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
A fraternity is an association of people who unite to promote their common interest, business or pleasure. In this wide sense it includes all secret and benevolent societies, the monastic and sacerdotal congregations, the orders of knighthood, and also guilds, trades-unions, and the like. In a limited sense it is applied to religious societies for pious practices and benevolent objects.
Fraternities were often formed during the middle ages, from a desire of imitating the holy orders. Many of these societies, which did not obtain or did not seek the acknowledgment of the church, had the appearance of separatists, which subjected them to the charge of heresy. The pious fraternities which were formed under the direction of the church, or were acknowledged by it, were either required by their rules to afford assistance to travellers, to the unfortunate, the distressed, the sick, and the deserted, on account of the inefficiency of the police, and the want of institutions for the poor, or to perform certain acts of penitence and devotion. Of this description were the Fratres Pontifices, a brotherhood that originated in Tuscany in the 12th century, where they maintained establishments on the banks of the Arno, to enable travellers to cross the river, and to succour them in case of distress. A similar society was afterwards formed in France, where they built bridges and hospitals, maintained ferries, kept the roads in repair, and provided for the security of the highways. Similar to these were the Knights and Companions of the Santa Hermandad (or Holy Brotherhood) in Spain; the Familiars and Cross-bearers in the service of the Spanish Inquisition; the Calendar Brothers in Germany; the Alexiaus in Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, etc.
The professed object of the Alexians, so called from Alexius, their patron saint, was to visit the sick and imprisoned; to collect alms for distribution; to console criminals, and accompany them to the place of execution; to bury the dead, and to cause masses to be said for those who had been executed, or for persons found dead. There were also Gray Penitents (an old fraternity of an order existing as early as 1264 in Rome, and introduced into France under Henry III), the black fraternities of Mercy and of Death; the Red, the Blue, the Green, and the Violet Penitents, so called from the colour of their cowl; the divisions of each were known by the colours of the girdle or mantle. The fraternity of the Holy Trinity was founded at Rome in 1548 by Philip de' Neri for the relief of pilgrims and the cured dismissed from the hospitals. The Brothers of Charity were another fraternity whose hospitals were found in all the principal cities of Catholic Christendom. Research Fraternity
The grain is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupoisscaleequivalent to 0. 0648 grams. It was invented by Henry III who ordered that a grain of wheat gathered from the middle of the ear to be the standard of weight. 12 grains to be a pennyweight, 12 pennyweights to be an ounce and 12 ounces to be a pound Troy. Research Grain
The Mad Parliament was the Parliament held at Oxford in 1258 and broke out into open rebellion against Henry III. The king was declared deposed, and the government was vested in the hands of twenty-four councillors with Simon Montfort at their head. Research Mad Parliament
The Order of Holy Ghost was an order of male and female hospitallers, founded by Guy, son of William, Count of Montpellier, towards the end of the 12th century, for the relief of the poor, the infirm and foundlings. After the middle of the 18th century it was united with the order of St Lazarus by Clement XIII.
Order of Holy Ghost was the name of the principal military order in France instituted in 1578 by Henry III and abolished in 1789, revived at the Restoration, and again abolished in 1830. Research Order of Holy Ghost
The ounce is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupoisscaleequivalent to 16 drams or 28.350 grams. Its precise weight was fixed by Henry III, who decreed in 1233, that an English ounce should be 640 dry grains of wheat; that twelve of these ounces should be a pound; and that eight pounds should be a gallon of wine. Research Ounce
Adrian V was Pope. He was born Ottoboni da Fiesco. A native of Genoa, he settled, as legate of the pope, the dispute between King Henry III of England and his nobles, in favour of the former; but died a month after his election to the papal chair in 1276. Research Adrian V
Alexander II was King of Scotland from 1214 to 1249. Alexander II was born in 1198 and died in 1248. He succeeded his father William the Lion in 1214. He was a wise and energetic prince, and Scotland prospered greatly under him, though disturbed by the Norsemen, by the restlessness of some of the Celtic chiefs, and by the attempts of Henry III of England to make Alexander II do homage to him. Alexander II married Henry's sister, Joan, in 1221, who lived until 1238. In 1244 war with England almost broke out, but was fortunately averted. Alexander II died in 1248 at Kerrera, an island opposite Oban, when on an expedition in which he hoped to wrest the Hebrides from Norway. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III
Alexander II (Czar Liberator) was Czar of Russia. He was born in 1818 and died in 1881. He was the eldest son of Czar Nicholas, whom he succeeded in 1855, before the end of the Crimean War. After peace was concluded the new emperor set about effecting reforms in the empire, the greatest of all being the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, a measure which gave freedom, on certain conditions, to 22,000,000 human beings who were previously in a state little removed from that of slavery. Under him, too, representative assemblies in the provinces were introduced, and he also did much to improve education, and to reorganize the judicial system. During his reign the Russian dominions in Central Asia were extended, a piece of territory south of the Caucasus, formerly belonging to Turkey, was acquired, and a part of Bessarabia, belonging since the Crimean War to Turkey in Europe, but previously to Russia, was restored to the latter power. The latter additions resulted from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. He was assassinated in 1881 by the explosion from dynamite thrown at his carriage in St Petersburg by Nihilists. Research Alexander II
Alexander III was King of Scotland from 1249 to 1286. He succeeded his father, Alexander II when just a boy of eight. In 1251 he married Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry III of England. Like his father, Alexander II, he was eager to bring the Hebrides under his sway, and this he was enabled to accomplish in a few years after the defeat of the Norse King Haco at Largs, in 1263. The mainland and islands of Scotland were now under one sovereign, though Orkney and Shetland still belonged to Norway. Alexander III was strenuous in asserting the independence both of the Scottish kingdom and the Scottish church against England. He died in 1285 by the falling of his horse while he was riding in the dark between Burntisland and Kinghorn. He left as his heiress Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, daughter of Eric of Norway, and of Alexander's daughter, Margaret. Under him Scotland enjoyed greater prosperity than for generations afterwards.
Alexander III was an Emperor (Tsar) of Russia. The son of Alexander II, he was born in 1845 and died in 1894 of kidney disease. He became heir to the throne on the death of his eldest brother, Nicholas in 1865, and succeeded in 1881, on the assassination of his father, being crowned in Moscow in 1883. He gave up the reforms begun by his father, and ruled in the old autocratic fashion, restricting the liberties of Finland and the Baltic Provinces, and encouraging persecution of the Jews. He spent much time in the closely-guarded castle of Gatchina, to be safe from Nihilistic attempts, several of which he narrowly escaped. 'He endeavoured to put down corruption and underhand dealing among the bureaucracy, and in his own habits gave an example of simplicity and economy. While showing himself suspicious of Germany and Austria-Hungary, he entered on friendly relations with France. He began to suffer from disease of the kidneys in 1893, and died at Livadia in 1894. Research Alexander III
Alexandre Dumas was a French novelist and dramatist. He was born in 1803 at born at Villers-Cotterets and died in 1870. He was the son of a republican general, and grandson of Marquis de la Pailleterie and a negress, Tiennette Dumas. In 1823 he went to Paris, and obtained an assistant-secretaryship from the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis Philippe. He soon began to write for the stage, and in 1829 scored his first success with his dramaHenry III. It was produced when the battle between the Romanticists and the Classicists was at its height, and hailed as a triumph by the former school. The same year appeared his Christine, and in quick succession Antony, Richard d'Arlington, Teresa, Le Tour de Nesle, CatharineHoward, Mile. de Belle-Isle, etc. Dumas had now become a noted Parisian character.
The critics fought over the merits of his pieces, and the scandalmongers over his prodigality and galanteries. Turning his attention to romance, he produced a series of historical romances, among which may be mentioned, Les Deux Dianes;
La ReineMargot; Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers), with its continuations Vingt Ans Apres, and Vicomte de Bragelonne. His Monte-Cristo (Count of Monte-Cristo) and several others are also well known to English readers through translations. Several historical works were also written by him: Louis XIV et son Siecle; Le Regent et Louis XV; Le Drame de '93; Florence et les Medicis, etc. The works which bear his name amount to some 1200 volumes, including about 60 dramas; but the only claim he could lay to a great number of the productions issued under his name, was that he either sketched the plot or revised them before going to press. He earned vast sums of money, but his recklessness and extravagance latterly reduced him to the adoption of a shifty, scheming mode of living. His Memoires, begun in 1852, present interesting sketches of literary life during the restoration, but display intense egotism. In 1860 he accompanied Garibaldi in the expedition which freed Naples from the Bourbons. Research Alexandre Dumas
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Almanac
