An almanac is a calendar, in which are set down the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, the most remarkable positions and phenomena of the heavenly bodies, for every month and day of the year; also the several fasts and feasts to be observed in the church and state, etc, and often much miscellaneous information likely to be useful to the public.
The term is of Arabic origin, but the Arabs were not the first to use almanacs, which indeed existed from remote ages. In England they are known from the fourteenth century, there being several English almanacs of this century existing in manuscript form. They became generally used in Europe within a short time after the invention of printing; and they were very early remarkable, as some are still, for the mixture of truth and falsehood which they contained. Their effects in France were found so mischievous, from the pretended prophecies which they published, that an edict was promulgated by Henry III in 1579 forbidding any predictions to be inserted in them relating to civil affairs, whether those of the state or of private persons.
In the reign of James I of England letters-patent were granted to the two universities and the Stationers' Company for an exclusive right of printing almanacs, but in 1775 this monopoly was abolished. During the English Civil War, and thence onward, English almanacs were conspicuous for the unblushing boldness of their astrological predictions, and their determined perpetuation of popular errors. The most famous English almanac was Poor Robin's Almanac, which was published from 1663 to 1775.
Gradually, however, a better taste began to prevail, and in 1828 the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by publishing the British Almanac, had the merit of taking the lead in the production of an unexceptionable almanac in Great Britain. The example thus set has been almost universally adopted. The circulation of almanacs continued to be much cramped by the very heavy duty of one shilling and threepence per copy until 1834, when this duty was abolished. About 200 new almanacs were started immediately on the repeal.
Almanacs, from their periodical character, and the frequency with which they are referred to, are now more and more used as vehicles for conveying statistical and other useful information, some being intended for the inhabitants of a particular country or district, others for a particular class or party. Some of the almanacs that are regularly published every year are extremely useful, and before the Internet and improved communications were almost indispensable to men engaged in official, mercantile, literary, and professional business. Such in Great Britain were Thorn's Official Directory of the United Kingdom, the British Almanac, Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, and Whitaker's Almanac, now so well known.
In the United States was published The American Almanac, a useful compilation. The Almanach de Gotha, which first appeared at Gotha in 1764, contained in small bulk a wonderful quantity of information regarding the reigning families and governments, the finances, commerce, population, etc, of the different states throughout the world. It was published both in a French and in a German edition. Almanacs that pretend to foretell the weather and occurrences of various kinds are still popular in Britain, France, and elsewhere.
The Nautical Almanack was an important work published annually by the British government, two or three years in advance, in which was contained much useful astronomical matter, more especially the distances of the moon from the sun, and from certain fixed stars, for every three hours of apparent time, adapted to the meridian of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. By comparing these with the distances carefully observed at sea the mariner could with comparative ease, infer his longitude to a degree of accuracy unattainable in the past by any other way, and sufficient in the past for most nautical purposes. This almanac was commenced in 1767 by Dr. Maskelyne, astronomer royal. The French Connaissance des Temps was published with the same views as the English Nautical Almanac, and nearly on the same plan. It commenced in 1679. Of a similar character was the Astronomisches Jahrbuch formerly published at Berlin. Research Almanac
Brumaire was the second month in the calendar adopted by the first French Republic. It began on the 23rd of October and ended on the 21st of November. The 18th Brumaire of the year VIII of the French Revolution (November the 9th, 1799) witnessed the overthrow of the Directory by Bonaparte. The next day he dispersed at the point of the bayonet the Council of Five Hundred, and was elected consul. Research Brumaire
Censorship of books is the supervision of books by some authority so as to settle what may be published. After the invention of printing the rapid diffusion of opinions by means of books induced the governments in all countries to assume certain powers of supervision and regulation with regard to printed matter. The popes were the first to institute a regular censorship. By a bull of Leo X. in 1515 the bishops and inquisitors were required to examine all works before they were printed, with a view to prevent the publication of heretical opinions. As this decree could not be carried out in countries which had accepted the reformed religion, they prepared a list of prohibited books (known as the Index Librorum Prohibitorum), books, that is, which nobody was allowed to read under penalty of the censure of the church. This index continued to be reprinted and revised as late as 1906, as well as another index commonly called the Index Expurgatorius, containing the works which may be read if certain expurgations have been made.
In England the censorship was established by act of parliament in 1662, but before that both the well-known Star-chamber and the parliament itself had virtually performed the functions. In 1694 the censorship in England ceased entirely. In France the censorship, like so many other institutions, was annihilated by the revolution. During the republic there was no formal censorship, but the supervision of the directory virtually took its place, and at length in 1810 Napoleon openly restored it under another name (Direction de rimprimerie). After the restoration it underwent various changes, and was re-established by Napoleon III, but again abolished. In the old German empire the diet of 1530 instituted a severe superintendence of the press, but in the particular German states the censure was very differently applied, and in Protestant states especially it was never difficult for individual authors to obtain exemption. In 1849 the censorial laws were repealed, but were again gradually introduced, and still existed in a modified form in most of the German states in 1906. The censorship was abolished in Denmark in 1770, in Sweden in 1809, in the Netherlands in 1815. Research Censorship of Books
Directory was the name given to a body of five officers to whom the executive authority in France was committed by the constitution of the year III (1795). The two legislative bodies, called the councils, elected the members of the directory: one member was obliged to retire yearly, and his place was supplied by election. This body was invested with the authority, which, by the constitution of 1791, had been granted to the king. By the revolution of the 18th Brumaire the directory and the constitution of the year III were abolished. It was succeeded by the consulate. Research Directory
The National Convention is a convention held every four years by each major US political party to choose its presidential candidate. In French history, the National Convention was the longest lasting of the revolutionary assemblies, lasting from September 1792 to October 1795, when it was replaced by the Directory. Research National Convention
Alphonse de Beauchamp was a French historian and publicist. He was born in 1767 at Monaco and died in 1832. Under the Directory he had the surveillance of the press, a position which supplied him with materials for his History of La Vendee. He contributed to the Moniteur and the Gazette de France. Among his chief works are the History of the Conquest of Peru, the History of Brazil, and the Life of Louis XVIII. The Memoires of Fouche is also with good reason ascribed to him. Research Alphonse de Beauchamp
Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord was a French statesman. He was born in 1754 and died in 1838. A son of the Comte de Talleyrand-Perigord, and accident in childhood rendered him lame and precluded his entry into military service with the result that the family title passed to a younger brother and he joined the church. In 1789 he was made bishop of Autun. He sided with the Revolution and acquired a position of distinction in the National Assembly, and took a leading part in attacking the privileges of the church, relinquishing his orders in 1791. In 1792 he went to England on an unofficial political mission, the French monarchy not having as yet been formally ended. While there he was denounced by extremists in the Revolution, and he stayed in England until the fall of Robespierre. In 1797 he became foreign minister of the Directory, and barring a short retirement held the post until 1807 when he retired with the title of prince of Benevento.
He was minister of foreign affairs in France when Pinckney, Marshall and Gerry were sent from the United States on a special mission in 1797. He demanded (i) a disavowal of President Adams' hostile expressions toward France; (2) a loan, and (3) douceurs, which the American envoys refused to concede. The unofficial French negotiators, Hottinguer, Bellamy and Hauteval, were designated as X, Y and Z in the reports sent to the United States. These X, Y, Z papers aroused great indignation against France. Later, Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord made overtures for more favourable negotiations. He had visited the United States in 1794. He was still Minister at the time of the Louisiana cession of 1803.
Charles De Talleyrand-Perigord subsequently differed with Napoleon and took a lead in the faction which worked against the emperor and on his deposition in 1814 was rewarded with the post of foreign minister to Louis XVIII. He finally retired in 1834. Research Charles De Talleyrand-Perigord
Friedrich von Gents was a German diplomatist and publicist. He was born in 1764 and died in 1832. He was secretary to the directory of finances at Berlin when the French Revolution broke out, of which he was an ardent opponent. He served alternately in the Prussian and Austrian civil service, and his pamphlets and manifestoes proved formidable obstacles to the invasions of Napoleon. He took part in the congresses of Vienna and Paris, as well as in others. Among his various works was a biography of Mary Queen of Scots. Research Friedrich von Gentz
Lucien Bonaprate was Prince of Canino. He was born in 1775 at Ajaccio and died in 1840. The next younger brother of Napoleon I he emigrated to Marseilles in 1793, and having been appointed to a situation in the commissariat at the small town of St Maximin in Provence, he married the innkeeper's daughter. Here he distinguished himself as a republican orator and politician, and was so active on this side that after Robespierre's fall he was in some danger of suffering as a partisan. His brother's influence, however, operated in his favour, and in 1798 we find him settled in Paris and a member of the newly-elected Council of Five Hundred.
Shortly after Napoleon's return from Egypt in 1799 he was elected President of the Council, in which position he contributed greatly to the fall of the Directory and the establishment of his brother's power, on the famous 18th Brumaire (9th November). Next year, as Napoleon began to develop his system of military despotism, Lucien Bonaparte, who still held to his republican principles and candidly expressed his disapproval of his brother's conduct, fell into disfavour and was sent out of the way as ambassador to Spain. Eventually, when Napoleon had the consulate declared hereditary, Lucien Bonaparte withdrew to Italy, settling finally at Rome, where he devoted himself to the arts and sciences, and lived in apparent indifference to the growth of his brother's power.
In vain Napoleon offered him the crown, first of Italy and then of Spain; but he came to France and exerted himself on his brother's behalf, both before and after the Battle of Waterloo. Returning to Italy, he spent the rest of his life in literary and scientific researches, dying in 1840. Pope Pius VII made him Prince of Canino. He was the author of several works, amongst which are two long poems. His eldest son, Charles Lucien LaurentBonaparte, born in 1803, achieved a considerable reputation as a naturalist, chiefly in ornithology. He published a continuation of Wilson's Ornithology; Iconografia della Fauna Italica;
Conspectus Generum Avium, etc. He died in 1857. Another son, Pierre was born in 1815 and died in 1881. He led an unsettled and disreputable life, and became notorious in 1870 by killing, in his own house at Paris, the journalist Victor Noir, who had brought him a challenge. He got off on the plea of self-defence, but had to leave France. Research Lucien Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) was emperor of France. He was born in 1769 at Ajaccio in Corsica and died in 1821. He was sent to the military school of Brienne in Champagne in 1779, and in 1784 to that of Paris. In 1785 he was appointed junior lieutenant in the army. He was in Aris on June the 20th 1792 and saw the mob invade the Tuileries. He also witnessed the overthrow of the monarchy on August the 10th. In 1799 he overthrew the Directory and appointed himself dictator. He became emperor in 1804 and reigned until 1815. From 1803 he conquered most of Europe. He was finally overthrown following his defeat at Waterloo at the hands of Wellington's army and was exiled on the Island of St Helena where he died after a seven month period of slow arsenic poisoning by a secret agent of the Bourbon's, posing as one of his most trusted entourage. At the time his death was recorded as being of cancer, and it was not until 1952 that a Swedish dentist discovered the truth from forming a theory and having some of Napoleon's hair samples
analysed. Research Napoleon Bonaparte
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Almanac
