was staying in France. He studied at the Collège de Calvi in Paris in 1533.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Servetus also published the first French edition of Ptolemy's "Geography". He dedicated his first edition of Ptolemy and his edition of the Bible to his patron Hugues de la Porte. While in Lyon, Symphorien Champier, a medical humanist, had been his patron. Servetus wrote a pharmacological treatise in defence of Champier against Leonhart Fuchs "In Leonardum Fucsium Apologia" ("Apology against Leonard Fuchs"). Working also as a proofreader, he published several more books, which dealt with medicine and pharmacology (such as his "Syruporum universia ratio" ("Complete Explanation of the Syrups")), for which he gained fame.


title: Michael Servetus

text: After an interval, Servetus returned to Paris to study medicine in 1536. In Paris, his teachers included Jacobus Sylvius, Jean Fernel, and Johann Winter von Andernach, who hailed him with Andrea Vesalius as his most able assistant in dissections. During these years, he wrote his "Manuscript of the Complutense", an unpublished compendium of his medical ideas. Servetus taught mathematics and astrology while he studied medicine. He predicted an occultation of Mars by the Moon, which along with his teaching, generated much envy among the medicine teachers. His teaching classes were suspended by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Jean Tagault, and Servetus wrote his "Apologetic Discourse of Michel de Villeneuve in Favour of Astrology and against a Certain Physician" against him. Tagault later argued for the death penalty in the judgment of the University of Paris against Servetus, who was accused of teaching "De Divinatione" by Cicero. Finally, the sentence was reduced to the withdrawal of this edition. As a result of the risks and difficulties of studying medicine at Paris, Servetus decided to go to Montpellier to finish his medical studies, maybe thanks to his teacher Sylvius who did exactly the same as a student. There Servetus became a Doctor of Medicine in 1539. After that he lived at Charlieu. A jealous physician ambushed and tried to kill Servetus, but Servetus defended himself and injured one of the attackers in a sword fight. He was in prison for several days because of this incident.


title: Michael Servetus

text: After his studies in medicine, Servetus started a medical practice. He became the personal physician to Pierre Palmier, Archbishop of Vienne and was the physician to Guy de Maugiron, the lieutenant governor of Dauphiné. Thanks to the printer Jean Frellon II, acquaintance of John Calvin and friend of Michel, Servetus and Calvin began to correspond. Calvin used the pseudonym ""Charles d'Espeville"". Servetus also became a French citizen, using his "De Villeneuve" "persona", by the Royal Process (1548–1549) of French Naturalization, issued by Henri II of France.


title: Michael Servetus

text: In 1553 Michael Servetus published another religious work with further anti-trinitarian views entitled "Christianismi Restitutio" ("The Restoration of Christianity"), a work that sharply rejected the idea of predestination as the idea that God condemned souls to Hell regardless of worth or merit. God, insisted Servetus, condemns no one who does not condemn himself through thought, word, or deed. This work also includes the first published description of the pulmonary circulation in Europe, though it's thought to be based on work by 13th century Syrian polymath ibn al-Nafis.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Servetus had sent an early version of his book to Calvin. To Calvin, who had published his summary of Christian doctrine "Institutio Christianae Religionis" ("Institutes of the Christian Religion") in 1536, Servetus' latest book was an attack on historical Nicene Christian doctrine and a misinterpretation of the biblical canon. Calvin sent a copy of his own book as his reply. Servetus promptly returned it, thoroughly annotated with critical observations. Calvin wrote to Servetus, "I neither hate you nor despise you; nor do I wish to persecute you; but I would be as hard as iron when I behold you insulting sound doctrine with so great audacity". In time, their correspondence grew more heated until Calvin ended it. Servetus sent Calvin several more letters, to which Calvin took offense. Thus, Calvin's frustrations with Servetus seem to have been based mainly on Servetus's criticisms of Calvinist doctrine, but also on his tone, which Calvin considered inappropriate. Calvin revealed these frustrations with Servetus when writing to his friend William Farel on 13 February 1546:


title: Michael Servetus

text: On 16 February 1553, Michael Servetus while in Vienne, France, was denounced as a heretic by Guillaume de Trie (a rich merchant who had taken refuge in Geneva and who was a good friend of Calvin) in a letter sent to a cousin, Antoine Arneys, who was living in Lyon. On behalf of the French inquisitor Matthieu Ory, Michael Servetus and Balthasard Arnollet, the printer of "Christianismi Restitutio", were questioned, but they denied all charges and were released for lack of evidence. Ory asked Arneys to write back to De Trie demanding proof. On 26 March 1553, the letters sent by Michael to Calvin and some manuscript pages of "Christianismi Restitutio" were forwarded to Lyon by De Trie. On 4 April 1553, Servetus was arrested by Roman Catholic authorities and imprisoned in Vienne. He escaped from prison three days later. On 17 June, he was convicted of heresy, "thanks to the 17 letters sent by John Calvin, preacher in Geneva" and sentenced to be burned with his books. In his absence, he and his books were burned in effigy (blank paper for the books).


title: Michael Servetus

text: Meaning to flee to Italy, Servetus inexplicably stopped in Geneva, where Calvin and his Reformers had denounced him. On 13 August, he attended a sermon by Calvin at Geneva. He was arrested after the service and again imprisoned, and all his property was confiscated. Servetus claimed during this judgment he was arrested at an inn at Geneva. French Inquisitors asked that Servetus be extradited to them for execution. Calvin wanted to show he was as firm in defense of Christian orthodoxy as his usual opponents. "He was forced to push the condemnation of Servetus with all the means at his command." Calvin's health was one possible reason he did not personally appear against Servetus. Among the possible reasons that prevented Calvin from appearing personally against Servetus there was one that must have been sufficient. The laws regulating criminal actions in Geneva required that in certain grave cases the complainant himself should be incarcerated pending the trial. Calvin's health and his great and constant usefulness in the administration of the state rendered a prolonged absence from the public life of Geneva impracticable. Therefore, Nicholas de la Fontaine had the more active role in Servetus's prosecution and the listing of points that condemned him. (Nicholas de la Fontaine was a refugee in Geneva and entered the service of Calvin, by whom he was employed as secretary.) Nevertheless, Calvin is regarded as the author of the prosecution.


title: Michael Servetus

text: At his trial, Servetus was condemned on two counts for spreading and preaching Nontrinitarianism, specifically, Modalistic Monarchianism (or Sabellianism) and anti-paedobaptism (anti-infant baptism). Of paedobaptism Servetus had said, "It is an invention of the devil, an infernal falsity for the destruction of all Christianity." In the case, the "procureur général" (chief public prosecutor) added some curious-sounding accusations in the form of inquiries – the most odd-sounding perhaps being, "whether he has married, and if he answers that he has not, he shall be asked why, in consideration of his age, he could refrain so long from marriage." To this oblique imputation about his sexuality, Servetus replied that rupture (inguinal hernia) had long since made him incapable of that particular sin. Another question was "whether he did not know that his doctrine was pernicious, considering that he favours Jews and Turks, by making excuses for them, and if he has not studied the Koran in order to disprove and controvert the doctrine and religion that the Christian churches hold, together with other profane books, from which people ought to abstain in matters of religion, according to the doctrine of St. Paul."


title: Michael Servetus

text: Calvin believed Servetus deserved death because of what Calvin termed, "execrable blasphemies". Calvin expressed these sentiments in a letter to Farel, written about a week after Servetus' arrest, in which he also mentioned an exchange with Servetus. Calvin wrote:


title: Michael Servetus

text: ...after he [Servetus] had been recognized, I thought he should be detained. My friend Nicolas summoned him on a capital charge, offering himself as a security according to the "lex talionis". On the following day he adduced against him forty written charges. He at first sought to evade them. Accordingly we were summoned. He impudently reviled me, just as if he regarded me as obnoxious to him. I answered him as he deserved... of the man’s effrontery I will say nothing; but such was his madness that he did not hesitate to say that devils possessed divinity; yea, that many gods were in individual devils, inasmuch as a deity had been substantially communicated to those equally with wood and stone. I hope that sentence of death will at least be passed on him; but I desired that the severity of the punishment be mitigated.


title: Michael Servetus

text: As Servetus was not a citizen of Geneva, and legally could at worst be banished, the government in an attempt to find some plausible excuse to disregard this legal reality had consulted Swiss Reformed cantons (Zürich, Bern, Basel, Schaffhausen). They universally favoured his condemnation and suppression of his doctrine, but without saying how that should be accomplished. Martin Luther had condemned his writing in strong terms. Servetus and Philip Melanchthon had strongly hostile views of each other. The party called the "Libertines", who were generally opposed to anything and everything John Calvin supported, were in this case strongly in favour of the execution of Servetus at the stake (while Calvin urged that he be beheaded instead). In fact, the council that condemned Servetus was presided over by Ami Perrin (a Libertine) who ultimately on 24 October sentenced Servetus to death by burning for denying the Trinity and infant baptism. Calvin and other ministers asked that he be beheaded instead of burnt, knowing that burning at the stake was the only legal recourse. This plea was refused, and on 27 October, Servetus was burnt alive atop a pyre of his own books at the Plateau of Champel at the edge of Geneva. Historians record his last words as: "Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me."


title: Michael Servetus

text: Sebastian Castellio and countless others denounced this execution and became harsh critics of Calvin because of the whole affair.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Some other anti-trinitarian thinkers began to be more cautious in expressing their views: Martin Cellarius, Lelio Sozzini and others either ceased writing or wrote only in private. The fact that Servetus was dead meant that his writings could be distributed more widely, though others such as Giorgio Biandrata developed them in their own names.


title: Michael Servetus

text: The writings of Servetus influenced the beginnings of the Unitarian movement in Poland and Transylvania. Peter Gonesius's advocacy of Servetus' views led to the separation of the Polish brethren from the Calvinist Reformed Church in Poland, and laid the foundations for the Socinian movement which fostered the early Unitarians in England like John Biddle.


title: Michael Servetus

text: In his first two books ("De trinitatis erroribus", and "Dialogues on the Trinity" plus the supplementary "De Iustitia Regni Christi") Servetus rejected the classical conception of the Trinity, stating that it was not based on the Bible. He argued that it arose from teachings of Greek philosophers, and he advocated a return to the simplicity of the Gospels and the teachings of the early Church Fathers that he believed predated the development of Nicene trinitarianism. Servetus hoped that the dismissal of the trinitarian dogma would make Christianity more appealing to believers in Judaism and Islam, which had preserved the unity of God in their teachings. According to Servetus, trinitarians had turned Christianity into a form of "tritheism", or belief in three gods. Servetus affirmed that the divine "Logos", the manifestation of God and not a separate divine Person, was incarnated in a human being, Jesus, when God's spirit came into the womb of the Virgin Mary. Only from the moment of conception was the Son actually generated. Therefore, although the Logos from which He was formed was eternal, the Son was not Himself eternal. For this reason, Servetus always rejected calling Christ the "eternal Son of God" but rather called him "the Son of the eternal God."


title: Michael Servetus

text: In describing Servetus' view of the Logos, Andrew Dibb explained: "In 'Genesis' God reveals himself as the creator. In 'John' he reveals that he created by means of the Word, or Logos. Finally, also in 'John', he shows that this Logos became flesh and 'dwelt among us'. Creation took place by the spoken word, for God said "Let there be ..." The spoken word of Genesis, the Logos of John, and the Christ, are all one and the same."


title: Michael Servetus

text: In his "Treatise Concerning the Divine Trinity" Servetus taught that the Logos was the reflection of Christ, and "That reflection of Christ was 'the Word with God" that consisted of God Himself, shining brightly in heaven, "and it was God Himself" and that "the Word was the very essence of God or the manifestation of God's essence, and there was in God no other substance or hypostasis than His Word, in a bright cloud where God then seemed to subsist. And in that very spot the face and personality of Christ shone bright."


title: Michael Servetus

text: Unitarian scholar Earl Morse Wilbur states, "Servetus' "Errors of the Trinity" is hardly heretical in intent, rather is suffused with passionate earnestness, warm piety, an ardent reverence for Scripture, and a love for Christ so mystical and overpowering that [he] can hardly find words to express it ... Servetus asserted that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were dispositions of God, and not separate and distinct beings." Wilbur promotes the idea that Servetus was a modalist.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Servetus states his view clearly in the preamble to "Restoration of Christianity" (1553): "There is nothing greater, reader, than to recognize that God has been manifested as substance, and that His divine nature has been truly communicated. We shall clearly apprehend the manifestation of God through the Word and his communication through the Spirit, both of them substantially in Christ alone."


title: Michael Servetus

text: This theology, though original in some respects, has often been compared to Adoptionism, Arianism, and Sabellianism, all of which Trinitarians rejected in favour of the belief that God exists eternally in three distinct persons. Nevertheless, Servetus rejected these theologies in his books: Adoptionism, because it denied Jesus's divinity; Arianism, because it multiplied the hypostases and established a rank; and Sabellianism, because it seemingly confused the Father with the Son, though Servetus himself does appear to have denied or diminished the distinctions between the Persons of the Godhead, rejecting the Trinitarian understanding of One God in Three Persons.


title: Michael Servetus

text: The incomprehensible God is known through Christ, by faith, rather than by philosophical speculations. He manifests God to us, being the expression of His very being, and through him alone, God can be known. The scriptures reveal Him to those who have faith; and thus we come to know the Holy Spirit as the Divine impulse within us.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Under severe pressure from Catholics and Protestants alike, Servetus clarified this explanation in his second book, "Dialogues" (1532), to show the Logos coterminous with Christ. He was nevertheless accused of heresy because of his insistence on denying the dogma of the Trinity and the distinctions between the three divine Persons in one God.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Because of his rejection of the Trinity and eventual execution by burning for heresy, Unitarians often regard Servetus as the first (modern) Unitarian martyr—though he was a Unitarian in neither the 17th-century sense of the term nor the modern sense. Sharply critical though he was of the orthodox formulation of the trinity, Servetus is better described as a highly unorthodox trinitarian.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Aspects of his thinking—his critique of existing trinitarian theology, his devaluation of the doctrine of original sin, and his fresh examination of biblical proof-texts—did influence those who later inspired or founded unitarian churches in Poland and Transylvania.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Other non-trinitarian groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, and Oneness Pentecostalism, also claim Servetus held similar non-trinitarian views as theirs. Oneness Pentecostalism particularly identifies with Servetus' teaching on the divinity of Jesus Christ and his insistence on the oneness of God, rather than a Trinity of three distinct persons: "And because His Spirit was wholly God He is called God, just as from His flesh He is called man."


title: Michael Servetus

text: Oneness Pentecostal Scholar David K. Bernard has written the following in regard to the theology of Michael Servetus: "... some historians consider him to be a motivating force for the development of Unitarianism. However, he definitely was not Unitarian, for he acknowledged Jesus as God."


title: Michael Servetus

text: Widespread aversion to Servetus's death has been taken as signaling the birth in Europe of the idea of religious tolerance, a principle now more important to modern Unitarian Universalists than antitrinitarianism. The Spanish scholar on Servetus' work, Ángel Alcalá, identified the radical search for truth and the right for freedom of conscience as Servetus' main legacies, rather than his theology. The Polish-American scholar, Marian Hillar, has studied the evolution of freedom of conscience, from Servetus and the Polish Socinians, to John Locke and to Thomas Jefferson and the American Declaration of Independence. According to Hillar: "Historically speaking, Servetus died so that freedom of conscience could become a civil right in modern society."


title: Michael Servetus

text: Servetus was the first European to describe the function of pulmonary circulation although his achievement was not widely recognized at the time, for a few reasons. One was that the description appeared in a theological treatise, "Christianismi Restitutio", not in a book on medicine. However, the sections in which he refers to anatomy and medicines demonstrate an amazing understanding of the body and treatments. Most copies of the book were burned shortly after its publication in 1553 because of persecution of Servetus by religious authorities. Three copies survived, but these remained hidden for decades. In passage V, Servetus recounts his discovery that the blood of the pulmonary circulation flows from the heart to the lungs (rather than air in the lungs flowing to the heart as had been thought). His discovery was based on the colour of the blood, the size and location of the different ventricles, and the fact that the pulmonary vein was extremely large, which suggested that it performed intensive and transcendent exchange. However, Servetus does not only deal with cardiology. In the same passage, from page 169 to 178, he also refers to the brain, the cerebellum, the meninges, the nerves, the eye, the tympanum, the rete mirabile, etc., demonstrating a great knowledge of anatomy. In some other sections of this work he also talks of medical products.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Servetus also contributed enormously to medicine with other published works specifically related to the field, such as his "Complete Explanation of Syrups" and his study on syphilis in his "Apology against Leonhart Fuchs", among others.


title: Michael Servetus

text: In Geneva, 350 years after the execution, remembering Servetus was still a controversial issue. In 1903 a committee was formed by supporters of Servetus to erect a monument in his honour. The group was led by a French Senator, , an author of a book on heretics and revolutionaries which was published in 1887. The committee commissioned a local sculptor, Clotilde Roch, to execute a statue showing a suffering Servetus. The work was three years in the making and was finished in 1907. However, by then, supporters of Calvin in Geneva, having heard about the project, had already erected a simple stele in memory of Servetus in 1903, the main text of which served more as an apologetic for Calvin:


title: Michael Servetus

text: Duteous and grateful followers of Calvin our great Reformer, yet condemning an error which was that of his age, and strongly attached to liberty of conscience according to the true principles of his Reformation and gospel, we have erected this expiatory monument. Oct. 27, 1903 About the same time, a short street close by the stele was named after him.


title: Michael Servetus

text: The city council then rejected the request of the committee to erect the completed statue, on the grounds that there was already a monument to Servetus. The committee then offered the statue to the neighbouring French town of Annemasse, which in 1908 placed it in front of the city hall, with the following inscriptions:


title: Michael Servetus

text: "The arrest of Servetus in Geneva, where he did neither publish nor dogmatize, hence he was not subject to its laws, has to be considered as a barbaric act and an insult to the Right of Nations". Voltaire


title: Michael Servetus

text: "I beg you, shorten please these deliberations. It is clear that Calvin for his pleasure wishes to make me rot in this prison. The lice eat me alive. My clothes are torn and I have nothing for a change, nor shirt, only a worn out vest".


title: Michael Servetus

text: In 1942, the Vichy Government took down the statue, as it was a celebration of freedom of conscience, and melted it. In 1960, having found the original molds, Annemasse had it recast and returned the statue to its previous place.


title: Michael Servetus

text: Finally, on 3 October 2011, Geneva erected a copy of the statue which it had rejected over 100 years before. It was cast in Aragon from the molds of Clotilde Roch's original statue. Rémy Pagani, former mayor of Geneva, inaugurated the statue. He previously had described Servetus as "the dissident of dissidence." Representatives from the Roman Catholic Church in Geneva and the Director of Geneva's International Museum of the Reformation attended the ceremony. A Geneva newspaper noted the absence of officials from the National Protestant Church of Geneva, the church of John Calvin.


title: Michael Servetus

text: In 1984, the Zaragoza public hospital changed its name from "José Antonio" to "Miguel Servet". Since 1999, this hospital has been known as the "Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet", in recognition of its association with Servetus' own University of Zaragoza


title: Michael Servetus

text: In 1553, Lyonese printer Jean Frellon confessed to the French Inquisition that Michael Servetus had been working at his print shop, and had translated for him, among other works, several Latin grammar treatises to Spanish, and a  "somme espagnole". New studies reveal Servetus as the author of an additional set of anonymous editions of grammatical, medical and Biblical works – exactly like his "Biblia cum glossis" from 1545 – which came from that print shop. These works were not completely original, but enriched and commented editions of previous works by other authors, much like what Servetus had done with his "Geography of Ptolemy" (1535). These works were anonymous due to four reasons: (the main one) the strong penalty Servetus got from the University of Paris, through its Medicine, Law and Theology Faculties; the fact that these works had references to authors who were forbidden in the Spanish Empire, and opposed by the Sorbonne Faculty of Theology, such as Erasmus and Robert Estienne; the fact that some other authors mentioned by these works, such as Mathurin Cordier and Robert Estienne, were at the same time very close to John Calvin; the prohibition of any Biblical translation into any common language, pushed by the Spanish Empire. The main  works which Servetus edited at Jean Frellon’s print shop were:


title: Bai Qi

text: Bai Qi (; – 257 BC), also known as Gongsun Qi (), was a Chinese military general of the Qin state during the Warring States period. Born in Mei (present-day Mei County, Shaanxi), Bai Qi served as the commander of the Qin army for more than 30 years, being responsible for the deaths of over one million, earning him the nickname (; ). According to the Shiji, he seized more than 73 cities from the other six hostile states, and to date no record has been found to show that he suffered a single defeat throughout his military career. He was named by Chinese historians as one of the four greatest generals of the late Warring States period, along with Li Mu, Wang Jian, and Lian Po; he is also remembered as the most fearsome amongst the four.


title: Bai Qi

text: In 293 BC, Bai Qi led the Qin army to victory against Wei () and Han () forces at the Battle of Yique (in present-day Longmen (), southeast of Luoyang, Henan), reportedly slaughtering around 240,000 enemy soldiers in total while capturing some cities.


title: Bai Qi

text: In 292 BC, he was promoted from Zuo Shu Zhang (左庶長; "Vice Prime Minister of Qin") to Da Liang Zao (大良造; "Prime Minister of Qin") by King Zhaoxiang of Qin.


title: Bai Qi

text: In 278 BC, he led the Qin army to capture Ying (), the capital city of Chu, in the process seizing considerable amounts of territory. As a reward, he was given the title Lord Wu'an (武安君; literally: "Lord of Martial Peace"). Reportedly drowning 100000 people in a flood attack.


title: Bai Qi

text: In 273 BC, the Qin army under his command defeated the joint armies of Zhao () and Wei at Huayang (華陽; south of present-day Zhengzhou (), Henan), where he massacred the submitting soldiers, reportedly numbering around 150,000 troops in total: 130,000 Wei soldiers with a further 20,000 Zhao soldiers being killed and thrown into a river.


title: Bai Qi

text: In 264 BC, he successfully besieged 5 Han fortresses and thereafter decapitated the 50,000 enemy soldiers.


title: Bai Qi

text: During the Battle of Changping in 260 BC, he succeeded Wang He as the commander of the Qin army, and soon defeated the Zhao army commanded by the inexperienced Zhao Kuo, who himself had replaced Lian Po as acting commander. The Zhao army was split into two parts and its supply lines and retreat route cut off by Bai Qi. More than 400,000 Zhao soldiers, including the Shangdang people who surrendered after Zhao Kuo was shot dead by Qin archers, were slain (坑殺; buried alive) on the orders of Bai Qi.


title: Bai Qi

text: Bai Qi wanted to end Zhao once and for all, as they were weary and psychologically affected by the losses incurred from the Battle of Changping, but the prime minister of Qin, Fan Ju (), who was persuaded by a talker from Zhao, feared Bai Qi's rising power, and recommended that the king stop the attack on the pretext that the Qin troops ought to be rested, and to accept a ceded territory negotiation. Bai Qi stopped the attack; on his return journey to the State of Qin, he fell ill.


title: Bai Qi

text: According to the Shiji, in the year 257 BC, Qin started to besiege Handan, the capital of Zhao. Because Bai Qi was ill, the Qin king used another prominent general, Wang Ling (), who subsequently lost the battle. After about four months, when Bai Qi seemed to have recovered, the king asked him to return to his post as commander, but Bai Qi held a different opinion, he argued that Qin no longer had enough resources for such a long-range war, and the other states would soon attack Qin since Qin had been contrary to the negotiation. However, the king insisted on continuing the attack. Bai Qi refused the king's command, using his illness as an excuse. The king, therefore, had to use Wang He (), another prominent Qin general, instead of Bai Qi, as the commander.


title: Bai Qi

text: This decision did not help the Qin army in the battle at all; Chu and Wei soon sent troops to assist Zhao. After more than five months of continuous defeat at Handan, Qin had suffered major losses. The king asked Bai Qi to become commander again, but he once more used his illness to refuse the request. In the "Zhan Guo Ce", his true intentions were supposedly revealed when he stated that he would rather be executed for refusing the king's order, than lose his long undefeated fame on the battlefield. Having been refused several times, the king became angry, removed all titles from Bai Qi, and forced him to leave Xianyang, the Qin capital. In addition, Fan Ju persuaded the king that Bai Qi would join another state as a general and become a threat to the State of Qin. Convinced by Fan Ju's information, the king then forced Bai Qi to commit suicide in Duyou (). Before he committed suicide, Bai Qi stated that he deserved such a tragic ending after having killed so many people.


title: Bai Qi

text: He is noted in Chinese history as a symbol of brutality rather than for his military talent. The traditional Tofu dish of Gaoping, today's Changping, called Bai Qi meat, is well known. Some stories have been written about Bai Qi suffering for his brutal actions, such as one mentioned in the "Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms", which says that an ox with two Chinese characters, 'Bai Qi', tattooed on its back, was executed by lightning during the Tang Dynasty.


title: Bai Qi

text: Human remains used to and still continue to be found at the site of the Battle of Changping around Gaoping. The Emperor Xuanzong of Tang once decided to dedicate a temple over a collection of the remains there.


title: Morgan Brittany

text: Morgan Brittany (née Suzanne Cupito) is an American actress born in Los Angeles. She is known for her role as Katherine Wentworth, the scheming younger half-sister of Pamela Ewing and Cliff Barnes, on the prime-time soap opera "Dallas".


title: Morgan Brittany

text: Brittany began her acting career as a child under her real name Suzanne Cupito. Brittany appeared on many programs in the 1950s and 1960s. She began her career as a child actress at age five in a 1957 episode of the CBS television network anthology series "Playhouse 90" (or at that same age in an episode of "Sea Hunt"). In January 1960, she displayed her talent as a ballet dancer on "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show". Three months later, she followed that up with her first of three "Twilight Zone" episodes, uncredited as a little girl in "Nightmare as a Child"; she also portrayed Sissy Johnson in the season four episode "Valley of the Shadow" and Susan in the season five episode "Caesar and Me".


title: Morgan Brittany

text: She was featured in the musical film "Gypsy" (1962), as Baby June. She appeared in the episode "Daughter for a Day" on ABC's "My Three Sons" (1962) as Jeannie Hill. She appeared in the episode "Daddy Went Away" on CBS's "Gunsmoke" (May 11, 1963) as Jessica Damon. She appeared uncredited in the birthday party and school house scenes in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (1963). In 1963, she played the role of Winter Night in the episode "Incident of the Hostages" on CBS's "Rawhide". In 1964, she starred as a blind girl named Minerva Gordon in a two-part episode of "The Outer Limits" titled "The Inheritors" with Robert Duvall, and Kim Hector, appeared in the Western film "Stage to Thunder Rock". In 1966, she appeared in the series finale of the Western "Branded", playing an orphan named "Kellie" in the episode of the same name. She was part of the ensemble cast in the film "Yours, Mine and Ours" (1968), which is led by Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. Brittany was also in the season eight premiere episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" titled "Opie's First Love" as Mary Alice.


title: Morgan Brittany

text: She did two episodes of "Lassie", "Lassie and the Swamp Girl" and "Little Dog Lost" as "Mattie" in the mid-1960s. She followed that up with appearances on "Gunsmoke" and other shows. At the age of 15, after appearing in "Yours, Mine and Ours" (1968), her childhood career came to an end and she concentrated on getting her education at Cleveland High School, Reseda, California.


title: Morgan Brittany

text: At age 18, Cupito changed her name to Morgan Brittany and then appeared with Gene Kelly in his Las Vegas show, "Gene Kelly's Wonderful World of Girls", as a dancer. She then moved to New York City, where she modeled for the Ford Modeling Agency, and appeared in several TV commercials and print ads (including a three-year stint as "The Ultra Brite Toothpaste Girl"), and was spokesmodel for brands such as L'Oreal, Maybelline, Ford, Levi's and Camay. In December 1972, she played Cynthia, a childhood friend of Bridget's (Meredith Baxter), in episode 12, "The Homecoming" on "Bridget Loves Bernie". In 1974, she was hired by the Japanese cosmetics company Kanebo to be the "face" of their product "Ireine", and so moved to Tokyo from 1974 to 1976 and traveled around the world as the image of "Kanebo Cosmetics".


title: Morgan Brittany

text: Brittany portrayed actress Vivien Leigh in "Gable and Lombard" (1976) a biography of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. She also has a cameo appearance in the John Schlesinger film "The Day of the Locust" (1975) as Leigh in the climax of the film. That was followed by TV movies and series, such as "The Amazing Howard Hughes" (1977), "Delta County, U.S.A." (1977), "The Initiation of Sarah" (1978), "Death Car on the Freeway" (1979), "The Dream Merchants" (1980) and "" (1987). She appeared in the TV movie "The Fantastic Seven" (aka "Stunt Seven") in 1979 with Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Macnee, and Elke Sommer. In 1980, while filming an episode of "The Dukes of Hazzard", Brittany met her future husband, stuntman Jack Gill.


title: Morgan Brittany

text: She appeared again as Leigh in the climax of the made-for-TV movie about the search for an actress to star in "Gone with the Wind's" film adaptation, "The Scarlett O'Hara War" (1980), which marked the second of her three portrayals of the British actress. This caught the attention of the producers of "Dallas", who were searching for an actress to play Katherine Wentworth, the scheming half-sister of Pamela Ewing and Cliff Barnes. She debuted on "Dallas" in the 1981–82 season and her role as Katherine continued, on and off, until 1987. In 1985, she returned for a cameo in that season's finale where her character killed Bobby Ewing by running him over with a car, killing herself in the process. She made a brief, final appearance on the series in 1987, after it had been revealed that Bobby's and Katherine's deaths had been a dream.


title: Morgan Brittany

text: In 1984, Brittany co-starred in the short-lived ABC drama series, "Glitter", as Kate Simpson, a reporter for an entertainment magazine. This was one of several collaborations with producer Aaron Spelling throughout her career. Her first show with him had been an appearance in "Burke's Law", in 1964 when Brittany was a child. Later, as an adult, she appeared in seven episodes of "The Love Boat", "Hotel", "Fantasy Island", "Melrose Place", and the 1990s revival of "Burke's Law". She appeared in "The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch" (1982) starring Joan Collins.


title: Morgan Brittany

text: Brittany and Bruce Jenner hosted the syndicated sports show "Star Games". She later hosted over 100 episodes of the magazine show "Photoplay", produced by Jack Haley Jr. She has guest starred on other series, including "Married... with Children", "Murder, She Wrote", "The Perry Mason Mysteries", "Dear John", "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "The Nanny". In film, Brittany starred in "" (1989).


title: Morgan Brittany

text: In the 1990s, Brittany appeared in independent films, including "Riders in the Storm" (1995), "Legend of the Spirit Dog" (1997), "The Protector" (1997), "The Biggest Fan" (2002), "Mothers and Daughters" (2006) and "Americanizing Shelley" (2007). She also appeared in the docudrama, "1 a Minute" (2010), and made a guest appearance on the television series "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and "Son of the Beach".


title: Morgan Brittany

text: As of 2014, Brittany is a conservative political commentator and author. She writes a weekly column for "WorldNetDaily".


title: Morgan Brittany

text: Her first book, with co-authors Ann-Marie Murrell and Dr. Gina Loudon, "What Women Really Want", was released September 2, 2014. She is a recurring guest on "Hannity" (FOX News), and "The Rick Amato Show" (One America) and has appeared on "The Kudlow Report" (CNBC), "Fox & Friends", "The Dennis Miller Show" and "Huckabee". Brittany is a co-owner and anchor for "PolitiChicks", an online news site with a conservative perspective. Her second book with co-author Ann-Marie Murrell was released in 2017. "PolitiChicks: A Clarion Call to Political Activism" is a compilation book of essays from "PolitiChicks" writers. Brittany now travels the country speaking at major venues like The Heritage Foundation and other conservative organizations.


title: Morgan Brittany

text: Brittany married stuntman Jack Gill in 1981. They are the parents of actress Katie Gill and musician/stuntman Cody Gill.


title: Carrie Walton Penner

text: Carrie Walton Penner (born August 12, 1970) is the granddaughter of Sam Walton the founder of Walmart, and the daughter of former company chairman S. Robson Walton.


title: Carrie Walton Penner

text: She graduated prep school in 1988, and then went to Georgetown, and studied economics and history. In the mid-1990s, she was involved in education issues and earned a master's degree in Education Policy and Program Evaluation at Stanford University.


title: Carrie Walton Penner

text: Walton-Penner has been an education program officer for the Walton Family Foundation, an evaluator for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and served internships at the Rockefeller Foundation, Aaron Diamond Foundation, and Academy for Educational Development. She was also a research analyst for an evaluation of the Michigan Mathematics and Science Centers for Woodside Research Consortium.


title: Carrie Walton Penner

text: On August 9, 2022, the NFL owners approved the purchase of the Denver Broncos by the Walton-Penner group (consisting of Walton Penner, her husband Greg, S. Robson Walton, Condoleezza Rice, Mellody Hobson, and Sir Lewis Hamilton). In her role, she is actively engaged with Broncos ownership and executives on all matters related to the organization.


title: Carrie Walton Penner

text: Walton-Penner is married to Greg Penner, who was named the Chairman of Walmart in 2015. They met while attending Georgetown University as undergraduates. They have four children and live in Atherton, California.


title: Byzantine Empire under the Heraclian dynasty

text: The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the dynasty of Heraclius between 610 and 711. The Heraclians presided over a period of cataclysmic events that were a watershed in the history of the Empire and the world.


text: At the beginning of the dynasty, the Empire's culture was still essentially Ancient Roman, dominating the Mediterranean and harbouring a prosperous Late Antique urban civilization. This world was shattered by successive invasions, which resulted in extensive territorial losses, financial collapse and plagues that depopulated the cities, while religious controversies and rebellions further weakened the Empire.


text: By the dynasty's end, the Empire had evolved a different state structure: now known in historiography as medieval Byzantium, a chiefly agrarian, military-dominated society that was engaged in a lengthy struggle with the Muslim Caliphate. However, the Empire during this period was also far more homogeneous, being reduced to its mostly Greek-speaking and firmly Chalcedonian core territories, which enabled it to weather these storms and enter a period of stability under the successor Isaurian dynasty.


text: The Heraclian dynasty was named after the general Heraclius the Younger, who, in 610, sailed from Carthage, overthrew the usurper Phocas, and was crowned Emperor. At the time, the Empire was embroiled in a war with the Sassanid Persian Empire, which in the next decade conquered the Empire's eastern provinces.


text: After a long and exhausting struggle, Heraclius managed to defeat the Persians and restore the Empire, only to lose these provinces again shortly after to the sudden eruption of the Muslim conquests. His successors struggled to contain the Arab tide. The Levant and North Africa were lost, while in 674–678, a large Arab army besieged Constantinople itself.


text: Nevertheless, the state survived and the establishment of the Theme system allowed the imperial heartland of Asia Minor to be retained. Under Justinian II and Tiberius III the imperial frontier in the East was stabilized, although incursions continued on both sides.


text: The latter 7th century also saw the first conflicts with the Bulgars and the establishment of a Bulgarian state in formerly Byzantine lands south of the Danube, which would be the Empire's chief antagonist in the West until the 12th century.


text: Ever since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire continued to see Western Europe as rightfully Imperial territory. However, only Justinian I attempted to enforce this claim with military might. Temporary success in the West was achieved at the cost of Persian dominance in the East, where the Byzantines were forced to pay tribute to avert war.


text: However, after Justinian's death, much of newly recovered Italy fell to the Lombards, and the Visigoths soon reduced the imperial holdings in Spain. At the same time, wars with the Persian Empire brought no conclusive victory. In 591 however, the long war was ended with a treaty favorable to Byzantium, which gained Armenia. Thus, after the death of Justinian's successor Tiberius II, Maurice sought to restore the prestige of the Empire.


text: Even though the Empire had gained smaller successes over the Slavs and Avars in pitched battles across the Danube, both enthusiasm for the army and faith in the government had lessened considerably. Unrest had reared its head in Byzantine cities as social and religious differences manifested themselves into Blue and Green factions that fought each other in the streets. The final blow to the government was a decision to cut the pay of its army in response to financial strains. The combined effect of an army revolt led by a junior officer named Phocas and major uprisings by the Greens and Blues forced Maurice to abdicate. The Senate approved Phocas as the new Emperor and Maurice, the last emperor of the Justinian Dynasty, was murdered along with his four sons.


text: The Persian King Khosrau II responded by launching an assault on the Empire, ostensibly to avenge Maurice, who had earlier helped him to regain his throne. Phocas was already alienating his supporters with his repressive rule (introducing torture on a large scale), and the Persians were able to capture Syria and Mesopotamia by 607. By 608, the Persians were camped outside Chalcedon, within sight of the imperial capital of Constantinople, while Anatolia was ravaged by Persian raids. Making matters worse was the advance of the Avars and Slavic tribes heading south across the Danube and into Imperial territory.


text: While the Persians were making headway in their conquest of the eastern provinces, Phocas chose to divide his subjects rather than unite them against the threat of the Persians. Perhaps seeing his defeats as divine retribution, Phocas initiated a savage and bloody campaign to forcibly convert the Jews to Christianity. Persecutions and alienation of the Jews, a frontline people in the war against the Persians helped drive them into aiding the Persian conquerors. As Jews and Christians began tearing each other apart, some fled the butchery into Persian territory. Meanwhile, it appears that the disasters befalling the Empire led the Emperor into a state of paranoia — although it must be said that there were numerous plots against his rule and execution followed execution. Among those individuals who were executed was the former empress Constantina and her three daughters.


text: Due to the overwhelming crisis facing the Empire that had pitched it into chaos, Heraclius the Younger now attempted to seize power from Phocas in an effort to better Byzantium's fortunes. As the Empire was led into anarchy, the Exarchate of Carthage remained relatively out of reach of Persian conquest. Far from the incompetent Imperial authority of the time, Heraclius, the Exarch of Carthage, with his brother Gregorius, began building up his forces to assault Constantinople. After cutting off the grain supply to the capital from his territory, Heraclius led a substantial army and a fleet in 608 to restore order in the Empire. Heraclius gave the command of the army to Gregorius' son, Nicetas, whilst command of the fleet went to Heraclius' son, Heraclius the Younger. Nicetas took part of the fleet and his forces to Egypt, seizing Alexandria towards the end of 608. Meanwhile, Heraclius the Younger headed to Thessalonica, from where, after receiving more supplies and troops, he sailed for Constantinople. He reached his destination on 3 October 610, where he was unopposed as he landed off the shores of Constantinople, citizens greeting him as their deliverer.


text: The reign of Phocas officially ended in his execution and the crowning of Heraclius by the Patriarch of Constantinople two days later on 5 October. A statue of Phocas that rested in the Hippodrome was pulled down and set aflame, along with the colors of the Blues that supported Phocas.


text: After having married his wife in an elaborate ceremony and crowned by the Patriarch, the 36-year-old Heraclius set out to perform his work as Emperor. The early portion of his reign yielded results reminiscent of Phocas' reign with respect to trouble in the Balkans. The Avars and Slavs poured through the western Adriatic, as well as through the southern and eastern portions of the Aegean area. Their sweeping movement into Dalmatia engulfed several Byzantine cities, namely Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (Kostolac), Naissus (Niš), Sardica (Sofia), and destroyed Salona in 614. However, numerous attempts to take the city of Thessalonica by the Slavs and Avars ended in failure, allowing the Empire to hold onto a vital city in the region.


text: In 613, the Byzantine army suffered a crushing defeat at Antioch, allowing the Persians to move freely and swiftly in all directions. This surge caused the cities of Damascus and Tarsus to fall, along with Armenia. More seriously, however, was the loss of Jerusalem, which was besieged and captured by the Persians in three weeks. Countless churches in the city (including the Holy Sepulchre) were burnt and numerous relics, including the True Cross, the Holy Lance and the Holy Sponge, present at the time of Jesus Christ's death, were now in Ctesiphon, the Persian capital. The Persians remained poised outside of Chalcedon, not too far from the capital, and the province of Syria was in total chaos.


text: Despite Nicetas' earlier efforts, Egypt was also conquered, resulting in a significant loss in manpower, food supplies and revenue. However, the situation was not entirely hopeless. Constantinople's walls were as powerful and well-defended as ever, and Heraclius still had a large, better-trained, and better-armed fleet than any of his "barbarian" opponents (especially the Slavs and Avars). The Persians had no vessels in the Bosporus, and thus unable to effectively besiege the city.


text: To recover from a seemingly endless number of defeats, Heraclius went about a reconstruction plan of the military, financing it by fining those accused of corruption, increasing taxes, and debasing the currency to pay more soldiers and forced loans. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius, placed the finances of the Church into the hands of the State, a surprising but well-needed sacrifice. Heraclius now aimed to eliminate one of his dangerous foes, the Sassanid Empire. The Persians had conquered extensive amounts of territory in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Levant, and North Africa, but had yet to consolidate their hold on it. Heraclius decided to negotiate a peace with the Avars and Slavs by paying them a large amount of tribute so that he could freely move his armies from Europe to Asia in order to launch counter-offensives against the Persians. With his Eastern opponents still outside Chalcedon, in the spring of 622 Heraclius took the field. He sailed his newly created army down the Ionian coast and landed at Issus, the exact site where Alexander the Great had decisively defeated the Persians some 1,000 years prior. At Issus, Heraclius oversaw the extensive training of his men. In the autumn of that year, he marched his army northwards and encountered a Persian force in the Cappadocian highlands. Despite having no military experience in leading an army in the field, the Byzantine Emperor decisively routed the forces of the experienced Persian General Shahrbaraz, boosting his army's morale and recovering large amounts of territory.


text: In early 623, Heraclius led his forces through Armenia and modern-day Azerbaijan. By moving towards Armenia, this forced the Persians to move from their positions in Asia Minor and to follow the army "like a dog on a chain". It was in Armenia that the Byzantine army once again found success against the Persian general Shahrbaraz, winning a large victory. Events in the capital forced Heraclius and his army to return to Constantinople, as the Avar Khan was threatening action on the city. Heraclius was forced to increase the tribute being paid to the Avars, even having to go as far as sending hostages to the Khan to ensure payment. This once again shored up his rearguard, allowing him to re-engage the Persian army in March 623, as the Persian king Chosroes II had become ever more belligerent in his attitude, spurning a truce. On the way to Persia, the Byzantine army pillaged and looted extensively, including the destruction of the Persian palace at Ganzak. Burning numerous cities of his opponents, Heraclius made a risky decision and led his troops deep within the heartland of the Sassanid Empire to Ctesiphon, the Persian capital. However, Shahrbaraz began cutting off Heraclius' supply lines, forcing the latter to withdraw to the western shore of the Caspian Sea. There, his second wife and niece (Martina) safely delivered a child, although the marriage was seen by many as incestuous.


text: In 624, Heraclius led another campaign towards Lake Van. However, the victory that he sought would not come to him until the following year. Leading his army through Ararat down the Arsanias River for some to capture the cities of Martyropolis and Amida, Heraclius finally encountered a Persian army north of the town of Adana after marching through Mesopotamia. Initially, the battle went well for the Persians, as they obliterated the vanguard of the Byzantine army. However, Heraclius then seized the initiative by launching a seemingly suicidal charge across the River Euphrates, thus turning the tide of the battle. Shahrbaraz expressed his admiration at Heraclius to a renegade Greek:


text: Victory belonged to the Byzantines, and now, the honours of the war were even. However, the Persian threat was not yet diminished. The long-awaited assault on Constantinople was finally beginning to materialize — the Avars began moving siege equipment towards the Capital (the siege began on June 29, 626) whilst Shahrbaraz was ordered by King Khosrau II to send his army to Chalcedon and link up with the Avars. Khosrau began conscripting able-bodied men into a new army, raising a crack force of approximately 50,000 men. Heraclius, it seems, was not only being outmaneuvered, but being outmaneuvered by several larger armies. However, Heraclius attempted to match the Persians by duplicating their strategy and dividing his forces into three separate contingents. One army would defend the capital, whilst another, under the command of the Emperor's brother Theodore, would face the 50,000 conscripts in Mesopotamia who were commanded by the Persian General Shahin. Meanwhile, the third, which would be personally commanded by the Emperor, would march through Armenia and the Caucasus and into Persia, which he believed would have been stripped of most of the able-bodied men due to Khosrau's conscription. This would allow his forces to easily advance into the heartland of Persia.


text: Theodore's contingent fared well against Shahin in Mesopotamia, inflicting a crushing defeat on the Persians. During this battle, at Constantinople, the city was well defended with a force of some 12,000 cavalry (presumably dismounted), supported by the entire city's population. Indeed, the efforts of the Patriarch Sergius in whipping up the population into a religious and patriotic frenzy cannot be overlooked. When the Byzantine fleet annihilated a Persian and an Avar fleet in two separate ambushes, the besiegers appeared to have withdrawn in panic. And when word of Theodore's victory in Mesopotamia came, it was concluded by the besiegers that Byzantium was now under the protection of the Romans' Christian God.


text: For Heraclius, 626 was a year of little action — it appears that in an attempt to bolster his forces, he promised the hand of his daughter Epiphania to the Khan of the Western Turkic Khaganate, Ziebel. Impressed by the offer, the Khan fielded some 40,000 troops on the Byzantine side. However, the Khan died just two years later, in 628. Nonetheless, Byzantium made good use of the boost in troops when Heraclius marched into Mesopotamia the following year. His objective was clear: to destroy the Persians' army and march to Ctesiphon, doing what no Roman Emperor had done in nearly 300 years (since the days of Julian the Apostate): . His army marched cautiously into this hostile terrain. It was known to Heraclius that a Persian force was close and an ambush was always a possibility. Meanwhile, Rhahzadh, the new Persian commander, was also not keen to face Heraclius until his army was ready for a pitched battle.


text: After spending a greater part of 627 in Mesopotamia, Heraclius finally encountered the Persian army close to the ruins of the city of Ninevah. For eleven hours, the Byzantines and the Persians fought each other continuously. In the thick of the fighting Razates issued a challenge to Heraclius, who accepted. Despite being wounded, Heraclius managed to decapitate Razates. When the sun finally began to set, the Persians had been defeated and both armies rested.


text: Heraclius later moved on to the Great Palace of Dastagird only to discover that Khosrau II had fled his Palace. In a fit of rage, Heraclius ordered that everything be burnt to the ground. Moving on, he soon found that Khosrau no longer commanded the loyalty of his subjects — as they refused to rally to defend Ctesiphon. Heraclius waited a week or two before marching his army back. Khosrau's son Siroes took power as Kavadh II and had his father shot to death with arrows. Later, the formation of a peace treaty favourable to the Byzantines led to the restoration of the pre-war boundaries. As an added bonus, all captives and Christian relics that had been captured by the Persians were returned. Thus, it was at the head of the True Cross that Heraclius entered the Capital on September 14, 628 triumphant. Leading a procession which included four elephants, the True Cross was placed high atop the altar of the Hagia Sophia.


text: By this time, it was generally expected by the Byzantine populace that the Emperor would lead Byzantium into a new age of glory. However, all of Heraclius' achievements would come to naught, when, in 633, the Byzantine-Arab Wars began.


text: The threat of the Arabs from Arabia was overlooked by both Persia and Byzantium for several reasons — most compelling of all were the wars between the two powers, and the lack of communication across the desert expanse. Nonetheless, efforts were conducted, sometimes cooperatively, by the Byzantines and the Persians to stop the advance of the Arabs.


text: On 8 June 632, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad died of a fever. However, the religion he left behind would transform the Middle East. In 633, the armies of Islam marched out of Arabia, their goal to spread the word of the prophet. In 634, the Arabs defeated a Byzantine force sent into Syria and captured Damascus. The arrival of another large Byzantine army outside Antioch forced the Arabs to retreat. The Byzantines advanced in May 636. However, a sandstorm blew on 20 August 636 against the Byzantines and when the Arabs charged against them they were utterly annihilated:


text: Jerusalem surrendered to the Arabs in 637, following a stout resistance; in 638, the Caliph Omar rode into the city. Heraclius stopped by Jerusalem to recover the True Cross whilst it was under siege. In his old age he was becoming increasingly unstable in his rule. Once the commander of his father's fleet, he developed a phobia of the sea, and refused to cross the Bosporus to the capital. Only when several boats were tied along the length of the strait with shrubs placed along to hide the water did he ride across, "as if by land" as a contemporary put it.


text: The Arab invasions and loss of territory was not all that bore heavily upon the Emperor's mind. It was rumoured that the incestuous marriage to his niece had incurred the wrath of God — of the nine children that he had, four had died in infancy, one had a twisted neck and one was deaf and dumb. Furthermore, it appears that the Empire was not even considering the Arab threat as a danger. The religious controversies once again emerged when the Patriarch of Constantinople Sergius proposed monothelitism as a compromise to the Chalcedonian Christians and the Monophysites. Heraclius agreed to the proposal. However, it received much criticism from both sides of the theological debate of Christ's true nature. When Sophronius, a major critic of monothelitism was elected as Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Empire began once again to tear itself apart. To some in the Empire the Arabs' promise of religious freedom seemed preferable to the other, seemingly blasphemous politically motivated proposals. At his death bed on 11 February 641, Heraclius died whispering that he had lied; he was reluctant to support monothelitism. It appears that unity was all that he sought.


text: Before his death Heraclius was "persuaded" by his wife Martina to crown her son Heraclonas ("Flavius Heraclius") co-heir to the throne of the Empire with Constantine, the son of Heraclius' first wife Eudocia — all the meanwhile ignoring the numerous Byzantines who saw her as the reason for Byzantium's recent misfortunes. Her ambitions for power ensured that Byzantium would continue to succumb to disorder.


text: Heraclius's reign was one of mixed fortunes. He started his reign by losing the eastern provinces, brought it to its peak by retaking them against all odds, and ended it by losing them again. It was Heraclius who first withdrew the eastern field armies into Anatolia, sowing the seeds of the Theme system, and it was he who, through depopulation and the razing of fortifications, stabilized the Anatolian frontier, which would remain largely unchanged for the next 350 years.


text: By Heraclius's late reign, proper Latin had been reduced to a military and ceremonial role outside of the Exarchates, replaced by Greek as the language of court and high administration. This was the result of natural demographic shifts, and there was never an official change from language one to the other, as is sometimes claimed. He was also the first emperor to, after defeating the Persians, officially adopt the title of Basileus, "King" in Greek, though the title had been used unofficially for centuries; Procopius used the title frequently, for example. There is no indication, as is, again, sometimes claimed, that Basileus became Heraclius's "primary" title, and other prominent Imperial titles since ancient/Latin era of the Empire, such as Augustus and Imperator, remained in varying degrees of use for the remainder of the empire's lifetime.


text: Had Heraclius lived only until 629, he might have been remembered for his successful military reorganization and impressive handling of the last Persian war, which saw hope and victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. However, his lengthy life meant that the Byzantines remembered him for his religious controversies, failures against the Arabs, and incestuous marriage to his niece, which many believed to have brought divine retribution upon the entire Empire.


text: After his death, Heraclius' corpse remained unburied for three days, guarded by his soldiers until it was laid to rest in the Church of the Holy Apostles within a sarcophagus of white onyx next to the founder of his Empire, Constantine I.


text: The army of the Empire that Heraclius worked so hard to improve eventually was reorganized in Asia Minor into four "Themes", in what is now known as the Theme system. This system was originally credited by Byzantine historians like George Ostrogorsky to Heraclius. He provides Theophanes as a source, quoting the expression "the district of the themes" in the year 622, showing the themes had begun to be created at this time. However, there is evidence presented by some modern historians that it could possibly be credited to Constans, and yet others leave the door open that Heraclius could possibly have done so in the late 630s in Cilicia. In any case, the debate over exactly when the thematic system originated continues on.


text: The administrative regions created from this system were to be governed by a "strategos", a military governor. The aim of these Themes was to maximize military potential — many able-bodied men and their families were settled in these four themes and given land for farming. In return for land, these men were to provide the Empire with loyal soldiers, and so began the Thematic armies of the Byzantine Empire that would prove to be reliable, though not unbeatable fighting force for centuries to come. Nonetheless, a native, well-trained army loyal to the state would serve the Empire far more than ill-disciplined mercenaries, whose loyalty to coin could be manipulated and turned against the state itself, as had been exemplified during the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.


text: Heraclius' inability to rule the Empire as his death neared did Byzantium no favors. After Heraclius' death in February 641, the former Empress Martina declared herself, her son, Heraclonas, and her stepson, Constantine III Heraclius, co-emperors. However, the citizens of Constantinople refused to accept this. And so, when Constantine III died sometime in May 641 (considered by the majority of the Byzantines to have been done by Martina's hand), Heraclonas and his mother were deposed the following summer. Heraclonas' nose was slit and Martina's tongue was wrenched out. These acts ensured that Heraclonas could never become "Basileus" (Emperor) – the physical deformation would have made it impossible. However, as suspects of committing regicide, their exile to the island of Rhodes was a light punishment.


text: With Constantine dead, the populace of Constantinople turned to his 11-year-old son (also known as Heraclius), who was crowned emperor and changed his name to Constantine. However, he later became known by the nickname "Constans", thus becoming Constans II.


text: Constans II had inherited from his grandfather Heraclius the war with the Arabs, who were bent on conquering the Byzantine Empire and spreading the word of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Upon his ascension, there was little time to implement a defence for Egypt — and when the province fell in 642, Constans II could hardly be blamed.


text: The loss of Egypt and the Levant was catastrophic — along with the manpower from these regions, the substantial supply of food from Egypt was now but a thing of the past. Food shortages were now added to an increasing list of problems that the Emperor was facing. And to make matters worse for the Byzantines, the Arab armies gave no respite — by 647 the Exarchate of Carthage had been decisively defeated — another costly defeat as Africa was the Empire's main source of grain, aside from already lost Egypt. The list of defeats would continue to grow, as in 644, the Arabs began building a sizable fleet to take on the centuries of Greco-Roman naval dominance. In 657, the Arab fleet was sent to raid the Byzantine island of Cyprus — the island was barely defended, and the Arabs sacked the chief city of Constantia, destroyed its harbor installations, and ravaged the countryside. In 654, the Muslim fleet continued unopposed to the island of Rhodes. After the island fell, Constans II suffered another humiliating defeat at the Battle of the Masts, when he sent his fleet to engage the Arabs off Lycia. During the engagement, Constans II, fearing the possibility of being captured, exchanged clothing with another man so that he could escape without being identified. Though never captured, the experience was rather embarrassing for the so-called "King of Kings".


text: By this point, the Arabs appeared to the Romans as invincible, and thus, could only hinder themselves. Fortunately for Byzantium, the Arabs began to do just that. The Caliph Uthman ibn Affan was assassinated in Medina. As a result, Ali, the Islamic Prophet Muhammed's son-in law was elected as his successor. However, Muawiya, the governor of Syria who led the Arab fleet against Byzantium, was proclaimed Caliph in Syria, as well. Only when Ali was assassinated in 661 did the civil strife end, much to Byzantium's disappointment.


text: Clearly, Byzantium stood no chance whatsoever of defending herself against her opponents when bishops tore the Empire over theological debates. Constans II saw this and it seems that he had enough of it. In 648, Constans still only 18 years of age, declared an edict that no one would raise the monethelism/chalcedon controversy under the pain of banishment, following an excommunication by the Pope Theodore I to the Patriarch of Constantinople Pyrrhus. When Theodore's successor, Martin I once again added fuel to the fire by summoning a council in condemnation of Monethelitism in October 648, he was arrested, brought to the capital and badly mistreated as a common criminal. In prison it is said that his mistreatment was "such that blood was on the floor." Finally, after being accused of treason and regicide he was banished to the Crimea. Such was the frustration of the Emperor.


text: Constans II decided to turn his attention to the West in the hope of achieving better luck. Whilst the Saracens were establishing themselves in former Byzantine territory, the Avars and Bulgars still remained along the Danube river, as did the Slavs, whose annual payment to the Empire was falling short. Constans II then decided to move his capital to Syracuse in Sicily in 662. Some say that this was to escape horrible visions of his brother whom he had murdered 2 years past. His stay in Italy and Sicily can only be imagined as unpleasant for the locals. Everything of any value in Rome was requisitioned by the Byzantine army — even copper from the rooftops. It was to many people's relief that Constans II was murdered while bathing by his Greek servant on 15 July 668.


text: Constans II left the Empire in a worse state than he had found it. The Byzantine-Arab wars became increasingly one-sided and the immense resources of the Caliphate meant that any reconquest was now remotely unlikely — and more so whilst disunity through dissatisfied peasants and restless Bishops lingered on.