title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Easter in Valladolid holds ("Semana Santa" in Spanish) is one of the best known Catholic traditions in Valladolid. As a reflection of its importance, is also considered as a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest of Spain since 1981. The Good Friday processions are considered an exquisite and rich display of Castilian religious sculpture. On this day, in the morning, members of the brotherhoods on horseback make a poetic proclamation throughout the city. The "Sermon of the Seven Words" is spoken in Plaza Mayor Square. In the afternoon, thousands of people take part in the Passion Procession, comprising 31 pasos (religious statues), most of which date from the 16th and 17th centuries, by artists like Juan de Juni or Gregorio Fernández. The last statue in the procession is the Virgen de las Angustias, and her return to the church is one of the most emotional moments of the celebrations, with the Salve Popular sung in her honour.ye


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Easter is one of the most spectacular and emotional fiestas in Valladolid. Religious devotion, art, colour and music combine in acts to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ: the processions. Members of the different Easter brotherhoods, dressed in their characteristic robes, parade through the streets carrying religious statues (pasos) to the sound of drums and music.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The National Sculpture Museum of the city gives a total of 104 images (distributed in the corresponding pasos) to the processions, such as fact museum unique in Spain.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Zamora has the oldest celebrations in Spain. The earliest penance processions can be traced back to 1179.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Holy Week in Zamora is celebrated by 16 sisterhoods and fraternities that perform 17 penance processions on the streets of the old city. Thousands of penitents walk the streets while the processions are attended by a crowd of locals and visitors. Zamora increases its population 5 times, up to 300.000 people during the festival.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The singularities of this celebration include the medieval set up of some of the parades where the brotherhoods use monk´s robes instead of the most usual nazareno´s conical hat, torch fire instead of candles or male choirs instead of marching bands.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The processions in Cartagena do not closely resemble others in Spain due to their strict order and unique characteristics.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Every brotherhood is divided into smaller groups (""agrupaciones""), each in charge of one of the floats in the procession. The members of the group are all clad in the same colours and wear a robe, a sash around the waist, a cloak, a high pointed hood to cover their heads and faces, and sandals.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Each float is preceded at the front by a richly embroidered standard (""estandarte""), carried by three members of the group and followed by two symmetrical lines of members, who march and stop in unison to the beat of drums. When they stop, they all remain absolutely still and in total silence. Their military-like discipline may have earned their nickname of ""tercio"", a word which broadly means "regiment".


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: At the rear of the ""tercio"" come a music band and the drummers, and then the "trono" made of artistically carved gilded or painted wood. Some of these floats move on wheels whereas others are carried on the shoulders of hundreds of ""portapasos"" (or float-carriers), who also march to the rhythmic beat of the drums.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: On the top of the float you can see the processional images, polychrome wooden sculptures which are displayed either separately or in groups. The images include works by classic artists such as Francisco Salzillo, José Capuz, Juan González Moreno, Mariano Benlliure, or Federico Coullaut-Valera as well as others by contemporary sculptors. Unlike in other cities, in Cartagena the order of the floats in the procession follows the chronological order of the events narrated in the Gospels.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The images are surrounded by ""cartelas"", a kind of electric candelabra or sometimes a sort of upside-down chandeliers, fixed to the float and decorated with colourful and intricate floral arrangements.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Also unique in Cartagena are the infantry companies (""piquetes"") at the rear of the main processions, escorting the float of St. Mary which, under popular Marian advocations such as Our Lady of Sorrows or Our Lady of Solitude, usually closes the procession.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: It must have been this uniqueness which awarded the Holy Week of Cartagena the rank of International Tourist Interest Festival in 2005.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Given its role as the historical home of the Spanish Navy, every year on Holy Tuesday the Spanish Navy Marines send a delegation to the procession on that day.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The Noche de los Tambores is celebrated on Tuesday during Holy Week celebrations in Mula, when at midnight thousands of people play the drums when the bell rings, preceded by a trumpet song. Declared as a National Touristic Interest, it is a tradition born after the banning of playing drums and other instruments during Holy Week celebrations out of the "procession" hours, by the Catholic local authorities in the 19th century. Drummers, known as "Tamboristas", continue playing on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Holy Week in Lorca is one of the most important demonstrations of celebration of Holy Week in Spain. Regardless of the existence of religious processions in the traditional way, are the Bible Parades Passionate dotting the Easter lorquina of a unique and different, with representations of the Old Testament or the Christian symbolism or with the participation of horses and chariots and floats of enormous dimensions. The embroidered silk are also a prominent feature of Lorca processions, marked by an extraordinary rivalry between two of its fraternities or steps, the Blue and White.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The most important step is the Royal and Illustrious Confraternity of Our Lady of the Rosary (White Pass) is traditionally considered going back to the 15th century, although the oldest documents referring to the same date of 1599. Its owner is the virgin of bitterness known as the beautiful, which is carried on Good Friday in a golden throne carried by over 130 people. The White Pass has over 1,500 embroideries in silk and gold. The other step is Brotherhood of Farmers Lorca (blue pass). Holder is Our Lady of Sorrows, and also embroidered in silk and gold.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Ferrol's Holy Week is one of the two main celebrations of this type in Galicia. It is a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest since 2014 and Fiesta of National Tourist Interest of Spain before that, since 1995.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Since Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday 25 processions go over the three oldest neighborhoods of the town organized by 5 different "cofradías." This processions are composed by "tronos" which carry statues of Christ, the Virgin Mary and other saints on them. These tronos are richly adorned with golden and silver, and decorated with numerous flowers. These statues are accompanied by devotees wearing habits and capirotes and carrying candles. These people are commonly called "capuchones." Moreover, the processions are also accompanied by music played by brass bands.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: During the celebrations of Ferrol's Holy Week, the town receives thousands of tourists and the environment is warm and friendly. Furthermore, a lot of complementary activities are programmed during all the week.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Holy Week in Viveiro is one of the best known religious events within Galicia. As a reflection of its importance, is also considered as a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest of Spain since 1988.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: This week features the procession of "pasos", floats of lifelike wooden sculptures of individual scenes of the events of the Passion, or images of the Virgin Mary showing restrained grief for the torture and killing of her son. Some of the sculptures are of great antiquity and are considered artistic masterpieces, as well as being culturally and spiritually important to the local Catholic population.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: During Holy Week, the city is crowded with residents and visitors, drawn by the spectacle and atmosphere. The impact is particularly strong for the Catholic community. The processions are organised by "hermandades" and "cofradías", religious brotherhoods. During the processions, members precede the "pasos", dressed in penitential robes. They may also be accompanied by brass bands.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The processions work along a designated route from their home churches and chapels, usually via a central viewing area and back. As of 2011, a total of 15 processions are scheduled for the week, from the previous Friday to Palm Sunday through to Easter Sunday morning.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Holy Week in San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife), is the largest of the Canary Islands. Holy Week has steps of great historical and artistic value, such as the "Cristo de La Laguna", accompanied by their guilds, some of them centuries old and which adopted the use of the hood in the nineteenth century, ride on the wheeled carts streets of the city.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: It is one of the most important religious events in the city of northern Tenerife. A chain of fervors and evocations that collect in a mystical and self-absorbed way the celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, a tradition that is part of the local religiosity and culture. Two days stand out in Holy Week in La Orotava: Holy Thursday with the Procession of the Mandate, and Good Friday, with the Procession of the Encounter.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: The origin of Holy Week in the city and municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife dates back to the conquest of the island of Tenerife in the fifteenth century. Due to being a relatively large municipality, we can find many and varied celebrations both in the city center and in the outlying neighborhoods. The procession of Holy Tuesday of the "Señor de las Tribulaciones" and that of Holy Thursday of ""La Macarena"" stand out.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Holy Week is commemorated each year in Santa Cruz de La Palma. It is one of the oldest festivities in the island of La Palma, and is the most significant public religious event that takes place in the city, except for the Lustral Festivity of the "Bajada de la Virgen". In 2014 it was declared a Fiesta of Tourist Interest in the Canary Islands.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria's Holy Week it is the most important Holy Week on the island of Gran Canaria. Here the processions of Good Friday stand out, such as the Magna Procession and the Procession of the Our Lady of Solitude.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Holy Week is not only a religious, cultural and social event but a touristic one. Many visitors from inside and outside Spain travel to attend the crowded parades. The most popular destinations holds titles and declarations of International Interest for tourist of Spain and are promoted in major International Fairs, TV, press and so on. Every year, many hand guides are released, including timetables, routes and pasos of every procession so visitors can easily follow the celebrations.


title: Holy Week in Spain

text: Many Spanish artists have included, recreated or used the Holy Week as a background in their creations, such as paintings, music, literature or movies, reflecting the cultural and social importance of these events. Painter Zuloaga, writers Antonio Machado and Federico García Lorca, composer Joaquin Turina and filmmaker Mateo Gil are some examples.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Irish migration to Great Britain has occurred from the earliest recorded history to the present. There has been a continuous movement of people between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain due to their proximity. This tide has ebbed and flowed in response to politics, economics and social conditions of both places.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Today, millions of residents of Great Britain are either from Ireland or are entitled to an Irish passport due to having a parent or grandparent who was born in Ireland. The modern era of Irish migration has also seen non-indigenous Asian Irish and black Irish people move to Britain. It is estimated that as many as six million people living in the UK have at least one Irish grandparent (around 10% of the UK population).


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The Irish diaspora () refers to Irish people and their descendants who live outside Ireland. This article refers to those who reside in Great Britain, the largest island and principal territory of the United Kingdom.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The Déisi recorded as having founded the Gwynedd (Anglesea) and Dyfed (Pembrokeshire) colonies, with contemporary Ogham inscriptions identifying the genealogies of the colonists, and later echoed in the 8th century, Old Irish work, The Expulsion of the Déisi.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Similarly the 'traditional' view is that Gaelic language and culture was brought to Scotland, probably in the 4th century, by settlers from Ireland, who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast. This is based mostly on medieval writings from the 9th and 10th centuries. However, recently some archeologists have argued against this view, saying that there is no archeological or placename evidence for a migration or a takeover by a small group of elites. Due to the growth of Dál Riata, in both size and influence, Scotland became almost wholly Gaelic-speaking. However, in the Lowlands – which had been the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, the Northumbrian language remained dominant, and formed the basis of the Scots language. While Scots gradually became more and more widespread, Gaelic remained the dominant language of the Highlands into the 19th century.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Before and during the Gregorian mission of 596 AD, Irish Christians such as Columba (521–97), Buriana, Diuma, Ceollach, Saint Machar, Saint Cathan, Saint Blane, Jaruman, Wyllow, Kessog, St Govan, Donnán of Eigg, Foillan and Saint Fursey began the conversion of the English and Pictish peoples. Modwenna and others were significant in the following century.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Some English monarchs, such as Oswiu of Northumbria (c. 612 – 15 February 670), Aldfrith (died 704 or 705) and Harold Godwinson (died 1066) were either raised in or sought refuge in Ireland, as did Welsh rulers such as Gruffudd ap Cynan. Alfred the Great may have spent some of his childhood in Ireland.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In the year 902 Norsemen who had been forced out of Ireland were given permission by the English to settle in Wirral, in the north west of England. An Irish historical record known as "The Three Fragments" refers to a distinct group of settlers living among these Vikings as "Irishmen". Further evidence of this Irish migration to Wirral comes from the name of the village of Irby in Wirral, which means "settlement of the Irish", and St Bridget's church, which is known to have been founded by "Vikings from Ireland".


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The island of Ireland was itself claimed as an Ecclesiastical fief, via the forged, mid 8th century, Donation of Constantine, with the feudal Lordship of Ireland later leased to Henri Curtmantle de Le Mans and his heirs, by Pope Alexander III's, 1171 grant, resulting in the presence and settlement of Irish traders and seamen in English and Welsh ports, as well as the establishment of The Pale, on the island, the Irish settlers being subject to a poll tax, from 1440; in 1542, Henry VIII, following his excommunication, would have the Irish Parliament create the Kingdom, with himself elected as King, and subsequently through offering English titles, and ecclesiastical lands, in a surrender and regrant process, would offer Irish clan chiefs, property and political power, in England, as well as Ireland. In 1555, Pope Paul IV, would confirm the existence of the Irish Kingdom, and that it was to be held in personal union with the Kingdom of England, via a Papal bull. A personal Union that would later include the Kingdom of Scotland, and between 1707 and 1800, the politically united Kingdom of Great Britain. The Irish Parliament and Kingdom would be politically united with Great Britain as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, between 1801 and 1922, through the Acts of Union 1800. Today, Ireland is divided between the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, a constituent of the United Kingdom.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Irish people who made Britain their home in the later medieval era included Aoife MacMurrough, Princess of Leinster (1145–88), the poet Muireadhach Albanach (fl. 1213), the lawyer William of Drogheada (died 1245), Máel Muire Ó Lachtáin (died 1249), Malachias Hibernicus (fl. 1279–1300), Gilbert Ó Tigernaig (died 1323), Diarmait MacCairbre (executed 1490) and Germyn Lynch (fl. 1441–1483), all of whom made successful lives in the various kingdoms of Britain.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Historically, Irish immigrants to the United Kingdom in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were considered over-represented amongst those appearing in court. However, research suggests that policing strategy may have put immigrants at a disadvantage by targeting only the most public forms of crime, while locals were more likely able to engage in the types of crimes that could be conducted behind locked doors. An analysis of historical courtroom records suggests that despite higher rates of arrest, immigrants were not systematically disadvantaged by the British court system in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Some notable people born in Ireland who settled in Great Britain between the 16th and 19th centuries:


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The most significant exodus followed the worst of a series of potato crop failures in the 1840s – the Great Irish Famine. It is estimated that more than one million people died and almost the same again emigrated. A further wave of emigration to England also took place between the 1930s, and 1960s by Irish escaping poor economic conditions following the establishment of the Irish Free State. This was furthered by the severe labour shortage in Britain during the mid-20th century, which depended largely on Irish immigrants to work in the areas of construction and domestic labour. The extent of the Irish contribution to Britain's construction industry in the 20th century may be gauged from Sir William MacAlpine's 1998 assertion that the contribution of the Irish to the success of his industry had been 'immeasurable'. This statement by a member of the British upper class illustrates how Irish migrant labour was regularly employed to discipline and weaken organised English labour unions at the same time as disparaging the contribution of the latter to the development of their own nation. Of this process the German-born philosopher Karl Marx wrote in 1870:


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: "Ireland constantly sends her own surplus to the English labour market, and thus forces down wages and lowers the material and moral position of the English working class... This antagonism is the secret of the impotence of the English working class, despite its organisation. It is the secret by which the capitalist class maintains its power. And the latter is quite aware of this."


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Ireland's population fell from more than 8 million to just 6.5 million between 1841 and 1851. A century later it had dropped to 4.3 million. By the late 19th century, emigration was heaviest from Ireland's most rural southern and western counties. Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Tipperary and Limerick alone provided nearly half of Ireland's emigrants. Some of this movement was temporary, made up of seasonal harvest labourers working in Britain and returning home for winter and spring.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: By the mid-1930s, Great Britain was the choice of many who had to leave Ireland. Britain's wartime economy (1939–45) and post-war boom attracted many Irish people to expanding cities and towns such as London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Luton. Prior to the 2000s financial crisis, ongoing sectarian violence and its economic aftermath was another major factor for immigration.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: According to the UK 2001 Census, white Irish-born residents make up 1.2% of those living in England and Wales. In 1997, the Irish Government in its "White Paper on Foreign Policy" claimed that there were around two million Irish citizens living in Britain. The 2001 Census also showed that Irish people are more likely to be employed in managerial or professional occupations than those classed as "White British".


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: As a result of the Irish financial crisis, emigration from Ireland rose significantly. Data published in June 2011 showed that Irish emigration to Britain had risen by 25 per cent to 13,920 in 2010.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Some notable people born in Ireland who settled in Great Britain between the 20th and 21st centuries include:


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: BBC broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan moved to Buckinghamshire, England in 1969, acquiring British citizenship and a knighthood in 2005, and remained resident in the UK until his death in 2016. Comedians Ed Byrne and Dara Ó Briain have relocated to Britain from Ireland, and regularly feature on British television.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Since the 1970s some UK organisations, sections of media, and government departments have defined Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) in anti-racist efforts and general demography. There are several notable Irish migrants to Great Britain who are people of colour, or who might otherwise be considered part of BAME communities. This includes emigrants from Ireland from the black Irish community, as well as Asian Irish people.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Irish musician and singer Phil Lynott settled in Surrey, England after the commercial success of his Dublin-formed band Thin Lizzy. Lynott, who died in 1986, was mixed raced and had British Guianan ancestry. Irish actor Christopher Simpson was moved to London, England as child in 1981. Simpson is of Irish and Rwandan descent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Irish footballer Darren Randolph, who has spoken of his experiences growing up black in Ireland, moved to Britain permanently after joining London team Charlton Athletic F.C. in 2003, and has since remained in English football. Model and actress Layla Flaherty relocated to Liverpool, England in 2006. Flaherty, who has Irish and African American heritage, has appeared in UK-based E4 productions, such as "Desperate Scousewives". Also relocating to England in 2006, Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga has appeared in films, as well as RTÉ and BBC series. In 2018, Negga, who has been Academy Award-nominated, was featured in the Evening Standard's "Progress 1000" list, which claims to chart the careers of London's most influential people. Irish presenter Liz Bonnin has also relocated to London. Bonnin, who has Indian, Portuguese, and French-Martiniquan heritage moved to Britain after establishing a science-based broadcasting career with the BBC since 2009.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In 2020, Irish women's football player Rianna Jarrett relocated to Brighton, England. Jarrett, whose father is Jamaican, made the move to Britain after joining Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Notable Irish footballers, who were born or raised in Ireland, began moving as young adults to teams based in Great Britain since the post- World War II period. As the sport became more commercially successful, wealthy English clubs in particular pursued Irish talent, which was often seen as detrimental to the game's development in Ireland.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Moving from Northern Ireland between 1949 and 1963, players such as Danny Blanchflower, Jimmy McIlroy, Billy Bingham, Terry Neill, George Best, Pat Jennings and later, migrating between 1971 and 1981; Sammy McIlroy, Mal Donaghy, Norman Whiteside, David McCreery, Nigel Worthington, Jimmy Nicholl and Martin O'Neill won titles as players, or managers, in England and Scotland's top competitions.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Moving to Britain from the Republic of Ireland during the 1950s and 60s, Tony Dunne, Noel Cantwell, Johnny Giles, and later, in the 1970s and 80s, Liam Brady, Packie Bonner, Ronnie Whelan, Frank Stapleton,David O'Leary and Steve Staunton all won major honours in the Scottish or English top-flights.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, players also from the Republic, such as John O'Shea, Stephen Carr, Steve Finnan, Denis Irwin, Niall Quinn, Roy Keane, Shay Given, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff, moved to enjoy decades-long careers in English and Scottish football, each winning at least one top-flight competition. In the same era, players who moved from Northern Ireland to Britain, winning competitions in the Scottish and English top-tiers, included Steven Davis, David Healy, Jonny Evans, Keith Gillespie, Roy Carroll, Gerry Taggart, Kyle Lafferty and Neil Lennon.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Prior to the 19th century, much of Irish migration of the modern period had been large-scale movement of temporary labourers to Britain. These seasonal workers or labourers, known as Spalpeens and Tatie Hookers, were often based on extended family ties, and would involve up to half a year working on farms or in agricultural industry. Up until as late as the 1970s, earnings from this type of employment helped sustain communities in Western Ireland.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The Great Famine in 1845 triggered a mass exodus from Ireland, with significant numbers of Irish migrants fleeing to Britain to escape severe poverty and starvation.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In 2001, there were 674,786 people in England (1.4 per cent of the population) who had been born in Ireland. This is the greatest concentration of Irish-born—as distinct from persons of Irish ancestry—abroad anywhere in the world and was equivalent to 12.1% of the population of the island of Ireland (5.6 million) in 2001.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: During the Great Famine of the 19th century, Barrow-in-Furness was seen as a desirable location that many Irish (along with Scottish and Cornish) fled to. This was in part due to ease of access to reach the town's port from Ireland (particularly from Ulster), and secondly because it was a booming town as a result of the Industrial Revolution with guaranteed work, particularly in the emerging steelworks and shipbuilding industries in the town. At its peak, it was estimated that somewhere between 7-11% of Barrow's population were Irish or Scottish. As a result of this, to this day a huge number of Barrow's population are of Irish descent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Birmingham has a large Irish community, dating back to the Industrial Revolution, it is estimated that Birmingham has the largest Irish population per capita in Britain. Digbeth is the traditional Irish area in Birmingham. During the 1950s Sparkhill, Sparkbrook, Aston, and Nechells were the main Irish areas. Today many Irish people live in areas such as Hall Green and Erdington. Birmingham has the UK's largest St Patricks Day's Parade (and the world's third biggest) and Britain's only 'Irish Quarter', with many traditional Irish pubs and the Birmingham Irish centre. Irish people have always moved to Birmingham for work especially for the construction, factory and industrial work which the city had to offer. Many Irish people moved to Birmingham to build canals, roads and railways in the city's industrial past. It is estimated a significant percentage of people from Birmingham have Irish ancestry. St Chad's Cathedral is one of only two of the minor Basilicas in the UK. It is very important as the first Catholic church built in Britain after the English Reformation, and was designed by the architect Augustus Pugin.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Community relations for the Irish in Birmingham were complicated by the pub bombings of November 1974. At inquests into the deaths of the 21 victims, "Witness O" named the men responsible as Seamus McLoughlin, Mick Murray, Michael Hayes and James Gavin. He said he had been given permission to reveal the names by the current head of the IRA in Dublin. There were very limited physical attacks on Irish people in the aftermath of the bombings. In November 2018, Birmingham's Irish Association revealed a memorial to those killed outside Birmingham New Street Station.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: A large number settled here in the 1950s as work was scarce at home, especially in the South. Many found work in the mills and factories and encouraged other family members to come over as there were jobs waiting for them.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Bradford largely expanded into the city it is today during the 19th century, due to jobs in the newly built textile mills attracting many immigrants in dire need of work. The population increase, in fact, saw Bradford go from a small town of 6000 in 1801, to 103,000 by 1851 according to records taken. Many of these newly arriving people were Irish escaping the Great Famine, and could easily take advantage of all the work Bradford had on offer due to the ease to reach there from Ireland. J B Hammond once commented on this, saying of the distance from Ireland to Yorkshire, "It was easier to reach Yorkshire from Ireland than from Norfolk or Dorset... Labourers who were sent to Lancashire were taken to London, put on a boat of Pickfords...carried to Manchester in four or five days at a cost of fourteen shillings. But an Irishman could cross to Liverpool in fourteen hours for two shillings and sixpence". In 1851, records showed that Bradford had the highest proportion of Irish-born people in Yorkshire at the time. In Donald M. MacRaid's book "Irish Migration in Modern Britain", he comments on research showing that a large number of Bradford's Irish originally came from County Mayo, County Sligo, County Dublin, and County Laois, with records also suggesting that there was a common migration trail at the time from County Roscommon to Bradford. Many of the Irish from Mayo and Sligo originated from a rural background, and at first struggled to adapt to urban life in Bradford. To this day, many residents of Bradford and the surrounding area are of Irish descent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: There was an Irish Diaspora Research Unit at the University of Bradford in the early 21st Century under Dr. Patrick O'Sullivan, but the Unit did not continue after he moved to New York University.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In the 1950s many thousands of Irish migrated to Braintree in Essex to meet the demands of the labour shortage primarily in the Courtauld's textile mills, both in Braintree and nearby Halstead. They also helped meet the need for labour both in Critall's main Braintree factory.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Coventry had a large influx of Irish from around the middle of the 20th century, when the city's motor industry was booming. To this day, Coventry remains one of the cities in the UK with a higher Irish population, and retains strong Irish links. The city council put the town's Irish population at 2.3% in 2009, higher than the UK national average of 1%, and additionally the Coventry Irish Society estimated that around 10% of the city's population are of Irish descent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: During the 19th century, many of the towns in County Durham (the county Gateshead historically belonged to), which before that point had mostly been a rural county, began to take advantage of emerging new technology and discovered resources in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. This not only changed the face of the county, urbanizing much of it, but also led to expansion on a massive scale. People from all over the United Kingdom, ranging from the south of England to Ireland, moved to the area to take advantage of the large amount of work that these industries brought in roles such as coal mining and shipbuilding. As in many other instances around this time, it was the Great Famine which caused many from Ireland in particular to be drawn to jobs in the County Durham area, and make the move. A further advantage was that the county was quite straightforward to reach from Ireland, due to easy access by rail to there from the western port of Whitehaven, itself easily accessible by ferry from Ireland itself (in particular, Ulster). Gateshead in particular was one of the towns that changed most significantly due to the events of Industrial Revolution, but moreover took in one of the largest numbers of Irish of all the County Durham towns. In 1871, the town was recorded as having the densest number of Irish-born in County Durham, at 6.7%, and a year later it was recorded that 1 in 4 people in the town were Irish. The town also went through a huge population increase, rising by approximately 100,000 people over the course of the 19th century which the Irish undeniably contributed to. To this day, many people in the town are of Irish descent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Similarly to Bradford, Halifax was a desirable location for Irish escaping the Great Famine due to ease of access to reach, and the fact that its growth into an industrial boomtown over the 19th century coincided with the time of the famine. Many of the jobs on offer in Halifax were in newly opened cotton spinning mills, opened as a result of taking advantage of technological innovation in the then emerging textile industry. There were said to be as many as 24 mills in the town by 1850. The Irish contributed to its population growth from around 9,000 in 1800, to 25,000 by the middle of the century. In 1872, records showed that the Irish numbered "from a sixth to an eighth of the population" in Halifax, with it also being noted that "the political strength of the Irish people in Halifax is considerable". Irish heritage still lives on in Halifax through the likes of the town's football team, "Halifax Irish F.C."


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: As Heywood developed into a mill town during the Industrial Revolution, this brought a large number of new residents to the town, including many Irish escaping the Great Famine. Additionally, many Irish migrants took up jobs in the area working as 'navvies' on the local railway, a fact that still lives on in the town's legacy as some say that these navvies may have been the influence behind Heywood's nickname, 'Monkey Town'.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Also situated in County Durham, the story behind why many Irish moved to Jarrow is similar to that of Gateshead. Shipbuilding, in particular, drew many of them to Jarrow. The town to this day is still sometimes nicknamed 'Little Ireland', and has a large Catholic community, as a result of the sheer number of Irish who moved there.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: During the Industrial Revolution, Keighley flourished in the textile and weaving industries, which encouraged many Irish fleeing the Great Famine and looking for work to move there. This resulted in a significant Irish community, and to this day the town still has a large number of inhabitants of Irish descent. The Irish redefined aspects of Keighley as a town significantly. It was once commented that the (then fairly new) Irish community in Keighley "contributed more to the Home-Rule than [in] either of the populous towns of Glasgow or Liverpool". The influence of the Irish also led to there being a large Catholic community in Keighley, which has lived on in both Catholic churches and schools that exist in the town today.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: There is an Irish community in Leeds, although it is generally smaller than in other large cities in Britain. The Leeds Irish Centre is on York Road on the east side of the city. The nearby area of East End Park is the area most associated with Leeds's Irish community. In the years after the Famine, 3.3% of Leeds's population was Irish-born. There was a particular concentration of migrants from the Irish county of Mayo. A book on the subject of migration from Ireland to Leeds in the 20th century was published in 2010: "Taking The Boat: The Irish in Leeds, 1931-81"


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Liverpool is widely known for having the strongest Irish heritage of any UK city - perhaps alongside Glasgow. This originates from the city's port being close to Ireland, which made it easy to reach for all those escaping the Great Famine between 1845 and 1849. More than 20% of Liverpool's population was Irish by 1851. Up to 2 million Irish people travelled to Liverpool within 10 years during this time, though many subsequently departed for the United States.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: It is also twinned with Dublin. All four of Liverpool's most famous natives, the Beatles, had Irish ancestry: John Lennon's great-grandparents were Irish immigrants from County Down, Paul McCartney had an Irish grandfather and great-grandfather, George Harrison was of Irish descent through his mother, and Ringo Starr's ancestors came from County Mayo.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Liverpool's Irish heritage is further highlighted by it being the only English city to have a significant Orange Order membership, as well as having a large Irish Catholic majority and being the most Catholic city in the UK. It remains the only UK city to elect—and continuously re-elect—an Irish nationalist politician (T. P. O'Connor) and hosts one of the UK's largest St Patrick's Day parades. The city has been at odds with right-wing politicians since the 1970s, with a city council that was previously dominated by the right-wing Conservative Party becoming more left-wing, a relationship that was exacerbated further during the days of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose Conservative government planned to starve the area of resources. It has also been regarded as a notably European city, and often identifies more with Ireland and the European Union than the UK; this intensified in the 1980s during the UK media's mishandling of the Hillsborough disaster, which saw lies being spread about dead Liverpudlians by tabloids such as "The Sun", and it is not uncommon to hear a Liverpudlian refer to themselves as "Scouse, not English". Pro-EU sentiment increased again in 2008, when the EU designated Liverpool as a "Capital of Culture" and helped it to regenerate by pouring over €1 billion into the economy while the Conservative UK government continued to cut its funding. The Irish have also come to be a staple of Liverpool's surrounding areas; places such as Birkenhead, Bootle, Crosby, Halewood, Huyton, Kirkby, Litherland, Runcorn, St Helens and Wallasey have many ethnically Irish residents and have also inherited the Liverpool accent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Between Liverpool FC and Everton FC, the city's two biggest football teams, Everton FC is often cited as the more Irish of the two; some Liverpool FC fans have rejected this view.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The term 'London Irish' relates to people born in London of Irish descent. London has Great Britain's biggest Irish population and there was a particularly big community in the (affectionately known) 'County Kilburn' area of northwest London. With urban gentrification and higher housing costs, many of London's working-class Irish-Catholic community have moved further out from Kilburn to Cricklewood.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Another large Irish community was in the Archway area, where many Irish "navvies" came to work in building railways and roads from the 1830s onwards. The community grew larger throughout the Famine years and then again after the Second World War when the Whittington Hospital in Archway recruited nurses from Ireland. This area became associated with Irish political activism with the election of Michael O'Halloran as MP for Islington North in 1969. O'Halloran referred to his supporters as "the Irish mafia". In 2017, a new public space outside Archway underground station was named "Navigator Square" after the Irish "navvies".


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The Camden Town area of London, as well as Shepherd's Bush, were also known for their large Irish communities. The Irish Cultural Centre is located in Hammersmith, West London. Greenford in the London Borough of Ealing is home to a large Irish community and contains Tir Chonaill Park, home to the Tír Chonaill Gaels Gaelic Football club.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Manchester has strong and long established Irish connections. The earliest large influx of migrants arrived sometime around 1798 according to Peter Ewart, a Manchester cotton manufacturer It has been estimated that around 35% of Manchester's current population has Irish ancestry, although no reliable data exists to evidence this. In November 2012 whilst addressing an audience at the University of Manchester, Michael D. Higgins suggested "the Irish connection in Manchester is no less evident than in Liverpool. And where Liverpool was a gateway for so many Irish people, Manchester tended to be for many the end of the journey, a home".


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: When Manchester's population grew in the early 1800s due to it becoming the World's first industrial city the Irish born in Manchester were said to represent over 15% of the population. The Irish were said to have lived in terrible conditions and were described by Friedrich Engels in his 1845 book The Conditions of the Working Class in England. Areas concentrated with high levels of Irish were known as Little Ireland around Oxford Road and later Ancoats and Hulme. Manchester was a breeding ground for Irish Republicanism, supporters known as Fenians, and when three Irish men were hanged accused of murder they became figureheads for Irish nationalism in Britain, Ireland and America and were known as the Manchester Martyrs. The reports of these terrible conditions sparked pioneering social changes in Manchester in the 1840s with the city often at the forefront of social reform in Britain.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Manchester was targeted by the IRA in the 1996 Manchester bombing in what was described as the biggest bomb on British soil since World War 2. Manchester was targeted in part because security in London was so rigid due to parades in London for the Queen's Trooping of the Colour. However it was telling that the terrorists warned of the exact location beforehand to save human lives in a city with a rich history of Irish migration, balancing a fine line of shocking Britain and alienating supporters back home. On 20 June 1996, the IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, and stated that it "sincerely regretted" causing injury to civilians. This stood in sharp contrast to their earlier 1993 bombing of nearby Warrington which killed two English children aged 3 and 12.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The city's residents of Irish heritage have been influential in the music industry. All four members of the Smiths had Irish roots, as do the Gallagher brothers of the band Oasis. Gary Mounfield (Mani), bass player of the Stone Roses had an Irish mother. Manchester holds an annual Irish Festival each March, including one of the UK's largest St Patrick's Day parades. Cheetham is home to the Irish World Heritage Centre.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Due to its connections with the local Irish Catholic population Manchester United was almost named Manchester Celtic in 1902 and is the most supported football club in Ireland.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Middlesbrough during the latter half of the 19th century had the second highest percentage of Irish born migrants in England after Liverpool. In terms of the overall population, 15.6% of Middlesbrough's inhabitants were Irish born in 1861 and 1 in 5 adults (9.2%) were Irish born in the 1871 census. During the late 19th century, Middlesbrough became a world leader in the Steel and Iron industry and with the rapid growth of the town, the expanse of newly opened blast furnaces attracted many workers and their families to the Middlesbrough area. Unlike many other towns in England at the time, Middlesbrough showed no signs of sectarianism or segregation within the various communities that lived alongside each other, there were no "Irish quarters" and the many Irish that settled in Middlesbrough integrated into their adopted home. This was most likely as a result of the town's infancy, it was essentially a migrant town. Although the number of Irish born currently residing in Middlesbrough may not be as substantial as it once was, Middlesbrough retains a strong Irish connection and heritage through the ancestry of many residents.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Sunderland was another place in County Durham that many Irish escaping the famine saw as desirable. Once dubbed "the largest shipbuilding town in the world", the city largely expanded into what it is today as a result of the number of people this work, and the demand for manual labour in other local jobs such as coal mining and chemical works, encouraged to move there. The Irish were one of the most significant groups who took advantage of the demand for labour and moved there, and consequently many people in Sunderland today have Irish heritage.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Peter O'Toole's father was a labourer in Sunderland for many years, which is why Peter O'Toole supported Sunderland A.F.C.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Due to its port and close proximity to Ireland, similarly to Liverpool, Whitehaven was an easy way of accessing England for the Irish, especially when escaping the Great Famine of the 19th century. Thousands passed through the town to move on to work for themselves elsewhere in England, such as the aforementioned County Durham, however many also stayed in the area and many people in the town still have Irish heritage today.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Widnes became a boom town during the Industrial Revolution, having a successful chemical industry brought on by a factory opened in the town in 1847, which led to many Irish workers (among others from Wales, Poland and Lithuania) moving there for work. Further making Widnes advantageous for the Irish to move to was its close proximity to Liverpool. Since then, a large number of overspill from the neighbouring city of Liverpool have brought many more people of Irish descent to Widnes too, particularly in areas at the west end of the town such as Ditton and Hough Green, where overspill are still moved.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Wolverhampton prospered during the Industrial Revolution, particularly having successful iron and locomotive industries, which attracted many Irish escaping the Great Famine. As well as this, Wolverhampton had a longstanding Roman Catholic community from as early as the 18th century, leading to the city sometimes being nicknamed 'Little Rome', which began to attract Irish to the city from an early stage.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: There are long standing migration links between Scotland and the Province of Ulster, especially between County Donegal, County Antrim and County Down with the west coast of Scotland. Considering the Dal Riada kingdoms and the gaelicisation of Scotland in the early Middle Ages, it is difficult to determine how many Scots have genetic ancestry from Ireland historically or how many were Picts who adopted Irish lifestyles, although the general consensus is that both happened as Pictish culture vanished by the 11th century. In 2001, around 55,000 people in Scotland (1.1 per cent of the Scottish population) had been born in Ireland, while people of Irish (either Protestant or Catholic) ancestry make up 20% of the Scottish population. Scotland has a greater number of persons born in Northern Ireland and County Donegal (0.66 per cent) than people who were born in the rest of Ireland (0.43%). Despite having lower than average numbers of Irish people resident, the Lanarkshire town of Coatbridge is more than 50% Catholic. The town is populated by the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth generation children of Irish immigrants, especially immigrants from County Donegal. In 2006 more than 28% of adults in Coatbridge had surnames with Irish origins. Coatbridge holds the largest St. Patrick's Day Festival in Scotland.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Famous Scots of Irish-Catholic ancestry include actors Sir Sean Connery, Brian Cox and Gerard Butler; comedians Sir Billy Connolly and Frankie Boyle; singers Susan Boyle, Gerry Rafferty, Fran Healy and David Byrne; historians Prof. Sir Tom Devine and Prof. Michael Lynch; footballers like Jimmy McGrory and Ray Houghton; politicians like James Connolly (the trade unionist and Easter Rising leader), Jim Murphy (former British Shadow Defence Secretary), and socialist political figure Tommy Sheridan; television presenter Lorraine Kelly; businessmen like Sir Thomas Lipton; and writers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dr. A. J. Cronin, John Byrne and Andrew O'Hagan.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Support for particular football teams often reflects Catholic or Protestant heritage. Celtic are overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, supported by people from a Catholic background. Hibernian and Dundee United were formed as clubs representing Irish Catholics, however there is little vestige of these founding values today. Teams such as Dundee (though founded before Dundee United on entirely secular grounds), Heart of Midlothian and Lanarkshire teams such as Motherwell and Airdrie are contentiously perceived by some as Protestant clubs. Rangers are seen as having retained a Protestant identity, despite signing a number of Catholic players since the 1980s.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Today a very small minority of the Irish Catholic community in Scotland take part in Irish republican marches (mainly in Strathclyde), though these marches do not have exclusively Catholics in attendance, with many Protestants and others of various faiths or none involved, and the Orange Order has a large membership in Scotland, predominantly in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. As well as Scotland's own parades, many Scottish bands parade in Ulster (chiefly in Northern Ireland and County Donegal) on or around 12 July.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Starting in the 4th century AD, Irish raiders settled Wales extensively, their impact being so great that many Irish words were introduced into the Welsh language. Many Irish emigrants came to Wales as a result of the famine of 1845–52. They were often very poor, and seen as carrying "famine fever" (typhus), but over time they acquired a notable presence—in the thousands, particularly in the Welsh coal mining towns in and around Swansea and Newport.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: One of the most famous Welsh nationals of Irish-Catholic ancestry is screen actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The large-scale migration of Irish people to Britain in the 19th century contributed to the reemergence of the Catholic Church in England, which ultimately accelerated tolerance for freedom of religion in the United Kingdom. Observed by the Catholic Church, Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated throughout Great Britain, owing to many British people's ancestral links with Ireland as well as the general popularity of the event. Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester have particularly large parades.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The Irish language has a long history in Britain. Gaels came to Britain between the 4th to 5th centuries and established Irish speaking communities in the west coast of Scotland that remain to this day. The waves of immigrants from Ireland that settled in British communities in the 19th century included speakers of Irish but English became the norm. However, there are regular gatherings of Irish speakers in London, Glasgow and Manchester and lessons available all over Britain including Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Manchester, Brighton, Lewisham, Hammersmith, Camden, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Cardiff.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The lack of provision for legal and citizenship services in the Irish language, including for the Life in the United Kingdom test, has been met with criticism from the "Committee of Experts" of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, of which the UK has ratified for the Cornish language, the Irish language, Manx Gaelic, the Scots & Ulster Scots dialects, Scottish Gaelic and the Welsh language. In a 2014 report detailing the application of the charter in the UK, the Committee were given no justification for the inequality in the treatment of Irish speakers in contrast to that of English, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh speakers, and said that efforts to rectify the inequality were non-existent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Sports teams with links to the Irish community exist in England, although this is not as marked as in Scotland.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In football, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Everton, Manchester United have a tradition of representing the Irish communities in their area although unlike many clubs in Scotland they were not formed on the basis of representing the Irish community. For example, Arsenal has featured ethnically Irish players such as Liam Brady, Terry Neill, Pat Rice, Niall Quinn, David O'Leary and Graham Barrett. Aston Villa has featured many Irish players such as Steve Staunton, Paul McGrath, Richard Dunne and former managers David O'Leary and Martin O'Neill. Aston Villa has a large Irish following in the West Midlands which has the highest proportion of Irish people in England. Both Everton and Liverpool have roots in a Methodist church but Everton F.C. was often described as Liverpool's Irish Catholic team, probably because Everton had a number of Irish internationals in the 1950s. Liverpool F.C. was formed by a prominent Orangeman but this fact did not deter Liverpool people from a Catholic background supporting the team. Everton has notably produced Wayne Rooney who is of Irish descent and have recently featured promising Irish international Séamus Coleman; as were prominent Liverpool players who were Everton fans in their youth such as Jamie Carragher and Steve McManaman. Recently Jonjo Shelvey has become the latest in a line of Liverpool players with Irish heritage, going back to the days of Mark Lawrenson, Ronnie Whelan and Ray Houghton. Neither Liverpool nor Everton have a sectarian affiliation and many families are split in support of the clubs.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Under the management of Sir Matt Busby, Manchester United also emerged as a club with a considerable Irish following both in Great Britain and in Ireland itself, as well as having notable Irish stars like George Best, Norman Whiteside, Mal Donaghy, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane, and recently John O'Shea.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In rugby league, Dewsbury Celtic represented the large Irish community in Dewsbury, and St. Helens represent communities on Merseyside. The rugby union club London Irish represents the community in London. There is also a London GAA (Londain in Irish) team representing the GAA clubs in London, that plays in the Connacht province (in Gaelic football) and Ulster (in hurling) (see London GAA).


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: In 1870, Karl Marx examined how the migration of Irish labour into the British labour market caused significant problems for the nascent English trade union movement since an over-supply of workers enabled employers to lower wages and threaten organised British workers with replacement by Irish migrants. Marx wrote in a letter that "the ordinary English worker hates the Irish worker as a competitor who lowers his standard of life", in addition to noting that "every industrial and commercial centre in England now possesses a working class divided into two hostile camps", consisting of the English and Irish working class.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: Perceptions of Irish immigration in Victorian Britain led to negative stereotypes. Settling in large numbers, at a time of unprecedented economic development, Irish people, and especially those living in poverty, were seen as innately criminal by elements of British society. It was even a widespread belief that Irish migrants formed the core of what were described as the "dangerous classes", and represented a threat to law and order. The Vagrancy Act 1824 was, in part, a reaction to significant levels of perceived vagrancy from Irish people "searching for generous local welfare in England".


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The results of Irish migration during the 19th century were also perceived as bringing disease and poverty into urban centres, in particular cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: The 2001 UK census was the first which allowed British citizens to identify an Irish ethnicity. In all previous British censuses, figures for the Irish community were based on Irish birthplace. The percentage claiming White Irish descent in England and Wales was 1.2 per cent, with the highest concentration found in the London Borough of Brent, where they made up 6.9 per cent of the population, while the figure for Scotland was 0.98 per cent. The Irish have been the largest source of immigrants to Britain for over 200 years and as many as six million people in the UK are estimated to have at least one Irish grandparent.


title: Irish migration to Great Britain

text: As of 2011, the highest concentration was in the London Borough of Brent where they made up 4.0 per cent of the population. This was followed by the Inner London boroughs of Islington, Hammersmith and Fulham and Camden, and the Outer London boroughs of Ealing and Harrow (all above 3.0 per cent). The highest concentration outside London was the city of Manchester, at 2.4 per cent.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Sir Halford John Mackinder (15 February 1861 – 6 March 1947) was an English geographer, academic and politician, who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics and geostrategy. He was the first Principal of University Extension College, Reading (which became the University of Reading) from 1892 to 1903, and Director of the London School of Economics from 1903 to 1908. While continuing his academic career part-time, he was also the Member of Parliament for Glasgow Camlachie from 1910 to 1922. From 1923, he was Professor of Geography at the London School of Economics.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Mackinder was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England, the son of a doctor, and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Gainsborough, Epsom College and Christ Church, Oxford. At Oxford he started studying natural sciences, specialising in zoology under Henry Nottidge Moseley, who had been the naturalist on the "Challenger" expedition. When he turned to the study of history, he remarked that he was returning "to an old interest and took up modern history with the idea of seeing how the theory of evolution would appear in human development". He was a strong proponent of treating both physical geography and human geography as a single discipline. Mackinder served as President of the Oxford Union in 1883.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: In 1887, he published "On the Scope and Methods of Geography", a manifesto for the "New Geography". A few months later, he was appointed reader in geography at the University of Oxford, where he introduced the teaching of the subject. As Mackinder himself put it, "a platform has been given to a geographer". This was arguably at the time the most prestigious academic position for a British geographer. In 1892, he was the first principal of University Extension College, Reading, a role he retained until he was succeeded, in 1903, by William Macbride Childs. The college became the University of Reading in 1926, a progression that owed no small debt to his early stewardship of the institution. In 1893, he was one of the founders of the Geographical Association, which promotes the teaching of geography in schools. He later became chairman of the GA from 1913 to 1946 and served as its President from 1916–17.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: In 1895, he was one of the founders of the London School of Economics. At Oxford, Mackinder was the driving force behind the creation of a School of Geography in 1899. In the same year, he led an expedition of the first Europeans to climb Mount Kenya. It was during this expedition that eight of his African porters were killed; it is disputed as to who killed them, as both Mackinder and another man, Edward Saunders were recorded issuing death threats. In 1902, he published "Britain and the British Seas", which included the first comprehensive geomorphology of the British Isles and which became a classic in regional geography. He was a member of the Coefficients dining club, set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb, which brought together social reformers and advocates of national efficiency.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: In 1904, Mackinder gave a paper on "The Geographical Pivot of History" at the Royal Geographical Society, in which he formulated the Heartland Theory. This is often considered as a, if not the, founding moment of geopolitics as a field of study, although Mackinder did not use the term. Whilst the Heartland Theory initially received little attention outside geography, this theory would later exercise some influence on the foreign policies of world powers. Possibly disappointed at not getting a full chair, Mackinder left Oxford and became director of the London School of Economics in the same year. After 1908, he concentrated on advocating the cause of imperial unity and lectured only part-time. He stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal Unionist in a by-election for Hawick Burghs in 1909. He was elected to Parliament in January 1910 as Liberal Unionist member for the Glasgow Camlachie constituency and was defeated in 1922 as a Unionist. He was knighted in the 1920 New Year Honours for his services as an MP.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: His next major work, "Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction", appeared in 1919. It followed the 1904 book titled "The Geographic Pivot of the History", and presented his theory of the Heartland and made a case for fully taking into account geopolitical factors at the Paris Peace conference and contrasted (geographical) reality with Woodrow Wilson's idealism. The book's most famous quote was: "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World." This message was composed to convince the world statesmen at the Paris Peace conference of the crucial importance of Eastern Europe as the strategic route to the Heartland was interpreted as requiring a strip of buffer states to separate Germany and Russia. These were created by the peace negotiators but proved to be ineffective bulwarks in 1939 (although this may be seen as a failure of other, later statesmen during the interbellum). The principal concern of his work was to warn of the possibility of another major war (a warning also given by economist John Maynard Keynes).


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Mackinder was anti-Bolshevik, and as British High Commissioner in Southern Russia in late 1919 and early 1920, during the Russian Civil War, he stressed the need for Britain to continue her support to the White Russian forces, which he attempted to unite. Mackinder's last major work was the 1943 article, “The Round World and the Winning of the Peace,” in which he envisioned a post-war world. He reiterated and expanded his Heartland view of the world, suggesting that the Atlantic Ocean would be jumped, with North America's influence pulled into the region by its use of Britain as an "moated aerodrome". Elsewhere in the world, beyond the "girdle of deserts and wilderness", and the "Great Ocean" region of the Indo-Pacific Rim, was the "Monsoon lands" area of India and China that would grow in power.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Mackinder was contemporary of the Swedish political scientist Rudolf Kjellén, born three years later, who like Mackinder was a conservative member of the national parliament from 1910 until 1922 (year of his death). The two fathers of geopolitics both believed that the development of international transportation on land was growing to such a high rate "that the advantage of the sea powers was more of historical importance. Hence, they argued that the pivot of the global political power was the land control of Eurasia while a naval powersuch as the Great Britainwas playing a secondary role. They disagreed about Mackinder's emphasis on serving the British Empire.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Mackinder's work paved the way for the establishment of geography as a distinct discipline in the United Kingdom. His role in fostering the teaching of geography is probably greater than that of any other single British geographer.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Whilst Oxford did not appoint a statutory Professor of Geography until 1932, both the University of Liverpool and University of Wales, Aberystwyth established professorial chairs in Geography in 1917. Mackinder himself became Professor of Geography at the University of London (London School of Economics) in 1923.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Mackinder is often credited with introducing two new terms into the English language: "manpower" and "heartland". In 1944, he received the Charles P. Daley medal from the American Geographical Society, and in 1945 was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Patron's Medal for his service in the advancement of the science of Geography.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: The Heartland Theory and more generally classical geopolitics and geostrategy were extremely influential in the making of US strategic policy during the period of the Cold War. Arguably it continued afterwards. The theory has seen a revival in application to China's Belt and Road Initiative.


title: Halford Mackinder

text: Evidence of Mackinder's Heartland Theory can be found in the works of geopolitician Dimitri Kitsikis, particularly in his geopolitical model "Intermediate Region".


title: Halford Mackinder

text: In the book "Sri Lanka at Crossroads," Asanga Abeyagoonasekera revisits Mackinder's 1904 Map while highlighting the geostrategic importance of Sri Lanka. Reviewing the work, Swaran Singh writes, "Asanga talks of Mackinder's 'outer crescent' that makes him see two other nations, Britain and Japan, being similarly ordained. However, as world drifts from continents to Oceans following Mahanian axioms, it leaves only Sri Lanka that sits in the midst of global east-west super expressway of sea lanes of communications connecting the two ends of the Indo-Pacific geopolitical paradigm."


title: Augustine Frizzell

text: Augustine Frizzell (born July 27, 1979) is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She made her feature film directorial debut with "Never Goin' Back" (2018).


title: Augustine Frizzell

text: Growing up in Garland, Texas, Frizzell attended South Garland High School. She took classes at Richland College.


title: Augustine Frizzell

text: Frizzell made her directorial debut with the 2018 film "Never Goin' Back", which starred Maia Mitchell and Camila Morrone as two waitresses trying to get to Galveston. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and was later distributed by A24.


title: Augustine Frizzell

text: Frizzel's next film was an adaptation of Jojo Moyes novel "The Last Letter from Your Lover". The film starred Felicity Jones and Shailene Woodley and premiered in 2021 through online streaming service Netflix.


title: Augustine Frizzell

text: Frizzell is the granddaughter of musician Lefty Frizzell. She is married to fellow filmmaker David Lowery.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Isabella d'Este (19 May 1474 – 13 February 1539) was Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whose innovative style of dressing was copied by numerous women. The poet Ariosto labeled her as the "liberal and magnanimous Isabella", while author Matteo Bandello described her as having been "supreme among women". Diplomat Niccolò da Correggio went even further by hailing her as "The First Lady of the world".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: She served as the regent of Mantua during the absence of her husband Francesco II Gonzaga and during the minority of her son Federico. She was a prolific letter-writer and maintained a lifelong correspondence with her sister-in-law Elisabetta Gonzaga. Isabella grew up in a cultured family in the city-state of Ferrara. She received a fine classical education and as a girl met many famous humanist scholars and artists. Due to the vast amount of extant correspondence between Isabella and her family and friends, her life is extremely well documented.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Isabella was born on Tuesday, 19 May 1474 at nine o'clock in the evening Isabella's mother wrote a letter to her friend Barbara Gonzaga describing the details of Isabella's birth in Ferrara, to Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and Eleanor of Naples. Eleanor was the daughter of Ferdinand I, the Aragonese King of Naples, and Isabella of Clermont.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: One year later on 29 June 1475, her sister Beatrice was born, and in 1476 and 1477 two brothers, Alfonso and Ferrante, were born. In 1479 and 1480 two more brothers were born; Ippolito and Sigismondo. Of all the children born into the family, Isabella was considered to have been the favourite.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In the year of her brother Ferrante's birth, Isabella was among the children of the family who travelled to Naples with her mother. When her mother returned to Ferrara, Isabella accompanied her, while the other two children remained in Naples for many years: Beatrice was adopted by her grandfather, and her little brother Ferrante left under the tutelage of their uncle Alfonso.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Because of her outstanding intellect, she often discussed the classics and the affairs of state with ambassadors. Moreover, she was personally acquainted with the painters, musicians, writers, and scholars who lived in and around the court. Besides her knowledge of history and languages, she could also recite Virgil and Terence by heart. Isabella was also a talented singer and musician, and was taught to play the lute by Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa. In addition to all these admirable accomplishments, she was also an innovator of new dances, having been instructed in the art by Ambrogio, a Jewish dancing master.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In 1480, at the age of six, Isabella was betrothed to the eight years older Francesco, the heir to the Marquess of Mantua. The Duke of Milan had requested her hand in marriage for his son, Ludovico, two weeks later. Instead, her sister, Beatrice was betrothed to Ludovico and became the Duchess of Milan. Her dowry amounted to 25,000 ducats. Although he was not handsome, Isabella admired Francesco for his strength and bravery; she also regarded him as a gentleman. After their first few encounters she found that she enjoyed his company and she spent the next few years getting to know him and preparing to be the Marchioness of Mantua. During their courtship, Isabella treasured the letters, poems, and sonnets he sent her as gifts.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Ten years later on 11 February 1490, at age 15, she married Francesco by proxy. By then, he had succeeded to the marquisate. Besides being the Marquess, Francesco was captain general of the armies of the Republic of Venice. Isabella became his wife and marchioness amid a spectacular outpouring of popular acclamation and a grand celebration that took place on 15 February. She brought as her marriage portion the sum of 3,000 ducats as well as valuable jewellery, dishes, and a silver service. Prior to the magnificent banquet which followed the wedding ceremony, Isabella rode through the main streets of Ferrara astride a horse draped in gems and gold.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In 1491 Isabella went with a small entourage to Brescello and from there to Pavia, to accompany her sister Beatrice who was married to Ludovico il Moro. On this occasion she saw again – since she had already known him as a child in Ferrara – Galeazzo Sanseverino, with whom she undertook a dense, and at times humorous, exchange of letters. It must be said, however, that the identity of the sender is not certain and could be the almost homonymous Galeazzo Visconti, Count of Busto Arsizio, a courtier also dear to the dukes.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Between the two immediately ignited a dispute, destined to last for months, on who was the best paladin, Orlando or Rinaldo: Galeazzo supported the first, the sisters d'Este the second. Galeazzo, who exercised a strong fascination, soon managed to convert them both to Orlando's faith, but Isabella, once back in Mantua, returned to prefer Rinaldo, so that Galeazzo remembered her as "I alone was enough to make her change her mind and cry out "Rolando! Rolando!"", invited her to follow her sister's example and swore that he would convert her a second time, as soon as they met again. Isabella jokingly replied that she would then bring a frog to offend him, and the dispute went on for a long time.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: On February 11, speaking to her about the amusements he had with Beatrice, he wrote to her: "I will also strive to improve in order to give greater pleasure to the S. V., when I come for her this summer", and lamented the lack of "his sweet company". Isabella's presence was in fact much desired in Milan, not only by Galeazzo but also by her sister, Ludovico and the other courtiers, however the Marquise was able to go there a few times, as her husband Francesco was wary of sending it to her, judging that in that court too many "madness" were committed, and perhaps also out of jealousy of Ludovico.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Despite the affection, Isabella began to feel envy for her sister Beatrice, first for the very fortunate marriage that had touched her and for the enormous riches, then for the two sons in perfect health who were born to her a short time later, while she seemed unable to have children, and in this aroused the concerns of her mother Eleonora, who continually exhorted her in letters to be as close as possible to her husband. A certain hatred can also be seen in a letter to his mother dating back to his visit to Pavia in August 1492, when, speaking of Beatrice, he wrote: "she is not a greater than me, but she is much bigger!"; in a similar way she also expressed herself to her husband, not being able yet to know, perhaps, that the sister's coarseness was due to the incipient pregnancy (she was at the fourth-fifth month). These frictions were perhaps also linked to the fact that Ludovico had initially asked for Isabella's hand, in 1480, and that this had not been possible because, only a few days earlier, Duke Ercole had officially promised it to Francesco Gonzaga.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Despite everything, in 1492 she was very close to Beatrice in a difficult moment of her pregnancy, that is when she was suddenly struck by an attack of malarial fevers, and in 1495 she went again to Milan to assist her sister in her second birth and also baptized her nephew Francesco.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In the summer of 1494, on the occasion of the descent of the French into Italy, Beatrice invited her sister to Milan to kiss Gilbert of Montpensier and others of the royal house, according to the custom French. Secretary Benedetto Capilupi reported: In fact, it does not seem that Beatrice had any conflicting feelings towards Isabella, nor that she saw with a bad eye the complicity between the latter and her husband Ludovico. The Moro in fact, who was of generous nature, often gave Isabella even very expensive gifts: once he sent her fifteen arms of a fabric so precious as to cost forty ducats on her arm – an amazing sum – saying that he had already made a dress for Beatrice.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: After the death of his wife, which took place in 1497, Ludovico came to allude to a secret relationship with Isabella, claiming that it was out of jealousy of his wife that the Marquis Francesco played a double game between him and the Lordship of Venice. The rumor was however promptly denied by his father Ercole.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Others instead defined Beatrice's attitude towards her sister as "complexed second child" because in the letter of congratulations to Isabella for the birth of little Eleonora - who, being female, incredibly disappointed her mother - she added the greetings of her little son Hercules to "soa cusina", despite not having the child yet turned one year of age, something that historians such as Luciano Chiappini interpreted as a sort of mockery, of "refined malice", "a slap given with grace and grace". In fact, if Isabella was always the daughter most loved by her parents, Beatrice had been ceded to her grandfather, and only with the birth of the firstborn had she obtained her own revenge.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Other mischief between sisters dates back to the weeks immediately following the battle of Fornovo: Beatrice, who was at the siege of Novara together with the Marquis Francesco, wanted to see the booty stolen from the tent of King Charles VIII during the battle, booty that however Francesco had already sent to his wife in Mantua. He wrote to his wife to give it to his sister-in-law, but Isabella replied that she was not so willing to cede this honor to her sister and, with the excuse that she lacked a mule, begged her husband to invent some expedient. Beatrice replied that it was not her intention to steal the booty from her sister, but that she only wanted to see it all together and then return it to her. Meanwhile, it occurred to her to procure "a femina de partito", that is, a high-ranking prostitute, to Francis, saying to do it "for a good cause and to avoid greater evil", that is to say to preserve her brother-in-law and sister from the terrible malfrancese, but perhaps also to ingratiate herself with him. In October Francis wrote to his wife sorry that she was not there with them to see the army before it was disbanded, but it does not seem that he had urged her to come, probably because he had at heart his safety (the camps were dangerous places, where violent fights often broke out, and Beatrice herself had been saved on one occasion by Francis, when she risked being raped by a few thousand Alemannic mercenaries).


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Moreover, Isabella had already had a mishap with some Genoese soldiers who, upon entering the city in 1492, surrounded her to appropriate her mount and harness, according to custom. So she later told her husband: "I was never more afraid; and they tore all the harness to pieces, and took off the bridle before I could dismount, despite the fact that the governor interposed him and that I voluntarily offered it to him. I lost heart, although among so many partisans I was afraid of some misfortune. Finally, helped, I freed myself from their hands ".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Having also received different educations, the two sisters were the opposite of each other: Isabella, more like her mother, was sweet, graceful and a lover of tranquility; Beatrice, more like her father, was impetuous, adventurous and aggressive. Beatrice loved to shoot crossbow, Isabella had "the hand so light that we cannot play well [the clavichord], when we have to strain it for the hardness of the keys". However, they were united by the desire to excel in everything.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In the last two hundred years historians and writers were divided in preference for one or the other: many - such as Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri and Maria Bellonci - regretted that Ludovico had not, only briefly, married Isabella, fantasizing about the splendors that Isabella would be able to bring to Milan, in conditions of greater well-being than to Mantua, and how he could distract the Moro from his perverse policy. These judgments were not separated from a blatant contempt for the second daughter, as in the case of Alessandro Luzio, who writes: "The luck that made play of this Sforza, making him pass from the brightest heights to the darkest abysses of misery, had in April 1480 exchanged a beneficial star for a sinister meteor".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In truth, other historians, including Rodolfo Renier himself, Luzio's colleague, judged that Beatrice was the most suitable wife for Ludovico, since she knew, with her own audacity, to instill courage in her insecure consort, and acquired political depth already in her early youth, so much so as to be decisive in situations of greatest danger, while Isabella could boast a role in this sense only in the years of maturity. The different fate of the two sisters certainly weighed in these judgments: Isabella lived sixty-five years, Beatrice died at twenty-one. It was from this tragic loss, for which she proved inconsolable, that Isabella undertook to support her brother-in-law's cause with her husband Francesco, who was against him. So he continued to do until the fall of the Sforza, in 1499, when he suddenly changed sides and declared himself to be "good French".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: As the couple had known and admired one another for many years, their mutual attraction deepened into love. Reportedly, marriage to Francesco caused Isabella to "bloom". At the time of her wedding, Isabella was said to have been pretty, slim, graceful, and well-dressed. Her long, fine hair was dyed a fashionable pale blonde and her eyes were described as "brown as fir cones in autumn, scattered laughter".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: The relationship with her husband over the years often proved to be tense, at times very tense, both for the political differences between the two and for the difficulty in procreating a male heir. In truth, Francesco for his part was always very proud of his daughters and never showed himself disappointed, indeed from the beginning he declared himself in love with the firstborn Eleonora, born in 1493, despite the absolute disappointment of Isabella who refused her daughter, who was then very lovingly educated by her sister-in-law Elisabetta, who because of her husband's impotence never had children. When in 1496 the second daughter Margherita was born, Isabella was so angry that she wrote to her husband, who was then fighting the French in Calabria, a letter in which she blamed him, declaring that she did nothing but reap the fruits of his sown. Francis replied that he was instead very happy with the birth of his daughter – who, however, did not have time to know, having died in swaddling clothes – and indeed forbade anyone to show discontent with it.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In his capacity of captain general of the Venetian armies, Francesco often was required to go to Venice for conferences that left Isabella in Mantua on her own at "La Reggia", the ancient palace that was the family seat of the Gonzagas. She did not lack company, however, as she passed the time with her mother and with her sister, Beatrice. Upon meeting Elisabetta Gonzaga, her 18-year-old sister-in-law, the two women became close friends. They enjoyed reading books, playing cards, and travelling about the countryside together. Once they journeyed as far as Lake Garda during one of Francesco's absences, and later travelled to Venice. They maintained a steady correspondence until Elisabetta's death in 1526.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Almost four years after her marriage in December 1493, Isabella gave birth to her first child out of an eventual total of eight. She was a daughter, Eleonora, whom they called Leonora for short, after Isabella's mother, Eleonora of Naples.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Isabella had met the French king in Milan in 1500 on a successful diplomatic mission that she had undertaken to protect Mantua from French invasion. Louis had been impressed by her alluring personality and keen intelligence. It was while she was being entertained by Louis, whose troops occupied Milan, that she offered asylum to Milanese refugees including Cecilia Gallerani, the refined mistress of her sister Beatrice's husband, Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, who had been forced to leave his duchy in the wake of French occupation. Isabella presented Cecilia to King Louis, describing her as a "lady of rare gifts and charm".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: A year after her 1502 marriage to Isabella's brother Alfonso, the notorious Lucrezia Borgia became the mistress of Francesco. At about the same time, Isabella had given birth to a daughter, Ippolita, and she continued to bear him children throughout Francesco and Lucrezia's long, passionate affair, which was more sexual than romantic. Lucrezia had previously made overtures of friendship to Isabella which the latter had coldly and disdainfully ignored. From the time Lucrezia had first arrived in Ferrara as Alfonso's intended bride, Isabella, despite having acted as hostess during the wedding festivities, had regarded Lucrezia as a rival, whom she sought to outdo at every opportunity. Francesco's affair with Lucrezia, whose beauty was renowned, caused Isabella much jealous suffering and emotional pain. The liaison ended when he contracted syphilis as a result of encounters with prostitutes.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Isabella played an important role in Mantua during troubled times for the city. When her husband was captured in 1509 and held hostage in Venice, she took control of Mantua's military forces and held off the invaders until his release in 1512. In the same year, 1512, she was the hostess at the Congress of Mantua, which was held to settle questions concerning Florence and Milan. As a ruler, she appeared to have been much more assertive and competent than her husband. When apprised of this fact upon his return, Francesco was furious and humiliated at being surpassed by his wife's superior political ability. This caused their marriage to break down irrevocably. As a result, Isabella began to travel freely and live independently from her husband until his death on 19 March 1519.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: After the death of her husband, Isabella ruled Mantua as regent for her son Federico. She began to play an increasingly important role in Italian politics, steadily advancing Mantua's position. She was instrumental in promoting Mantua to a Duchy, which was obtained by wise diplomatic use of her son's marriage contracts. She also succeeded in obtaining a cardinalate for her son Ercole. She further displayed shrewd political acumen in her negotiations with Cesare Borgia, who had dispossessed Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, the husband of her sister-in-law and good friend Elisabetta Gonzaga in 1502.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: As a widow, Isabella at the age of 45 became a "devoted head of state". Her position as a Marquise required her serious attention, therefore she was required to study the problems faced by a ruler of a city-state. To improve the well-being of her subjects she studied architecture, agriculture, and industry, and followed the principles that Niccolò Machiavelli had set forth for rulers in his book "The Prince". In return, the people of Mantua respected and loved her.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Isabella left Mantua for Rome in 1527. She was present during the catastrophic Sack of Rome, when she converted her house the "Palazzo Colonna", into an asylum for approximately 2,000 people (including clerics, nobles and common citizens) fleeing the Imperial soldiers. Her huge place was the only place safe from attacks, because her son Ferrante Gonzaga was a general in the invading army and she herself had good relationship with the emperor. When she left Rome, she managed to acquire safe passage for all the refugees who had sought refuge in her home.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Once Rome became stabilized following the sacking, she left the city and returned to Mantua. She made it a centre of culture, started a school for girls, and turned her ducal apartments into a museum containing the finest art treasures. This was not enough to satisfy Isabella, already in her mid-sixties, so she returned to political life and ruled Solarolo, in Romagna until her death on 13 February 1539. She was buried beside her husband in the Church of San Francesco in Mantua.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: She has been described as physically attractive, though plump; she possessed "lively eyes" and was "of lively grace". The physical appearance of Isabella interested the king of France Charles VIII, an unrepentant womanizer, who having already met her sister Beatrice, whom he had greatly liked, wanted to know if Isabella resembled her, and asked the chaplain Bernardino of Urbino if she was more beautiful, taller, her age, her features, her character and her virtues.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: The chaplain replied that Isabella surpassed her sister in beauty and that she was no taller than her, which greatly pleased King Charles who, being just as short, did not want women taller than him. Jacopo d'Atri communicates to the marquise his suspicion that the king would have come to Mantua to kiss her "a thousand times" as well as he had kissed Beatrice, according to French custom, and reassures her in this regard by telling her that "it is not as deformed as ours describe it"- in fact, Carlo was described by the Italians as very ugly – however the meeting never took place, since shortly after he returned to France. The Mantuan courtiers therefore judged that Isabella was more beautiful than Beatrice, but the lack of her portraits does not allow a sure comparison between the two, which distinguishes the truth from her praise.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: After all, Isabella was very concerned with her appearance, as can be understood from many small details. In 1499, having to send her own portrait to Isabella of Aragon, she sent it before her to her brother-in-law Ludovico Sforza, specifying however that her painting did not resemble her very much "for being a little fatter than me". Ludovico replied that he liked the portrait very much of her and that it was very similar to her, although "somewhat more fat", unless Isabella had "grown fatter after we saw her."


title: Isabella d'Este

text: With age, her figure underwent an inexorable decline: Pietro Aretino, in his own work, defines her as "monstrous Marquise of Mantua, which has ebony teeth, ivory eyelashes, dishonestly ugly and archdisonestically embellished".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: During her lifetime and after her death, poets, popes, and statesmen paid tribute to Isabella. Pope Leo X invited her to treat him with "as much friendliness as you would your brother". The latter's secretary Pietro Bembo described her as "one of the wisest and most fortunate of women". The poet Ariosto deemed her the "liberal and magnanimous Isabella". Author Matteo Bandello wrote that she was "supreme among women", and the diplomat Niccolò da Correggio entitled her "The First Lady of the world".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Judgments less imbued with praise, indeed very harsh, were instead expressed by Pope Julius II, a man of corrupt morals, in disagreement with Isabella's conduct, even went so far as to call her "that ribald whore". A not dissimilar judgment had also expressed her husband Francesco himself who, now a prisoner of the Venetians, accused his wife of not loving him and of having indeed been the cause of his ruin, referring to her by letter as "that whore of my wife".


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Isabella d'Este is famous as the most important art patron of the Renaissance; her life is documented by her correspondence, which remains archived in Mantua (approximately 28,000 letters received and copies of approximately 12,000 letters written).


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In painting she had numerous famous artists of the time work for her, including Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea Mantegna (court painter until 1506), Perugino, Raphael, Titian, Antonio da Correggio, Lorenzo Costa (court painter from 1509), Dosso Dossi, Francesco Francia, Giulio Romano, and many others. For instance her 'Studiolo' in the Ducal Palace, Mantua, was decorated with allegories by Mantegna, Perugino, Costa, and Correggio. It is suggested that she requested a specific painting for her studio from da Vinci that is known as "La Scapigliata" and may have given it to her son Federico II on the occasion of his wedding to Margaret Paleologa.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In parallel she contracted the most important sculptors and medallists of her time, i.e. Michelangelo, Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (L'Antico), Gian Cristoforo Romano, and Tullio Lombardo. She also collected ancient Roman art.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: For what concerns writers, she was in contact with Pietro Aretino, Ludovico Ariosto, Pietro Bembo, Baldassare Castiglione, Mario Equicola, Gian Giorgio Trissino, and others.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In music Isabella sponsored the composers Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Marco Cara and she played the lute. Unusually, she employed women as professional singers at her court, including Giovanna Moreschi, the wife of Marchetto Cara.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In the architecture field, she could not afford new palaces, however she commissioned architects such as Biagio Rossetti and Battista Covo.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: She was also considered an icon of her time in fashion. Famous is her Balzo as headwear – documented as her invention in letters circa 1509 and visible several times in portraits of other ladies in the 1520s/30s.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Despite her significant art patronage that included a number of portraits, there are very few surviving portraits that may be identified as Isabella, especially when compared to her sister Beatrice. It is known that the elderly Isabella preferred idealized paintings and even waived sitting as a model. However, it may be presumed that she insisted nonetheless on seeing her personal characteristics in the outcome. These few identifications are known as inhomogeneous (i.e. differing eye and hair colours as well as divergent eyebrows in two Titian portraits) and there are no known images of her between the ages of 26 and 54.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In 1495 she refused with absolute rigor to pose for Mantegna in the "Madonna della Vittoria" – where her figure was provided next to that of her husband – since in the past the painter had portrayed her "so badly done" – in a painting that in fact has not survived – "which has none of my similarities". However, the negative judgment of the Marquise was not due to Mantegna's inability to portray her similar to the truth, as she herself writes, but to the opposite lack: of not knowing how to "well counterfeit the natural", that is idealize. Her husband Francesco had to pose alone and Mantegna remedied the disturbance of the symmetry by painting, in place of the Marquise, St. Elizabeth, his eponymous saint.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: In recent years several museums have withdrawn their few identifications of portraits as Isabella because of concern about possible misidentification.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: The remaining three colourful portraits are still inhomogeneous (Kunsthistorisches Museum/KHM, Vienna):


title: Isabella d'Este

text: "La Bella" (now in Palazzo Pitti, Florence) has been discussed as an alternative to Titian's 1536 portrait in Vienna, because the commission from the 60-year-old patron was for a rejuvenated portrait; if La Bella were Isabella, eye colour, hair colour, eyebrows, and general appearance would homogenize in all known portraits, allowing potential links toward further identifications.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: As of 2021, the 1495 medal by Gian Cristoforo Romano (several extant copies) is the only reliable identification because of the inscription created during Isabella's lifetime.


title: Isabella d'Este

text: Idealised portraits still show characteristics of the person. The following characteristics can be derived (characteristics of the disputed "Isabella in Black" are excluded):