title: Charles E. Samuels Jr.

text:
Charles E. Samuels Jr. (born June 7, 1966) is the 8th and former director of the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the first African-American to be appointed to that post. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he received his B.S. in Criminal Justice in 1987 and in 2012 received the school's Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.
As director, he was responsible for the oversight and management of the Bureau of Prisons, which employs more than 39,000 staff and confines over 200,000 inmates under jurisdiction of the agency. As a career public administrator, he was appointed director of the federal agency on December 21, 2011 by Attorney General Eric Holder, and is the eighth director since the BOP's establishment in 1930.

Early life
Samuels was born on June 7, 1966, in Birmingham, Alabama, at Lloyd Noland Hospital to Gwendolyn and Charles E. Samuels Sr. He grew up in Forestdale, Alabama, with two siblings, Camise and Crystal. He attended Minor High School in Adamsville before transferring and graduating early from Ensley High School. Samuels earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Alabama at Birmingham's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences in 1987.

Career
Samuels began his career with the bureau as a correctional officer in March 1988. Subsequently, he was selected for positions of increasing responsibility, including case manager trainee at FCI Talladega (AL), case manager at USP Atlanta (GA), community corrections trainee and community corrections oversight specialist at FCI Phoenix (AZ), unit manager at FCI Dublin (CA), program review division examiner in Central Office, and regional correctional programs administrator and executive assistant for the Northeast region. Samuels served as associate warden at FCIs Otisville (NY) and Beckley (WV), ombudsman in Central Office, and warden at FCIs Manchester (KY) and Fort Dix (NJ), prior to being named senior deputy assistant director of the Correctional Programs Division (CPD). He was made assistant director of CPD in January 2011, where he oversaw all inmate management and program functions, including intelligence and counterterrorism initiatives, female offender issues, security and emergency planning, privatization, sex offender management, drug treatment, designations, inmate transportation, case management, mental health, religious services and residential reentry services. Samuels was also responsible for establishing the agency’s Reentry Services Division.

Awards and recognition

In June 2002, Samuels was named Associate Warden of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

In June 2006, Samuels was appointed to the Senior Executive Service while serving as Warden at FCI Fort Dix.

In August 2007, Samuels completed the Harvard University Executive Education Program for senior managers in government.

In 2012, Samuels received UAB's Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.

In October 2015, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch presented Samuels with the Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity at the 63rd Annual Attorney General's Awards Ceremony. This award pays tribute to the memory and achievements of former Attorney General Edward H. Levi, whose career as an attorney, law professor and dean, and public servant exemplified outstanding professionalism and exemplary integrity in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.

In December 2015, Attorney General Lynch presented Samuels with the U.S. Department of Justice's highest award - the Edmund J. Randolph Award. Named for the first Attorney General of the United States, appointed by President George Washington, it recognizes outstanding contributions to the accomplishments of the Department's mission.

References

External links
 Charles Samuels BOP biography
 BOP Then and Now

Prison-related organizations
1966 births
Living people
People from Jefferson County, Alabama
University of Alabama at Birmingham alumni


title: Himmelpforten Convent

text:
Himmelpforten Convent (Low Saxon: Klooster Hemelpoorten, ; ) was founded as a monastery of nuns following the Cistercian Rule during the 13th century in Himmelpforten, in today's Lower Saxony, Germany. During the 16th century, it was converted into use as a Lutheran Damsels' Convent. The Himmelpforten Convent was founded before 1255 and finally dissolved in 1647. The convent complex was built between 1300 and 1330. After 1645 the buildings, including the abbey, increasingly decayed, until they were little by little demolished. The dilapidated abbey was demolished in 1737 and replaced by today's St. Mary's Church which partially covers the foundations of the former abbey.

History
The convent was founded in the mid-13th century on Westerberg hill in , a location later indicated by St. Andrew's Chapel. As the Cistercian Order had restricted the incorporation of the growing number of women's monastic communities who followed the Cistercian Rule, and since no existing deed neither records the incorporation of the Himmelpforten Convent, nor the appointment of a Father Abbot, as usual for an affiliated community of women, Porta Coeli most likely never officially joined that Order.

In 1244 and 1245 the Cistercian general chapter had determined that a monastery of nuns could be incorporated into the Cistercian Order only if the competent bishop and the competent cathedral chapter exempted the community's temporalities and spiritualities from their control. However, such a wide-ranging exemption from their sovereignty is exactly what Bremen Cathedral chapter and the prince-archbishop did not want, as is described below.

The convent's main benefactor, the Brobergen family (also spelt Broc(k)bergen, extinct in 1745) intended to make it their proprietary monastery. The , holding allodial estates, tried to establish the nunnery as their power base out of the immediate prince-archiepiscopal reach, an idea also pursued by the Brobergens' kinsman , but failed.

In their aim to establish unrivalled territorial control, the Bremen Cathedral Chapter, led by its then Provost Gerard of Lippe, besides fulfilling religious tasks of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bremen also wielding the secular rule in the much smaller Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, together with the prince-archbishop of Bremen, then Gerard's sick granduncle , since 1251 represented by Coadjutor , Prince-Bishop of Paderborn, being Gerard's uncle and Gebhard's nephew, managed to integrate the Porta Coeli convent and its holdings as a temporality within the prince-archiepiscopal sovereign territory.

With establishing Porta Coeli as a prince-archiepiscopal outpost to observe and surveil the peasants' ambitions Gerard and Simon of Lippe pursued Prince-Archbishop Gebhard's long-term project of enforcing the reign over the free peasants, e.g. manifesting in Gebhard's earlier subjection of the Stedingers. The integration of Himmelpforten Convent into the prince-archiepiscopal temporalities was fixed in a deed, issued in 1255, on the occasion of moving the convent to then Eylsede/ Eulsete village (literally: Eylo's/Eilhard's seat), later adopting the Low Saxon translation tor Hemmelporten or to der Himilporten of the convent's Latin name Porta Coeli (Gate of Heaven; modern standard German: Himmelpforten).

Eylsede was most likely chosen because its location adjacent to the Osten jurisdiction (Gericht Osten; in the Oste Marshes) and to Kehdingen, both forming corporate bodies of free peasants upholding a certain inner autonomy, claiming and at times gaining seat and franchise at the diets of the estates of the prince-archbishopric (Stiftsstände) and therefore suspected by the chapter and the prince-archbishop to rival their reign.

The deed of 1 May 1255, empowering the convent's Provost Albertus to steward its possessions and waiving the prince-archiepiscopal overlordship, explicitly mentions the donation of Großenwörden village by Frederick of Haseldorf, later canon at the Hamburg subchapter, who in 1250 on the occasion of joining clergy bestowed part of the allodial holdings of his family (extinct in the 1280s) in the Lamstedt Geest and the Oste Marshes on the nunnery. He also donated to other monasteries ( in Stade,  in Zeven,  in Harsefeld), but preferred Porta Coeli. The capitular deed also declared that the convent held all its possessions, donated by whom so ever, only by the virtue of the Bremen cathedral chapter, thus denying any exemption from territorial prince-archiepiscopal sovereignty.

In his will, Frederick of Haseldorf, meanwhile Prince-Bishop of Dorpat, bequeathed his personal belongings to Porta Coeli Convent, however Vitslav II, Prince of Rügen, captured and withheld the bequest, so that in 1291 the abbess of Porta Coeli waived its claim, likely in return for some form of compensation. The deed of waiver of 17 March 1291 shows the oldest preserved version of the nunnery's seal, since 1955 officially used by the Himmelpforten municipality.

Besides the Brobergens and Haseldorfs further noble families from the Elbe–Weser triangle (Bremian ministerialis such as the ) bestowed land and dues on the convent. The Cistercian nuns elected a male provost as their legal warden as well as their representative at the diets of the prince-archbishopric. The provost and the convent's prioress stewarded its possessions together. Until the secularisation Porta Coeli's provosts were usually simultaneously capitular canons residing in Bremen city. This was because any candidate for provostship had to be confirmed in advance by the Bremen Cathedral Chapter.

The provost also wielded the summary jurisdiction in Porta Coeli's temporal judicature precinct. Furthermore the provost held the ius collationis in the Hechthausen parish. Besides the provost there was also a (ad)vocate (), exerting military protection, managing the Vorwerke, and exercising police function in the convent's jurisdictions. Each nun, and later each conventual, had a home of her own, with her personal maid. All feudal estates (Meierhöfe) in Eulsete (Himmelpforten) were let out on socage (Meierverhältnis) to farmers, and each comprised less land than a family needed for self-sustenance, so that the farmers, men and women alike, depended on work for the convent as farmhands and maids. The convent ran a village school, usually staffed with an educated schoolmaster, and therefore known for its higher standard than ordinary village schools.

In ecclesiastical respect Porta Coeli formed part of the archdeaconry connected in personal union with the Bremen cathedral provost, presiding over the cathedral chapter. His archdeaconry comprised Kehdingen, Vieland and the then vast Oldendorf parish. Before the establishment of Porta Coeli's abbey, which simultaneously served as the local parish church too, Eulsete had formed part of the . Thus the new Himmelpforten parish with the affiliate parishes of Großenwörden and  formed part of the cathedral provost's archdeaconry too.

After having become Regent of Hadeln Magnus, the heir apparent of Saxe-Lauenburg, on 24 November 1498 allied with his father John V and Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in order to conquer the Land of Wursten, an autonomous peasants' corporation under the loose Bremian prince-archiepiscopal overlordship. For the threat of Wursten Bremen's Prince-Archbishop Johann Rode was prepared, since already on 16 November he and Hamburg's three burgomasters (upcoming, presiding, and outgoing), Johannes Huge, Hermen Langenbeck and Henning Buring had concluded a defensive alliance.

Rode appealed at the burghers of Bremen, Hamburg and Stade, which considered the areas downstream the rivers Elbe and Weser their own front yard existential for their free maritime trade connections, so the three Hanseatic cities supported Rode, who further won the Ditmarsians, free peasants under Bremen's loose overlordship. On 1 May 1499 Rode, the Land of Wursten, Hamburg and Bremen concluded a defensive alliance in favour of Wursten in case of another invasion by John XIV of Oldenburg, who had conquered westerly neighbouring Butjadingen in April with the help of the Great or Black Guard of ruthless and violent Dutch and East Frisian mercenaries.

Wursten was thus threatened by Oldenburg from the west and by Magnus from the east. In order to avoid war on two fronts Rode tried to ease the relation with Magnus, but in vain. On 1 August Rode, Bremen's cathedral chapter, more prelates from the prince-archbishopric, as well as the cities of Bremen, Buxtehude, Hamburg, and Stade stipulated to supply 1,300 warriors and equipment to defend Wursten and / or invade Hadeln. Finally on 9 September 1499 Rode waged feud against John V and Magnus. The allied forces easily conquered the Land of Hadeln, defeating Magnus and even drove him out of Hadeln.

By 20 November 1499 Magnus hired the Great or Black Guard, prior operating in Oldenburg, for his purposes. They invaded the prince-archbishopric through the neighbouring Prince-Bishopric of Verden. The Guard southerly by-passed the fortified Buxtehude and Stade, leaving behind a wake of devastation on the countryside and in the monasteries (, Neukloster, both localities of today's Buxtehude). Still in 1499 the Guard also looted Porta Coeli, which, however, could ransom itself from being set on fire, before in mid-January 1500 King John of Denmark finally hired the Guard and guaranteed for its safe conduct to his Holstein.

Under the squandering reign of Prince-Archbishop  the indebted ruler in 1541 ceded his revenues from Porta Coeli to his Chancery Secretary Steffen vom Stein for three years in lieu of a repayment. Christopher's financially burdensome prodigal lifestyle fostered the spreading of the Reformation in the prince-archbishopric. The conversion of the nuns followed the adoption of Lutheranism among the noble families from whom they originated.

The convent's aim was to care for noble women, which was to be maintained and thus it became a Lutheran Damsels' Convent. "The ancestors primarily dedicated, founded and endowed noble … monasteries with estates so that their descendants … who had no desire or were uncomfortable to get married, could be admitted to them and sustained in them." As far as known today, there were no commoners accepted among the nuns and later Lutheran conventuals. The nuns and conventuals originated - amongst others - from the families Brobergen, von der Brock, von Campe, von der Decken, Drew(e)s, , von Hadeln, Haken, , von Issendorff, , von der Lieth, Marschalck, , von Reimershausen, , , and von Weyhe.

By 1550/1555 the convent's provost, wielding the ius nominandi in Großenwörden, Hechthausen and in Horst upon Oste nominated the first Lutheran preacher for St. Peter's Church in Horst, whom then the competent archdeacon, in personal union the cathedral provost of the Bremen chapter, invested according to his ius investiendi. This is taken as evidence that by then the Reformation of the conventuals must have been completed. In 1556 the provost also nominated the first Lutheran preacher for the abbey of Porta Coeli, who was also invested. In 1581 a fire destroyed farms and convent buildings in Himmelpforten.

In the Thirty Years' War after the Battle of Lutter on 17/27 August 1626O.S./N.S. the Catholic Leaguist forces invaded the Bremian prince-archbishopric, capturing one fortified city after the other. After the surrender of Stade on 27 April/7 May 1628O.S./N.S. the Leaguists occupied all the state, including Himmelpforten. Between 1628 and 1629 most Protestant preachers fled the area. In September 1629 the Imperial Commission of Restitution ordered Himmelpforten Convent to hand in a complete register of all its possessions and revenues. Prioress Gerdruth von Campe informed Provost Franz Marschalck, then residing in safe Bremen out of reach for the Leaguist occupants and the Restitution Commission, who on 8/18 October 1629O.S./N.S. personally delivered the demanded information to the Commission then residing in Verden upon Aller.

On 19/29 NovemberO.S./N.S. the Commission's subdelegates, Jacob Brummer and Wilhelm Schröder, arrived at Himmelpforten Convent in order to sight the situation there. Much of the chattels had been plundered by the Leaguists since their invasion. The livestock then counted four horses, two cows and one calf, 15 fattening pigs, 25 breeding pigs, five piglets and uncounted geese, ducks and chickens.

The subdelegates found the abbey church untouched with all its furnishings, such as altars, religious paintings, pews, paraments, chasubles and other liturgical devices. They ordered the prioress to deliver all liturgical devices which they appropriated in favour of the Restitution Commission and brought them to Stade. The prioress made the men aware of the fact that the convent had more liturgical devices stored in a house in Stade. On 22 November/ 2 December 1629O.S./N.S. all the seized liturgical devices from Himmelpforten and in Stade were handed over to the Jesuit Father Matthias Kalkhoven, and disappeared with the Jesuits in April 1632.

Only one chalice from 1422, preserved until today, remained with the convent. On 23 November/ 3 December 1629O.S./N.S. the subdelegates returned to Himmelpforten and interrogated the conventuals as to alienations of convent possessions, but without learning anything new. Then the conventuals were ordered to the abbey quire to acknowledge the seizure of the convent by the Restitution Commission. They were told, that those who would convert to Catholicism until Christmas 1629, would be granted a lifelong annuity, whereas the others would lose their sustenance by Easter 1630 (i.e. 31 MarchN.S.).

Provost Marschalck refused to deliver the convent's archive, which Henrich Moller in Hamburg held in pledge for an earlier credit to the convent. What happened to the archive is unclear, the credit was obviously never repaid so the archive was never restituted. Marschalck pleaded the Restitution Commission to have mercy on the conventuals who on their entry into the convent had bestowed estates or revenues on it and were without any means if expelled. With the prince-archbishopric plundered and suffering from occupation the conventuals could not hope to find any other refuge. However, the Restitution Commission refused.

On 6/16 May 1630O.S./N.S. the Restitution Commission commissioned Philipp Lütringhausen, Albert Treckel and Chamber Councillor Thomas Runge to evict the conventuals and hand over the convent to the Jesuits in Stade. For 19/29 JulyO.S./N.S. these three men, accompanied by Father Kalkhoven, gathered in Drochtersen the Kehdingen farmers tithing to the convent, and declared that from then on the tithe would be collected by the Jesuits. On 21/31 JulyO.S./N.S. the three men, now coming from Stade, arrived again in Himmelpforten and the day after they requested the conventuals to leave their convent since they all steadfastly held on to the Lutheran faith. The men repeated that as Catholic converts the conventuals would be granted alimony.

The conventuals' pleas to allow them to stay acknowledging their steady service to the benefit of the convent and in respect of their faith, did not help it. On 6 August Provost Marschalck personally intervened again at the three men in favour of the conventuals, but in vain. Kalkhoven offered each conventual Rixdollar (Rtlr) 75 and two barrels of rye, if they would leave. The conventuals rejected any gifts. The conventuals were then announced to be violently evicted by noon 28 July/7 AugustO.S./N.S.. With the administrator regnant, John Frederick, deposed and in exile, the conventuals and the provost were on their own and could not help it. So on 27 July/ 6 August 1630O.S./N.S. the conventuals finally left.

Thereafter the three men formally seized the convent in favour of the new Jesuit college founded in Stade in order to Catholicise the local population. Jesuit Father Kalkhoven literally appropriated the abbatial ring, the kitchen pothook, the keys of the convent, and a sod from the convent garden, representing its landed estates. Kalkhoven also took possession of the Lutheran former abbey church by ceremonially posing his hands over the altar. Already on 26 July/ 5 August 1630O.S./N.S. socage farmers from Himmelpforten had been gathered in order to make them render homage to their new lord, the Society of Jesus. Kalkhoven then usurped the title of Provost of Himmelpforten. Kalkhoven appointed Erich Raschke as administrator, later expelled by the Swedes who took Himmelpforten in early May 1632.

In the second half of April 1632, after the Swedish victory in the Battle of Rain, the Imperial and Leaguist forces, altogether 23,000 men billeted in the area of Himmelpforten, Stade, Buxtehude, the Stade Geest and the Bremian Elbe Marshes, left the prince-archbishopric and with them the foreign Catholic clergy. Now the allied troops of Sweden, the city of Bremen and the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen under Achatius Tott captured the prince-archbishopric and John Frederick resumed his office as its Administrator regnant. Highly indebted as he was after recruiting and arming his troops allied with the Swedes, he brought in a bill to confiscate all the monasteries in the prince-archbishopric. However, on 20 and 28 May 1633O.S. on the diet in Basdahl the estates of the prince-archbishopric rejected that, but allowed the Administrator regnant to collect the revenues of the monasteries until the Thirty Years' War would end.

With John Frederick's death in 1634 the greatest antagonist to the continued existence of the convents had disappeared, since the estates supported them. By then the conventuals managed to recapture the buildings, however, without the previous revenues then granted to the ruler. After Provost Marschalck had died in June, on 22 November/ 2 December 1638O.S./N.S. the conventuals elected Casper Schulte their new provost. In 1646 Prioress Gerdruth von Campe started recompleting the set of liturgical devices and donated a new chalice, and two years later her fellow conventual Anna Voß bestowed a new paten on the convent, both till this day owned by the Lutheran parish.

Following the Treaty of Brömsebro on 13/23 August 1645O.S./N.S. Sweden seized the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, with Swedish troops anyway in the country as concluded by the war alliance between the kingdom and the prince-archbishopric. On 27 October/ 9 November 1647O.S./N.S. Queen Christina of Sweden promised the convent with all its revenues to Count Gustaf Adolf Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt (1619–1656), who on 30 July/ 9 August 1651O.S./N.S. was invested with the convent as a fief heritable in the male line (Mannlehen). In 1647 there were twelve conventuals, and 14 women aspirants held abeyances to a sustenance in the convent.

By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 the prince-archiepiscopal elective monarchy was secularised as the heritable Duchy of Bremen, which was jointly ruled with the new Principality of Verden, as Bremen-Verden, since both imperial fiefs were bestowed on the Swedish crown. By the 1650s the previous religious bodies, such as the Lutheran cathedral chapter or the archdeaconries, had been abolished, their revenues mostly confiscated, with only few of them not granted to Swedish war veterans. On 2/12 September 1651O.S./N.S. the general government of Swedish Bremen-Verden appointed the first general superintendent for the new , the state church of Bremen-Verden, presiding over the consistory in Stade. The General Diocese of Bremen-Verden became a subdivision of the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover on its formation in 1864. Since 1936 its locally competent church district, the General Diocese, is succeeded by the Stade Diocese (Sprengel Stade).

Legacy
On 21/31 May 1650O.S./N.S. Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt's plenipotentiary Johann Friedrich [von] Arensen, Privy Councillor Nicolaus von Höpken, general government of Swedish Bremen-Verden, and the conventuals concluded a settlement about the latter's future sustenance. The abeyances were not acknowledged, their aspirants came away empty-handed. The acknowledged conventuals would receive their annuities for all their lives (or until their marriage) and usually lived in the former convent buildings until their death (or marriage). In the fiscal year 1668/1669 still eight conventuals were alive, one married and seven still receiving their annuities.

In today's Himmelpforten a number of toponyms recall the former monastery (), such as Klosterfeld, a former field now a scheme of detached houses built in the 1970s, the Klostergraben, a drainage trench now forming the border between Himmelpforten and Burweg, the Klostermoor, a bog on Himmelpforten's eastern border to . The secondary schools in Himmelpforten (Hauptschule and Realschule), founded in 1966, and on 27 November 1975 moved to its present location, have later commonly adopted the Latin name  (PCS).

Amt Himmelpforten
Since the enfeoffment of Count Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt with the former convent this seigniorial entity with its three Vorwerke, its socage farmers and revenues from dues and fines in its jurisdictions was called the Amt Himmelpforten. The last Convent Scribe Erich Everdt Gröning(k) officiated as administrator of the Amt between 1658 and 1663, in 1663 and 1666 his sons Franz and then Heinrich Gröning became Himmelpforten's first bailiffs (Amtmann/Amtleute [sg./pl.]). The term convent continued to be in use, but referred more to the buildings and the pertaining glebe and socage farms than to the wider administrative subdivision, also including neighbouring villages (Breitenwisch, Großenwörden, Horst upon Oste) subject to the former convent's jurisdiction and to dues to be collected.

On 11/21 February 1673O.S./N.S. Michael Grabo, Bremen-Verdian land fiscal, reported to Governor-General Henrik Horn that Bailiff Michael Riedell had removed bricks from dilapidated convent buildings, demolishing even complete structures, in order to sell them. Under the Brandenburgian-Lunenburgian occupation (1675–1679) during the Bremen-Verden Campaign billeting (in Himmelpforten mostly Münster troops staying 11 weeks) and requisitioning goods impoverished the area, with most revenues anyway lacking as they had been already previously deducted for Count Gustaf Mauritz Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt (1651–1700), the conventuals did not get their annuities and the convent buildings reached a stage of progressed dilapidation. In 1676 still two conventuals lived in the convent, two lived with relatives, and all the four still claimed their annuities. However, the annuities had not been paid since the start of the campaign in 1675, leaving the three conventuals still alive in 1677 without any means. All the three had then left the convent after it had been plundered by soldiers in the occupying army.

Also the convent house opposite the western façade of the former abbey, now serving as the bailiff's office, called the Amtshaus, was uninhabitable. On 30 March 1677 the competent occupational Lunenburgian government ordered to evacuate the Amtshaus due to dilapidation. The new occupational bailiff Albertus Hartmann blamed the deposed former bailiff Michael Riedell to have alienated convent possessions, when he had built for himself a new house, using also the materials of Catharina von der Kuhla's former house, which this conventual had built on her family's own expenses and had been sold for demolition to Riedell after her death. Hartmann lost his position in 1680 again, when Bremen-Verden was restituted to the Swedish crown, he was succeeded by late Michael Riedell's son Samuel Friedrich Riedell.

In the course of the Great Reduction of 1680 in the following year the general government of Swedish Bremen-Verden revoked the enfeoffment of seignorial Himmelpforten to the Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt counts, so that Gustaf Mauritz Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt lost the Amt Himmelpforten to the Swedish crown. In 1681 two conventuals were still alive and received again their annuities. In 1684 the reestablished Bremen-Verden general government ordered a greater repair of the decayed former abbey church, and also the remaining convent buildings were restored to some extent, all carried out by the socage farmers. At that time the former Vorwerke were not run with the labour of the socage farmers any more, but all leased to tenants.

As of 1712, under the Danish occupation in the Great Northern War, the plague reached Himmelpforten, killing 84 persons. The Danes enlarged the Amt Himmelpforten by the Oldendorf jurisdiction (Börde Oldendorf). In 1715 they ceded Bremen-Verden to their ally Great Britain-Hanover for Rtlr 600,000, which in 1719 again compensated Sweden with Speziestaler 1,000,000 for its loss, thus gaining the Swedish consent.

British-Hanoverian Bremen-Verden retained the Amt Himmelpforten, then Royal and Electoral Bailiwick of Himmelpforten (i.e. Königliches und Churfürstliches Ampt Himmelpforten) as a rather administrative subdivision, but reorganised it according to the Hanoverian Bailiwick Ordinance (Amtsordnung) of 1674. In the subsequent years the government of British-Hanoverian Bremen-Verden demolished and rebuilt all the remaining convent buildings, such as the church (1738), the schoolhouse, the mill, the bailiff's office and the pastorate.

During the short-lived Westphalian annexation (1810) the territory of the Amt Himmelpforten formed part of the Canton of Stade and Himmelpforten, established on 1 September 1810 and seated in Stade. With effect of 1 January 1811 all the South Elbian German coast and its hinterland was annexed to France and the area of the Amt Himmelpforten formed the Canton de Himmelpforten in the Bouches-de-l'Elbe Department. In 1813 after the French annexation the Amt Himmelpforten was restituted, and Bremen-Verden was reestablished too, however, all its grown local peculiarities in administration were levelled when this Hanoverian province became the High-Bailiwick of Stade in 1823.

The Amt, having lost its seignorial character through the abolition of feudalism in the 18th and 19th century (In the Kingdom of Hanover farmers became proprietors of the land they tilled in 1832.), became a mere administrative subdivision. In 1834 the Amt Stade-Agathenburg merged in the Amt Himmelpforten which by large existed in this new extension until 1885, when the Prussian district organisation was also applied to the Province of Hanover. In 1852 the Amt Osten took over the municipalities of Großenwörden and  with  from the Amt Himmelpforten, also ceding the , which in 1859 became part of the Bremervörde district, now merged in the Rotenburg District. The remaining area of the former Amt Himmelpforten forms part of the District of Stade since 1885. Today's Oldendorf-Himmelpforten collective municipality pretty much covers the former Amt Himmelpforten in its extent of 1712.

Convent buildings
The Cistercian convent buildings comprised the abbey, the actual convent and outbuildings, erected between 1300 and 1330. There were an abbey, a priorate, a granary, a threshing barn, a cart shed, a stable, a bakehouse, a mill, nuns' homes and a janitor's house, the latter along the northern wall of the abbey.

The abbey served from the beginning on also as the parish church of the Himmelpforten parish (Kirchspiel Himmelpforten). By 1320 the actual abbey church was completed. The abbey was a typically Cistercian plain building in early Gothic style. As the church of a mendicant order the abbey had no spire but a wooden ridge turret.

 The abbey comprised seven bays with 21 pillars carrying the vaulted ceiling. The abbey's external dimensions measured Bremian ft 141 () in length and ft 46 () in width, whereas its vault ceiling reached a height of ft 44 (). The polygonal apse was also vaulted. The abbey was torn down in 1737, except of part of its northern wall and the northern corner of the apse, which were integrated into the new Lutheran St. Mary's Church completed in 1738.

In 1728 the convent school was demolished due to dilapidation and replaced by a new school. In the same year the convent building, then called the Amtshaus (bailiff's office), west of the abbey, was demolished and replaced by the new Amtshaus, completed in 1729, now housing the Birkenhof home for the elderly.

Already in 1673 in his report Land Fiscal Grabo judged the pastorate dilapidated, its roof leaky and its posts sinking into the ground. In 1706 Preacher Michael Schreiner complained to the government about the bad state of repair. In 1732 the old pastorate south of the main street opposite to the abbey was torn down and replaced by a new building, itself again demolished in 1972. The convent's watermill on the  creek close to the main street was demolished in 1739, and a new one was built more downstream. Bricks of cloister format size, stemming from the demolished convent, were found in the western façade of St. Mary's Church, the new mill and private buildings in the convent's vicinity.

In 1779 the janitor's house was enforced to become the local jail. After the jail was relocated to Stade the chairman of the Ortsarmenkasse (local poor relief fund) lived in the janitor's house, later the court usher, before the building, then the last of the original convent, was demolished in 1877/1878.

Vorwerke
All farmers of Himmelpforten village were subject to serjeanty (Hofdienst, i.e. estate service) in favour of the nunnery. The nunnery ran three Vorwerke, outlying agricultural farm estates employing farmhands and additionally farmers obliged to serjeanty. The Vorwerke were managed by the (ad)vocate (Vogt). Thus the nunnery ran a Vorwerk on Stubbenkamp (on fields now named the Herrlichkeit, i.e. seigniority, which is a part of today's Himmelpforten), the Vorwerk at Horst and a third in Neuland upon Oste, a part of today's Engelschoff.

The Vorwerk farm buildings on Stubbenkamp, a main timber-framed building measuring Bremian ft 236 () times Bremian ft 50 () and a barn measuring Bremian ft 120 () times Bremian ft 50, were demolished in 1717, subsequently the site was let out on socage to a farmer. At the Stubbenkamp Vorwerk and at the Diekenbrook plot there were stewponds for the fish as fasting dishes at lent.

The former Vorwerk in Neuland comprised five buildings, a residential house, a bakehouse, a pigsty, a granary and a crop barn. It is recalled by the field name Vorwerk in Neuland. The Vorwerk at Horst was in fact located in Breitenwisch on a plot now covered by the Jarck Farm. The outlying former socage farms attached to the Vorwerk at Horst, located at bit more northwest of the Vorwerk now form the village of Horst upon Oste.

Seal
A deed of 17 March 1291 shows the oldest preserved version of the nunnery's seal, the model to today's coat of arms used by the municipality of Himmelpforten. The Amt Himmelpforten, however, used an altered variant of that coat of arms showing in the arch instead of the nun the ducal Bremian Saint Peter's crosswise keys.

Possessions and revenues
Porta Coeli never developed a sustainable farming of its own. Its landed estates and other revenue-yielding assets did not form a closed compound but were dispersed in the central and northeastern part of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (Stade Geest and Bremian Elbe Marshes). Like many other nunneries Porta Coeli lived of feudal leases, tithes and other dues, earlier often in kind, such as also socage and serjeanty. Porta Coeli let out most of its farmland on socage to farmers, and ran only smaller and closer parts of all its lands through its Vorwerke using labour of farmers subject to serjeanty. The Vorwerke were managed by the (ad)vocate (Vogt). Besides his military task of protecting, his task was to prevent farmers from poaching, pasturing on nunnery's land, forbidden lumbering and peat-cutting and of pursuing culprits, collecting the dues and leases.

For the fiscal year 1625/1626 the overall revenues of the convent amounted to Mark 3,014 Shilling 1 and Pfennig 10, its expenses were Mk 3,118:14:7. For 1626/1627 the corresponding numbers were 3,498.14.7 and 3,617.11.10. By the end of the 17th century the convent's revenues divided into Mk 2,671.28.4 of fix and Mk 1,854.25.3 of variable receipts. The farmers in Himmelpforten were all subject to serjeanty to the convent and had to pay a lease for the land, which they tilled. All of the convent's estates (Meierhöfe) leased under feudal law were heritable under the principle of ultimogeniture (Minorat). Originally most dues were in kind, later they were monetised, and even partially collected by third parties such as publicans, sometimes being the collective of tax-payers themselves, such as the tithing farmers of Isensee, Twielenfleth, Uthwege, Großenwörden, , Kehdingen or Altes Land, who thus economised their charges.

The watermill charged the suckeners with the sixteenth part of the grist as the multure (Low Saxon: Matte) in favour of the convent. The inhabitants of , , Burweg, Düdenbüttel, Hammah, , Himmelpforten, Mittelsdorf, , and  were thirled to the convent's mill. Only the nuns (later the conventuals), the pastor and the local officials were exempt from the multure.

In 1645 the convent's annual revenues amounted to Rixdollar (Rtlr) 3,501. In 1650 the convent's estates earned the second lowest revenues of all Bremian-Verdian monasteries, only Neuenwalde Convent earned even less. Therefore also the convent's share in levying war taxes was rather low, it was 0.012% (or ) of the total revenues from taxes to be levied. Other charges on the convent were the triannual delivery of 15 cows to the prince-archiepiscopal residential Vörde Castle in Bremervörde.

Single possessions and revenues, besides the Vorwerke mentioned above (see #Vorwerke) were the following:
the overlordship over Rahden with its mills and meadows, the tithe of its inhabitants, the Westerberg hill (the original site of the nunnery) with its forests, furthermore a farmstead donated by Gertrud von Bro(c)bergen (Brobergen) in 1344, and more fields in Rahden donated by the Bro(c)bergen in 1304, 1312 and 1348
the village Eylsede (today's Himmelpforten) with all its revenues and forests
two feudal estates (Meierhöfe) in  (a part of today's Hollnseth)
half the tithe in Bardesfleth (today's Grünendeich) and some other estates there
three farmsteads in  (a part of today's Hemmoor), a quarter of the tithe from the fields there, and two Morgen of land, donated by Johann von Brockbergen (Brobergen) in 1343 in order to compensate for a damage his father inflicted on the nunnery
some estates in  (a part of today's Hollern-Twielenfleth)
the summary jurisdiction over Blumenthal (a part of today's Burweg) with all fines, and nine feudal estates there
ten feudal estates in Borstel, i.e. Bossel (a part of today's Burweg)
the summary jurisdiction over Breitenwisch (a part of today's Himmelpforten) with all fines
the summary jurisdiction over Burweg with all fines, furthermore some land there, donated in 1358 by Daniel and Gothfridus von Bro(c)bergen (Brobergen)
the tithe of Drochtersen fixed to 100 bushels (Stade Scheffel of  each) of wheat
two feudal estates in Düdenbüttel
two feudal estates in Ebersdorf
the summary jurisdiction over Engelschoff with all fines
the summary jurisdiction over Großenwörden with all fines, executed by the heritable judge-farmer, as well as the tithe of many farmers subject to the nunnery
 the tithe in Halstenfleth (a part of today's Hollern-Twielenfleth), on 8 September 1303 bought by the nunnery 200 Mark payable in Stade pennies
one farm in Hammah, however, subject to socage and dues to the (ad)vocate of Vörde (today's Bremervörde)
the great tithe from  (since 1968 a locality of Hemmoor)
the great tithe from  (since 1968 a locality of Hemmoor)
the summary jurisdiction over Horst upon Oste with all fines, and ten feudal estates there, however under Dutch law (Hollerrecht)
the tithe and all the summary jurisdiction with its fines in  (a locality of today's Drochtersen)
the tithe of Ickenborstel (a location unknown today), donated in 1360 by the Bro(c)bergen (Brobergen)
the tithe from ten farmers in  (a part of today's Osten)
forests and adjacent meadows in  (a locality of today's Oldendorf)
the summary jurisdiction over  (a locality of today's Hechthausen) with all fines
great and small tithe from Lamstedt
leases and great tithes from vast lands in the Lamstedt Geest, once donated by the Brobergen and Marschalck families
the tithe in Mittelstenahe
the summary jurisdiction over Neuland upon Oste (a locality of Engelschoff) with all fines
two feudal estates in Oerel
the tithe from Oldendorf
half the fisheries in the Oste between Burweg and Großenwörden
one estate in  (a locality of today's Buxtehude)
two houses on Bungenstraße, one extramural house near the gate Schiffertor in Stade
the small tithe in Stinstedt
wheat amounting to 20 bushels of Stade measure (Stade Scheffel of  each) from Tetenem (i.e. Altendorf north of Wischhafen)
half the tithe from Twielenfleth (a part of today's Hollern-Twielenfleth) and some other estates there
some estates in Urenfleth (a part of today's Cranz)
the tithe from Uthwege (in today's Mittelnkirchen)
one house with tithe in Verlo (a location unknown today)
the tithe from Vruthlem (a location unknown today)
 the great tithe of all inhabitants of  (a locality of Hemmoor), dues from 1.5 feudal estates, and three farmsteads there
feudal estates in  (a locality of Engelschoff)
six feudal estates in  (a locality of today's Wingst)

Leadership
Abbesses, prioresses, provosts and (ad)vocates of the nunnery and subsequent convent:

Abbesses and prioresses
At Porta Coeli with a rather few nuns and conventuals, respectively, the term prioress prevailed over abbess for their chairwoman.
 Elizabeth/Elisabeth, mentioned 8 September 1303 as abbess
 Ghiselen, mentioned in 1343 as Domina, emphasising the prioress' role as feudal overlady
 Luitgardis, mentioned in 1358 as prioress
 Elisabeth, mentioned in 1399 as prioress
 Margarete, mentioned in 1399 as abbess
 Mathilde, mentioned in 1473 as prioress and abbess
 Lücke von Sandbeck, mentioned in 1528 as abbess
 Katherine von der Hude, mentioned in 1562 as prioress
 Maria von Weyhe (died in 1616), officiated as prioress at least since 1596, her epitaph is preserved in today's Lutheran St. Mary's Church
 Adelheid von der Lieth, titled prioress
 Gerdruth von Campe, mentioned in 1629 as prioress and 1646

Provosts
 Albertus, mentioned 1255
 Bertold, mentioned 1 May 1287, 8 September 1303
 John of Bielefeld, mentioned in 1330, 1343
 Wasmot of the Kind family based in Kranenburg upon Oste, mentioned in 1375, 1379
 Heinrich von Osten, mentioned in 1433
 Johannes Kroch/Johann van Kroge, mentioned in 1498
 Johann/Martin Reyff, mentioned in 1528
 Reinhard von Bäuligh/Buligh, mentioned in 1539, 1543
 Franz von der Lieth, per pro for one year in 1548
 Engelbert Gripenstroet/Griepenstroth, since 1550, mentioned in 1557
 Segebade von der Hude, mentioned in 1559, 1562, 1571
 Otto von der Hude (died in 1590), inaugurated into office in 1571, mentioned also in 1572, 1583, 1584, and 1587
 Franz Marschalck (von Bachtenbrock; died on 18/28 June 1638O.S./N.S.), 1590/1591–1630, and again 1632 to 1638, mentioned in 1591, 1629 in 1630.
Matthias Kalkhoven, usurped position serving as provost between August 1630 and April 1632
Erich Raschke as administrator, appointed by Kalkhoven
 Franz Marschalck, restituted to provostship
 Caspar Schulte, 1638 to 1646 (likely)
 Detlev von der Kuhla, until the secularisation in 1647
 Daniel [von] Arensen, not elected but appointed by Count Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt
Johann Friedrich [von] Arensen, as of 1650 superintendent per pro for his warfaring brother Daniel

Vögte / (ad)vocates
The (ad)vocates (), exerted military protection, managed the Vorwerke, and exercised police functions in the convent's jurisdictions. Thus they had to prevent farmers from poaching, pasturing on nunnery's land, forbidden lumbering and peat-cutting and to pursue culprits, furthermore they collected the dues and leases.
 Adolph Bremer, after the Thirty Years' War

Amtleute / bailiffs
The Amt Himmelpforten was presided over by the Amtmann (pl. Amtleute; bailiff), later also granted other titles such as Drost (bailiff), Oberamtmann (superior bailiff) or Kreishauptmann (district captain). The list follows Georg von Issendorff.
Transition from convent to seignorial estate
since 1658: Erich Evert Gröning, Amt scribe, before Gröning had been the convent scribe
 before 1663–1666: Franz Gröning, son of the former, administrator of the Himmelpforten jurisdiction, appointed by Count Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt
1666–1668: Heinrich Gröning, brother of the former
1668–1677: Michael Riedell, deposed by occupying Lunenburg-Celle
1677–1680: Albertus Hartmann, appointed by occupying Lunenburg-Celle
1680–1682: Samuel Friedrich Riedell, son of Michael Riedell, appointed on 4/14 February 1680O.S./N.S. by Count Gustaf Mauritz Lewenhaupt/Löwenhaupt, deposed by the general government of Swedish Bremen-Verden in early summer
1682–1705: Lotharius Feindt (1644–9 April 1705)
1705–1712: , deposed by the Danish occupiers
1712–1752:  (4 January 1678 – 11 April 1754)
1752–1760:  (1706–21 September 1760)
1761–1767: Diedrich Bremer (1712–13 August 1767), titled drost
1768–1779: Heinrich Philip Tiling (1706–13 August 1779)
1780–1793:  (1718–?), titled Oberamtmann (superior bailiff)
1793–1810:  (2 March 1734 – 14 March 1810)
1810–1811: Westphalian annexation, area formed part of the Canton of Stade and Himmelpforten
1811–1813: French annexation, area formed Canton de Himmelpforten
1811–1813: Johann Friedrich Meyer, titled Canton's maire
1814–1818: Claus Carl Eberhard von der Decken (1780–2 October 1818), titled drost
1818–1836:  (1781–?), titled drost, transferred to Osterholz
1836–1849:  (9 July 1779 – 8 June 1849), titled Oberamtmann
1849–1867: , deposed by annexing Prussia
1867–1878:  (8 July 1836–?), titled Kreishauptmann, before Landrat per pro in Malmedy
1878–1885: , titled Kreishauptmann

References
Elke Freifrau von Boeselager, „Das Land Hadeln bis zum Beginn der frühen Neuzeit“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 321–388. .
 Konrad Elmshäuser, „Die Erzbischöfe als Landesherren“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 159–194. .
 Beate-Christine Fiedler, „Bremen und Verden als schwedische Provinz (1633/45–1712)“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. III: pp. 173–253. .
 Sabine Graf, „Die vier katholischen Klöster Harsefeld, Altkloster, Neukloster und Zeven im evangelischen Erzstift Bremen“, in: Stader Jahrbuch, N.F. 91/92 (2001/2002), pp. 51–78.
 Adolf E. Hofmeister, „Adel, Bauern und Stände“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 195–240. .
 Adolf E. Hofmeister, Besiedlung und Verfassung der Stader Elbmarschen im Mittelalter: 2 parts, Hildesheim: Lax, 1979-1981, (=Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Historische Landesforschung der Universität Göttingen; vols. 12 and 14), part I: 'Die Stader Elbmarschen vor der Kolonisation des 12. Jahrhunderts' (1979), , part II: 'Die Hollerkolonisation und die Landesgemeinden Land Kehdingen und Altes Land' (1981),
 Klaus Isensee, Die Region Stade in westfälisch-französischer Zeit 1810–1813: Studien zum napoleonischen Herrschaftssystem unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Stadt Stade und des Fleckens Harsefeld, Stade: Stader Geschichts- und Heimatverein, 2003, simultaneously: Hanover, Univ., Diss., 1991, (=Einzelschriften des Stader Geschichts- und Heimatvereins; vol. 33). No ISBN.
 Georg von Issendorff, Kloster und Amt Himmelpforten. Nach Akten und Urkunden dargestellt, reprint of the edition by "Stader Archiv", 1911/1913, extended by Clemens Förster, Stade and Buxtehude: Krause, 1979. No ISBN.
 Peter von Kobbe, Geschichte und Landesbeschreibung der Herzogthümer Bremen und Verden: 2 vols., Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht, 1824. No ISBN.

 Landkreis Stade / Archäologische Denkmalpflege and Heimat- und Schulmuseum Himmelpforten, Zeugen der Geschichte in Himmelpforten. Ein Spaziergang durch die Vergangenheit der Gemeinde, Heimat- und Schulmuseum Himmelpforten (ed.), Stade: Seidel, 2006, section 2
 Matthias Nistal, „Die Zeit der Reformation und der Gegenreformation und die Anfänge des Dreißigjährigen Krieges (1511–1632)“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. III: pp. 1–158. .
 Heinz-Joachim Schulze, „Himmelpforten“ (article), in: Germania Benedictina: 12 vols., vol. XII: 'Norddeutschland: Die Männer- und Frauenklöster der Zisterzienser in Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg' (1994), Ulrich Faust (compil.), pp. 148–167.

 Silvia Schulz-Hauschildt, Himmelpforten – Eine Chronik, Gemeinde Himmelpforten municipality (ed.), Stade: Hansa-Druck Stelzer, 1990. No ISBN.
 Michael Schütz, „Die Konsolidierung des Erzstiftes unter Johann Rode“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 263–278. .

External links

 „Das Kloster Porta Coeli: Historienspektakel in Brobergen an der Oste anläßlich des 750-jährigen Jubiläums der Gründung des Klosters Porta Coeli“ (reenactment of the nuns move from Rahden to Himmelpforten, 1 May 2005), on: Die Oste, der stille Fluß, retrieved on 10 September 2014.

Notes

1250s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1330
Christian monasteries established in the 13th century
Buildings and structures in Stade (district)
1647 disestablishments in Europe
Monasteries in Lower Saxony
Cistercian nunneries in Germany
Lutheran women's convents
Convents in Germany
Demolished buildings and structures in Germany
Bremen-Verden
1250 establishments in Europe


title: Robert Fulda

text:
Robert Ferdinandovich Fulda (; 18 April 1873 – 16 February 1944), was a Russian sports and flight enthusiast who is considered as the "pioneer of Russian sport".

Life
Fulda was born into a family of German merchants, who emigrated to Russia in the mid-19th century. Fulda graduated from the Moscow University as a lawyer, but was not interested in practicing his profession.

As an athlete, he was mostly interested in tennis and football. Fulda was one of the pioneers of Russian football and the founder of Sokolniki Sports Club. In 1904, he translated the rules of association football and later organized the Moscow Football League. At the 1912 Summer Olympics, he was the assistant coach of the Russian Empire national football team. In 1914, Fulda became the manager of the national team and was also elected as the chairman of the All-Russian Football Union.

Fulda was also interested in flight. He was the President of Sports Club of the Moscow Imperial Aeronautics Society and Stephan Ivanovitch Osoviecki was vice-President. In 1913 they arranged a reception for the French aeronauts, Rumpelmayer and Marie Goldschmidt who had travelled over 2,400 km by balloon from Paris.

After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Fulda fled to Germany and later settled in Switzerland.

References

1873 births
1944 deaths
Sportspeople from Moscow
People from the Russian Empire of German descent
Football managers from the Russian Empire
White Russian emigrants to Switzerland


title: Gabriel Perelle

text:
Gabriel Perelle (born 1604 in Vernon, Eure, died 1677 in Paris) was a French draftsman and printmaker of topographic views and landscapes.

A pupil of Simon Vouet, Perelle specialized in classical landscapes not dissimilar to those of Francisque Millet, although more obviously decorative. He founded an etching workshop, and his sons Nicolas and Adam assisted him.

Perelle was also a pupil of Daniel Rabel and produced several hundred engravings both from his own drawings and from those of other artists such as Israël Silvestre, Paul Bril, Jacques Callot, Michel Corneille the Elder, Jan Asselijn, Jacques Fouquières, Cornelis Poelenburg, and Sébastien Pontault de Beaulieu. These engravings in the etching and intaglio mainly depict landscapes of the Paris region, including views of castles, where he introduced the variety by adding ruins and various accessories.

References

External links

Veües des plus beaux lieux de France et d'Italie  : Digitized album containing 283 prints (Princeton University Digital Library)

1604 births
1677 deaths
French printmakers
French draughtsmen
People from Vernon, Eure


title: Nicolas Perelle

text:
Nicolas Perelle (1631–1695) was a French painter and engraver.

Son of Gabriel Perelle and older brother to Adam Perelle, he was the author of some of the prints of the Louis the Great's conquests.

References

External links

Veües des plus beaux lieux de France et d'Italie : Digitized album containing 283 prints (Princeton University Digital Library)

1631 births
1695 deaths
French painters
Engravers from Paris
Artists from Paris


title: Adam Perelle

text:
Adam Pérelle (1640–1695) was a French artist and writer born in Paris in 1640 and died in the same city in 1695. He was the son of Gabriel Pérelle and the younger brother of Nicolas Pérelle.

Like his father from whom he learned his craft and his brother, he drew views of landscapes and monuments. He obtained the title of engraver of the King and taught drawing and painting in high society.

References

External links

Veües des plus beaux lieux de France et d'Italie : Digitized album containing 283 prints (Princeton University Digital Library)
Works by Perelle on Google Arts
Works by Perelle on Royal Academy of Arts
Works by Perelle on Harvard Art Museums

1640 births
1695 deaths
French draughtsmen
Artists from Paris


title: Spøttrup Castle

text:
Spøttrup Castle () is a well-preserved medieval defensive castle located  northwest of Skive in Jutland, Denmark.

History
The estate was transferred to the Diocese of Viborg in 1404. It became the property of the Crown in 1536 and was sold to Henrik Below (1540–1606), a nobleman with the Danish court. The oldest section of the building is the south wing, which was constructed c. 1521. The east and north wings followed between 1525 and 1530. The western end of the north wing was destroyed by an incoming tidal wave in 1534. The large arched windows were walled up, leaving only narrow sighting slits. The oldest part of the building is the cellar with cross vaults supported by pillars.
The ramparts and the double moat served to defend the castle from cannon fire.

After Below acquired the castle, he fitted it out as a stately family home with towers and a ballroom. With the Reformation, the castle lost its importance as a fort and was uninhabited for an extended period. In 1702, Axel Rosenkrantz acquired the dilapidated property and proceeded to renovate it. On his death in 1724, his son Mogens Rosenkrantz took it over. In 1784, Peder Nissen, a rich farmer from Ribe bought the castle, leaving it to his 17-year-old son Nis Nissen when he died four years later. After Nis's death in 1849, the property came into the hands of successive owners, none of whom were able to carry out necessary repairs. Finally, after a fire in 1937, the state decided to acquire the castle and the  estate. Restoration work was completed in 1941, leading to the opening of the building as a museum on 15 June 1941.

Open to visitors
The castle museum is open to visitors from mid-April to the end of October.

References

External links

Spøttrup Middelalderborg website in Danish

Infrastructure completed in 1530
Listed buildings and structures in Skive Municipality
Castles in the Central Denmark Region
Listed castles and manor houses in Denmark
Tourist attractions in the Central Denmark Region
Historic house museums in Denmark


title: List of 2005–06 NBA season transactions

text:
This is a detailed list of transactions during the 2005–06 NBA season.

Retirement

Front office movements

Head coach changes
 Bob Hill became the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics.
 Isiah Thomas became head coach of the New York Knicks, succeeding Larry Brown.
 Stan Van Gundy resigned as head coach of the Miami Heat. Pat Riley was named interim coach.
 Nate McMillan was named the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.
 Terry Stotts was named the new head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
 Bob Weiss was named the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics (now called the Oklahoma City Thunder).

Assistant coach changes

 Henry Bibby becomes an assistant coach of the 76ers.
 Larry Krystkowiak becomes an assistant coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
 Gordon Chiesa becomes an assistant coach for the SuperSonics.
 Eric Musselman becomes the head coach of the Kings.
 Randy Wittman becomes an assistant coach for the Timberwolves.
 Henry Bibby becomes an assistant coach for the 76ers.
 Gene Keady becomes an assistant coach for Toronto.
 Scott Adubato becomes an assistant coach of Memphis Grizzlies.
 Randy Wittman, Mark Bryant and Morlon Wiley are named new assistant coaches for the Orlando Magic.
 Chip Engelland is named assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
 Brian James is named assistant coach of the Bucks.

General manager changes

 Jeff Bower becomes general manager of the Hornets.
 Maury Hanks becomes general manager for the New Jersey Nets (now called Brooklyn Nets).
 Lance Blanks and Chris Grant become assistant general managers of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Orlando Magic names Dave Twardzik and Otis Smith assistant general managers.
Cleveland Cavaliers hire Danny Ferry as general manager.
Minnesota Timberwolves resign Jim Stack.
 Cleveland Cavaliers name Lance Blanks and Chris Grant assistant general managers.

Team president changes

 Maurizio Gherardini was named vice president of the Toronto Raptors on June 22, 2005.
 Alex Martins is named executive vice president of the Orlando Magic.

Player movement

Trades

Releases

Free Agency

Draft

1st Round

2nd round

Signed Undrafted Players

Other
Houston Rockets announce Clyde Drexler and Matt Bullard as new television analysts.
 New York Knicks names Roger Hinds athletic trainer.

References

External links
 NBA Transactions at NBA.com
 2005 Free Agent Tracker at NBA.com
 2005–06 NBA D-League Assignments at NBA.com
 2005-06 NBA Transactions| Basketball-Reference.com
 NBA Trades and Transactions - October 23, 2005 - National Basketball Association - ESPN
  at Basketball.RealGM.com

Transactions
2005-06


title: Lax functor

text:
In category theory, a discipline within mathematics, the notion of lax functor between bicategories generalizes that of functors between categories.

Let C,D be bicategories. We denote composition in diagrammatic order. A lax functor P from C to D, denoted , consists of the following data:
 for each object x in C, an object ;
 for each pair of objects x,y ∈ C a functor on morphism-categories, ;
 for each object x∈C, a 2-morphism  in D;
 for each triple of objects, x,y,z ∈C, a 2-morphism  in D that is natural in f: x→y and g: y→z.
These must satisfy three commutative diagrams, which record the interaction between left unity, right unity, and associativity between C and D. See http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/pseudofunctor.

A lax functor in which all of the structure 2-morphisms, i.e. the  and  above, are invertible is called a pseudofunctor.

Category theory


title: Reign of Terror (Capture the Crown album)

text:
Reign of Terror is the second by Australian metalcore band Capture The Crown. This is the final album the band released with the name Capture the Crown before they changed their name to just Capture. The album was produced by both Matt Good and Taylor Larson from the band From First to Last, and was released through the record label Artery Recordings.  The first single off the album, "To Whom It May Concern", was released on 9 June 2014. It is the last album to feature guitarists Kris Sheehan, Jye Menzies, and drummer, Tyler March, after their departures on 4 October 2014, as well as the first album to feature bassist Maurice Morfaw. Reign of Terror was re-released as a deluxe edition with the five tracks from the "Live Life" EP on 24 November. Reign of Terror charted at No. 86 on the U.S. Billboard 200, the band's first album to chart in the U.S., as well as the third Australian metal band to chart.

Track listing

Personnel
Credits by Allmusic
Capture the Crown
Jeffrey Wellfare - lead vocals
Jye Menzies - lead guitar
Kris Sheehan - rhythm guitar
Tyler "Lone America" March - drums
Maurice Morfaw - bass

Additional Personnel
Cheyne Truitt - guest vocals on "Beating the Blade"
Alex Koehler (ex-Chelsea Grin) - guest vocals on "Make War, Not Love"
Tyler "Telle" Smith (The Word Alive) - guest vocals on "Rebearth"

Production
Taylor Larson - Producer, engineer, mastering, mixing, writing
Matt Good - Additional Production, programming, writing
Shawn Christmas - Programming
Mike Milford - A&R, Artwork, Design, Layout
Sam Shepard - Artwork, Design, Layout
Ernie Slenkovich - Engineer, percussion, writing
Cameron Pierce Mizell - Production on "Live Life", "Rebearth", "Bloodsuckers", "All Hype All Night", and "When I Get Home"

References

2014 albums
Albums produced by Cameron Mizell
Capture (band) albums
Albums produced by Matt Good


title: Pycna semiclara

text:
Pycna semiclara, known as the Whining Forest Cicada,  is a South African forest-dwelling platypleurine cicada.

One of the largest cicadas in South Africa, this species reaches 40–50 mm in length. Its wings display green, brown and translucent patches, and are covered with silvery hairs. It is endemic to South Africa, and occurs in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. It prefers indigenous forests, where undergrowth is sparse and trees are more than 4m tall, but may also be found in stands of Quercus robur, Populus deltoides, pine and eucalyptus.

It is also unusually found in dense riverine bushes in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. Males usually call from a position a few meters above the ground on a shady limb of a tree, with a good view of the immediate surroundings and potential predators. Males often sing in chorus to attract mates, particularly at dusk and dawn, enabled to do this by an endothermic metabolism which rises to more than 22 °C above ambient temperature. This endothermy during crepuscular hours allows the use of optimal atmospheric conditions for acoustic communication and reduces chances of predation to a minimum. The species also produces an encounter call used in courtship and maintaining personal space within choruses, behaving aggressively to other males venturing closer than about 50 cm. Choruses may start up at any time of the day, but concentrate their calling in a half-hour period at dawn and dusk.

References

External links
iSpot gallery

Insects of Africa
Insects described in 1834
Platypleurini


Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (English Edition) is a peer-reviewed journal of mechanics, established in 1980 by Wei-zang Chien in 1980. Chien was the editor-in-chief from 1980 to 2002 and subsequently an honorary editor-in-chief. Xingming Guo is the editor-in-chief now.  In 1980, it was quarterly, became bimonthly in 1981, and then monthly in 1985.

Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in the following bibliographic databases:

According to the Journal Citation Reports, it has a 2016 impact factor of 1.205.

References

External links

Academic journals established in 1980
Monthly journals
English-language journals


title: Barend Christiaan van Calker

text:
Barend Christiaan van Calker (1738 – 1813), was a Dutch medallist.

Biography
He was born in Kampen and became a master medallist who fulfilled commissions for members of the House of Orange, including a birthday medallion for Willem Frederik van Oranje in 1772.  Like Johann Georg Holtzhey, he is especially known for his awards medals and commemorative medals, and like him also made a medal for the recognition of the United States in 1782.  He made prize medals for the Provinciaal Utrechtsch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen in 1773 and the 200-year anniversary medal of Leiden University in 1775. He lived in the Hernhutter Broedergemeenschap, near Castle Zeist where he later died.

References

Dutch medallists
1738 births
1813 deaths
People from Kampen, Overijssel
18th-century Dutch artists
19th-century Dutch artists
18th-century Dutch sculptors
18th-century Dutch male artists
19th-century Dutch sculptors


title: Bristol-Myers Tele-Varieties

text:
Bristol-Myers Tele-Varieties is a TV series broadcast on WNBT-TV beginning in December 1946, and then began broadcasting on the NBC Television Network on January 5, 1947, on Sunday evenings from 8:15 to 8:30pm ET. The show, including interviews of celebrities, was hosted by the wife-and-husband team of Jinx Falkenburg and Tex McCrary.

Falkenburg went on to host many radio and TV shows, including The Swift Home Service Club, a Monday through Friday show that debuted in May 1947.

See also
1946-47 United States network television schedule

External links
Bristol-Myers Tele-Varieties at IMDB

NBC original programming
1947 American television series debuts
1947 American television series endings
Black-and-white American television shows
English-language television shows


title: Hemingbrough railway station

text:
Cliff railway station was opened in 1840 as an original station of the Hull and Selby Railway. It was renamed Hemingbrough railway station in 1874.

The station closed in 1967.

History
Cliff railway station was opened 2 July 1840 in the village of Cliffe, Selby as an original station of the Hull and Selby Railway. The station was renamed to Hemingbrough on 1 September 1874.

The station had a small set of sidings north of the line, with an eastern line of track serving a malthouse.

Hemingbrough was the only station on the Hull and Selby line to close as a result of the Beeching report. The station closed to goods on 4 May 1964, and to passengers on 6 November 1967.

References

Sources
, (reprint)

External links

Former Hull and Selby Railway stations
Disused railway stations in North Yorkshire
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967
Beeching closures in England


title: Rosalind Shand

text:
Rosalind Maud Shand ( Cubitt; 11 August 1921 – 14 July 1994) was a British aristocrat, daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. She was the wife of army officer Major Bruce Shand and the mother of  Camilla Parker-Bowles

Childhood
Rosalind was born at 16 Grosvenor Street, London, on 11 August 1921,  the eldest of the three children born to Roland Calvert Cubitt (1899–1962) and his wife Sonia Rosemary Cubitt (née Keppel; 1900–1986). Her father was the son of Henry Cubitt, 2nd Baron Ashcombe, and became 3rd Baron Ashcombe after his death. Rosalind's mother Sonia was the youngest daughter of George Keppel and his wife, Alice Frederica Keppel (née Edmonstone).

Rosalind had two younger siblings: Henry Cubitt, who succeeded his father as the 4th Baron Ashcombe and Jeremy Cubitt, who died in 1958 at the age of 30.
Her family was the aristocratic and wealthy Cubitt family, which founded the Cubitt construction company. She was a goddaughter of Dame Margaret Greville and inherited some of her fortune.

Rosalind was named by the press as the 1939 'Debutante of the Year'. She had her debutante ball on 6 July 1939 at the Holland House in Kensington, London. It was attended by more than a thousand guests including famous playwright and composer Noël Coward and royals King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The ball was described as the last grand and great ball held at the house before it was destroyed during the Second World War.

Marriage and children
Rosalind met her future husband Major Bruce Middleton Hope Shand (1917–2006), son of English journalist Philip Morton Shand and his first wife Edith Marguerite Harrington at the end of the Second World War. He later retired from the British Army after winning two Military Crosses and being a German prisoner of war. They married on 2 January 1946 at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge in London. The couple bought a country house, The Laines in Plumpton, East Sussex and also maintained another house in South Kensington.

They had three children:

Camilla Rosemary Shand (born 17 July 1947), who married Andrew Parker Bowles and had two children, while simultaneously being concubine to Charles, Prince of Wales (later Charles III):
Thomas Henry Charles Parker Bowles (born 1974)
Laura Rose Lopes née Parker Bowles (born 1978)

Sonia Annabel Shand (born 2 February 1949) married Simon Elliot and had three children:
Benjamin William Elliot (born 1975)
Alice Rosalind Irwin née Elliot (born 1977)
Katie Camilla Elliot (born 1981)
Mark Roland Shand (28 June 1951 – 23 April 2014) married Clio Goldsmith and had a child:
Ayesha Shand (born 1995)

Career and charity work
Rosalind worked for an adoption agency before marriage. She volunteered at the Chailey Heritage Foundation, which helps young children with disabilities, in the 1960s and 1970s located at North Chailey, East Sussex. She worked there as a volunteer for 17 years. Her daughter Camilla opened a new facility there in 2013.

Death
She died at Lewes, East Sussex on 14 July 1994 aged 72, having long suffered from osteoporosis. Her mother Sonia also died from the same disease in 1986. She was survived by her husband, her three children and five grandchildren. Her youngest granddaughter Ayesha was born a year after her death.

Following her mother's death, Camilla became a member of the National Osteoporosis Society, which later became Royal Osteoporosis Society (a charity dedicated to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis) in 1994 to help raise awareness of the disease, became Patron of the charity in 1997 and was appointed its president in 2001.

References

Books cited

1921 births
1994 deaths
Adoption workers
British debutantes
Daughters of barons
Rosalind
Cubitt family
Rosalind
Rosalind
People from Lewes
People from Mayfair
People from Plumpton, East Sussex


title: Fahd Aktaou

text:
Fahd Aktaou (; born 13 January 1993) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back.

Club career
He formerly played for SC Heerenveen, who loaned hom to Almere City. He joined Heracles in summer 2014, only to be loaned out again to FC Dordrecht in summer 2015. He was expelled from the Dordrecht squad in February 2016 for undisclosed reasons.

In June 2016 Aktaou joined Moroccan side WAC Casablanca.

In the summer of 2018 he moved to Italy, signing with third-tier Serie C club Juve Stabia. He was released from his Juve Stabia contract by mutual consent on 10 January 2019.

References

External links
 Voetbal International profile

1993 births
Living people
Dutch men's footballers
Footballers from Amsterdam
Dutch sportspeople of Moroccan descent
Men's association football fullbacks
SC Heerenveen players
Almere City FC players
Heracles Almelo players
FC Dordrecht players
Wydad AC players
SS Juve Stabia players
PFC Cherno More Varna players
Wigry Suwałki players
Eredivisie players
Eerste Divisie players
Serie C players
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
II liga players
Dutch expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria
Expatriate men's footballers in Poland


title: Saban Building

text:
The Saban Building, formerly the May Company Building, on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, is a celebrated example of Streamline Moderne architecture. The building's architect Albert C. Martin, Sr., also designed the Million Dollar Theater and Los Angeles City Hall. The May Company Building is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The building was operated as a May Company department store from 1939 until the store's closure in 1992, when May merged with J. W. Robinson's to form Robinsons-May. The building has been the home of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures since 2021.

The Los Angeles Conservancy calls it "the grandest example of Streamline Moderne remaining in Los Angeles". It is especially noted for its gold-tiled cylindrical section that faces the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard at Fairfax Avenue, of which it occupies the northeast corner.

History

May Company
The May Company Building, completed in 1939, is a landmark Streamline Moderne structure. It was deemed a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1992.

LACMA West

After being vacant for two years, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) acquired the building in 1994 and used it—under the name "LACMA West"—as exhibition space. In 2014, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures agreed to a 55-year lease with LACMA to include the May Company Building, as well as the adjacent land to build the David Geffen Theater.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
The May Company Building was renamed in recognition of philanthropist Cheryl Saban and entertainment executive Haim Saban's $50 million (~$ in ) donation to the museum in 2017. The Saban Building has served as the main building of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures since 2021.

In 2012, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Dawn Hudson asked Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano to design the 300,000-square-foot campus consisting of the former May Company Building and a spherical addition attached by three glass bridges.

 The museum's design plan called for the renovation of the original structure, which included a full restoration of the exterior—most notably its cylindrical façade. The cylinder comprises more than 350,000 glass and gold leaf mosaic tiles. While the restoration project, led by preservation specialist John Fidler, aimed to preserve as many of the original tiles as possible, those that had to be replaced were sourced from Orsoni, their original manufacturer in Venice, Italy. The majority of the Saban Building is covered in Texas limestone panels which had started to deteriorate. Fidler used an English technique called helifix anchor that allowed them to cut away at the spoiled and broken stone and remove the corroding metal fundamentally restoring the exterior of the building.

Renzo Piano was also commissioned to design the building's new spherical addition. The 130-foot-tall sphere building is home to the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and is topped by the glass-domed Dolby Family Terrace which offers guests a panoramic view of the city and the Hollywood sign.

Appearances in popular culture
The building was featured in Visiting... with Huell Howser Episode 702.
It is also featured prominently in the 1980s LA noir film Miracle Mile starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham.

References

External links

 Historic photos of building via Los Angeles Conservancy

Buildings and structures in Los Angeles
Historic department store buildings in the United States
Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles
Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Commercial buildings completed in 1939
1930s architecture in the United States
1939 establishments in California
Streamline Moderne architecture in California
May Company buildings
Retail buildings in California
May Company California


title: Ten Outstanding Red Cross Youth

text:
The Search for the Ten Outstanding Red Cross Youth of the Philippines is an annual search for exceptional Red Cross Youth volunteers who have rendered unselfish service of excellence to the Philippine Red Cross. It aims to recognize the volunteers for their invaluable support and contribution to the PRC through the Red Cross Youth.

History
Launched in 2003, the first batch was awarded with a simple but meaningful ceremony on October 31 at the National Headquarters in Manila. With the initiative of the 14th National Youth Council Officers, the award system was improved and the search was renewed with the awarding of the 2006 TORCY onwards.

2003 Awardees

The awarding was held on October 31, 2003 at the National Headquarters of the Philippine Red Cross in Port Area, Manila.

2004 Awardees

The awarding was held at the National Headquarters of the Philippine Red Cross in Port Area, Manila.

2006 Awardees

2007 Awardees

2009 Awardees

The awarding was held at the Sky Dome, SM North EDSA, Quezon City.

2010 Awardees

The awarding was held on December 18, 2010 at Bayview Park Hotel, Roxas Boulevard, City of Manila.

References

External links
 Philippine Red Cross - Red Cross Youth Department
 RCY Volunteer Facebook
 Red Cross Youth Fan Page
 Red Cross Youth - Philippines Facebook Group

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
Youth organizations based in the Philippines


title: Red Vermillion Township, Nemaha County, Kansas

text:
Red Vermillion is a township in Nemaha County, Kansas, in the United States.

History
The origin of name Red Vermillion is unclear, and 'red vermillion' is somewhat redundant, as vermilion is a shade of red.

References

Townships in Nemaha County, Kansas
Townships in Kansas


title: The Unicorn (novel)

text:
The Unicorn is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1963, it was her seventh novel.

Plot
The Unicorn is set in a remote area on the west coast of Ireland. The book begins with the arrival of Marian Taylor, a young English school teacher who has accepted a position as governess at an isolated country house called Gaze Castle. She is surprised to learn that there are no children at Gaze, and that she will be teaching French and Italian to the lady of the house, Hannah Crean-Smith.

Part 1 describes Marian's growing awareness of the situation at Gaze Castle, as recounted to her by other characters. Her main informant is Denis Nolan, the estate's clerk. She learns that Hannah  has been confined to Gaze and its grounds by her husband Peter for seven years as punishment for having been unfaithful to him and for nearly killing him. Peter had been an abusive and unfaithful husband, and was often absent. During one of these absences, Hannah had an affair with Pip Lejour, who owns a nearby house called Riders. Peter arrived home unexpectedly and caught them in bed together. Later, after a struggle between Hannah and Peter, Peter fell over a cliff. He was badly injured but survived. He then left Gaze, leaving the estate in the hands of his former lover Gerald Scottow.

In Part 2 the narrative focus moves to Effingham Cooper, another outsider who arrives on the scene from London. Effingham is a successful public servant in his forties who is visiting his retired former Philosophy tutor Max Lejour, Pip Lejour's father, at Riders. Effingham is in love with Hannah and he tries to persuade to run away with him, but she refuses. He resigns himself to the situation, seeing himself as a courtly lover adoring Hannah from afar. Marian urges him to join her in a plan to rescue Hannah. He refuses, saying that Hannah is resigned to her fate and does not want to leave.

In Part 3 Effingham changes his mind and the rescue attempt takes place. He and Marian try to take advantage of Gerald Scottow's absence to abduct Hannah in Effingham's car, but the attempt fails. Another car, driven by Max's daughter Alice Lejour, unexpectedly comes toward them, and Effingham's car goes off the driveway and gets stuck in mud. Gerald Scottow returns to Gaze just in time to see what has happened. Effingham leaves with Alice in her car. Later, Alice returns with the news that Effingham has become lost in the bog.

Part 4 begins with Effingham's experiences wandering in the bog, in which he becomes stuck before being rescued by Denis Nolan. Gerald announces that Peter Crean-Smith is returning to the house after an absence of seven years. Hannah summons Gerald to her room, where he spends several hours. Gerald announces that he is going to take Hannah away from Gaze before Peter arrives.

Parts 5, 6 and 7 describe a series of violent events that result in the deaths of several of the main characters. After Gerald announces that Peter is not returning after all, and that he and Hannah are staying, Pip Lejour comes to Gaze and asks Hannah to leave with him, but she refuses. Hannah shoots and kills Gerald, and later runs away from the house and falls or jumps from a cliff and is killed. On his way back to Gaze after hearing of Gerald's death, Peter is killed when the car in which Denis is driving him from the airport goes into the sea. At the end of the novel Effingham and Marian return separately to London.

Major themes
The novel's dramatic plot and remote setting are characteristic of Gothic fiction. Murdoch biographer and critic Peter J. Conradi notes the author's effective use of "the stage props and scenery of the Romantic sublime", including massive cliffs overlooking a dangerous sea, isolated castles, mysterious megaliths, and a deadly bog containing carnivorous plants.

Both religion and philosophy are important themes in the book. The central character Hannah is a believing Christian and the unicorn of the title is a symbol of Christ. The book's philosophical themes are presented chiefly by the Platonist philosopher Max Lejour, in his conversations with his former student Effingham Cooper. Their discussion of the situation at Gaze Castle  in Chapter 12 deals with power, freedom, suffering, and especially with the nature of "goodness".

The typically Murdochian situation of an "enchanter" character surrounded by his or her coterie is exemplified by the household at Gaze. The relationships among the characters also illustrate the connection between erotic love and power relations that runs through Murdoch's fiction.

Literary significance and reception
According to Conradi, The Times "was mystified by The Unicorn", while The Tablet and The Month reviewed it favourably. The New York Times reviewer emphasized the novel's Gothic characteristics, and commented that it "has that magnetic quality that is more usually the attribute of the detective story". The reviewer suggests that while the "familiarity of her material is one of her strengths", the reader is "led further and further into the mystery and terror of existence".

Several critics have remarked on the "closed" nature of the novel. Murdoch herself distinguished between the open novel, in which the characters are free to act, and the closed novel whose structure creates "a mythic and poetic intensity which the characters on occasion subserve". She has been criticized for exercising a "tyranny of form over character" while writing "according to the dictates of an obsolete standard and within the context of tired patterns". Conradi, on the other hand, argues that Murdoch's closed novels, of which The Unicorn is one, were not mere experiments in genre fiction, secondary to her more character-driven works, but were "central to her purpose".

Robert Scholes devoted a chapter in his 1967 book The Fabulators to The Unicorn. The variety of fabulation he attributes to the novel is allegory. He argues that while using "the conventions of English soft-boiled mystery fiction", Murdoch actually "toys with conventions". In his view, Marian and Effingham allegorically represent modern ideas and attitudes, while the Gaze household represents medieval Christianity and the Riders household headed by Max Lejour represents Platonic philosophy. A later academic interpretation of The Unicorn argues that Murdoch metafictionally deconstructs her own elaborately Gothic setting and story by encouraging the reader to see through the characters' self-deception.

References

1963 British novels
Novels by Iris Murdoch
Chatto & Windus books
British Gothic novels
Novels set in County Clare


title: Home Afrika

text:
Home Afrika is a leading real estate company based in Nairobi, Kenya. Its name is abbreviated to HAFR. Home Afrika is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) under the 'Growth Enterprise Market Segment' (GEMS). Home Afrika engages in the development and sale of real estate properties.

Overview
Home Afrika started as an investment club in July 2008 before steadily growing to become a public company worth well over US$100 million as of 15 July 2013 when it listed on the NSE. The company was the first to list in the GEMS section of the NSE.

The company's developments include Morningside Office Park in Nairobi; Migaa, a live-in-golf community in Kiambu County; Lakeview Heights in Kisumu County; Llango in Kwale County; and Kikwetu in Machakos County.

Member companies
The companies that comprise the Home Afrika include, but are not limited, to the following:

 Suburban Limited - Kenya - 50% Shareholding - Real estate development
 Mitini Scapes Development Limited - 100% Shareholding - Real Estate Development
 Lakeview Heights Development Limited - 100% Shareholding - Real Estate Development
 Lango Development Limited - 100% Shareholding - Real Estate Development
 Kikwetu Limited - 100% Shareholding - Real Estate Development
 Home Afrika Communities Limited - Kenya - 60% Shareholding - Real Estate Development
 Migaa Management Limited - Kenya - 52% Shareholding - Real Estate Development

Ownership
Home Afrika with its subsidiaries, which it owns, either wholly or partially, form the Home Afrika Group. The stock of the group is traded on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), under the symbol: HAFR.

Governance
Home Afrika is governed by an eleven-person Board of Directors with Lee Karuri serving as the chairman and Dan Awendo as the CEO.

External links
 Home Afrika Website
 Nairobi Securities Exchange Website
 Rich Management

See also
Nairobi Securities Exchange

References

Real estate companies of Kenya
Companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange
Companies based in Nairobi
Kenyan companies established in 2008
Real estate companies established in 2008