Early life and career.

Zhu Wan was born in Changzhou (), now a part of Suzhou, to the schoolteacher Zhu Ang () and his concubine surnamed Shi (). Throughout his upbringing, Zhu Wan and his mother were subject to various abuse by his father's principal wife and his half-brothers. The abuses started three days after he was born when they tried to starve him to death and lasted as late as 1546. His mother shielded him from the abuse when she could and once, an uncle and a cousin intervened to save him from death. Zhu Wan did not mention his father's role in the abuses, but wrote that his father was patient and strict when he taught him the classics and history. These experiences might have formed Zhu Wan's moral code, which was characterized by strict self-discipline and adherence to authority.  Zhu Wan passed the imperial examination and earned a "jinshi" degree in June 1521, and started his career in the Ming bureaucracy by being an apprentice at the Ministry of Works in Beijing, but he apparently disliked his position and returned home. This short apprenticeship was his only position in the capital over his whole career. In 1522, he was appointed as the subprefecture magistrate of Jingzhou (), and was transferred to Kaizhou () the next year. From 1527 to 1532, Zhu Wan served several vice-director and director positions in the secondary capital Nanjing under the Ministry of Justice (), Ministry of War (), and Ministry of Personnel ().

Provincial commissions.

In 1532, Zhu Wan was transferred from the metropolitan areas to the provinces, where he remained until his death. He was first sent to Jiangxi, where he served as assistant administration commissioner () and dealt with Dongxiang inhabitants who resisted mandatory labour service. He then was sent to Sichuan as surveillance vice commissioner () in 1536, where he restructured local defences and put down the Maozhou () and Weizhou aboriginal bandits militarily, putting a stop to the previous practice of paying them off. He recorded his Sichuan experiences in his "Maobian Jishi" ().  In 1541 he was appointed as administration vice commissioner of Shandong (), where he released Shandong soldiers from faraway duties so they could bolster local defences. He was then sent to the southwestern province of Yunnan in 1543 as surveillance commissioner () but came back to Shandong as administration commissioner () the next year. This was followed by his transfer to the same position in Guangdong () in 1545, but even this commission was short-lived since he was promoted again one year later.

As grand coordinator.

In 1546 Zhu Wan was assigned as the grand coordinator of southern Jiangxi (), a post roughly equivalent to a provincial governor and above commissioners of the military, provincial, and surveillance hierarchies. However, he was soon transferred to the coastal province of Zhejiang the next year, as it was undergoing a military emergency in the form of the wokou pirates.  After several years of debate over the disturbances on the coast, the Ming court under Senior Grand Secretary Xia Yan decided to appoint a new grand coordinator to manage coastal defense in the two provinces most affected by the turbulence, Zhejiang and Fujian. In 1547, Zhu Wan was made the Grand Coordinator of Zhejiang and Concurrent Superintendent of Military Affairs for Zhejiang and Fujian Coastal Defense (), a new position specifically created to deal with the resurgent wokou problem. It was the first time in many decades that Zhejiang had a single administrative head instead of having three provincial heads.  The situation on the coast had become very dire at the start of Zhu Wan's tenure as grand coordinator. In December 1547, the Portuguese had plundered Zhangzhou, and in February the next year the cities of Ningbo and Taizhou were struck by an unprecedented 1,000 raiders aboard a hundred ships. This raid happened whilst Zhu Wan was inspecting in Fujian, and the government troops could not stop the raiders from killing, looting, and burning government offices and homes. Despite the dismal state of coastal defence and the widespread collusion between the gentry and the pirates, Zhu Wan carried out his task energetically. He strictly enforced the maritime prohibitions, forbidding anyone from venturing out to sea on penalty of death, and put all ships to use for defence of the coast. He also publicized the names of the influential persons involved in the illegal trade, to the annoyance of the local gentry. However, Zhu Wan was not entirely against foreign trade as he accommodated an official Japanese trading mission led by Sakugen Shūryō in early 1548—he had no problem with foreign trade in principle as long as it was done through the proper channels.  On 15 April 1548, Zhu Wan's fleet in Wenzhou set sail for the pirate haven Shuangyu under the command of Lu Tang and Ke Qiao (). The fleet descended onto Shuangyu one night in June, under the cover of thick weather. Fifty-five to a few hundred smugglers perished in the attack, but leading figures such as Li Guangtou () and Wang Zhi were able to escape. Lu Tang then razed the town and rendered the harbour permanently unusable by filling it in with stones under Zhu Wan's orders. Zhu Wan and his generals were greatly rewarded in silver for the victory, but he also drew the ire of his political enemies among the gentry, whose profits were directly affected by the destruction of Shuangyu. Eventually a pretense was found to demote Zhu Wan to the temporary position of inspector general (), the argument being one man cannot control two provinces at the same time.

Downfall and death.

After the loss of Shuangyu, the smugglers scattered along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian to find good hideouts to trade. The deep water inlet of Zoumaxi (走馬溪, "Running Horse Creek") by the Dongshan Peninsula near the Fujian-Guangdong border was found to be a suitable place for trade since the terrain sheltered the ships from the winds, and the inhabitants of nearby Meiling () had been greatly involved in the illicit trade. On 19 March 1549, Lu Tang and Ke Qiao ambushed two junks in Zoumaxi while they were trading with the Portuguese aboard resulting in 33 deaths and 206 smugglers captured. Among the captured were Li Guangtou and a number of Portuguese men, and Lu Tang had four of the more good-looking Portuguese pretend to be kings of Malacca in order to make the victory seem more complete. Fearing that the captives might bribe their way out, Zhu Wan executed 96 of the Chinese smugglers using his discretionary powers.  Zhu Wan's unauthorized executions of the Zoumaxi captives provided an excellent opportunity for his political enemies. On April 27, Zhu Wan was impeached for exceeding his authority since executions had to be sanctioned by the emperor. The Jiajing Emperor dismissed Zhu Wan from his post and ordered a full investigation on the matter. Seeing that the odds were against him, especially since his backer Xia Yan had been executed in disgrace in October last year, Zhu Wan wrote his own epitaph and committed suicide by drinking poison in January 1550. The investigation confirmed the allegations that Zhu Wan had killed the prisoners without imperial authorization, and so a posthumous death sentence was handed down. Lu Tang and Ke Qiao were also condemned to death, and the Portuguese smugglers were let off lightly, with exile as their punishment.  The death of Zhu Wan was followed by the wholesale reversion of his policies, and the fleet that Zhu had assembled was dispersed. For three years the position held by Zhu Wan remained vacant, and during these years apparently no government official dared to mention the coastal situation in the adverse political atmosphere. The coastal gentry had come out on top over Zhu Wan, but in doing so they created a military vacuum on the Chinese coast, of which the wokou raiders took full advantage when they intensified their raids for the coming decade. Contemporaries and later historians lamented Zhu Wan's fate for his righteousness and steadfast resistance against the influential families, and his name was finally cleared by the Wanli Emperor in December 22, 1587.

Zhu Wan (; September 29, 1494 – January 2, 1550), courtesy name Zichun () and art name Qiuya (), was a Chinese general of the Ming dynasty. He was known for his uncompromising stance against the Jiajing wokou pirates (so named because they raided during the Jiajing era) and the gentry members who secretly supported them.

Ču Wan (; 29. září 1494 – 2. ledna 1550) byl politik a vojevůdce působící v čínské říši Ming za vlády císaře Ťia-ťinga. Roku 1547 byl jmenován velkým koordinátorem "sün-fu" Če-ťiangu a náčelníkem pobřežní obrany Če-ťiangu a Fu-ťienu, ve funkci tvrdě prosazoval zákaz soukromého zahraničního námořního obchodu – politiku „zakázaného moře“ – a nekompromisně zasahoval proti jejím narušitelům, obchodníkům, pirátům i s nimi spojeným členům místní džentry. Roku 1549 byl obžalován z neoprávněných masových poprav, což ho stálo funkci i život.


Design and development.

The KM was an experimental aircraft developed from 1964 to 1966, during a time when the Soviet Union saw interest in ground effect vehicles—airplane-like vehicles that use ground effect to fly several meters above surfaces, primarily bodies of water (such as the Caspian Sea). It was designed at the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau, by the chief designer Rostislav Alexeyev and the lead engineer V. Efimov, and manufactured at the Red Sormovo plant in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). The KM was among the earliest major "ekranoplan" (English: "screen effect") projects and was notable for its massive size and payload, becoming the largest aircraft in the world when it was completed in 1966. The KM had a wingspan of ; a length of ; a maximum take-off weight of ; and was designed to fly at an altitude of to use the ground effect. The KM was also undetectable to many radar systems, as it flew below the minimum altitude of detection. Despite technically being an aircraft, it was considered by the authorities to be closer to a boat and was assigned to the Soviet Navy, but operated by test pilots of the Soviet Air Forces. The KM was documented as a marine vessel and prior to the first flight a bottle of champagne was broken against its nose, a tradition for the first voyage of a watercraft.

Operational history.

On June 22, 1966, the completed KM began transportation along the Volga River to the testing grounds on the Caspian Sea near the town of Kaspiysk. It was transported from Gorky along the river in secret, covered in camouflage and moving only at night. The aircraft's first flight was on October 16, 1966, performed by V. Loginov and Rostislav Alexeyev himself, which was very unusual as most Soviet aircraft designers never piloted their own creations. All the work was conducted under patronage of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry. Testing showed the KM to have an optimum (fuel efficient) cruising speed of 430 km/h (267 mph, 232 knots), and a maximum operational speed of 500 km/h (311 mph, 270 knots). The maximum speed achieved was 650 km/h (404 mph, 350 knots), although some sources claim up to 740 km/h (460 mph, 400 knots).  The KM was at first seen as a promising vehicle specialized for use by military and rescue workers but its design caused many difficulties; progress slowed and Alexeyev moved on to other ekranoplan projects. It was tested on the Caspian Sea for an extensive 15 years until 1980, when it was destroyed following a crash caused by pilot error. There were no human casualties, but the KM was damaged and no attempts were made to save it, it being left to float before eventually sinking a week later. The KM was deemed too heavy to recover and has remained underwater at the crash site ever since, with no plans to build a second ever made. However, the KM later became the basis for the "Lun"-class ekranoplan developed by the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau in the 1980s, which saw one example, the "MD-160", enter service with the Soviet Navy and later the Russian Navy before being decommissioned in the late 1990s.  The KM remained the largest aircraft in the world during the entirety of its existence and is the second-largest aircraft ever built, behind the Antonov An-225 "Mriya" that flew for the first time in 1988, eight years after the KM's destruction.

Western discovery.

The secret Soviet KM project was discovered by the United States in 1967, when photographs taken from spy satellites showed the KM taxiing during testing near Kaspiysk. The strange aircraft puzzled intelligence agencies in the Western world, noting the small stubby wings despite its large size, as well as the "KM" markings and flag of the Soviet Navy on its fuselage. The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) branded the aircraft the "Kaspian Monster" after the KM markings, it later becoming known as the "Caspian Sea Monster", while "KM" actually stood for "Korabl-maket" meaning "Prototype ship" in Russian. The discovery, at the height of the Cold War, greatly concerned the CIA, which set up a dedicated task force and developed a purpose-built unmanned drone under Project AQUILINE, just to determine what the secret behind the vehicle was. The KM was initially assumed to be an unfinished conventional aircraft, but it was quickly determined that the vehicle could not fly high. In the 1980s, after the KM was already destroyed, the United States discovered it was a large ekranoplan. The development of ground effect vehicles was not as widespread in the West as in the Soviet Union.

The KM (Korabl Maket) (Russian: Корабль-макет, literally "Ship-prototype"), known colloquially as the Caspian Sea Monster, was an experimental ground effect vehicle (ekranoplan) developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s by the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau. The KM began operation in 1966, and was continuously tested by the Soviet Navy until 1980, when it was damaged in a testing accident and sank in the Caspian Sea.

Ekranoplán KM (Корабль-макет), přezdívaný Kaspická příšera, byl prototyp obřího sovětského ekranoplánu využívající k pohybu princip dynamického přízemního efektu, vyvíjeného konstruktérem Rostislavem Jevgeňjevičem Alexejevem v šedesátých letech 20. století, byl to největší ekranoplán na světě. Do pohybu ho dostáválo 10 proudových motorů přičemž 8 z nich dodávalo potřebný výkon při startu a po dosažení cestovní rychlosti zůstaly zapnuty jen zadní 2 motory, které rychlost udržovaly.


Family and lineage.

Marguerite was born in 1365, the eldest daughter of Louis of Enghien, Count of Brienne and of Conversano, Lord of Enghien, Titular Duke of Athens, and Giovanna of Sanseverino. She had three younger sisters, Yolande, Helene, and Isabelle. On 3 May 1384, Yolande married Philip of Bar (born 1372), who died in a Turkish prison in 1404 after being taken prisoner following the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Marguerite had a brother, Antoine who died at the age of sixteen, leaving her, the eldest daughter, heir to her father's estates and titles. Her paternal grandparents were Walter III of Enghien and Isabella of Brienne, and her maternal grandparents were Antonio of Sanseverino, 5th Count of Marsico, and Isabella del Balzo.

Marriages and issue.

On an unknown date, Marguerite married her first husband, Pierre de Baux, and following his death, she married as her second husband, a relative of her mother, Giacopo of Sanseverino. Both of these early marriages were childless. In 1380, after Giacopo's death, Marguerite married her third husband, John of Luxembourg, Sire of Beauvois (1370–1397). He was the son of Guy of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol and Mahaut of Châtillon, Countess of Saint-Pol. By her third husband, Marguerite had five children:

Inheritance.

Marguerite became the "suo jure" Countess of Brienne and Conversano, and Dame of Enghien upon her father's death on 17 March 1394. Her husband John also became Count of Brienne and of Conversano by right of his wife.  She died on an unknown date sometime after 1394. Her will was dated 19 September 1393. Her eldest son, Peter received her titles of Brienne and of Conversano.  Through her son Peter and his wife, Margaret de Baux, Marguerite was an ancestress of Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville and her siblings, King Henry VIII of England, and King Henry IV of France.

Marguerite d'Enghien, suo jure Countess of Brienne and of Conversano, "suo jure" Heiress of Enghien, and Lady of Beauvois (born 1365), was a wealthy noblewoman from the County of Hainaut in her own right, having inherited the counties of Brienne and of Conversano, and the Lordship of Enghien from her father Louis of Enghien on 17 March 1394. She was the wife of John of Luxembourg, Sire of Beauvois and the mother of Peter of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Count of Brienne and of Conversano who inherited her fiefs, and John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny.

Markéta z Brienne nebo Markéta z Enghien, po právu hraběnka z Brienne a Conversana, po právu dědička Enghienu, a paní z Beauvois (narození r. 1365), byla bohatá šlechtična z Hainaultu. Po svém otci 17. března 1394 zdědila hrabství Brienne a Conversano, a panství Enghien. Byla manželkou Jana Lucemburského, pána z Beauvois a matkou Petra Lucemburského, hraběte ze St. Pol, Brienne a Conversana, což po ní zdědil, a Jana II. Lucemburského, hraběte z Ligny.


Pathophysiology.

Astrocytoma causes regional effects by compression, invasion, and destruction of brain parenchyma, arterial and venous hypoxia, competition for nutrients, release of metabolic end products (e.g., free radicals, altered electrolytes, neurotransmitters), and release and recruitment of cellular mediators (e.g., cytokines) that disrupt normal parenchymal function. Secondary clinical sequelae may be caused by elevated intracranial pressure attributable to direct mass effect, increased blood volume, or increased cerebrospinal fluid volume.

Molecular alterations.

A genome-wide pattern of DNA copy-number alterations (CNAs) has been uncovered, which is correlated with a patient’s survival and response to treatment. This pattern identifies among glioblastoma as well as lower-grade astrocytoma patients a subtype, where the CNA genotype is correlated with an approximately one-year survival phenotype.

Diagnosis.

An X-ray computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan is necessary to characterize the extent of these tumors (size, location, consistency). CT will usually show distortion of third and lateral ventricles with displacement of anterior and middle cerebral arteries. Histologic analysis is necessary for grading diagnosis.  In the first stage of diagnosis the doctor will take a history of symptoms and perform a basic neurological exam, including an eye exam and tests of vision, balance, coordination and mental status. The doctor will then require a CT scan and MRI of the patient's brain. During a CT scan, X-rays of the patient's brain are taken from many different directions. These are then combined by a computer, producing a cross-sectional image of the brain. For an MRI, the patient relaxes in a tunnel-like instrument while the brain is subjected to changes of magnetic field. An image is produced based on the behavior of the brain's water molecules in response to the magnetic fields. A special dye may be injected into a vein before these scans to provide contrast and make tumors easier to identify.  If a tumor is found, a neurosurgeon must perform a biopsy on it. This simply involves the removal of a small amount of tumor tissue, which is then sent to a neuropathologist for examination and grading. The biopsy may take place before surgical removal of the tumor or the sample may be taken during surgery. Grading of the tumor sample is a method of classification that helps the doctor to determine the severity of the astrocytoma and to decide on the best treatment options. The neuropathologist grades the tumor by looking for atypical cells, the growth of new blood vessels, and for indicators of cell division called mitotic figures.

Grading.

Of numerous grading systems in use for the classification of tumor of the central nervous system, the World Health Organization (WHO) grading system is commonly used for astrocytoma. Established in 1993 in an effort to eliminate confusion regarding diagnoses, the WHO system established a four-tiered histologic grading guideline for astrocytomas that assigns a grade from 1 to 4, with 1 being the least aggressive and 4 being the most aggressive.  The WHO grading scheme is based on the appearance of certain characteristics: atypia, mitosis, endothelial proliferation, and necrosis. These features reflect the malignant potential of the tumor in terms of invasion and growth rate. Various types of astrocytomas are given these WHO grades:  According to the WHO data the lowest grade astrocytomas (grade I) make up only 2% of recorded astrocytomas, grade II 8%, and the higher grade anaplastic astrocytomas (grade III) 20%. The highest graded astrocytoma (grade IV GBM) is the most common primary nervous system cancer and second most frequent brain tumor after brain metastasis. Despite the low incidence of astrocytomas compared to other human cancers, mortality is significant, as the higher grades (III & IV) present high mortality rates (mainly due to late detection of the neoplasm).

Prevention.

There are no precise guidelines because the exact cause of astrocytoma is not known.

Treatment.

For low-grade astrocytomas, removal of the tumor generally allows functional survival for many years. In some reports, the 5-year survival has been over 90% with well-resected tumors. Indeed, broad intervention of low-grade conditions is a contested matter. In particular, pilocytic astrocytomas are commonly indolent bodies that may permit normal neurologic function. However, left unattended, these tumors may eventually undergo neoplastic transformation. To date, complete resection of high-grade astrocytomas is impossible because of the diffuse infiltration of tumor cells into normal parenchyma. Thus, high-grade astrocytomas inevitably recur after initial surgery or therapy, and are usually treated similarly as the initial tumor. Despite decades of therapeutic research, curative intervention is still nonexistent for high-grade astrocytomas; patient care ultimately focuses on palliative management.

Society and culture.

Notable cases.

In March 1990, prolific United States Republican Party political strategist Lee Atwater was diagnosed with astrocytoma after a tumor was found in his right parietal lobe. After undergoing radiation therapy (including the then-new implant radiation treatment), Atwater died the following year at the age of 40.  Long-time U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) died of malignant glioma.  University of Texas sniper Charles Whitman who killed multiple people during a mass murder event in 1966 was diagnosed with astrocytoma post-mortem. The Connally Commission investigating the shooting concluded the tumor "conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions".  Dan Quisenberry (Major League pitcher) was diagnosed with grade IV astrocytoma in January 1998. He died in 1998 in Leawood, Kansas.  Richard Burns, winner of the 2001 World Rally Championship, was diagnosed with astrocytoma in 2003. Four years to the day after winning the World Rally Championship, on 25 November 2005, Burns died in Westminster, London, aged 34, after having been in a coma for some days as a result of his brain tumour.  Brittany Maynard, a UC Berkeley graduate and advocate for Death With Dignity, died November 19, 2014, aged 29, being assisted with self-delivery, having been diagnosed and battled glioblastoma.  Professional wrestler Matt Cappotelli was diagnosed with a grade 2/3 astrocytoma in December 2005, scuttling plans to promote Cappottelli to the main WWE roster. Cappotelli, who won a contract with WWE through the third season of their reality program Tough Enough, was the Ohio Valley Wrestling Heavyweight Champion at the time of his diagnosis and vacated the title in February 2006 after confirming the tumor was cancerous. Cappotelli underwent successful surgery and chemotherapy, but was unable to return to active wrestling work. He did return to OVW as a trainer in 2013. He died on June 29, 2018.  Senator John McCain (R-AZ) announced on July 20, 2017 that he had been diagnosed with glioblastoma. Senator McCain succumbed to the disease August 25, 2018, 4 days before his 82nd birthday, at his ranch near Sedona, AZ.

References.

Bibliography

Astrocytomas are a type of brain tumor. They originate in a particular kind of glial cells, star-shaped brain cells in the cerebrum called astrocytes. This type of tumor does not usually spread outside the brain and spinal cord and it does not usually affect other organs. Astrocytomas are the most common glioma and can occur in most parts of the brain and occasionally in the spinal cord. Within the astrocytomas, two broad classes are recognized in literature, those with:

Astrocytom je typ rakoviny mozku, který vzniká v astrocytu, neboli gliové buňce v cerebru. Tento tumor se nemetastazuje mimo mozek a míchu. Jde o nejčastější formu gliomu, častěji v mozku, zřídka v míše. Formy šíření se dělí na:


History.

Early years.

Margate Football Club was founded in 1896 as an amateur club and was originally called Margate Town, playing friendly matches on local school grounds. In the years before the First World War the club played in several different amateur leagues, with little success, and played at various grounds in the Margate area, before settling on a pitch at what would later become the Dreamland amusement park in 1912. This ground became known as the Hall-by-the-Sea Ground, taking its name from a local dance hall.

Inter-war years.

After the First World War, Margate joined the Kent League, but in 1923 the league suspended the team due to financial irregularities and the club promptly folded. A year later the club reformed, initially under the name Margate Town, and returned to the Kent League, still playing at Dreamland, but folded again due to heavy debts. In 1929 the club reformed again and moved to its present home at Hartsdown Park, leasing part of the park from the local council for conversion into a football stadium. Around this time Margate signed a Dutch player, a highly unusual move in an era when it was almost unknown for Continental players to move to English clubs. Goalkeeper Gerrit "Gerard" Keizer, who joined the Kent club from Ajax Amsterdam, later went on to play for Arsenal.  From 1934 until 1938 Margate, by now playing in the Southern League, served as the official nursery side for Arsenal. Under this arrangement the London club regularly loaned promising young players to Margate in order for them to gain match experience. Star players such as Eddie Hapgood also turned out for Margate whilst regaining match fitness after injuries. In the second season of this arrangement, 1935–36, Margate reached the third round proper of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 3–1 to Blackpool after defeating Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace in the earlier rounds, but shortly after this the club had to step back down to the Kent League for financial reasons.

Post-war years.

After the Second World War the Gate continued to play in the Kent League under new manager Charlie Walker, who led the team to two Kent League championships but was then controversially sacked. The team slumped during a succession of rapid managerial changes which only ended in 1950 when Almer Hall was appointed manager, a post he was to hold for the next twenty years. Under Hall the team won a host of local cup honours and reached the rounds proper of the FA Cup on a number of occasions, but never managed to match this success in league competition.  In 1959–60 Margate returned to the Southern League after the Kent League folded, and in 1962–63 won the Division One championship and with it promotion to the Premier Division. Two years later the club turned full-time professional but this policy proved financially untenable when the team were relegated back to Division One in 1965–66. Nonetheless, they won promotion at the first attempt and returned to the Premier Division in 1967.  During the 1970s Margate endured severe financial problems and a series of mediocre league seasons, but took part in two famous FA Cup ties. In 1971 the Gate lost 11–0 to Bournemouth, with Ted MacDougall scoring a cup record nine goals. Then, a year later, Margate beat Swansea City and Walton & Hersham to set up a third round tie against First Division Tottenham Hotspur, then UEFA Cup holders. A record crowd of around 14,500 packed into Hartsdown Park for a match which Margate lost 6–0.

Thanet United era.

On several occasions in the 1970s Margate had discussed a merger with neighbours Ramsgate to form a new team representing the whole Isle of Thanet, which was seen as the solution to the financial problems being experienced by both clubs. The negotiations floundered, however, and Ramsgate ultimately had no involvement in the formation of Thanet United F.C. in 1981, which turned out to be purely a name change for Margate. When Thanet District Council announced that it would not be prepared to put any funding into Thanet United, the two clubs finally abandoned the idea of a merger.  The Thanet United era saw a run of generally mediocre seasons in the Southern League Southern Division, with financial problems continuing unabated and a series of managers coming and going. In January 1989 the club came close to relegation to the Kent League and possible total collapse, but in March a new board took over, who reverted the club's name to Margate Football Club for the 1989–90 season and appointed Trevor Ford as manager. Success still eluded the club on the pitch, however, even after the signing of former Football League players such as Mike Flanagan and Mark Weatherly, who later took over as co-manager and led the club to a Kent Senior Cup win, a rare triumph in this era.

Chris Kinnear era.

In 1996, the club's centenary year, the club appointed Chris Kinnear as manager. In 1997–98 he took the team to the first round proper of the FA Cup where they played Fulham in a home tie that drew a crowd of 5,100. Although the Gate took the lead, the Cottagers eventually won 2–1. The following season saw the club finally win promotion to the Southern League Premier Division, albeit only after an appeal was lodged against the league's initial refusal to allow the team promotion due to the club failing to carry out necessary ground improvements in time. The Premier Division championship followed in the 2000–01 season, and with it promotion to the Football Conference.  The 2001–02 season was Gate's first ever season of Conference football and they finished the season in eighth place. In the 2002–03 season the team began groundsharing at Dover Athletic's Crabble Athletic Ground while redevelopment work took place at Hartsdown Park, but various problems stalled the planned redevelopment. On the pitch, Margate enjoyed more success in the FA Cup when, after defeating Leyton Orient in the first round, they were drawn at home to Cardiff City in the second round, but lost 3–0 at Crabble. The following season, despite finishing sixteenth, the Gate were forcibly relegated one division due to the ongoing delays and problems with the redevelopment plans for Hartsdown Park.  Margate spent the 2004–05 season in the Conference South, now groundsharing at Ashford Town. Amid ongoing issues with the redevelopment work, which at one point made it seem very likely the club would fold completely, Margate were again relegated to the Isthmian League Premier Division.

Return to Hartsdown Park.

In August 2005, Margate returned to Hartsdown Park after three years away. During an indifferent season manager Kinnear was controversially suspended. Robin Trott was placed in temporary charge as player-manager in April 2006 and, after an unbeaten five game run, was given a one-year contract at the end of the season. After Margate narrowly missed out on the play-offs in 2006–07 the club announced that Trott was to be given a new contract for the 2007–08 season. Shortly before the end of the season, however, Trott was sacked. His replacement, Barry Ashby, was himself sacked two months into the 2008–09 season. Shortly afterwards, the club narrowly avoided being subject to High Court action over unpaid debts to HM Revenue and Customs. The club finished the season in 19th position in the table and was expected to be relegated to Division One South, but was reprieved due to other clubs folding. The following season, Margate again finished in the bottom four but the club again received a reprieve from relegation.  Chris Kinnear returned for a second spell to manage the team at the start of the 2011–12 season. The following season Margate were sitting at top of the table in January, however, after much speculation Kinnear accepted the vacant manager's position at Dover Athletic. Goalkeeper Craig Holloway was placed in temporary charge of the side, and brought in Simon Osborn as joint manager. The club dropped from the top of the table and finished outside the play-offs. After a poor start to the 2013–14 season, Holloway resigned his role as joint manager, leaving Osborn in sole charge. Results failed to improve and Osborn was sacked at the beginning of December 2013.  In the 2014–15 season, the first full season under manager Terry Brown, Margate finished in 3rd place in the Isthmian League Premier Division, ensuring the team's qualification for the play-offs for promotion to the National League South (formerly Conference South). The play-offs were delayed by a lengthy appeal against a points deduction applied to fifth-placed Enfield Town, but when they eventually began, Margate defeated Dulwich Hamlet in the semi-finals. In the final Margate played Hendon, who had finished one place above them in the league, but a single goal from Ryan Moss gave them victory and promotion to the National League South. Following a poor start to the 2015–16 season, Terry Brown was sacked. and replaced by Margate goalkeeper Nikki Bull and defender Jamie Stuart until the end of that season. In April 2016 Bull was appointed first team manager, but was unable to prevent the team being relegated.

Colours and crest.

Margate's traditional colours are blue and white, but the team have worn a number of other colour combinations. The club's earliest known colours were black and white stripes. By the 1920s the club had adopted plain white shirts (with the team having the appropriate nickname of "The Lilywhites") but in 1929 changed its colours to amber and black. In 1949 the colours changed again to blue and white. During the Thanet United era, the team wore plain white shirts, but when the club's name changed back to Margate in 1989, the blue kit was re-adopted.  The club's current crest is a simplified version of the coat of arms of the town of Margate, incorporating a lion conjoined to a ship's hull (a reference to the arms of the Cinque Ports) and the white horse emblem of Kent. Previous crests have included the full town arms, the letters "M.F.C." above a lighthouse, and the letters "M.F.C." superimposed on a football.  Margate's shirts have borne various sponsors' logos but the most notable was that of the pop group Bad Manners, whose name appeared on the team's kit as part of a sponsorship deal with their record label in the late 1990s. Lead singer Buster Bloodvessel was running a hotel in Margate at the time and actually joined the football club's board of directors. Another band, The Libertines, sponsored the club for the 2018–19 season after starting work on a recording studio and hotel in the town.

Stadium.

The stadium in Hartsdown Park has been Margate's home since 1929, the same year the park itself opened to the public. Little development of the stadium took place until 2002, when the club launched an ambitious scheme to completely redevelop the site. The club moved out and the old stadium, which was constructed mainly from timber and corrugated iron, was demolished in early 2003, but the local council disputed the plans submitted. Although planned to be completed by August 2003, the redevelopment dragged on for three years, mired in issues regarding planning permission for the commercial facilities the club wanted to build in addition to the stadium itself. The team spent three years ground-sharing with other Kent clubs, but club officials' failure to confirm a return date to Hartsdown led to Margate's expulsion from the Conference National in 2004. In 2005 the club was finally able to return to the ground, albeit with pre-fabricated stands and temporary buildings in place. In 2014, the club applied to the local council for permission to erect six new temporary stands.  The club's ultimate plan involves a stadium with a capacity of 5,000 forming part of a complex incorporating a hotel, fitness centre, conference centre, all-weather pitch and ten 5-a-side pitches. Although it was announced that work on the 5-a-side pitch complex was to begin in May 2007, ground was not in fact broken for a further four months.

Supporters.

In the 2008–09 season Margate's average attendance was 523, the fifth highest in the Isthmian League Premier Division. During their three seasons in the Conference National, from 2001–02 to 2003–04, the club's average home attendances were 1,233, 684, and 562.  The club has an active independent supporters' association and the fans took an active part in getting the stadium ready for the club's return in 2005.

Statistics and records.

Margate's best ever league finish since the establishment of the Alliance Premier League in 1979 was an 8th place finish in Conference National (level5 of the overall English football league system) in 2001–02. The team have twice progressed as far as the third round proper of the FA Cup, in 1935–36 and 1972–73, and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy in 2001–02.  The club's biggest ever winning margin in a single match was 12–1, a score they have achieved twice, firstly against Deal Cinque Ports in an FA Cup First Qualifying Round match in 1919–20 and again against Erith & Belvedere in the Kent League in 1927–28.  The highest recorded attendance at Hartsdown Park was 14,169 for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup in 1972–73.

Notable former players.

Margate's all-time appearance record holder is Bob Harrop, who played 564 times. The club's all-time top goalscorer is Martin Buglione, who scored 158 goals during the 1990s. Three other players have reached the 100-goal mark for the club, namely Alan Blackburn (121), Peter Vandepeer (119) and Phil Amato (107). The only player ever to gain full international caps whilst on Margate's books is John Keister, who played for Sierra Leone during his original five-year stint with the club.

Managers.

Margate's first known manager was Arthur Graves, who was installed as manager when Margate Town was reformed in 1929. By far the club's longest-serving manager was Almer Hall, who was manager for twenty years from 1950 until 1970.

Current squad.

Source - http://www.margate-fc.co.uk/teams/mens-first-team/squad/

Current staff.

Management.

Source:

Officials.

Source:

Rivalries.

Margate's main rivalry is with Thanet neighbours Ramsgate, with whom Margate contest the Thanet derby. After many years playing in different leagues the two clubs were able to renew their rivalry when Ramsgate joined Margate in the Isthmian League Premier Division in the 2006–07 season. The attendance of 1,676 when the two sides met at Hartsdown Park was more than double Margate's average home crowd for the season.  Another of Margate's rivals is Dover Athletic. Despite meeting rarely in competitive games over recent years, both teams were in the Conference in the 2001–02 season. In that season, the last season the two teams were in the same division, the two games between Margate and Dover were watched by a combined total of over 6,000 spectators. The game played at Margate's Hartsdown Park stadium drew a crowd of 3,676, and 2,325 were in attendance for the game at Dover's Crabble stadium.

Margate Football Club, originally called Margate Town, is an English football team based in the seaside resort of Margate, Kent. They currently play in the. The club was known for a number of years during the 1980s as Thanet United.

Margate FC (celým názvem: Margate Football Club) je anglický fotbalový klub, který sídlí ve městě Margate v nemetropolitním hrabství Kent. Založen byl v roce 1896. Od sezóny 2017/18 hraje v Isthmian League Premier Division (sedmá nejvyšší soutěž v Anglii). Klubové barvy jsou modrá a bílá.


History.

Background of British rule in Ireland.

Following the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century, Ireland, or parts of it, had experienced alternating degrees of rule from England. While some of the native Gaelic population attempted to resist this occupation, a single, unified political goal did not exist amongst the independent lordships that existed throughout the island. The Tudor conquest of Ireland took place in the 16th century. This included the Plantations of Ireland, in which the lands held by Gaelic Irish clans and Hiberno-Norman dynasties were confiscated and given to Protestant settlers ("Planters") from England and Scotland. The Plantation of Ulster began in 1609, and the province was heavily colonised with English and Scottish settlers.  Campaigns against English presence on the island had occurred prior to the emergence of the Irish republican ideology. In the 1590s, resistance was led by Hugh O'Neill (see the Nine Years' War). The Irish chieftains were

Society of United Irishmen and the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

Irish republicanism has its origins in the ideals of the American and French revolutions in the late 18th century. In Ireland these ideals were taken up by the United Irishmen, founded in 1791. Originally they sought reform of the Irish parliament, such as an end to sectarian discrimination against Dissenters and Catholics, which was enshrined in the Penal Laws. Eventually they became a revolutionary group advocating an Irish republic free from British control.  At this stage, the movement was led primarily by liberal Protestants, particularly Presbyterians from the province of Ulster.The Founding members of the United Irishmen were mainly Southern Irish

Acts of Union.

Though the Rebellion of 1798 was eventually crushed, small republican guerrilla campaigns against the British Army continued for a short time afterward in the Wicklow Mountains under the leadership of Michael Dwyer and Joseph Holt, involving attacks on small parties of yeomen. These activities were perceived by some to be merely "the dying echoes of an old convulsion", but others feared further large-scale uprisings, due to the United Irishmen continuing to attract large numbers of Catholics in rural areas of the country and arms raids being carried out on a nightly basis. It was also feared that rebels would again seek military aid from French troops, and another rising was expected take place by 10 April.  This perceived threat of further rebellion resulted in the Parliamentary Union between the Kingdom of Great Britain

Robert Emmet.

A second attempt at forming an independent Irish republic occurred under Robert Emmet in 1803. Emmet had previously been expelled from Trinity College, Dublin for his political views. Like those who had led the 1798 rebellion, Emmet was a member of the United Irishmen, as was his brother Thomas Addis Emmet, who had been imprisoned for membership in the organisation. Emmet and his followers had planned to seize Dublin Castle by force, manufacturing weaponry and explosives at a number of locations in Dublin. Unlike those of 1798, preparations for the uprising were successfully concealed from the government and law enforcement, and though a premature explosion at an arms depot attracted the attention of police, they were unaware of the United Irishmen activities

Young Ireland and the Irish Confederation.

The Young Ireland movement began in the late 1830s. The term 'Young Ireland' was originally a derogatory one, coined by the press in Britain to describe members of the Repeal Association (a group campaigning for the repeal of the Acts of Union 1800 which joined the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain) who were involved with the Irish nationalist newspaper "The Nation". Encouraging the repeal of the Acts of Union, members of the Young Ireland movement advocated the removal of British authority from Ireland and the re-establishment of the Irish Parliament in Dublin. The group had cultural aims also, and encouraged the study of Irish history and the revival of the Irish language. Influential Young Irelanders included Charles Gavan Duffy, Thomas Davis and John Blake Dillon, the three founders of "The Nation". The Young Irelanders eventually seceded from the Repeal Association. The leader of the Repeal Association, Daniel O'Connell, opposed the use of physical force to enact repeal, and passed 'peace resolutions' declaring that violence and force were not to be employed. Though the Young Irelanders did not support the use of violence, the writers of "The Nation" maintained that the introduction

Fenian movement.

The Fenian movement consisted of the Fenian Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), fraternal organisations founded in the United States and Ireland respectively with the aim of establishing an independent republic in Ireland.  The IRB was founded on Saint Patrick's Day 1858 in Dublin. Members present at the first meeting were James Stephens, Thomas Clarke Luby, Peter Langan, Joseph Denieffe, Garrett O'Shaughnessy, and Charles Kickham. Stephens had previously spent time exiled in Paris, along with John O'Mahony, having taken part in the uprising of 1848 and fleeing to avoid capture. O'Mahony left France for

Nineteenth century onward.

After the Act of Union in 1801 merging Ireland with Britain into the United Kingdom, Irish independence movements were suppressed by the British authorities. Nationalist rebellions against British rule in 1803, by Robert Emmet, 1848 (by the Young Irelanders) and 1865 and 1867 (by the Fenians) were followed by harsh reprisals by British forces.  In 1916 the Easter Rising, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, was launched in Dublin and the Irish Republic was proclaimed, albeit without significant popular support. The Rising was suppressed after six days, and most of its leaders were executed by the British authorities. This was a turning point in Irish history, leading to the War of Independence and the end of British

Irish Free State and Republic of Ireland.

Though many across the country were unhappy with the Anglo-Irish Treaty (since, during the war, the IRA had fought for independence for all Ireland and for a republic, not a partitioned dominion under the British crown), some republicans were satisfied that the Treaty was the best that could be achieved at the time. However, a substantial number opposed it. Dáil Éireann, the Irish parliament, voted by 64 votes to 57 to ratify it, the majority believing that the treaty created a new base from which to move forward. Éamon de Valera, who had served as President of the Irish Republic during the war, refused to accept the decision of the Dáil and led the opponents of the treaty out of the House. The pro-Treaty republicans organised themselves into the Cumann na nGaedheal party, while the anti-Treaty republicans retained the Sinn

Republicanism in Northern Ireland.

1921–66.

In 1921, Ireland was partitioned. Most of the country became part of the independent Irish Free State. However, six out of the nine counties of Ulster remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. In the 1921 elections in Northern Ireland,  This territory of Northern Ireland, as established by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, had its own provincial government which was controlled for 50 years until 1972 by the conservative Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The tendency to vote on sectarian lines and the proportions of each religious denomination ensured that there would never be a change of government. In local government, constituency boundaries were drawn to divide nationalist communities into two or even three constituencies and so weaken their effect (see Gerrymandering).  The (mainly Catholic) Nationalist population in Northern Ireland, besides feeling politically alienated, was also economically alienated, often with worse living

1966–69.

In the late 1960s, Irish political activists groups found parallels with their struggle against religious discrimination in the civil rights campaign of African Americans the US against racial discrimination. Student leaders such a Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and Nationalist politicians such as Austin Currie tried to use non-violent direct action to draw attention to the blatant discrimination. By 1968, Europe as a whole was engulfed in a struggle between radicalism and conservativism. In Sinn Féin, the same debate raged. The dominant analysis was that Protestant Irishmen and women would never be bombed into a united Ireland. The only way forward was to have both sides embrace socialism and forget their sectarian hatreds.

1970–85.

Divisions began to emerge in the Republican movement between leftists and conservatives. The leader of the IRA, Cathal Goulding believed that the IRA could not beat the British with military tactics and should turn into a workers' revolutionary movement that would overthrow both governments to achieve a 32-county socialist republic through the will of the people (after WWII the IRA no longer engaged in any actions against the Republic). Goulding also drove the IRA into an ideologically Marxist-Leninist direction which attracted idealistic young supporters in the Republic, but alienated and angered many of the IRA's core supporters in the North. In particular, his decision to regard the UVF as deluded rather than as the enemy, was anathema to traditionalists and those who were its potential victims.  The argument led to a split in 1970, between the Official IRA (supporters

1986–present.

At the 1986 Sinn Féin Ardfheis, a motion declaring the end of the policy of abstentionism (refusing to take seats in the Republic of Ireland's parliament), was passed. This motion caused a split in the movement creating Republican Sinn Féin, a party committed to the 1970s "provisional" Sinn Féin vision of a 32 County federal republic. It was led by former Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (who had previously led "provisional" Sinn Féin to split from Official Sinn Féin). The policy of participation in Dáil elections became known as the Armalite and ballot box strategy.  In 1994 the leaders of Northern Ireland's two largest nationalist parties, Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Féin and John Hume, the leader of the Social Democratic and

Ideology.

Rejection of the British state.

Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as an inherently illegitimate, foreign regime. A variant of this is Irish republican legitimism, which also rejects the Republic of Ireland because of its

Violence.

According to Malachi O'Doherty, Sinn Féin politicians often presented republican terrorist violence as an inevitable result of partition and British rule. This

Socialism.

Socialism has traditionally been part of the Irish republican movement since the early 20th century, when James Connolly, an Irish Marxist and Syndicalist theorist, took part in the Easter Rising of 1916. Today, most Irish nationalist and Republican organizations located in Northern Ireland advocate some form of socialism, both Marxist and non-Marxist. The Social Democratic and Labour Party, which until recently was the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland,

Relationship with the Christian churches.

A 1983 article examined statements by Irish republicans on the issue of religion, and found that the attitudes contrasted with "the commonsense view" that Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA supported Catholics and opposed Protestants. There has been long-standing mutual dislike between the Catholic hierarchy and the Republican movement, with the latter seeing the former as complicit in British occupation of Ireland. Articles in "An Phoblacht" often upheld the morality of parish priests and pastors of all Christian denominations rather than bishops and church leaders, with respect for the Christian

Political parties.

The following are active republican parties in Ireland.  Other republican parties in Ireland include Aontú, who split from Sinn Féin in opposition to the party's support for the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment, which removed the constitutional right to life of the unborn and allowed for the legalisation of abortion in Ireland in 2018. As of 2020, Aontú has one TD; party leader Peadar Tóibín, and five councillors across Ireland. The National Party is a right-wing, nationalist and republican party that was founded in 2016 and is led by Justin Barrett.

Irish republicanism () is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.

Irský republikanismus () je ideologie založená na víře, že celý Irský ostrov by měl být samostatná republika. Vývoj nacionalismu a demokratického cítění v Evropě v 18. a 19. století se v Irsku odrazil ve vznik republikanizmu jako opozice vůči britské nadvládě. Stalo se tak po stovkách let britského dobývání a irského odporu skrze povstání. Diskriminace katolíků, pokusy britské správy potlačit irskou kulturu a víra, že Irsko bylo ekonomicky v důsledku Dohody o unii z roku 1800 znevýhodněno, byly hlavní faktory vedoucí k této opozici.


Geography.

The Sierra Madre range trends from northwest to southeast, and is approximately long. High peaks in the range include MacPherson Peak at in elevation, and the highest point in the range, Peak Mountain at in elevation. Snow falls on the highest peaks during the winter months. The range forms the southwestern side of the Cuyama Valley. The La Panza Range is a northern extension of the Sierra Madre, located in eastern San Luis Obispo County.  The Sierra Madre is almost entirely within the Los Padres National Forest, and marks the northern boundary of the San Rafael Wilderness area. The southeastern extent of the range is about north of the city of Santa Barbara, and the northwestern extent of the range is about north by northwest of the city.  To the southeast, the range merges with the San Rafael Mountains of the Transverse Ranges System, in a complex topography of unnamed ranges. The adjacent highest point of the San Rafael Mountains, and in all Santa Barbara County, is Big Pine Mountain ().

Natural history.

The predominant vegetation type on the mountains is chaparral, with oak woodlands that occur in microclimates, both of the California interior chaparral and woodlands sub-ecoregion. The higher elevations support California mixed evergreen forest and small areas of coniferous forest habitats.  The mountains are one of the most important undeveloped habitat areas of the endangered California condor.  Geologically, the mountains are almost entirely composed of sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age. Most of the rocks are Eocene marine sandstones and other sediments, and one region in the eastern portion of the range is made up of middle and early Miocene sediments. The mountain range is delineated on the south by the Nacimiento Fault, and on the north, by the South Cuyama and Ozena Faults. The Sierra Madre rises abruptly just south of the Cuyama Valley, which defines the northern boundary of Santa Barbara County.  The mountain range is almost entirely uninhabited, except for portions of the lower slopes to the north, which have been developed for oil and gas production at the South Cuyama Oil Field. One difficult, single-lane dirt road follows the mountain crest; it often is closed after storms, and is normally only passable by four-wheel-drive vehicles or motorcycles.

The Sierra Madre Mountains are a mountain range primarily in northern Santa Barbara County and extending into northwestern Ventura County in Southern California, western United States. It is a range of the Inner South Coast Ranges group, and is the southernmost reach of the California Coast Ranges, which are themselves part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America.

Sierra Madre Mountains je menší pohoří v jihozápadní Kalifornii ve Spojených státech amerických. Tvoří nejjižnější část Kalifornského pobřežního pásma. Sierra Madre Mountains leží v krajích Santa Barbara County a Ventura County. Oblast je součástí přírodní rezervace "Los Padres National Forest" a je velmi řídce osídlená.


Family and ancestry.

Her father Peter of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, was also the hereditary Count of Brienne from 1397 until his death in 1433. Peter had succeeded his father John of Luxembourg, Lord of Beauvoir and mother Marguerite of Enghien, who had been Count and Countess of Brienne from 1394 to her death in 1397. John had been a fourth-generation descendant of Waleran I of Luxembourg, Lord of Ligny, second son of Henry V of Luxembourg and Margaret of Bar. This cadet line of the House of Luxembourg held Ligny-en-Barrois.  Jacquetta's paternal great-grandmother, Mahaut of Châtillon, was descended from Beatrice of England, daughter of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence. Jacquetta's mother, Margherita del Balzo, was a daughter of Francesco del Balzo, 1st Duke of Andria, and Sueva Orsini. Sueva descended from Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England, the youngest child of King John of England and Isabella of Angoulême.  The Luxembourgs claimed legendary descent from the water deity Melusine through their ancestor Siegfried of Luxembourg (c. 922 – 998). Jacquetta was a fourth cousin twice removed of Sigismund of Luxembourg, the reigning Holy Roman Emperor and king of Bohemia and Hungary.

Early life.

Most of Jacquetta's early life is a mystery. She was born as the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years War began. Her uncle, John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny, was the head of the military company that captured Joan of Arc. John held Joan prisoner at Beauvoir and later sold her to the English.

First marriage.

On 22 April 1433 at age 17, Jacquetta married John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, at Thérouanne. The Duke was the third son of King Henry IV of England and Mary de Bohun, and thus the grandson of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, himself the third son of King Edward III. The marriage was childless and the Duke died on 15 September 1435 at Rouen. As was customary at the time, after her second marriage Jacquetta retained the title of her first husband and was always known as the Duchess of Bedford, this being a higher title than that of countess. Jacquetta inherited one-third of the Duke's main estates as her widow's share.

Second marriage.

Sir Richard Woodville, son of Sir Richard Woodville who had served as the late Duke's chamberlain, was commissioned by Henry VI of England to bring Bedford's young widow to England. During the journey, the couple fell in love and married in secret (before 23 March 1437), without seeking the king's permission. Jacquetta had been granted dower lands following her first husband's death on condition that she not remarry without a royal licence. On learning of the marriage, Henry VI refused to see them, but was mollified by the payment of a fine of £1000. The marriage was long and very fruitful: Jacquetta and Richard had fourteen children, including the future Queen Consort Elizabeth Woodville. She lost her first-born son Lewis to a fever when he was 12 years old.  By the mid-1440s, the Woodvilles were in a powerful position. Jacquetta was related to both King Henry and Queen Margaret by marriage. Her sister, Isabelle de Saint Pol, married Margaret's uncle Charles du Maine while Jacquetta was the widow of Henry VI's uncle. She outranked all ladies at court with the exception of the queen. As a personal favourite, she also enjoyed special privileges and influence at court. Margaret influenced Henry to create her husband Baron Rivers in 1448, and he was a prominent partisan of the House of Lancaster as the Wars of the Roses began.

Wars of the Roses.

The Yorkists crushed the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461, and Edward IV, the first king from the House of York, took the throne. The husband of Jacquetta's oldest daughter Elizabeth, Sir John Grey, had been killed a month before at the Second Battle of St. Albans, a Lancastrian victory under the command of Margaret of Anjou. At Towton, however, the tables turned in favour of the Yorkists.  Edward IV met and soon married the widowed Elizabeth Woodville in secret; though the date is not accepted as exactly accurate, it is traditionally said to have taken place (with only Jacquetta and two ladies in attendance) at the Woodville family home in Northamptonshire on 1 May 1464. Elizabeth was crowned queen on 26 May 1465. The marriage, once revealed, ruined the plans of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Edward's cousin, who had been negotiating a much-needed alliance with France via a political marriage for Edward.  With Elizabeth now Queen of England, the Woodvilles rose to great prominence and power. Jacquetta's husband Richard was created Earl Rivers and appointed Lord High Treasurer in March 1466. Jacquetta found rich and influential spouses for her children and helped her grandchildren achieve high posts. She arranged for her 20-year-old son, John, to marry the widowed and very rich Katherine Neville, Duchess of Norfolk, who was at least 45 years older than John. The rise of the Woodvilles created widespread hostility among the Yorkists, including Warwick and the king's brothers George and Richard, who were being displaced in the king's favour by the former Lancastrians.  In 1469, Warwick openly broke with Edward IV and temporarily deposed him. Earl Rivers and his son John were captured and executed by Warwick on 12 August at Kenilworth. Jacquetta survived her husband by three years and died in 1472, at about 56 years of age.

Witchcraft accusations.

Shortly after her husband's execution by Warwick, Thomas Wake, a follower of Warwick's, accused Jacquetta of witchcraft. Wake brought to Warwick Castle a lead image "made like a man-of-arms... broken in the middle and made fast with a wire," and alleged that Jacquetta had fashioned it to use for witchcraft and sorcery. He claimed that the lead image had been found by "an honest person" Harry Kyngeston of Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, in his house after the departure of soldiers, who delivered it to the parish clerk John Daunger of Shutlanger (in the parish of Stoke Bruerne). Daunger could allegedly attest that Jacquetta had made two other images, one for the king and one for the queen. The case fell apart when Warwick released Edward IV from custody, and Jacquetta was cleared by the king's great council of the charges on 21 February 1470. In 1484 Richard III in the act known as Titulus Regius revived the allegations of witchcraft against the dead Jacquetta when he claimed that she and Elizabeth had procured Elizabeth's marriage to Edward IV through witchcraft; however, Richard never offered any proof to support his assertions.

Heritage.

Through her daughter Elizabeth, Jacquetta was the maternal grandmother of Elizabeth of York, wife and queen of Henry VII, and therefore an ancestor of all subsequent English monarchs.  The Visitation of Buckinghamshire of 1566 mentions the marriage of William Dormer of Wycombe (only later of Ascott House) to "Agnes, da. of Sir Richard Woodvyle, Erle Ryvers" but does not say whether the father was the first or the third earl, who the mother was or whether Agnes was legitimate.

In fiction.

Jacquetta is a main character in Philippa Gregory's 2009 novel "The White Queen", a fictionalized account of the life of her eldest daughter Elizabeth. In the novel, Jacquetta is portrayed as having indeed dabbled quite a bit in witchcraft, displaying what would seem to be actual power. She is also the main protagonist in Gregory's 2011 prequel novel "The Lady of the Rivers". Gregory's works explore the historical claim by Jacquetta's family that they were descended from the water deity Melusine. Gregory uses Jacquetta's tenuous ties to Melusine and Joan of Arc to further her potential ties to witchcraft. In the 2013 BBC One/Starz television series adaptation "The White Queen", Jacquetta is portrayed by actress Janet McTeer.  Jacquetta is also an important character in Margaret Frazer's fifth "Player Joliffe" novel, "A Play of Treachery" (2009). The story is set in 1435–6, after the death of her first husband, John, Duke of Bedford. This historical novel tells a tale regarding her marriage to Sir Richard Woodville. There is no mention of witchcraft in this novel.  Jacquetta is also a prominent character in "The Last of the Barons" (1843), a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873). The book's title is a reference to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Countess Rivers (1415/16 – 30 May 1472) was the eldest daughter of Peter I of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Conversano and Brienne, and his wife Margaret of Baux (Margherita del Balzo of Andria). She was a prominent, though often overlooked, figure in the Wars of the Roses. Through her short-lived first marriage to the Duke of Bedford, brother of King Henry V, she was firmly allied to the House of Lancaster. However, following the emphatic Lancastrian defeat at the Battle of Towton, she and her second husband Richard Woodville sided closely with the House of York. Three years after the battle and the accession of Edward IV of England, Jacquetta's eldest daughter Elizabeth Woodville married him and became Queen consort of England. Jacquetta bore Woodville 14 children and stood trial on charges of witchcraft, of which she was exonerated.

Jacquetta Lucemburská, hraběnka z Rivers (1415/1416 - 30. květen 1472) byla nejstarší dcerou Petra I. Lucemburského, hraběte ze Saint-Pol, Conversana a Brienne a jeho manželky Markéty z Baux. Byla přední, ale často přehlížená, postava ve Válkách růží. Přes své krátkodobé první manželství s vévodou z Bedfordu, bratrem krále Jindřicha V. Anglického, byla pevně spojená s rodem Lancasterů. Nicméně, po porážce Lancasterů v bitvě u Towtonu, se i se svým druhým manželem Richardem Woodvillem přidala na stranu Yorků. Tři roky po bitvě a přestoupení k Eduardovi IV., se její nejstarší dcera Alžběta za Eduarda provdala a stala se anglickou královnou. Jacquetta porodila Woodvillovi 14 dětí a stanula před soudem na základě obvinění z čarodějnictví, ale byla zproštěna viny.


History.

Background, Flemish Movement.

The "Vlaams Blok" originated from the loose Flemish Movement, which historically has included an array of organisations seeking, to varying degrees, to promote Flanders. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Flemish nationalists operated within the established political parties, and had close ties with the political left. The early organised political expression of Flemish nationalism was triggered by World War I, and the introduction of universal suffrage and proportional representation in elections. The main party that initially represented the movement was the left-wing nationalist Front Party, founded by former soldiers and sympathizers from the trench wars in Flanders Fields disaffected with their French-speaking, often anti-Flemish, officers that had been unable to communicate with their troops. From the 1930s, the main party became the Flemish National Union which turned to collaborate with the Nazis during World War II, as they had promised them increased Flemish autonomy. These circumstances would compromise the re-emergence of Flemish nationalism after the war, although only a faction of the broader movement had actually pursued an agenda of collaboration.  The direct predecessor to the "Vlaams Blok" was the People's Union, which was founded in 1954 as the successor to the Christian Flemish People's Union electoral alliance, that had successfully run for election earlier the same year. The party had been careful to choose its leaders from nationalist circles that had not collaborated with the Nazis. While Flemish separatists had been suspicious of the People's Union since its outset, it became clear by the 1970s that the party had moved to a moderate left-liberal course, which led to the defection of its more radical members. The remaining nationalist hardliners finally rejected the party's participation in a new five-party government coalition in 1977, and particularly the Egmont pact, believing it had conceded too much to the francophone government parties.

Early years (1978–1988).

In late 1977, the rejection of the Egmont pact by the hardliner faction of the People's Union led to the establishment of two new (short-lived) parties; the radical nationalist Flemish National Party (VNP) and the national liberal Flemish People's Party (VVP), respectively led by Karel Dillen and Lode Claes. The parties contested the 1978 general elections in a coalition called "Vlaams Blok", where they won 1.4% of the vote and one seat in the Chamber of Representatives (taken by Dillen). On 28 May 1979, the VNP and VVP finally merged to form a new party named Vlaams Blok, and Dillen was nominated to be the party's leader for life. The party initially recruited its members from Flemish nationalist organisations, such as the "Taal Aktie Komitee", "Voorpost", "Were Di", and the Order of Flemish Militants, while some local groups also simply turned into local branches of the Vlaams Blok. In its inception, the party was widely regarded as a conservative separatist party, rather than an extreme right-wing party.  The party did not have much electoral success at first, and was stable at one seat in the 1981 general elections. It stood candidates in very few communities, and was active almost entirely in the city of Antwerp. Having been founded mainly as a protest against the Egmont pact, the party revamped and broadened its platform after the pact collapsed. It did not make much progress in the 1985 general elections, and Dillen thus started the so-called "Operation Rejuvenation", allowing for an across-the-board change of the party leadership, integrating many leaders of nationalist youth and student organisations into the party council. The party's youth organisation, the "Vlaams Blok Jongeren" (VBJ), was founded in 1987 by among others Filip Dewinter and Frank Vanhecke.  Starting in 1983, the Vlaams Blok increasingly began focusing on immigration (inspired by the success of other European right-wing populist parties), and on the international day against racism in 1984 held its first conference to discuss the "foreigner problem." The same year, Dillen proposed a bill in the Chamber of Representatives to offer cash incentive for immigrants to return to their native country. In April 1987, a group around Roger Frankinouille of the only right-wing competitor to the Vlaams Blok, the anti-tax Respect for Labour and Democracy, switched to the party. The party campaigned for the 1987 general election with the slogan "Own people first" ("Eigen volk eerst!", inspired by French National Front slogan "The French first"), and saw a slight victory, winning their first seat in Senate (taken by Dillen), and for the first time two seats in the Chamber (Dewinter and Annemans). The party's shift towards focusing on immigration was however criticised by some Vlaams Blok members, and ultimately also led to the defection of some top party figures. The party nevertheless made a clear choice of focussing on the immigration issue, which had, and would, give results in elections.

Rise of the party (1988–2004).

The electoral success of the Vlaams Blok began after the younger generation in the party shifted the party's emphasis from Flemish nationalism (separatism) to the immigration issue. In the 1988 local election in Antwerp the party first started to take off, going from 5.5% of the vote in the city to 17.7%, a success which drew much publicity. On 10 May 1989, based on the Antwerp success, the presidents of all major Belgian parties (including the People's Union) signed a "cordon sanitaire" (hygienic barrier), where the parties agreed to never conclude any political agreements with the Vlaams Blok, nor make immigration a political issue. While the Vlaams Blok itself also largely rejected cooperation with other parties, it did increasingly consider such cooperation, particularly in elections in 1994, 1999 and 2000, only to find themselves effectively blocked by the "cordon sanitaire". Although intended to keep the Vlaams Blok from gaining political influence, many argued that the agreement in reality gave room for the strong electoral surge for the party, as it was made into what could be seen as the only "true opposition." The agreement was renewed in following years, and Vlaams Blok chairman Karel Dillen was used to call it the "insurance policy" of his party;  In December 1988, a major split occurred in the party, when a group who opposed the "Operation Rejuvenation" tried to squeeze the Dewinter-VBJ faction out of the party leadership. Led by Geert Wouters, he accused Dewinter's faction of being "Lepenists", and of attempting to sideline the Flemish question to rather favour the immigration question. Dillen however sided with Dewinter, and Wouters and his group left the party and founded the nationalist pressure group called the Nationalist Association-Dutch People’s Movement. In 1989, the party won a seat in the Brussels city council, as well as in the European Parliament. There, the Vlaams Blok agreed to form a parliamentary group together with the French National Front and the German The Republicans, called the Technical Group of the European Right. The group lacked an ideological coherence (stemming in part from Le Pen's support for a Belgian state nationalism), and was largely organised on pragmatic grounds simply to get financial support.  In the 1991 general election, the Vlaams Blok for the first time surpassed the People's Union, going from two to 12 seats in the Chamber, and from one to five seats in the Senate, in what was afterwards referred to by its opponents as "Black Sunday". In the following years, the party saw a systematic upwards trend in all elections it participated in. In July 1992, the first Vlaams Blok motion was accepted in the Flemish Parliament, which rejected the right of francophone inhabitants in Flemish Brabant and Voeren to vote for Wallon institutions. In late 1992, it was announced that Neel, a popular Antwerp city councillor for 22 years for the Socialist Party went over to the Vlaams Blok, thereby causing the SP and CVP to lose their majority in the city council. In 1992, the party ideologue Filip Dewinter and chairman Karel Dillen established the party's comprehensive immigration program, titled the 70-point plan. The plan sought to close the borders towards non-European immigrants, gradually repatriate those already in the country, and implement an "own people first" principle in all policy areas. Over the course of the 1990s, the party however increasingly distanced itself from the plan as it had alienated the party from gaining political influence, until it was finally officially discarded in 2000. In the 1994 European election, the party doubled its seats (Dillen and Vanhecke) with 12.6% of the vote, but failed to continue a European Right group, due to other nationalist parties having dropped out of the parliament, or refusing to join a group. National Front and Vlaams Blok MEPs nevertheless established an "alliance" called The Coordination of the European Right. In 1996, party leader Karel Dillen, who had been nominated to hold his position for life, stepped down and personally appointed Frank Vanhecke as his successor. The choice of Vanhecke was seen a compromise between the Flemish nationalist wing around Annemans and the Lepenist wing around Dewinter, thus avoiding a potential internal struggle. In 1999, elections were scheduled for the European Parliament, the Chamber of Representatives and Senate and the Flemish Parliament, where the Vlaams Blok overtook the position as the third largest Flemish party, winning more than 15% of the vote in all elections, and a total of 45 seats in the various parliaments.  The Vlaams Blok continued to be particularly strong in and around Antwerp, where it received as much as 33% of the vote in the 2000 local elections. In 2001, the party was forced to alter its political program, as according to the laws for party financing, it was not compatible with the European Treaty on Human Rights. In the 2004 Flemish Parliament election, the party finally became the single largest party group in parliament. The party was invited by the "formateur" for government discussions, only to find that its differences with the other parties was insurmountable, resulting in the three traditional parties forming a majority government, retaining the "cordon sanitaire". By this time, the party had nevertheless become the very most popular Flemish party in Belgium, being supported by about one in four of the Flemish electorate.

Court of Cassation ruling (2004).

In October 2000, the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism, together with the Dutch-speaking Human Rights League in Belgium registered a complaint at the Correctional Court, in which they claimed that three non-profit organisations connected to the Vlaams Blok (its education and research office and the "National Broadcasting Corporation") had violated the 1981 anti-racism law. The publications which were referred to included its 1999 election agenda and 1997 party platform. The challenged passages included those where the party called for a separate education system for foreign children, a special tax for employers employing non-European foreigners, and a restriction of unemployment benefits and child allowances for non-European foreigners. In June 2001, the Brussels Correctional Court declared itself incompetent to hear the case, as it related to political misconduct. In February 2003, the Brussels Appellate Court followed and gave a similar judgement. The original plaintiffs then appealed, and the case was sent to the court of appeal in Ghent, which upheld the complaint; the Vlaams Blok non-profit organisations were fined, and it was deemed that the Vlaams Blok was an organisation that sanctioned discrimination. The Vlaams Blok lodged an appeal which was rejected, and in November 2004, the ruling was made definite, when it was upheld by the Court of Cassation. The ruling meant that the party would lose access to state funding and access to television, effectively shutting the party down.

Reactions.

The whole trial was seen by some as a political trial, inspired by the Belgian establishment. The federal parliament had notably amended the Constitution in order to create legal possibilities to condemn the party. The Vlaams Blok also pointed at the problem of political nomination of judges, and again claimed that the lawsuit had been a political process coordinated with the Belgian Ministry of the Interior.  The leadership of the Vlaams Blok seized the occasion of the ban to dissolve the party, and start afresh under a new name. Five days later, on 14 November, the Vlaams Blok disbanded itself, and a new party with the name "Vlaams Belang" was established. (Other proposed names included the Flemish People's Party and Flemish Freedom Front.) The new party instituted a number of changes in its political program, carefully moderating some of the more extreme positions of the former Vlaams Blok. Nevertheless, the party leadership made it clear that the party would fundamentally remain the same.  Professor Lamine (KUL), a former Vlaams Blok member and "advisor" of the party's legal team, claimed that the party, for propaganda reasons, purposely undertook a weak defence, in order to lose the case; "For the party leaders, losing was much more interesting. Winning just wasn't an option." Lamine himself had earlier stated that the party should have carried the trial to the European Court of Human Rights, but Vlaams Blok senator Joris Van Hauthem had already stated in 2005, that; "If we had gone to Strasbourg [ECHR] based on procedural arguments, we might have had a case. But Lamine already put in a private claim to overturn the Appeals Court verdict, on the basis of substantive arguments. If "Vlaams Belang" were to put forth a claim against the verdict as well, at Strasbourg, the Court will bundle both cases. Then we would lose the case for sure. Lamine has thus given us the final blow."

Ideology.

The main ideological and political strategies of the Vlaams Blok started out with its radical nationalist rejection of the People's Union compromise on the Flemish autonomy issue, later to be followed by focus on immigration and security, exploitation of corruption and other scandals, and defense of traditional values. While the party was legitimized first and foremost by its defense of Flemish interests, its voters were mainly motivated by anti-immigration and anti-establishment protest.

Flemish nationalism.

The main issue for the party was Flemish nationalism, and most issues that were added later, were in some way also connected to this. The Flemish nationalism promoted by the party ("volksnationalisme") was according to its program "based on the ethnic community being a naturally occurring entity whose cultural, material, ethical and intellectual interests need to be preserved." While the party primarily worked for an independent Flemish state (modeling the split on that of Czechoslovakia), it for a long time also promoted the idea that the new state should merge with the Netherlands, and establish a Dutch-speaking federation (Greater Netherlands). From the 1990s however, the latter idea was downplayed by the party, as the Netherlands then turned into a "permissive, multicultural and social-democratic state" according to one scholar (although this Dutch political situation would be sharply overturned in the 2000s).

Immigration, minorities.

Immigration became an important issue for the Vlaams Blok from the late 1980s. Interconnected with the Flemish nationalism issue, immigrants were considered to be a threat to the Flemish ethnic community. In 1992, the party established its 70-point plan, which included measures to stop all immigration, return most immigrants to their native countries by force, and legally discriminate against residing migrants in respect of markets such as labour, housing and education. The party's opponents particularly saw its immigration program as a source of claims of racism, and the party thus in its latest years downplayed the relevance of the 70-point plan, and softened its written positions regarding immigration.  Concerns about crime and security was also linked to immigration, as the party particularly blamed Turks and Moroccans for various criminal activity, and sought a zero tolerance approach regarding law and order. The party was also strongly anti-Islamic from early on, and in its 1993 program regarded Islam as "a doctrine, which preaches holy war, assassination, forced conversions, oppression of women, slavery and extermination of "infidels", [which] will automatically lead to what we now call fundamentalism." The party was anti-Muslim and portrayed Muslims as fifth column of a cruel and expansionist religion, and after the 1990 Gulf War called on the government to introduce measures to keep Belgium from being Islamised.  The party was according to political scientist Cas Mudde only very rarely accused of anti-Semitism – and even then, it was strongly condemned by the party leadership. When Roeland Raes cast doubt on the scale of the Holocaust in a television interview in 2001 for instance, the party leadership immediately called an emergency meeting, distanced itself from him and forced him to resign. The party also took screening measures against its local candidates to reveal any possible extremist connections, and rather wanted to risk not being able to fill its lists, rather than filling them with extremists. Particularly, the party wanted to distance itself from Holocaust denial, as it actively sought to reach out to Jewish voters in Antwerp.

Social issues.

In 2003, the Vlaams Blok was the only major Flemish party to vote against the legalization of same-sex marriage in Belgium. The party was not opposed to homosexuality and supported civil partnerships for same-sex couples, but regarded same-sex marriage as a step too far.

Anti-establishment.

Another element in the ideology of the party was a populist fight against the political establishment, often manifested through political scandals which flourished in 1990s Belgium; including corruption, food and even pedophile scandals. These included the Agusta scandal and the Marc Dutroux affair. The usual suspects were politicians in the three traditional party families; especially the francophone parties.

Economy.

The party had no strong economic preferences, and generally supported a mixed economy. While it supported privatisation and tax reductions for small and medium businesses, it also sometimes supported protectionism and defended the welfare state, especially if allocated to the native Flemish population.

Foreign policy.

The party was the only major Belgian party that opposed Belgium's membership of the European Union, as well as the idea of a federal Europe itself. It however defended a con-federal Europe based on sovereign culturally homogeneous nation-states. The European issue was however not an issue the party promoted much.  It also favoured the abolition of the United Nations, citing; "The illogical composition of the Security Council. The unwieldy bureaucracy. The democratic deficit." The party did also not have any faith in such a world community or international legal system, questioning the entire logic behind the UN. It rejected the view of any international consensus about concepts as democracy, justice, freedom and human rights, especially since most of its member countries are non-Western and undemocratic.

International relations.

The "Vlaams Blok" maintained good contacts with nationalist parties throughout Europe and other countries. The "Vlaams Blok" did traditionally have the closest contacts with Dutch and South African far-right groups, including the Dutch Centre Party '86, the Centre Democrats and "Voorpost", and the South African Boerestaat Party. In the mid-1980s, it also established close relations particularly with the French National Front, as well as the German People's Union, The Republicans and National Democratic Party of Germany. In the 1990s, it supported the minor Dutch Block party, which had modeled itself directly on the "Vlaams Blok".  The party also became very active in establishing contacts with post-communist parties in Eastern European countries, including the Croatian Party of Rights, Slovak National Party and IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement. While not keeping official contacts, it was in addition very supportive of left-wing nationalist parties such as the Scottish National Party, Irish Sinn Féin and Basque Herri Batasuna. Some of the parties it established contacts with most recently was the Freedom Party of Austria and the Italian Lega Nord, which after a period of distrust, maintained contacts since 2002.

Election results.

Note that the election results in elections other than those for the Flemish Parliament (and the Dutch-speaking electoral college in the European Parliament) gives a somewhat wrong image of the party's support, given that the party only ran in Flanders, the one half of Belgium.

European Parliament.

Results in the Dutch-speaking electoral college is given in the parenthesis.

Vlaams Blok (, or VB) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders. From its creation in 1978, it was the most notable militant right wing of the Flemish movement. "Vlaams Blok"'s track record in the Flemish and Belgian parliament elections was strong. The election campaigns consisted mainly of the immigration and law-and-order theme, combined with the desire for Flemish autonomy.

Vlámský blok (nizozemsky "Vlaams Blok)" byla vlámská belgická nacionalistická, krajně pravicová strana. Za jejího pokračovatele lze považovat současnou stranu Vlámský zájem.


Architectural heritage.

Cittadella.

In the heart of Victoria lies the Cittadella (Citadel), formerly known as "il Castello", which has been the centre of activity of the island since possibly Neolithic times, but is known to be first fortified during the Bronze Age c. 1500 BC. It was later developed by the Phoenicians and continued into becoming a complex Acropolis by Roman times.  The north side of the Citadel dates back to the Aragonese domination period. The south flank, overlooking Victoria, was re-constructed under the Knights of St. John, namely between 1599 and 1603, after Ottomans invaded the city in 1551. The massive defensive stone walls of the fortifications rise above the town and were built by the Knights to protect the village communities from foraging corsairs attempting to take slaves and threatened invasion of Moslem forces fighting Christendom.  Within its walls lies a fine 17th century baroque Cathedral designed by Lorenzo Gafà, the Maltese architect who also built the Cathedral of Mdina. It is said that it lies on the site where a Roman temple dedicated to Juno once stood. It is most famous for the remarkable trompe l'oeil painting on its ceiling, which depicts the interior of a dome that was never built.

St George's Parish.

St. George's Basilica, Malta, which covers the whole of Victoria, caters for a little over half of the population of Victoria, as it is a personal parish (as opposed to other parishes who are territorial) operating in the city of Victoria. Its parish church dedicated to St George has the status of a Basilica. This church was built in the 1670s and suffered severe damage in the earthquake of 1693. A new façade was built in 1818. The dome and the aisles are of recent construction (1930s and 1940s). There are several works of art in this church which include the painting of the dome and ceiling by Gian Battista Conti of Rome and other paintings and sculptures by Mattia Preti, Giuseppe d'Arena, Stefano Erardi, Alessio Erardi, Francesco V. Zahra, Giuseppe Calì, and contemporary Alfred Camilleri Cauchi and John L. Grima. The titular statue of St George was carved from solid wood by Pietro Paolo Azzopardi in 1838 and is the first titular statue on the island. The area over which the church is built is of considerable archaeological interest, with evidence of activity dating back to at least to the Roman period.  The parish celebrates two feasts during the year: 23 April, the official date celebrating the death of the martyr, and the third Sunday of July, when the solemn festivities in honour of Gozo's patron saint are held.  In February 2013, the Basilica opened the doors to its new modern museum, one of a kind in the country. It is the first building built for the purpose of a museum. The Museum and cultural centre, named as Heart of Gozo: Il-Hagar, displays a rich collection of historical and artistic artefacts previously inaccessible to the general public. The museum is found on the left side of the Basilica.

Villa Rundle Gardens.

These gardens are situated between Republic Street and the Main Car Park in Victoria. One can see in these gardens a bronze bust of the Gozitan 18th-century historian and grammarian Can. Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis and another of Gozo born French poet and writer Laurent Ropa. One can also find a memorial commemorating the invasion of Gozo by Ottomans in 1551.

Feasts of Victoria, Gozo.

Five feasts are celebrated in Victoria, the island of Gozo, the two main feasts are the feast of St. George and the feast of Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The feast dedicated to St. Mary, devoted in its Cathedral situated in the centre of the Citadel dominating the whole island is celebrated on 15 August. The other one is dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of Gozo celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of July in St George's Basilica in the heart of Victoria.  In Victoria, there is the feast of the Immaculate Conception in the church of St Francis this feast is celebrated on 8 December of every year by the Franciscan conventual friars. A feast of Our Lady of Divine Grace is celebrated as the last feast of the feast season by the Franciscan capuchin frias in the church dedicated to Our Lady of Divine Grace. The feast of St. John Bosco is celebrated in the Don Bosco Oratory.

Sports.

Victoria is home to three football clubs, S.K. Victoria Wanderers, Victoria Hotspurs and Oratory Youths.

Twin towns – sister cities.

Victoria is twinned with:

Victoria (, meaning "the city Victoria"), also known among the native Maltese as Rabat (which is the name of the old town centre) or by its title Città Victoria, is the capital city of Gozo, the second largest island of Malta. The city has a total population of 6,901 (as of March 2014), and by population, is the largest locality in Gozo.

Victoria, známá také jako Rabat nebo pod názvem Città Victoria, je hlavní městem Goza, druhého největšího ostrova státu Malta. Počet obyvatel v březnu roku 2014 činil 6 901 osob, což znamená, že je nejlidnatější lokalitou na Gozu.


Biography.

Driscoll was born in Kearney, Nebraska. He began playing piano at age five. Soon after, he added saxophone, and at age thirteen he picked up the bass guitar. Almost immediately he was playing gigs around the midwest. When an offer to travel with a rock band came up, he dropped out of high school at age sixteen to go on tour.  He resumed high school at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, then attended the University of Miami, where one of his teachers was Jaco Pastorius. At Berklee College of Music in 1975 he became friends with guitarist Bill Frisell, and they often performed locally in Boston. Driscoll cites Pastorius and Frisell as two of the biggest influences on his life. Around 1976, he and his roommate, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and Frisell found work in a band called the Boston Connection. According to Frisell, band members dressed in orange polyester suits and played disco.  In May 1978, Driscoll traveled to Belgium to play with Stephan Houben who was working with Frisell. With this group he made his first recording, "Mauve Traffic", with Frisell, Houben, Greg Badolato, Vinton Johnson, and Michel Herr. The album included a composition by Driscoll entitled "Doggone it". In January, 1980, he moved to New York City, and during the next year toured with Buddy Rich. He co-led the group New and Used with trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Andy Laster. Starting in 1987, he was a member of Bill Frisell's quartet.  In 2005, he was diagnosed with advanced Lyme disease. Friends performed benefit concerts. Colauita helped gather donations and encouraged Driscoll to record. "Reveille", his first album as a leader, was recorded with Colaiuta, Frisell, and pianist Kris Davis and released in 2010.  Driscoll has worked in many genres and music settings: Broadway, classical, jazz, folk, rock, film, and television. He has taught at SUNY Purchase College and Sarah Lawrence College.  On January, 28th, 2019 Driscoll was charged with aggravated assault, violating a restraining order, false imprisonment, hindering his arrest, obstruction and harassment. This was after being removed from a Cliffside Park, NJ home by the Bergen County Regional SWAT Team.

Discography.

As leader.

With New and Used

As sideman.

With Bill Frisell  With John Hollenbeck  With Joel Harrison  With Gerry Hemingway  With David Johansen  With Mick Rossi  With John Zorn  With others

Kermit Driscoll (born March 4, 1956) is an American jazz bassist. He is known for his long association with guitarist Bill Frisell.

Kermit Driscoll (* 4. března 1956 Kearney) je americký kontrabasista a baskytarista. Ve svých pěti letech začal hrát na klavír, později na saxofon a ve třinácti na baskytaru. Později byl členem rockové kapely. V letech 1975 až 1978 studoval na Berklee College of Music. V roce 1987 začal spolupracovat s kytaristou Billem Frisellem. Členem jeho kvartetu byl až do roku 1996. Spolu se členy souboru Soldier String Quartet nahrál originální hudbu skladatele Johna Calea pro film "Střelila jsem Andyho Warhola". Během své kariéry spolupracoval s mnoha dalšími hudebníky, mezi něž patří například Wayne Horvitz, Henry Kaiser, John Zorn a Emil Viklický. V roce 2010 vydal vlastní album "Reveille", na němž se podíleli kytarista Bill Frisell, klavírista Kris Davis a bubeník Vinnie Colaiuta.