Observation history.

The Great Red Spot may have existed since before 1665, but the present spot was first seen only after 1830, and well-studied only after a prominent apparition in 1879. The storm that was seen in the 17th century may have been different than the storm that exists today. A long gap separates its period of current study after 1830 from its 17th century discovery. Whether the original spot dissipated and reformed, whether it faded, or if the observational record was simply poor is unknown.  For example, the first sighting of the Great Red Spot is often credited to Robert Hooke, who described a spot on the planet in May 1664. However, it is likely that Hooke's spot was in another belt altogether (the North Equatorial Belt, as opposed to the current Great Red Spot's location in the South Equatorial Belt). Much more convincing is Giovanni Cassini's description of a "permanent spot" the following year. With fluctuations in visibility, Cassini's spot was observed from 1665 to 1713, but the 118-year observational gap makes the identity of the two spots inconclusive. The older spot's shorter observational history and slower motion than the modern spot makes it difficult to conclude that they are the same.  A minor mystery concerns a Jovian spot depicted in a 1711 canvas by Donato Creti, which is exhibited in the Vatican. Part of a series of panels in which different (magnified) heavenly bodies serve as backdrops for various Italian scenes, and all overseen by the astronomer Eustachio Manfredi for accuracy, Creti's painting is the first known to depict the Great Red Spot as red. No Jovian feature was explicitly described in writing as red before the late 19th century.  In the 21st century, the Great Red Spot was seen to be shrinking in size. At the start of 2004, it had approximately half the longitudinal extent it had a century ago, when it reached a size of, about three times the diameter of Earth. At the present rate of reduction, it would become circular by 2040. It is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the change is a result of normal fluctuations. In 2019, the Great Red Spot began "flaking" at its edge, with fragments of the storm breaking off and dissipating.  A smaller spot, designated Oval BA, formed in March 2000 from the merging of three white ovals, has turned reddish in color. Astronomers have named it the "Little Red Spot" or "Red, Jr." As of 5 June 2006, the Great Red Spot and Oval BA appeared to be approaching convergence. The storms pass each other about every two years but the passings of 2002 and 2004 were of little significance. Amy Simon-Miller, of the Goddard Space Flight Center, predicted the storms would have their closest passing on 4 July 2006. She worked with Imke de Pater and Phil Marcus of UC Berkeley and a team of professional astronomers since April 2006 to study the storms using the Hubble Space Telescope; on 20 July 2006, the two storms were photographed passing each other by the Gemini Observatory without converging. In May 2008, a third storm turned red.  The Great Red Spot should not be confused with the "Great Dark Spot", a feature observed near the northern pole of Jupiter in 2000 with the "Cassini–Huygens" spacecraft. There is also a feature in the atmosphere of Neptune also called the "Great Dark Spot". The latter feature was imaged by "Voyager 2" in 1989 and may have been an atmospheric hole rather than a storm. It was no longer present as of 1994, although a similar spot had appeared farther to the north.

Exploration.

On 25 February 1979, when the "Voyager 1" spacecraft was from Jupiter, it transmitted the first detailed image of the Great Red Spot. Cloud details as small as across were visible. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern seen to the left (west) of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex and variable wave motion.  The "Juno" spacecraft, which entered into a polar orbit around Jupiter in 2016, flew over the Great Red Spot upon its close approach to Jupiter on 11 July 2017, taking several images of the storm from a distance of about above the surface. Over the duration of the "Juno" mission, the spacecraft will continue to study the composition and evolution of Jupiter's atmosphere, especially its Great Red Spot.

Structure.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot rotates anticlockwise, with a period of about six Earth days or fourteen Jovian days. Measuring in width as of 3 April 2017, Jupiter's Great Red Spot is 1.3 times the diameter of Earth. The cloud-tops of this storm are about above the surrounding cloud-tops.  Infrared data have long indicated that the Great Red Spot is colder (and thus, higher in altitude) than most of the other clouds on the planet. The upper atmosphere above the storm, however, has substantially higher temperatures than the rest of the planet. Acoustic (sound) waves rising from the turbulence of the storm below have been proposed as an explanation for the heating of this region.  Careful tracking of atmospheric features revealed the Great Red Spot's counter-clockwise circulation as far back as 1966, observations dramatically confirmed by the first time-lapse movies from the "Voyager" fly-bys. The spot is confined by a modest eastward jet stream to its south and a very strong westward one to its north. Though winds around the edge of the spot peak at about, currents inside it seem stagnant, with little inflow or outflow. The rotation period of the spot has decreased with time, perhaps as a direct result of its steady reduction in size.  The Great Red Spot's latitude has been stable for the duration of good observational records, typically varying by about a degree. Its longitude, however, is subject to constant variation. Because Jupiter does not rotate uniformly at all latitudes, astronomers have defined three different systems for defining the longitude. System II is used for latitudes of more than 10 degrees and was originally based on the average rotational period of the Great Red Spot of 9h 55m 42s. Despite this, however, the spot has "lapped" the planet in System II at least 10 times since the early nineteenth century. Its drift rate has changed dramatically over the years and has been linked to the brightness of the South Equatorial Belt and the presence or absence of a South Tropical Disturbance.

Color and composition.

It is not known what causes the Great Red Spot's reddish color. Hypotheses supported by laboratory experiments suppose that the color may be caused by chemical products created from the solar ultraviolet irradiation of ammonium hydrosulfide and the organic compound acetylene, which produces a reddish material—likely complex organic compounds called tholins. The high altitude of the compounds may also contribute to the coloring of the Great Red Spot.  The Great Red Spot varies greatly in hue, from almost brick-red to pale salmon or even white. The spot occasionally disappears, becoming evident only through the Red Spot Hollow, which is its location in the South Equatorial Belt (SEB). Its visibility is apparently coupled to the SEB; when the belt is bright white, the spot tends to be dark, and when it is dark, the spot is usually light. These periods when the spot is dark or light occur at irregular intervals; from 1947 to 1997, the spot was darkest in the periods 1961–1966, 1968–1975, 1989–1990, and 1992–1993.

Mechanical dynamics.

There is no definitive theory as to what causes the formation or color of the Great Red Spot. Laboratory studies are examining the effects that cosmic rays or UV Light from the Sun have on the chemical composition of the clouds of Jupiter. One question is whether the Sun's radiation reacts with ammonium hydrosulfide in the planet's outer atmosphere to create the deep red color. Research suggests that the storm produces extreme amounts of gravity waves and acoustic waves, owing to the turbulence of the storm. The acoustic waves travel vertically upwards to a height of above the storm where they break in the upper atmosphere, converting wave energy into heat. This creates a region of upper atmosphere that is —several hundred Kelvin warmer than the rest of the planet at this altitude. The effect is described as being like "crashing [..] ocean waves on a beach". The reason the storm has continued to exist for centuries is that there is no planetary surface to provide friction (only a liquid core of hydrogen); circulating gas eddies persist for a very long time in the atmosphere because there is nothing to oppose their angular momentum.

The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm, the largest in the Solar System, 22 degrees south of Jupiter's equator. It has been continuously observed since 1878. Earlier observations from 1665 to 1713 are believed to be of the same storm; if this is correct, it has existed for at least years.

La Grande Tache rouge est un gigantesque anticyclone de l'atmosphère de Jupiter situé à de latitude. Longue d'environ et large de près de (2015), elle est actuellement un peu plus grosse que la Terre, même si elle a atteint des dimensions bien supérieures par le passé. Des vents y soufflent à environ. On l'observe depuis 1665, c'est-à-dire il y a plus de, bien que le nom de « Grande Tache rouge » n'ait été donné qu'autour de 1878 lorsque la couleur de l'objet était clairement rouge. Vers la fin du, sa couleur passe du rouge à une teinte plus brunâtre.


Name.

The Nahuatl pronunciation of his name is. It is a compound of a noun meaning "lord" and a verb meaning "to frown in anger", and so is interpreted as "he is one who frowns like a lord" or "he who is angry in a noble manner." His name glyph, shown in the upper left corner of the image from the "Codex Mendoza" above, was composed of a diadem ("xiuhuitzolli") on straight hair with an attached earspool, a separate nosepiece, and a speech scroll.

Regnal number.

The Aztecs did not use regnal numbers; they were given retroactively by historians to more easily distinguish him from the first Moctezuma, referred to as Moctezuma I. The Aztec chronicles called him "Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin", while the first was called "Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina" or "Huehuemotecuhzoma" ("Old Moctezuma"). "Xocoyotzin" () means "honored young one" (from "xocoyotl" [younger son] + suffix "-tzin" added to nouns or personal names when speaking about them with deference).

Contact with the Spanish.

First interactions with the Spanish.

In 1517, Moctezuma received the first reports of Europeans landing on the east coast of his empire; this was the expedition of Juan de Grijalva who had landed on San Juan de Ulúa, which although within Totonac territory was under the auspices of the Aztec Empire. Moctezuma ordered that he be kept informed of any new sightings of foreigners at the coast and posted extra watch guards to accomplish this. When Cortés arrived in 1519, Moctezuma was immediately informed and he sent emissaries to meet the newcomers; one of them was an Aztec noble named Tentlil in the Nahuatl language but referred to in the writings of Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo as "Tendile". As the Spaniards approached Tenochtitlán they made an alliance with the Tlaxcalteca, who were enemies of the Aztec Triple Alliance, and they helped instigate revolt in many towns under Aztec dominion. Moctezuma was aware of this and sent gifts to the Spaniards, probably in order to show his superiority to the Spaniards and Tlaxcalteca.  On 8 November 1519, Moctezuma met Cortés on the causeway leading into Tenochtitlán and the two leaders exchanged gifts. Moctezuma gave Cortés the gift of an Aztec calendar, one disc of crafted gold and another of silver. Cortés later melted these down for their monetary value.  According to Cortés, Moctezuma immediately volunteered to cede his entire realm to Charles V, King of Spain. Though some indigenous accounts written in the 1550s partly support this notion, it is still unbelievable for several reasons. As Aztec rulers spoke an overly polite language that needed translation for his subjects to understand, it is difficult to find out what Moctezuma really said. According to an indigenous account, he said to Cortés: "You have come to sit on your seat of authority, which I have kept for a while for you, where I have been in charge for you, for your agents the rulers..." However, these words might be a polite expression that was meant to convey the exact opposite meaning, which was common in Nahua culture; Moctezuma might actually have intended these words to assert his own stature and multigenerational legitimacy. Also, according to Spanish law, the king had no right to demand that foreign peoples become his subjects, but he had every right to bring rebels to heel. Therefore, to give the Spanish the necessary legitimacy to wage war against the indigenous people, Cortés might just have said what the Spanish king needed to hear.

Host and prisoner of the Spaniards.

Moctezuma brought Cortés to his palace where the Spaniards lived as his guests for several months. Moctezuma continued to govern his empire and even undertook conquests of new territory during the Spaniards' stay at Tenochtitlán.  At some time during that period, Moctezuma became a prisoner in his own house. Exactly why this happened is not clear from the extant sources. The Aztec nobility reportedly became increasingly displeased with the large Spanish army staying in Tenochtitlán, and Moctezuma told Cortés that it would be best if they left. Shortly thereafter, Cortés left to fight Pánfilo de Narváez, who had landed in Mexico to arrest Cortés. During his absence, tensions between Spaniards and Aztecs exploded into the Massacre in the Great Temple, and Moctezuma became a hostage used by the Spaniards to ensure their security.

Death.

In the subsequent battles with the Spaniards after Cortés' return, Moctezuma was killed. The details of his death are unknown, with different versions of his demise given by different sources.  In his "Historia", Bernal Díaz del Castillo states that on 1 July 1520, the Spanish forced Moctezuma to appear on the balcony of his palace, appealing to his countrymen to retreat. Four leaders of the Aztec army met with Moctezuma to talk, urging their countrymen to cease their constant firing upon the stronghold for a time. Díaz states: "Many of the Mexican Chieftains and Captains knew him well and at once ordered their people to be silent and not to discharge darts, stones or arrows, and four of them reached a spot where Montezuma could speak to them."  Díaz alleges that the Aztecs informed Moctezuma that a relative of his had risen to the throne and ordered their attack to continue until all of the Spanish were annihilated, but expressed remorse at Moctezuma's captivity and stated that they intended to revere him even more if they could rescue him. Regardless of the earlier orders to hold fire, however, the discussion between Moctezuma and the Aztec leaders was immediately followed by an outbreak of violence. The Aztecs, disgusted by the actions of their leader, renounced Moctezuma and named his brother Cuitláhuac "tlatoani" in his place. In an effort to pacify his people, and undoubtedly pressured by the Spanish, Moctezuma was struck dead by a rock. Díaz gives this account:  "They had hardly finished this speech when suddenly such a shower of stones and darts were discharged that (our men who were shielding him having neglected for a moment their duty, because they saw how the attack ceased while he spoke to them) he was hit by three stones, one on the head, another on the arm and another on the leg, and although they begged him to have the wounds dressed and to take food, and spoke kind words to him about it, he would not. Indeed, when we least expected it, they came to say that he was dead."  Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún recorded two versions of the conquest of Mexico from the Tenochtitlán-Tlatelolco viewpoint. In Book 12 of the twelve-volume Florentine Codex, the account in Spanish and Nahuatl is accompanied by illustrations by natives. One is of the death of Moctezuma II, which the indigenous assert was due to the Spaniards. According to the Codex, the bodies of Moctezuma and Itzquauhtzin were cast out of the Palace by the Spanish; the body of Moctezuma was gathered up and cremated at Copulco.

Aftermath.

The Spaniards were forced to flee the city and they took refuge in Tlaxcala, and signed a treaty with the natives there to conquer Tenochtitlán, offering to the Tlaxcalans control of Tenochtitlán and freedom from any kind of tribute.  Moctezuma was then succeeded by his brother Cuitláhuac, who died shortly after during a smallpox epidemic. He was succeeded by his adolescent nephew, Cuauhtémoc. During the siege of the city, the sons of Moctezuma were murdered by the Aztecs, possibly because they wanted to surrender. By the following year, the Aztec Empire had fallen to an army of Spanish and their Native American allies, primarily Tlaxcalans, who were traditional enemies of the Aztecs.

Contemporary depictions.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo.

The firsthand account of Bernal Díaz del Castillo's "True History of the Conquest of New Spain" paints a portrait of a noble leader who struggles to maintain order in his kingdom after he is taken prisoner by Hernán Cortés. In his first description of Moctezuma, Díaz del Castillo writes:  When Moctezuma was allegedly killed by being stoned to death by his own people, "Cortés and all of us captains and soldiers wept for him, and there was no one among us that knew him and had dealings with him who did not mourn him as if he were our father, which was not surprising, since he was so good. It was stated that he had reigned for seventeen years, and was the best king they ever had in Mexico, and that he had personally triumphed in three wars against countries he had subjugated. I have spoken of the sorrow we all felt when we saw that Montezuma was dead. We even blamed the Mercederian friar for not having persuaded him to become a Christian."

Hernán Cortés.

Unlike Bernal Díaz, who was recording his memories many years after the fact, Cortés wrote his "Cartas de relación" ("Letters from Mexico") to justify his actions to the Spanish Crown. His prose is characterized by simple descriptions and explanations, along with frequent personal addresses to the King. In his Second Letter, Cortés describes his first encounter with Moctezuma thus: "Moctezuma came to greet us and with him some two hundred lords, all barefoot and dressed in a different costume, but also very rich in their way and more so than the others. They came in two columns, pressed very close to the walls of the street, which is very wide and beautiful and so straight that you can see from one end to the other. Moctezuma came down the middle of this street with two chiefs, one on his right hand and the other on his left. And they were all dressed alike except that Moctezuma wore sandals whereas the others went barefoot; and they held his arm on either side."  Anthony Pagden and Eulalia Guzmán have pointed the Biblical messages that Cortés seems to ascribe to Moctezuma's retelling of the legend of Quetzalcoatl as a vengeful Messiah who would return to rule over the Mexica. Pagden has written that "There is no preconquest tradition which places Quetzalcoatl in this role, and it seems possible therefore that it was elaborated by Sahagún and Motolinía from informants who themselves had partially lost contact with their traditional tribal histories".

Bernardino de Sahagún.

The Florentine Codex, made by Bernardino de Sahagún, relied on native informants from Tlatelolco, and generally portrays Tlatelolco and Tlatelolcan rulers in a favorable light relative to those of Tenochtitlan. Moctezuma in particular is depicted unfavorably as a weak-willed, superstitious, and indulgent ruler. Historian James Lockhart suggests that the people needed to have a scapegoat for the Aztec defeat, and Moctezuma naturally fell into that role.

Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc.

Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc, who may have written the "Crónica Mexicayotl", was possibly a grandson of Moctezuma II. It is possible that his chronicle relates mostly the genealogy of the Aztec rulers. He described Moctezuma's issue and estimates them to be nineteen – eleven sons and eight daughters.

Depiction in early post-conquest literature.

Some of the Aztec stories about Moctezuma describe him as being fearful of the Spanish newcomers, and some sources, such as the Florentine Codex, comment that the Aztecs believed the Spaniards to be gods and Cortés to be the returned god Quetzalcoatl. The veracity of this claim is difficult to ascertain, though some recent ethnohistorians specialising in early Spanish/Nahua relations have discarded it as post-conquest mythicalisation.  Much of the idea of Cortés being seen as a deity can be traced back to the Florentine Codex, written some 50 years after the conquest. In the codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorical Nahuatl, a speech which as described verbatim in the codex (written by Sahagún's Tlatelolcan informants) included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as, "You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you," and, "You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth." While some historians such as Warren H. Carroll consider this as evidence that Moctezuma was at least open to the possibility that the Spaniards were divinely sent based on the Quetzalcoatl legend, others such as Matthew Restall argue that Moctezuma politely offering his throne to Cortés (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exact opposite of what it was taken to mean, as politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority. Other parties have also propagated the idea that the Native Americans believed the conquistadors to be gods, most notably the historians of the Franciscan order such as Fray Gerónimo de Mendieta. Bernardino de Sahagún, who compiled the Florentine Codex, was also a Franciscan priest.

Indigenous accounts of omens and Moctezuma's beliefs.

Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) includes in Book 12 of the Florentine Codex eight events said to have occurred prior to the arrival of the Spanish. These were purportedly interpreted as signs of a possible disaster, e.g. a comet, the burning of a temple, a crying ghostly woman, and others. Some speculate that the Aztecs were particularly susceptible to such ideas of doom and disaster because the particular year in which the Spanish arrived coincided with a "tying of years" ceremony at the end of a 52-year cycle in the Aztec calendar, which in Aztec belief was linked to changes, rebirth, and dangerous events. The belief of the Aztecs being rendered passive by their own superstition is referred to by Matthew Restall as part of "The Myth of Native Desolation" to which he dedicates chapter 6 in his book "Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest". These legends are likely a part of the post-conquest rationalization by the Aztecs of their defeat, and serve to show Moctezuma as indecisive, vain, and superstitious, and ultimately the cause of the fall of the Aztec Empire.  Ethnohistorian Susan Gillespie has argued that the Nahua understanding of history as repeating itself in cycles also led to a subsequent rationalization of the events of the conquests. In this interpretation the description of Moctezuma, the final ruler of the Aztec Empire prior to the Spanish conquest, was tailored to fit the role of earlier rulers of ending dynasties—for example Quetzalcoatl, the mythical last ruler of the Toltecs. In any case it is within the realm of possibility that the description of Moctezuma in post-conquest sources was colored by his role as a monumental closing figure of Aztec history.

Legacy.

Wives, concubines, and children.

Moctezuma had numerous wives and concubines by whom he fathered an enormous family, but only two women held the position of queen – Tlapalizquixochtzin and Teotlalco. His partnership with Tlapalizquixochtzin also made him a king consort of Ecatepec since she was queen of that city. Of his many wives may be named the princesses Teitlalco, Acatlan, and Miahuaxochitl, of whom the first named appears to have been the only legitimate consort. By her he left a son, Asupacaci, who fell during the Noche Triste, and a daughter, Tecuichpoch, later baptized as Isabel Moctezuma. By the Princess Acatlan were left two daughters, baptized as Maria and Marina (also known as Leonor); the latter alone left offspring, from whom descends the Sotelo-Montezuma family.  Though the exact number of his children is unknown and the names of most of them have been lost to history, according to a Spanish chronicler, by the time he was taken captive, Moctezuma had fathered 100 children and fifty of his wives and concubines were then in some stage of pregnancy, though this estimate may have been exaggerated. As Aztec culture made class distinctions between the children of senior wives, lesser wives, and concubines, not all of his children were considered equal in nobility or inheritance rights. Among his many children were Princess Isabel Moctezuma and sons Chimalpopoca (not to be confused with the previous "huey tlatoani") and Tlaltecatzin.

Descendants in Mexico and the Spanish nobility.

Several lines of descendants exist in Mexico and Spain through Moctezuma II's son and daughters, notably Tlacahuepan Ihualicahuaca, or Pedro Moctezuma, and Tecuichpoch Ixcaxochitzin, or Isabel Moctezuma. Following the conquest, Moctezuma's daughter, Techichpotzin (or Tecuichpoch), became known as Isabel Moctezuma and was given a large estate by Cortés, who also fathered a child by her, Leonor Cortés Moctezuma, who in turn was the mother of Isabel de Tolosa Cortés de Moctezuma. Isabel married consecutively to Cuauhtémoc (the last Mexican sovereign), to a conquistador in Cortés' original group, Alonso Grado (died c. 1527), a "poblador" (a Spaniard who had arrived after the fall of Tenochtitlán), to Pedro Andrade Gallego (died c. 1531), and to conquistador Juan Cano de Saavedra, who survived her. She had children by the latter two, from whom descend the illustrious families of Andrade-Montezuma and Cano-Montezuma. A nephew of Moctezuma II was Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin.  The grandson of Moctezuma II, Pedro's son, Ihuitemotzin, baptized as Diego Luis de Moctezuma, was brought to Spain by King Philip II. There he married Francisca de la Cueva de Valenzuela. In 1627, their son Pedro Tesifón de Moctezuma was given the title "Count of Moctezuma" (later altered to "Moctezuma de Tultengo"), and thus became part of the Spanish nobility. In 1766, the holder of the title became a Grandee of Spain. In 1865 (coincidentally during the Second Mexican Empire), the title, which was held by Antonio María Moctezuma-Marcilla de Teruel y Navarro, 14th Count of Moctezuma de Tultengo, was elevated to that of a Duke, thus becoming "Duke of Moctezuma", with "de Tultengo" again added in 1992 by Juan Carlos I.  Descendants of Pedro Tesifón de Moctezuma included (through an illegitimate child of his son Diego Luis) General Jerónimo Girón-Moctezuma, 3rd Marquess de las Amarilas (1741–1819), a ninth-generation descendant of Moctezuma II, who was commander of the Spanish forces at the Battle of Fort Charlotte, and his grandson, Francisco Javier Girón y Ezpeleta, 2nd Duke of Ahumada and 5th Marquess of the Amarillas who was the founder of the Guardia Civil in Spain. Other holders of Spanish noble titles that descend from the Aztec emperor include Dukes of Atrisco.

Indigenous mythology and folklore.

Many indigenous peoples in Mexico are reported to worship deities named after the Aztec ruler, and often a part of the myth is that someday the deified Moctezuma shall return to vindicate his people. In Mexico, the contemporary Pames, Otomi, Tepehuán, Totonac, and Nahua peoples are reported to worship earth deities named after Moctezuma. His name also appears in Tzotzil Maya ritual in Zinacantán where dancers dressed as a rain god are called "Moctezumas".  Hubert Howe Bancroft, writing in the 19th century ("Native Races", Volume #3), speculated that the name of the historical Aztec emperor Moctezuma had been used to refer to a combination of different cultural heroes who were united under the name of a particularly salient representative of Mesoamerican identity.

Symbol of indigenous leadership.

As a symbol of resistance against the Spanish, the name of Moctezuma has been invoked in several indigenous rebellions. One such example was the rebellion of the Virgin Cult in Chiapas in 1721, where the followers of the Virgin Mary rebelled against the Spanish after having been told by an apparition of the virgin that Moctezuma would be resuscitated to assist them against their Spanish oppressors. In the Quisteil rebellion of the Yucatec Maya in 1761, the rebel leader Jacinto Canek reportedly called himself "Little Montezuma".

Portrayals and cultural references.

Art, music, and literature.

The Aztec emperor is the title character in several 18th-century operas: "Motezuma" (1733) by Antonio Vivaldi; "Motezuma" (1771) by Josef Mysliveček; "Montezuma" (1755) by Carl Heinrich Graun; and "Montesuma" (1781) by Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli. He is also the subject of Roger Sessions' dodecaphonic opera "Montezuma" (1963), and the protagonist in the modern opera "La Conquista" (2005) by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero, where his part is written in the Nahuatl language.  Numerous other works of popular culture have mentioned or referred to Moctezuma:

External links.

Moctezuma II ( 1466 – 29 June 1520), variant spellings include Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma, Motēuczōmah, Muteczuma, and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin ("Moctezuma the Younger", ), was the ninth "tlatoani" or ruler of the Aztec Empire, reigning from 1502 to 1520. The first contact between the indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, when conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men fought to take over the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán.

Moctezuma (1466 - juin 1520), dont le nom s’écrit également selon certaines variantes orthographiques, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma et dont le nom originel complet en nahuatl est Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, était le neuvième "huey tlatoani" (souverain) de Mexico-Tenochtitlan. C’est pendant son règne, de 1502 à 1520, qu’a commencé la conquête espagnole de l'empire aztèque.


Biography.

Family and early life.

Antonio Stradivari's birthdate, presumably between 1644 and 1649, has been debated amongst historians due to the numerous inconsistencies in the evidence of the latter. The 1668 and 1678 censuses report him actually growing younger, a fact explained by the probable loss of statistics from 1647–49, when renewed belligerency between France's Modenese and Spain's Milanese proxies led to a flow of refugees that included Stradivari's mother.  Stradivari's ancestry consisted of notable citizens of Cremona, dating back to at least the 12th or 13th century. The earliest mention of the family name, or a variation upon it, is in a land grant dating from 1188. The origin of the name itself has several possible explanations; some sources say it is the plural of "stradivare", essentially meaning "toll-man" in Lombard, while others say that the form "de Strataverta" derives from, which in Cremonese dialect means "open road".  Antonio's parents were Alessandro Stradivari, son of Giulio Cesare Stradivari, and Anna Moroni, daughter of Leonardo Moroni. They married on 30 August 1622, and had at least three children between 1623 and 1628: Giuseppe Giulia Cesare, Carlo Felice, and Giovanni Battista. The baptismal records of the parish of S. Prospero then stop, and it is unknown whether they had any children from 1628 to 1644. This gap in the records may be due to the family leaving Cremona in response to war, famine, and plague in the city from 1628 to 1630, or the records may have been lost due to clerical reforms imposed by Joseph II of Austria in 1788. The latter explanation is supported by the word "Cremonensis" (of Cremona) on many of Stradivari's labels, which suggests that he was born in the city instead of merely moving back there to work. Antonio was born in 1644, a fact deducible from later violins. However, there are no records or information available on his early childhood, and the first evidence of his presence in Cremona is the label of his oldest surviving violin from 1666.  Stradivari likely began an apprenticeship with Nicola Amati between the ages of 12 and 14, although a minor debate surrounds this fact. One of the few pieces of evidence supporting this is the label of his 1666 violin, which reads, "Alumnus Nicolai Amati, faciebat anno 1666". However, Stradivari did not repeatedly put Amati's name on his labels, unlike many of Amati's other students. Stradivari's early violins actually bear less resemblance to Amati's than his later instruments do. M. Chanot-Chardon, a well-known French luthier, asserted that his father had a label of Stradivari's stating, "Made at the age of thirteen, in the workshop of Nicolò Amati". This label has never been found or confirmed. Amati would also have been a logical choice for Antonio's parents, as he represented an old family of violin makers in Cremona, and was far superior to most other luthiers in Italy.  Some researchers believe there is a closer educational association between Antonio Stradivari and Francesco Rugeri than has previously been recognized. Despite the long-held belief that Antonio Stradivari was the pupil of Nicolò Amati, there are important discrepancies between their work. Some researchers believe early instruments by Stradivari bear a stronger resemblance to Francesco Rugeri's work than Amati's. Additionally, the utilization of a small dorsal pin or small hole, invariably used not just by Nicolò Amati but all of his recognized pupils—with the exception of Antonio Stradivari, adds further evidence that Stradivari may have learnt his craft apart from Amati. This pin or hole was fundamental in the graduation of the thickness of the plates and was obviously a technique passed on through generations of pupils of the Amati. This dorsal pin is also not found in any of the instruments of the Rugeri family, suggesting Antonio Stradivari may have actually learnt his craft from Francesco Rugeri, although both being influenced by Amati. W.E. Hill & Sons concede that they fail to find the hand of Stradivari in any of Nicolo Amati's work, although the unmistakable hands of Andrea Guarneri and Francesco Rugeri are evident.  An alternative theory is that Stradivari started out as a woodworker: the house he lived in from 1667 to 1680 was owned by Francesco Pescaroli, a woodcarver and inlayer. Stradivari may even have been employed to decorate some of Amati's instruments, without being a true apprentice. This theory is supported by some of Stradivari's later violins, which have elaborate decorations and purfling.  Assuming that Stradivari was a student of Amati, he would have begun his apprenticeship in 1656–58 and produced his first decent instruments in 1660, at the age of 16. His first labels were printed from 1660 to 1665, which indicates that his work had sufficient quality to be offered directly to his patrons. However, he probably stayed in Amati's workshop until about 1684, using his master's reputation as a launching point for his career.

First marriage.

Stradivari married his first wife, Francesca Ferraboschi, on 4 July 1667. Francesca was the young widow of the burgher Giacomo Capra, with whom she had two children. Francesca's brother had shot Giacomo with a crossbow on the Piazza Garibaldi (formerly the Piazza Santa Agata) in 1664. He was later exiled, though allowed to return to Cremona many years later. After their marriage, Stradivari moved into a house known as the Casa del Pescatore, or the Casa Nuziale, in his wife's parish. A clue to how they would have met lies in the 1659 Easter census, which lists the Ferraboschi family four houses away from the Amati residence. The couple had a daughter, Giulia Maria, three to four months later. They remained in the house until 1680, during which time they had four more children: Catterina, Francesco, Alessandro, and Omobono Stradivari, as well as an infant son who lived for only a week. An age difference of four to nine years was uncommon between wedded couples at the time.  Stradivari purchased a house now known as No. 1 Piazza Roma (formerly No. 2 Piazza San Domenico) around 1680 for the sum of 7000 lire, 2000 of which he paid at the time of the purchase. The totality of the house was paid for by 1684. The residence was just doors away from those of several other violin-making families of Cremona, including the Amatis and Guarneris. Stradivari probably worked in the loft and attic, and he stayed in this house for the rest of his life.  Stradivari's wife Francesca died on 20 May 1698, and received an elaborate funeral five days later.

Second marriage.

Stradivari married his second wife, Antonia Maria Zambelli, on 24 August 1699. The only information known about her is that she was 35 at the time of the marriage. They had five children from 1700 to 1708—Francesca Maria, Giovanni Battista Giuseppe, Giovanni Battista Martino, Giuseppe Antonio, and Paolo.

Death.

Stradivari died in Cremona on 18 December 1737, aged 93. He is buried in the Church of San Domenico. The tomb was acquired eight years prior to his death, having been bought from a Cremonese family, substituting his name for theirs in the tombstone.

Will.

Stradivari generated substantial wealth in his lifetime. His will, dated 1729, counted eight living heirs, including his wife. Zambelli was left with her clothing, bed linens, household items, and half of her jewelry. Antonia would become the responsibility of his two eldest sons. Annunciata Caterina was left her jewelry, clothing, linens, and income on loans. Paolo, the youngest child, would get six finished violins—valued at 1,000 lire—as well as some household effects and cash. Three other children who had joined religious orders were left with their share of inheritance: Maria, a nun, would get an annuity; Alessandro, a priest, would get fixed income on a home mortgage loan; and Giuseppe, another priest, would get some income on half a share from a pastry shop. There were also annual payments to his two sons of 150 and 300 lire each and 170 lire for Annunciata and 100 for Francesca.  His remaining two sons from his first marriage had both worked in the family shop. Omobono, who had left the dwelling aged eighteen in search of new employment possibilities in Naples, would inherit six violins, and Francesco, who was named his father's successor, would inherit the rest of the estate, including all of the tools, stencils, finished violins, patterns, and—ostensibly—his father's reputation. In 1733, he had bought his youngest son a partnership in a local textile firm for the large amount of 25,000 lire.

Career.

Early career.

Stradivari probably developed his own style slowly. Some of his early violins were smaller, with notable exception to this is the 1679 "Hellier" violin, which had much larger proportions. Stradivari's early (pre-1684) violins are in strong contrast to Amati's instruments from the same time period; Stradivari's have a stronger, more masculine build, and less rounded curves, with the purfling set farther in.  By 1680, Stradivari had acquired at least a small, yet growing, reputation. In 1682, a Venetian banker ordered a complete set of instruments, which he planned to present to King James II of England. The fate of these instruments is unknown. Cosimo III de' Medici bought another five years later. Amati died in 1684, an event followed by a noticeable increase in Stradivari's production. The years 1684 and 1685 also marked an important development in his style—the dimensions he used generally increased, and his instruments were more in the style of Amati's work of the 1640s and 1650s. Stradivari's instruments underwent no major change in the next five years, although in 1688 he began cutting a more distinct bevel and began outlining the heads of instruments in black, a quite original improvement.  Stradivari's early career is marked by wide experimentation, and his instruments during this period are generally considered of a lesser quality than his later work. However, the precision with which he carved the heads and inserted the purfling quickly marked him as one of the most dextrous craftsmen in the world, a prime example of this being the 1690 "Tuscan" violin. Pre-1690 instruments are sometimes termed "Amatisé" but this is not completely accurate; it is largely because Stradivari created many more instruments later on that people try to connect his early work with Amati's style.  By 1680 Stradivari moved to No. 1 Piazza Roma (formerly No. 2 Piazza San Domenico). The house was just doors away from those of several other violin making families of Cremona, including the Amatis and Guarneris. Stradivari probably worked in the loft and attic, and he lived in this house for the rest of his life.

"Golden" period and later years.

In the early 1690s, Stradivari made a pronounced departure from this earlier style of instrument-making, changing two key elements of his instruments. First, he began to make violins with a larger pattern than previous instruments; these larger violins usually are known as "Long Strads". He also switched to using a darker, richer varnish, as opposed to a yellower varnish similar to that used by Amati. He continued to use this pattern until 1698, with few exceptions. After 1698, he abandoned the Long Strad model and returned to a slightly shorter model, which he used until his death. The period from 1700 until the 1720s is often termed the "golden period" of his production. Instruments made during this time are usually considered of a higher quality than his earlier instruments. Late-period instruments made from the late 1720s until his death in 1737 show signs of Stradivari's advancing age. These late instruments may be a bit less beautiful than the Golden Period instruments, but many nonetheless possess a fine tone. Heavier and looser craftmanship of the late Stradivari output can be seen in the 1734 'Habeneck'.

Stradivari and the Cremonese violin making school.

Influence in the 18th century.

The Stradivari parish, San Matteo, and the Amati parish, San Faustino, comprised the center of Cremonese violin making. They exerted influence on one another's shape, varnish and sound of instruments, but also on many of their contemporaries'; they defined violin making standards for the next 300 years.  Even at the beginning of the 18th century, Stradivari's influence could be seen not only in the work of Cremonese makers, but also international ones, such as Barak Norman's, one of the first important British makers. In the 1720s Daniel Parker, a very important British luthier, produced fine violins after Stradivari's work selling anywhere from £30,000 to £60,000 in recent auctions. Parker based his best instruments on Stradivari's "long pattern", having the opportunity to study one or more of the instruments. Well into the 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the leading French luthier of his time, also made many important copies of Strads and Guarneris.  In the 18th century, Cremonese luthiers were the suppliers and local players on the demand side. After Stradivari's death, this drastically changed. Although the Cremonese luthiers remained the suppliers, the demand side now consisted mainly of collectors, researchers, imitators, profiteers, and speculators. Many local players could no longer afford the sought out instruments and most of the purchased instruments would be hidden in private collections, put in museums, or simply put back in their cases, hoping that they would gain value over time. This is when the Stradivari "fever" really took off. The violin collector Count Ignazio Alessandro Cozio di Salabue, Vuillaume, and later Tarisio Auctions have all contributed to this frenzy that would extend well into the 21st century. Also, most of the other major Cremonese luthiers died soon after Stradivari, putting an end to the golden period of Cremona's violin making, which lasted more than 150 years, starting with the Amatis and ending with the Cerutis.  The Cremonese maker Vincenzo Rugeri (1663–1719), while staying true to the Grand Amati Pattern by Nicolo Amati, was influenced by Stradivari in that he adopted a somewhat lower arch consistent with Stradivarian ideals.  Members of the Gagliano family such as Gennaro and Nicolo made excellent copies of the instruments in the 1740s, though the only similarity to Stradivari's instruments were the execution of the form and arching as well as consistently fine and detailed varnish. Nicolo would usually use the "forma" B model for his cellos and as the quality of the output steadily declined within the family, the Stradivari models were almost abandoned in Naples.  Having acquired many Strads from Paolo Stradivari, Count Cozio commissioned Giovanni Battista Guadagnini to make some replicas of the instruments. Although many features of Strads are present in the copies, they still remain heavily influenced by Guadagnini's workshop principles and represent well the maker's Turin period.  Vincenzo Panormo was also one of the many luthiers who based many of his violins on Strads. He learned about them in Paris between 1779 and 1789 when he worked closely with Léopold Renaudin, another one of Strad's followers. Stradivari's influence could also be seen in Spain with the outstanding work of José Contreras of Granada and Madrid. Having the privilege to be exposed to Stradivari's instruments through the Spanish court, he was experienced enough to replace the scroll of a 1717 Stradivari cello and possibly even make its back and ribs. He had a great ability to imitate the original varnish and intricacy of the instrument.

Influence in the 19th and 20th century.

The 19th century was not as eventful in comparison to the previous centuries. Some of the most important luthiers from this part of history include Giovanni Rota, as well as the two non-Italian makers François Chanot in France and the artist, inventor and musician William Sidney Mount in the US, who both created experimental violins.  The 20th century was the so-called rebirth of Cremonese making, when luthiers such as Giuseppe Antonio Rocca, Giovanni Battista Morassi, Beltrami, and the Antoniazzi family emerged from a seemingly uneventful and experimental period. These makers, sometimes basing their early violins on Strads, would later on make their own models and would inspire each other's work.

Stradivari and his sons.

Even though Antonio had a very long working life, it is impossible for him to have crafted more than 1,000 instruments entirely by himself, meaning that his sons, Francesco and Omobono, as well as possibly a third son, must have been working on and off in his shop. It is known that having left the workshop at eighteen, Omobono made a few instruments on his own, such as the 'Blagrove' and another violin dating from 1732. On his side, Francesco made very few violins independently, such as the 1742 'Salabue' and 'Oliveira', spending his lifetime in his father's shop. This was one of the main reasons that Francesco had a large part in Antonio's will, and Omobono a lesser one. One of the major differences between Antonio and his sons' craftsmanship was the quality of the purfling on their instruments, which in the case of Francesco and Omobono has been referred to as "startlingly poor".  "Only a handful of instruments are reliably attributed to Francesco alone.... [There are only] two authentic labels known: 'Franciscus Stradivarius Cremonensis / Filius Antonii faciebat Anno 1742'... Notably it omits the A+S stamp that occurs on Antonio's labels. Another label states 'Sotto la Disciplina d'Antonio / Stradivari F. in Cremona 1737'. This is of course the year of his father's death, and the phrase'sotto la disciplina', although it appears in a few other instruments, may here be a particular sign of his respect."

Stradivarius instruments.

The Hills Violin Shop estimate that Stradivari produced 1,116 instruments, of which 960 were violins. It is also estimated that around 650 of these instruments survive, including 450 to 512 violins.  Stradivari's instruments are regarded as amongst the finest bowed stringed instruments ever created, are highly prized, and are still played by professionals today. Only one other maker, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, commands a similar respect among violinists. However, neither blind listening tests nor acoustic analysis have ever demonstrated that Stradivarius instruments are better than other high-quality instruments or even reliably distinguishable from them.  While the usual label for a Stradivarius instrument, whether genuine or false, uses the traditional Latin inscription, after the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, copies were also inscribed with the country of origin. Since thousands of instruments are based on Stradivari's models and bear the same name as his models, many unwary people are deceived into purchasing forged Stradivarius instruments, which can be avoided by authenticating the instrument.  Some violinists and cellists use Stradivari instruments in their work. Yo-Yo Ma uses the "Davidov Stradivarius", Julian Lloyd Webber employs the "Barjansky Stradivarius", and, until his death in 2007, Mstislav Rostropovich played on the "Duport Stradivarius". The "Soil" of 1714 is owned by virtuoso Itzhak Perlman. The "Countess Polignac" is currently played by Gil Shaham. The Vienna Philharmonic uses several Stradivari instruments that were purchased by Austria's central bank Oesterreichische Nationalbank and other sponsors: "Chaconne", 1725; "ex-Hämmerle", 1709; "ex-Smith-Quersin", 1714; "ex-Arnold Rosé", "ex-Viotti", 1718; and "ex-Halphen", 1727. Viktoria Mullova owns and plays the "Jules Falk".  The London sales of "The Mendelssohn" at £902,000 ($1,776,940) in 1990 and "The Kreutzer" for £947,500 in 1998 constitute two top-selling Stradivari. A record price paid at a public auction for a Stradivari was $2,032,000 for the "Lady Tennant" at Christie's in New York, April 2005. On 16 May 2006, Christie's auctioned Stradivari's 1707 "Hammer" for a new record of US$3,544,000. On 2 April 2007, Christie's sold a Stradivari violin, the 1729 "Solomon, Ex-Lambert", for more than $2.7 million to an anonymous bidder in the auction house's fine musical instruments sale. Its price, US$2,728,000 including Christie's commission, far outdid its estimated value: $1 million to $1.5 million. On 14 October 2010, a 1697 Stradivari violin known as "The Molitor" was sold online by Tarisio Auctions for a world-record price of $3,600,000 to violinist Anne Akiko Meyers: at the time its price was the highest for any musical instrument sold at auction. On 21 June 2011, the Lady Blunt Stradivarius, a 1721 violin, was auctioned by Tarisio to an anonymous bidder for almost £10 million, with all proceeds going to help the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. This was over four times the previous auction record for a Stradivari violin. The Baron von der Leyen Strad was auctioned by Tarisio on 26 April 2012, for $2.6 million.  Publicly displayed collections of Stradivari instruments are those of the Library of Congress with three violins, a viola, and a cello, the Agency of National Estates of Spain, with a quartet of two violins, the "Spanish I and II", the "Spanish Court" cello, and the "Spanish Court" viola, exhibited in the Music Museum at the Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid) and the Royal Academy of Music's Collections with several instruments by Antonio Stradivari, including the "Joachim" (1698), "Rutson" (1694), the "Crespi" (1699), "Viotti ex-Bruce" (1709), "Kustendyke" (1699), "Maurin" (1718) and the "Ex Back" (1666) violins, "Ex Kux" (1714), and the "Archinto" (1696) violas, the "Marquis de Corberon" (1726) and the "Markevitch" (1709) celli. The Musée de la musique in Paris displays several beautiful Stradivari instruments that formerly belonged to the Paris Conservatory.  The collection of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra had the largest number of Stradivari in its string section, purchased in 2003 from the collection of Herbert R. Axelrod, until it decided to sell them in 2007. A collection assembled by Rodman Wanamaker in the 1920s contained as many as 65 stringed instruments by such masters as Stradivari, Gofriller, Baptiste and Giuseppe Guarneri. Included was "The Swan", the last violin made by Stradivari, and soloist instrument of the great Cuban 19th-century virtuoso Joseph White. The collection, known as The Cappella, was used in concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski before being dispersed after Wanamaker's death. The Vienna Philharmonic uses four violins and one cello. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has three Stradivari violins dated 1693, 1694 and 1717. The National Music Museum, in Vermillion, South Dakota, has in its collection one of two known Stradivari guitars, one of eleven known violas da gamba, later modified into a cello form, one of two known choral mandolins, and one of six Stradivari violins that still retain their original neck. In the interests of conservation, the "Messiah Stradivarius" violin—on display in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England—has not been played at all in recent years.

References.

Notes Sources

External links.

Articles  Historical books

Antonio Stradivari (,, ; 1644 – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, "Stradivarius", as well as the colloquial "Strad" are terms often used to refer to his instruments. It is estimated that Stradivari produced 1,116 instruments, of which 960 were violins. Around 650 instruments survived, including 450 to 512 violins.

Antonio Giacomo Stradivari, dit « Stradivarius » (né en 1644 à Crémone, duché de Milan, et mort le dans sa ville natale, à l'âge de 93 ans), est un luthier italien, fabricant de violons (600), de violoncelles (50), d'altos (12) et de guitares (3), le plus important de sa profession. La forme latine de son nom, « stradivarius » est par antonomase souvent utilisée pour se référer à ses instruments et par métaphore désigne l'excellence dans une matière.


Taxonomy and etymology.

First described by Danish naturalist Erik Pontoppidan in 1763, the red-throated loon is a monotypic species with no distinctive subspecies despite its large Holarctic range. Pontoppidan initially placed the species in the now-defunct genus "Colymbus", which contained grebes as well as loons. By 1788, German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster realized that grebes and loons were different enough to warrant separate genera, and moved the red-throated loon (along with all other loon species) to its present genus. Its relationship to the four other loons is complex; although all belong to the same genus, it differs from the others in terms of morphology, behaviour, ecology and breeding biology and may be the basal lineage of the genus. It is thought to have evolved in the Palearctic, and then to have expanded into the Nearctic. Analysis of molecular data together with the fossil record suggests the lineage of the red-throated loon diverged from that giving rise to the other loon species around 21.4 million years ago in the Miocene, and that it may be most closely related to the fossil Pliocene species "Gavia howardae".  The genus name "Gavia" comes from the Latin for "sea mew", as used by ancient Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder. The specific epithet "stellata" is Latin for "set with stars" or "starry", and refers to the bird's speckled back in its non-breeding plumage. Members of the family Gavidae are known as "loons" in North America and "divers" in Great Britain and Ireland. The International Ornithological Congress uses the name "red-throated loon" for this species. "Diver" refers to the family's underwater method of hunting for prey, while "red-throated" is a straightforward reference to the bird's most distinctive breeding plumage feature. The word "loon" is thought to have derived from the Swedish "lom", the Old Norse or Icelandic "lómr", or the Old Dutch "loen", all of which mean "lame" or "clumsy", and is a probable reference to the difficulty that all loons have in moving about on land. A local name from Willapa Harbor, Washington, was "Quaker loon".

Description.

Like the other members of its genus, the red-throated loon is well adapted to its aquatic environment: its dense bones help it to submerge, its legs—in their set-back position—provide excellent propulsion, and its body is long and streamlined. Even its sharply pointed bill may help its underwater streamlining. Its feet are large, its front three toes are fully webbed, and its tarsus is flattened, which reduces drag and allows the leg to move easily through the water.  The red-throated loon is the smallest and lightest of the world's loon species, ranging from in length with a wingspan, and weighing. Like all loons, it is long-bodied and short-necked, with its legs set far back on its body. The sexes are similar in appearance, although males tend to be slightly larger and heavier than females. In breeding plumage, the adult has a dark grey head and neck (with narrow black and white stripes on the back of the neck), a triangular red throat patch, white underparts, and a dark grey-brown mantle. It is the only loon with an all-dark back in breeding plumage. The non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin, foreneck, and much of the face white, the top of the head and back of the neck grey, and considerable white speckling on the dark mantle. Its iris is carmine-red to burgundy in color, its legs are black on the outer half and pale on the inner half, and the webs of its feet are pinkish-brown, with darker margins.  Its bill is thin, straight, and sharp, and often held at an uptilted angle. One of the bird's North American folk names is pegging-awl loon, a reference to its sharply pointed bill, which resembles a sailmaker's awl (a tool also known as a "pegging awl" in New England). Though the colour of the bill changes from black in summer to pale grey in winter, the timing of the colour change does not necessarily correspond to that of the bird's overall plumage change. The nostrils are narrow slits located near the base of the bill.  When it first emerges from its egg, the young red-throated loon is covered with fine soft down feathers. Primarily dark brown to dark grey above, it is slightly paler on the sides of its head and neck, as well as on its throat, chest, and flanks, with a pale grey lower breast and belly. Within weeks, this first down is replaced by a second, paler set of down feathers, which are in turn replaced by developing juvenile feathers. The juvenile's plumage is similar to that of the adult, though with a few distinguishing features. It has a darker forehead and neck, with heavy speckling on the sides of the neck and the throat. Its back is browner and less speckled, and its underparts are tinged with brown. Its eyes are reddish-brown, and its beak is a pale grey. Though some young birds hold this plumage until mid-winter, many quickly become virtually indistinguishable from adults, except for their paler bills. In flight, the red-throated loon has a distinctive profile; its small feet do not project far past the end of its body, its head and neck droop below the horizontal (giving the flying bird a distinctly hunchbacked shape) and its thin wings are angled back. It has a quicker, deeper wingbeat than do other loons.

Voice.

The adult red-throated loon has a number of vocalisations, which are used in different circumstances. In flight, when passing conspecifics or circling its own pond, it gives a series of rapid yet rhythmic goose-like cackles—"kaa-kaa-kaa" or "kak-kak-kak", at roughly five calls per second. Its warning call, if disturbed by humans or onshore predators, is a short croaking bark. A low-pitched moaning call, used primarily as a contact call between mates and between parents and young, but also during copulation, is made with the bill closed. The species also has a short wailing call—"aarOOao...aarOOao..."—which descends slightly in pitch and lasts about a second; due to strong harmonics surrounding the primary pitch, this meowing call is more musical than its other calls. Another call—a harsh, pulsed cooing that rises and falls in pitch, and is typically repeated up to 10 times in a row—is used in territorial encounters and pair-bonding, and by parent birds encouraging their young to move on land between bodies of water. Known as the "long call", it is often given in duet, which is unusual among the loons; the female's contribution is longer and softer than her mate's.  Young have a shrill closed-bill call, which they use in begging and to contact their parents. They also have a long call used in response to (and similar to that of) the long call of adults.

Similar species.

At medium to close range, an adult red-throated loon in either breeding or non-breeding plumage is usually easily recognised. However, in certain light conditions, at certain times in its moulting cycle, or at greater distances, it may be mistaken for another species—most commonly the black-throated loon, but also occasionally the great crested grebe. It shows more white on the head and neck than does the black-throated loon, and—provided it is not sitting low in the water—tends to show more white on the flanks as well. If it is sitting lower in the water, so that the white on the flanks is reduced to a patch on the rear flank (thus resembling the pattern of the black-throated loon), that patch tends to be less clearly defined than the comparative patch on the black-throated.

Habitat and distribution.

The red-throated loon breeds primarily in the Arctic regions of northern Eurasia and North America (generally north of 50°N latitude), and winters in northern coastal waters, sometimes in groups of considerable size. More than 4,400 spend the winter in a loose concentration on the eastern part of the German Bight, for example. Unlike other loons, it regularly uses very small freshwater lakes as breeding sites. Its small size renders it more versatile, but it is less able to feed on deeper prey. The increase in size and diversity of the remaining species of loons suggests that the benefits of larger size outweigh the limitations.  In North America, it winters regularly along both coasts, ranging as far south as the Baja California Peninsula and the Gulf of California in north-western Mexico; it has been recorded as a vagrant in the interior Mexican state of Hidalgo. Some of its folk names in north-eastern North America—including cape race, cape brace, cape drake and cape racer, as well as corruptions such as scapegrace—originated from its abundance around Cape Race, Newfoundland. In Europe, it breeds in Iceland, northern Scotland, north-western Ireland (only a few pairs breed ), Scandinavia and northern Russia, and winters along the coast as far south as parts of Spain; it also regularly occurs along major inland waterways, including the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas, as well as large rivers, lakes and reservoirs. It has occurred as a vagrant as far south as Morocco, Tunisia and the Gambia. In Asia, it breeds in the northern stretches of Siberia, and winters along the Pacific coast as far south as China, Japan and Taiwan. It has occurred as a vagrant in Mongolia.

Behaviour.

Because its feet are located so far back on its body, the red-throated loon is quite clumsy walking on land, but it can use its feet to shove itself forward on its breast. Young use this method of covering ground when moving from their breeding pools to larger bodies of water, including rivers and the sea. It is the only species of loon able to take off directly from land. If frightened, it may submerge until only its head or bill shows above the surface of the water.  The red-throated loon is a diurnal migrant, which travels singly or in loose groups, often high above the water. In eastern North America (and possibly elsewhere), it tends to migrate near the coast rather than farther offshore; Siberian populations travel for hundreds of miles over land en route to their southern European wintering grounds. It is a strong flier, and has been clocked at speeds between. Like all members of its family, the red-throated loon goes through a simultaneous wing moult, losing all its flight feathers at once and becoming flightless for a period of three to four weeks. Unlike other loons—which undergo this moult in late winter—the red-throated loon loses its ability to fly sometime between late summer and late autumn.

Food and feeding.

Like all members of its family, the red-throated loon is primarily a fish-eater, though it sometimes feeds on molluscs, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic invertebrates, insects, fish spawn or even plant material. It seizes rather than spears its prey, which is generally captured underwater. Though it normally dives and swims using only its feet for propulsion, it may use its wings as well if it needs to turn or accelerate quickly. Pursuit dives range from in depth, with an average underwater time of about a minute. Its fish diet increases the red-throated loon's vulnerability to persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals, both of which bioaccumulate, thus potentially causing greater problems for long-lived species (such as the loon) at or near the top of the food chain. Its main diet has also led to several of the loon's British folk names, including "sprat borer" and "spratoon".  For the first few days after hatching, young red-throated loons are fed aquatic insects and small crustaceans by both parents. After 3–4 days, the parents switch to fish small enough for the young birds to swallow whole. By four weeks of age, the young can eat the same food—of the same size—as their parents do. Young birds may be fed for some time after fledging; adults have been seen feeding fish to juveniles at sea and on inland lakes in the United Kingdom, hundreds of kilometres from any breeding areas.

Breeding and survival.

The red-throated loon is a monogamous species which forms long-term pair bonds. Both sexes build the nest, which is a shallow scrape (or occasionally a platform of mud and vegetation) lined with vegetation and sometimes a few feathers, and placed within a half-metre (18 in) of the edge of a small pond. The female lays two eggs (though clutches of one and three have also been recorded); they are incubated for 24–29 days, primarily by the female. The eggs, which are greenish or olive-brownish spotted with black, measure and have a mass of, of which 8% is shell. Incubation is begun as soon as the first egg is laid, so they hatch asynchronously. If a clutch is lost (to predation or flooding, for example) before the young hatch, the red-throated loon usually lays a second clutch, generally in a new nest. The young birds are precocial: upon hatching, they are downy and mobile, with open eyes. Both parents feed them small aquatic invertebrates initially, then small fish for 38–48 days. Parents will perform distraction displays to lure predators away from the nest and young. Ornithologists disagree as to whether adults carry young on their backs while swimming with some maintaining that they do and others the opposite.  In the wild, the oldest known red-throated loon lived for more than two decades. It was found, oiled and dead, on a beach in Sweden 23 years and 7 months after it had been ringed (banded).

Conservation status and threats.

Although the red-throated loon is not a globally threatened species, as it has a large population and a significant range, there are populations which appear to be declining. Numbers counted in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys in Alaska show a 53% population decline between 1971 and 1993, for example, and survey count numbers have dropped in continental Europe as well. In Scotland, on the other hand, the population increased by some 16% between 1994 and 2006, according to surveys done by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Scottish Natural Heritage. In 2002, Wetlands International estimated a global population of 490,000 to 1,500,000 individuals; global population trends have not been quantified.  The red-throated loon is one of the species to which the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" (AEWA) applies; in the Americas, it is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Oil spills, habitat degradation, and fishing nets are among the main threats this species faces. Because it tends to migrate close to shore—generally within of land—it may be detrimentally affected by the construction of near-shore wind farms; studies indicate a high level of avoidance of wind farm areas, though deaths due to direct strikes with the turbines appear to be uncommon. High levels of mercury in the environment have led to reproductive failures in some areas, including parts of Sweden. Studies in Sweden have also shown that they may be adversely impacted by the acidification of lakes, as the fish on which they prey are susceptible to low pH. On the breeding grounds, Arctic and red foxes are major predators of eggs, while great skuas, Arctic skuas and various species of "Larus" gulls (including great black-backed gulls and glaucous gulls) are predators of both eggs and young.  The species is known to serve as host for at least 51 species of parasites, most of which are roundworms (nematodes), flatworms (digeneans) and tapeworms (cestodes) carried internally; a single species of louse is its only known external parasite. It is also known to sometimes carry significant populations of diatoms (microscopic phytoplankton) on its contour feathers. The red-throated loon is susceptible to avian influenza and Type E botulism, and is regularly killed by the ingestion of neurotoxins produced by "red tide" algal blooms. During a 2007 bloom, large numbers of the birds also died of hypothermia, after their plumages became matted by a protein byproduct of the algae, which reduced the insulating properties of their feathers.

In human culture.

Used as a food source since prehistoric times, the red-throated loon is still hunted by indigenous peoples in some parts of the world today. Eggs as well as birds are taken, sometimes in significant numbers; during one study on northern Canada's Igloolik Island, 73% of all red-throated loon eggs laid within the 10 km (3.9 mi) study site over two breeding seasons were collected by indigenous inhabitants of the island. In some parts of Russia, red-throated loon skins were traditionally used to make caps and various clothing decorations, including collars. The species was also central to the creation mythologies of indigenous groups throughout the Holarctic. According to the myth—which varies only slightly between versions, despite the sometimes-vast distances that separated the groups who believed it—the loon was asked by a great shaman to bring up earth from the bottom of the sea. That earth was then used to build the world's dry land.  As recently as the 1800s, the behaviour of the red-throated loon was used to forecast the weather; according to the conventional wisdom of the time, birds flying inland or giving short cries predicted good weather, while those flying out to sea or giving long, wailing cries predicted rain. In the Orkney and Shetland islands of Scotland, the species is still known as the "rain goose" in deference to its supposed weather-predicting capabilities. The people of the Faroe Islands believed that if the red-throated loon miaowed like a cat, then rain was imminent, while a call of'or'predicted fine weather.  Bhutan, Japan, Åland (an autonomous region of Finland), and the Union of the Comoros have issued stamps featuring the red-throated loon.

The red-throated loon (North America) or red-throated diver (Britain and Ireland) ("Gavia stellata") is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family, it breeds primarily in Arctic regions, and winters in northern coastal waters. Ranging from in length, the red-throated loon is the smallest and lightest of the world's loons. In winter, it is a nondescript bird, greyish above fading to white below. During the breeding season, it acquires the distinctive reddish throat patch which is the basis for its common name. Fish form the bulk of its diet, though amphibians, invertebrates, and plant material are sometimes eaten as well. A monogamous species, red-throated loons form long-term pair bonds. Both members of the pair help to build the nest, incubate the eggs (generally two per clutch), and feed the hatched young.

Le Plongeon catmarin ("Gavia stellata"), aussi appelé Plongeon à gorge rouge, Plongeon à gorge rousse, et au Québec Huart à gorge rousse, est une espèce d'oiseau de l'ordre des gaviiformes. C'est le plus petit membre de la famille des gaviidés ; il mesure de 52 à de long et son envergure varie de 91 à, parfois au-delà. C’est aussi celui qui a l’aire de répartition la plus étendue.


History.

Air Wales was established in January 1997 with the assistance of property financier Roy Thomas and started operations in January 2000. Initially based at Pembrey Airport in west Wales and operating two Dornier 228 aircraft, Air Wales expanded to employ over 120 personnel, including 45 flight deck staff, 20 engineers and 20 cabin crew.  Operations transferred to Red Dragon House at the grounds of Swansea Airport, Fairwood Common, in October 2001. Passenger numbers failed to reach the company's break-even levels and, after three years, Air Wales gave up all its Swansea routes. The airline decided to concentrate on routes out of Cardiff, moving operations to a new headquarters at Cardiff International Airport in October 2004.  In December 2005, bmibaby and Air Wales had a fallout leaving bmibaby to cancel a partnership between the two airlines. The partnership covered the routes Belfast and Glasgow which were operated by Air Wales.  During February 2006, Air Wales gave up all routes from Plymouth to focus on more popular routes and international routes.  On 23 April 2006, the airline ceased all scheduled services with a loss of 80 jobs to focus on charter and cargo operations, however these operations never materialised and the aircraft were all sold to other airlines.

Services.

Air Wales operated the following services (in February 2006), which had all ceased by the end of April 2006:

Terminated destinations.

Air Wales served 20 destinations across Europe.

Partnership with bmibaby.

Air Wales had a partnership with bmibaby to operate on the following routes:

Fleet.

Air Wales originally operated Dornier 228 aircraft. These were replaced by a fleet of ATR-42-300 aircraft:  In March 2006, Air Wales fleet average age was 13.4 years.

Air Wales was an airline based at Cardiff International Airport in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan. It operated scheduled regional services within Great Britain, as well as to Ireland, Belgium and France. On 23 April 2006, Air Wales ceased all operations, citing "spiralling costs" and "aggressive competition" from larger low-cost airlines.

Air Wales (en gallois Awyr Cymru) (Code AITA : 6G ; code OACI : AWW) était une compagnie aérienne galloise, à bas coûts qui reliait Cardiff à Aberdeen ou à Plymouth. Elle a cessé tous ses vols le.


Early life.

Baldwin was a younger son of Hugh I, Count of Rethel and Melisende of Monthléry. He was closely related to the lords of Courtenay and Le Puiset, and other noble families in the Ile-de-France. He was also a kinsman of the brothers Eustace III of Boulogne, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Baldwin of Boulogne, but their exact relationship is unknown. Historian Alan V. Murray says that the primary sources suggest that their connection "was not particularly close", and that Baldwin was most probably related to their mother, Ida of Lorraine. Thomas Asbridge says that Baldwin was the Boulogne brothers' second cousin.  He was the lord of Bourcq when he joined the army of Godfrey of Boulogne at the beginning of the First Crusade. The army departed for the Holy Land on 15August 1096, and reached Constantinople on 23 December. The Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, urged the crusader leaders to take an oath of fealty to him.

Count of Edessa.

First years.

Baldwin was staying in Antioch when Baldwin of Boulogne decided to leave Edessa. He was a military commander of the troops of Bohemond I of Antioch who had recently been captured by Danishmend Gazi. Baldwin of Boulogne summoned Baldwin from Antioch and granted him the County of Edessa. Baldwin swore fealty to Baldwin of Boulogne, who left Edessa for Jerusalem on 2October 1100.  Baldwin married Morphia, the daughter of Gabriel, the Armenian lord of Melitene, which enabled him to consolidate his position among his mainly Armenian subjects. Sökmen, the Artuqid ruler of Mardin, attacked Saruj in early 1101. Baldwin attempted to relieve the town, but Sökmen routed his army, forcing him to return to Edessa. When relating these events, the Armenian historian, Matthew of Edessa, described Baldwin as a coward who was "pitiful in body". Sökmen captured

First captivity.

Baldwin's troops made frequent raids against the fertile plains around Harran. Sökmen and Jikirmish, the atabeg of Mosul, made an alliance and invaded Edessa in May 1104. While their troops were assembling at Ras al-Ayn, Baldwin sent envoys to Joscelin and Bohemond and persuaded them to make a joint attack against Harran. Baldwin, Bohemond and Joscelin went together to Harran and entered into negotiations with the Seljuq garrison for a peaceful surrender. However, both Baldwin and Bohemond wanted to seize the wealthy town and the crusader army started disintegrating because of their conflict.  Sökmen and Jikirmish attacked the crusaders' camp at Harran on 7May. Applying the tactic of feigned retreat, they drew the crusaders into an ambush, capturing Baldwin and Joscelin. Bohemond and Tancred rode to Edessa to save the town. Benedict, Archbishop of Edessa, who was also captured but quickly released, and the Edessene knights elected Tancred regent for the captive Baldwin.

Conflicts.

Baldwin went to Edessa after his release, but Tancred demanded his oath of fealty in exchange for the town. Baldwin refused and went to Turbessel. After Tancred carried out a raid against Turbessel, they started peace negotiations, but could not reach a compromise. Baldwin made an alliance with Kogh Vasil against Tancred. Oshin of Lampron also sent troops300 Pecheneg horsemento join them. Their raids against the Principality of Antioch persuaded Tancred to accept the arbitration of the Catholic prelates, who decided in favor of Baldwin; he returned to Edessa on 18September 1108.  In accordance with his treaty with Jawali, Baldwin released most of the Muslim prisoners held in Edessa. He also allowed the Muslim burghers of Saruj to build a mosque, and executed the unpopular "rais" (or governor) of the town, who was a convert from Islam. Jawali's alliance with Baldwin

Mawdud's campaigns.

The Seljuq sultan instructed Mawdud to unite his troops with the Seljuq ruler of Armenia, Sökmen el-Kutbî, and the Artuqid Ilghazi against the crusaders. They laid siege to Edessa in April 1110. Baldwin sent envoys to Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who was besieging Beirut, urging him to come to his rescue, but the king did not abandon the siege until Beirut fell on 13May. Before departing for Edessa, Baldwin I celebrated Pentecost in Jerusalem. The King persuaded Bertrand of Tripoli, Joscelin of Courtenay and other crusader leaders to join his campaign, and

Expansion.

While Baldwin was away from his capital to take possession of Turbessel, the Armenians of Edessa continued to plot against him. He returned to the town and ordered the transportation of the Armenian townspeople to Samosata. After the Armenians started to move to Kaisun, Baldwin allowed those who remained in Samosata to return to Edessa in early 1114.  Mawdud's successor, Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, invaded the county in May 1114, but Edessa resisted his siege, forcing him to return to Mosul. The Sultan made Bursuq ibn Bursuq of Hamadan the supreme commander of the Seljuq armies. Bursuq moved on Edessa in early 1115, but he soon left for Aleppo. Lulu el-Yaya, the atabeg of

King of Jerusalem.

Ascension to the throne.

The childless Baldwin I of Jerusalem died on 2April 1118, during a campaign against Egypt. According to the contemporaneous Albert of Aachen he had willed the kingdom to his eldest brother, Eustace III of Boulogne, "if by chance he would come", but also stipulated that Baldwin of Bourcq should be elected king, if Eustace were unable to come, "because of his age". Baldwin arrived in Jerusalem around the day when the late king's body was carried into the town. Albert of Aachen stated that Baldwin had come to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, without having any knowledge of the King's death. Decades later, William of Tyre recorded that Baldwin had been informed of his kinsman's death during his journey to Jerusalem. The question of Baldwin I's succession divided the barons and the prelates, according to William of Tyre. The highest-ranking prelate, Arnulf of Chocques, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Joscelin of Courtenay, who held the largest fief in the kingdom, argued that Baldwin should be elected without delay

Muslim threat.

His predecessor's last campaign against Egypt brought about a rapprochement between Egypt and Damascus. Baldwin sent envoys to Toghtekin in Damascus to argue against his making an alliance with the Egyptian vizier, Al-Afdal Shahanshah, but Toghtekin demanded Oultrejourdain in return for his neutrality. Toghtekin launched an incursion against Galilee and Al-Afdal gathered his troops near Ascalon in May or June 1118. Baldwin hurried to the southern frontier and urged Roger and Pons to send reinforcements from Antioch and Tripoli. Neither the Egyptians nor the crusaders risked a pitched battle and both armies were dissolved three months later. Baldwin and Joscelin made a raid against Damascene territory in the autumn and defeated Toghtekin's son, Taj al-Muluk Buri near Daraa.  Ilghazi, Toghtekin and the Munquidites of Shaizar made an alliance and their troops started raiding Antioch and Edessa in May 1119. Roger sent envoys to Baldwin, urging him to come to the north to fight

Second captivity.

Baldwin made a raid towards Kharput where Belek held Joscelin and other knights captive, but he stopped near Gargar. While Baldwin was preparing to practice falconry on the morning of 18April 1123, Belek attacked his camp and captured him. Baldwin was taken to the fortress of Kharput. While Belek was away in Aleppo in June, Jocelyn's fifty Armenian supporters came to Kharput, disguising themselves as monks, and expelled the Seljuq garrison from the fortress. Joscelin left Kharput to gather troops in Turbessel and Antioch, but Baldwin and the Armenian soldiers remained in the fortress to defend it against Belek. Belek returned to Kharput and forced Baldwin to surrender. Belek ordered the execution of the Armenians and transferred Baldwin to Harran.  On learning of Baldwin's captivity, Patriarch Warmund convoked the prelates and barons to an assembly which elected Eustace Grenier bailiff (or regent) of Jerusalem. After Grenier died on 15June, William of Bures succeeded him as regent. The bailiffs and the patriarch closely cooperated with each other and other high-ranking officials in administering the kingdom during Baldwin's captivity.

Wars.

Baldwin went to Antioch where Patriarch Bernard reminded him that he had not been authorized to renounce Antiochene territories and on 6September 1124 forbade him to cede fortresses to Timurtash. On 6October, Baldwin laid siege to Aleppo where the hostages for his ransom were held. Dubais ibn Sadaqa, and two Seljuq princes, Sultan-Shah ibn Radwan and Toghrul Arslan, joined him and Timurtash did not support the besieged town. Il-Bursuqi decided to intervene and gathered his troops. On learning of al-Bursuqi's approach, Dubais ibn Sadaqa withdrew from Aleppo, which forced Baldwin to lift the siege on 25January 1125.  After more than two years absence, Baldwin returned to Jerusalem on 3April. He renegotiated the "Pactum Warmundi" with the Venetians, approving most of its terms in the so-called "Pactum Balduini", but also stipulating that the Venetians were to provide military assistance to the kingdom. After al-Bursuqi, Toghtekin and Khirkan of Homs captured Kafartab and laid siege to Zardana, Baldwin again went north. Few knights accompanied him from the kingdom, which according to Murray and Barber

Succession.

After reaching the age of majority, Bohemond II of Antioch came to Syria to claim his inheritance in October 1126. His arrival put an end to Baldwin's rule in Antioch, but Bohemond married Baldwin's second daughter, Alice. Baldwin, who had no sons, made his eldest daughter, Melisende, his heir in 1126 or 1127.  Baldwin had already realized that the crusaders were unable to conquer Damascus without further reinforcements from Europe. After consulting with his nobles, he sent William I of Bures and Guy of Brisebarre to France to offer Melisende's hand to the powerful count of Anjou, Fulk V, in the autumn

Family.

Most Armenians adhered to the Monophysite Armenian Apostolic Church, but Baldwin's wife, Morphia, was born to an Orthodox noble family. Her father, Gabriel, gave her in marriage to Baldwin, because he needed the crusaders' support against his enemies. Morphia gave birth to four daughters. She died on 1October 1126 or 1127.  The eldest daughter of Baldwin and Morphia, Melisende, succeeded Baldwin along with her husband,

Legacy.

Baldwin's contemporaries often criticized him. Matthew of Edessa, who recorded the Armenians' grievances during Baldwin's reign in Edessa, described him as a greedy ruler who had "an intolerable love for money". Stephen of Blois, an ascetic monk who settled in the Amanus Mountains, blamed him for "certain enormities in his way of life". Fulcher of Chartres hinted that Baldwin's captivity was a punishment for sin, because he had never seen other kings who were imprisoned.  William of Tyre described Baldwin as "a devout and God-fearing man, notable for his loyalty and for his great experience in military matters," and said that he was nicknamed "the Thorny" ("cognominatus est Aculeus"). Ibn al-Qalanisi, who calls him "Baldwin the Little" ("Baghdawin al-ru'aiuis") to distinguish him from Baldwin I, remarked that "after him there was none left amongst them possessed of sound judgment and capacity to govern".

Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg (; died 21August 1131), was Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and King of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. He accompanied Godfrey of Bouillon, and Baldwin of Boulogne, to the Holy Land during the First Crusade. He succeeded Baldwin of Boulogne as the second count of Edessa when he left the county for Jerusalem following his brother's death. He was captured at the Battle of Harran in 1104. He was held first by Sökmen of Mardin, then by Jikirmish of Mosul, and finally by Jawali Saqawa. During his captivity, Tancred, the Crusader ruler of the Principality of Antioch, and Tancred's cousin, Richard of Salerno, governed Edessa as Baldwin's regents.

Baudouin de Rethel, appelé de Bourcq ou du Bourg, mort le, est comte d'Édesse de 1100 à 1118 sous le nom de Baudouin II d'Édesse, puis roi de Jérusalem de 1118 à 1131 sous le nom de Baudouin II de Jérusalem.


Etymology.

Originally, the term "gingerbread" (from Latin "zingiber" via Old French "gingebras") referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. "Gingerbread" is often used to translate the French term "pain d'épices" (literally "spice bread") or the German terms Pfefferkuchen (lit. "pepper cake", back then, when all spices were called "pepper") or Lebkuchen (of unclear etymology. Either Latin libum, meaning "sacrifice" or "sacrificial bread". Or German "Laib" for loaf).

History.

Gingerbread is claimed to have been brought to Europe in 992 CE by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis (also called Gregory Makar and Grégoire de Nicopolis). He left Nicopolis (in modern-day western Greece) to live in Bondaroy (north-central France), near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there for seven years and taught gingerbread baking to French Christians. He died in 999.  In the 13th century in the Polish city of Torun gingerbread or Torun gingerbread began to be produced and quickly gained fame in the country and abroad, it was then brought to Sweden by German immigrants. In 15th-century Germany, a gingerbread guild controlled production. Early references from the Vadstena Abbey show that the Swedish nuns baked gingerbread to ease indigestion in 1444. It was the custom to bake white biscuits and paint them as window decorations.  The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits in England dates to the 17th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies, and town square farmers' markets. In England gingerbread was thought to have medicinal properties. One hundred years later, the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, England became known for its gingerbread, as is displayed on their town's welcome sign, stating that it is the "home of gingerbread". The first recorded mention of gingerbread being baked in the town dates to 1793, although it was probably made earlier, as ginger had been stocked in high street businesses since the 1640s. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century.  Gingerbread came to the Americas with settlers from Europe. Molasses, which was less expensive than sugar, soon became a common ingredient and produced a softer cake. The first American cookbook, "American Cookery" by Amelia Simmons published in 1796, contained seven different recipes for gingerbread.

Varieties.

In England, gingerbread may refer to a cake, or type of cookie or biscuit made with ginger. In the biscuit form, it commonly takes the form of a gingerbread man. Gingerbread men were first attributed to the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who served the figurines to foreign dignitaries. Today, however, they are generally served around Christmas. Gingerbread was a traditional confectionery sold at popular fairs, often given as a treat or token of affection to children and lovers "sweethearts" and known as a "fairing" of gingerbread - the name retained now only by Cornish fairings. This crisp brittle type of gingerbread is now represented by the very popular commercial version called the ginger nut biscuit.  Parkin is a form of soft gingerbread cake made with oatmeal and treacle which is popular in northern England, originating in Yorkshire.  In the United States, this form of gingerbread is sometimes called "gingerbread cake" or "ginger cake" to distinguish it from the harder forms. French pain d'épices is somewhat similar, though generally slightly drier, and involves honey rather than treacle. Originally, French "pain d'épices" did not contain ginger.  In the Netherlands and Belgium, a soft and crumbly gingerbread called "peperkoek", "kruidkoek" or "ontbijtkoek" is popularly served at breakfast time or during the day, thickly sliced and often topped with butter.  In Germany gingerbread is made in two forms: a soft form called Lebkuchen and a harder form, particularly associated with carnivals and street markets such as the Christmas markets that occur in many German towns. The hard gingerbread is made in decorative shapes, which are then further decorated with sweets and icing. The tradition of cutting gingerbread into shapes takes many other forms, and exists in many countries, a well-known example being the gingerbread man. Traditionally, these were dunked in port wine.  In Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, the honey cake eaten at Rosh Hashanah (New Year) closely resembles the Dutch "peperkoek" or the German "Lebkuchen", though it has wide regional variations.  In the Nordic countries, the most popular form of ginger confection is the "pepperkaker" (Norwegian), "pepparkakor" (Swedish), "brunkager" (Danish), "piparkökur" (Icelandic), "piparkakut" (Finnish) and "piparkūkas" (Latvian) or "piparkoogid" (Estonian). They are thin, brittle biscuits that are particularly associated with the extended Christmas period. In Norway and Sweden, pepperkaker/pepparkakor are also used as window decorations (the pepperkaker/pepparkakor are a little thicker than usual and are decorated with glaze and candy). Many families bake pepperkaker/pepparkakor/brunkager as a tradition.  In Switzerland, a gingerbread confection known as "biber" is typically a two-centimeter (approximately 3⁄4 of an inch) thick rectangular gingerbread cake with a marzipan filling. The cantons of Appenzell and St. Gallen are famous for biber, which are artfully adorned with images of the Appenzell bear or the St. Gallen cathedral respectively by engraving or icing.  In Russia, a gingerbread maker was first mentioned in Kazan cadastres in 1568. Gingerbread confections are called "pryaniki" (sg. "pryanik"), derived from the Russian term for'spices'. Historically three main centers of gingerbread production have developed in the cities of Vyazma, Gorodets, and Tula. Gingerbreads from Tver, Saint Petersburg and Moscow were also well known in the Russian Empire. A classic Russian gingerbread is made with rye flour, honey, sugar, butter, eggs and various spices; it has an embossed ornament and/or text on the front side with royal icing. A Russian gingerbread can also be shaped in various forms and stuffed with varenje and other sweet fillings.  In Poland, gingerbreads are known as "pierniki" (singular: piernik). Some cities have traditional regional styles. Toruń gingerbread ("piernik toruński") is a traditional Polish gingerbread that has been produced since the Middle Ages in the city of Toruń. It was a favorite delicacy of Chopin when he visited his godfather, Fryderyk Florian Skarbek, in Toruń during a school vacation. Kraków gingerbread is the traditional style from the former Polish capital.  In Czech Republic pardubický perník is known.  In Romania, gingerbread is called "turtă dulce" and usually has sugar glazing.  A variety of gingerbread in Bulgaria is known as "меденка" ("made of honey"). Traditionally the cookie is as big as the palm of a hand, round and flat, and with a thin layer of chocolate. Other common ingredients include honey, cinnamon, ginger and dried clove.  Gingerbread is popular in England, and is available in supermarkets. As in other countries, gingerbread biscuits are often decorated with royal icing.  In Panama, a confection named "yiyinbre" is a gingerbread cake made with ginger and molasses; it is typical of the region of Chiriquí. Another popular confection is "quequi" or "queque", a chewy biscuit made with ginger, molasses and coconut.

Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger snap.

Le pain d'épices (ou pain d'épice) est un gâteau au miel, agrémenté d'épices diverses comme la cannelle, la coriandre, le gingembre ou l'anis étoilé (badiane).