title: Windermere

text: The word 'Windermere' is thought to translate as "'Winand or Vinand's lake'... The specific has usually been identified with an Old Swedish personal name 'Vinandr', genitive singular 'Vinandar'"... although "the personal noun is of very restricted distribution even in Sweden." Another possibility is that it refers to a "Continental Germanic personal noun, 'Wīnand'...Since this name could not have been current until the 12th century, the fact that the Old Norse genitive singular '-ar-' has been added to it, it would suggest that Old Norse was still a living language in the area at that time."


title: Windermere

text: The second element is Old English 'mere', meaning 'lake' or 'pool'. It was known as "Winander Mere" or "Winandermere" until at least the 19th century.


title: Windermere

text: Its name suggests it is a mere, a lake that is broad in relation to its depth, but despite the name this is not the case for Windermere, which in particular has a noticeable thermocline, distinguishing it from typical meres. Until the 19th century, the term "lake" was, indeed, not much used by or known to the native inhabitants of the area, who referred to it as Windermere/Winandermere Water, or (in their dialect) Windermer Watter. The name Windermere or Windermer was used of the parish that had clearly taken its name from the water. The poet Norman Nicholson comments on the use of the phrase 'Lake Windermere': "a certain excuse for the tautology can be made in the case of Windermere, since we need to differentiate between the lake and the town, though it would be better to speak of 'Windermere Lake' and Windermere Town', but no one can excuse such ridiculous clumsiness as 'Lake Derwentwater' and 'Lake Ullswater."


title: Windermere

text: The extensive parish included most of Undermilbeck (that is, excepting Winster and the part of Crook chapelry that lay west of the Gilpin, which were part of Kirkby Kendal parish), Applethwaite, Troutbeck and Ambleside-below-Stock, that is, the part of Ambleside that lay south of Stock Beck. The parish church was at Bowness in Undermilbeck.


title: Windermere

text: Windermere is long and narrow, like many other ribbon lakes, and lies in a steep-sided pre-glacial river valley that has become deepened by successive glaciations. The current lake was formed after the Last Glacial Maximum during the retreat of the British and Irish Ice Sheet some time between 17,000 and 14,700 years ago, just before the start of the Windermere Interstadial. The lake water was sourced from the meltwater of retreating ice in the catchment, which receded up the Troutbeck valley and up the valleys that now contain the rivers Rothay and Brathay. There were at least nine ice retreat phases, indicated by buried recessional moraines. The lake has two separate basins – north and south – with different characteristics influenced by the geology. This consists of hard volcanic rocks in the north basin and softer shales in the south.


title: Windermere

text: The lake is drained from its southernmost point by the River Leven. It is replenished by the rivers Brathay, Rothay, Trout Beck, Cunsey Beck and several other lesser streams. The lake is largely surrounded by foothills of the Lake District which provide pleasant low-level walks; to the north and northeast are the higher fells of central Lakeland.


title: Windermere

text: There is debate as to whether the stretch of water between Newby Bridge and Lakeside at the southern end of the lake should be considered part of Windermere, or a navigable stretch of the River Leven. This affects the stated length of the lake, which is long if measured from the bridge at Newby Bridge, or if measured from Lakeside. The lake varies in width up to a maximum of , and covers an area of . With a maximum depth of and an elevation above sea level of , the lowest point of the lake bed is well below sea level.


title: Windermere

text: There is only one town or village directly on the lakeshore, Bowness-on-Windermere, as the village of Windermere does not directly touch the lake and the centre of Ambleside is to the north of Waterhead. The village of Windermere is about 20 minutes' walk from Millerground, the nearest point on the lakeshore. It did not exist before the arrival of the railway in 1847. The station was built in an area of open fell and farmland in the township of Applethwaite. The nearest farm was Birthwaite, which gave its name to the station and the village that began to grow up near it. In about 1859, the residents began to call their new village by the name of Windermere, much to the chagrin of the people of Bowness, which had been the centre of the parish of Windermere for many centuries. Since 1907 the two places have been under one council and, although there are still two separate centres, the area between is largely built up, albeit bordering on woodland and open fields. Windermere railway station is a hub for train and bus connections to the surrounding areas and is from the Waterbus jetty. There is a regular train service to Oxenholme on the West Coast Main Line, where there are fast trains to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester Airport, Birmingham and London.


title: Windermere

text: The lake contains eighteen islands. By far the largest is the privately owned Belle Isle () opposite Bowness and around a kilometre in length. Its older name was Lang Holme, and 800 years ago it was the centre of the manor of Windermere and later, in effect, of a moiety of the barony of Kendal.


title: Windermere

text: The other islands or "holmes" are considerably smaller. The word "holme" or "holm" means small island or islet and comes from Old Norse "holmr". The island of Lady Holme is named after the chantry that formerly stood there and in former centuries was sometimes called St Mary Holme or just Mary Holme. The remaining islands are Bee Holme (the insular status of which depends on the water level), Blake Holme, Crow Holme, Birk or Birch Holme (called Fir Holme on Ordnance Survey maps), Grass Holme, Lilies of the Valley (East, and West), Ling Holme (a rocky hump with a few trees and a growth of ling), Hawes Holme, Hen Holme (also rocky and sometimes known as Chair and Table Island from some old flags or slabs of stone that were formerly found there), Maiden Holme (the smallest island, with just one tree), Ramp Holme (variously called Roger Holme and Berkshire Island at different times in its history), Rough Holme, Snake Holme, Thompson Holme (the second largest), Silver Holme.


title: Windermere

text: A high percentage (29.4%) of the lake's drainage area is under cultivation. The lake has a relatively low percentage of lake bed above in depth which is rocky (28%). This makes Windermere a rich habitat. The main fish in the lake are trout, char, pike, and perch.


title: Windermere

text: The north to south alignment of the lake, combined with its position between Morecambe Bay and the central fells, means that it forms a migration highway, with geese often seen in winter.


title: Windermere

text: The Freshwater Biological Association was established on the shore of Windermere in 1929 and much of the early work on lake ecology, freshwater biology and limnology was conducted here.


title: Windermere

text: Before 1974, the lake lay wholly within the county of Westmorland; however, the historic county boundary between Lancashire and Westmorland ran down the western shore of the lake and also along about of the southern section of the eastern shore. Anyone crossing the lake from east to west on the Windermere Ferry thus travels from the historic county of Westmorland to that of Lancashire.


title: Windermere

text: Since local government reorganisation in 1974, Windermere and its shores have been entirely within the district of South Lakeland in the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria. Most planning matters concerned with the lake are, however, the responsibility of the Lake District National Park Authority. From April 2023, Cumbria will no longer exist for administrative purposes and the lake will fall entirely within Westmorland and Furness.


title: Windermere

text: Passenger services operate along the whole length of the lake, from Lakeside railway station, on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite heritage steam railway at the southern end of the lake, to Waterhead Bay near Ambleside in the north. Intermediate stops are made at Bowness and, by smaller launches only, at Brockhole. Some boats only operate part of the route, or operate out and back cruises, whilst others run the whole distance.


title: Windermere

text: These services date back to the former Furness Railway, who built the Lakeside branch, and were at one time operated by British Rail, the former state-owned rail operator. Since privatisation, three of the original large railway boats are operated by Windermere Lake Cruises Ltd, along with a fleet of smaller and more modern launches. Three of the original four boats survive: the MV "Tern" of 1891, the MV "Teal" of 1936, and the MV "Swan" of 1938. The fourth, MV "Swift" of 1900, was broken up at Lakeside in 1998. Her rudder and only one propeller are displayed at Bowness. Although often described as "steamers", all are now diesel motor vessels. "Tern" and "Swift" were built with steam engines, but converted to diesel power in the 1950s.


title: Windermere

text: The Windermere Ferry, a vehicle-carrying cable ferry, runs across the lake from Ferry Nab on the eastern side of the lake to Far Sawrey on the western side of the lake. This service forms part of the B5285. There are also two summer only passenger ferries that cross the lake. One crosses from Lakeside station to Fell Foot Park at the southern end of the lake, whilst the other links Bowness with Far Sawrey.


title: Windermere

text: There are five large boating clubs based around the lake: the South Windermere Sailing Club, Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club, the Lake District Boat Club, the Royal Windermere Yacht Club, and the Windermere Cruising Association. The Royal Windermere Yacht Club maintains a set of turning marks on the lake, which are also used by the Windermere Cruising Association. The Lake District Boat Club is a family orientated club open to all (owning a boat is not essential), with premises located in Bowness the club house has views of the lake and surrounding fells. The LDBC also run a full programme of both social and racing events. The Windermere Cruising Association organises the popular Winter Series. This event benefits from not being hindered by the large waves, caused by gales, that often lead to sea racing being cancelled. The WCA also have a full calendar of summer races which are open to all abilities.


title: Windermere

text: At the south end of the lake is South Windermere Sailing Club, based at Fell Foot park on the east shore. It was started in 1961 as a family sailing club and has been the starting point for many successful British dinghy racing competitors including British, European and world champions. The notoriously fluky wind on the lake has proved a successful training ground in learning to read the fast-changing wind. SWSC celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011 and has developed a strong junior section under the coaching of Julie Tomkinson who in 2011 was honoured with an RYA Community Award for Outstanding Contribution.


title: Windermere

text: In 2015 Lakeland Rowing club set up a base at Fell Foot Park. The club grew quickly and has now separated from the Northern section of the club (based at Derwent water) and has taken the name Windermere Rowing Club. The club is small in comparison to the more established clubs in the country but is continually growing with the number of both members and boats constantly increasing.


title: Windermere

text: The Ferry House Regatta was the subject of a painting by Thomas Allom and in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837 this was illustrated in the poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.


title: Windermere

text: On Friday 13 June 1930, Sir Henry Segrave broke the world water speed record on Windermere in his boat, Miss England II at an average speed of . On the third run over the course, off Belle Grange, the boat capsized. Segrave's mechanic, Victor Helliwell drowned, but Segrave was rescued by support boats. He died a short time later of his injuries. Segrave was one of the few people in history who have held the world land speed record and water speed record simultaneously.


title: Windermere

text: For many years, powerboating and water-skiing have been popular activities on the lake. In March 2000, the Lake District National Park Authority controversially introduced a bylaw setting a speed limit for all powered craft on the lake, in addition to three existing speed limits for all craft on the upper, lower, and middle sections of the lake. The bylaw came into force in 2000, but there was a five-year transition period and the new speed limits were only enforced from 29 March 2005. The bylaws on the lake were reviewed and renewed in 2008. Despite the speed limits people continue to use powerboats on the lake, both legally and illegally.


title: Windermere

text: Windermere Steamboat Museum is located on Rayrigg Road in Bowness, and included a collection of vintage steam boats dating back to 1850, five sailing boats (the oldest built in 1780), two dugout canoes, as well as information about "Swallows and Amazons" and the history of racing boats. The museum was closed in 2006 for refurbishment and re-opened, considerably enlarged, in March, 2019 as the .


title: Windermere

text: The long popularity of steam launches on Windermere has even given its name to the Windermere kettle, a steam-powered tea urn.


title: Windermere

text: In 2005, the Windermere Management Strategy identified the potential for water bus services on the lake. In 2009, the Lake District National Park Authority commissioned a detailed study into the demand for such services. In July 2009, it was announced that Windermere Lake Cruises would be operating additional stops around the lake. In January 2012, the Park Authority launched a consultation on further expansion of the water bus service.


title: Windermere

text: On Saturday 13 September 2008, Windermere hosted the inaugural Great North Swim, a open water swim involving 2,200 swimmers. The second annual swim took place on 12 and 13 September 2009, with 6,000 swimmers, making this the largest open water swim in the UK.


title: Windermere

text: The Three Lakes Challenge (or Loch, Lake, Llyn) is a challenge first completed by a 5-person relay with Sam Plum, Jason Betley, Helen Gibbs, Helen Liddle, and Debbie Taylor on 3–4 July 2015 under English Channel rules. The course involves swimming the length of Loch Awe in Scotland (), then driving to the Lake District and swimming the length of Windermere (), and finally driving to Wales and swimming the length of Llyn Tegid (). This challenge is intended as the swimming equivalent of the National Three Peaks Challenge.


title: Windermere

text: In 2021, it was reported that in 2020 the sewage-treatment plant in Ambleside poured raw sewage into Windermere for 1,719 hours during that year (equivalent to 71 out of 365 days), and that private and outdated septic tanks from residential dwellings, holiday homes and caravan sites also released sewage into the lake. It was suggested that the lake could become "ecologically dead", with the growth of blue-green algae and numerous dead fish and invertebrates being recorded.


title: Windermere

text: William Wordsworth, one of the Lake Poets, described the view of Windermere from the crest of a hill in "The Prelude", Book IV:


title: Windermere

text: Standing alone, as from a rampart’s edge,I overlooked the bed of Windermere,Like a vast river, stretching in the sun.With exultation, at my feet I sawLake, islands, promontories, gleaming bays,A universe of Nature’s fairest formsProudly revealed with instantaneous burst,Magnificent, and beautiful, and gay.


title: Windermere

text: Oscar Wilde began working on his first hit play, "Lady Windermere's Fan" (1892), during a summer visit to the Lake District in 1891. A series of children's books by Arthur Ransome, "Swallows and Amazons" and its sequels "Swallowdale", "Winter Holiday", "Pigeon Post" and "The Picts and the Martyrs", involve school holiday adventures in the 1930s around a fictional lake derived from a combination of Windermere and Coniston Water. The fictional lake resembles Windermere, but the surrounding hills and fells resemble those of Coniston Water. The BBC made a television series "Swallows and Amazons" in 1962; parts of this were filmed at the boathouse of Huyton Hill Preparatory School (now Pullwood House) on the northwestern shore.


title: Windermere

text: The lake gave its name to a group of 300 Jewish boys, the "Windermere Boys", who survived Auschwitz and settled at Troutbeck Bridge near Windermere in 1945, thanks to the help of Leonard G. Montefiore. This refugee rescue was dramatised as "The Windermere Children" broadcast on the BBC in 2020 for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.


title: Windermere

text: Legends of female centaurs in Windermere served as the basis for Archie Fisher's 1976 song "The Witch of the West-Mer-Lands", which was later covered by Stan Rogers. Fisher cites "tales of antlered women with bodies of deer seen wading in the shallows of the lakes in the moonlight" as the inspiration for his song. "Apparently deer used to swim across the shallow end of Lake Windermere and weeds got caught in their antlers and observers, probably wandering home from a local hostelry, took them to be these mythical creatures."


title: Windermere

text: Windermere is a location used in the 1994 fighting game "Tekken". Belle Isle features in "The Wardstone Chronicles: The Spooks Mistake" (2008). Rather than the large house, though, Belle Isle plays host to a folly which is used by the Water Witches in the area. In November 2009, several scenes were shot on Windermere for the ITV soap opera "Coronation Street", featuring the newlyweds Gail and Joe on their honeymoon.


title: Windermere

text: Windermere and the surrounding countryside is the setting for mystery novelist Elizabeth George's 2012 book "Believing the Lie", the 17th in the Inspector Lynley series.


title: Windermere

text: Some people believe that there may be a lake monster, similar to the one alleged to live in Loch Ness, and in 2011 anomalous photos were taken of the supposed creature; it has been affectionately nicknamed "Bownessie".


title: Windermere

text: In 2017, some scenes from the 2018 live action film "Peter Rabbit" were filmed in Windermere and Ambleside, with the Peter Rabbit heritage being strongly linked to the area. Taylor Swift mentions "Windermere peaks" and Wordsworth in her song, "The Lakes," included as a bonus track on her 2020 album, "Folklore".


title: Cecily of York

text: Cecily of York (20 March 1469 – 24 August 1507), was the third daughter of King Edward IV of England and his queen consort Elizabeth Woodville.


title: Cecily of York

text: Shortly after the death of her father and the usurpation of the throne by her uncle King Richard III, Cecily and her siblings were declared illegitimate. Queen Elizabeth, fearing for the children's lives, moved them to Westminster Abbey, where the late king's family received asylum and spent about a year. After Richard III promised not to harm the children, Cecily and her sisters went to court. Soon there were rumours that the king was going to marry one of his nieces – Elizabeth or Cecily. However, shortly before his death, Richard III arranged the marriage of Cecily to one of his supporters – Ralph Scrope, the younger brother of the 6th Baron Scrope of Masham, who was much lower in status by birth than the princess.


title: Cecily of York

text: When Richard III died at the Battle of Bosworth and the throne was taken by Henry Tudor, the act recognising the children of Edward IV as bastards was repealed, and Cecily's marriage was annulled as not being in the interests of the dynasty. In 1488, Cecily married John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, a relative of the king's mother Lady Margaret Beaufort; in this second marriage, Cecily gave birth to two daughters.


title: Cecily of York

text: In 1499, she became a widow. After several years of mourning, and without the permission of the king, Cecily married a Lincolnshire squire, Sir Thomas Kyme, with whom she gave birth to two more children. Cecily's marriage to Kyme and their children were not recognised by the Crown, and she herself was banished from court and deprived of the possessions inherited from her second husband's will. Nevertheless, the princess maintained a good relationship with the king's mother: it was Lady Margaret Beaufort who paid part of the expenses of Cecily's funeral in 1507.


title: Cecily of York

text: Cecily was born on 20 March 1469 at Westminster Palace as the third daughter of ten children of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville; being the third child from her parents' ten children, the princess also had two half-brothers from her mother's first marriage to John Grey of Groby: Thomas and Richard Grey. From her six full-sisters, only four reached adulthood –one eldest (Elizabeth) and three younger (Anne, Catherine and Bridget). Mary, who was about two years older than Cecily, died at the age of 14 from an unknown illness, and Margaret, who was about three years younger than Cecily, died in infancy. Neither of Cecily's three full-brothers survive adulthood: George died at about two years of age, and the other two, Edward V and Richard, disappeared from the Tower in 1483 during the reign of their uncle King Richard III.


title: Cecily of York

text: Her paternal grandparents were Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (who claimed the rights of the House of York to the English throne) and Cecily Neville, and her maternal grandparents were Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Dowager Duchess of Bedford. Presumably Cecily was named after her paternal grandmother.


title: Cecily of York

text: The birth of Cecily, the third daughter in a row, was a great disappointment for Edward IV. For the first time he suggested that he would not have sons and that the crown could pass to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. In the first months of Cecily's life, an acute political crisis arose in the country: Edward IV's most powerful supporter, the Earl of Warwick, dissatisfied with the king for a number of reasons, entered into an alliance with Edward's younger brother George, Duke of Clarence. They moved their troops from Calais to England and announced George's claim to the English throne. During this time, Cecily's mother, along with at least two daughters, one of whom was Elizabeth, visited Norwich, where they were received with magnificent celebrations and theatrical performances; it is not known for certain which of the two younger princesses at that time accompanied her mother, however, it was probably Mary rather than Cecily, who was very young. Soon Warwick captured the king, and executed without trial Cecily's maternal grandfather and uncle – Earl Rivers and John Woodville. At the same time, Cecily's maternal grandmother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, was arrested after being accused of witchcraft and the use of love spells on the king. Although Jacquetta was acquitted, this unpleasant episode, as well as the unmotivated execution of Rivers, showed how far the enemies of Edward IV were ready to go to destroy his wife and her family. Despite all this, the queen herself and her daughters were not harmed during Warwick's brief rise, except that Cecily's mother was assigned a reduced staff of servants.


title: Cecily of York

text: By the autumn of 1469, Edward IV managed to regain his freedom. Warwick and Clarence fled to France and formed an alliance with the House of Lancaster. In September 1470, as the king prepared for an invasion by the combined forces of his enemies, Cecily, her sisters, and her mother were moved to the Tower of London for their safety. Already in early October, it became known that Edward IV, together with his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had fled the country, having only a small hope of returning; upon receiving this news, Queen Elizabeth, along with her mother and three sisters hurriedly left the Tower on a barge and arrived in search of refuge at Westminster Abbey. It was then almost empty. The fugitives were taken under their protection by the abbot of Westminster, Thomas Milling, a kind, hospitable man who did not want to place the queen and children with the criminals who had also sought sanctuary there, and instead gave them his house at the western entrance to the abbey. There were three rooms and everything necessary for the comfort of the royal family. It is known that ordinary Londoners provided assistance to the royal family: the butcher John Gould donated half a cow and two sheep a week to the family, and a fishmonger provided them with provisions on Fridays and fasting days.


title: Cecily of York

text: While in hiding, the princesses spent most of their time with nannies; in early November 1470 their brother Prince Edward was born and Queen Elizabeth was busy caring for him. Cecily and her family spent another five months in sanctuary. In April 1471, Edward IV returned to England and the first thing he did, after attending a thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey, was to bring his family out of hiding. On the same night, Cecily, along with other family members, was transported to Baynard's Castle, which served as the residence of her paternal grandmother, Cecily Neville. On 11 April Cecily, accompanied by the King's mother, the queen's brother Anthony Woodville and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Bourchier went to the royal chambers of the Tower of London, while Cecily's father went north to reclaim the crown. On 13 April, Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet, and on 4 May, Edward IV finally defeated the Lancastrian troops at the Battle of Tewkesbury, in which the Lancaster heir Edward of Westminster was killed and Margaret of Anjou was captured. However, on 12 May, while Edward IV was still on his way to London, the last supporters of the Lancasters organised an attack on the Tower, intending to restore Henry VI to the throne; two towers, one of which Cecily and her family were sheltering in, were fired on from the river. The attack was repulsed, but after this the king decided to put his predecessor to death, and on 21 May 1471, King Henry VI was strangled in his dungeon. The death of Henry VI returned Cecily to the position of the daughter of a legitimate and recognised monarch.


title: Cecily of York

text: In 1474, the first marriage plans for Cecily began to appear: Edward IV negotiated the marriage of his daughter to the heir to the Scottish throne, James, Duke of Rothesay. The formal betrothal took place on 26 October or 26 December 1474 in Edinburgh between the proxies of the bride and groom: the Earl of Crawford and Baron Scrope, respectively. As a widow's share in the event of the death of James during the life of his father, Cecily received all the possessions that the prince himself used, including the Duchy of Rothesay, the County of Carrick and lands that were part of the personal possessions of the House of Stuart. In the event that the prince became King of Scotland or if his mother died during her husband's lifetime, Cecily would receive a third of all lands, possessions and taxes assigned to the queen, or their equivalent. In the event of the premature death of Cecily or James, the hypothetical second son of King James III (at the time of the betrothal, Rothesay was the only child of the king) had to marry any other daughter of Edward IV, if she was not older or younger than the prince by more than three or four years. As a dowry, Cecily received 20,000 marks from her father. These funds were to be paid in instalments: 2,000 marks within three months after the conclusion of the contract, 2,000 more within two years after that, and the rest of the amount was to be paid at a 1,000 marks per year until full payment. Edward IV and James III were to meet at Berwick in the summer of 1475 to hand over the first part of Cecily's dowry. Apparently, the meeting took place, since on 20 June 1475 Edward IV signed a will, according to which his successor would have to pay Scotland the remaining amount of 18,000 marks from the dowry of the princess. Since the conclusion of the engagement, Cecily has been called the "Princess of Scotland".


title: Cecily of York

text: In 1481, when Cecily reached marriageable age, James III began to insist on her marriage to his son. An embassy was sent to England, which was supposed to deliver the princess to Scotland. But Edward IV felt that the Scottish king was only motivated by the desire to obtain the remainder of Cecily's dowry, and the princess's departure was delayed. A year later, the engagement between Cecily's older sister Elizabeth and the Dauphin Charles of France was broken off, and James III decided to follow the example of his French patron. The formal reason was that James III's brother Alexander, Duke of Albany, who was accused of treason, was hiding at the English court. Demanding the extradition of the rebellious duke, the Scots made several raids on the border territories of England, which caused Edward IV in June 1482 to break off his daughter's engagement and consider instead the betrothal of Cecily to the Duke of Albany, whom the English king intended to put on the Scottish throne. On 11 June the Treaty of Fotheringhay between Albany and Edward IV was signed. Its terms included agreement to the marriage of Cecily and the Scottish pretender, on the condition that the duke succeeded in ending his marriage to his French wife Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne in accordance with all Christian norms within a year. By 1482, Edward IV helped the Duke of Albany seize the regency: Alexander renounced his claims to the crown, was forgiven by his brother and received his possessions back.


title: Cecily of York

text: The Scots were dissatisfied with the presence of English troops in the country and therefore put pressure on James III to resume the betrothal between his heir and Cecily. Edward IV agreed to resume negotiations on the condition that he would be returned that part of his daughter's dowry that had already been paid. The negotiations however were never resumed, because soon the Duke of Albany again turned to the English king for help, and his marriage with Cecily was also again under consideration. However, negotiations for a marriage with Albany were also no longer conducted, as Edward IV died in April 1483.


title: Cecily of York

text: Little is known about Cecily's life during the Scottish marriage negotiations. Until December 1475, the princess was probably brought up by the governess Lady Margaret Berners (wife of John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners, great-grandson of King Edward III and a close friend of the Queen Elizabeth's family); prior to this, Lady Margaret was engaged in the education of the elder sisters of the princess, Elizabeth and Mary. In 1476, Cecily, among others, attended the reburial ceremony for the remains of her paternal grandfather the Duke of York and his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland at Fotheringay; two years later she attended the wedding of her younger brother Richard, Duke of York and Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk. In 1480, she, along with her older sister Mary, were made Ladies of the Garter; historian Mary Anne Everett Green in 1851 pointed out that in documents about the renewal of the wardrobe of the royal family for the ceremony of consecration of princesses, Cecily was named before Mary, and expressed doubts about the latter being older.


title: Cecily of York

text: On 9 April 1483, when Cecily was fourteen years old, Edward IV died suddenly. This was followed by a political crisis that dramatically changed the position of the queen and her children. Cecily's younger brother, Edward V, who succeeded to the throne, was captured by his uncle Lord Protector Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Anthony Woodville and Richard Grey (Cecily's uncle and half-brother respectively), who accompanied the young king, were arrested. Edward V was taken to the Tower of London, where he was later joined by his only full brother, the Duke of York; along with the rest of her children, among whom was Cecily, the now Queen Dowager Elizabeth took refuge in Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth devised a plan according to which one of her elder daughters, Elizabeth or Cecily, was to flee abroad in order to attract foreign supporters to rescue Edward V and Richard of York from the Tower; it was also planned that if the princes could not be saved, this princess, with the support of foreign supporters, would declare her rights to the throne. However, the plan was revealed to Richard of Gloucester by a certain "traitor in the queen's camp". On Gloucester's orders, his squire John Nesfield sent guards to Westminster, who, day and night, inspected everyone who entered and left the sanctuary.


title: Cecily of York

text: On 22 June 1483 the marriage of Edward IV with Elizabeth Woodville was declared illegal – all the children of the late king were declared illegitimate by the act of parliament "Titulus Regius" and deprived of their rights to the throne and all titles. A few days later, Cecily's uncle and half-brother, Anthony Woodville and Richard Gray, who had been captured previously, were executed. The Lord Protector, acting on information provided by Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, was offered the crown by the Three Estates of the Realm (Crown and Parliament) on the grounds that his brother's marriage had not been valid, and on 6 July he was proclaimed king as Richard III. Soon afterwards, Cecily's brothers Edward V and Richard of York (the "Princes in the Tower"), who remained locked up in the Tower, disappeared. Their fate has never been definitively resolved, although they are presumed to have died sometime in late 1483, either from disease or having been murdered. On Christmas Day 1483, Henry Tudor, whose mother had been plotting with Elizabeth Woodville against King Richard III, swore at Rennes Cathedral that he would marry the eldest daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth, or his sister Cecily if marriage with Elizabeth was impossible for any reason, after he took the English throne. However, the uprising of the Tudor party, led by the Duke of Buckingham, failed even before Henry's oath in Rennes.


title: Cecily of York

text: After the failure of Buckingham's rebellion, Richard III began negotiations with his brother's widow. On 1 March 1484, the king publicly swore that the daughters of Edward IV would not be harmed or molested; in addition, Richard III promised that they would not be imprisoned in the Tower or any other prison, that they would be placed "in respectable places of good name and reputation", and later be married to "men of noble birth" and given dowry lands with an annual income of 200 marks each. On the same day, the memorandum was delivered to the Queen Dowager, along with provisions. The princesses left the shelter and moved under the care of their "gracious uncle", who allocated them chambers in his palace. Tudor historian Edward Hall wrote that Richard III "made all the daughters of his brother solemnly arrive at his palace; as if with him new – familiar and fond of entertainment – they were supposed to forget ... the trauma inflicted on them and the tyranny that preceded this".


title: Cecily of York

text: The guardianship that Richard III established over his nieces has become the subject of controversy in modern historiography, with opposing opinions about the King. Many researchers note that the daughters of Edward IV found themselves in an extremely difficult situation, as their legal rights were usurped, and their brothers were allegedly killed. Cecily witnessed a very unpleasant event for her: the betrothal of her former fiancé, the Scottish Duke of Rothesay, with her cousin Anne de la Pole, daughter of Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk. With the death in 1484 of Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, the only remaining legitimate son of Richard III, Anne de la Pole's brother John became the heir presumptive to the throne.


title: Cecily of York

text: After the daughters of Edward IV, recognised as bastards, arrived at court, various rumours began to circulate about their future fate: for example, it was alleged that Richard III was going to marry one of the elder nieces, Elizabeth or Cecily. In addition, Richard III considered marrying Cecily to someone below her in order to rule out her claim to the throne. The king's plans were carried out: when Henry Tudor landed in England with the intention of seizing the throne and marrying Cecily if Elizabeth was married to Richard III himself, he learned that Cecily was already married. Shortly before the defeat and death of Richard III, Cecily married, with her uncle's support, Ralph Scrope, the younger brother of the 6th Baron Scrope of Masham.


title: Cecily of York

text: In August 1485, Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth. Henry Tudor became King Henry VII by right of conquest; his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, had previously made a pact with Queen Dowager Elizabeth whereby Cecily's older sister Elizabeth would marry the new king. Having gained the throne, Henry VII repealed the "Titulus Regius" act, which deprived the children of Edward IV of titles and rights to the throne; the act itself and all its copies were removed from the archives, as well as all the documents associated with them. Having received the crown and subsequently married married Elizabeth, Henry VII also paid attention to her sisters: the princesses had to profitably marry the supporters of the young king, but without the opportunity to claim the throne. The fate of Cecily, the elder sister of the new Queen, had to be decided as soon as possible. The marriage of the princess to Ralph Scrope was annulled in 1486 as not being in the interests of the new Tudor dynasty.


title: Cecily of York

text: As the queen's sister, Cecily came to play an important ceremonial role at court. She carried her first nephew, Arthur, Prince of Wales, during his christening on 24 September 1486. The nobles accompanying the princess at the ceremony were her half-brother Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset and her paternal cousin John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln; Cecily's train was carried by the wife of the Marquess of Dorset, Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington and 2nd Baroness Bonville, whose family sided with the House of York in the Wars of the Roses. At the end of the baptism ceremony, Cecily, at the head of the solemn procession, returned the prince to the nursery, where she introduced him to his parents. On 25 November 1487, Cecily, the only one of all the queen's sisters, carried her train at her coronation in Westminster Abbey. By her position, she was the second woman at the ceremony (not counting the queen) after her aunt Catherine Woodville wife of the King's uncle Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford; in addition, Cecily rode to and from the ceremony with her aunt in a carriage that immediately followed the queen's carriage. At the coronation banquet, Cecily and Catherine Woodville sat at the queen's table with the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Morton. It is known that during this period, like her other sisters, Cecily was paid a pension from the queen's funds, and she also had great privileges and great freedoms: thus, during walks, Cecily, who accompanied her sister as a Lady-in-waiting, was accompanied by her own ladies. Until her second marriage, Cecily served her sister as First Lady of the Bedchamber.


title: Cecily of York

text: Among the nobility present at the Queen's coronation was John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, heir to the ancient Welles family and younger half-brother of the King's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Although John himself and his family were supporters of the House of Lancaster, he was able to win the favour of Cecily's father at the end of his life and was among the people who guarded the body of the late King Edward IV at night. During the reign of Richard III, John was in opposition to the King: he participated in the failed Buckingham uprising, fled to Brittany, where Henry Tudor was hiding, and later won the throne with his help. Thanks to his service and family connections, John found himself in favour with Henry VII, who, immediately after his accession to the throne, appointed his uncle constable of two important castles, gave him several estates, and later returned John's father's possessions to John; in addition, John was not only restored to his father's baronial title, but also granted a new one –Viscount Wells.


title: Cecily of York

text: There is no record of the time and circumstances of the marriage of Cecily and John Welles, who was older than the princess by about 20 years, but it happened before December 1487 or on New Year's Day 1488. Alison Weir writes that the marriage took place between 25 November and 31 December 1487; at the same time, she notes that the royal couple was present at the wedding. According to Mary Ann Everett Green, in December 1487 Cecily joined the Christmas celebrations at Palace of Placentia with her husband. On New Year's Eve, the Welles were present, among other representatives of the nobility and close associates of the king, at a dinner; Viscount Welles presented the king, as a gift from himself and his wife, with twenty shillings. At the banquet, the couple were separated: John was sitting at the table on the right side of the hall, and Cecily was at the head of the table on the left. It is not known for certain who was instrumental in the union of Cecily and John. Some historians believe that it was Henry VII who arranged the marriage of his wife's sister to his uncle in order to avoid Cecily's marriage to a more prominent representative of the nobility, since the princess became the legitimate heir to the throne in the event of the death of her sister Elizabeth and her children. On the other hand, Thomas Fuller wrote that Henry VII did not intend to marry Cecily at all, but she took matters into her own hands and chose the king's uncle as her husband, who after the conclusion of the marriage did not receive any more titles. In addition, Cecily was close to the king's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, who, in turn, was close to the Welles and could arrange this marriage. Regardless of who initiated the marriage, it was beneficial for both parties, as it strengthened the Lancastrian ties with the Yorkists: Cecily, who was the second contender for the throne from the House of York after her elder sister, found herself married to a man close to the king, who would not allow to draw her into political games against Henry VII.


title: Cecily of York

text: After the celebrations at the beginning of 1488, traces of Cecily are lost for some time. She probably retired from the court and stayed in one of her husband's estates. Despite the large difference in age, the marriage was successful, and two daughters were born: Elizabeth, named after the queen, and Anne, named after Cecily's younger sister Anne of York. There is a version that the couple had three children, but there is no reliable data on the third child. It is known that Cecily was engaged in the upbringing and education of her children herself, so she stayed at home when her husband left for the court to fulfil his duties.


title: Cecily of York

text: In 1491, John Welles was going to accompany his nephew on an expedition to France. A special act of Parliament delegated to her for this time the right to receive royal payments for her husband and use all his possessions. The king himself, in preparation for the campaign, signed a will in which Cecily's husband was named one of his fiefs. In 1492, John attended the funeral of Cecily's mother Queen Dowager Elizabeth Woodville, but the viscountess herself was absent, probably due to illness or pregnancy. Until 1498, little is known about Cecily's life. During this period (presumably in 1498) her eldest daughter Elizabeth Welles died, shortly before her betrothal with John Stanley, heir to George Stanley, 9th Baron Strange. It is known that in 1494 Cecily appeared in documents as a legatee under the will of her grandmother and namesake Cecily Neville, Dowager Duchess of York.


title: Cecily of York

text: In 1498 (or 1499 according to other sources) Cecily, who was about thirty years old, was widowed. John fell ill with pleurisy – a disease that was not known about in England at that time and did not respond to conventional treatment. While on his deathbed, Viscount Welles signed a will, according to which he left all his property for life to his wife; he also requested in his will that he be buried where Cecily herself, the king, queen and the King's mother would deem fit. Welles died on 9 February 1498. Cecily organised a magnificent funeral for her husband and made some changes to the traditional burial ceremony: the viscount's body was delivered to Westminster by land, and not by river (bells rang along the entire route of the procession), and the coffin was accompanied by people of the highest ranks that etiquette allowed. The King's uncle's funeral was attended by the most notable lords: the Duke of Buckingham, the Earls of Northumberland, Derby, Essex and Devon. The memorial service was held at St Margaret's Church, Westminster, and was led by Thomas Savage, Bishop of London, and George Fasset, Abbot of Westminster.


title: Cecily of York

text: Cecily's grief for her husband's death is said to have been considerable. A portion of the Viscount's will shows the relationship between the two:


title: Cecily of York

text: Also I geve and bequethe to my dere beloved lady and wife Cecille, for terme of her lif, all my castelles, manors, landes and tenements, aswell suche as I have purchased as all odre during only her life, whome I trust above all oder, that if my goodes and catallis wilnot suffice for the performance of this my laste will, that she will thenne of the revenues of the profittes of my inheritance perform this my laste will. Also I will that a preste be founde for ever after my said wifes decease to sey masse daily for my sowle and all Cristen sowles at the said aulter of the yerely revenues of my purchased landes, and oder which my saide lady hath promised me faithfully to purchase to the same entent if my saide purchased landes suffice not therto. And I will yt suche residue as shall fortune to be of my goodes that my saide dere beloved lady and wife have theym to her owne use. And I make executors the saide Cecill, my dere beloved wife, and Sr Raynold Bray, knyght. . .


title: Cecily of York

text: Mary Anne Everett Green writes that Cecily's youngest daughter, Anne Welles, died shortly after her father, but Rosemary Horrocks, in an entry on Cecily in the "Oxford Biographical Dictionary", reports that Anne predeceased her father, and the fact that the girl is not mentioned in Viscount Welles' will supported this view; she was buried at Austin Friars, London. After the death of her husband and youngest daughter, Cecily decided to return to court to be with her older sister, with whom the princess had a very warm relationship. In addition to Elizabeth, Cecily was also patronized by the King's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, who helped the princess to protect her rights to the property of John Welles, which once belonged to his father, but became the object of claims by Lionel Welles' daughter from his first marriage. According to John's will, Cecily received for her use four mansions with the right to distribute parishes and beneficiaries (Advowson) and rent from other properties in Lincoln, as well as three estates with a total area of 1540 acres of meadow, pasture and forest land in Essex and rent from other properties in the same district.


title: Cecily of York

text: The princess observed mourning for three years, after which she began to actively participate in the life of the court. She attended the wedding of her eldest nephew Arthur, Prince of Wales and Catherine of Aragon on 14 November 1501; witnesses report that Cecily, who had the honour of carrying the bride's train, was dressed in expensive fabrics, sewn in the latest fashion, and looked more like a marriageable girl than a widow. After the wedding, the court departed for the episcopal palace, where the main celebrations took place. During the jousting tournament, Cecily was present at the queen's gallery along with her sister, the newlyweds, princesses and other noble ladies. At the state dinner given the following Sunday, Cecily sat next to her sister the queen at "the most representative table in the chambers". It is also known that in May 1502, Cecily lent a certain amount of money to her sister.


title: Cecily of York

text: In 1503, Cecily's position was shaken again when Queen Elizabeth died: she lost not only her sister, but also a close friend and patroness, on whose favour she could always count. According to Mary Anne Everett Green, the princess's grief was so great and prolonged that she could not attend the funeral, and although a mourning wardrobe was sewn for her, Cecily's name did not appear on the lists of mourners. Alison Weir suggests that Cecily did not attend the royal sister's funeral because she was out of favor with the king, because of her new marriage concluded without his consent, and if the princess were allowed to see Elizabeth on her last journey, this would mean that Henry VII forgave Cecily.


title: Cecily of York

text: Some time after her sister's death, Cecily entered into her third and last marriage: her chosen spouse was Sir Thomas Kyme of Friskney, a Lincolnshire squire –according to Mary Anne Everett Green, the English royal family had never known such an unequal union. The exact date of the marriage is unknown: various sources indicate 1502, the period between the spring of 1502 and the beginning of 1504 or a few months after the death of Cecily's sister, Queen Elizabeth of York in 1503, but before the meeting of Parliament in January 1504.


title: Cecily of York

text: At a meeting of Parliament in January 1504, Cecily, along with William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and three other men who claimed the Welles inheritance, petitioned the king. Cecily knew well that Henry VII would be happy with any of her actions that would put the princess under suspicion, and therefore she only said that she wanted to choose a spouse, guided by the principle of "convenience, not profit". However, she feared that her marriage might be used as an excuse to dispossess her of the property that Cecily had used as Viscountess Welles, and that the king would feign displeasure with her affairs as an excuse to seize her lands. To avoid this, Cecily decided to give the king a bribe, which was a small part of her income, and a promise to return the rest of the property within ten years after her death; thus the bulk of her husband's inheritance was to remain in Cecily's possession. In her petition, referring to the restitution previously made on the Welles estates for her late husband, in fact, she asked to cancel this restitution, leaving her husband's possessions to her if she outlived the king, and for ten years to the heirs of Welles, if she died earlier. The reasons why the other Welles heirs joined the petition are not clear, but it is likely that they received some benefits from the princess herself who would have being lost if Cecily was dispossessed from her late husband's inheritance. The petition ended with a plea from all the signatories (Cecily, her third husband Thomas Kyme and the heirs of her second husband) for the mercy of the King.


title: Cecily of York

text: The reaction of the king to the petition and subsequent events are described inconsistently by historians. Mary Ann Everett Green writes that Henry VII endorsed the petition, approving it with the words "Let it be as it pleases". However, Rosemary Horrocks, James Panton and Garland Okerlund point out that the king reacted very harshly to the petition and the fact that Cecily married without his knowledge and consent: he deprived the princess of all the property received under the will of John Welles, and removed her from the court. Horrocks and Okerlund write that, thanks to the intercession of Lady Margaret Beaufort, part of the Welles estate was returned to Cecily for life; also, the King's mother allowed the couple to settle in her own property, Collyweston Palace near Stamford. At the same time, Everett Green reports that the couple lived in one of the estates of Cecily's late husband, and they managed all the property jointly.


title: Cecily of York

text: There are no sources regarding the family from which Cecily's third husband came, and his name appears only in one official document: the princess's petition to the king. At court, Sir Thomas was called "Kyme of Lincolnshire", without being called by name; he may have been descended from an old Kyme family, whose heirs, at the time of the marriage of Thomas and Cecily, owned Kyme Tower near Boston, Lincolnshire. However, a number of sources report that the Kyme to whom Cecily was married came from the Isle of Wight, which can be indirectly confirmed by the fact that Cecily, according to several sources, died on that island; at the same time, sources linking the origin of the third husband of the princess with the Isle of Wight call him John, not Thomas.


title: Cecily of York

text: Cecily spent the first years of her marriage to Kyme on the Isle of Wight, where their two children, Richard and Margaret, were born, who were granted no royal titles or styles; nor did they enjoy any royal favours, lands, or positions at court, or any public recognition. Richard was married to a certain Agnes and had a daughter by her; Margaret was married to John Weatherby, by whom she also had a daughter. Cecily's descendants from her third marriage, recorded in the enhanced copy (dated 1602) of the heraldic visitation of Hampshire (1576) made by Smythe, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant at the College of Arms, can be traced for a hundred years later. Some sources wrote that Cecily died childless – perhaps because neither her third marriage, nor the children born from this union, were recognised by the king: in documents relating to the death and burial of Cecily ("diem clausit extremum"), by order of the king, she is designated as "the late wife of the late John, Viscount Welles".


title: Cecily of York

text: Little is known about the last years of Cecily's life, or about her life in her third marriage. Mary Anne Everett Green writes that after her marriage to Thomas Kyme, the princess did not live in luxury and did not receive any help from the king: the only funds associated with Cecily were allocated by Henry VII on 11 December 1506 to John Gysell for a trip to her. At the same time, in 1506, the King's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, reserved a room for Cecily at Croydon Mansion and later paid part of the cost of the princess's funeral.


title: Cecily of York

text: Cecily died on 24 August 1507. The place of her death is not exactly determined. According to one version, she died on the Isle of Wight and was buried in the local Quarr Abbey; according to this version, the monument on the grave of the princess was destroyed during the reign of her nephew Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the monasteries, and no description of the monument has survived. However, Rosemary Horrox disputes this, pointing to evidence from the Beaufort account books that states Cecily died at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, after a three-week sojourn there, and was buried at a place that must have been local, known as "The Friars" (perhaps the friary at Kings Langley, associated with the House of York and where Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, was buried).


title: Cecily of York

text: A stained glass portrait of Cecily, originally from a larger "royal window" depicting Edward IV's family, is now in Glasgow's Burrell Collection. A modern copy has been placed in the much restored original group in the north transept of Canterbury Cathedral, and was also engraved in the book "Acta Historica Reginarum Angliæ". These are, along with another window at Great Malvern Priory, Worcestershire, her only surviving memorials.


title: Jewish deicide

text: Jewish deicide is the notion that the Jews as a people will always be collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus, even through the successive generations following his death. A Biblical justification for the charge of Jewish deicide is derived from Matthew 27:24–25. Some rabbinical authorities, such as Maimonides and, more recently, Zvi Yehuda Kook have asserted that Jesus was indeed stoned and hanged after being sentenced to death in a rabbinical court.


title: Jewish deicide

text: The notion arose in early Christianity, the charge was made by Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis as early as the 2nd century. The accusation that the Jews were Christ-killers fed Christian antisemitism and spurred on acts of violence against Jews such as pogroms, massacres of Jews during the Crusades, expulsions of the Jews from England, France, Spain, Portugal and other places, and torture during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.


title: Jewish deicide

text: In the catechism which was produced by the Council of Trent in the mid-16th century, the Catholic Church taught the belief that the collectivity of sinful humanity was responsible for the death of Jesus, not only the Jews. In the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued the declaration "Nostra aetate" that repudiated the idea of a collective, multigenerational Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus. It declared that the accusation could not be made "against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today".


title: Jewish deicide

text: Most other churches do not have any binding position on the matter, but some Christian denominations have issued declarations against the accusation.


title: Jewish deicide

text: The verse which reads: "And all the people answered, 'His blood be on us and on our children! is also referred to as the blood curse. In an essay regarding antisemitism, biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine argues that this passage has caused more Jewish suffering throughout history than any other passage in the New Testament.


title: Jewish deicide

text: Many also point to the Gospel of John as evidence of Christian charges of deicide. As Samuel Sandmel writes, "John is widely regarded as either the most anti-Semitic or at least the most overtly anti-Semitic of the gospels." Support for this claim comes in several places throughout John, such as in John 5:16–18:


title: Jewish deicide

text: Some scholars describe this passage as irrefutably referencing and implicating the Jews in deicide, although many, such as scholar Robert Kysar, also argue that part of the severity of this charge comes more from those who read and understand the text than the text itself. John uses the term , "Ioudaioi", meaning "the Jews" or "the Judeans", as the subject of these sentences. However, the notion that the Jew is meant to represent all Jews is often disputed, with many English translations rendering the phrase more specifically as "Jewish leaders". While the New Testament is often more subtle or leveled in accusations of deicide, many scholars hold that these works cannot be held in isolation, and must be considered in the context of their interpretation by later Christian communities.


title: Jewish deicide

text: According to the gospel accounts, Jewish authorities in Roman Judea charged Jesus with blasphemy and sought his execution, but lacked the authority to have Jesus put to death (John 18:31), so they brought Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of the province, who authorized Jesus' execution (John 19:16). The Jesus Seminar's "Scholars Version" translation note for John 18:31 adds: ""it's illegal for us": The accuracy of this claim is doubtful." It is noted, for example, that Jewish authorities were responsible for the stoning of Saint Stephen in Acts 7:54 and of James the Just in Antiquities of the Jews without the consent of the governor. Josephus however, notes that the execution of James happened while the newly appointed governor Lucceius Albinus "was but upon the road" to assume his office. Also Acts relates that the stoning happened in a lynching-like manner, in the course of Stephen's public criticism of Jews who refused to believe in Jesus.


title: Jewish deicide

text: It has also been suggested that the Gospel accounts may have downplayed the role of the Romans in Jesus' death during a time when Christianity was struggling to gain acceptance among the then pagan or polytheist Roman world. Matthew 27:24–25, quoted above, has no counterpart in the other Gospels and some scholars see it as probably related to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. Ulrich Luz describes it as "redactional fiction" invented by the author of the Gospel of Matthew. Some writers, viewing it as part of Matthew's anti-Jewish polemic, see in it the seeds of later Christian antisemitism.


title: Jewish deicide

text: In his 2011 book, Pope Benedict XVI, besides repudiating placing blame on the Jewish people, interprets the passage found in the Gospel of Matthew which has the crowd saying "Let his blood be upon us and upon our children" as not referring to the whole Jewish people.


title: Jewish deicide

text: Some biblical scholars, including Benjamin Urrutia and Hyam Maccoby, go a step further by not only doubting the historicity of the blood curse statement in Matthew but also the existence of Barabbas. This theory is based on the fact that Barabbas's full name was given in early writings as Jesus Barabbas, meaning literally Jesus, son of the father. The theory is that this name originally referred to Jesus himself, and that when the crowd asked Pilate to release "Jesus, son of the father" they were referring to Jesus himself, as suggested also by Peter Cresswell. The theory suggests that further details around Barabbas are historical fiction based on a misunderstanding. The theory is disputed by other scholars.


title: Jewish deicide

text: The identification of the death of Jesus as the killing of God is first stated in "God is murdered" as early as 167 AD, in a tract bearing the title "Peri Pascha" that may have been designed to bolster a minor Christian sect's presence in Sardis, where Jews had a thriving community with excellent relations with Greeks, and which is attributed to a Quartodeciman, Melito of Sardis, a statement is made that appears to have transformed the charge that Jews had killed their own Messiah into the charge that the Jews had killed God himself.


title: Jewish deicide

text: If so, the author would be the first writer in the Lukan-Pauline tradition to raise unambiguously the accusation of deicide against Jews. This text blames the Jews for allowing King Herod and Caiaphas to execute Jesus, despite their calling as God's people (i.e., both were Jewish). It says "you did not know, O Israel, that this one was the firstborn of God". The author does not attribute particular blame to Pontius Pilate, but only mentions that Pilate washed his hands of guilt.


title: Jewish deicide

text: John Chrysostom (c. 347 – 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople and is known for his fanatical antisemitism, collected in his homilies, such as "Adversus Judaeos". The charge of Jewish deicide was the cornerstone of his theology, and he was the first to use the term "deicide" and the first Christian preacher to apply the word "deicide" to Jews collectively. He held that for this putative 'deicide', there was no expiation, pardon or indulgence possible. The first occurrence of the Latin word "deicida" occurs in a Latin sermon by Peter Chrysologus (c. 380 – c. 450). In the Latin version he wrote: "Iudaeos [invidia] ... fecit esse deicidas", i.e., "[Envy] made the Jews deicides".


title: Jewish deicide

text: The accuracy of the Gospel accounts' portrayal of Jewish complicity in Jesus' death has been vigorously debated in recent decades, with views which range from a denial of Jewish responsibility to a belief in extensive Jewish culpability. According to the Jesuit scholar Daniel Harrington, the consensus of Jewish and Christian scholars is that there is some Jewish responsibility, regarding not the Jewish people, but regarding only the probable involvement of the high priests in Jerusalem at the time and their allies. Many scholars read the story of the passion as an attempt to take the blame off Pilate and place it on the Jews, one which might have been at the time politically motivated. It is thought possible that Pilate ordered the crucifixion to avoid a riot, for example. Some scholars hold that the synoptic account is compatible with traditions in the Babylonian Talmud. The writings of Moses Maimonides (a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher) mentioned the hanging of a certain Jesus (identified in the sources as Yashu'a) on the eve of Passover. Maimonides considered Jesus as a Jewish renegade in revolt against Judaism; religion commanded the death of Jesus and his students; and Christianity was a religion attached to his name in a later period. In a passage widely censored in pre-modern editions for fear of the way it might feed into very real antisemitic attitudes, Maimonides wrote of "Jesus of Nazareth, who imagined that he was the Messiah, and was put to death by the court" (that is, "by a "beth din"") Maimonides position was defended in modern times by rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, who asserted Jewish responsibility and dismissed those who denied it as sycophants.


title: Jewish deicide

text: The Holy Friday liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Byzantine Rite Catholic churches, uses the expression "impious and transgressing people", but the strongest expressions are in the Holy Thursday liturgy, which includes the same chant, after the eleventh Gospel reading, but also speaks of "the murderers of God, the lawless nation of the Jews", and, referring to "the assembly of the Jews", prays: "But give them, Lord, their reward, because they devised vain things against Thee."


title: Jewish deicide

text: A liturgy with a similar pattern but with no specific mention of the Jews is found in the Improperia of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. A collect for the Jews is also said, traditionally calling for the conversion of the "faithless" and "blind" Jews, although this wording was removed after the Vatican II council. It had sometimes been thought, perhaps incorrectly, that "faithless" (in Latin, "perfidis"), meant "perfidious", i.e. treacherous.


title: Jewish deicide

text: In the Anglican Church, the 1662 "Book of Common Prayer" contains a similar collect for "Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks" for use on Good Friday, though it does not allude to any responsibility for the death of Jesus. Versions of the Improperia also appear in later versions, such as the 1989 Anglican "Prayer Book" of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, commonly called "The Solemn Adoration of Christ Crucified" or "The Reproaches". Although not part of Christian dogma, many Christians, including members of the clergy, preached that the Jewish people were collectively guilty for Jesus' death.


title: Jewish deicide

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) accepts additional scriptures about Jewish deicide. The Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus came to the Jews because they were the only nation which was wicked enough to crucify him. It also teaches that the Jewish people were punished with death and destruction because of their wickedness. It teaches that God gave the gentiles the power to scatter the Jews and it connects their future gathering to their belief that Jesus is the Christ. According to the Doctrine & Covenants, after Jesus reveals himself to the Jews, they will weep because of their iniquities. It warns that if the Jewish people do not repent, the world will be destroyed.


title: Jewish deicide

text: Brigham Young, an early LDS prophet, taught the belief that the Jewish people were in a middle-tier of cursed lineages, below Lamanites (Native Americans) but above Cain's descendants (Black people), because they had crucified Jesus and the gathering in Jerusalem would be part of their penance for it. As part of the curse, they would not receive the gospel and if anyone converted to the church it would be proof that they were not actually Jewish. As more Jews began to assimilate into Northern America and Western Europe, church leaders began to soften their stance, saying instead that Lord was gradually withdrawing the curse and the Jews were beginning to believe in Christ, but that it wouldn't fully happen until Jesus returned. The Holocaust and the threats of Nazism were seen as fulfillment of prophecy that the Jews would be punished. Likewise, the establishment of Israel and the influx of Jewish people were seen as fulfillment of prophecy that they Jewish people would be gathered and the curse lifted.


title: Jewish deicide

text: In 1978, the LDS Church began to give the priesthood to all males regardless of race and it also began to de-emphasize the importance of race, instead, it adopted a more universal emphasis. This has led to a spectrum of views on how LDS members interpret scripture and previous teachings. According to research by Armand Mauss, most LDS members believe that God is perpetually punishing Jews for their part in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and they will not be forgiven until they are converted. These views were correlated with Christian hostility towards the Jews. However, these hostile views were often counter-balanced with views that they share a common ancestry with the Jews.


title: Jewish deicide

text: Some Latter-Day Saints may argue against the idea that their scriptures promote Jewish Deicide, citing the Second Article of Faith as evidence against the idea of all Jews being punished for Jesus' crucifixion. The Second Article of Faith (contained in The Pearl of Great Price) states that "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression".


title: Jewish deicide

text: In the aftermath of World War II and The Holocaust, Jules Isaac, a French-Jewish historian and a Holocaust survivor, played a seminal role in documenting the antisemitic traditions which existed in the Catholic Church's thinking, instruction and liturgy. The move to draw up a formal document of repudiation gained momentum after Isaac obtained a private audience with Pope John XXIII in 1960. In the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued the declaration "Nostra aetate" ("In Our Time"), which among other things repudiated belief in the collective Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus. "Nostra aetate" stated that, even though some Jewish authorities and those who followed them called for Jesus' death, the blame for what happened cannot be laid at the door of all Jews living at that time, nor can the Jews in our time be held guilty. It made no explicit mention of Matthew 27:24–25, but only of .


title: Jewish deicide

text: On November 16, 1998, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted a resolution which was prepared by its Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations. The resolution urged that any Lutheran church which was presenting a Passion play should adhere to its "Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations", stating that "the New Testament ... must not be used as a justification for hostility towards present-day Jews", and it also stated that "blame for the death of Jesus should not be attributed to Judaism or the Jewish people."


title: Jewish deicide

text: Pope Benedict XVI also repudiated the Jewish deicide charge in his 2011 book "", in which he interpreted the translation of ""ochlos"" in Matthew to mean the "crowd", rather than the Jewish people.


title: Damselfly

text: Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along the body when at rest, unlike dragonflies which hold the wings flat and away from the body. An ancient group, damselflies have existed since at least the Lower Permian, and are found on every continent except Antarctica.


title: Damselfly

text: All damselflies are predatory insects; both nymphs and adults actively hunt and eat other insects. The nymphs are aquatic, with different species living in a variety of freshwater habitats including acidic bogs, ponds, lakes and rivers. The nymphs moult repeatedly, at the last moult climbing out of the water to undergo metamorphosis. The skin splits down the back, they emerge and inflate their wings and abdomen to gain their adult form. Their presence on a body of water indicates that it is relatively unpolluted, but their dependence on freshwater makes them vulnerable to damage to their wetland habitats.


title: Damselfly

text: Some species of damselfly have elaborate courtship behaviours. Many species are sexually dimorphic, the males often being more brightly coloured than the females. Like dragonflies, they reproduce using indirect insemination and delayed fertilisation. A mating pair form a shape known as a "heart" or "wheel", the male clasping the female at the back of the head, the female curling her abdomen down to pick up sperm from secondary genitalia at the base of the male's abdomen. The pair often remain together with the male still clasping the female while she lays eggs within the tissue of plants in or near water using a robust ovipositor.


title: Damselfly

text: Artificial fishing flies that mimic damselfly nymphs are used in wet-fly fishing. Damselflies are sometimes represented in personal jewellery such as brooches.


title: Damselfly

text: The Zygoptera are an ancient group, with fossils known from the lower Permian, at least 250 million years ago. All the fossils of that age are of adults, similar in structure to modern damselflies, so it is not known whether their larvae were aquatic at that time. The earliest larval odonate fossils are from the Mesozoic. Fossils of damselfly-like Protozygoptera date back further to 311–30 Mya. Well-preserved Eocene damselfly larvae and exuviae are known from fossils preserved in amber in the Baltic region.


title: Damselfly

text: Molecular analysis in 2013 confirms that most of the traditional families are monophyletic, but shows that the Amphipterygidae, Megapodagrionidae and Protoneuridae are paraphyletic and will need to be reorganised. The Protoneuridae in particular is shown to be composed of six clades from five families. The result so far is 27 damselfly families, with 7 more likely to be created. The discovered clades did not agree well with traditional characteristics used to classify living and fossil Zygoptera such as wing venation, so fossil taxa will need to be revisited. The 18 extant traditional families are provisionally rearranged as follows (the 3 paraphyletic families disappearing, and many details not resolved):


title: Damselfly

text: The general body plan of a damselfly is similar to that of a dragonfly. The compound eyes are large but are more widely separated and relatively smaller than those of a dragonfly. Above the eyes is the frons or forehead, below this the clypeus, and on the upper lip the labrum, an extensible organ used in the capture of prey. The top of the head bears three simple eyes (ocelli), which may measure light intensity, and a tiny pair of antennae that serve no olfactory function but may measure air speed. Many species are sexually dimorphic; the males are often brightly coloured and distinctive, while the females are plainer, cryptically coloured, and harder to identify to species. For example, in "Coenagrion", the Eurasian bluets, the males are bright blue with black markings, while the females are usually predominantly green or brown with black. A few dimorphic species show female-limited polymorphism, the females being in two forms, one form distinct and the other with the patterning as in males. The ones that look like males, andromorphs, are usually under a third of the female population but the proportion can rise significantly and a theory that explains this response suggests that it helps overcome harassment by males. Some Coenagrionid damselflies show male-limited polymorphism, an even less understood phenomenon.


title: Damselfly

text: In general, damselflies are smaller than dragonflies, the smallest being members of the genus "Agriocnemis" (wisps). However, members of the Pseudostigmatidae (helicopter damselflies or forest giants) are exceptionally large for the group, with wingspans as much as in "Megaloprepus" and body length up to in "Pseudostigma aberrans".


title: Damselfly

text: The first thoracic segment is the prothorax, bearing the front pair of legs. The joint between head and prothorax is slender and flexible, which enables the damselfly to swivel its head and to manoeuvre more freely when flying. The remaining thoracic segments are the fused mesothorax and metathorax (together termed the synthorax), each with a pair of wings and a pair of legs. A dark stripe known as the humeral stripe runs from the base of the front wings to the second pair of legs, and just in front of this is the pale-coloured, antehumeral stripe.


title: Damselfly

text: The forewings and hindwings are similar in appearance and are membranous, being strengthened and supported by longitudinal veins that are linked by many cross-veins and that are filled with haemolymph. Species markers include quadrangular markings on the wings known as the pterostigma or stigma, and in almost all species, there is a nodus near the leading edge. The thorax houses the flight muscles. Many damselflies (e.g. Lestidae, Platycnemidae, Coenagrionidae) have clear wings, but some (Calopterygidae, Euphaeidae) have coloured wings, whether uniformly suffused with colour or boldly marked with a coloured patch. In species such as the banded demoiselle, "Calopteryx splendens" the males have both a darker green body and large dark violet-blue patches on all four wings, which flicker conspicuously in their aerial courtship dances; the females have pale translucent greenish wings.


title: Damselfly

text: The abdomen is long and slender and consists of ten segments. The secondary genitalia in males are on the undersides of segments two and three and are conspicuous, making it easy to tell the sex of the damselfly when viewed from the side. The female genital opening is on the underside between segments eight and nine. It may be covered by a subgenital plate, or extended into a complex ovipositor that helps them lay eggs within plant tissue. The tenth segment in both sexes bears cerci and in males, its underside bears a pair of paraprocts.


title: Damselfly

text: Damselflies (except spreadwings, Lestidae) rest their wings together, above their bodies, whereas dragonflies rest with their wings spread diametrically apart; the spreadwings rest with their wings slightly apart. Damselflies have slenderer bodies than dragonflies, and their eyes do not overlap. Damselfly nymphs differ from dragonflies nymphs in that they possess caudal gills (on the abdomen) whereas dragonflies breathe through the rectum. Damselfly nymphs swim by fish-like undulations, the gills functioning like a tail. Dragonfly nymphs can forcibly expel water in their rectum for rapid escape.


title: Damselfly

text: Odonates are found on all the continents except Antarctica. Although some species of dragonfly have wide distributions, damselflies tend to have smaller ranges. Most odonates breed in fresh-water; a few damselflies in the family Caenagrionidae breed in brackish water (and a single dragonfly species breeds in seawater). Dragonflies are more affected by pollution than are damselflies. The presence of odonates indicates that an ecosystem is of good quality. The most species-rich environments have a range of suitable microhabitats, providing suitable water bodies for breeding.


title: Damselfly

text: Although most damselflies live out their lives within a short distance of where they were hatched, some species, and some individuals within species, disperse more widely. Forktails in the family Coenagrionidae seem particularly prone to do this, large male boreal bluets ("Enallagma boreale") in British Columbia often migrating, while smaller ones do not. These are known to leave their waterside habitats, flying upwards till lost from view, and presumably being dispersed to far off places by the stronger winds found at high altitudes. In this way they may appear in a locality where no damselflies were to be seen the day before. Rambur's forktail ("Ischnura ramburii") has been found, for example, on oil rigs far out in the Gulf of Mexico.


title: Damselfly

text: The distribution and diversity of damselfly species in the biogeographical regions is summarized here. (There are no damselflies in the Antarctic.) Note that some species are widespread and occur in multiple regions.


title: Damselfly

text: Adult damselflies catch and eat flies, mosquitoes, and other small insects. Often they hover among grasses and low vegetation, picking prey off stems and leaves with their spiny legs. Although predominantly using vision to locate their prey, adults may also make use of olfactory cues. No species are known to hunt at night, but some are crepuscular, perhaps taking advantage of newly hatched flies and other aquatic insects at a time when larger dragonflies are roosting. In tropical South America, helicopter damselflies (Pseudostigmatidae) feed on spiders, hovering near an orb web and plucking the spider, or its entangled prey, from the web. There are few pools and lakes in these habitats, and these damselflies breed in temporary water bodies in holes in trees, the rosettes of bromeliads and even the hollow stems of bamboos.


title: Damselfly

text: The nymphs of damselflies have been less researched than their dragonfly counterparts, and many have not even been identified. They choose their prey according to size and seem less able to overpower larger prey than can dragonfly nymphs. The major part of the diet of most species appears to be crustaceans such as water fleas.


title: Damselfly

text: Damselflies exist in a range of habitats in and around the wetlands needed for their larval development; these include open spaces for finding mates, suitable perches, open aspect, roosting sites, suitable plant species for ovipositing and suitable water quality, and odontates have been used for bio-indication purposes regarding the quality of the ecosystem. Different species have different requirements for their larvae with regard to water depth, water movement and pH.


title: Damselfly

text: The European common blue damselfly ("Enallagma cyathigerum") for example can occur at high densities in acid waters where fish are absent, such as in bog pools.


title: Damselfly

text: The scarce blue-tailed damselfly ("Ischnura pumilio") in contrast requires base-rich habitats and water with a slow flow-rate. It is found in ditches, quarries, seeps, flushes, marshes and pools. It tolerates high levels of zinc and copper in the sediment but requires suitable emergent plants for egg-laying without the water being choked by plants. Damselflies' dependence on freshwater habitats makes them very vulnerable to damage to wetlands through drainage for agriculture or urban growth.


title: Damselfly

text: In the tropics, the helicopter damselfly "Mecistogaster modesta" (Pseudostigmatidae) breeds in phytotelmata, the small bodies of water trapped by bromeliads, epiphytic plants of the rainforest of northwest Costa Rica, at the high density of some 6000 larvae per hectare in patches of secondary forest. Another tropical species, the cascade damselfly "Thaumatoneura inopinata" (Megapodagrionidae), inhabits waterfalls in Costa Rica and Panama.


title: Damselfly

text: Damselflies, both nymphs and adults, are eaten by a range of predators including birds, fish, frogs, dragonflies, other damselflies, water spiders, water beetles, backswimmers and giant water bugs.


title: Damselfly

text: Damselflies have a variety of internal and external parasites. Particularly prevalent are the gregarine protozoans found in the gut. In a study of the European common blue damselfly, every adult insect was infected at the height of the flying season. When present in large numbers, these parasites can cause death by blocking the gut. Bright red water mites Hydracarina are often seen on the outside of both nymphs and adults, and can move from one to the other at metamorphosis. They suck the body fluids and may actually kill young nymphs, but adults are relatively unaffected, it being necessary for the completion of the mite's life cycle that it returns to water, a feat accomplished when the adult damselfly breeds.


title: Damselfly

text: Many damselflies have elaborate courtship behaviours. These are designed to show off the male's distinctive characteristics, bright colouring or flying abilities, thus demonstrating his fitness. "Calopteryx" males will hover in front of a female with alternating fast and slow wingbeats; if she is receptive she will remain perched, otherwise she will fly off. The male river jewelwing ("Calopteryx aequabilis") performs display flights in front of the female, fluttering his forewings while keeping his hindwings still, and raising his abdomen to reveal the white spots on his wings. "Platycypha" males will hover in front of a female, thrusting their bright white legs forward in front of their heads. Flattened tibia and bright leg colouring are seen in "Platycnemis phasmovolans" and a few other Platycnemididae including the extinct "Yijenplatycnemis huangi". "Rhinocypha" will bob up and down, often low over fast-flowing forested and shaded streams, displaying their bright-coloured bodies and wings. Male members of the family Protoneuridae with vividly coloured wings display these to visiting females. Swift forktail ("Ischnura erratica") males display to each other with their blue-tipped abdomens raised.


title: Damselfly

text: Other behaviours observed in damselflies include wing-warning, wing-clapping, flights of attrition and abdominal bobbing. Wing-warning is a rapid opening and closing of the wings and is aggressive, while wing-clapping involves a slower opening of the wings followed by a rapid closure, up to eight times in quick succession, and often follows flight; it may serve a thermo-regulatory function. Flights of attrition are engaged in by the ebony jewelwing ("Calopteryx maculata") and involve males bouncing around each other while flying laterally and continuing to do so, sometimes over a considerable distance, until one insect is presumably exhausted and gives up.


title: Damselfly

text: At night, damselflies usually roost in dense vegetation, perching with the abdomen alongside a stem. If disturbed they will move around to the other side of the stem but will not fly off. Spreadwings fully fold their wings when roosting. The desert shadowdamsel ("Palaemnema domina") aggregates to roost in thick places near streams in the heat of the day. While there it engages in wing-clapping, the exact function of which is unknown. Some species such as the rubyspot damselfly, "Hetairina americana", form night roosting aggregations, with a preponderance of males; this may have an anti-predator function or may be simply the outcome of choosing safe roosting sites.


title: Damselfly

text: Mating in damselflies, as in dragonflies, is a complex, precisely choreographed process involving both indirect insemination and delayed fertilisation. The male first has to attract a female to his territory, continually driving off rival males. When he is ready to mate, he transfers a packet of sperm from his primary genital opening on segment 9, near the end of his abdomen, to his secondary genitalia on segments 2–3, near the base of his abdomen. The male then grasps the female by the head with the claspers at the end of his abdomen; the structure of the claspers varies between species, and may help to prevent interspecific mating. The pair fly in tandem with the male in front, typically perching on a twig or plant stem. The female then curls her abdomen downwards and forwards under her body to pick up the sperm from the male's secondary genitalia, while the male uses his "tail" claspers to grip the female behind the head: this distinctive posture is called the "heart" or "wheel"; the pair may also be described as being "in cop". Males may transfer the sperm to their secondary genitalia either before a female is held, in the early stage when the female is held by the legs or after the female is held between the terminal claspers. This can lead to variations in the tandem postures. The spermatophore may also have nutrition in addition to sperms as a "nuptial gift". Some cases of sexual cannibalism exist where females (of "Ischnura graellsii") eat males while in copula.


title: Damselfly

text: Parthenogenesis (reproduction from unfertilised eggs) is exceptional, and has only been recorded in nature in female "Ischnura hastata" on the Azores Islands.


title: Damselfly

text: Egg-laying (ovipositing) involves not only the female darting over floating or waterside vegetation to deposit eggs on a suitable substrate, but the male hovering above her, mate-guarding, or in some species continuing to clasp her and flying in tandem. The male attempts to prevent rivals from removing his sperm and inserting their own, a form of sperm competition (the sperms of the last mated male have the greatest chance of fertilizing the eggs, also known as sperm precedence) made possible by delayed fertilisation and driven by sexual selection. If successful, a rival male uses his penis to compress or scrape out the sperm inserted previously; this activity takes up much of the time that a copulating pair remain in the heart posture. Flying in tandem has the advantage that less effort is needed by the female for flight and more can be expended on egg-laying, and when the female submerges to deposit eggs, the male may help to pull her out of the water.


title: Damselfly

text: All damselflies lay their eggs inside plant tissues; those that lay eggs underwater may submerge themselves for 30 minutes at a time, climbing along the stems of aquatic plants and laying eggs at intervals. For example, the red-eyed damselfly "Erythromma najas" lays eggs, in tandem, into leaves or stems of floating or sometimes emergent plants; in contrast, the scarce bluetail "Ischnura pumilio" oviposits alone, the female choosing mostly emergent grasses and rushes, and laying her eggs in their stems either above or just below the waterline. The willow emerald "Chalcolestes viridis" (a spreadwing) is unusual in laying eggs only in woody plant tissue, choosing thin twigs of trees that hang over water, and scarring the bark in the process. A possible exception is an apparent instance of ovo-viviparity, in which "Heliocypha perforata" was filmed in western China depositing young larvae (presumably hatched from eggs inside the female's body) onto a partly submerged branch of a tree.


title: Damselfly

text: Many damselflies are able to produce more than one brood per year (voltinism); this is negatively correlated with latitude, becoming more common towards the equator, except in the Lestidae.


title: Damselfly

text: Damselflies are hemimetabolous insects that have no pupal stage in their development. The female inserts the eggs by means of her ovipositor into slits made in water plants or other underwater substrates and the larvae, known as naiads or nymphs, are almost all completely aquatic. Exceptions include the Hawaiian "Megalagrion oahuense" and an unidentified Megapodagrionid from New Caledonia, which are terrestrial in their early stages. The spreadwings lay eggs above the waterline late in the year and the eggs overwinter, often covered by snow. In spring they hatch out in the meltwater pools and the nymphs complete their development before these temporary pools dry up.


title: Damselfly

text: The nymphs are voracious predators and feed by means of a flat labium (a toothed mouthpart on the lower jaw) that forms the so-called mask; it is rapidly extended to seize and pierce the "Daphnia" (water fleas), mosquito larvae, and other small aquatic organisms on which damselfly nymphs feed. They breathe by means of three large external, fin-like gills on the tip of the abdomen, and these may also serve for locomotion in the same manner as a fish's tail. Compared to dragonfly larvae, the nymphs show little variation in form. They tend to be slender and elongate, many having morphological adaptations for holding their position in fast flowing water. They are more sensitive than dragonfly nymphs to oxygen levels and suspended fine particulate matter, and do not bury themselves in the mud.


title: Damselfly

text: The nymphs proceed through about a dozen moults as they grow. In the later stages, the wing pads become visible. When fully developed, the nymphs climb out of the water and take up a firm stance, the skin on the thorax splits and the adult form wriggles out. This has a soft body at first and hangs or stands on its empty larval case. It pumps haemolymph into its small limp wings, which expand to their full extent. The haemolymph is then pumped back into the abdomen, which also expands fully. The exoskeleton hardens and the colours become more vivid over the course of the next few days. Most damselflies emerge in daytime and in cool conditions the process takes several hours. On a hot day, the cuticle hardens rapidly and the adult can be flying away within half an hour.


title: Damselfly

text: Conservation of Odonata has usually concentrated on the more iconic suborder Anisoptera, the dragonflies. However, the two suborders largely have the same needs, and what is good for dragonflies is also good for damselflies. The main threats experienced by odonates are the clearance of forests, the pollution of waterways, the lowering of groundwater levels, the damming of rivers for hydroelectric schemes and the general degradation of wetlands and marshes. The clearance of tropical rainforests is of importance because the rate of erosion increases, streams and pools dry up and waterways become clogged with silt. The presence of alien species can also have unintended consequences. In Hawaii, the introduction of the mosquitofish ("Gambusia affinis") was effective in controlling mosquitoes but nearly exterminated the island's endemic damselflies. The ancient greenling "Hemiphlebia mirabilis" has been an important flagship species for conservation action in preserving its habitat in Australia.


title: Damselfly

text: "Damselfly" is a 2005 short film directed by Ben O'Connor. "Damselfly" is also the title of a 2012 novel in the "Faeble" series by S. L. Naeole, and of a 1994 poem by August Kleinzahler, which contains the lines "And that blue there, cobalt / a moment, then iridescent, / fragile as a lady's pin / hovering above the nasturtium?" The poet John Engels published "Damselfly, Trout, Heron" in his 1983 collection "Weather-Fear: New and Selected Poems".


title: Damselfly

text: Fishing flies that mimic damselfly nymphs are sometimes used in wet-fly fishing, where the hook and line are allowed to sink below the surface.


title: Adlai Stevenson I

text: Adlai Ewing Stevenson (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician who served as the 23rd vice president of the United States from 1893 to 1897. He had served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois in the late 1870s and early 1880s. After his appointment as assistant postmaster general of the United States during Grover Cleveland's first administration (1885–1889), he fired many Republican postal workers and replaced them with Southern Democrats. This earned him the enmity of the Republican-controlled Congress, but made him a favorite as Grover Cleveland's running mate in 1892, and he was elected vice president of the United States.


title: Adlai Stevenson I

text: In office, he supported the free-silver lobby against the gold-standard men like Cleveland, but was praised for governing in a dignified, non-partisan manner.


title: Adlai Stevenson I

text: In 1900, he ran for vice president with William Jennings Bryan. In doing so, he became the fourth vice president or former vice president to run for that post teamed with two different presidential candidates (after George Clinton, John C. Calhoun and Thomas A. Hendricks). Stevenson was the grandfather of Adlai Stevenson II, a Governor of Illinois and the unsuccessful Democratic presidential nominee in both 1952 and 1956.


title: Adlai Stevenson I

text: Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born in Christian County, Kentucky, on October 23, 1835, to John Turner and Eliza Ewing Stevenson, Wesleyans of Scots-Irish descent. The Stevenson family is first recorded (as the Stephensons) in Roxburghshire, Scotland, in the early 18th century. The family appears to have had some wealth, as a private chapel in the Archdiocese of St Andrews bears their name. At some point, probably shortly after the Jacobite rising of 1715, the family migrated to County Antrim, Ireland, near Belfast. At least one Stephenson was a police officer. William Stephenson, the great-grandfather of Adlai, was a tailor who specialized in millinery. After William's father died in the 1730s, his family moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; William joined when his apprenticeship was completed in 1748.


title: Adlai Stevenson I

text: In 1762, the family moved to North Carolina in what is now Iredell County. Including lands given to his children, William Stephenson (Stevenson after the American Revolution) had amassed of land by the time of his death. One branch of the family, including Adlai Stevenson's father, then moved to Kentucky in 1813.


title: Adlai Stevenson I

text: Stevenson was born on the family farm in Christian County. He attended Blue Water School in what is now Herndon, Kentucky. In 1850, when he was 14, frost killed the family's tobacco crop. Two years later, his father set free their few slaves and the family moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where his father then operated a sawmill. Stevenson attended Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington and ultimately graduated from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky; at the latter he was a part of Phi Delta Theta. His father's death prompted Stevenson to return from Kentucky to Illinois to run the sawmill.