Garrote is a mode of capital punishment opriginally popular in Spain. It is a form of strangulation, the victim being placed on a stool with a post or stake behind, to which is affixed an iron collar with a screw; this collar is made to clasp the neck of the criminal, and drawn tighter by means of the screw until life becomes extinct. This word, with the French spelling and pronunciation garrotte, has become naturalized in Great Britain as a term for a species of robbery effected by throttling the victim and stripping him while insensible. Research Garrote
Common bistort (Polygonum Bistorta), adder's-wort or snakeroot, is a perennialherb of the buckwheat family, family Polygonaceae, found in Britain. It has a stout, snake-like twisted rhizome and an erect, unbranched stem. The basalovate to lanceolate leaves with undulate margins and winged petioles are arranged in a rosette. The smaller stem leaves are triangular, sessile and clasp the stem. The flowers are pink in colour, and arranged in a dense terminal spike. The fruit is a three-sided achene surrounded by a persistent perianth.
Common bistort contains a lot of tannin, which gives it astringent properties and led to its use in medicine. The young leaves can be eaten in salads or cooked like spinach and the root is edible after it has been soaked and roasted. In northern England it is commonly called Easter Giant and around Manchester it is called Patience Dock. Research Bistort
Great lettuce (Lactuca virosa) or greater prickly lettuce or wild lettuce as it is also known is a highly poisonous, narcotic, annual, sometimes biennialherb of the family Compositae with an erect leafy, white or reddish stem which branches at the top. The leaves are stiff, bluish-green in colour and have prickly toothed margins and a prickly midrib beneath. The basal leaves are stalked, oval and arranged in a rosette. The stem leaves are alternate, clasp the stem at their base and are held horizontally. The flowers are numerous, short-stalked and yellow. Great lettuce was formerly used as a narcotic before opium was discovered, and is still used to adulterate opium. Research Great Lettuce
Spearwort is a plant of the genusRanunculus. There are two species, the great (Ranunculus lingua) and the lesser spearwort (Ranunculus flammula). Both are native to Europe and temperate Asia and are found in Britain chiefly in marshes and ditches. Great spearwort has a hollow stem about one metre tall, with large, stalkless lanceolate undivided leaves that clasp the stem at their base. The flowers are golden yellow in colour, fine and about three centimetres across. The lesser spearwort is similar but smaller, with the lower leaves stalked and oval, the upper leaves stalkless and lance-shaped. Research Spearwort
Violet cabbage (Moricandia arvensis) is a short-lived perennial of the family Cruciferae with branched stems and smooth, rounded, somewhat fleshy, bluish-green leaves which clasp the stem. The plant bears rather large, showy, violet-purple flowers carried near the stem tips. The fruits are slender, flattened, four-angled siliquae. Research Violet Cabbage
The Franciscans are the members of the religious order established by St Francis of Assisi about 1210. They are also called Minorites, or Fratres Minores ('lesser friars'), which was the name given them by their founder in token of humility, and sometimes Gray Friars, from the colour of their garment. The order was distinguished by vows of absolute poverty and a renunciation of the pleasures of the world, and was intended to serve the church by its care of the religious state of the people. The rule of the order destined them to beg and to preach. The popes granted them extensive privileges, and they had an evil repute as spies, frequenting the courts of princes and the houses of noblemen, gentry, etc. Early in the 15th century they split up into two branches, the Conventuals and the Observants or Sabotiers. The former went barefooted, wore a long gray cassock and cloak and hood of large dimensions, covering the breast and back, and a knotted girdle. The Observants wore wooden sandals, a cassock, a narrow hood, a short cloak with a wooden clasp, and a brown robe. In France the members of the order not belonging to any particular sect are called Cordeliers, from the cord which they tie about them. The Capuchins, so called from the peculiar kind of hood or cowl (capuce) which they wear, originated in a reform introduced among the Observantists by Matthew of Baschi in the early part of the 16th century, and although it received the approbation of different popes within a short time after its foundation, it did not receive the right of electing a particular general and become an independent order until 1619.
St Francis himself collected nuns in 1209. St Clara was their prioress; hence they were called the nuns of St Clara. The nuns were also divided into branches, according to the severity of their rules. The Urbanists were a branch founded by PopeUrban IV; they revered St Isabelle, daughter of Louis VIII of France, as their mother. St Francis also founded in 1221 a third order, of both sexes, for persons who did not wish to take the monastic vows, and yet desired to adopt a few of the easier observances. They are called Tertiarians or Tertiaries, and were very numerous in the 13th century. From them proceeded several heretical fraternities, as the Fraticelli and Beghards. The whole number of Franciscans and Capuchins in the 18th century amounted to 115,000 monks, in 7000 convents. At the dissolution of the monasteries in England there were sixty-five houses of the Franciscans. The order has given five popes and more than fifty cardinals to the church. Research Franciscan
CLASP is an abbreviation for Comprehensive Logistics Automated Support Program
CLASP is an abbreviation for Computer Language Aeronautics and Space Program Research CLASP
An agraffe is a sort of ornamental buckle, clasp, or similar fastening for holding together articles of dress, etc, often adorned with precious stones. Research Agraffe
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Garrote
