title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The appointment of Otto as Duke of Swabia was taken by Henry II as an assault on his claim to the Imperial throne and a slight to his honor. He and his advisor, Bishop Abraham of Freising, conspired with the Duke of Poland Mieszko I and the Duke of Bohemia Boleslaus II against Otto II in 974. While the historical sources do not describe the goals of the conspirators, Henry II likely intended to restore his honor and to ensure his position as the second most influential man in the Empire. Upon hearing of the conspiracy, Poppo, the Bishop of Würzburg, demanded Henry II and his followers submit to Otto II or face excommunication. Otto the Great's efforts to consolidate the Church under Imperial control had made this type of action normal. Henry II and his followers complied and submitted to Otto II before armed conflict broke out. Otto II, however, severely punished the conspirators: Henry II was imprisoned at Ingelheim and Bishop Abraham at Corvey.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: By 976, Henry II had returned to Bavaria. Whether Otto II released him from prison or he escaped is not known for certain. Upon his return, Henry openly rebelled against Otto II, claiming rulership over the Empire for himself. Henry II mobilized the Saxon nobility against Otto II. In particular, Henry II had strong connections to Margrave Gunther of Merseburg, Count Egbert the One-Eyed, and Dietrich I of Wettin, who were all displeased with Otto II's lack of adherence to Saxon tradition. In response to the rebellion, Otto II stripped Henry II of his duchy and had him excommunicated. Otto II then marched his army south to Bavaria and laid siege to Regensburg, Henry II's stronghold. Otto II's army eventually broke through the city's defenses, forcing Henry II to flee to Bohemia.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: With Henry II deposed, in July 976 Otto II issued far-reaching edicts on the reorganization of the southern German duchies. Otto II reduced the size of Duchy of Bavaria by almost a third. From the excised Bavarian territory, Otto II established the Duchy of Carinthia in southern Germany. By depriving Bavaria of the March of Verona, Otto II considerably reduced the influence of the Bavarian dukes in northern Italy and in general Imperial policy regarding Italy. Otto II gave the newly diminished Duchy of Bavaria to his relative Otto, the Duke of Swabia, and appointed Henry III, son of the former Bavarian Duke Berthold, as Duke of Carinthia. These appointments continued his policy of appointing individuals who had no political links to Otto the Great, including those who had even rebelled against him.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: With matters in southern Germany settled, Otto II turned his attention to defeating and capturing Henry II. After a failed first invasion into Bohemia, Otto II marched to Bohemia a second time in August 977. While in Bohemia, a revolt broke out in Bavaria. Henry I, Bishop of Augsburg, and the newly appointed Carinthian Duke Henry III joined Henry II in rebellion, forcing Otto II to return from Bohemia. The Emperor, aided by the Duke of Swabia and Bavaria, met the rebels at Passau and, after a long siege, forced them into submission. Otto II then brought the rebels before the Imperial Diet in Quedlinburg on March 31, 978. Boleslaus II was treated with honors and swore loyalty to Otto II. Mieszko I of Poland recognized Otto's royal authority to the throne. Otto II imprisoned Henry II under the custody of the Bishop of Utrecht where he would remain until Otto II's death in 983.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: While Otto the Great had pardoned rebellious family members for their crimes, Otto II followed a different policy. Instead, Otto II hoped to subordinate the Bavarian line of Ottonians to his Imperial authority. Henry II's four-year-old son, also named Henry, was sent to Hildesheim to study for an ecclesiastical career. It appears Otto II intended to end the Bavarian Ottonians' secular control of Bavaria. Under a new Duke, Bavaria would remain a remote area of the Empire. Otto II would only visit the Duchy three times during his reign, in all cases accompanied by the military.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 950, Otto the Great had subdued the Kingdom of Denmark and forced the Danish King Gorm the Old to accept him as his overlord. Otto the Great also forced the king and his heir apparent Harald Bluetooth to convert to Christianity. Under the reign of Otto the Great, Denmark fulfilled all its obligations and regularly paid tribute to the Germans. When Harald became king in 958, he expanded the control of his kingdom into Norway, becoming king there in 970. With his newly obtained power, the young ruler was no longer willing to accept German supremacy over his kingdom. In summer 974, Harald rebelled against Otto II. With the support of Norwegian troops, Harald was able to cross the Danish border into Germany, defeating the German forces stationed in the north. Otto II attacked Harald's forces, but the joint Danish-Norwegian army repelled the German army. In autumn, however, when the Norwegian allies sailed north to return to Norway, Otto II was able to counter Harald's advances at the Danevirke.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Before Henry II's civil war in southern Germany erupted, Otto II was faced with disputes in western Germany. The brothers Reginar IV, Count of Mons, and Lambert I, Count of Louvain, demanded that the Emperor restore their confiscated inheritance in the Duchy of Lorraine. Years earlier in 958, Otto the Great banished their father Reginar III, Count of Hainaut, to Bohemia after he attempted a failed revolt. In 973, Otto II granted their request. With both Otto the Great and Count Reginar III dead, it appears Otto II desired a fresh start with the two sons. Lambert I and Reginar IV returned to Lorraine in 973 to reclaim their land by force. After an initial failure, the brothers attempted again in 976, this time with the support of King Lothar of France. To help calm the situation in the west, Otto II appointed Charles, his cousin and brother of Lothar, as Duke of Lower Lorraine. The same year, Otto II appointed Egbert as his Imperial Chancellor.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II's support of Charles, however, infuriated the French king, who claimed the Duchy as his own territory. Charles and Lothair were also feuding, with Charles being exiled from France over an infidelity allegation concerning Lothair's wife. Charles fled to Otto II's court and paid homage to Otto II. In return, Otto II appointed Charles as Duke and promised to support his claim to the French throne. Soon after Otto II crushed Henry II's revolt in the south, the Emperor and his wife Theophanu returned to the old capital of Aachen in Lorraine. With the Imperial family near the French border, Lothair invaded Lorraine and marched on Aachen. With the French army in sight, Otto II and Theophanu fled to Cologne and then to the Duchy of Saxony. Upon hearing of the French invasion, Otto II’s mother Adelaide of Italy, who was Lothair's mother-in-law, sided with Lothair over her own son and moved to the court of her brother King Conrad of Burgundy. After occupying Aachen for five days, Lothair returned to France after symbolically disgracing the city.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II convened the Imperial Diet in mid-July at Dortmund. There, Otto II declared war against France and prepared his army to march west. In September 978, Otto II retaliated against Lothair by invading France with the aid of Charles. He met with little resistance on French territory, devastating the land around Rheims, Soissons, and Laon. Otto II then had Charles crowned as King of the Franks by Theodoric I, Bishop of Metz. Lothair then fled to the French capital of Paris and was there besieged by Otto II and Charles. Sickness among his troops brought on by winter and a French relief army under Hugh Capet forced Otto II and Charles to lift the siege on November 30, and to return to Germany. On the journey back to Germany, Otto's rearguard was attacked and destroyed by French forces, with their supplies being captured. Despite neither side obtaining a clear victory, Otto II felt his honor was sufficiently restored and opened peace negotiations with the French King. Peace was finally concluded between Otto II and Lothair in 980: in return for renouncing his claims on Lorraine, Otto II would recognize Lothair's son Louis V as the rightful heir to the French throne.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: With peace concluded, Otto II returned to Aachen to celebrate Pentecost, and then moved towards Nijmegen. During the journey, in late June or early July 980, the Empress Theophanu gave birth to the Imperial couple's only son: Otto III.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: With his rule north of the Alps secured and with the birth of his heir, Otto II shifted his focus to Italy. The situation south of the Alps was chaotic. Pope Benedict VI, who had been appointed by Otto I, had been imprisoned by the Romans in Castel Sant'Angelo. When Otto II sent an imperial representative, Count Sicco, to secure his release, Crescentius I and Cardinal Franco Ferrucci had Benedict VI murdered while still in prison in 974. Cardinal Franco Ferrucci then crowned himself as Benedict VI's successor, becoming Antipope Boniface VII. A popular revolt, however, forced Boniface VII to flee to Constantinople, taking a vast treasure with him. In October 974, under the direction of Count Sicco, the bishop of Sutri was elected Pope as Pope Benedict VII. Boniface VII was then summarily excommunicated for his unsuccessful attempt to take the papacy.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 979 Benedict VII's position as ruler of Rome was threatened, forcing the Pope to withdraw from and seek the aid of the Emperor. Accepting the Pope's call for aid, Otto II and Theophanu, along with their infant son Otto III, prepared for a march south across the Alps. Otto II appointed Willigis, the Archbishop of Mainz, to serve as his regent over Germany.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In October 980 the Imperial court arrived in Chiavenna and received its first Italian delegations. Otto II arrived in Italy at Pavia on December 5, 980. In Pavia, Otto II and his mother, the dowager empress Adelaide of Italy, were reconciled after years of being apart. Before the imperial family celebrated Christmas together in Ravenna, Otto II received the Iron Crown of Lombardy as the King of Italy. Following the New Year, Otto II led his Imperial court to Rome, reaching the city on February 9, 981, where the Emperor restored Pope Benedict VII to his papal throne without difficulty. In Rome, Otto II held a magnificent court ceremony to mark Easter. The imperial family was joined by Otto II's sister Matilda, Abbess of Quedlinburg, King Conrad of Burgundy and his wife Matilda of France, Duke Hugh Capet of France, Duke Otto of Swabia and Bavaria, and other high secular and religious officials from Germany, Italy and France.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II proceeded to hold court in Rome, making the city his Imperial capital, where he received princes and nobles from all parts of western Europe.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The relationship between the Empire and the Republic of Venice was readdressed during Otto II's reign. In 966, The Doge of Venice Pietro IV married a relative of Otto I. The marriage brought the Empire and Venice into close relationship, with Otto I, in 967, granting a series of commercial agreements to Venice in general and to Pietro IV's family in particular. These agreements strengthened Venice's tie to the Western Empire, which greatly angered the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimisces as Venice controlled all sea trade between Western Europe and the Byzantine Levant in the East.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto I's military protection of Pietro IV ensured his hold over power in Venice despite his autocratic tendencies over the republican city. In 973, however, Otto I died. With Otto II busy suppressing revolts in Germany, the Venetians opposed to Pietro IV found their opportunity to depose him. Imprisoning the Doge within his palace, the Venetian nobles set fire to the building. However, the fire soon spread to Saint Mark's Basilica, resulting in the greater part of the city being burnt. The Doge and his son, also named Pietro, were killed in the blaze, but their bodies were later recovered and respectfully buried. Pietro IV's younger son, Vitale Candiano, survived, however, and fled to Otto II's court in Saxony with plans to depose the new pro-Byzantine Doge, Pietro I Orseolo.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Pietro I's conciliating policy towards the Empire was ineffective. After having ruled Venice for four years, Pietro I voluntarily abdicated to become a monk, allowing the pro-Ottonian Vitale to return to Venice as Doge in 977, restoring the city's friendly relationship with the Empire. However, Vitale's reign was short (less than two years) and he too voluntarily abdicated to become a monk. With the position vacant, the pro-Byzantine Tribuno Memmo became the new Doge in 979. With the change in leadership, Otto II was reluctant to renew the city's commercial agreements which his father had previously granted to the city. It was only after the intervention of Otto II's mother, the dowager empress Adelaide of Italy, that the Emperor renewed the agreements.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Violence erupted in Venice during 980 due to tensions between the pro-Ottonian Coloprini family and the pro-Byzantine Morosini family. The Coloprini pleaded with the Emperor for support. Seeing an opportunity to fully incorporate Venice into the Empire, Otto II agreed. Upon arriving in Italy in 981, Otto II immediately imposed a trade embargo against the island republic. When the initial embargo showed little effect on Venice, Otto II imposed a second embargo in 983 which dealt considerable damage to the Venetian economy. The effects were disastrous enough to cause the ruling Venetian families to surrender to Otto II, but Otto II's untimely death that year prevented him from capitalizing on his victory.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II followed the policy of his father in expanding the importance of the Church in his Empire, in particular the importance of monasticism and monasteries. The Church and its organs served as a supporting and stabilizing factor in the Empire's structure. To fulfill these tasks, Otto II strengthened the legal integrity and economic independence of the bishops from the secular nobility. The Ottonians had a particular religious interest in Memleben as both Otto II's father Otto I and grandfather Henry I had died there. Otto II and his wife Theophanu enhanced the spiritual importance of the city by establishing a Benedictine Imperial abbey there: the Memleben Abbey. Within a short time, the Memleben Abbey had become one of the richest and most influential of the Imperial abbeys. These measures and the unusual size of the abbey perhaps suggest that Memleben may have been intended as an Imperial Mausoleum for the Ottonians.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Following the suppression of Henry II's rebellion, Otto II used the Empire's monasteries as the location for the treason trials. While his father had founded only one monastery (Otto I later replaced the abbey with the Cathedral of Magdeburg) during his 37-year reign, Otto II established at least four monasteries: Memleben, Tegernsee, Bergen, and Arneburg. Monasticism became a key part of Otto II's Imperial policy, entrusting the abbots with key political functions.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II employed monks among his top political advisers, including Ekkehard I and Majolus of Cluny. One of the most important such monks was John Philagathus (the future Antipope John XVI). Of Greek descent, John was the personal chaplain of Otto II's wife Theophanu, accompanying her when she traveled from Constantinople to marry Otto II. Otto II appointed him as his Imperial Chancellor from 980 to 982, as well as abbot of Nonantola Abbey. Following Otto II's death in 983, Theophanu, as her son Otto III's regent, would name John as Otto III's tutor. She would later appoint John as the bishop of Piacenza, and would send him to Constantinople to arrange for a marriage between Otto III and a Byzantine princess.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In regard to his Italian policy, Otto II went beyond the goals of his father. Not satisfied with the territorial gains made under Otto I, Otto II's policy was based not only on securing his power in Rome and cooperating with the Papacy, but also on gaining absolute dominion over the whole of Italy. Influenced by his wife, who was hostile to the return of the Macedonian Dynasty in the shape of Byzantine Emperor Basil II after the assassination of John I Tzimisces, Otto II was persuaded to annex Byzantine-controlled southern Italy. However, this policy necessarily meant war not only with the Byzantine Empire but with the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate, which claimed southern Italy as within its sphere of influence.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Ottonians' chief lieutenant in central and southern Italy had long been the Lombard leader Pandulf Ironhead. Originally appointed by Otto I as Prince of Benevento and Capua in 961, Pandulf waged war against the Byzantines and expanded Ottonian control to include the Duchy of Spoleto in 967. The following year, under Otto II, Pandulf added the Principality of Salerno to the Empire. His campaigns under Otto I and Otto II incorporated all three of the southern Lombard principalities - Benevento, Capua, and Salerno - into the Holy Roman Empire. As vassal of Otto II, Pandulf ruled a large bloc of territories stretching as far north as Tuscany and as far south as the Gulf of Taranto.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Pandulf's death in 981 deprived Otto II of one of his primary lieutenants. Pandulf's lands were partitioned among his sons, though further quarrels between the local Lombard princes soon followed. Pandulf's older son Landulf IV received Capua and Benevento while his younger son Pandulf II received Salerno. Upon hearing of Pandulf's death, Otto II, ruling from Rome, traveled south to install Thrasimund IV as Duke of Spoleto. Then, Pandulf's nephew Pandulf II was given Benevento when Otto II partitioned Landulf IV's territory, with Landulf IV keeping Capua. Finally, Duke Manso I of Amalfi deposed Pandulf II of Salerno in 982.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: By 982 the entire area once ruled by Pandulf had collapsed, weakening Otto II's position against the Byzantines. The Byzantines still claimed sovereignty over the Lombard principalities, and the lack of a single leader to prevent their advances into Lombard territory allowed the Byzantines to make inroads further north. Otto II attempted on several occasions to reunify the Lombard principalities politically and ecclesiastically into his Empire after Pandulf's death. Though he unsuccessfully besieged Manso I in Salerno, Otto II ultimately obtained the recognition of his authority from all the Lombard principalities.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: With his authority reestablished over the Lombard princes, Otto II turned his attention towards the threat from Muslim Sicily. Since the 960s the island had been under Muslim rule as the Emirate of Sicily, a state of the Fatimid Caliphate. The ruling Kalbid dynasty had conducted raids against Imperial territories in southern Italy. The death of Pandulf in 981 allowed the Sicilian Emir Abu al-Qasim to increase his raids, hitting targets in Apulia and Calabria. As early as 980 Otto II demanded a fleet from the city of Pisa to help him carry out his war in southern Italy, and in September 981 he marched into southern Italy. Needing allies in his campaign against the Muslims and the Byzantine Empire, Otto II reconciled with Amalfian Duke Manso I, granting Imperial recognition of his rule over Salerno.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II's troops marched on Byzantine-controlled Apulia in January 982 with the purpose of annexing the territory into his Empire. Otto II's march caused the Byzantine Empire to seek an alliance with Muslim Sicily in order to hold on to its southern Italian possessions. Otto's army besieged and captured the Byzantine city of Taranto, the administrative center of Apulia, in March 982. After celebrating Easter in Taranto, Otto II moved his army westward, defeating a Muslim army in early July. Emir Abu al-Qasim, who had declared a Holy War ("jihad") against Otto, retreated when he noticed the unexpected strength of Otto II's troops when the latter was not far from Rossano Calabro. Informed of the Muslim retreat, Otto II left his wife Theophanu and young son Otto III (along with the Imperial treasury) in the city and marched his army to pursue the Muslim force.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Unable to flee back to his stronghold in Sicily due to an Ottonian naval blockade, al-Qasim faced Otto's army in a pitched battle south of Crotone at Cape Colonna on July 14, 982. After a violent clash, a corps of Otto II's heavy cavalry destroyed the Muslim center and pushed towards al-Qasim's guards, with the Emir killed during the charge. Despite the Emir's death, the Muslim troops did not flee the battlefield but regrouped and managed to surround the Imperial soldiers, slaughtering many of them and inflicting a severe defeat upon the Emperor. According to the Muslim historian Ibn al-Athir, Imperial casualties numbered around 4,000. Landulf IV of Benevento and Pandulf II of Salerno, Bishop Henry I of Augsburg, Margrave Gunther of Merseburg, the Abbot of Fulda, and numerous other Imperial officials were among the battle's casualties.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Imperial defeat shocked the political makeup of Southern Italy. With two Lombard princes dead, the Principalities of Capua and the Benevento passed to younger branches of the Landulfid family. Though the Muslim troops were forced to retreat to Sicily after their victory, the Muslims remained a presence in southern Italy, harassing the Byzantines and Lombards. This Ottonian defeat, the worst in the history of the Empire at the time, greatly weakened Imperial power in southern Italy. The Byzantines joined forces with the Muslims and regained possession of Apulia from Ottonian forces.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The defeat at Stilo forced Otto II to flee north to Rome. He then held an Imperial Diet at Verona on Pentecost 983. He sent his nephew Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria, back to Germany with news of the defeat and to call the German nobles to the assembly, but his emissary died "en route" on November 1, 982, in Lucca. News of the battle did cross the Alps, however, reaching as far as Wessex in England, signifying the magnitude of the defeat. Duke Bernard I of Saxony was heading south for the assembly when Danish Viking raids forced him to return to face the threat.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: At the assembly, Otto II appointed Conrad (a distant relative of Otto II) and Henry III as the new Dukes of Swabia and Bavaria respectively. Henry III had previously been exiled by Otto II following his defeat as part of a two-year revolt against Otto II's rule. The defeat at Stilo cost the Empire many nobles, forcing Otto II to end Henry's banishment in order to stabilize domestic affairs in Germany while he campaigned against the Muslims and Byzantines in southern Italy. Also, the appointment of Conrad I allowed the House of the Conradines to return to power in Swabia for the first time since 948. Otto II and the assembled nobles agreed on a strategy of naval blockade and economic warfare until reinforcements from Germany could arrive. Otto II then prepared for a new campaign against the Muslims and obtained a settlement with the Republic of Venice, whose assistance he needed following the destruction of his army at Stilo. However, the death of Otto II the next year and the resulting civil war prevented the Empire from appropriately responding to the defeat.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The most important action taken by Otto II at the assembly, however, was to secure the "election" of his son Otto III, who was then only three years old, as King of Germany and heir apparent to the Imperial throne. Otto III thus became the only German king elected south of the Alps. The exact reason for this unusual procedure has been lost to history. It is possible that the conditions in southern Italy following the defeat required Otto II to act quickly in designating an Imperial heir to ensure the Empire's future. It is also conceivable, however, that holding the election in Italy was a deliberate choice on the part of Otto II in order to demonstrate that Italy was an equal part of the Empire to Germany. His election secured, Otto III and his mother, the Empress Theophanu, traveled north across the Alps heading for Aachen, the traditional coronation site for the Ottonians, in order for Otto III to be officially crowned as king. Otto II stayed in Italy to further address his military campaigns.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Around the year 982, Imperial authority in Slavic territory extended as far east as the Lusatian Neisse River and as far south as the Ore Mountains. Following the defeat of Otto II at Stilo in 983, the Lutici Federation of Polabian Slavs revolted against their German overlords, sparking the Great Slav Rising ("Slawenaufstand"). The Polabian Slavs destroyed the bishoprics of Havelberg and Brandenburg. According to the German chronicler Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, the decades-long forced Germanization and Christianization of the Slavs associated with these two churches was the reason for their destruction. Thietmar blames the uprising on maltreatment of the Slavs by the Germans: "Warriors, who used to be our servants, now free as a consequence of our injustices." In the Obotrite territories along the Elbe River, the Luticians initiated a revolt aimed at the abolition of feudal rule and Christianity, drawing upon considerable support by the Obodrite populace and their leader Mstivoj. In part, the Obodrite revolt was successful: The princely family, though in part remaining Christian, dissolved Christian institutions.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Soldiers from the Northern March, the March of Meissen, and the March of Lusatia, as well as from the Bishop of Halberstadt and the Archbishop of Magdeburg, joined forces to defeat the Slavs near Stendal. Nevertheless, the Empire was forced to withdraw to the western banks of the Elbe river. The successes of the Empire's Christianization policy towards the Slavs were nullified, and political control over the Billung March and the Northern March (territories east of the Elbe) was lost. In the decade since his death, Otto I's life work of converting the Slavs was undone. The Slavic territories east of the Elbe would remain pagan for over a century before further missionary work resumed: it would not be until the 12th century that the churches of Havelberg and Brandenburg would be reestablished.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Danes took advantage of the Slavic revolt and invaded the March of Schleswig along the Empire's northern border while the Sorb Slavs invaded and conquered the March of Zeitz from the Saxons.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In July 983, Pope Benedict VII, a longtime Ottonian supporter, died of natural causes after having reigned for almost ten years. Otto II returned to Rome in September to name a new Pope, selecting the Bishop of Pavia Pietro Canepanova (who reigned as Pope John XIV) in November or early December. While Otto II was in Rome, a malaria outbreak in central Italy prevented the resumption of military activity in southern Italy. The outbreak ultimately led to the death of the Emperor himself in his palace at Rome on December 7, 983, at the age of 28, after having reigned for just over a decade. Otto II's money and possessions were divided among the Catholic Church, the poor of the Empire, his mother Adelaide and sister Matilda, and those nobles loyal to him. Otto II was then buried in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica, the only Holy Roman Emperor to be buried in St Peter's.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II's three-year-old son Otto III was crowned as King of Germany in Aachen on Christmas Day in 983, three weeks after his father's death. Otto III was crowned by Willigis, the Archbishop of Mainz, and John, the Archbishop of Ravenna. News of Otto II's death first reached Germany after Otto III's coronation. The unresolved problems in southern Italy and the Slavic uprising on the Empire's eastern border made the Empire's political situation extremely unstable. The arrival of a minor on the Imperial throne threw the Empire into confusion, allowing Otto III's mother, the Byzantine Princess Theophanu, to reign as his regent.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 976, Otto II had deposed Henry II as Duke of Bavaria and imprisoned him. In early 984, Henry II escaped from his imprisonment by the Bishop of Utrecht. Free from his confinement, he seized the infant Otto III and, as a member of the ruling Ottonian dynasty, claimed the regency of the Empire for himself. Henry II eventually went so far as to claim the German throne outright, obtaining the allegiance of Mieszko I of Poland and Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia. Henry II's claims were supported by Archbishop Egbert of Trier, Archbishop Gisilher of Magdeburg, and Bishop Dietrich I of Metz. Otto III's right to the throne, however, was supported by Archbishop Willigis of Mainz and the Dukes of Saxony, Bavaria, and Swabia. The threat of war from Willigis and Conrad I, Duke of Swabia forced Henry II to relinquish Otto III on June 29, 984 and to respect the regency of Theophanu.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The early death of Otto II and the ensuing events proved to be a serious test for the Empire. Despite having a child under the regency of his mother as a ruler, the structure established by Emperor Otto the Great remained strong as most of the Empire's most powerful officials stayed loyal to the Imperial system.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto was a man of small stature, by nature brave and impulsive, and by training an accomplished knight. He was generous to the church and aided the spread of Christianity in many ways. According to one of the chroniclers of the time, he was given the epithet of the "Red" when in 981 he invited the most troublesome of the Roman families to a banquet, and proceeded to butcher them at dinner. More sympathetic chroniclers said that it was due to his reddish complexion. In fact, Otto is much more likely to have inherited the epithet from his half-uncle Conrad the Red, who died the year he was born and from whom he is also likely to have inherited some property.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II was a member of the Ottonian dynasty, which ruled Germany (and later the Holy Roman Empire) from 919 to 1024. In relation to the other members of his dynasty, Otto II was the grandson of Henry I, son of Otto I, father of Otto III, and a first-cousin once removed to Henry II.


title: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Otto II had only one known wife. On 14 April 972, Otto II married Theophanu, a Byzantine princess of the Phokas family who was the cousin of reigning Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes. The two had at least five children:


title: Valmont (film)

text: Valmont is a 1989 romantic drama film directed by Miloš Forman and starring Colin Firth, Annette Bening, and Meg Tilly. Based on the 1782 French novel "Les Liaisons dangereuses" by Choderlos de Laclos, and adapted for the screen by Jean-Claude Carrière, the film is about a scheming widow (Merteuil) who bets her ex-lover (Valmont) that he cannot corrupt a recently married honorable woman (Tourvel). During the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont ends up falling in love with her. Earlier, Merteuil learns her secret lover (Gercourt) has discarded her and is about to marry her cousin's daughter- the virginal 15 year old Cécile. As revenge, the jilted Merteuil employs Valmont (during his pursuit of Tourvel) to seduce Cécile before her marriage to Gercourt.


title: Valmont (film)

text: "Valmont" received an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design (Theodor Pištěk). It was Fabia Drake's final film role.


title: Valmont (film)

text: In 18th century France, the Marquise de Merteuil, a wealthy widow, learns that her secret lover Gercourt will marry Cécile de Volanges, a 15-year-old that was raised in a convent to ensure her chastity. It is rumored that Gercourt cannot easily break off relations with his "former" mistress who is mentally unbalanced. Angered over the hypocrisy of Gercourt's insistence on a virgin bride while keeping a lover of his own, his concealment of the upcoming marriage, and his slight of her character, Merteuil plans revenge.


title: Valmont (film)

text: She approaches her former lover, the womanizer Vicomte de Valmont, and proposes that he take Cécile's virginity before her wedding night to humiliate Gercourt. Valmont is not interested in Cécile, as he is pursuing Madame de Tourvel, a married woman. Tourvel, well known for her virtue, had been warned of Valmont's debauchery and deliberately avoids him. Merteuil makes Valmont a wager: if he succeeds in bedding Madame de Tourvel, he may also bed Merteuil; if he fails, he must consign himself to a monastery.


title: Valmont (film)

text: Meanwhile, Cécile's teenage music teacher, Danceny, starts writing love letters to Cécile, and the two fall in love. After learning of this, Merteuil attempts to create opportunities for the pair to consummate their love, but Cécile is too innocent and Danceny too honorable to take advantage. Frustrated, Merteuil takes Cécile on holiday to the country estate where Valmont had gone to pursue Tourvel. When Merteuil suggests that Valmont help Cécile write love letters, he complies, goes to Cécile's room and ends up taking her virginity. Afterwards, a guilt-wracked Cécile runs to Merteuil for comfort, believing that neither her future husband nor Danceny will want her now. Merteuil encourages the girl to marry Gercourt and keep Danceny as her lover.


title: Valmont (film)

text: Despite her many attempts to avoid Valmont, Tourvel is finally seduced and ends up making love with him. In the morning, she writes to her husband about her new lover, then leaves for the market to prepare a meal. When she returns, Valmont has already left.


title: Valmont (film)

text: To "reward" Valmont, Merteuil indifferently spreads herself on the bed and waits for him to get on with it, causing him to storm out. As revenge, he goes to Cécile and convinces her to write Danceny a letter. In it, she explains that Merteuil convinced her to cast Danceny as her lover instead of marrying him. Tourvel later comes to Valmont and spends the night, leaving before he wakes the next morning. Her loss causes him to realize he truly cared for her. He goes to Tourvel's residence to find she has reconciled with her husband. Valmont leaves roses for Tourvel on her unkempt bed and slips out without being seen.


title: Valmont (film)

text: Valmont returns to Merteuil and proposes marriage, saying they would be better off working together than against one another. She sadly reminds him that they were married once before and that any marriage between them could only end in betrayal. Merteuil then reveals that Danceny is in her bed; he had come to threaten her, but she seduced him and told him everything. Valmont leaves in a fury and goes to Cécile, suggesting they leave the country, so that Cécile will be free to love whom she chooses. Instead, Cécile reveals that she has confessed everything to her mother, who orders Valmont from the house.


title: Valmont (film)

text: The next day, Danceny challenges Valmont to a duel to avenge Cécile's honor. Valmont prepares for the duel by drinking himself into a stupor and arrives hung over. The honorable Danceny refuses to duel him in his condition and is willing to accept an apology. Instead, Valmont attacks, forcing Danceny to kill him in self-defense.


title: Valmont (film)

text: Valmont's funeral is filled with his former lovers, including Merteuil, who is devastated at the loss of her best friend and oldest rival. During it, Cécile reveals that she is carrying his child. The grieving Madame de Rosemonde, Valmont's aunt, is overjoyed by the news. Cécile and Gercourt are soon married in a grand ceremony, with Danceny surrounded by a pack of eligible young women. Meanwhile, Merteuil remains alone, having lost Gercourt, Danceny, and Valmont.


title: Valmont (film)

text: Some time later, Madame de Tourvel lovingly places a rose on Valmont's tomb before returning to her waiting husband.


title: Valmont (film)

text: The plot of "Valmont" differs significantly from Laclos's novel. In the novel, Cécile miscarries Valmont's child, and at the end retires to a convent; in "Valmont" she is pregnant at her wedding. In the novel, letters between Valmont and Merteuil are exposed, and Merteuil is publicly ridiculed and humiliated; in "Valmont", the letters are not mentioned, and Merteuil has no downfall except in the eyes of Cécile and her mother. She also does not suffer from the physical disfigurement described by Laclos in the denouement. Madame de Tourvel's future is less tragic: instead of dying of a broken heart, she returns to her forgiving and understanding older husband.


title: Valmont (film)

text: The Region 1 DVD released in 2002 by MGM is missing a short sequence after Valmont wakes up alone from his last night with Tourvel. In the sequence, Valmont takes flowers to Tourvel's home later the same day, but on arrival discovers that she is back with her husband. Unseen by either, he leaves the flowers on her bed before heading off to confront Merteuil. The sequence is included in the 2000 MGM VHS release, and is also in the high-definition transfer shown on MGM HD.


title: Valmont (film)

text: "Valmont" received mixed reviews, as it has a score of 48% on Rotten Tomatoes from 33 critics, and a Metacritic score of 55 from 14 critics. The film was not as highly acclaimed as "Dangerous Liaisons", which was released less than a year earlier.


title: Valmont (film)

text: In his review for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars. Comparing it to "Dangerous Liaisons", which was based on the play rather than the novel, Ebert wrote that "Valmont" was a much different film than its predecessor. Where "Dangerous Liaisons" was "cerebral and claustrophobic, an exercise in sexual mindplay", Forman's version was "more physical" and the seductions more arousing.


title: Valmont (film)

text: In his review for "Rolling Stone", Peter Travers gave the film a mixed review. While observing that the film was "rapturously beautiful, enticing us into a lush, aristocratic world", he felt that there was "nothing funny in the sight of Merteuil's decking out Cécile like a whore, nothing sexy in Valmont's indifferent rape of Cécile, nothing heroic in Valmont's futile duel with Danceny." Travers concluded, "Overlong and marred by clashing accents and acting styles, "Valmont" lacks the wit and erotic charge of "Dangerous Liaisons". But Forman's vision is, finally, more humane, more devastating."


title: Valmont (film)

text: In her review in "The New York Times", film critic Janet Maslin observed that the film "contributes virtually nothing to the body of information surrounding "Les Liaisons Dangereuses"." Maslin's major complaint was that the film lacked the "bite" of its predecessor, trivialized its characters, and showed "a troubling lack of focus".


title: Valmont (film)

text: In her review in "The Washington Post", Rita Kempley was equally unimpressed with "Valmont", describing it as "sumptuous suds, a broadly played trivialization of de Laclos's 18th-century novel of boudoir intrigue". Kemply concluded:


title: Valmont (film)

text: The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: Wuthering Heights is a 2011 British Gothic romantic drama film directed by Andrea Arnold starring Kaya Scodelario as Catherine Earnshaw and James Howson as Heathcliff. The screenplay written by Arnold and Olivia Hetreed, is based on Emily Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: Announced in April 2008, Natalie Portman was originally set to star as Cathy in a new film adaptation of the novel, but she withdrew in May. In May 2008, director John Maybury cast Michael Fassbender as Heathcliff and Abbie Cornish as Cathy. However, in May 2009, Peter Webber was announced as the new director, with Ed Westwick and Gemma Arterton attached to play Heathcliff and Cathy respectively. However, the film did not get off the ground and in January 2010, it was announced that Andrea Arnold would direct the adaptation. In April, she cast Kaya Scodelario as Catherine, a more age-appropriate choice than previous adaptations.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: Due to Brontë's description of Heathcliff as a "dark-skinned gypsy in aspect" and "a little Lascar", Arnold searched for an actor from the UK's Romani community. However, the community had some doubts. The search was then expanded to Yorkshire actors aged 16 to 21 of mixed race, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Middle Eastern descent. In November, it was reported that James Howson had been cast as Heathcliff, the first time a black actor would portray the role. Lucy Pardee was in charge of casting the children in the film (Gail Stevens cast the adults). Pardee auditioned private school children with no history of acting.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: Principal photography concluded in November 2010. Filming took place in several North Yorkshire locations, including Thwaite, Cotescue Park in Coverham (as Thrushcross Grange), and Moor Close Farm in Thwaite (as Wuthering Heights) and with the production office being temporarily based in Hawes during filming.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: The first footage of the film released was a four-shot teaser at Film4's pre-Cannes Film Festival party, with "The Guardian" noting that the teaser "wowed" the partygoers (including Venice Film Festival artistic director Marco Mueller who was present to scout films for his festival).


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: The film premiered in competition at the 2011 Venice Film Festival and appeared at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival as a Special Presentation. It was also shown at the London Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and the Leeds Film Festival. The film was released in the UK on 11 November.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: Grammy Award-nominated band Mumford & Sons recorded two songs for the film, one of which (entitled "Enemy") played over the closing credits.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: Photographer Agatha A. Nitecka shot promotional material for the film including photos for the poster, DVD cover, magazines and a photo-essay. Film4 released the first promotional photo of James Howson as Heathcliff to their Twitter account the morning the Venice Film Festival line-up was announced. With the announcement that the film would play at the Toronto Film Festival, four new promotional images were released.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: An exhibit of film stills and photographs taken on the set by Agatha A. Nitecka was displayed in Curzon Cinema's Renoir location and her photo-essay was available free to every customer who purchased a ticket. A video of the photo-essay was also released online.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: The film took £156,931 on its opening weekend at the box office in the United Kingdom, placing at 16th for the weekend of 11–13 November 2011. The film holds a 68% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's consensus reads, "Director Andrea Arnold's gritty, naturalistic re-imagining of the Emily Bronte classic stays true to the book's spirit while utilizing an unconventional approach to explore the romantic yearning at the heart of the story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 24 critics.


title: Wuthering Heights (2011 film)

text: Andrew O'Hehir of "Salon" placed the film at number one on his list of the top 10 best films of 2012.


title: Käsespätzle

text: Käsespätzle (German for "spätzle with cheese", also called "Käsknöpfle" in Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein or "Kasnocken" in Tyrol) is a traditional dish of the German regions of Swabia, Baden and Allgäu, and also in the Austrian regions Vorarlberg and Tyrol, as well as Liechtenstein and Switzerland.


title: Käsespätzle

text: Hot spätzle and grated cheese, such as Emmentaler or granular cheese, are layered alternately and are finally decorated with fried onions. After adding each layer, the käsespätzle is put into the oven until warmed and the cheese is melted.


title: Käsespätzle

text: Accompanying side dishes are green salads or potato salad. In Vorarlberg and also in Liechtenstein käsespätzle is usually served with apple sauce. Leftovers of käsespätzle can be fried with butter in a pan.


title: Käsespätzle

text: In Swabia käsespätzle are prepared with Bergkäse or Emmental cheese, optionally with both. In Vorarlberg two different cheese varieties are dominating, so in Montafon the cooks use Montafon sour cheese and in Bregenz Forest they use Bergkäse and Räßkäse, a local hard cheese.


title: Käsespätzle

text: A variation of käsespätzle are so called "Kasnocken" or "Kasnockn" coming from Salzburg and Obersteiermark, both parts of Austria. These are fried in a pan. Grated cheese and spätzle, freshly scraped from a board, are mixed together and are heated in a pan.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIFs) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock consisting of alternating layers of iron oxides and iron-poor chert. They can be up to several hundred meters in thickness and extend laterally for several hundred kilometers. Almost all of these formations are of Precambrian age and are thought to record the oxygenation of the Earth's oceans. Some of the Earth's oldest rock formations, which formed about (Ma), are associated with banded iron formations.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations are thought to have formed in sea water as the result of oxygen production by photosynthetic cyanobacteria. The oxygen combined with dissolved iron in Earth's oceans to form insoluble iron oxides, which precipitated out, forming a thin layer on the ocean floor. Each band is similar to a varve, resulting from cyclic variations in oxygen production.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations were first discovered in northern Michigan in 1844. Banded iron formations account for more than 60% of global iron reserves and provide most of the iron ore presently mined. Most formations can be found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, and the United States.


title: Banded iron formation

text: A typical banded iron formation consists of repeated, thin layers (a few millimeters to a few centimeters in thickness) of silver to black iron oxides, either magnetite (FeO) or hematite (FeO), alternating with bands of iron-poor chert, often red in color, of similar thickness. A single banded iron formation can be up to several hundred meters in thickness and extend laterally for several hundred kilometers.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formation is more precisely defined as chemically precipitated sedimentary rock containing greater than 15% iron. However, most BIFs have a higher content of iron, typically around 30% by mass, so that roughly half the rock is iron oxides and the other half is silica. The iron in BIFs is divided roughly equally between the more oxidized ferric form, Fe(III), and the more reduced ferrous form, Fe(II), so that the ratio Fe(III)/Fe(II+III) typically varies from 0.3 to 0.6. This indicates a predominance of magnetite, in which the ratio is 0.67, over hematite, for which the ratio is 1. In addition to the iron oxides (hematite and magnetite), the iron sediment may contain the iron-rich carbonates siderite and ankerite, or the iron-rich silicates minnesotaite and greenalite. Most BIFs are chemically simple, containing little but iron oxides, silica, and minor carbonate, though some contain significant calcium and magnesium, up to 9% and 6.7% as oxides respectively.


title: Banded iron formation

text: When used in the singular, the term banded iron formation refers to the sedimentary lithology just described. The plural form, banded iron formations, is used informally to refer to stratigraphic units that consist primarily of banded iron formation.


title: Banded iron formation

text: A well-preserved banded iron formation typically consists of "macrobands" several meters thick that are separated by thin shale beds. The macrobands in turn are composed of characteristic alternating layers of chert and iron oxides, called "mesobands", that are several millimeters to a few centimeters thick. Many of the chert mesobands contain "microbands" of iron oxides that are less than a millimeter thick, while the iron mesobands are relatively featureless. BIFs tend to be extremely hard, tough, and dense, making them highly resistant to erosion, and they show fine details of stratification over great distances, suggesting they were deposited in a very low-energy environment; that is, in relatively deep water, undisturbed by wave motion or currents. BIFs only rarely interfinger with other rock types, tending to form sharply bounded discrete units that never grade laterally into other rock types.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations of the Great Lakes region and the Frere Formation of western Australia are somewhat different in character and are sometimes described as "granular iron formations" or "GIFs". Their iron sediments are granular to oolitic in character, forming discrete grains about a millimeter in diameter, and they lack microbanding in their chert mesobands. They also show more irregular mesobanding, with indications of ripples and other sedimentary structures, and their mesobands cannot be traced out any great distance. Though they form well-defined, discrete units, these are commonly interbedded with coarse to medium-grained epiclastic sediments (sediments formed by weathering of rock). These features suggest a higher energy depositional environment, in shallower water disturbed by wave motions. However, they otherwise resemble other banded iron formations.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The great majority of banded iron formations are Archean or Paleoproterozoic in age. However, a small number of BIFs are Neoproterozoic in age, and are frequently, if not universally, associated with glacial deposits, often containing glacial dropstones. They also tend to show a higher level of oxidation, with hematite prevailing over magnetite, and they typically contain a small amount of phosphate, about 1% by mass. Mesobanding is often poor to nonexistent and soft-sediment deformation structures are common. This suggests very rapid deposition. However, like the granular iron formations of the Great Lakes, the Neoproterozoic occurrences are widely described as banded iron formations.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations are distinct from most Phanerozoic ironstones. Ironstones are relatively rare and are thought to have been deposited in marine anoxic events, in which the depositional basin became depleted in free oxygen. They are composed of iron silicates and oxides without appreciable chert but with significant phosphorus content, which is lacking in BIFs.


title: Banded iron formation

text: No classification scheme for banded iron formations has gained complete acceptance. In 1954, Harold Lloyd James advocated a classification based on four lithological facies (oxide, carbonate, silicate, and sulfide) assumed to represent different depths of deposition, but this speculative model did not hold up. In 1980, Gordon A. Gross advocated a twofold division of BIFs into an Algoma type and a Lake Superior type, based on the character of the depositional basin. Algoma BIFs are found in relatively small basins in association with greywackes and other volcanic rocks and are assumed to be associated with volcanic centers. Lake Superior BIFs are found in larger basins in association with black shales, quartzites, and dolomites, with relatively minor tuffs or other volcanic rocks, and are assumed to have formed on a continental shelf. This classification has been more widely accepted, but the failure to appreciate that it is strictly based on the characteristics of the depositional basin and not the lithology of the BIF itself has led to confusion, and some geologists have advocated for its abandonment. However, the classification into Algoma versus Lake Superior types continues to be used.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations are almost exclusively Precambrian in age, with most deposits dating to the late Archean (2800-2500 Ma) with a secondary peak of deposition in the Orosirian period of the Paleoproterozoic (1850 Ma). Minor amounts were deposited in the early Archean and in the Neoproterozoic (750 Ma). The youngest known banded iron formation is an Early Cambrian formation in western China. Because the processes by which BIFs are formed appear to be restricted to early geologic time, and may reflect unique conditions of the Precambrian world, they have been intensively studied by geologists.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations are found worldwide, in every continental shield of every continent. The oldest BIFs are associated with greenstone belts and include the BIFs of the Isua Greenstone Belt, the oldest known, which have an estimated age of 3700 to 3800 Ma. The Temagami banded iron deposits formed over a 50-million-year period, from 2736 to 2687 Ma, and reached a thickness of . Other examples of early Archean BIFs are found in the Abitibi greenstone belts, the greenstone belts of the Yilgarn and Pilbara cratons, the Baltic shield, and the cratons of the Amazon, north China, and south and west Africa.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The most extensive banded iron formations belong to what A.F. Trendall calls the Great Gondwana BIFs. These are late Archean in age and are not associated with greenstone belts. They are relatively undeformed and form extensive topographic plateaus, such as the Hamersley Range. The banded iron formations here were deposited from 2470 to 2450 Ma and are the thickest and most extensive in the world, with a maximum thickness in excess of . Similar BIFs are found in the Carajás Formation of the Amazon craton, the Cauê Itabirite of the São Francisco craton, the Kuruman Iron Formation and Penge Iron Formation of South Africa, and the Mulaingiri Formation of India.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Paleoproterozoic banded iron formations are found in the Iron Range and other parts of the Canadian Shield. The Iron Range is a group of four major deposits: the Mesabi Range, the Vermilion Range, the Gunflint Range, and the Cuyuna Range. All are part of the Animikie Group and were deposited between 2500 and 1800 Ma. These BIFs are predominantly granular iron formations.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Neoproterozoic banded iron formations include the Urucum in Brazil, Rapitan in the Yukon, and the Damara Belt in southern Africa. They are relatively limited in size, with horizontal extents not more than a few tens of kilometers and thicknesses not more than about . These are widely thought to have been deposited under unusual anoxic oceanic conditions associated with the "Snowball Earth."


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formation provided some of the first evidence for the timing of the Great Oxygenation Event, 2,400 Ma. With his 1968 paper on the early atmosphere and oceans of the earth, Preston Cloud established the general framework that has been widely, if not universally, accepted for understanding the deposition of BIFs.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Cloud postulated that banded iron formations were a consequence of anoxic, iron-rich waters from the deep ocean welling up into a photic zone inhabited by cyanobacteria that had evolved the capacity to carry out oxygen-producing photosynthesis, but which had not yet evolved enzymes (such as superoxide dismutase) for living in an oxygenated environment. Such organisms would have been protected from their own oxygen waste through its rapid removal via the reservoir of reduced ferrous iron, Fe(II), in the early ocean. The oxygen released by photosynthesis oxidized the Fe(II) to ferric iron, Fe(III), which precipitated out of the sea water as insoluble iron oxides that settled to the ocean floor.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Cloud suggested that banding resulted from fluctuations in the population of cyanobacteria due to free radical damage by oxygen. This also explained the relatively limited extent of early Archean deposits. The great peak in BIF deposition at the end of the Archean was thought to be the result of the evolution of mechanisms for living with oxygen. This ended self-poisoning and produced a population explosion in the cyanobacteria that rapidly depleted the remaining supply of reduced iron and ended most BIF deposition. Oxygen then began to accumulate in the atmosphere.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Some details of Cloud's original model were abandoned. For example, improved dating of Precambrian strata has shown that the late Archean peak of BIF deposition was spread out over tens of millions of years, rather than taking place in a very short interval of time following the evolution of oxygen-coping mechanisms. However, his general concepts continue to shape thinking about the origins of banded iron formations. In particular, the concept of the upwelling of deep ocean water, rich in reduced iron, into an oxygenated surface layer poor in iron remains a key element of most theories of deposition.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The few formations deposited after 1,800 Ma may point to intermittent low levels of free atmospheric oxygen, while the small peak at may be associated with the hypothetical Snowball Earth.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The microbands within chert layers are most likely varves produced by annual variations in oxygen production. Diurnal microbanding would require a very high rate of deposition of 2 meters per year or 5 km/Ma. Estimates of deposition rate based on various models of deposition and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) estimates of the age of associated tuff beds suggest a deposition rate in typical BIFs of 19 to 270 m/Ma, which are consistent either with annual varves or rhythmites produced by tidal cycles.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Cloud proposed that mesobanding was a result of self-poisoning by early cyanobacteria as the supply of reduced iron was periodically depleted. Mesobanding has also been interpreted as a secondary structure, not present in the sediments as originally laid down, but produced during compaction of the sediments. Another theory is that mesobands are primary structures resulting from pulses of activity along mid-ocean ridges that change the availability of reduced iron on time scales of decades. In the case of granular iron formations, the mesobands are attributed to winnowing of sediments in shallow water, in which wave action tended to segregate particles of different size and composition.


title: Banded iron formation

text: There must be an ample source of reduced iron that can circulate freely into the deposition basin. Plausible sources of iron include hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean ridges, windblown dust, rivers, glacial ice, and seepage from continental margins.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The importance of various sources of reduced iron has likely changed dramatically across geologic time. This is reflected in the division of BIFs into Algoma and Lake Superior-type deposits. Algoma-type BIFs formed primarily in the Archean. These older BIFs tend to show a positive europium anomaly consistent with a hydrothermal source of iron. By contrast, Lake Superior-type banded iron formations primarily formed during the Paleoproterozoic era, and lack the europium anomalies of the older Algoma-type BIFs, suggesting a much greater input of iron weathered from continents.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The absence of hydrogen sulfide in anoxic ocean water can be explained either by reduced sulfur flux into the deep ocean or a lack of dissimilatory sulfate reduction (DSR), the process by which microorganisms use sulfate in place of oxygen for respiration. The product of DSR is hydrogen sulfide, which readily precipitates iron out of solution as pyrite.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The requirement of an anoxic, but not euxinic, deep ocean for deposition of banded iron formation suggests two models to explain the end of BIF deposition 1.8 billion years ago. The "Holland ocean" model proposes that the deep ocean became sufficiently oxygenated at that time to end transport of reduced iron. Heinrich Holland argues that the absence of manganese deposits during the pause between Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic BIFs is evidence that the deep ocean had become at least slightly oxygenated. The "Canfield ocean" model proposes that, to the contrary, the deep ocean became euxinic and transport of reduced iron was blocked by precipitation as pyrite.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations in northern Minnesota are overlain by a thick layer of ejecta from the Sudbury Basin impact. An asteroid (estimated at 10 km across) impacted into waters about 1,000 m deep 1.849 billion years ago, coincident with the pause in BIF deposition. Computer models suggest that the impact would have generated a tsunami at least 1,000 meters high at the point of impact, and 100 meters high about 3,000 kilometers away. It has been suggested that the immense waves and large underwater landslides triggered by the impact caused the mixing of a previously stratified ocean, oxygenated the deep ocean, and ended BIF deposition shortly after the impact.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Although Cloud argued that microbial activity was a key process in the deposition of banded iron formation, the role of oxygenic versus anoxygenic photosynthesis continues to be debated, and nonbiogenic processes have also been proposed.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Cloud's original hypothesis was that ferrous iron was oxidized in a straightforward manner by molecular oxygen present in the water:


title: Banded iron formation

text: The oxygen comes from the photosynthetic activities of cyanobacteria. Oxidation of ferrous iron may have been hastened by aerobic iron-oxidizing bacteria, which can increase rates of oxidation by a factor of 50 under conditions of low oxygen.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Oxygenic photosynthesis is not the only biogenic mechanism for deposition of banded iron formations. Some geochemists have suggested that banded iron formations could form by direct oxidation of iron by microbial anoxygenic phototrophs. The concentrations of phosphorus and trace metals in BIFs are consistent with precipitation through the activities of iron-oxidizing bacteria.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Iron isotope ratios in the oldest banded iron formations (3700-3800 Ma), at Isua, Greenland, are best explained by assuming extremely low oxygen levels (<0.001% of modern O levels in the photic zone) and anoxygenic photosynthetic oxidation of Fe(II):


title: Banded iron formation

text: This requires that dissimilatory iron reduction, the biological process in which microorganisms substitute Fe(III) for oxygen in respiration, was not yet widespread. By contrast, Lake Superior-type banded iron formations show iron isotope ratios that suggest that dissimilatory iron reduction expanded greatly during this period.


title: Banded iron formation

text: An alternate route is oxidation by anaerobic denitrifying bacteria. This requires that nitrogen fixation by microorganisms is also active.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The lack of organic carbon in banded iron formation argues against microbial control of BIF deposition. On the other hand, there is fossil evidence for abundant photosynthesizing cyanobacteria at the start of BIF deposition and of hydrocarbon markers in shales within banded iron formation of the Pilbara craton. The carbon that is present in banded iron formations is enriched in the light isotope, C, an indicator of a biological origin. If a substantial part of the original iron oxides was in the form of hematite, then any carbon in the sediments might have been oxidized by the decarbonization reaction:


title: Banded iron formation

text: Trendall and J.G. Blockley proposed, but later rejected, the hypothesis that banded iron formation might be a peculiar kind of Precambrian evaporite. Other proposed abiogenic processes include radiolysis by the radioactive isotope of potassium, K, or annual turnover of basin water combined with upwelling of iron-rich water in a stratified ocean.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Another abiogenic mechanism is photooxidation of iron by sunlight. Laboratory experiments suggest that this could produce a sufficiently high deposition rate under likely conditions of pH and sunlight. However, if the iron came from a shallow hydrothermal source, other laboratory experiments suggest that precipitation of ferrous iron as carbonates or silicates could seriously compete with photooxidation.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Regardless of the precise mechanism of oxidation, the oxidation of ferrous to ferric iron likely caused the iron to precipitate out as a ferric hydroxide gel. Similarly, the silica component of the banded iron formations likely precipitated as a hydrous silica gel. The conversion of iron hydroxide and silica gels to banded iron formation is an example of diagenesis, the conversion of sediments into solid rock.


title: Banded iron formation

text: There is evidence that banded iron formations formed from sediments with nearly the same chemical composition as is found in the BIFs today. The BIFs of the Hamersley Range show great chemical homogeneity and lateral uniformity, with no indication of any precursor rock that might have been altered to the current composition. This suggests that, other than dehydration and decarbonization of the original ferric hydroxide and silica gels, diagenesis likely left the composition unaltered and consisted of crystallization of the original gels. Decarbonization may account for the lack of carbon and preponderance of magnetite in older banded iron formations. The relatively high content of hematite in Neoproterozoic BIFs suggests they were deposited very quickly and via a process that did not produce great quantities of biomass, so that little carbon was present to reduce hematite to magnetite.


title: Banded iron formation

text: However, it is possible that BIF was altered from carbonate rock or from hydrothermal mud during late stages of diagenesis. A 2018 study found no evidence that magnetite in BIF formed by decarbonization, and suggests that it formed from thermal decomposition of siderite via the reaction


title: Banded iron formation

text: The iron may have originally precipitated as greenalite and other iron silicates. Macrobanding is then interpreted as a product of compaction of the original iron silicate mud. This produced siderite-rich bands that served as pathways for fluid flow and formation of magnetite.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The peak of deposition of banded iron formations in the late Archean, and the end of deposition in the Orosirian, have been interpreted as markers for the Great Oxygenation Event. Prior to 2.45 billion years ago, the high degree of mass-independent fractionation of sulfur (MIF-S) indicates an extremely oxygen-poor atmosphere. The peak of banded iron formation deposition coincides with the disappearance of the MIF-S signal, which is interpreted as the permanent appearance of oxygen in the atmosphere between 2.41 and 2.35 billion years ago. This was accompanied by the development of a stratified ocean with a deep anoxic layer and a shallow oxidized layer. The end of deposition of BIF at 1.85 billion years ago is attributed to the oxidation of the deep ocean.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Until 1992 it was assumed that the rare, later (younger) banded iron deposits represented unusual conditions where oxygen was depleted locally. Iron-rich waters would then form in isolation and subsequently come into contact with oxygenated water. The Snowball Earth hypothesis provided an alternative explanation for these younger deposits. In a Snowball Earth state the continents, and possibly seas at low latitudes, were subject to a severe ice age circa 750 to 580 Ma that nearly or totally depleted free oxygen. Dissolved iron then accumulated in the oxygen-poor oceans (possibly from seafloor hydrothermal vents). Following the thawing of the Earth, the seas became oxygenated once more causing the precipitation of the iron. Banded iron formations of this period are predominantly associated with the Sturtian glaciation.


title: Banded iron formation

text: An alternative mechanism for banded iron formations in the Snowball Earth era suggests the iron was deposited from metal-rich brines in the vicinity of hydrothermally active rift zones due to glacially-driven thermal overturn. The limited extent of these BIFs compared with the associated glacial deposits, their association with volcanic formations, and variation in thickness and facies favor this hypothesis. Such a mode of formation does not require a global anoxic ocean, but is consistent with either a Snowball Earth or Slushball Earth model.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formations provide most of the iron ore presently mined. More than 60% of global iron reserves are in the form of banded iron formation, most of which can be found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, and the United States.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Different mining districts coined their own names for BIFs. The term "banded iron formation" was coined in the iron districts of Lake Superior, where the ore deposits of the Mesabi, Marquette, Cuyuna, Gogebic, and Menominee iron ranges were also variously known as "jasper", "jaspilite", "iron-bearing formation", or taconite. Banded iron formations were described as "itabarite" in Brazil, as "ironstone" in South Africa, and as "BHQ" (banded hematite quartzite) in India.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Banded iron formation was first discovered in northern Michigan in 1844, and mining of these deposits prompted the earliest studies of BIFs, such as those of Charles R. Van Hise and Charles Kenneth Leith. Iron mining operations on the Mesabi and Cuyuna Ranges evolved into enormous open pit mines, where steam shovels and other industrial machines could remove massive amounts of ore. Initially the mines exploited large beds of hematite and goethite weathered out of the banded iron formations, and some 2.5 billion tons of this "natural ore" had been extracted by 1980. By 1956 large-scale commercial production from the BIF itself began at the Peter Mitchell Mine near Babbitt, Minnesota. Production in Minnesota was 40 million tons of ore concentrate per year in 2016, which is about 75% of total U.S. production. Magnetite-rich banded iron formation, known locally as taconite, is ground to a powder, and the magnetite is separated with powerful magnets and pelletized for shipment and smelting.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Iron ore became a global commodity after the Second World War, and with the end of the embargo against exporting iron ore from Australia in 1960, the Hamersley Range became a major mining district. The banded iron formations here are the thickest and most extensive in the world, originally covering an area of and containing about 300 trillion metric tons of iron. The range contains 80 percent of all identified iron ore reserves in Australia. Over 100 million metric tons of iron ore is removed from the range every year.


title: Banded iron formation

text: The Itabarite banded iron formations of Brazil cover at least and are up to thick. These form the Quadrilatero Ferrifero or Iron Quadrangle, which resembles the Iron Range mines of United States in that the favored ore is hematite weathered out of the BIFs. Production from the Iron Quadrangle helps make Brazil the second largest producer of iron ore after Australia, with monthly exports averaging 139,299 metric tons from December 2007 to May 2018.


title: Banded iron formation

text: Mining of ore from banded iron formations at Anshan in north China began in 1918. When Japan occupied Northeast China in 1931, these mills were turned into a Japanese-owned monopoly, and the city became a significant strategic industrial hub during the Second World War. Total production of processed iron in Manchuria reached 1,000,000 metric tons in 1931–32. By 1942, Anshan's Shōwa Steel Works total production capacity reached 3,600,000 metric tons per annum, making it one of the major iron and steel centers in the world. Production was severely disrupted during the Soviet occupation of Manchuria in 1945 and the subsequent Chinese Civil War. However, from 1948 to 2001, the steel works produced 290 million tons of steel, 284 million tons of pig iron and 192 million tons of rolled steel. Annual production capacity is 10 million tons of pig iron, 10 million tons of steel and 9.5 million tons of rolled steel. A quarter of China's total iron ore reserves, about 10 billion tons, are located in Anshan.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: Down and Out in Beverly Hills is a 1986 American comedy film based on the 1919 French play "Boudu sauvé des eaux", which had previously been adapted on film in 1932 by Jean Renoir. "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" was directed by Paul Mazursky, and starred Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss. The plot follows a rich but dysfunctional family who save the life of a suicidal homeless man. Musician Little Richard appears as a neighbor, and performs "Great Gosh A'Mighty" during a party scene.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: Released by Touchstone Films, a film label of The Walt Disney Studios, "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" has the distinction of being the first film released by Disney to receive an R-rating by the MPAA. The film was Dreyfuss's first substantial hit after his much publicized drug problems and helped to reignite his career.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: Dave Whiteman and his wife, Barbara, are a nouveau-riche couple in Beverly Hills whose 20-year marriage has become stale and sexless. Dave is the owner of "Dave-Bar", a manufacturing business that makes wire garment hangers. He is having an affair with Carmen, the live-in maid, while Barbara tries to relieve her constant feelings of anxiety through shopping and experimenting with various New Age therapies. She admits to having hired Carmen partly to satisfy Dave's lust. Their teenage son, Max, has a strained relationship with his parents, communicates with them largely through his avant-garde videos, and is having issues around his gender presentation. Dave feels estranged from his 19-year-old daughter Jenny, who he believes is anorexic and making poor life choices. The family dog is also poorly adjusted.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: Jerry Baskin, a down-and-out homeless man, attempts to drown himself in the Whitemans' pool, driven to despair by the loss of his own dog. Dave saves him and offers to let him to recuperate at their home for a few days. He is intrigued by Jerry's colorful accounts of his past life and former success and wealth, and offers to help him back onto his feet. As they spend time together, meeting Jerry's friends, Dave finds liberation in observing Jerry's lifestyle and outlook, which contrasts his own materialistic conformism. Meanwhile, Jerry overcomes Barbara's hostility and begins a sexual relationship with her. This reawakens her sex drive, and she and Dave re-consummate their marriage. Jerry soon also has sex with Carmen, who now rejects Dave's advances as exploitative, thanks to the political literature Jerry introduced her to. He also cures the dog of its behavioral problems through his empathetic skills, and he persuades Max to come out to his parents in his androgynous persona. Finally, he seduces Jenny, just as she vehemently denounces him as a manipulative psychopath. When next seen, at an extravagant party thrown by the Whitemans, she has overcome her apparent anorexia and declares herself deeply in love with him. This development impels Dave to physically attack Jerry, and the major characters end up floundering in the swimming pool. The following morning, Jerry ruefully confesses to inventing the stories he had told of his past and prepares to leave the Whitemans' home. Wandering down the back service alley with the family dog (now his firmly bonded companion), Jerry turns to see the entire household gathering in the alley, gazing after him longingly. Without a word, he turns back to rejoin them, and they re-enter the grounds of the house together, apparently to resume their unorthodox living arrangement.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: The film was a financial success. It opened on 806 screens and was number one at the US box office with an opening weekend gross of $5,726,495. It added 10 more theatres and grossed 7% more in its second weekend, remaining at number one. It grossed $62,000,000 in the US alone on a budget of $14,000,000.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "An enjoyable farce that relocates Jean Renoir's "Boudu Saved From Drowning" to '80s California, offering fine comedic performances from Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 based on eight critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" quipped, "No film of Mr. Mazursky's is without its occasional sentimental excess, and this one even has its silly side; certainly Mr. Mazursky, who wrote the film with Leon Capetanos, knows better than to throw everyone into the pool at the end of a party scene. But as a comedy of manners it has a dependably keen aim, with its most wicked barbs leavened by Mr. Mazursky's obvious fondness for his characters." The final two sentences Roger Ebert's 4-star review of the film read, "Mazursky has a way of making comedies that are more intelligent and relevant than most of the serious films around; his last credit, for example, was the challenging "Moscow on the Hudson." So let me just say that "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" made me laugh longer and louder than any film I've seen in a long time." Shelia Benson's review in "Los Angeles Times" called it "depth-charge comedy"; however, she had reservations on the outcome of Nick Nolte's character.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: In April 1987, a series based on the film aired on the newly formed Fox Broadcasting Company. Evan Richards (Max) was the only actor to star in both the film and show. It aired five episodes before cancellation, being one of two shows (the other being "Karen's Song") that were canceled by the start of the 1987–88 television season by Fox.


title: Down and Out in Beverly Hills

text: While the soundtrack omits the song, the opening and closing credits feature a remix of "Once in a Lifetime" from the 1984 Talking Heads concert film "Stop Making Sense".


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was "offloaded" to India's HCL Technologies in 2018.


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus is most commonly known for the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet application, the first feature-heavy, user-friendly, reliable and WYSIWYG-enabled product to become widely available in the early days of the IBM PC, when there was no graphical user interface. Much later, in conjunction with Ray Ozzie's Iris Associates, Lotus also released a groupware and email system, Lotus Notes. IBM purchased the company in 1995 for US$3.5 billion, primarily to acquire Lotus Notes and to establish a presence in the increasingly important client–server computing segment, which was rapidly making host-based products such as IBM's OfficeVision obsolete.


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus was founded in 1982 by partners Mitch Kapor and Jonathan Sachs with backing from Ben Rosen. Lotus's first product was presentation software for the Apple II known as Lotus Executive Briefing System. Kapor founded Lotus after leaving his post as head of development at VisiCorp, the distributors of the VisiCalc spreadsheet, and selling all his rights to Visi-Plot and Visi-Trend to Visi-Corp.


title: Lotus Software

text: Shortly after Kapor left Visi-Corp, he and Sachs produced an integrated spreadsheet and graphics program. Even though IBM and VisiCorp had a collaboration agreement whereby Visi-Calc was being shipped simultaneously with the PC, Lotus had a clearly superior product. Lotus released Lotus 1-2-3 on January 26, 1983. The name referred to the three ways the product could be used, as a spreadsheet, word processor, and database manager. In practice the latter two functions were less often used, but 1-2-3 was the most powerful spreadsheet program available.


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus was almost immediately successful, becoming the world's third largest microcomputer software company in 1983 with $53 million in sales in its first year, compared to its business plan forecast of $1 million in sales. In 1982 Jim Manzi — a graduate of Colgate University and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy — came to Lotus as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and became an employee four months later. In October 1984 he was named president, and in April 1986 he was appointed CEO, succeeding Kapor. In July of that same year he also became chairman of the board. Manzi remained at the head of Lotus until 1995.


title: Lotus Software

text: As the popularity of the personal computer grew, Lotus quickly came to dominate the spreadsheet market. Lotus introduced other office products such as Ray Ozzie's Symphony in 1984 and the Jazz office suite for the Apple Macintosh computer in 1985. Jazz did very poorly in the market (in Guy Kawasaki's book "The Macintosh Way," Lotus Jazz was described as being so bad, "even the people who pirated it returned it"). Also in 1985, Lotus bought Software Arts and discontinued its VisiCalc program.


title: Lotus Software

text: In the late 1980s Lotus developed Lotus Magellan, a file management and indexing utility. In this period Manuscript, a word processor, Lotus Agenda, an innovative personal information manager (PIM) which flopped, and Improv, a ground-breaking modeling package (and spreadsheet) for the NeXT platform, were released. Improv also flopped, and none of these products made a significant impact on the market.


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus was involved in a number of lawsuits, of which the most significant were the "look and feel" cases which started in 1987. Lotus sued Paperback Software and Mosaic for copyright infringement, false and misleading advertising, and unfair competition over their low-cost clones of 1-2-3, VP Planner and Twin, and sued Borland over its Quattro spreadsheet. This led Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, to found the League for Programming Freedom (LPF) and hold protests outside Lotus Development offices. Paperback and Mosaic lost and went out of business; Borland won and survived. The LPF filed an "amicus curiae" brief in the Borland case.


title: Lotus Software

text: In the 1990s, to compete with Microsoft's Windows applications, Lotus had to buy in products such as Ami Pro (word processor), Approach (database), and Threadz, which became Lotus Organizer. Several applications (1-2-3, Freelance Graphics, Ami Pro, Approach, and Lotus Organizer) were bundled together under the name Lotus SmartSuite. Although SmartSuite was bundled cheaply with many PCs and may initially have been more popular than Microsoft Office, Lotus quickly lost its dominance in the desktop applications market with the transition from 16- to 32-bit applications running on Windows 95. In large part due to its focusing much of its development resources on a suite of applications for IBM's new (and eventually commercially unsuccessful) OS/2 operating system, Lotus was late in delivering its suite of 32-bit products and failed to capitalize on the transition to the new version of Windows. The last significant new release was the SmartSuite Millennium Edition released in 1999.


title: Lotus Software

text: All new development of the suite was ended in 2000, with ongoing maintenance being moved overseas. The last update release was 2014.


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus began its diversification from the desktop software business with its 1984 strategic founding investment in Ray Ozzie's Iris Associates, the creator of its Lotus Notes groupware platform. As a result of this early speculative move, Lotus had gained significant experience in network-based communications years before other competitors in the PC world had even started thinking about networked computing or the Internet. Lotus initially brought Lotus Notes to market in 1989, and later reinforced its market presence with the acquisition of in 1991. In 1994, Lotus acquired Iris Associates. Lotus's dominant groupware position attracted IBM, which needed to make a strategic move away from host-based messaging products and to establish a stronger presence in client–server computing, but it also soon attracted stiff competition from Microsoft Exchange Server.


title: Lotus Software

text: In the second quarter of 1995 IBM launched a hostile bid for Lotus with a $60-per-share tender offer, when Lotus' stock was only trading at $32. Jim Manzi looked for potential white knights, and forced IBM to increase its bid to $64.50 per share, for a $3.5 billion buyout of Lotus in July 1995. On October 11, 1995 Manzi announced his resignation from what had become the Lotus Development division of IBM; he left with stock worth $78 million.


title: Lotus Software

text: While IBM allowed Lotus to develop, market and sell its products under its own brand name, a restructuring in January 2001 brought it more in line with its parent company, IBM. Also, IBM moved key marketing and management functions from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to IBM's New York office.


title: Lotus Software

text: Gradually, the Lotus.com web site changed the "About us" section of its web site to eliminate references to "Lotus Development Corporation". The Lotus.com web page in 2001 clearly showed the company as "Lotus Development Corporation" with "a word from its CEO" by 2002 the "About us" section was removed from its site menu, and the Lotus logo was replaced with the IBM logo. By 2003 an "About Lotus" link returned to the Lotus.com page on its sidebar, but this time identifying the company as "Lotus software from IBM" and showing in its contact information "Lotus Software, IBM Software Group". By 2008 the Lotus.com domain name stopped showing a standalone site, instead redirecting to www.ibm.com/software/lotus, and in 2012 the site discontinued all reference to Lotus Software in favor of IBM Collaboration Solutions.


title: Lotus Software

text: IBM discontinued development of IBM Lotus Symphony in 2012 with the final release of version 3.0.1, moving future development effort to Apache OpenOffice, and donating the source code to the Apache Software Foundation. Later that year, IBM announced it was discontinuing the Lotus brand and on March 13, 2013, IBM announced the availability of IBM Notes and Domino 9.0 Social Edition, replacing prior versions of IBM Lotus Notes and IBM Lotus Domino and marking the end of Lotus as an active brand.


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus's first employee was Janet Axelrod who created the Human Resources organization and was the central figure in creating the Lotus culture. As she continued to build her organization and play a central role with senior management, she eventually hired Freada Klein as the first director of employee relations.


title: Lotus Software

text: In 1995 Lotus had over 4,000 employees worldwide; IBM's acquisition of Lotus was greeted with apprehension by many Lotus employees, who feared that the corporate culture of "Big Blue" would smother their creativity. To the surprise of many employees and journalists, IBM initially adopted a very hands-off, laissez-faire attitude towards its new acquisition.


title: Lotus Software

text: However, by 2000 the assimilation of Lotus was well underway. While the mass employee defections that IBM feared did not materialize, many long-time Lotus employees did complain about the transition to IBM's culture—IBM's employee benefits programs, in particular, were singled out as inferior to Lotus's very progressive programs.


title: Lotus Software

text: Lotus's headquarters in Cambridge were originally divided into two buildings, the Lotus Development Building (LDB) on the banks of the Charles River, and the Rogers Street building, adjacent to the CambridgeSide Galleria. However, in 2001, then President and General Manager, Al Zollar decided not to renew the lease of LDB. The subsequent migration of employees across the street (and into home offices) generally coincided with what was probably the final exodus of employees from the company. Later, IBM's offices at 1 Rogers St supported mobile employees, the Watson Research Center on User interface, and IBM DataPower.


title: Lotus Software

text: IBM sponsored the "Lotus Greenhouse", a community web site featuring software from IBM and its business partners.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Vickers MBT is a series of main battle tanks (MBTs) developed as a private venture by British company Vickers-Armstrongs for export. The design makes use of proven components, such as the L7 gun of the Centurion, the Leyland L60 multi-fuel engine, the transmission and fire control system of the Chieftain. Many copied tanks were also built by India under licence as the Vijayanta.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Vickers MBT followed on from a 24-tonne 20-pdr gunned tank design intended for export. This would be as well equipped as a Centurion but substantially cheaper and with eight Vickers Vigilant anti-tank missiles it would be as effective. However, with the introduction of the 105 mm L7 gun into the British, US and German tank designs, this light tank would have been less powerful while too large for the reconnaissance role, and so a new design was required. With armour twice that of the light tank design, it would still be 12 tonnes lighter than Centurion and hence more mobile. The design would use the new engine and transmission of the Chieftain tank then being developed. The development coincided with an agreement with India in 1961 to produce a tank design and help set up a factory there to produce it.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Vickers MBT Mk 1 was designed to be a simple, low-cost, but effective tank. The first prototype was completed in 1963. In 1964, one of the prototypes was sent to India.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Vickers was made of welded rolled homogeneous armour plates. It weighed 38,600 kg, carried a 105 mm gun with 44 rounds and had a top speed of 48 km/h. 70 tanks were sold to Kuwait and many of a modified version were made in India where the tank was called Vijayanta.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The 1968 proposal for a vehicle specification that differed from the Mark 1 in the following respects:


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Mark 2 did not proceed beyond a mock-up although a Vickers Mark 1 MBT with four Swingfire missiles, two mounted either side of the turret towards the rear, was shown at Farnborough. A note in Vickers's files dated from 20 November 1970 explains the probable reason: "Guided missiles have an inherent disadvantage in that is almost impossible to fire them from under armour since the rocket motor efflux presents a serious problem. Generally speaking, the best that can be achieved is to put the crew under armour and mount the missiles externally. This presents reloading problems and leaves the missiles vulnerable to small arms and mortar fire."


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Mk. 3 was introduced in 1975 for the export market. It was the last of the Vickers tanks to see sales in numbers abroad.


title: Vickers MBT

text: In 1974, Vickers pressed on with development of a Mark 3 version. This stems from Design No. 51400 T and differs from the Mark 1 mainly in having a turret with a well-shaped cast front welded to a fabricated armour plate body. It also has a cast gun mantlet which is better shaped from the point of view of its resistance to armour-piercing projectiles than the flat mantlet of the Mark. 1. The Mark 3 embodies various other improvements, such as an increase in the depression of its main gun from -7 to -10 degrees below the horizontal and an increase in the ammunition from 44 to 50 rounds. The first production order for Mk. 3 tanks was placed in 1977 by the Government of Kenya


title: Vickers MBT

text: In 1977, Vickers produced a design for a vehicle that incorporated Chobham composite armour protection within a battle weight of 43 tonnes. This first prototype, designated the Vickers Main Battle Tank Mark 4.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Vickers Mk 7 consisted of a third generation Vickers Valiant turret mounted on a Krauss-Maffei-supplied chassis that in the prototype is essentially that of the Leopard 2 MBT.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The tank had a Marconi digital fire control system, an SFIM panoramic sight and a Philips 2nd Gen thermal imager.


title: Vickers MBT

text: The Mark 7 has three features that reduces the likelihood of its detection by night sights and other heat-sensing devices. These are its coat of infra-red reflective paint; the mixing of the hot exhaust gases with the cooling air before discharge; and a new design of thermal sleeve.


title: Vickers MBT

text: Equipped with the Marksman turret, as well as a self-propelled 155mm howitzer with the GBT 155 turret. The GBT 155 was unveiled in 1982 and was armed with the same 155mm ordnance as the AS-90. It was designed primarily for existing tank chassis.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: World Without End is an eight-episode 2012 television miniseries based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Ken Follett. It is a sequel to the 2010 miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth", also based on a Follett novel. "World Without End" is set 150 years after "The Pillars of the Earth" and chronicles the experiences of the English town of Kingsbridge during the start of the Hundred Years' War and the outbreak of the Black Death. The cast is led by Cynthia Nixon, Miranda Richardson, Ben Chaplin, Peter Firth, Charlotte Riley, and Tom Weston-Jones. The miniseries differs significantly from the novel in both the plot and characterizations.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: Filming took place in Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. John Pielmeier adapted the screenplay and Michael Caton-Jones directed all eight episodes.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: Set in England during the 14th century, the series chronicles the lives of ordinary citizens. Edward III leads the nation into the Hundred Years' War with France, while Europe faced the Black Death. Caris (Charlotte Riley), a visionary woman, and her lover Merthin (Tom Weston-Jones) build a community that stands up to the crown and the church.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: While acquiring the rights to "The Pillars of the Earth" from Ken Follett, Tandem Communications also secured a first right to negotiate a deal for "World Without End", the sequel to the first novel. The project was announced in December 2010. The "World Without End" miniseries was co-produced by Tandem with Scott Free Productions, Canadian-based Take 5 Productions and Galafilm. John Pielmeier, who adapted "The Pillars of the Earth", wrote the screenplay. Michael Caton-Jones signed on as director in March 2011.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: Casting for the main roles was completed in June 2011, and filming began a month later in Europe. Shooting took place primarily in Hungary, where an entire medieval town was constructed on a 12,000-m backlot at Korda Studios west of Budapest. Additional location shoots took place in Slovakia and Austria.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: "World Without End" has been acquired by Sat.1 in Germany, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, Shaw Media in Canada, Cuatro in Spain, ORF in Austria, Sky Italia in Italy, DR in Denmark and TV2 in Hungary. In the United States, Starz, which aired "The Pillars of the Earth", could not reach an agreement with Tandem to air the show. The series was acquired by ReelzChannel instead.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: In Canada it premiered on 4 September 2012 on Showcase; and in Australia on 7 December 2014, as 90 minute combined episodes on ABC. In the U.S., four 2-hour episodes were aired, the first on 17 Oct 2012 on ReelzChannel.


title: World Without End (miniseries)

text: The eight hours were similarly divided into four episodes when broadcast in Italy on Sky Movies between 11 November and 2 December 2012. The series was broadcast under the title of "Mondo Senza Fine" with a choice of Italian-dubbed audio or the original English audio.