Assiento was the permission of the Spanish government to a foreign nation to import negro slaves from Africa into the Spanish colonies in America, for a limited time, on payment of certain duties. It was accorded to the Netherlands about 1552, to the Genoese in 1580, and to the French Guinea Company (afterwards the Assiento Company) in 1702. In 1713 the celebrated assiento treaty with Britain for thirty years was concluded at Utrecht. By this contract the British obtained the right to send yearly a ship of 500 tons, with all sorts of merchandise, to the Spanish colonies. This led to frequent abuses and contrabandtrade; acts of violence followed, and in 1739 a war broke out between the two powers. At the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, four years more were granted to the British; but in the Treaty of Madrid, two years later, 100,000 pounds sterling were promised for the relinquishment of the two remaining years, and the contract was annulled. Research Assiento
The Treaty of Madrid was an agreement, signed in 1670, between Spain and England to revoke all letters of marque and to abstain from pillage. The agreement also saw Spain recognise England's possessions in the West Indies, most notably Jamaica. Research Treaty of Madrid
Angelica Catalani was an Italian singer. She was born in 1779, and died in 1849. Family misfortunes compelled her to turn her remarkable voice to employment as a singer, and when she was 16 she made her first appearance on the stage at Venice. After filling the chief soprano parts in the best opera-houses of Italy she visited successively Madrid, Paris, and London, enjoying everywhere great professional triumphs, as she continued to do in similar tours which she repeatedly made afterwards. In 1830 she retired. Research Angelica Catalani
Angelica Catalani was an Italian singer. She was born in 1779, and died in 1849. Family misfortunes compelled her to turn her remarkable voice to employment as a singer, and when she was 16 she made her first appearance on the stage at Venice. After filling the chief soprano parts in the best opera-houses of Italy she visited successively Madrid, Paris, and London, enjoying everywhere great professional triumphs, as she continued to do in similar tours which she repeatedly made afterwards. In 1830 she retired. Research Angelica Catalani
Amadeus, Duke of Aosta, was for a short time King of Spain. He was born in 1845 and died in 1890. He was the second son of Victor Emanuel of Italy, and brother of Humbert I, King of Italy. He was chosen by the Cortes King of Spain in 1870, Queen Isabella having had to leave the country in 1868. He made his entrance into Madrid as king on January the 2nd, 1871, and took the oath to the constitution. His position was far from comfortable, however, and having little hope of becoming acceptable to all parties, he abdicated on the llth of February 1873. Research Amadeus
Anne of Austria was Queen of France. She was born in 1602 at Madrid and died in 1666. She was the daughter of Philip III of Spain and in 1615 was married to Louis XIII of France. Richelieu, fearing the influence of her foreign connections, did everything he could to humble her. In 1643 her husband died, and she was left regent, but placed under the control of a council. But the Parliament overthrew this arrangement, and intrusted her with full sovereign rights during the minority of her son Louis XIV. She, however, brought upon herself the hatred of the nobles by her boundless confidence in Cardinal Mazarin, and was forced to flee from Paris during the wars of the Fronde. She ultimately quelled all opposition, and was able in 1661 to transmit to her son unimpaired the royal authority. She spent the remainder of her life in retirement, and died on January the 20th, 1666. Research Anne of Autria
Charles VI (Charles the Silly) was a king of France. He was born in 1368 at Paris and died in 1422. He was a son of Charles The Wise and succeeded to the throne at the age of twelve. His reign was plagued by fits on insanity and the country plagued by civil war between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians, making the country easy prey for the English under Henry V who crossed over to Normandy, took Harfleur by storm, won the famous victory of Agincourt, and compelled the crazy king to acknowledge him as his successor.
Charles VI was Emperor of Germany. He was born in 1685 and died in 1740. The second son of the Emperor Leopold I, he was destined by the rules of inheritance to succeed his relative Charles II on the throne of Spain, but Charles II by his will made the French Prince, the Duke of Anjour, his heir. This led to the War of the Spanish Succession in which England and Holland took the part of the Austrian claimant. He held Madrid for a while before conceding Spain to the French claim and content himself with the Spanish subject-lands, Milan, Mantua, Sardinia, and the Netherlands (sanctioned by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and the Treaty of Rastadt in 1714). He became Emperor of Germany in 1711.
In a war against the Turks his armies, led by Eugene of Savoy, gained the decisive victories of Peterwardein and Belgrade. After the death of his only son, Charles directed all his policy and energies to secure the guarantee of the various powers to the Pragmatic Sanction, settling the succession to the Austrian dominions on his daughter Maria Theresa. In 1733 a war with France and Spain regarding the succession in Poland terminated unfavourably for him, he having to surrender Sicily, Naples, and part of Milan to Spain, and Lorraine to France. In 1737 he renewed the war with the Turks, this time unsuccessfully. Research Charles VI
Diego Velazquez was a Spanish administrator. He was born about 1460 at Cuellar, near Valladolid and died in 1522. He sailed with Cgristopher Columbus on his second voyage, and in 1511 conquered Cuba, of which he became governor, founding several towns, and remaining there until his death. Velazquez was responsible for an expedition which discovered Yucatan, in 1517, and sent Hernando Cortes to Mexico in 1518. Regretting, however, the extensive powers he had given to Cortes, he sent a force under Panfilo de Narvaez, which was overthrown by Cortes in 1520.
Diego Rodriguez De Silva Y Velazquez was a Spanish painter. He was born in 1599 at Seville and died in 1660. He studied under Francesco Herrera and then, when Herrera's temper got too much for him, under Pacheco whose daughter he later married. Velazquez also came under the influence of Luis Tristan, a pupil of El Greco. Settling in Madrid in 1623, he there painted a portrait of Fonseca, almoner to Philip IV which introduced him to the notice of the king. In the same year he painted a portrait of Philip IV, the first of a very long series which he painted of that king at every period of his life.
In 1628 Velazquez met Rubens, who came to Madrid as ambassador from the regent of the Netherlands. Having then conceived an eager desire to visit Italy, he left Spain in 1629, journeying to Venice, and then to Rome, by way of Ferrara and Bologna, and in 1630 was in Naples. The next year saw him back again at Madrid, and from that time began his long series of notable portraits.
His second visit to Italy was paid in 1649, v/hen his main object was to collect pictures and casts from the antique. On this occasion he painted his celebrated portrait of Pope Innocent X. In 1651, home again in Spain, he was given a high court appointment by the king, which took up much time. His pictures at this period include Maids of Honour, and the Tapestry Weavers.
The main feature of the art of Velazquez is its absolute truth. He was an impressionist in the truest meaning of the word, could seize upon an effect in its momentary force, and represent it in all its bare truth, painting colour as it really was. He had an unequalled command of values. There is never any false lighting or inaccurate incidence of light in his pictures, and he not only understood atmosphere, but grasped the mystery of shadows and darkness. He selected essentials with unerring judgement, and no other works are so near to the effect of nature as are his, or produce like them the true perspective of the atmosphere. Research Diego Velazquez
Don Pedro Calderon de la Barca was a Spanish dramatist. He was born in 1600 at Madrid, 1600 and died in 1681. Educated in the Jesuits' College, Madrid, and at Salamanca. Before his fourteenth year he had written his third play. Leaving Salamanca in 1625 he entered the army and served with distinction for ten years in Italy and the Netherlands. In 1656 he was recalled by Philip IV, who gave him the direction of the court entertainments. The next year he was made knight of the order of Santiago, and he served in 1640 in the campaign in Catalonia.
In 1651 he entered the clerical profession, and in 1653 obtained a chaplain's office in the archiepiscopal church at Toledo, but as this situation removed him too far from court, he received, in 1663, another at the king's courtchapel (being still allowed to hold the former); and at the same time a pension was assigned him from the Sicilian revenue. His fame greatly increased his income, as he was solicited by the principal cities of Spain to compose their autos sacramentales, for which he was liberally paid, and on which he specially prided himself.
Besides heroic comedies and historical plays, some of which merit the name of tragedies, Galderon has left ninety-five autos sacramentales, 200 loas (preludes), and 100 saynetes (farces). He wrote his last play in the eightieth year of his age. His smaller poems are now forgotten; but his plays have maintained their place on the stage even more than those of Lope de Vega. Their number amounts to 128. He wrote, however, many more, some of which were never published. Research Don Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Edward Hyde (first earl of Clarendon) was an English statesman and historian. He was born in 1609 at Dinton, Wiltshire and died in 1674. After studying at Oxford and at the Middle Temple he married, in 1629, the daughter of Sir George Ayliffe, and, in 1632, Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury. He entered the Short Parliament in 1640 as member for Wootton-Basset, and was again returned to the Long Parliament in November, 1640 by the borough of Saltash, at first acting with the more moderate of the popular party, but gradually separating himself from the democratic movement until, by the autumn of 1641, he was recognized as the real leader of the king's party in the house.He supported the King's authority, but opposed violence and assisted in the impeachment of Stafford in 1641.
In 1642 he became the King's adviser with Colepepper and Falkland. Upon the outbreak of the English Civil War he joined the king at York, was knighted, made privy-councillor, and appointed chancellor of the exchequer. After vainly attempting to bring about a reconciliation between the contending parties he accompanied Prince Charles to Jersey, where he began his History of the Rebellion, and wrote answers in the king's name to the manifestoes of the parliament.
In September, 1649, he rejoined Charles at the Hague, and was sent by him on an embassy to Madrid. Soon after his return he resumed the business of the exiledcourt, first at Paris, and afterwards at the Hague, where, in 1657, Charles II appointed him lord-chancellor. After Oliver Cromwell's death he contributed more than any other man to promote the Restoration, when he was placed at the head of the English administration.
In 1660 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and in 1661 was created BaronHyde, Viscount Cornbury, and Earl of Clarendon. The marriage of the Duke of York with his daughter, Anne Hyde, confirmed for a time his power, but in 1663 LordBristol made an unsuccessful attempt to impeach him, his influence with the king declined, and his station as primeminister made the nation regard him as answerable for the ill success of the war against Holland, the sale of Dunkirk, etc.
The king's displeasure deepened when his plan of repudiating his wife and marrying the beautiful Lady Stuart was defeated by Edward Hyde, who effected a marriage between this lady and the Duke of Richmond. The king deprived him of his offices, an impeachment for high treason was commenced against him, and he was compelled to seek refuge in Calais. He lived six years at Montpellier, Moulins, and Rouen, where he died in 1674. His remains were afterwards removed to Westminster Abbey.
During his second exile he completed his History of the Rebellion in autobiographical form, wrote a biographical Continuation in defence of his administration, and sought to vindicate Lord Ormonde by a History of the Rebellion in Ireland. Research Edward Hyde
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Assiento
