•The truth about Yosemite: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...

 

This is another mountain stream, taken over the 4th of July weekend. Taken with Nikon D600, Tokina 17-35 F4 FX Pro, Kinko Circular Polarize, 9 images in 1 stop increments. Edit: Lightroom 5.5; workflow and final edit, Photomatix Pro 4; fusion/layers, NIK Collection; Color Efex Pro 4, Gimp 2.8; Logo. And, while I’m at it; what keeps my feet dry (yes, I stand in water for many of these shots) are a pair of HighTech Waterproof Hikers.

In the right center of the photo is my Jeep. This is the Jeep that has had all four tires flattened, had different colored liquids thrown on it after being washed, had cigarette ashes and tobacco placed on the hood, had animal feces impacted in the driver’s door handle, and had the rear break line pulled back and forth causing it to leak.

Yes; this happens in Yosemite National Park, this happens in America. In today society this is “Being American” This is what happens to those of us whom stand up to corruption; corruption in government, law enforcement, corporations, organizations and society. We become Targets; are lives are destroyed, we are defamed, we are mobbed, harassed, stalked and psychologically tortured.

With the resent VA whistleblowers; there are Doctors, Nurses coming forward stating the same treatment for speaking out. They have worked hard, sacrificed much to become who they are; to have it all destroyed for telling the truth. I too know who I am; I’m an American, an American that proudly served his country, an American that received 12 medals, an American that was awarded Noncommissioned Officer of the Year, a proud father, an American that will stand up for our Rights, our Constitution, an American that will not be bullied or intimidated, an American that knows who he is and no one will ever take that from me.

Help us bring Social Change through Photography; bring awareness and stop Gang Stalking, Community Based Stalking and Workplace Mobbing. We are trying to make these changes one community at a time. So, here is a contact page for Yosemite National Park: www.nps.gov/yose/contacts.htm. Once on this page; click on ask a question or make a comment. This is your National Park please take the time to contact them; tell them to put a stop to Gang Stalking, Community Based Stalking and Workplace Mobbing.

These immoral and illegal acts are allowed in Yosemite National Park by Law Enforcement, encouraged and performed by its Contractors.

  

If you would like to hear what I'm standing up against, put on a good pair of headphones and listen flic.kr/p/2hJ7Rye

 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my photostream.

 

the head (detail in black and white)

 

Thomas Schüttes "Großer Geist" vor dem Neuen Museum Weimar kann als Antwort auf die Tradition "figürlicher Hoheitszeichen" gesehen werden. Mit dieser Figur lässt Schütte jedes Pathos zerfallen, um ein neues Zeichen zu setzen. "Im Widerstreben von Materie und Form führt er eine Ambivalenz des Menschen vor Augen, die Schwerkraft des Körpers, die Erhebung als kleiner oder sogar großer Geist." Die Plastik antwortet u.a. auf Ernst Rietschels Goethe-Schiller-Denkmal, nimmt aber auch Bezug auf die Helden des Buchenwalddenkmals von Fritz Cremer. Im Neuen Museum wurde zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus auch die Ausstellung "Entartete Kunst" gezeigt, die in München ihren Ausgangspunkt nahm. In dieser Ausstellung wurde jede Art von moderner Kunst als "entartet" diffamiert. Heute zeigt das Neue Museum Weimar ausschließlich zeitgenössische Kunst.

 

Thomas Schütte's "Great Spirit" in front of the Neues Museum Weimar can be seen as a response to the tradition of "figurative emblems of majesty". With this figure, Schütte allows any pathos to disintegrate in order to set a new sign. "In the reluctance of matter and form, he presents an ambivalence of the human being, the gravity of the body, the elevation as a small or even great spirit." The sculpture responds to Ernst Rietschel's Goethe-Schiller Monument, among others, but also refers to the heroes of Fritz Cremer's Buchenwald Monument. At the time of National Socialism, the Neues Museum also hosted the exhibition "Degenerate Art", which started in Munich. In this exhibition, any kind of modern art was defamed as "degenerate". Today, the Neues Museum Weimar exclusively shows contemporary art.

 

Quelle: Neues Museum Weimar

Before I get into the title of this picture, if you have a minute, please listen to a phone call to Officer Fanone, while he testifying at the Jan 6th hearings. It gives you great insight of what is really happening in America.

Here are a few link to it: www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/07/28/michael-f...

 

www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-fanone-dc-police-officer-vul...

 

www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/d-c-officer-michael-fan...

 

www.tmz.com/2021/07/28/michael-fanone-voicemail-hate-fill...

 

Now ask yourself; how did that man get his cell phone number? Really, just think a minute. This brave officer put his life on the line to defend our Nations Capitol and our Incompetent Law makers against a riot, an insurgence. He’s being called during a hearing, threatened, told he and all his colleges should have been KILLED!

Welcome to the Dark Side of America. The world of Gang Stalkers, Community Mobbers in America. This is the daily life of a Targeted Individual, in the United States. You can be Targeted for many things. You could anger a neighbor. You could tactfully address shortcomings in the workplace. You could be a far better worker than others. You could anger someone in an RV Park, or out Boondocking. You could be an Official Whistle Blower or an Unofficial one. You could be criminal, or on parole. In today's America; you fart loud enough to piss someone off and you could be Targeted.

This Mobbing, Targeting Culture has been going on for DECADES. Those of us in the Whistleblower and Targeting Community; have gone around in circles trying to get someone to listen, to believe the TRUTH. As I stated in my last post “Telling the Truth”. We’ve used our chain of commands, we have pleaded with our Elected Officials, we’ve pleaded with Law Enforcement, even the most corrupt Law Enforcement Agency in American History; the FBI. They have know about America’s Mobbing Culture, Gang Stalking, Community Mobbing and Direct Energy Weapons (Yes, I said Direct Energy Weapons), for DECADES! Its been called the "Havana Syndrom" . You may have seen current news; on CIA and Government officials being hit with Direct Energy Weapons. They have had hundreds of complaints from Government employees. The CIA is supposedly looking into it. We in the Whistleblower, Targeted Community have been addressing these same ATTACKS FOR DECADES. AGAIN, to the FBI, our ELECTED OFFICIALS and LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. YET, MANY OF US RECEIVE THEM DAILY! WE ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS, ON AMERICA SIOL! But, as you saw from the Jan 6th Hearings, anything is possible.

I myself have gone through all channels, even the FBI Office in Fresno, CA. It’s an office that participates in this type of harassment and devastation. The type of DEVASTATION that DESTROYS the lives of AMERICAN CITIZENS. I know its a bold statement, but it’s TRUE! Do I think all Law Enforcement Officers are corrupt? Of course not. But, many in power are.

 

Let me just give you an average day of a Targeted Individual, in America.

I’m woke about an hour before I want to get up. Someone is extremely revving the engine, of an over sized pick-up truck. I can’t get back to sleep. I’m exhausted , some jerk was revving an ATV right in front of our Motorhome, just I went to bed. It went on for quit some time. I’m lucky to have a few hours sleep. I make a pot of coffee and get ready for my day. I take my dog out to use the bathroom. As I do; people start riding and driving by on bikes, motorcycles, ATVs or big trucks. I’m out Boondocking on Public land, in the middle of nowhere, miles from anyone. But give them a day or two and they show up. Poor Koda is trying to poo and he’s being bombarded with noise and people. I’m used to it and he’s starting to. I just tell him its good training. He receives this treatment each and every time I take him out. This started in Gand Junction, Colorado; soon after I adopted him.

When Koda was being harassed in an RV Park, in Grand Junction; I called their police office. A Sergeant came out, looked at some of the evidence I had. He took my information, told me if it continued; to take video (which I already had), and call him. Not only did it continue; it intensified and they started using young children and Toddlers. I called the Police office repeatedly. I left a voicemail for the Sergeant; informing him that I had more video and that these people were using children to harass Koda. No one followed-up. I was trying to use the Grand Junction VA Hospital. It was so Toxic and Dis-functional, I left and ended up near Phoenix. I tried Prescott, but it was a shit show too.

This type of harassment continued in Arizona, throughout the winter. Once the temperature started rising, I headed back to Colorado. This time I would try the Eastern Slope. You can see and what happened North of Durango, in my previous post “Telling the Truth”. Once I got off that mountain, we ended up at the Boulder County Fair Grounds. They had what they call a camping area, for RVs. I stayed there for two weeks trying find a VA facility where, I could receive some follow-up care. During those two weeks; the Longmont Humane Society Shelter, used young adults and their stray animals to Mob, Stalk and Harass Koda and I. One day, they even had a Police Officer set in her vehicle at the stables and watch. These people were setting up left and right as I try and walk daily. I walked up to her vehicle after being chased down by a young man, asked her if she saw it. She said no, (she was setting right their in her vehicle), I informed her of Shelter Staff and Volunteers, harassing Koda each and every time I took him out. Once I informed her of this, she left. Seriously, they would be waiting for Koda to come out each and every day, so they could Mob, Stalk, Bait and Harass us. Now, here in the Wilderness of Wyoming, and it continues.

We go inside and all quiets down. I make breakfast and as set down to eat; more of the same shows up. This time its parents with little kids in their laps, American fags flying from their Side-by-Sides.

Then a helicopter flies directly over us, just a few hundred feet. This is not just for breakfast, but for every meal, everyday of my life. Not the helicopter every meal, but the noise campaigns. The helicopter started back up here in Wyoming, and has buzzed me at both camps I’ve stayed at so far, in the area.

The make-a-meal idiots (I call them), started when I was working and living in Yosemite National Park. People, mostly my coworkers, would walk pass my door or a window to my residence and put on this loud, extreme, fake cough. This happened at every meal, every day. If I ate at work, one of the concessionaires or a picnic area; I’d get the same treatment. I’ve had people walk behind me, do this so intensely; I’d get spit on my neck. Some would do in in face.

This is called BAITING; in hopes you will act out and be recorded doing so.

This didn’t stop until the Pandemic hit and people were being charged for it. It recently picked back up here in Wyoming, when I go into town to do laundry, do some shopping.

I’ve had breakfast, so I get ready to go into town for VA Lab work, and pick up parts for my frig and Motorhome. As I do; the ATVs start buzzing by, some even slowing down right in front of the Motorhome, then revving engines and speeding off. This is another intense Noise Campaign, hoping I get flustered, lose my train of thought and forget something.

I’m on a small highway heading to town. I pull up to a stop sign and I am blocked and mobbed from all sides by big trucks, some with American flags. I pull off the side of the road and wait for the Billy-Bobs to leave. I get to town, pull into a parking lot to have my blood drawn for lab work. This is a VA Mobile Clinic. I take Koda over to a grassy area to use the bathroom. As I do, a man drives by, giving us an evil stare down. He pulls beside the Mobil Clinic and parks. I’m 20 minutes early, so Koda and I take our time. The guy sets in his SUV, until we walk towards the clinic. He then gets out of his vehicle, wearing a red hat (these perps use certain colors as stimuli and recognition). He rushes ahead of us and stalls the guy at the door steps, and starts asking him questions; keeping us from going in. I call these skits. We go inside the clinic, the guy has me set down. Koda lays at my left side and he starts getting agitated, its not normal. He keeps looking at the door to his left and I asked the man if there was someone in there. He said yes, there’s someone in there with a couple small dogs. Koda stayed where he was, but didn’t like it to well.

We leave and head to the UPS Store. I’m headed down a 4 lane street, in the left lane. People keep pulling in front of me from the right lane, coming to a stop, to make a left turn. This happens 3 times within 4 blocks. I am left waiting behind them, as they wait for car after car, coming from the other way. I get to the UPS Store and I guy pulls out and blocks the entrance. As he finally leaves, a car coming from the other direction turns in quickly. There’s only one parking spot, so I take it. I pull beside a woman setting in her SUV. She waits until I start to get Koda out, then rushes ahead of me. Not only her, but the other woman that pulled in just ahead of me.

Koda and I go in, stand in line and wait. There are people working two registers as we stand in line. A guy to our left grabs a big sheet of paper (I’m talking 2 feet by maybe 3 feet). He start flipping it into the air, then rolls it up as loudly as he can. Koda is waiting calmly at my side. The guy then walks over closer to Koda, with a new sheet of paper, gives him the stare-down, starts doing the same with that sheet. It was just another skit, trying to get Koda worked up. Now, I’m next to be waited on. One of the register staff leaves, so I’m left waiting again. Another person comes to that register. As I step up to it, my phone starts ringing. Its the Social Security Administration. I just received the same recorded call from them an hour ago. I try to shut the ringer off, but my phone is not responding, its a new S21. It continues to ring and I wait until it finishes and goes to voicemail. I told young guy, I had a package from Amazon to pickup. He looks around forever and says he can’t find it. I said; it shows it was delivered today. He then fumbles around for a while longer and pulls it from a bin that was in front of him the whole time. I pay the $5 holding fee they charge and left the store. As soon as we stepped out the door, we were blocked by a woman. We get in the car, start to back up and the woman parked beside of us backs up causing me to stop. I waited, she then pulls forward into the same spot. She’s thinking I’m going back in because I have one item missing, that I don’t know of yet.

We head to a fast food restaurant to get lunch. I place a simple menu order; a number 1, plus 4 piece Chicken Nuggets for Koda. They get my order wrong. We pull over to a parking lot next door to eat our lunch. As we start to eat; big pickup trucks start pulling in, revving their motors, (one a diesel, filling the air with thick dark smoke). A woman pulls up behind us, lights a cigarette, hangs it out the window, upwind.

We leave and head to Walmart. I get the same road stalling tactics. We pull into the parking lot, I’m getting Koda out of the car and a woman right in front of us, lights a cigarette, upwind. A big truck backs right up to us, stops, intentually filling the air with exhaust. He then speeds off, leaving more exhaust.

We head into the store. As we walk through the first door, an employee grabs a shopping cart, uses it making a big circle and blocks us. He then starts touching a large black object in his ear. A lot of times the cart blocking is done in the parking lot, with a large string of carts. They will us them to block me as I come and go. I’ve recorded this over and over; employees using a large string of carts to block me as I come in, or leave. After the employee puts the cart away; he rushes ahead of us, so he can be seen touching the black object, in his ear again, as we pass. It could have been an ear bud, who knows, but this is done for psychological effect, wanting me to think I’m being recorded (which I am 24/7). Three people rush from the right with shopping carts, as I get ready to enter the store area. They stop right in front of me; blocking me completely from entering the store. The same employee watching my reaction the whole time.

We go to the electronics section to get ink for my printer. There’s a woman there standing in front of the ink cartridges. She walks back and forth, as Koda lay at my feet. That’s what he’s trained to do, when I stand in an are for a while. I find the cartridge I need, but its extremity expensive. I see a printer on sale for around the same price, so I bought it with an extra cartridge. That cartridge was a lot cheaper than the one for my current printer. While I looking at cartridges and the printers, there was a guy a distance away watching. I grab the items I want, and head to the register. The guy that was hanging out behind me; rushes to the register ahead of me and starts asking questions. This is another stall campaign. Just like I received at the UPS store. There were two employees at the registers, but one walks away as I approach. This is store after store, gas stations, restaurants, you name it; there is no shortage of Americans willing to hate, stalk, bait and harass. This is done in hopes I act out so it can be recorded. It also gives other perps time to set up; for more types of baiting and harassment. I pay for my items in electronics and go to leave the store. As I walk down a mail aisle; the woman that was waiting by the printer ink; waits in a side aisle to push her cart out in front of us. As she does, a guy watching us (Koda & I), has phone in hand texting. He gives me a dirty stare-down as I turn around and look at the woman, once she passes. I look right at him and said “Never mind me Sir, I’m just documenting me being harassed in Walmart”. That turned his face to red. As I leave the store, people are stepping from aisles, phones in hand texting. This skit is overacted by many; striving for their daily dose of sociopathic needs. As I exit the store; I’m block by another person with a shopping cart, cutting across in front of us. We leave and head back to camp. As we do, we get the same; people pull in front of us, then stop to make a left or right turn. This continued to happen until we get to the freeway.

Once at camp (we are boondocking in a National Forest), we go in, I open the package and one item is missing. Its the gas control unit for my Motorhome refrigerator. The part that I really needed. I ordered the part through Amazon, along with an exterior light fixture. I selected the deliver in same package, same day option. The UPS Store I use for pick-up charges $5 per package, for pick-up. I don’t have a mail box there. The day I ordered the parts, I contacted Amazon Customer Service, to make sure they would arrive in one package. My last order, I selected the same option, but it came in two package and cost me $10 to pick them up. When I spoke to Customer Service, the young man took forever, but did tell me the packages would be delivered the same day, in the same package. They didn’t. I called Amazon, to find out where my part was. It took me several dropped calls and a couple messages saying the call back option is temporary unavailable. It took me forever to get to Customer Service Rep, then a while to speak a manager. I told what happened and she told me the part was delivered, but not in one package, bla, bla, bla.

I get Koda in the car, to head back to town to get my parts. Just as we get ready to pull out, a bunch of kids show up on motorcycles, followed by their dad (I’m guessing Dad), as I pull out of camp, they stop in the middle of the road, right in front of me. Really, they come to a complete stop, 4 of them stretched out, blocking me completely from passing. I finally get around them and the older man yells Fuck You! I had another young guy on a motorcycles the night before; yell the same thing as he spun off pulling wheelies, in front of our Motorhome. I’m a bit pissed, having to go back into town; and I’m mobbed and blocked by motorcycles. This is how these guys operate, they push your buttons 24/7, 365, hoping you will break. There are many that do; and that’s why we have so much WORKPLACE VIOLENCE. I don’t condone it, but it’s been documented by many in the Psychology Community. Just check out some Workplace Mobbing, Harassment in the Workplace books.

We get back to the UPS Store and another woman rushes in in front of us. We go in and there’s only one person at the registers. Then the same you guy who gave me the last package comes out. I told him I had another package, he walks over to a bin as if he knew where it was, pulled it and gave it to me.

It was right where he looked the last time, the Amazon Prime Package stuck out like a sore thumb.

He wanted to charge me another $5. I said, I had to drive anther 50 miles (round trip), to come back and get this package and your going to charge me another $5. He pauses for a moment, then says “Its Free”. I thanked him and we left.

When we get on the National Forest Road, the first cattle grate we came to; has a couple in a Side-by-Side (Its the larger ATVs), rushing to the cattle grate. I slowed down, they did too, I waited, then they stopped just before the gate, so I crossed. After getting pass them, I come across the same guy the had the kids with Motorcycles. This is miles from my camp. He’s stopped in the road, kids too, working on his motorcycle. This time they only took half the road, but here comes a big 5th wheel to take up the other half passing them. After recording this Stupidfest, I proceed to camp. I come up to another cattle grate, and there’s an SUV rushing towards it, causing me to stop. I wait for them to pass, then head back to camp.

Once back at camp; I start to replace the part on the frig, which has outside access. As I do; the motorcycles, trucks and ATVs show up. They’re revving their engines, making so mush noise; it’s hard to even think. I need to get the part in before the storm hits. It didn’t take to long to get it in, and frig is running like new. I’m as happy as a lark, but it’s short lived. I take Koda out because he has to Poo. As he does his pre-poo routine; motorcycles show up again, right in front of the Motorhome. They’re pulling wheelies, revving engines. This is done each time I take Koda out, if we go out for a hike, play fetch, any time he’s out. They know if they harass and get Koda worked up; it harassed me. They are relentless. If we stay at a pay campground or RV park, we get the same treatment with Big Trucks and Harlies, many with American Flags waving in the air.

Koda takes his poo, gives the motorcycles his WTF look, then comes walking over to me. Koda has a lot of facial expressions, many times hilarious. He’s extremely intelligent. He comes up and nudges me when he wants something. It’s come to a point where I ask him “what do you want? show me, show me”. He will walk over to his leash, box of biscuits, his food bowl, toys and nudge then with his nose. He will also bring me a toy, jump in the passenger seat of our Motorhome, when I ask him (he loves riding up high watching everything). Once he reaches what he wants, he nudges it with his nose. He does it to me often too.

We go in and I make dinner. Just as I set down to eat; here comes the noise campaign, that’s what it is, just like the Military performs. I should know, I went through intense POW training in the Army. I was assigned to The US Joint Serves Special Operations Command, quite the mouth-full. I did live RECONS, received a butt load of medals for it. Not to brag, but to let you know where I’m coming from. I know how not to be seen, gather the information, retain and report it. I’ve even had dinner with Generals. Its "DISGRACEFUL"; I can gather secret information in other countries, be awarded medals for it in the Military, but I tell the Truth in America and thousand crawl out from their rocks, to discredit me. That’s not an exaggeration; IT’S THE TRUTH IN AMERICA.

I said above an average day for a Target; this is actually a very light day. If I told you everything, you probably wouldn’t believe most of it, or be in a state of shock. I want to get this posted, so I’m going to give you a quick insight on what will happen as I get ready for bed. The noise campaign starts back up. This is to build my anxiety up, to a point you can’t go to sleep. I’ll toss and turn for hours, then be woken by much of the same, hours before I want to wake-up.

There are thousands of documented Whistleblowers receiving this kind of harassment, mobbing and life destruction. There have been thousands of us reporting this harassment, mobbing, staking and attacks from Direct Energy Weapons; to the FBI. We have been reporting it for DECADES. Where have they been? Maybe, the same place they were at during the Jan 6th Riots and Insurgence.

Imagine telling your family this. You try and tell your family, you show them some evidence; audio, pictures, videos. They are still in disbelief, this is America, this can’t happen here. IT DOES, EVERY DAY!

Is this the America you want your child to grow up in? Where trying to do the right thing, tell the TRUTH; destroys there life. They become a Target, are watched 24/7 (even in the privacy of their home), Stalked, Mobbed, Baited, Harassed, attacked with Direct Energy Weapons, their personal property tampered with, destroyed or stolen. This is what is happening to United States Citizens, on American Soil, everyday. Again, the FBI is fully aware of it but does nothing. No one is held accountable, so it continues day after day, year after year, across State Lines. These people are your neighbors, your coworkers, some; you think of as friends, some even a family member. These are the types of people storming our Capital. They are not going to stop. They may change their tactics but they will continue, until they are held accountable. There is a lot more I haven’t mentioned, like; the Street Theater and Gas Lighting. I’m a bit drained and I will cover those at a different time.

If you still don’t believe me; please listen to the message left on Officer Fanone’s voice mail again.

I have the evidence to prove everything I’ve written, but who do I give it to? It seems no one with authority wants it, or cares. If you know someone that truely cares and WILL DO SOMETHING; please send them my way.

Now that I’ve posted this, I’ll be waiting for the Storm of Retaliation, Hate, Harassment, Mobbing, Stalking, Baiting, Belittling, Defaming and Direct Energy Attacks. It will not detour me from continually exposing the TRUTH in AMERICA.

My name is Rick Pineiro. If you want to know the TRUTH, just ask me.

 

I have Hundreds, maybe Thousands. I call the FBI to inform them of Domestic Terrorism (I have definitive proof), and they hang up on me. I was told to contact Local Law Enforcement; if you’ve read through my post, you know how that goes. They all have excuses; its just a big circle of Plausible Deniability. I want to repeat this before I go into the description: I inform the FBI of Domestic Terrorism and I’m abruptly hung up on me. And, we wonder how Jan 6th could have happened; when the FBI was fully aware of the Threat. Now, do you know what I mean, about Selective Policing in America.

 

The picture you see, is one of the many people that Stalk, Bait and Harass; my Service Dog and I.

We moved camp today. While I was packing up at the last camp; we received a Convoy of Hate before we pulled out. One man went as far as putting on a Red Jump Suit, stands up on his motorcycle as he passed. This was because Koda was up front, looking out the window, as I loaded the car on it’s dolly.

 

Now, here at our new camp, many, many miles from our last camp; we are here a few minutes and Karen comes walking from a Fire Lane, to watch. It is the same woman in this picture, but she didn’t have the dog, or backpack. She came up to a fork, that could be seen from our camp. I was setting up the solar panels, Koda was tied to the front side of the Motorhome. She stood at the fork, doing something to cause Koda to growl. When I came around front she stopped. I have it on Video.

 

Hours later, I was playing fetch with Koda, he was having to much fun: the same woman drags this poor old dog, up the Fire Lane. She does this, so it and she could be seen by Koda. This was just an act to get him excited (he loves to play with other dogs). She literally pulled and yelled at the dog she had; the poor thing could not keep up. Take a good look at it. I have pictures of it all. She was in a hurry to spread her hate. These people could care less about a dog, or their own children it seems. They use children often to harass Targets.

This is a prime Example of people involved in Domestic Terrorism. You Can call it Gang Stalking, Community Stalking, Community Policing; it is Actually Domestic Terrorism. These people spread nothing but Fear, Hate, Intimidation, Mobbing and Terror. They even teach children to do so. Once we were set up; it didn’t take long for the same people that Stormed pass our camp, show up here. One man in a Red Jeep, pulled up on a hill a couple hundred yards behind us and Watched us. . It was just another attempt of Intimidation. It didn’t work….

 

Direct Energy Weapons are used during this Stalking, Mobbing, Baiting and Hating. Not every time, but they are used. I know its a bold statement, but its the TRUTH. Many Government Employees, along with CIA Agents have reported being Attacked by these Weapons (Havana Syndrome). For years our Government turned its back on them. Now the CIA is supposed to be investigating it. We know how that will go. And, the FBI, apparently doesn’t want to hear about it. BUT, they are doing nothing for the Average American Citizen.

 

I could care less what others think of my statements. I have TWO thing on my side; TRUTH and HISTORY. History does expose the truth, and one day I’ll be vindicated. If someone you know, is a victim of this type of Domestic Terrorism; please give them the benefit of doubt. Don’t turn your back on them; like our Local/Federal Law Enforcement and Government. “Disgusting”, is and understatement.

 

I’m not against Law Enforcement, I am against Selective Policing and Cover-up….

As I post this on Flickr, an ATV stops with rows of bright lights, in front of our Motorhome.

 

You still have trouble believing, read this: www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&s...

 

Thanks for visiting our photostream

  

While deploring the dramatic impact of rapid climate change on sea levels, extreme weather events, deteriorating ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity, the Church is also witness to how climate change is affecting vulnerable communities and peoples, greatly to their disadvantage. Pope Francis draws our attention to the irreparable impact of unrestrained climate change in many developing countries across the world. Moreover, in his address to the United Nations the Pope said the misuse and destruction of the environment are also accompanied by a relentless process of exclusion.The building and maintenance of a sustainable common home requires courageous and imaginative political leadership. Legal frameworks are required which clearly establish boundaries and ensure the protection of the ecosystem.Reliable scientific evidence suggests that accelerated climate change is the result of

unrestrained human activity, working to a particular model of progress and development,and that excessive reliance on fossil fuels is primarily responsible. The Pope and Catholic

Bishops from five continents, sensitive to the damage caused, appeal for a drastic reductionin the emission of carbon dioxide and other toxic gases.

www.comece.eu/dl/lKupJKJOnOKJqx4kJK/APPEAL_TO_COP_21_Engl...

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE FROM BANGUI While Pope Francis has expressed hope that world leaders meeting in Paris for discussions on confronting climate change will find solutions to the problem, he has also said the inaction on the issue up to now is approaching global suicide."Every year, the problems are more grave," the pontiff told the press Monday, adding that politicians have so far "done little" to address the situation.Recounting a meeting he had participated in that focused on what kind of world we are leaving our children, the pope said someone there had asked: "But are you sure that there will be children of this generation?But he added: "I am sure that almost all who are in Paris … have this awareness and want to do something.". Buy it today!"I have trust; I have trust that these [leaders] will do something," the pope continued. "Because I would say I am sure they have the good will to do it. And I wish that it will be so, and I pray for this."

Francis was speaking Monday in a nearly hour-long press conference aboard the papal plane traveling back to Rome from Africa, where the pope visited Kenya, Uganda, and the Central African Republic from Nov. 25-30.The pope was answering a question about the ongoing U.N. Climate Conference, which is bringing together hundreds of world leaders in Paris through early December to discuss solutions to climate change.During the press conference, the pontiff spoke on a wide range of topics -- giving some of his most memorable moments of his Africa tour, speaking about the role of journalism in uncovering corruption, and revealing more details about his expected trip to Mexico in February.

Francis also faced a question about the church's teaching prohibiting use of artificial contraception from a journalist who asked if the church should consider changing its stance on the issue -- particularly on the use of condoms -- given the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa."The question seems too small to me," the pontiff responded. "It seems to me also like a partial question.""The morality of the church is found on this point, I think, in front of a perplexity," he said. "Fifth or Sixth commandment? Defend life, or that sexual relations be open to life? This is not the problem. The problem is bigger.""This question makes me think of what they asked Jesus one time: 'Tell me, master, is it licit to heal on the Sabbath?'" Francis continued."Malnutrition, exploitation of persons, slave work, lack of drinking water," he said. "These are the problems.""I do not like to descend into reflections that are so casuistic when people are dying," he continued. "I would say to not think if it is licit or not licit to heal on the Sabbath. I say to humanity: Make justice, and when all are healed, when there is not injustice in this world, we can speak of the Sabbath."Francis also spoke out strongly again against religious fundamentalism, saying that fundamentalism exists in all religions and should be combatted with efforts at friendship. He said he prefers not to speak of having tolerance for other religious, but "living together,friendship.""Fundamentalism is a sickness that is in all religions," said the pontiff. "We Catholics have some -- and not some, many -- who believe in the absolute truth and go ahead dirtying the other with calumny, with disinformation, and doing evil.""They do evil," said the pope. "I say this because it is my church.""We have to combat it," he said. "Religious fundamentalism is not religious, because it lacks God. It is idolatry, like the idolatry of money."On a similar line, Francis also defended Islam, saying that Muslims have many constructive values."I even have the experience of friendship -- it is a strong word, friendship -- with a Muslim," said the pontiff. "We can speak. His values are mine. He prays. I pray.""You cannot cancel out a religion because there are some groups, or many groups in a certain point of history, of fundamentalists," said the pope, adding that Christians have to ask forgiveness for the many times wars have been perpetrated in the name of their faith."Like everything, there are religious people with values and those without," he said. "But how many wars … have Christians made? The sacking of Rome was not done by Muslims, eh?"In summarizing the most moving moments of his trip to Africa -- which saw the pontiff visit slums and refugee camps, celebrate several open-air Masses to crowds in the hundreds of thousands, and speak to the U.N. offices in Nairobi -- Francis spoke most about the suffering faced by many on the continent.But he has also emphasized the kind and joyous welcome he felt in each of the three nations he visited."For me, Africa was a surprise," said the pope. "I thought God surprises, but Africa also surprises.""They have a very great sense of welcoming," he said. "I saw in the three countries that they have this sense of welcoming because they feel happy to be visited."Speaking of his feelings after visiting Nairobi's Kangemi slum, which has little to no infrastructure and houses about 100,000 people in makeshift shacks on the city's outskirts, Francis said he felt a "great pain" in being there.He also spoke about visiting a children's hospital in the Central African Republic, where a doctor told him they do not have tools and instruments necessary to care for their patients."There are many malnourished children, many," Francis said. "And the doctor said that most of them will die because they have strong malaria and are malnourished."He then spoke again about his frequent exhortation against the "idolatry of money.""Idolatry is when a man, a woman loses their identity card of being a child of God and prefers to look for a God of their own measure," said the pontiff. "If humanity doesn't change, miseries, tragedies, wars, the children that die of hunger, of injustice, will continue.""This is not communism," he said. "This is truth. The truth, it is not easy to see it."Francis also said that Africa has been abused by many countries of the world."Africa is a victim; Africa was always exploited by other powers," said the pope. "There are powers that only search to take the great riches of Africa -- it is perhaps the richest continent -- but do not think of helping the continent grow.""Africa is a martyr, a martyr of exploitation throughout history," he said.Asked about the role of journalism in confronting corruption in government, and even at the Vatican, Francis said journalists must be professional and avoid three particular sins."It is important they be truly professional, that news does not come to be manipulated," said the pope. "For me it is important because the denouncing of injustice, of corruption is a good work."The three sins he said journalists should avoid are disinformation, calumny, and defamation.Regarding his expected trip to Mexico in February, Francis said he plans to visit three or four cities and that the main criteria of the voyage is to visit cities never before visited by popes.He said he will go to Mexico City to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe; to the southern state of Chiapas on the Guatemalan border; and to Morelia, a city in the center of the country that has experienced much drug violence.The pope also said he is "quasi-sure" that the last city on the trip will be Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border.Asked if he might make another trip to Africa, Francis laughed."I don't know," he said. "I am old! The trips are a heavy weight."Pope Franics COP21Climate change.

ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-world-close-suicide-ov...

  

This is Nina, Lineke and Lara. The twins are a couple of years older in this image.

Balingup, Western Australia.

    

********************************

 

Please ask for permission before using any of my images, they are copyright © Tim Grant.

 

I usually don't expect a fee for private viewing, projects, school work, charity work, etc. Also if you wanted to use any images as a base for a private artwork or poster, I would love to see the final product (as long as it is legal and doesn't defame anyone).

 

Although I do need to charge for other professional, corporate or commercial uses, as I also have to make money to live. I can then supply a high resolution finished image which is sized to your needs.

 

For more information please contact me through FlickrMail.

 

Thanks .............. tim

 

********************************

Downing Street received Sue Gray's report today, on her enquiry into alleged gatherings on government premises during covid restrictions.

Bear is worried that findings in the report will implicate Colin the Caterpillar because he has the reputation of being a bit of a party animal. 🐛 Last week they were inadvertently trying to implicate and defame the honorable Victoria sponge. 🍰

Trolls have evolved over the years. These days many Trolls hide behind a computer. They follow their targets on line, harass, bully and defame. But, here in Yosemite National Park Trolls don’t have to hide. Trolls (many of them my neighbors) can follow and stalk their targets as they please. Trolls (a lot of them my neighbors) can conspire, harass, bully and defame their targets in their residence, in common areas, at work (many of them my coworkers) with impunity.

 

Yosemite has become a Sanctuary Park for Trolls; where they can thrive and multiply. And, if you’re expecting a Troll to come strolling out of the tunnel pictured here, no it wont. It’s just a metaphor to express the Toxic Culture, which thrives in Yosemite National Park. You know; the truth that no one wants you to know about.

 

•The truth about Yosemite: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...

 

Thank you for visiting my photostream.

 

(*Public Service Announcement, for those of you who were already worrying about their prostate)

  

Hubert Crackanthorpe (desatanoudedieu) taps the microphone with the barrel of the Python .357: "Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention to local chat. Place your spankers and genitals in the overhead lockers and fasten your seatbelts. And you, Mister, at the back in the full bright red dinner jacket: Valentine's Day is over. Get with the program. Fuckery as usual, dollface. But anyway: Sláinte!" *reaches for his drink*

Bunbuns (breeze.pawprint) squeaks and whispers: "Uh... Daddy? That's not your glass."

  

Completely Unrelated Post-Valentine Lullaby for Buns: McLusky - Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues

 

Taken with Fujifilm XE-1, Fuji XF 18-55, 2.8 @ f4, ISO 640. Five exposures at one stop increments, RAW format. Editing: Lightroom 5.6; workflow and final, Photomatix Pro 5; fusing the 5 images, NIK Collection; dynamic range, highlights and shadows, Gimp 2.8; logo. The color is right from the camera. I was really impressed with the depth at f4. With the XE-1 the exposure comp dial is right on top and easy to flip through, but you need a stable tripod to get the crisp detail. I used a Horusbennu tripod I bought from ebay ($109 with shipping). It is carbon fiber and the model I bought weighs less than 2 lbs, is rock solid and great for backpacking. I also use a Hrousbennu ball head, the combo weighs in at about 2 ½ lbs. I spotted the little red leafed dogwood tree walking to work. It was surrounded by redwood, incense and ponderosa pines and ferns. It was taken early morning, just after the sun was breaking over the mountains. You can see a light mist rising in the far background; from the morning dew.

 

•The truth about Yosemite: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...

 

Now that I drew you in with the processing info, I’d like to share another life’s lesson.

Historically journalist, artists and musicians lead the way in Social Reform. Sadly the only change most Americans are willing to make; is that of their TV station, or the position of their cellphone when taking a selfie. I use photography directly with conversation exposing the atrocities Targeted Individuals (TIs) endure on a daily basis; from Gang Stalking, Community Based Stalking and Workplace Mobbing. Perpetrators will use tactics that systematically, psychologically destroy the TIs life; as if death by a thousand cuts. Many of these tactics taken directly from military psych ops; extreme repetitive noise campaigns, gaslighting, stalking, harassment and sleep deprivation. Most of the perpetrators are playing a tiny role, unknowing the detrimental psychological and physical impact on their Target, the Targets family and livelihood. This is done every day, all day and night. Targets eventually sharing a type of PTSD and with ubiquitous surveillance their lives turned into a performance; which is recorded, stored and then can be manipulated, viewed and infinitely replayed, all while discrediting the Target. The Target is left isolated from friends, coworkers and family.

In today’s government and corporate reign; I’m addressing these problems in ways the news media and legislators wont. Month after month surveillance tactics by our government are being exposed; phones, computers, cameras, internet, snail mail and planes are being used. What isn’t being exposed through news media is; this is also being carried out by your neighbors, your coworkers, those pretending to be your friend. Groups, neighborhoods, communities and coworkers are fed derogatory, defaming lies, innuendoes about an individual (Target) in their community. Those easily influenced and morally inept are then rallied by self-anointed sociopaths; to destroy the individual’s’ life, rid their precious community of said individual (Target). Yosemite National Park is such a community; Law Enforcement, its Superintendent is fully aware of it and allows it, as do most communities in the United States. This is our government at its best; they have an opportunity to stop Gang Stalking and Workplace Mobbing on government soil, but chose to allow it and place blame on the victim.

For posting this there will be retaliation; the morally inept will be rallied and called upon to harass, stalk, push my buttons and try their best to get me to act out of character. This is a risk many of us will take; we love our country, we are patriots and will not be intimidated by the morally corrupt. Without exposure and dialog there will be no change. Help us expose and stop Gang Stalking, Community Based Stalking and Workplace Mobbing.

 

If you would like to hear them, put on a good pair of headphones and listen flic.kr/p/2hJ7Rye

 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my photostream.

 

Fish in Yosemite National Park are protected, people are not. I’m going to repeat this so you may pause for a moment and really think about it. Fish in Yosemite are protected, people are not. I don’t say this because I want fame or recognition; I say this because I have a daughter, I say this because I’ve served and love this country, I say this because this is a reality that we will be leaving our children.

 

•The truth about Yosemite: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...

 

For speaking out and exposing the truth; my neighbors are told to hate me, they and total strangers are told to follow me, stalk me and harass me. For speaking out and exposing the truth; strangers will discredit me, mock me, and defame me. This is a reality we will be leaving our children.

 

In every one of these images I’ve titled November, in this set; I had people intentionally try to photo bomb my compositions. I’ve had people follow me into remote locations, walk across closed meadows, step down steep embankments along rivers, wait in their vehicles by my Jeep, so they could blast off as I approached. This is a reality we will be leaving our children.

 

I’ve been expecting specific mail, so the last two days; I’ve had imbeciles blocking my PO Box with cameras and tripods, pretending to take pictures. I had a girl standing beside me with her cell phone, videoing me as I open my PO Box. This is a reality we will be leaving our children.

 

I have the evidence to prove all of this, but Yosemite’s Law Enforcement will make excuses why they can’t do anything (even though we have laws to stop this), they will make excuses for the perpetrators involved, they will switch the blame back on me. This is a reality we will be leaving our children.

 

You won’t see this on our network television stations. You won’t read about this in your local papers. Gang Stalking, Community Stalking and Workplace Mobbing are real; they destroy families and lives every day. This is a reality I am not willing to leave our children.

 

Thank you for visiting my photostream.

 

Pride and Prejudice... Turn the other cheek?

 

I haven't seen Myles around much in the last weeks, but I’ll use one of his catchphrases 'brain fart' to describe the following, I’m sure he’d approve, and it's perfect to describe this bit of warm air that I would rather not have smelt in the first place.

 

So..... Someone farted in my general direction, and I feel the need to respond, and sticking with the windy / arse metaphors I know that by taking the bait, you run the risk of ending up sounding worse than the provocation that got to you in the first place. And I've had a laugh with and at any of my flickr contacts caught throwing hissy-fits in the past, so i'm also aware i'm setting myself up here by rambling on about it.

 

But I don't rant much, and for reasons that will become clear, I’m going to say my piece anyway. I’ve ignored most of the annoying provocations that come from sharing yourself via you art to a global audience (Including actual photo-theft where I found someone blatantly downloading and re-posting my pictures, and being told that i shouldn't use a lensbaby or photoshop to have fun with my work) usually preferring to let my pictures do the talking, and realising that they are only pictures, meant to be enjoyed and any negative energy created is missing the point.

 

So rather than wasting an hour of my life here just expressing annoyance, I thought I’d try and turn it into a positive discussion and maybe learn something from it, I always enjoy hearing the thoughts that these sort of 'brain farts' provoke, and I’ve come to respect the opinions of many of you who provide them.

 

---------------------------

 

So what p*ssed me off?

 

Finding a comment on a photo i posted last week, that led me to a discussion thread, where someone was implying my shot was artistic theft because he had posted a shot with the same subject and composition days before, and that after seeing his photo I had deliberately rushed out to copy him.

 

You can probably tell by now that it did annoy me, but many things in life annoy me and I let them go, life’s too short and I’ve had painful reminders of that fact this year.

 

But I read on (of course you would too, it's only natural to be curious) and got even more irked when I read that 'I see it all the time from people with 'their digi-cams' , OK, so now I’m a thief and it's only to be expected because I use a digital camera (for the record, I use both, and sometimes a pencil if we want to get really Luddite about it)

 

And the final straw was reading that he said "I’m trying to capture the island I live on in a unique way. I'm looking for shots that help me stand out from the crowd and let people see the island in a different way away from all of the touristy type pictures.". So now I’m a thief, not a proper photographer because it wasn't using film, and I’m taking tourist snapshots in an un-unique way :)

 

All this about a *subject and composition I’ve already shot many times before, in a photo that i had publicly expressed admiration for.

 

That's a lot of cheeks to turn, and my inner kick-boxer pushed my inner Gandhi aside and decided to respond. I'll probably link to this from the thread (if I’m allowed in the group) and mail the person in question inviting him to read this, I’ll let you know if the response gets all Medieval and we end up duelling with pistols at dawn, some of you can come and take photos, now that would be artistic!

 

---------

 

Pride or Prejudice?

 

The bible says it’s a sin, a popular expression has it 'coming before a fall', but I think there can be also be a positive side to it, and as an artist I believe it’s good to have pride in your work.

 

So, the suggestion of 'artistic theft' is enough to get my back up (and its probably slanderous too, I make my living as a creative and I’m thinking that might qualify as professional defamation of character or something similar, I’ll have my lawyers look into it :)

 

But the main reason for writing all this is to recognise the annoyance and anger that made me have dark thoughts of retribution when i thought he was talking about me (there's a small primeval part of me that is still favouring this route as I know and enjoy the honesty and satisfaction that you get from a good fight from studying Kick-boxing, but that’s only cool when equally matched, consenting people do it in a dojo/boxing ring) so having a brain-fart to stop it taking up space in my head seems like a good choice, life is too short to hang onto negative vibes like this. And of course I know that 'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent' and I should adopt the hippy / Gandhi / Kenny Rogers approach of turning the other cheek, because I’m also a father, and I need to lead by example, and what kind of example is it to react with anger to the words of a stranger, especially in the climate we have here in the UK right now where people are stabbed every day because they 'disrespected' someone.

 

--------

 

Some background

 

For about the last 15 years I’ve been 'documenting' life on the cliffs in the west wight, in pencil, oil, acrylic, water-colour, gouache, mosaic, and with both film and digital photography. I'd guess more than a third of the 1,099 shots I’ve posted to flickr in the last few years have in some way been part of that process and exploring that theme, but as flickr only amounts to less than 1% of the shots I keep it would be a conservative guess to say I have hundreds of shots on the theme already.

 

Subjects include the geography and geology of the cliffs, the relationship with the waves that pound against them, everything that happens up there, the people, the things they do there (from para-gliding to sitting, thinking, watching sailing, checking the surf) the signs and monuments, lighthouses and buildings they erect, the plants that grow wild there and the animals that also call it home (cows being a favourite and very popular subject)

 

Last week I posted a picture of cows on the edge of the cliff at Compton Farm,

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/2633778922/

 

to my mind a not particularly good or noteworthy shot ( I quite liked the dramatic sky in the background but wasn’t really happy with the position of the cows themselves, but they don't really co-operate and stand where you might like.) But it was ok in the context of previous shots, particularly 'take care cliff edges are dangerous' and in the midst of life we are in death'

 

www.flickr.com/search/?w=24424426@N00&q=take+care.+cl...

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/2293827778/

 

or maybe even as an update of the many I’ve taken of the same cows in the same field.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/289690355/

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/2324964692/

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/514427794/

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/517460396/

 

This one with the same compositional idea

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/2323807106/

 

or sheep in the same composition

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/493415465/

 

or a human silhouette in the same spot

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/510539952/

 

or a para-glider above the same spot

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/2610230368/

 

or the way they're falling into the sea

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/2428671420/

 

or the wildflowers that grow upon them

 

www.flickr.com/photos/s0ulsurfing/874461347/

 

I could literally do this for hours......

 

This might be getting boring now, bit I’m also discovering just how much of a recurring theme it has been as I write this (this is the worthwhile bit for me, I’m seeing my own motivations more clearly as a result of saying all this crap) and how no matter how hard you try, you can't avoid clichés and re-treading common ground.

 

To many, including myself, we delight in working our way through all the photographic clichés, and having seen this as a subject from all over the world and MANY times on the island and in my own stream already, I think it’s almost up there with the puppies and kittens in shoes and the classic spiral staircase shot, not really that unique or thought provoking, but interesting in the small details of the way you choose to present the familiar.

 

------------

 

Owning ideas?

 

If you had an idea to document the cows living near the edge, a good idea, would you think it was exclusively yours, or you were the first, and deserved to be the last to explore that theme, as I’ve said above, I’ve been doing it for 15 years, and I think there were hundreds if not thousands doing it before me, no doubt there will be many after. Do you think a person can own an idea? or that your attempts are more valid because you're shooting film* in B&W (yep, the snide comments about digi-camera users definitely haven't gone unnoticed this time :)

 

*btw, and its a slight digression, what I’ve seen many times is how some (and only a certain special few) people with film cameras seem to think it makes their pov and photographic work somehow more worthy and important than a shot taken with a digital camera, why is that? I find that pretty funny. It's not the cameras or type of people, it's just a mindset that can exist, and its not a reverse prejudice or envy on my part (it's great to use a cliche like this :) because some of my best friends are film photographers :) and if anything i have a great respect for those that work that way, and the skills and techniques required

 

Anyway, the discussion thread contains many brilliant and funny responses, puncturing the main argument far better than I could, and even some supporting it, including some telling him he's brilliant and I’m just trying to be like him (emulation) so there's no need to repeat them all again here, and opinions are like *ssholes, everyone's got one, I just thought it fair to have my say too seeing as so many strangers were passing judgement on me and the accuser hadn't felt like including me in the discussion up to now.

 

------------

 

So what started out as me liking a shot from someone else on flickr, taking the time to comment and say so (before the photo was deleted and then re-posted) and then having the good fortune to finally have an interesting sky as a backdrop when exploring my familiar theme during my regular walk on the cliffs, ends up in me being labelled a thief.

 

But, the interesting part for me is the idea of inspirations and how they evolve, and because of this I got to read many funny and Illuminating responses (my favourite was.... ideas are the spermatozoa of cultural evolution, breeding in the minds of others. )

 

Isn’t that one of the reasons we all take part in the social network, and put our pictures on flickr open to the preying photo-thieves and commercial bloggers who do it for the adsense revenue. To be inspired by the other work we see and to grow our own understanding of the medium, composition and techniques (I started a set a few months back especially for that exact purpose, recognising those on flickr who have genuinely been an inspiration to me, funnily enough, the first one was a film photographer)

 

I think it's easy to take yourself too seriously as an artist? and I’m pretty sure I’m taking myself too seriously by getting involved in replying with this brain fart....doh!

 

Who knows, maybe this will be read, taken in the right spirit, apologies will be made and we'll become best of friends, or maybe a load of film photographers will try and beat me up for shooting on their turf, it’s a funny old world; I wonder what the cows would make of it all, probably just keep on chewing the cud and enjoying the view.

 

Love peace and bananas

J.

  

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

For the families and loved ones of fallen soldiers, grief and sorrow usually occurred without the finality or closure offered by having funeral rites or burials at home. Their memorial efforts might have included participation in national or local commemorative efforts, but they also involved oral traditions; maintaining grave markers and displaying cherished photos, letters, or memorabilia; and preserving physical objects as private acts of remembrance.

 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - Canada

 

We all know you now

You have fallen at our feet

You have guarded them all with life and limb

Noble and brave

Only to fall at a cowards last call

You have stirred the souls of the unknown heroes

Their appall shall seek the just dues of our defamers and saboteurs

Young lads who now welcome you in the hereafter

Shall haunt our enemies from near or afar

The drum rolls sound, as the rifles salute

The Unknown Soldier

You are unknown no more

  

Notes: In memory of Nathan Cirillo and Patrice Vincent both killed in cold blood on the week of Oct 26, 2014 by cowards in the name of Islam. Nathin Cirillo was standing guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 

Also in memory to the 1000’s of unknown soldiers, young men, who fought so that we may be free.

 

Copyright © arthur vaso | Year Posted 2014

Tasteless graffiti and vandalsim is rampant. Even nature is often a hapless victim of vulgar defamation. Is it the indifference and ignorance of our roles as stewards of this earth that we are loaned to, making us abuse our privilege?

 

As humans, we have the inherent nature to malign natural aesthetics and customize to our brand of beauty and art.

 

Perhaps the medium of photography can enlighten peoples minds , rectify the ignorance and help assuage this plague of wanton bane.

   

Hamilton - Burr Dueling Grounds Weehawken Nj

 

The Burr–Hamilton duel was fought between prominent American politicians Aaron Burr, the sitting Vice President of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury, at Weehawken, New Jersey on July 11, 1804.

 

What many people do not realize however, is that the very boulder where a mortally wounded Hamilton was thought to have rested still exists.

 

Burr and Hamilton had a strong dislike of one another for several years prior to the duel. Tensions reached a boiling point however, when Burr alleged Hamilton journalistically defamed his character during Burr’s 1804 New York gubernatorial race. Letters were exchanged and when neither side backed down, a duel was scheduled for July 11, 1804 at a Weehawken, New Jersey site.

 

Interestingly, Hamilton’s own son had been killed three years before in a duel at the very same location. Hamilton appears to have ignored this bad omen. Significant disagreement still abounds about whether Hamilton, who shot first, fired into the air by accident or to signal to Burr that he intended to end the duel. When Burr returned fire he hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen, fracturing ribs and causing considerable damage to his internal organs. Burr fled the scene as a dying Hamilton’s head was laid upon a nearby boulder.

 

Hamilton died the following day. Somewhat surprisingly, Burr served out the remainder of his term as Vice President. Burr would later be arrested and tried for treason over allegations that he intended to establish a new independent country out of territory acquired during the Louisiana Purchase. Although he was acquitted, Burr’s political career was destroyed and he lived in Europe for several years before returning to the U.S. where he returned to work as a lawyer and died in relative obscurity.

 

In 1870 a set of train tracks was run through the old dueling grounds, so the boulder, which by then had been tied to Hamilton for several decades, was moved to its current location on Hamilton Street. In 1935 a bronze bust of Hamilton was perched atop the rock. After several acts of vandalism, the bust was moved to an adjacent pillar where it’s easier to see, and one assumes, harder to vandalize.

HH Younus AlGohar answers a question posed by Mr Harjeet Singh, who claims that the Chapter Anfal in the Quran promotes violence and sanctions terrorism.

 

Main points:

- Nothing should be taken out of context. If you remove the context from text, you can completely alter the meaning. This is what happened when religious clergymen tried to defame Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi by manipulating the text of his book, ‘Rouhani Safar’.

 

- The Quran does not talk about violence. When it talks about killing, it is in relation to punishment of the wicked ones and mischief mongers who wanted to destroy the religion of Islam while it was being established. It is about awarding punishment, just as those found guilty in the court of law are sentenced to jail in civil society.

 

- The Chapter Anfal was revealed during the Battle of Badr, when pagans of Mecca attacked the Prophet Mohammad and his companions in Medina. The pagans were not Christians, Jews or Hindus; they were those whose religion was Arab nationalism.

 

- Prophet Mohammad was dragged into this battle; it was done in self-defence. He and his men totalled only 313 while the attackers were 1000 in number. His attackers had weapons and were riding horses and camels. Most of the Muslims did not have sufficient weapons and were not riding any horses or camels.

 

- There was a clear disadvantage for Prophet Mohammad during this battle. He and his companions were outnumbered greatly. Therefore, he asked God for help. This is when God replied, ‘I will cast terror into the hearts of the disbelievers.’ This was how God helped Prophet Mohammad, by making the enemies fearful and evening the odds.

 

- This verse was revealed for the battlefield only. It does not encourage Muslims to kill or terrorise anyone. Before commenting on verses from any divine book, you must be aware of the background information. Anyone manipulating this verse to suggest it promotes terrorism is a perpetrator who is playing with the words of God.

 

You can watch the live recordings of these videos every day at 22:00 GMT on younusalgohar.com

 

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Oskar Schlemmer, (born September 4, 1888, Stuttgart, Germany—died April 13, 1943, Baden-Baden, Germany), German painter, sculptor, choreographer, and designer known for his abstract yet precise paintings of the human form as well as for his avant-garde ballet productions.

 

Schlemmer was exposed to design theory at a young age as an apprentice in a marquetry workshop. He took classes at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Stuttgart, and a scholarship allowed him to further his studies at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Art (1906–10). He spent a year in Berlin painting and familiarizing himself with new trends in art by artists associated with the Der Sturm Gallery. He then returned to Stuttgart in 1912 and became a master student of abstract artist Adolf Hölzel.

 

Schlemmer was wounded in action while serving in World War I and returned to Stuttgart in 1916. In 1919 he helped spearhead a movement to modernize the curriculum at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Art—which also involved a staunch effort to have Paul Klee appointed to the faculty there—and, more generally, to bring modern art exhibitions to Stuttgart. He was integral to organizing early exhibitions, which featured his own work as well as that of Klee, Willi Baumeister, and others.

 

In 1920 Schlemmer married Helena (“Tut”) Tutein, and that same year Walter Gropius invited him to the Bauhaus school in Weimar to teach. There he made significant contributions to numerous departments (sculpture, mural painting, metal work, and life drawing) but truly left his mark in the stage workshop. For that workshop he created his best-known work, Das triadisches Ballett (1922; “The Triadic Ballet”)—a ballet that he choreographed and for which he designed costumes. He named it “Triadic” to reflect the three acts, three dancers, and three colours (one for each act). The costumes he designed—based on cylinder, sphere, cone, and spiral shapes—were revolutionary. That ballet premiered in Stuttgart in 1922 and was then presented throughout the 1920s in cities such as Weimar, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, and Paris. Schlemmer served as head of the stage workshop at the Bauhaus from 1923 to 1929. His experience with dance influenced his paintings, which began to incorporate more depth and volume, as seen in The Dancer (1923). Schlemmer developed the Bauhaus theatre in Dessau—where the school had relocated in 1925—and was involved in the design process of many theatrical productions.

 

Throughout the 1920s Schlemmer was commissioned to paint several murals in both private residences, such as the home of architect Adolf Meyer (1924), and public spaces, such as the former Bauhaus in Weimar (1923), which the Nazis destroyed in 1930, and the Folkwang Museum in Essen (1928–30), which the Nazis vandalized, dismantled, and removed in 1933. Schlemmer left the Bauhaus in 1929.

 

From the Bauhaus, Schlemmer moved to Breslau, where he continued to work in theatre and teach (State Art Academy). He also continued to paint, and in 1932 he created his well-known work Bauhaus Stairway. Without warning the Nazi regime dismissed him from his teaching position in 1933. Schlemmer moved to Switzerland for a brief time with his wife and children and painted portraits and landscapes.

 

The last decade of Schlemmer’s life was marred by the Nazi dictatorship and defamation of his life’s work. In 1937 five of his works were included in the Nazi-organized “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich. He continued to exhibit his work when possible and participated in major exhibitions in London and New York City in 1938. Schlemmer was reunited with Baumeister and other artists in 1940 when he moved to Wuppertal, Germany, where he earned a living by working at a lacquer factory. He died of a heart attack three years later. Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet was revived on a number of occasions in the late 20th century and was performed with the original, restored costumes. Those costumes, however, were the only original elements remaining. The music and choreography associated with Schlemmer’s production were lost. A volume of his diaries and letters edited by his wife was published in 1972; an English translation by Krishna Winston was issued in 1990.

Fox News has agreed to pay $12 million to Abby Grossberg, a former Fox News producer who had accused the network of operating a hostile and discriminatory workplace and of coercing her into providing false testimony in a deposition.

 

Parisis G. Filippatos, a lawyer for Grossberg, said that the settlement concluded all of Grossberg’s claims against Fox and the people she had named in her complaints, including former host Tucker Carlson and some of his producers.

 

Grossberg’s legal team filed a request in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday to dismiss a remaining lawsuit against Fox in light of the settlement.

 

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Grossberg said in a statement Friday that she stood by her allegations, but she was “heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously.”

 

“I am hopeful, based on our discussions with Fox News today, that this resolution represents a positive step by the network regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace,” she said.

 

A spokesperson for Fox said in a statement Friday: “We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation.”

 

The settlement with Grossberg is the latest development in a series of legal battles involving Fox. In April, the company paid Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million, in what is believed to be the biggest settlement figure in a defamation case. Days later, Fox took Carlson, its most popular host, off the air after the company’s leadership concluded he was more of a problem than an asset and had to go.

 

Fox faces a second defamation case by another voting technology company. Smartmatic, like Dominion, says Fox knowingly spread false information about its products, baselessly claiming that they contributed to election fraud in 2020.

 

The accusations against Fox by Grossberg, 42, sprung partly from the Dominion case. In March, she filed a lawsuit in Delaware, claiming that Fox coerced her into lying in sworn testimony she gave in the case. Grossberg amended her witness testimony before the Dominion trial, presenting another hurdle for Fox’s legal team, which had been dealt a series of blows in pretrial rulings.

 

Grossberg also filed a separate lawsuit in New York that accused Fox and Carlson of allowing a culture of rampant misogyny and sexual harassment. She said she had been subjected to sexist and antisemitic harassment during her time as the head of booking on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

 

Fox fired Grossberg four days after she filed the two lawsuits, saying in a statement at the time that she had disclosed privileged information about the Dominion case. She withdrew the Delaware suit in May, but her lawyer said at the time that they planned to refile in New York.

 

Grossberg joined Fox News in 2019 as a senior producer for host Maria Bartiromo. In August 2022, she moved to Carlson’s team as the head of booking.

 

In her lawsuit, Grossberg said she found a workplace tainted by misogyny and harassment, where male producers were openly sexist to her and her co-workers, made crude jokes and had decorated the space with photos of Nancy Pelosi, then the House speaker, in a swimsuit showing cleavage.

 

Grossberg never met Carlson, who worked mostly from his homes in Florida and Maine, but she corresponded with him frequently over email, text and video calls. Carlson’s staff in New York was led by Justin Wells, the senior executive producer. (Wells was fired by Fox in April.)

 

After filing her lawsuits, Grossberg drip-fed audio recordings from her time at Fox to other media organizations. The recordings showed, among other things, Carlson’s immense influence on the Republican Party; an admission by Rudy Giuliani, lawyer to former President Donald Trump, that he didn’t have evidence of voter fraud; and discussions between Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Bartiromo about his attempts to block President Joe Biden’s election victory.

 

Filippatos confirmed that he had been contacted by the office of the special counsel investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and that he and his client were cooperating. At least 90 tapes had been retrieved and Grossberg’s legal team was forensically analyzing all of Grossberg’s devices in case there were any additional recordings, Filippatos said.

 

Grossberg said she would not comment further on her accusations against Fox or her time at the company, but would “continue to speak out on issues and causes that I believe in, including journalism, equality, dignity and respect in the workplace.”

 

c.2023 The New York Times Company

•The truth about Yosemite: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...

 

As I stated in a previous post; I said I was suspended. On 8-25-15, I was wrongfully and illegally terminated, based on false statements. On 8-27-15, I had a note placed on my door from housing saying, I have 72 hours to move out. This is what happens to Americans that address/exposes corporate and government corruption, safety and health violations, civil and constitution rights violation. This is being done by the company I work for, a contractor for the US Government, a contractor for your National Park. Even with evidence to prove the statements were false; Corporate America and our Government Agencies do this with impunity.

I came from a large family with two wonderful parents. They worked hard and dedicated their lives to provide for us, instilling values, ethics and values. I’ve worked hard my whole life, never been terminated before. I spent almost 10 years in the Army, received 12 medals and was awarded Noncommissioned Officer of the year. I left the military while on a fast track for promotions, because I became a single parent. My daughter was very young, needed stability in her life and I’d do it again without a second thought. I did live Recons, was awarded medals for gathering information, had dinner with generals. Let me address corruption, violations in the private sector and a branch of our government and I’m discredited, defamed, stalked, intimidated, harassed 24/7, mobbed, personal items tampered with/stolen. I’m expected to keep my mouth shut, turn my head, put my tail between my legs and leave. That’s not me.

I’m a proud man and don’t tell you these things lightly. I tell you this because I’m not the only one who has gone through this, nor will I be the last. I share this because it needs to stop, these people need to be exposed for the criminals they are. Corporations and our Government need to be held accountable for their actions, or lack of.

The values many serve for are dying; morals are becoming rare in the workplace and society. I do not condone intimidation or violence in any form. Please help me bring awareness to these illegal practices for all those that have been affected and those that will be. Would you please copy and share the link to this post to as many people as possible? You can even add the link to one of your post if you'd like. And, if you know an attorney that has the values to help me; drop me an email through Flickr.

 

Gang Staking, Community Stalking and Workplace Mobbing are thriving in Yosemite National Park. These immoral and illegal acts are carried out by my coworkers, neighbors, residents and contractors. They are allowed by Yosemite’s Law Enforcement and Superintendent.

 

Thank you for visiting my Photostream.

 

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Alexander Wood (merchant)

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Statue of Alexander Wood at the corner of Church and Alexander streets in Toronto

 

Plaque on the monument

 

Another view of the statue

Alexander Wood (January 1772 – September 11, 1844) was a Scottish merchant and magistrate in Upper Canada who was the centre of a sex scandal in 1810.[1]

  

Early life and career

Wood was born at Fetteresso near Stonehaven, Scotland, and he moved to Upper Canada in 1793,[1] settling in the town of York (now Toronto) four years later. His original home was located on King Street, between Bay and York Streets, in the heart of what is now Toronto's Financial District.[2] Going into business with William Allan, he established himself as one of the city's leading merchants, was gazetted lieutenant in the York militia in 1798, and was appointed a city magistrate in 1800.[1] In 1801, Wood opened his own store providing quality goods imported from London and Glasgow.[1] The first sidewalk of Toronto was laid on the northwest corner of his King and Frederick shop.[3]

 

Return to York

Wood returned to York by 1812, resuming his prior appointment as a magistrate. He fought in the War of 1812 and was on the boards of several organizations. His life in York continued without incident until 1823, when Rev. John Strachan, a longtime friend of Wood's, recommended him for a position on the 1812 War Claims Commission.[1] Judge Powell was the appointing authority and refused Wood on moral grounds due to the 1810 scandal.[1] Wood sued Powell for defamation and won, but Powell refused to pay and subsequently published a pamphlet attacking Wood even further.[1]

 

Wood remained in York, continuing his service in civic duties for the next seventeen years. In 1827 he purchased 50 acres (0.2 km²) of land at Yonge and Carlton Streets, which was referred to as "Molly Wood's Bush" throughout the 19th century.[6]

 

Death

Alexander Wood finally returned to Scotland in 1842 and he died there two years later at the age of 72.[1] The British Colonist paid tribute to Wood as one of Toronto's most distinguished founding citizens.[1]

 

Wood had never married — and neither had any of his brothers and sisters, all of whom were themselves already deceased by the time of Wood's death — and he consequently had no legal heirs.[1] Owing to differences between Scottish and Canadian estate law, it took seven years after his death for the Court of Session and the British House of Lords to decide that his estate would be divided up under Scottish, rather than Canadian, law.[1] His estate thus passed to a first cousin once removed in 1851.[1]

 

Legacy

The area once known as Molly Wood's Bush is now part of Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village, and contains an Alexander Street, a Wood Street and an Alexander Place.[4][3]

 

In 1994, playwrights John Wimbs and Christopher Richards launched a play entitled Molly Wood, based on Wood's life. This production garnered Dora Awards for Best New Play and Best Production in 1995.

 

In 2005, the Church and Wellesley business association erected a statue of Wood in the neighbourhood, honouring him as a forefather of Toronto's modern gay community.[4] The statue by sculptor Del Newbigging was unveiled on May 28, 2005.[4] The $200,000 cost was shared by the business association and the City of Toronto.[4] The statue incorporates a rose on the lapel of Wood's coat, in a secondary nod to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the prime minister at the time homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada.[4]

 

Also in 2005, the business association launched a beer named for Wood. Alexander Wood Lager was brewed by Lakes of Muskoka Cottage Brewery and was marketed exclusively to bars in the Church and Wellesley area.[7]

 

On June 8, 2021, the Church-Wellesley Village BIA called for the removal of the statue because of the involvment of Alexander Wood in the Society for Converting and Civilizing the Indians and Propagating the Gospel Among Destitute Settlers in Upper Canada which contributed to the organization of the residential school system in Canada.

 

The Alexander Wood Letterbooks, which are in the collection of the Baldwin Room at the Toronto Public Library, are widely used as a resource for researching trade in early Upper Canada. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Wood_(merchant)

Posted on January 28, 2021 / 🇺🇸 Walnut Grove, CA

 

NYT Begs Court to Dismiss Veritas Defamation Lawsuit; Admits Article Inaccuracies Under Oath!

 

You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same :-) Steve Maraboli

 

narcissus, large cupped daffodil, 'Border Chief', j c raulston arboretum, ncsu, Raleigh, north carolina

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (Leiden, July 15, 1606 - Amsterdam, October 4, 1669) - Joseph, and the wife of Potiphar (1655) oil on canvas 113,50 x 90,00 cm - Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

 

La moglie di Potifar siede su una poltrona accanto a un letto a baldacchino e calunnia Giuseppe davanti al marito, al quale dice: “Il servo ebreo che ci hai fatto entrare è entrato da me e ha voluto fare il suo male con me. / Quando ho gridato e gridato, ha lasciato la sua veste con me ed è fuggito” (Genesi 1.39,17-18). La diffamazione è già evidente nella postura della donna, che ha messo piede sul mantello di Giuseppe per provare la sua accusa: Evitando lo sguardo del marito che le si avvicinava cautamente, si porta implorante la mano sinistra sul petto, mentre l'altra destra accusava Giuseppe. di voltargli le spalle sprezzantemente. Mentre Potifar non sembra ancora comprendere appieno il significato delle sue parole, Giuseppe, che sta in piedi separato dalla donna dal letto, guarda con un gesto devoto verso il cielo. L'azione dei personaggi che agiscono in isolamento l'uno dall'altro è resa evidente da giri del corpo e brevi gesti, una caratteristica dello stile narrativo di Rembrandt sviluppato dopo la metà del secolo. Il disegno scenografico e pittorico, invece, è estremamente splendido. La ricchezza e la luminosità dei colori, in cui si manifesta l'ammirazione per Tiziano e per la pittura veneziana dell'epoca, caratterizzano in modo impressionante lo splendore orientale nella casa di Potifar, che fu ciambellano e capitano del Faraone.

 

Potiphar's wife sits in an armchair next to a four-poster bed and slanders Joseph in front of her husband, to whom she says: "The Hebrew servant whom you brought in has come in to me and wanted to do his evil with me. / When I cried out and shouted, he left his garment with me and fled" (Genesis 1.39,17-18). The defamation is already evident in the woman's posture as she stepped into Joseph's cloak to prove her accusation: Avoiding the gaze of her husband who cautiously approached her, she imploringly brings her left hand to her chest, while her other right hand accuses Joseph. of contemptuously turning his back on him. While Potiphar still does not seem to fully understand the meaning of her words, Joseph, standing separated from the woman by the bed, looks with a devout gesture toward heaven. The action of the characters acting in isolation from one another is made evident by body turns and brief gestures, a characteristic of Rembrandt's narrative style developed after mid-century. The scenic and pictorial design, on the other hand, is extremely splendid. The richness and luminosity of the colors, in which admiration for Titian and Venetian painting of the time is evident, impressively characterize the oriental splendor in the house of Potiphar, who was chamberlain and captain to the Pharaoh.

I’ve been away for a bit; needed to recharge. I want to thank all my followers (many new ones lately) and the well over ½ million views.

I’m continuing my efforts exposing Gang Stalking, Community Stalking and Workplace Mobbing. Yosemite continues to rally is self-righteous hypocrites, simpletons and halfwits; to stalk, harass, workmob, discredit and defame. Like the Energizer Bunny, I keep going and going.

 

•The truth about Yosemite: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...

 

Gang Stalking, Community Stalking and Workplace Mobbing are Psychological Torture. These illegal and immoral acts are carried out by residents and contractors, in Yosemite National Park every day; while Yosemite’s Superintendent and Law Enforcement look away.

 

The truth today is hidden so deep, it becomes gray.

 

Thank you for visiting my Photostream.

 

I've decided this past week that it's time to go private on Flickr, things in this hobby have changed drastically since I've been in the hobby 7 years ago. Private basically means, I have to convert all my contacts that I am currently following to "friends", so basically it amounts to "Friends Only", and that the Public cannot see my Flickr photos/postings and anyone that I have blocked. The reason? Bullying, Defamantion of Character, Outright Lies, Slandering, etc (Need anymore reasons why I should go private???) This past week I was REFUSED by a seller to sell a doll to me due to a horrible, lying, bullying post on Facebook that amounted to about 35 people bashing me in a group. (This post all stemmed from a bad dolly deal where me, the BUYER was written up in the post as being wrong, wait a minute....I'm the buyer and the doll was NOT what the customizer advertised) The Admin turned her head the other way and let it continue to go way past the point of no return. Due to this horrible post about me, a seller would not sell a doll to me, (she specifically wrote me and told me this directly!!) and that was a real eye opener for me. People I did NOT EVEN KNOW posted on the FB Posting, whom just chimed in, and never even did business with in the years in this hobby, which is pretty disturbing and sick!! I ended up blocking about 35 individuals both on FB and here on Flickr.

 

Anybody who made a comment about me on that post no longer will get my business as an Etsy Shop, Customizer, Dolly Sales, Etc. I cannot support someone who I did nothing too, but yet they were speaking horrible trash about me.

 

Currently on Flickr, even if you "block" someone, you can still see their photos and what they have to say/postings. I strongly disagree with this and in essence that bully can then report back to their sick little group and let them know what I am doing, posting, etc.

 

With all this being said, this means converting about 1,000 contacts all to friends and then doing some other changes to my Flickr. If you wish to follow me, you will HAVE to leave a comment or email me to let me know this, so that I can convert you to being a friend....it's just too much work. I'll have to spend the entire month of December doing this conversion....as if I don't already have enough to do!! There are some definitions below.

 

Defamation of character occurs when someone makes a false statement about you that causes you some type of harm. The statement must be published (meaning some third party must have heard it), false, and it must result in harm, usually to the reputation.

 

Definition of Slander by Merriam-Webster Dictionary

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slander

Definition of slander. 1 : the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation. 2 : a false and defamatory oral statement about a person — compare libel.

 

Bullying - Wikipedia

There is no universal definition of bullying, however, it is widely agreed upon that bullying is a subcategory of aggressive behavior characterized by the following three minimum criteria: (1) hostile intent, (2) imbalance of power, and (3) repetition over a period of time

Yemen traditionnal knife. Just decorative. The men do not even touche the blade as it has to shine and be unspoiiled. very serious thing.

Jambiya, or jambia, is the Arabic term for dagger, but it is generally used to describe a specific type of dagger with a short curved blade that is worn on a belt. Although the term jambiya is also used in other Arab countries, it is mostly associated with people of Yemen. Men typically above the age of 14 wear it as an accessory to their clothing. Despite the significance of the jambiya, it is still a weapon. Although people have used it in times of dispute, there are societal norms that must be followed in order to avoid defamation. The jambiya should only come out of its sheath in extreme cases of conflict. It is also commonly used in traditional events such as dances.

Thula Yemen

 

© Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Wood texture from vintage doors in Provence , France

 

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Shared under license "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons". If you use or alter this image you must credit the author: Salva Barbera. If you plan to use this image commercially please contact the author first. This image is Copyright of Salva Barbera and it is protected by EU regulations.

 

You may not use Images for pornographic, unlawful or other immoral purposes, for spreading hate or discrimination, or to defame or victimise other people, societies, cultures.

 

Please check my photostream for other HI-RES textures.

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Borgund Stave Church (Norwegian: Borgund stavkyrkje) is a former parish church of the Church of Norway in Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was built around the year 1200 as the village church of Borgund, and belonged to Lærdal parish (part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin) until 1868, when its religious functions were transferred to a "new" Borgund Church, which was built nearby. The old church was restored, conserved and turned into a museum. It is funded and run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments, and is classified as a triple-nave stave church of the Sogn-type. Its grounds contain Norway's sole surviving stave-built free-standing bell tower.

 

Borgund Stave Church was built sometime between 1180 and 1250 AD with later additions and restorations. Its walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, or staves, hence the name "stave church." The four corner posts are connected to one another by ground sills, resting on a stone foundation. The intervening staves rise from the ground sills; each is tongued and grooved, to interlock with its neighbours and form a sturdy wall. The exterior timber surfaces are darkened by protective layers of tar, distilled from pine.

 

Borgund is built on a basilica plan, with reduced side aisles, and an added chancel and apse. It has a raised central nave demarcated on four sides by an arcade. An ambulatory runs around this platform and into the chancel and apse, both added in the 14th century. An additional ambulatory, in the form of a porch, runs around the exterior of the building, sheltered under the overhanging shingled roof. The floor plan of this church resembles that of a central plan, double-shelled Greek cross with an apse attached to one end in place of the fourth arm. The entries to the church are in the three shorter arms of the cross.

 

Structurally, the building has been described as a "cube within a cube", each independent of the other. The inner "cube" is formed by continuous columns that rise from ground level to support the roof. The top of the arcade is formed by arched buttresses, knee jointed to the columns. Above the arcade, the columns are linked by cross-shaped, diagonal trusses, commonly dubbed "Saint Andrew's crosses"; these carry arched supports that offer the visual equivalent of a "second storey". While not a functional gallery, this is reminiscent of contemporary second story galleries of large stone churches elsewhere in Europe. Smaller beams running between these upper supporting columns help clamp everything firmly together. The weight of the roof is thus supported by buttresses and columns, preventing downward and outward movement of the stave walls.

 

The roof beams are supported by steeply angled scissor trusses that form an "X" shape with a narrow top span and a broader bottom span, tied by a bottom truss to prevent collapse. Additional support is given by a truss that cuts across the "X", below the crossing point but above the bottom truss. The roof is steeply pitched, boarded horizontally and clad with shingles. The original outer roof would have been weatherproofed with boards laid lengthwise, rather than shingles. In later years wooden shingles became more common. Scissor beam roof construction is typical of most stave churches.

 

Borgund has tiered, overhanging roofs, topped at their intersection by a shingle-roofed tower or steeple. On each of its four gables is a stylised "dragon" head, swooping from the carved roof ridge crests, Hohler remarks their similarity to the carved dragon heads found on the prows of Norse ships. Similar gable heads appear on small bronze church-shaped reliquaries common in Norway and Europe in this period. Borgund's current dragon heads are possible 18th century replacements; similar, original dragon heads remain on older structures, such as Lom Stave Church and nearby Urnes Stave Church. Borgund is one of the only stave churches to have preserved its crested ridge caps. They are carved with openwork vine and entangled plant designs.

 

The four outer dragon heads are perhaps the most distinctive of all non-Christian symbols adorning Borgund Stave Church. Their function is uncertain, and disputed; if pagan, they are recruited to the Christian cause in the battle between Good and Evil. They may have been intended to keep away evil spirits thought to threaten the church building; to ward off evil, rather than represent it,

 

On the lower side panel of the steeple are four carved circular cutouts. The carvings are weather-beaten, tarred and difficult to decipher, and there is disagreement about what they symbolize. Some[who?] believe they represent the four evangelists, symbolised by an eagle, an ox, a lion and a man. Hauglid describes the carvings as "dragons that extend their heads over to the neighboring field's dragon and bite into it", and points out their similarity to carvings at Høre Stave Church.

 

The church's west portal (the nave's main entrance), is surrounded by a larger carving of dragons biting each other in the neck and tail. At the bottom of the half-columns that flank the front entrance, two dragon heads spew vine stalks that wind upwards and are braided into the dragons above. The carving shares similarities with the west portal of Ål Stave Church, which also has kites[clarification needed] in a band braiding pattern, and follows the usual composition[clarification needed] in the Sogn-Valdres portals, a larger group of portals with very clear similarities. Bugge writes that Christian authority may have come to terms with such pagan and "wild scenes" in the church building because the rift could be interpreted as a struggle between good and evil; in Christian medieval art, the dragon was often used as a symbol of the devil himself but Bugge believes that the carvings were protective, like the dragon heads on the church roof.

 

The church interior is dark, as not much daylight enters the building. Some of the few sources of natural light are narrow circular windows along the roof, examples of daylighting. It was supposed that the narrow apertures would prevent the entry of evil spirits. Three entrances are heavily adorned with foliage and snakes, and are only wide enough for one person to enter, supposedly preventing the entry of evil spirits alongside the churchgoers. The portals were originally painted green, red, black, and white.

 

Most of the internal fittings have been removed. There is little in the building, apart from the row of benches that are installed along the wall inside the church in the ambulatory outside of the arcade and raised platform, a soapstone font, an altar (with 17th-century altarpiece), a 16th-century lectern, and a 16th-century cupboard for storing altar vessels. After the Reformation, when the church was converted for Protestant worship, pews, a pulpit and other standard church furnishings were included, however these have been removed since the building has come under the protection of the Fortidsminneforeningen (The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments).

 

The interior structure of the church is characterized by the twelve free-standing columns that support the nave's elevated central space. On the long side of the church there is a double interval between the second and third pillars, but with a half pillar resting on the lower bracing beam (the pier) which runs in between. The double interval provides free access from the south portal to the church's central compartment, which would otherwise have been obstructed by the middle bar. The tops of the poles are finished with grotesque, carved human and animal masks. The tie-bars are secured with braces in the form of St. Andrew's crosses with a sun - shaped center and carved leaf shapes along the arms. The crosses reappear in less ornate form as braces along the church walls. On the north and south sides of the nave, a total of eight windows let in small amounts of light, and at the top of the nave's west gable is a window of more recent date - probably from pre-Reformation times. On the south wall of the nave, the inauguration crosses are still on the inside of the wall. The interior choir walls and west portal have engraved figures and runes, some of which date to the Middle Ages. One, among the commonest of runic graffiti, reads "Ave Maria". An inscription by Þórir (Thor), written "in the evening at St. Olav's Mass" blames the pagan Norns for his problems; perhaps a residue of ancient beliefs, as these female beings were thought to rule the personal destinies of all in Norse mythology and the Poetic Edda.

 

The medieval interior of the stave church is almost untouched, save for its restorations and repairs, though the medieval crucifix was removed after the Reformation. The original wooden floor and the benches that run along the walls of the nave are largely intact, together with a medieval stone altar and a box-shaped baptismal font in soapstone. The pulpit is from the period 1550–1570 and the altarpiece dates from 1654, while the frame around the tablet is dated to 1620. The painting on the altarpiece shows the crucifixion in the centre, flanked by the Virgin Mary on the left and John the Baptist on the right. In the tympanum field, a white dove hovers on a blue background. Below the painting is an inscription with golden letters on a black background. A sacrament from the period 1550–1570 in the same style as the pulpit is also preserved. A restoration of the building was carried out in the early 1870s, led by the architect Christian Christie, who removed benches, a second-floor gallery with seating, a ceiling over the chancel, and various windows including two large windows on the north and south sides. As the goal was to return the church to pre-Reformation condition, all post-Reformation interior paintwork was also removed.

 

Images from the 1990s show deer antlers hung on the lower, east-facing pillars. A local story claims that this is all that remains of a whole stuffed reindeer, shot when it tried to enter during a Mass. A travelogue from 1668 claims that a reindeer was shot during a sermon "when it marched like a wizard in front of the other animal carcasses"

 

To the south of the church is a free-standing stave-work bell tower that covers remnants of the mediaeval foundry used to cast the church bell. It was probably built in the mid-13th century. It is Norway's only remaining free-standing stave-work bell tower.It was given a new door around the year 1700 but this was removed and not replaced at some time between the 1920s and 1940s, leaving the foundry pit was exposed. To preserve the interior, new walls were built as cladding on the outside of the stave walls in the 1990s. One of the medieval bells is on display in the new Borgund church.

 

Management

In 1868 the building was abandoned as a church but was turned into a museum; this saved it from the commonplace demolition of stave churches in that period. A new Borgund Church was built in 1868 a short distance south of the old church. The old church has not been formally used for religious purposes since that year. Borgund Stave Church was bought by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments in 1877. The first guidebook in English for the stave church was published in 1898. From 2001, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage has funded a program to research, restore, conserve and maintain stave churches.

 

Legacy

The church served as an example for the reconstruction of the Fantoft Stave Church in Fana, Bergen, in 1883 and for its rebuilding in 1997. The Gustav Adolf Stave Church in Hahnenklee, Germany, built in 1908, is modeled on the Borgund church. Four replicas exist in the United States, one at Chapel in the Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota, another in Lyme, Connecticut, the third on Washington Island, Wisconsin, and the fourth in Minot, North Dakota at the Scandinavian Heritage Park.

 

Borgund is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the southeastern part of the traditional district of Sogn. The 635-square-kilometre (245 sq mi) municipality existed from 1864 until its dissolution in 1964. It encompassed an area in the eastern part of the present-day Lærdal Municipality. The administrative center of Borgund was the village of Steinklepp, just northeast of the village of Borgund. Steinklepp was the site of a store, a bank, and a school. The historical Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through the Borgund area.

 

Location

The former municipality of Borgund was situated near the southeastern end of the Sognefjorden, along the Lærdalselvi river. The lower parts of the municipality were farms such as Sjurhaugen and Nedrehegg. They were at an elevation of about 270 m (890 ft) above sea level. Høgeloft, on the border with the neighboring municipality of Hemsedal, is a mountain in the Filefjell range and it was the highest point in Borgund at 1,920 m (6,300 ft) above sea level. The lakes Eldrevatnet, Juklevatnet, and Øljusjøen were also located near the border with Hemsedal.

 

History

Borgund was established as a municipality in 1864 when it was separated from the municipality of Lærdal. Initially it had a population of 963. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Borgund (population: 492) was merged with the Muggeteigen area (population: 11) of the neighboring Årdal Municipality and all of Lærdal Municipality (population: 1,755) were all merged to form a new, larger municipality of Lærdal

 

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of ​​385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .

 

Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .

 

Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.

 

In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.

 

The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .

 

Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).

 

Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .

For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.

 

Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.

 

The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.

 

The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .

 

Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.

 

More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.

 

Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .

 

In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.

 

Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .

 

Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .

 

Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.

 

Stone Age (before 1700 BC)

When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.

 

Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.

 

The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.

 

In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .

It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.

 

Finnmark

In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.

 

According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.

 

From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.

 

According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.

 

Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)

Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:

 

Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)

Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)

For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.

 

Finnmark

In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.

 

Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)

 

The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century

 

Simultaneous production of Vikings

Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages ​​developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:

 

Early Iron Age

Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)

Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)

Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.

Younger Iron Age

Merovingian period (500–800)

 

The Viking Age (793–1066)

Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .

 

Sources of prehistoric times

Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.

 

Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.

 

Settlement in prehistoric times

Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.

 

It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.

 

Norwegian expansion northwards

From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.

 

North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.

 

From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.

 

On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.

 

The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".

 

State formation

The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.

 

According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.

 

Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .

 

With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.

 

Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)

The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .

 

During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.

 

The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.

 

In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .

 

Emergence of cities

The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.

 

It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.

 

The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.

 

The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.

 

High Middle Ages (1184–1319)

After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.

 

Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.

 

Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages

Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the coast was at Kvaløya . From the end of the High Middle Ages, there were more Norwegians along the coast of Finnmark and Nord-Troms. In the inner forest and mountain tracts along the current border between Norway and Sweden, the Sami exploited the resources all the way down to Hedmark.

 

There are no censuses or other records of population and settlement in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation, the population was below 200,000 and only in 1650 was the population at the same level as before the Black Death. When Christianity was introduced after the year 1000, the population was around 200,000. After the Black Death, many farms and settlements were abandoned and deserted, in the most marginal agricultural areas up to 80% of the farms were abandoned. Places such as Skien, Veøy and Borgund (Ålesund) went out of use as trading towns. By the year 1300, the population was somewhere between 300,000 and 560,000 depending on the calculation method. Common methods start from detailed information about farms in each village and compare this with the situation in 1660 when there are good headcounts. From 1300 to 1660, there was a change in the economic base so that the coastal villages received a larger share of the population. The inland areas of Eastern Norway had a relatively larger population in the High Middle Ages than after the Reformation. Kåre Lunden concludes that the population in the year 1300 was close to 500,000, of which 15,000 lived in cities. Lunden believes that the population in 1660 was still slightly lower than the peak before the Black Death and points out that farm settlement in 1660 did not reach the same extent as in the High Middle Ages. In 1660, the population in Troms and Finnmark was 6,000 and 3,000 respectively (2% of the total population), in 1300 these areas had an even smaller share of the country's population and in Finnmark there were hardly any Norwegian-speaking inhabitants. In the High Middle Ages, the climate was more favorable for grain cultivation in the north. Based on the number of farms, the population increased 162% from 1000 to 1300, in Northern and Western Europe as a whole the growth was 200% in the same period.

 

Late Middle Ages (1319–1537)

Due to repeated plague epidemics, the population was roughly halved and the least productive of the country's farms were laid waste. It took several hundred years before the population again reached the level before 1349 . However, those who survived the epidemics gained more financial resources by sharing. Tax revenues for the state almost collapsed, and a large part of the noble families died out or sank into peasant status due to the fall in national debt . The Hanseatic League took over trade and shipping and dominated fish exports. The Archbishop of Nidaros was the country's most powerful man economically and politically, as the royal dynasty married into the Swedish in 1319 and died out in 1387 . Eventually, Copenhagen became the political center of the kingdom and Bergen the commercial center, while Trondheim remained the religious center.

 

From Reformation to Autocracy (1537–1660)

In 1537 , the Reformation was carried out in Norway. With that, almost half of the country's property was confiscated by the royal power at the stroke of a pen. The large seizure increased the king's income and was able, among other things, to expand his military power and consolidated his power in the kingdom. From roughly the time of the Reformation and in the following centuries, the state increased its power and importance in people's lives. Until around 1620, the state administration was fairly simple and unspecialised: in Copenhagen, the central administration mainly consisted of a chancellery and an interest chamber ; and sheriffs ruled the civil (including bailiffs and sheriffs) and the military in their district, the sheriffs collected taxes and oversaw business. The accounts were not clear and without summaries. The clergy, which had great power as a separate organization, was appointed by the state church after the Reformation, administered from Copenhagen. In this period, Norway was ruled by (mainly) Danish noble sheriffs, who acted as intermediaries between the peasants and the Oldenborg king in the field of justice, tax and customs collection.

 

From 1620, the state apparatus went through major changes where specialization of functions was a main issue. The sheriff's tasks were divided between several, more specialized officials - the sheriffs retained the formal authority over these, who in practice were under the national administration in Copenhagen. Among other things, a separate military officer corps was established, a separate customs office was established and separate treasurers for taxes and fees were appointed. The Overbergamtet, the central governing body for overseeing mining operations in Norway, was established in 1654 with an office in Christiania and this agency was to oversee the mining chiefs in the Nordenfjeld and Sønnenfjeld areas (the mines at Kongsberg and Røros were established in the previous decades). The formal transition from county government to official government with fixed-paid county officials took place after 1660, but the real changes had taken place from around 1620. The increased specialization and transition to official government meant that experts, not amateurs, were in charge of each area, and this civil service meant, according to Sverre Steen that the dictatorship was not a personal dictatorship.

 

From 1570 until 1721, the Oldenborg dynasty was in repeated wars with the Vasa dynasty in Sweden. The financing of these wars led to a severe increase in taxation which caused great distress.

 

Politically-geographically, the Oldenborg kings had to cede to Sweden the Norwegian provinces of Jemtland , Herjedalen , Idre and Särna , as well as Båhuslen . As part of the financing of the wars, the state apparatus was expanded. Royal power began to assert itself to a greater extent in the administration of justice. Until this period, cases of violence and defamation had been treated as civil cases between citizens. The level of punishment was greatly increased. During this period, at least 307 people were also executed for witchcraft in Norway. Culturally, the country was marked by the fact that the written language became Danish because of the Bible translation and the University of Copenhagen's educational monopoly.

 

From the 16th century, business became more marked by production for sale and not just own consumption. In the past, it was particularly the fisheries that had produced such a large surplus of goods that it was sold to markets far away, the dried fish trade via Bergen is known from around the year 1100. In the 16th century, the yield from the fisheries multiplied, especially due to the introduction of herring in Western Norway and in Trøndelag and because new tools made fishing for herring and skre more efficient. Line fishing and cod nets that were introduced in the 17th century were controversial because the small fishermen believed it favored citizens in the cities.

 

Forestry and the timber trade became an important business, particularly because of the boom saw which made it possible to saw all kinds of tables and planks for sale abroad. The demand for timber increased at the same time in Europe, Norway had plenty of forests and in the 17th century timber became the country's most important export product. There were hundreds of sawmills in the country and the largest had the feel of factories . In 1680, the king regulated the timber trade by allowing exports only from privileged sawmills and in a certain quantity.

 

From the 1520s, some silver was mined in Telemark. When the peasants chased the German miners whereupon the king executed five peasants and demanded compensation from the other rebellious peasants. The background for the harsh treatment was that the king wanted to assert his authority over the extraction of precious metals. The search for metals led to the silver works at Kongsberg after 1624, copper in the mountain villages between Trøndelag and Eastern Norway, and iron, among other things, in Agder and lower Telemark. The financial gain of the quarries at that time is unclear because there are no reliable accounts. Kongsberg ma

~reading The Reefs Of Earth by R.A. Lafferty

Hamburg - Landschaftsachse Fischbek (Achse 8)

 

Carola Rackete (pronounced [kaˈʁoːla ʁaˈkeːtə];[nb 1] born 8 May 1988 in Preetz, Germany) is a German ship captain who volunteered with the German sea rescue organisation Sea-Watch.[1][2] In June 2019, she was arrested for docking a migrant rescue ship "Sea-eye 3" without authorization in the port of Lampedusa, Italy.

 

On 12 June,[7] the ship picked up 53 migrants in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. Sea-Watch 3 rejected an offer to dock at Tripoli, which is considered unsafe by the European Union and the humanitarian organizations, and headed toward Lampedusa. According to a map they posted,[8] and also to a report by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) this was the nearest safe harbor per maritime law.[9][4] On 14 June, Italy closed its ports to migrant rescue ships.[10] Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini refused to allow the ship to dock until other European nations had agreed to take the migrants.[11] Ten of the migrants, including children, pregnant women, and those who were ill, were allowed to disembark.[4] On 28 June, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal offered to take the migrants.[11]

 

On 29 June, without authorization, Rackete decided to dock.[9][7] The motivation for this was that according to her the passengers were exhausted.[10] Rackete was arrested by the Italian authorities after docking.[4][12][13]

 

Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini accused Rackete of trying to sink an Italian patrol boat that was trying to intercept her and that her ship collided with, calling the incident an act of war and demanding the Netherlands intervene.[9][12]

 

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte "scrambled to address the matter" at the 2019 G20 Osaka summit.[14] Germany protested the arrest.[14] Crowdfunding appeals in Italy and Germany had raised over €1 million as of 1 July for Sea-Watch legal defense.[14] Fortune called Rackete the "fresh new face" of the European migrant crisis.[14]

 

Sea-Watch 3 has a mainly German crew but sailed under Dutch flag.[15] In the Netherlands, main government party VVD stated that NGOs that deliberately without permission pick up people should be convicted for facilitating human trafficking.[16] Spokesman Jeroen van Wijngaarden said that: "They are factually not a rescue service but a ferry service."[17] Within the Dutch coalition government, they got support from the CDA, and in the Dutch parliament there basically was a majority that supported this. Nevertheless, the two other parties in the coalition government protested strongly against this statement.[18][15]

 

Eventually, Rackete was released from house arrest after a court ruling that she had broken no laws and acted to protect passengers' safety.[19][20][21] Rackete's lawyer filed a lawsuit against Salvini for defamation on social media, alleging that he incited his followers to threaten her.[22]

 

The council of the City of Paris on 12 July 2019 announced that the two captains of Sea-Watch 3, Pia Klemp and Carola Rackete, will receive the Grand Vermeil Medal, the top award of the City of Paris, for saving migrants at sea, because the two captains symbolized "solidarity for the respect of human lives".[23] Both refused the medal, defining this decision "hypocritical". Klempt wrote in a statement: "You want to award me a medal...because our crews 'work' to rescue migrants from difficult conditions on a daily basis. At the same time your police steal blankets from people you force to live on the streets while you suppress protests and criminalise people who defend the rights of migrants and asylum seekers."[24]

 

As of July 2019, Rackete was under investigation by Italian authorities for possible criminal activities in regards to undocumented migration. If convicted, Rackete would have faced up to 15 years in prison.[25] In January 2020, on appeal the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that Rackete should never have been arrested.

 

On 10 September 2019 she was awarded with the Medal of Honor of the Parliament of Catalonia, given by the president of the Catalan Parliament, in recognition for her humanitarian work.[26] In October 2020, Carola Rakete was awarded the first Karl Küpper [de] award.[27] On 6 May 2021, two days before her 33rd birthday, she was awarded a doctor honoris causa from the University of Namur in Belgium.[28]

 

On May 19, 2021 a court in Agrigento ruled that no trial should be held, agreeing with a state prosecutor that the actions had been undertaken in an effort to save the lives of the migrants.[29]

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carola_Rackete

183/365 Tuesday 13th January 2009

 

View Large On Black

 

I don't mean to defame or disrespect the Lego Group (or any of the tobacco companies for that matter), nor am I encouraging smoking, but when I purchased the Lego playing cards set back in 2006 this idea came into mind. I did a similar photo back then, but it looks much better on black...

 

Well smoking is addictive. Flickr is addictive. Lego is too.

 

WARNING: SMOKING DAMAGES YOUR HEALTH

 

XIII/CCCLXV

 

Explore! #155, 14 Jan '09

On Saturday 20 May, activists gathered in central London to protest Senegal's crackdown on the opposition.

 

[ If anyone uploads this photo to Wikimedia Commons or anywhere else online please write your own description/caption if possible. Thanks. ]

 

In the previous weeks, the streets of Senegal's capital Dakar had witnessed a growing number of protests against the increasingly authoritarian government of President Macky Sall.

 

On Tuesday 9 May, schoolchildren in Dakar's district of Ngor were met by heavily armed riot police when they gathered to protest against a police station being built instead of the school the local population had demanded. Police later entered the neighbourhood during the night, kicking down doors and arresting and beating the inhabitants.

 

Presidential elections are scheduled for 2024, but opposition leader Ousmane Sonko received a six month sentence on Monday 8 May allegedly for defaming Tourism Minister Mame Mbaye Niang, an extension of his ealier two month sentence and heavy fine imposed in March and the sentence threatens to prevent him being able to legally stand. Sonko responded to the ruling by calling for a mass movement of civil disobedience.

 

For most of the country's young people desperate for real jobs, including graduate students working as Jakarta (motorcycle cab) drivers, Sonko offers a hope for an end to corruption and real change in a country facing a growing inequality between a small wealthy elite and the working class, many of whose homes are without any reliable water supply or electricity.

 

According to Wikipedia - "In 2016 Sonko was a tax inspector-turned-whistleblower. He exposed corrupt practices such as offshore tax havens by the Senegalese elite, such as a $50 million mineral sands processing plant. SNC Lavalin-Mauritius Ltd, a Canadian company used a shell so as to avoid paying an estimated $8.9 million in taxes. He was terminated as a result of his activism."

 

Photos of other protests held in central London on Saturday 23 May following soon.

Death of a Friendship

I asked if the raft could be propped up without people so I could take a photo.

On the "Ascend With Pride" steps on Roosevelt Island.

A small group of people arrived carrying a rainbow float raft - it's part of a "follow the float" campaign that will donate money to GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). June is Pride Month and the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and New York is the host city for World Pride.

Swastikas were ancient symbols. However, the symbol has acquired a bad reputation due to ignorant people who do not know that the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSGWP or Nazis) did not call their symbol a "swastika." NSGWP members called their symbol a hakenkreuz (hooked cross) and they used it to represent crossed S-letters for their socialism under their National Socialist German Workers Party. See the work of the noted symbologist Dr. Rex Curry (author of "Swastika Secrets"). American socialists (e.g. Edward Bellamy, Francis Bellamy and the Theosophical Society) influenced German socialists in the use of the swastika to represent socialism. The ignorance about the "swastika" (hakenkreuz) was predicted long ago when Professor Max Muller discouraged Dr. Heinrich Schliemann in the careless use of the term "swastika" and referred to such ignorant people as "the vulgus profanum." The same people are ignorant of the fact that German national socialists did NOT refer to themselves as "nazis." NSGWP members referred to themselves as "socialists" (hence their use of the of the hakenkreuz to represent crossed S-letters for their "socialism"). Such people continue to defame the "swastika" symbol by their ignorance of the hakenkreuz and other symbols, rituals, meaning and terminology under German national socialists. For example, there is widespread ignorance of the fact that the German socialist's stiff-armed salute (and robotic chanting in unison) came from American socialists (Francis Bellamy, cousin of Edward Bellamy), and that the stiff-armed salute had been used in the USA's Pledge of Allegiance for about 3 decades before German socialists borrowed it. German socialists defamed the American salute as they defamed the "swastika," yet only because of ignorant people who still do not know the history. The stiff-armed salute developed because the early Pledge of Allegiance began with a military salute that was then extended outward to point at the flag (it was not an "ancient Roman salute" -another debunked myth repeated by the ignorant vulgus profanum). The above are part of the discoveries by Dr Curry (author of "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets").

 

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Use without permission is illegal.

Please contact me for more info.

 

To my brothers & sisters in Kaherah,

 

"The believers are nothing else than brothers (in Islamic religion). So make reconciliation between your brothers.'' (49:10)

 

يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لاَ يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِّن قَوْمٍ عَسَى أَن يَكُونُواْ خَيْراً مِّنْهُمْ وَلاَ نِسَآءٌ مِّن نِّسَآءٍ عَسَى أَن يَكُنَّ خَيْراً مِّنْهُنَّ وَلاَ تَلْمِزُواْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَلاَ تَنَابَزُواْ بِالاٌّلْقَـبِ بِئْسَ الاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الايمَانِ وَمَن لَّمْ يَتُبْ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الظَّـلِمُونَ

11. O you who believe! Let not a group scoff at another group, it may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor let (some) women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor defame yourselves, nor insult one another by nicknames. Evil is the name of wickedness after faith. And whosoever does not repent, then such are indeed wrongdoers.

 

.Please see the peace

 

There is nothing we can't

solve properly & peacefully.

We just need a good souls

to solve things.

We just need to

Find it...

 

JIWA

 

Wood texture from vintage doors in Provence , France

 

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Shared under license "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons". If you use or alter this image you must credit the author: Salva Barbera. If you plan to use this image commercially please contact the author first. This image is Copyright of Salva Barbera and it is protected by EU regulations.

 

You may not use Images for pornographic, unlawful or other immoral purposes, for spreading hate or discrimination, or to defame or victimise other people, societies, cultures.

 

Please check my photostream for other HI-RES textures.

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Taken at the ATHS (American Truck Historical Society) Truck Show and Convention held at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington, Kentucky.

 

I saw this beautiful truck at a show in Macungie, Pennsylvania a year before I took this shot. A quick search on Google Images will bring up several pictures of it and justifiably so. It doesn't get much better than this and Russo's other Brockway which was also at both shows. One of the shots indicated that this one is powered by a Cummins diesel, but I didn't verify that.

 

I don't know who would defame this cool, well polished truck by leaving a bottle of water on it, but I'm hoping it was the owner. As i post this shot, I notice that the Husky hood ornament is gold rather than silver like all the ones I have pictures of. I wish I hadn't been in such a hurry that I passed up trying to get a shot of it, but, since semi's are generally very high, it is difficult to get shots of their hood ornaments. Hopefully, I'll get another chance and have a ladder with me.

Just received.

 

"Felicia Violi,

 

I request that you stop immediately and take down all material you are using in your acts of defamation false alegations, abuse and harrassment on my person and on my professional activities.

 

I will not hesitate to hand over the matter to the proper authorities provided by the law in order to have you stop your acts of defamation and harassment directly and indirectly.

 

Please act accordingly

  

D.M.

 

So, the poor man was spying on my flickr's photostream.

Of course I answered him that I could also give to the authority all the emails he sent me, the hundreds of text messages he sent me, the email sent through my email account at the project he deleted, but which I saved all.

On top on this, a pitiful man covered now by my total indifference.

05/10/2012

Sadly, I have discovered that the Editor of Buzzfeed, Whitney Jefferson has stolen this photo despite the clear copyright that it has in place. She has gone on to misrepresent my Dog as being stoned in an article about the rise in the number of dogs in the US that are being taken to their vets after their owners have exposed them to drugs. I have asked Whitney to remove this but instead she has continued to defame me and the dog.

This dog has not been harmed or been exposed to drugs in anyway. This is an innocent photo that has been taken from this site without consent and has been used inappropriately.

One of the many strange things I saw today. Chiken defamation is not a crime in China though it defenitely should be regarded as that..

This event is sponsored by Models Giving Back in conjunction with BOSL, AIM, L'Amour Diversity, ModeLS Magazine, Models Workshop, Versus Magazine, SL Fierce Magazine and more.

 

Cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon. Kids have been bullying other kids for generations.

 

However, with the introduction of technology to expand their horizons, the latest generation have been able to bully others through the use of these technologies.

 

Cyberbullying itself is defined as the “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.”

 

And, unfortunately those of us in Second Life are not immune. With the rise of anonymous blogs and other forums where one can make comments under protection of anonymity, it seems that bullying has become more and more prevalent.

 

These comments are defaming, hurtful and have ruined reputations, businesses and forced some to leave SL entirely.

 

In a platform where we have the opportunity to learn about other cultures and the tolerance that goes along with it, this type of behavior should not be allowed to happen, but it does.

 

We as a fashion community in Second Life have decided it's time to raise awareness of this issue and let those who are committing the bullying know that we see what they are doing, and will no longer stand and let them have the upper hand.

 

So Models Giving Back has decided to start the "Speak No Evil" initiative. This initiative is a collaborative effort of several modeling agencies here in Second Life and will run the month of February, the month of Love.

 

We ask that all members of the SL Fashion community join us as we take a stand against cyberbullying.

 

This month long event will have two parts to it:

 

*A Shopping Event with 100% of the sales going to The Cybersmile Foundation - to fight cyberbullying of adults.

www.cybersmile.org/

  

*A month long photo campaign where those who wish can create their own photo and post it to

their blogs, our flickr page, and other social media sites. We will ask that all who participate make it their profile photo inworld as well as on their social media sites for the month of February.

 

Thank you for joining us in this important campaign.

  

Borgund Stave Church (Norwegian: Borgund stavkyrkje) is a former parish church of the Church of Norway in Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was built around the year 1200 as the village church of Borgund, and belonged to Lærdal parish (part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin) until 1868, when its religious functions were transferred to a "new" Borgund Church, which was built nearby. The old church was restored, conserved and turned into a museum. It is funded and run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments, and is classified as a triple-nave stave church of the Sogn-type. Its grounds contain Norway's sole surviving stave-built free-standing bell tower.

 

Borgund Stave Church was built sometime between 1180 and 1250 AD with later additions and restorations. Its walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, or staves, hence the name "stave church." The four corner posts are connected to one another by ground sills, resting on a stone foundation. The intervening staves rise from the ground sills; each is tongued and grooved, to interlock with its neighbours and form a sturdy wall. The exterior timber surfaces are darkened by protective layers of tar, distilled from pine.

 

Borgund is built on a basilica plan, with reduced side aisles, and an added chancel and apse. It has a raised central nave demarcated on four sides by an arcade. An ambulatory runs around this platform and into the chancel and apse, both added in the 14th century. An additional ambulatory, in the form of a porch, runs around the exterior of the building, sheltered under the overhanging shingled roof. The floor plan of this church resembles that of a central plan, double-shelled Greek cross with an apse attached to one end in place of the fourth arm. The entries to the church are in the three shorter arms of the cross.

 

Structurally, the building has been described as a "cube within a cube", each independent of the other. The inner "cube" is formed by continuous columns that rise from ground level to support the roof. The top of the arcade is formed by arched buttresses, knee jointed to the columns. Above the arcade, the columns are linked by cross-shaped, diagonal trusses, commonly dubbed "Saint Andrew's crosses"; these carry arched supports that offer the visual equivalent of a "second storey". While not a functional gallery, this is reminiscent of contemporary second story galleries of large stone churches elsewhere in Europe. Smaller beams running between these upper supporting columns help clamp everything firmly together. The weight of the roof is thus supported by buttresses and columns, preventing downward and outward movement of the stave walls.

 

The roof beams are supported by steeply angled scissor trusses that form an "X" shape with a narrow top span and a broader bottom span, tied by a bottom truss to prevent collapse. Additional support is given by a truss that cuts across the "X", below the crossing point but above the bottom truss. The roof is steeply pitched, boarded horizontally and clad with shingles. The original outer roof would have been weatherproofed with boards laid lengthwise, rather than shingles. In later years wooden shingles became more common. Scissor beam roof construction is typical of most stave churches.

 

Borgund has tiered, overhanging roofs, topped at their intersection by a shingle-roofed tower or steeple. On each of its four gables is a stylised "dragon" head, swooping from the carved roof ridge crests, Hohler remarks their similarity to the carved dragon heads found on the prows of Norse ships. Similar gable heads appear on small bronze church-shaped reliquaries common in Norway and Europe in this period. Borgund's current dragon heads are possible 18th century replacements; similar, original dragon heads remain on older structures, such as Lom Stave Church and nearby Urnes Stave Church. Borgund is one of the only stave churches to have preserved its crested ridge caps. They are carved with openwork vine and entangled plant designs.

 

The four outer dragon heads are perhaps the most distinctive of all non-Christian symbols adorning Borgund Stave Church. Their function is uncertain, and disputed; if pagan, they are recruited to the Christian cause in the battle between Good and Evil. They may have been intended to keep away evil spirits thought to threaten the church building; to ward off evil, rather than represent it,

 

On the lower side panel of the steeple are four carved circular cutouts. The carvings are weather-beaten, tarred and difficult to decipher, and there is disagreement about what they symbolize. Some[who?] believe they represent the four evangelists, symbolised by an eagle, an ox, a lion and a man. Hauglid describes the carvings as "dragons that extend their heads over to the neighboring field's dragon and bite into it", and points out their similarity to carvings at Høre Stave Church.

 

The church's west portal (the nave's main entrance), is surrounded by a larger carving of dragons biting each other in the neck and tail. At the bottom of the half-columns that flank the front entrance, two dragon heads spew vine stalks that wind upwards and are braided into the dragons above. The carving shares similarities with the west portal of Ål Stave Church, which also has kites[clarification needed] in a band braiding pattern, and follows the usual composition[clarification needed] in the Sogn-Valdres portals, a larger group of portals with very clear similarities. Bugge writes that Christian authority may have come to terms with such pagan and "wild scenes" in the church building because the rift could be interpreted as a struggle between good and evil; in Christian medieval art, the dragon was often used as a symbol of the devil himself but Bugge believes that the carvings were protective, like the dragon heads on the church roof.

 

The church interior is dark, as not much daylight enters the building. Some of the few sources of natural light are narrow circular windows along the roof, examples of daylighting. It was supposed that the narrow apertures would prevent the entry of evil spirits. Three entrances are heavily adorned with foliage and snakes, and are only wide enough for one person to enter, supposedly preventing the entry of evil spirits alongside the churchgoers. The portals were originally painted green, red, black, and white.

 

Most of the internal fittings have been removed. There is little in the building, apart from the row of benches that are installed along the wall inside the church in the ambulatory outside of the arcade and raised platform, a soapstone font, an altar (with 17th-century altarpiece), a 16th-century lectern, and a 16th-century cupboard for storing altar vessels. After the Reformation, when the church was converted for Protestant worship, pews, a pulpit and other standard church furnishings were included, however these have been removed since the building has come under the protection of the Fortidsminneforeningen (The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments).

 

The interior structure of the church is characterized by the twelve free-standing columns that support the nave's elevated central space. On the long side of the church there is a double interval between the second and third pillars, but with a half pillar resting on the lower bracing beam (the pier) which runs in between. The double interval provides free access from the south portal to the church's central compartment, which would otherwise have been obstructed by the middle bar. The tops of the poles are finished with grotesque, carved human and animal masks. The tie-bars are secured with braces in the form of St. Andrew's crosses with a sun - shaped center and carved leaf shapes along the arms. The crosses reappear in less ornate form as braces along the church walls. On the north and south sides of the nave, a total of eight windows let in small amounts of light, and at the top of the nave's west gable is a window of more recent date - probably from pre-Reformation times. On the south wall of the nave, the inauguration crosses are still on the inside of the wall. The interior choir walls and west portal have engraved figures and runes, some of which date to the Middle Ages. One, among the commonest of runic graffiti, reads "Ave Maria". An inscription by Þórir (Thor), written "in the evening at St. Olav's Mass" blames the pagan Norns for his problems; perhaps a residue of ancient beliefs, as these female beings were thought to rule the personal destinies of all in Norse mythology and the Poetic Edda.

 

The medieval interior of the stave church is almost untouched, save for its restorations and repairs, though the medieval crucifix was removed after the Reformation. The original wooden floor and the benches that run along the walls of the nave are largely intact, together with a medieval stone altar and a box-shaped baptismal font in soapstone. The pulpit is from the period 1550–1570 and the altarpiece dates from 1654, while the frame around the tablet is dated to 1620. The painting on the altarpiece shows the crucifixion in the centre, flanked by the Virgin Mary on the left and John the Baptist on the right. In the tympanum field, a white dove hovers on a blue background. Below the painting is an inscription with golden letters on a black background. A sacrament from the period 1550–1570 in the same style as the pulpit is also preserved. A restoration of the building was carried out in the early 1870s, led by the architect Christian Christie, who removed benches, a second-floor gallery with seating, a ceiling over the chancel, and various windows including two large windows on the north and south sides. As the goal was to return the church to pre-Reformation condition, all post-Reformation interior paintwork was also removed.

 

Images from the 1990s show deer antlers hung on the lower, east-facing pillars. A local story claims that this is all that remains of a whole stuffed reindeer, shot when it tried to enter during a Mass. A travelogue from 1668 claims that a reindeer was shot during a sermon "when it marched like a wizard in front of the other animal carcasses"

 

To the south of the church is a free-standing stave-work bell tower that covers remnants of the mediaeval foundry used to cast the church bell. It was probably built in the mid-13th century. It is Norway's only remaining free-standing stave-work bell tower.It was given a new door around the year 1700 but this was removed and not replaced at some time between the 1920s and 1940s, leaving the foundry pit was exposed. To preserve the interior, new walls were built as cladding on the outside of the stave walls in the 1990s. One of the medieval bells is on display in the new Borgund church.

 

Management

In 1868 the building was abandoned as a church but was turned into a museum; this saved it from the commonplace demolition of stave churches in that period. A new Borgund Church was built in 1868 a short distance south of the old church. The old church has not been formally used for religious purposes since that year. Borgund Stave Church was bought by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments in 1877. The first guidebook in English for the stave church was published in 1898. From 2001, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage has funded a program to research, restore, conserve and maintain stave churches.

 

Legacy

The church served as an example for the reconstruction of the Fantoft Stave Church in Fana, Bergen, in 1883 and for its rebuilding in 1997. The Gustav Adolf Stave Church in Hahnenklee, Germany, built in 1908, is modeled on the Borgund church. Four replicas exist in the United States, one at Chapel in the Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota, another in Lyme, Connecticut, the third on Washington Island, Wisconsin, and the fourth in Minot, North Dakota at the Scandinavian Heritage Park.

 

Borgund is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the southeastern part of the traditional district of Sogn. The 635-square-kilometre (245 sq mi) municipality existed from 1864 until its dissolution in 1964. It encompassed an area in the eastern part of the present-day Lærdal Municipality. The administrative center of Borgund was the village of Steinklepp, just northeast of the village of Borgund. Steinklepp was the site of a store, a bank, and a school. The historical Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through the Borgund area.

 

Location

The former municipality of Borgund was situated near the southeastern end of the Sognefjorden, along the Lærdalselvi river. The lower parts of the municipality were farms such as Sjurhaugen and Nedrehegg. They were at an elevation of about 270 m (890 ft) above sea level. Høgeloft, on the border with the neighboring municipality of Hemsedal, is a mountain in the Filefjell range and it was the highest point in Borgund at 1,920 m (6,300 ft) above sea level. The lakes Eldrevatnet, Juklevatnet, and Øljusjøen were also located near the border with Hemsedal.

 

History

Borgund was established as a municipality in 1864 when it was separated from the municipality of Lærdal. Initially it had a population of 963. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Borgund (population: 492) was merged with the Muggeteigen area (population: 11) of the neighboring Årdal Municipality and all of Lærdal Municipality (population: 1,755) were all merged to form a new, larger municipality of Lærdal

 

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of ​​385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .

 

Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .

 

Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.

 

In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.

 

The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .

 

Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).

 

Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .

For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.

 

Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.

 

The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.

 

The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .

 

Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.

 

More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.

 

Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .

 

In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.

 

Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .

 

Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .

 

Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.

 

Stone Age (before 1700 BC)

When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.

 

Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.

 

The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.

 

In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .

It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.

 

Finnmark

In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.

 

According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.

 

From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.

 

According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.

 

Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)

Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:

 

Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)

Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)

For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.

 

Finnmark

In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.

 

Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)

 

The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century

 

Simultaneous production of Vikings

Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages ​​developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:

 

Early Iron Age

Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)

Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)

Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.

Younger Iron Age

Merovingian period (500–800)

 

The Viking Age (793–1066)

Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .

 

Sources of prehistoric times

Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.

 

Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.

 

Settlement in prehistoric times

Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.

 

It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.

 

Norwegian expansion northwards

From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.

 

North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.

 

From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.

 

On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.

 

The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".

 

State formation

The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.

 

According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.

 

Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .

 

With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.

 

Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)

The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .

 

During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.

 

The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.

 

In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .

 

Emergence of cities

The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.

 

It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.

 

The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.

 

The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.

 

High Middle Ages (1184–1319)

After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.

 

Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.

 

Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages

Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the coast was at Kvaløya . From the end of the High Middle Ages, there were more Norwegians along the coast of Finnmark and Nord-Troms. In the inner forest and mountain tracts along the current border between Norway and Sweden, the Sami exploited the resources all the way down to Hedmark.

 

There are no censuses or other records of population and settlement in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation, the population was below 200,000 and only in 1650 was the population at the same level as before the Black Death. When Christianity was introduced after the year 1000, the population was around 200,000. After the Black Death, many farms and settlements were abandoned and deserted, in the most marginal agricultural areas up to 80% of the farms were abandoned. Places such as Skien, Veøy and Borgund (Ålesund) went out of use as trading towns. By the year 1300, the population was somewhere between 300,000 and 560,000 depending on the calculation method. Common methods start from detailed information about farms in each village and compare this with the situation in 1660 when there are good headcounts. From 1300 to 1660, there was a change in the economic base so that the coastal villages received a larger share of the population. The inland areas of Eastern Norway had a relatively larger population in the High Middle Ages than after the Reformation. Kåre Lunden concludes that the population in the year 1300 was close to 500,000, of which 15,000 lived in cities. Lunden believes that the population in 1660 was still slightly lower than the peak before the Black Death and points out that farm settlement in 1660 did not reach the same extent as in the High Middle Ages. In 1660, the population in Troms and Finnmark was 6,000 and 3,000 respectively (2% of the total population), in 1300 these areas had an even smaller share of the country's population and in Finnmark there were hardly any Norwegian-speaking inhabitants. In the High Middle Ages, the climate was more favorable for grain cultivation in the north. Based on the number of farms, the population increased 162% from 1000 to 1300, in Northern and Western Europe as a whole the growth was 200% in the same period.

 

Late Middle Ages (1319–1537)

Due to repeated plague epidemics, the population was roughly halved and the least productive of the country's farms were laid waste. It took several hundred years before the population again reached the level before 1349 . However, those who survived the epidemics gained more financial resources by sharing. Tax revenues for the state almost collapsed, and a large part of the noble families died out or sank into peasant status due to the fall in national debt . The Hanseatic League took over trade and shipping and dominated fish exports. The Archbishop of Nidaros was the country's most powerful man economically and politically, as the royal dynasty married into the Swedish in 1319 and died out in 1387 . Eventually, Copenhagen became the political center of the kingdom and Bergen the commercial center, while Trondheim remained the religious center.

 

From Reformation to Autocracy (1537–1660)

In 1537 , the Reformation was carried out in Norway. With that, almost half of the country's property was confiscated by the royal power at the stroke of a pen. The large seizure increased the king's income and was able, among other things, to expand his military power and consolidated his power in the kingdom. From roughly the time of the Reformation and in the following centuries, the state increased its power and importance in people's lives. Until around 1620, the state administration was fairly simple and unspecialised: in Copenhagen, the central administration mainly consisted of a chancellery and an interest chamber ; and sheriffs ruled the civil (including bailiffs and sheriffs) and the military in their district, the sheriffs collected taxes and oversaw business. The accounts were not clear and without summaries. The clergy, which had great power as a separate organization, was appointed by the state church after the Reformation, administered from Copenhagen. In this period, Norway was ruled by (mainly) Danish noble sheriffs, who acted as intermediaries between the peasants and the Oldenborg king in the field of justice, tax and customs collection.

 

From 1620, the state apparatus went through major changes where specialization of functions was a main issue. The sheriff's tasks were divided between several, more specialized officials - the sheriffs retained the formal authority over these, who in practice were under the national administration in Copenhagen. Among other things, a separate military officer corps was established, a separate customs office was established and separate treasurers for taxes and fees were appointed. The Overbergamtet, the central governing body for overseeing mining operations in Norway, was established in 1654 with an office in Christiania and this agency was to oversee the mining chiefs in the Nordenfjeld and Sønnenfjeld areas (the mines at Kongsberg and Røros were established in the previous decades). The formal transition from county government to official government with fixed-paid county officials took place after 1660, but the real changes had taken place from around 1620. The increased specialization and transition to official government meant that experts, not amateurs, were in charge of each area, and this civil service meant, according to Sverre Steen that the dictatorship was not a personal dictatorship.

 

From 1570 until 1721, the Oldenborg dynasty was in repeated wars with the Vasa dynasty in Sweden. The financing of these wars led to a severe increase in taxation which caused great distress.

 

Politically-geographically, the Oldenborg kings had to cede to Sweden the Norwegian provinces of Jemtland , Herjedalen , Idre and Särna , as well as Båhuslen . As part of the financing of the wars, the state apparatus was expanded. Royal power began to assert itself to a greater extent in the administration of justice. Until this period, cases of violence and defamation had been treated as civil cases between citizens. The level of punishment was greatly increased. During this period, at least 307 people were also executed for witchcraft in Norway. Culturally, the country was marked by the fact that the written language became Danish because of the Bible translation and the University of Copenhagen's educational monopoly.

 

From the 16th century, business became more marked by production for sale and not just own consumption. In the past, it was particularly the fisheries that had produced such a large surplus of goods that it was sold to markets far away, the dried fish trade via Bergen is known from around the year 1100. In the 16th century, the yield from the fisheries multiplied, especially due to the introduction of herring in Western Norway and in Trøndelag and because new tools made fishing for herring and skre more efficient. Line fishing and cod nets that were introduced in the 17th century were controversial because the small fishermen believed it favored citizens in the cities.

 

Forestry and the timber trade became an important business, particularly because of the boom saw which made it possible to saw all kinds of tables and planks for sale abroad. The demand for timber increased at the same time in Europe, Norway had plenty of forests and in the 17th century timber became the country's most important export product. There were hundreds of sawmills in the country and the largest had the feel of factories . In 1680, the king regulated the timber trade by allowing exports only from privileged sawmills and in a certain quantity.

 

From the 1520s, some silver was mined in Telemark. When the peasants chased the German miners whereupon the king executed five peasants and demanded compensation from the other rebellious peasants. The background for the harsh treatment was that the king wanted to assert his authority over the extraction of precious metals. The search for metals led to the silver works at Kongsberg after 1624, copper in the mountain villages between Trøndelag and Eastern Norway, and iron, among other things, in Agder and lower Telemark. The financial gain of the quarries at that time is unclear because there are no reliable accounts. Kongsberg ma

copyright © Genevieve Dietrich. All rights reserved.

 

This photo has the honor of being in The Hall of the One That Got Away deFame. It goes by the name 'The Suicidal Goldfinch' there.

 

For Garnite. Thank you!

 

This little fella is a regular visitor to the yard. He and his lady come for thistle seed every day. I was tickled enough by this photo that I thought I should upload it despite its shortcomings. I can put up another where you can actually see him, he is wear-your-sunglasses bright yellow. A gorgeous bird.

 

Hear the American Goldfinch's call

Orazio Gentileschi - Danae

 

Orazio Gentileschi’s majestic Danaë is one of the finest masterpieces of the Italian seventeenth century and the most important Baroque painting to come to the market in living memory. Commissioned in 1621 by the nobleman Giovanni Antonio Sauli for his palazzo in Genoa, the painting remained in the family until the twentieth century. The Sauli series was amongst the most important commissions Orazio received, and includes a Penitent Magdalene (fig. 1), in a New York private collection, and a Lot and his Daughters (fig. 2), in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.1 The sensuality and splendor of the Danaë draw together the Caravaggesque naturalism prevalent in early seventeenth-century Italy with the refinement and color which mark the mature style of Gentileschi, one of the most elegant and individual figures of the Italian Baroque.

 

As Cupid pulls back the luxuriant dark green curtain, allowing Jupiter to enter in the guise of a shower of gold, Danaë lies on her bed awaiting her fate in an expanse of white and gold which is punctuated by a red mattress, and we too are invited to peer into the narrative of eroticism and seduction. The artist’s restraint and grace, however, mean the scene does not spill into the vulgar and Orazio’s Danaë, the lower half of her body turned away from the approaching gold, remains a chaste figure accepting of her inescapable destiny. This is quite unlike Titian’s sexual and consenting Danaë in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, which Orazio would have known from his time in Rome when it hung in the Palazzo Farnese.

 

Gentileschi seamlessly blends the movement and dynamism of the falling gold coins and ribbons with the serenity of Danaë's sculptural physicality and classical appeal. The diagonal line formed by the curtain which Cupid holds aloft parallels both the coins and Danaë’s arm, accentuating the speed of the gold’s penetration into the scene. Gentileschi’s picture could also be considered one of the highpoints of early seventeenth-century still-life painting since it is a meticulously observed study of light, surface and color. The various different textures of gold, the sheen of the fabrics, ranging from the gold bedcover to the cool white linen, the deep crimson mattress, the gilt bed and the artichoke-shaped bed knobs are of the very highest order. So too is the enticing transparent veil that covers Danaë’s modesty – in stark contrast to Cupid’s genitals, which are very deliberately exposed. Perhaps even more remarkable is the extraordinary skill and success in the description of the dramatis personae themselves: Danaë’s alluring pearly flesh; the effortless weight of her elbow on the pillow; the careful portrayal of the delicate feathers of Cupid’s wings; the plunging gold coins and spiraling ribbons that bear images of Jupiter and of his symbol, the thunderbolt.

 

The subject

 

Greek mythology, adapted and recounted in Latin in the verses of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, relates that the beautiful Danaë was locked away in a bronze tower by her father, King Acrisius of Argos. Disappointed that he and his wife Eurydice had not produced a male heir, Acrisius consulted an oracle, who informed him, unexpectedly, that his daughter’s son would kill him. In order to keep her childless, therefore, the king banished Danaë to a tower, away from the reach of men. While no mortal could gain access to Danaë, her imprisonment was no obstacle to Jupiter and his insatiable desire for young maidens. Transforming himself into a shower of golden rain, Jupiter lay with Danaë and impregnated her, conceiving the boy who would become the hero Perseus, famed for killing the Medusa and for rescuing Andromeda. When Perseus was born Acrisius threw both mother and son out to sea in a wooden chest, but Poseidon, the sea god, calmed the choppy waters and saved them. Later in life Perseus would indeed kill Acrisius, thereby affirming the inescapability of fate.

 

While the subject matter was at times clearly employed as a morally acceptable vehicle for portraying and celebrating the female nude, in much the same way as the theme of Susanna and the Elders was employed, it also presented an opportunity to explore a complex and multi-layered theme. The figure of Danaë, somewhat counter-intuitively, had been taken as an emblem of moral chastity, and since Perseus’ conception only took place through divine intervention, the Church was not slow in appropriating the theme as a prefiguration of the Annunciation. The potential similarities with the Christian Annunciation must surely end there: even though Gentileschi places the tale of Danaë in a framework of sensuality rather than covetousness, his depiction of the nude does not shy away from celebrating the overtly erotic aspects of the story. The tale must also, on some level, be a cautionary though thinly veiled allegory; even locked away in a tower, Danaë, representative of all mankind, not just women, is helpless to resist the lure of money.

 

Orazio and Caravaggio

 

Orazio Gentileschi was born in Pisa in 1563, the son of Giovanni Battista di Bartolomeo Lomi, a Florentine goldsmith. As late as 1593, when the artist would have been 30, he is recorded as receiving payment for the design of medals for the feast of Saint Peter, so it is likely that he intended to follow in his father’s footsteps professionally to some degree. By his late 30s, however, Orazio seems to have been committed to painting, as his destroyed altarpiece from 1596 in the church of San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome, would suggest. Once he became an established artist, however, his success was impressive. During his lifetime Orazio was probably the most successful of all Caravaggio’s associates, and certainly the most internationally patronized. His travels, in fact, did much to spread knowledge of Caravaggio’s style overseas and made him one of the most peripatetic painters of the century. His career took him to Florence, the Marches, Rome, Genoa, Paris and London, where he became court painter to Charles I in 1626, and where he was to remain until his death some thirteen years later.

 

Although eight years older than Caravaggio, Orazio was still a relatively under-developed artist by the time he came into contact with his revolutionary tenebrist style. He very much belonged to a previous generation of artists whose point of reference would have been the work of the Carracci family, and whose artistic formation was rooted in the sixteenth century. Indeed, the inspiration for the present composition is the painting of the same subject, variously ascribed to Annibale Carracci, Francesco Albani and Domenichino, which was formerly in Bridgewater House but destroyed during the Second World War (fig. 3).3 A preparatory drawing for the Bridgewater painting, certainly by Annibale Carracci, is in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.4 As Carracci and his busy workshop were active in Rome, Orazio would likely have come across the composition there, be it via the painting or the drawing, and perhaps made a study of it for use at a later date.

 

The immediate maturing of Orazio’s style, not to mention career acceleration, owed much to his association with his younger acquaintance Caravaggio, and can be seen as a defining period of his life. The two artists probably met in Rome around 1600, shortly after Caravaggio’s ground-breaking canvases, depicting the story of the Evangelist Matthew, were first shown in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome.5 It is at times difficult for a modern audience to appreciate quite how powerful and extraordinary Caravaggio’s canvases appeared when they were unveiled, and what an impact they made on his peers. Orazio was certainly awe-struck, but the little we know for certain of the two artists’ interaction is limited to the transcripts of the lawsuit for defamation which another artist, Giovanni Baglione, brought against Caravaggio and Gentileschi in 1603. Caravaggio actually denied being friends with Gentileschi but we know that this must have been an exaggeration for at the very least there was a strong working relationship of some sort. It is recorded that Caravaggio had borrowed from Orazio a capuchin’s cowl and a pair of swan’s wings, presumably for use as props for a painting. One might tentatively propose that Orazio made use of these props in his Stigmatization of Saint Francis from 1600, in a private collection, and may even have reused them later in the Saint Francis Supported by an Angel, from around 1607, today in the Prado, Madrid (fig. 4).

 

However, the lyricism and sense of color which Orazio was never to abandon, and which were in part a result of his Tuscan late-mannerist training, meant that the term Caravaggesque can apply to Gentileschi only in part. His work is certainly not Caravaggesque in the way one might thus label artists such as Bartolomeo Manfredi, whose work often displays a forceful use of light and is populated by low-life figures. Gentileschi was one of the few artists of his generation, in fact, who succeeded in blending Caravaggesque naturalism with formal sophistication, and in using light as an instrument to celebrate beauty rather than as a theatrical device, Orazio proved to be one of the most graceful, personal and innovative artists of the period, as the present Danaë testifies.

 

During these key years Gentileschi repeatedly made use of Caravaggio’s topos of presenting a single figure, lost in contemplation, and close to the picture plane, against a background that is bare but for a few details. While Caravaggio was intent on exploring the dramatic potential of a scene, however, Orazio focused on stylistic mannerisms, concentrating, for example, on the silvery fall of light on feathers in his aforementioned Saint Francis Supported by a an Angel in Madrid, as well as his treatment of the same subject in the Galleria Barberini, Rome.7 He brings a similar approach to the delightful description of colorful silks, such as in his wonderful Young Woman Playing a Lute (fig. 5) from 1612-15 in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.8 This interest in achieving visual harmony rather than creating dynamic impact can be found throughout Gentileschi’s career and is clearly manifest in the present work.

 

The Sauli Commission

 

By 1620 Orazio had established himself in Rome as an artist of great repute, working, amongst others, for the Borghese family. In 1621 a second defining moment in his career took place when the Genoese patrician Giovanni Antonio Sauli arrived in Rome with a delegation sent in honor of the new Pope Alessandro Ludovisi, who took the name Gregory XV. While Sauli is thought to have met Orazio for the first time in Rome, he probably already knew of his work since Orazio’s brother, Aurelio Lomi, had in fact lived in Genoa from 1597 to 1604 and had worked for the Sauli family, producing two canvases for the basilica of Santa Maria in Carignano, a Last Judgement and a Resurrection of Christ.9 Whatever the precise context, Sauli was impressed enough by Orazio’s work to invite him back to Genoa - where the artist was to remain until he left for France in 1624 - acting as an advisor for Sauli’s burgeoning picture gallery and producing paintings directly for him.

 

The Ligurian capital was enjoying a period of unprecedented wealth and transformation. Genoa, “La Superba,” had established itself as the leading banking and commercial center of the Spanish Hapsburg Empire in northern and central Europe, and in the Mediterranean. The atmosphere of the artistic milieu was no less febrile: Peter Paul Rubens had already left his indelible mark on the city with his portraits and altarpieces, particularly the Circumcision commissioned by Nicolò Pallavicino for the church of the Gesù; Guido Reni’s paintings, in particular his Assumption of the Virgin from 1617, already adorned the family chapel of Cardinal Stefano Durazzo, also in the Gesù; Anthony Van Dyck was to arrive in the same year as Gentileschi. All three of these artists were fascinated by color and the effects of light. It is perhaps little wonder then that it was amidst this stimulating Genoese setting that Orazio was to complete three masterpieces for Sauli’s palazzo which represent the apogee of his career: the present Danaë, the New York Penitent Magdalene, which is based on the same cartoon as the Danaë, and the Getty’s Lot and his Daughters. Carlo Giuseppe Ratti, editor of the 1768 edition of Raffaele Soprani’s account of various artists and their work in Genoa (see Literature), singled out the Danaë as the finest of the set.

 

In both form and content, the poetics of Gentileschi’s approach are remarkable. The subject matter of the Sauli paintings are taken from disparate sources: the present work is drawn from classical mythology; the Getty Lot and his Daughters is taken from the Old Testament scriptures; the story of the Penitent Magdalene is an apocryphal Christian tale. If a carefully defined iconographical program were intended, and there is no evidence that was the case, the uniting thread between the three would surely point to the rapport between women, God and different types of love, each picture representing a distinct facet of this relationship. Danaë, invitingly veiled in a richly embroidered bedroom, represents sensual love and physical union. The Magdalene, chastely covered in part by her brown robes and meditating alone in a cave, symbolizes cerebral and devotional love after her conversion. Lot’s daughters, on the other hand, depict a moral challenge for they are caught between the sin of incest and the divine order to ensure that their genealogical line is not extinguished after the destruction of Sodom.

 

The compositions may perhaps just as well have been conceived within a visual framework rather than an iconographical one (see fold-out on p. 15). The Magdalene and the Danaë, both single-figure paintings, are based on the same cartoon and may have flanked the more complex and multi-figured design of the Lot and his Daughters, which compositionally forms a neat downward-facing triangle at its center. The Danaë may have hung to the right of the Lot, for while her body draws the eye to the right, her raised arm and the momentum of the coins could usefully create the right wing of the "triptych." The Magdalene’s pose would indicate that she would have hung to the left. There is no suggestion that the pictures actually hung in a line, however, so at this stage any discussion on the potential layout of the pictures remains firmly rooted in the realm of conjecture.

 

The Sauli pictures were so successful that Gentileschi’s status in Genoa as a great artist was ensured. Marcantonio Doria, another local aristocrat, employed Orazio on the elaborate fresco decorations (now lost) of the ceilings of his casino at Sanpierdarena outside Genoa, where Simon Vouet also participated. Carlo Emanuele I, Duke of Savoy, also came to know of Gentileschi’s work and in 1623 ordered the Annunciation in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin.10 Further versions of the Sauli paintings themselves were also produced, and attest to their immediate success and popularity: the Clevelend Museum of Art houses a second version of the Danaë, which was possibly in the collection of the Duke of Sunderland by the mid-eighteenth century.11 Further versions of the Magdalene are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, in a New York private collection, and further inferior versions are known. The Getty’s Lot and his Daughters was replicated at least four times, the best versions probably the autograph variant in the National Gallery of Art, Ottawa, and the painting in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, though the latter should be considered a studio work at best.

 

Versions

 

It was quite common practice in the seventeenth century for artists to paint second versions, and Orazio is known to have done so on numerous occasions beside those related to the Sauli pictures. Earlier in his career, for example, he had produced a second version, today in a private collection, of the Saint Jerome in the Museo Civico in Turin.14 For the second version of the Danaë in Cleveland (fig. 6, 163.4 by 228.7 cm.), Gentileschi made use of the same cartoon as for the Sauli picture but introduced some minor changes, perhaps the most significant of which is the rather anxious expression on Danaë's face which contrasts with the more serene look of the prototype. Marginally larger than the present work, the Cleveland painting was understandably widely (though not unanimously) thought to be the lost Sauli original when it was rediscovered in 1971, five years before the present picture resurfaced. There can now be no doubt, however, that the Cleveland painting is the second version since it lacks the obvious pentimenti of the present work such as those in Danaë’s right shoulder and around Cupid’s right upper arm. It is also painted in a more rigid manner, as is often the case with second versions, since by the time of their execution the designs had already been resolved. When the two pictures were closely compared on the occasion of the 2001 exhibition, it became evident that the Cleveland picture was in fact produced from a tracing. Similarly, the use of glazes, which in the Feigen Danaë create a sense of transparency in the sheets and allow the light to shimmer on the various surfaces, is absent from the Cleveland version, which by contrast appears somewhat ponderous, in part, it should be added, due to its less than satisfactory condition.

 

Danaë in relation to other paintings in Orazio’s oeuvre

 

From both the compositional and stylistic points of view, the Sauli Danaë fits perfectly into Orazio’s work from the early 1620s and epitomizes his artistic early maturity, arguably his most accomplished period, though he never totally abandoned his earlier style. Danaë’s rhetorical gesture, for example, echoes the figure of Saint Cecilia in a work from 1606-07, the Saints Cecilia, Valerianus and Tiburtius visited by the Angel (fig. 7) in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, while similar gestures, which border on the self-conscious, are also to be found in the aforementioned Annunciation in Turin (fig. 8) from 1623. A similar control in the rendering of shimmering fabrics can be seen in the handling of the bedsheets in the sumptuous red and blue folds of the Turin Annunciation, as well as the yellow and blue robes of the figure of Public Felicity in the Louvre, Paris.16 A useful comparison might be made with Orazio’s inviting Cleopatra (fig. 9) from the early 1610s, today in an Italian private collection, which has also at times been ascribed to Orazio’s daughter, Artemisia.17 The picture demonstrates quite how far Orazio’s style had evolved by the 1620s. During this earlier artistic phase Orazio’s description of the white linen sheet and the red folds of the curtains are still very much rooted in a strong Caravaggesque naturalism which cannot yet boast the elegance or refinement of the present picture. Moreover, the corpulent female figure type is deliberately bold and overtly sexual by comparison, and has not yet developed into the graceful, restrained and painterly figure of the present Danaë.

 

Provenance

 

The painting’s provenance can be traced from Palazzo Sauli to the present day. The three Sauli pictures are listed in inventories from 1661, 1663 and 1668 of works bequeathed by Sauli to his son Francesco Maria. The artists Domenico Piola and Bernardo Carbone valued the collection at 14,630 Genoese lire, with the Danaë and the Lot both listed at 3,760 lire and the Magdalene at 1,880 lire.18 The paintings hung in the picture gallery and were seen there by Carlo Giuseppe Ratti in 1780 as well as by the anonymous author of the Descrizione della Città di Genova (see Literature) in 1818.

The paintings were probably removed from the palazzo in 1852, when the property was sold by Costantino Sauli who had inherited the property via Domenico Maria Ignazio Sauli and Domenico Sauli. Costantino died intestate in 1853 so his goods were distributed among his three daughters: Maria, who was unmarried; Bianca, who married Domenico de Mari; and Luisa, who married Francesco Camillo Pallavicino. Luisa’s daughter Maria Teresa married Lazzaro Negrotto Cambiaso and their son was Pierfrancesco (also known as Pierotto) Negrotto Cambiaso, who, conveniently, was his aunt Maria’s heir, thereby reuniting many Sauli possessions. Wilhelm Suida’s guide of 1906 (see Literature) confirms that the Magdalene from the set was indeed in Pierfrancesco’s possession. In 1924 Pierfrancesco married Matilde Giustiniani Durazzo Pallavicini, who inherited his goods after his death. Matilde died childless and bequeathed her estate to her niece Carlotta Giustiniani Cattaneo-Adorno, in whose villa the painting was rediscovered, along with the Magdalene and, confusingly, the Thyssen (not the Getty) Lot and his Daughters.

 

The journey of the Sauli Lot and his Daughters to its present home in the Getty is more circuitous. Though the picture only resurfaced in 1997, it had been known through a photograph in the archives of the Museo del Palazzo Rosso in Genoa, where it was recorded as belonging to a certain Mr Teophilatus, who had died in 1910. The confusion over the provenance of the Getty picture was compounded by the fact that when the other two pictures in the Sauli set were discovered, the Thyssen version of the Lot and his Daughters was hanging with them, not the Getty prototype. It is entirely reasonable that copies of the originals were made to hang in other family palazzi, as is stated in the Sauli inventories, and as confirmed by Cataldi Gallo (see Literature). This would certainly explain why the inventory of 1735 lists a copy of the Lot as measuring 5 by 7 palmi, or roughly 124 by 175 cms, not too far off the 120 by 169 cm of the Thyssen Lot. The Getty/Sauli Lot did not travel far from Genoa, however: the next confirmed sighting was in the 1920s when it emerged that a Mrs Margaret Pole kept the picture in her Ligurian villa at Diano Marina, near Imperiale. She is believed to have taken the work to England between 1925 and 1927 and it was her heirs who sold the painting to the Getty in 1997.

 

The Thyssen painting can be categorically excluded from the original Sauli set not only for its inferior quality but also because of its smaller size. Moreover, in an enlightening article from 2001, Leonard, Khandekar and Carr (see Literature) describe how restoration of the pictures confirmed that each of them had been cut diagonally at the lower corners, as if to fit a particular set of frames with spandrels. The Feigen picture had in fact also been cut diagonally in the upper corners. None of the other versions of the Lot and his Daughters shows evidence of this, and nor do the Cleveland Danaë or any of the other versions of the Penitent Magdalene.

 

While one cannot prove the movement of the present painting between 1818, the last written record of it in the collection of Carlotta Giustiniani Cattaneo-Adorno (see Poleggi, under Literature), and 1975, the year the picture resurfaced, the family links between the Sauli and the Giustiniani Cattaneo-Adorno present a very strong case for the painting having remained within the family. That Suida (see Literature) should have seen the Sauli Magdalene in the palace of Pierfrancesco Negrotto Cambiaso in 1906 and that the Magdalene and the Danaë were still together in 1975 only lends weight to the theory. In 1975 the Danaë and the Magdalene were purchased by the Englishman Thomas P. Grange. The Danaë was sold by his widow to Richard Feigen, who subsequently sold it to a family trust.

 

www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/master-paint...

Photograph (C) copyright 2009 Ivan Safyan Abrams. All rights reserved.

 

There is much irony about this museum exhibit, and about Steamtown. The exhibit is a steam locomotive nicknamed the "Big Boy" by the builder--American Locomotive, or ALCO, of Schenectady, NY (now defunct, like many former American industrial giants)--and operated by the Union Pacific railroad (very much alive, and prosperous). It was donated to the original Steamtown, located at the time in Bellows Falls, Vermont, many decades ago. When Steamtown relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania, this locomotive came, too.

 

The engine was by some measures both the largest and most powerful of all steam locomotives ever built. The Union Pacific railroad favored huge steam locomotives, and had 25 of these Big Boys on its roster in the 1940s and 1950s. They operated primarily in Wyoming and Utah, pulling freight trains.

 

Union Pacific once took such pride in its motive power, and in its history, that it commissioned a movie about the "Big Boys", and later, donated a number of them to museums. The intent was that the preserved locomotives would commemorate and honor an historic time while reflecting well upon the Union Pacific Railroad.

 

Now, the condition of this exhibit is simply atrocious. It's dirty and rusty, and shows very little sign of any recent care or preservation attempts. Certainly there have been some efforts made in the past to preserve the locomotive, or it would have rusted away years ago. An artifact this large requires expensive and intensive care if it's not going to disintegrate. However, the limited amount of work that was done with to this Big Boy is only delaying the inevitable decline. It's not preserving it for future generations, and it's certainly not showing respect for its history or unique and irreplaceable status.

 

In recent years, the Union Pacific filed absurd and costly lawsuits against many toy and model train manufacturers whom the railroad accused of misusing the trademarks and service marks of the railroad; most of the defendants were small, family-owned businesses. The enormous and powerful railroad corporation actually had its law department and hired-gun lawyers (the $500/hour variety) spending the shareholders' money to chase after firms that built little model trains that were painted in the colors of the Union Pacific--so that the railroad would not be presented to the public in a false light! Common sense finally prevailed when one model manufacturer refused to be extorted, and fought back in court. Soon, a settlement was reached, and hobbyists can again enjoy their miniature Union Pacific trains.

 

But it's difficult not to wonder why the Union Pacific, so enamored of the courts, is content to have its reputation sullied by this sad hulk of a rotting locomotive that's on display in a major northeast tourist venue, fully lettered with "Union Pacific" logos and bearing a Union Pacific shield on its front. How many thousands of tourists view this deplorable display and go away believing that the Union Pacific has itself deteriorated, or ceased to exist? Probably more people see this locomotive each summer than there are model railroaders who might own a tiny model of a Union Pacific engine.

 

Has Steamtown been sued by the Union Pacific for defaming the history and reputation of the railroad? Of course not--as a US government facility it wouldn't be the easy target that were presented by the model manufacturers. But more significantly, has Union Pacific made any efforts to assist Steamtown, and the National Park Service, to maintain this and other exhibits that depict the history and, indeed, the viability of railroading? I either saw no evidence nor am I aware of such support.

 

Railroading in the United States is--or was until the economy collapsed--a healthy and vibrant industry that carries far more freight than it ever did in the past. Even passenger railroading is returning to viability, as US highways continue to deteriorate and reach capacity. But a visitor to Steamtown wouldn't think that railroads are anything but dead.

 

The Union Pacific and other major railroads might argue that it would be a poor use of money to contribute to a museum, since the cargo that the railways carry has no alternative routing--coal and containers aren't really suited for long-haul truck transportation. Why should the railroads advertise, or publicize themselves? But the the Union Pacific itself maintains a fine museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa (across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska). Further, the Union Pacific maintain two enormous steam locomotives that it occasionally runs for railway fans and important shipper groups. It does these things because at least part of its management values the company's history. But as this basket case of a "Big Boy" demonstrates, consistency isn't the hallmark of the Union Pacific, at least so far as its public relations efforts go.

 

Perhaps it's unfair to single out the Union Pacific when searching for reasons why Steamtown is so disappointing. There are many explanations, and they're intertwined. The site has always been underfunded, and apparently lacks a strategic plan. The reality of Steamtown is that it's more of a cemetery than a celebration, and unless it receives assistance from somewhere, it and exhibits like this "Big Boy" are destined to become a pile of rusty scrap iron in the very near future.