British Boroughs originated as Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman towns from the ninth century. The Anglo-Saxon invaders who arrived in Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries were farmers, not interested in repairing the roads or maintaining the Roman towns which fell into partial disuse. The Angle-Saxons at first regarded towns as 'the defences of slavery and the graves of freedom... the work of giants seen from afar'. However, when the Vikings from Scandinavia overran the east and north of the country in the ninth century, they turned to town life in the area which they conquered, the Danelaw. The commercial life of York, their headquarters from 876, was revived by Vikingenterprise, the Roman walls of Chester were rebuilt by a Viking chief, and the East Midlands came under the jurisdiction of the five newly-created Scandinavian boroughs of Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Stamford and Lincoln.
The Angle-Saxons, under their kings Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder, not to be outdone, also created boroughs similar to those of the Scandinavian invaders, at places such as Northampton, Huntingdon, Bedford and Tamworth, and despite many setbacks, re-conquered all the territory which the Scandinavians had acquired. In 1066, the Normans in their turn came to Britain as conquering invaders, and also built new boroughs and enlarged old ones.
The Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Norman borough had varied functions. It was foremost a defended place or strong point surrounded by an earthen bank of oval or square shape, or by the patched-up wall of an older Roman town. In each new borough, the King settled a permanent garrison with ample reserves, sustained by landowners on whom was laid the obligation of defending the borough in time of need. In return for this, the borough and its burgesses were protected by the King's special peace. The borough was also a trading centre, with a market place and often a mint for coins. When King Edward the Elder ordained that all buying and selling should take place in a market town in the presence of a town-reeve, he ensured the concentration of trading in the growing boroughs. The borough was also an administrative centre. Indeed, many British modern counties came into being as the territories allocated by the King to the support of the defences and trading facilities of a borough, e.g. Nottinghamshire was the support for the county town of Nottingham, as its name shows. Research Boroughs
Gipsywort or Gypsy-Wort (Lycopus europaeus) is a perennialherb of the family Labiatae with a creeping rhizome and a stiffly erect, unbranched, square stem. The numerous leaves are opposite, lanceolate to elliptic, short-stalked and deeply toothed. The lower leaves are pinnately divided. The flowers are small, white and arranged in dense whorls in the axils of the upper pairs of leaves. Gipsywort resembles mint, but may be distinguished by its lack of smell, lobed lower leaves and tight whorls of whitish flowers. Gipsywort is found in Britain in ditches and on river banks. It is so named on account of yielding a dye formerly said to be used by the Gypsies (Romany) to render their skin darker. Research Gipsywort
Ivy is the common name for woody vines of the genusHedera , of the family Araliaceae, commonly found growing on woodland trees without harming them, where it provides an important source of winter food for birds. The genus is native to temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere. Ivy plants produce two kinds of leaves during the climbing phase. The leaves have three to five distinct lobes, but during the flowering stage they usually have three indistinct lobes or may even be lobeless. The flowers, borne in terminal umbels, have a five-parted calyx, five-parted corolla, five stamens, and a single pistil. The fruit is a smooth berry that contains a poisonous glucoside. The plant's adventitious rootlets attach to trees or bare walls.
The English ivy, Hederahelix , is commonly cultivated in Europe and North America in gardens where it is trained to cover masonry walls of buildings. It has small leaves that are usually dark green. The African ivy, or Algerian ivy, Hedera canariensis , native to the coast and islands of north-western Africa, produces large, pale-green, lobed leaves.
The Asian ivy, Hedera colchica , bears dark-green leaves that are usually faintly lobed or entirely lobeless. Easily cultivable from cuttings, ivy protects the walls on which it is grown from the corrosive effects of weathering. Ivy has no destructive effect on stone or brick walls except when rootlets are established in fissures. Several plants of the grape family, Vitaceae, are commonly called ivy.
The American ivy, or Virginiacreeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia , and the Boston ivy, or Japanese ivy, Parthenocissus tricuspidata , are shrubby climbers that cling to tendrils. American ivy has long-petioled leaves composed of five leaflets; Boston ivy has three-lobed leaves. Both species grow readily from cuttings.
Ground ivy is a small, creeping member of the mint family, Lamiaceae. Toxicodendron radicans , known as poison ivy, belongs to the cashew family, Anacardiaceae.
Mint is the name given to several herbaceous aromatic plants of the genus Mentha, family Labiatae. They are nearly all perennial, having square stems which bear opposite and simple leaves. Research Mint
Spearmint (Mentha viridis or Mentha spicata) is a European and North American species of mint cultivated for its flavouring properties. It is a perennialherb of the natural order Labiateae with a creeping, underground stem, and erect, aerial stems, with opposite, oval-lanced shaped leaves which have a pungent odour. The stems end in spikes of whorled purplish coloured flowers. Research Spearmint
Water mint (Mentha aquaticavar) is a perennialherb of the family Labiatae with a branched rhizome and erect, square stems, branched in the upper part. The leaves are sessile, opposite, ovate, sharply toothed, wrinkled and hairy. The flowers are bluish in colour, tubular and arranged in slender, terminal, axillary soikes. The calyx and corolla have four equal lobes. The fruit consists of four brown nutlets. Research Water Mint
Alexander Hamilton was an American patriot. He was born in 1757 at Nevis in the West Indies and died in 1804 in a duel. He was on the one side of Scottish, on the other of French birth. Deprived of parental care at an early age, he developed an astonishing precocity, and was, in 1772, sent to New York City. There, after a short period of preparation, he entered King's (later Columbia) College. While the Revolutionary fever was at its height Hamilton, in July, 1774, made a public speech on the patriotic side, marvellous for a boy of seventeen. He followed up this success by a vigorous war of pamphlets. When hostilities began Hamilton organized a cavalry company and served at Long Island and White Plains. As a member of George Washington's staff he rendered valuable aid; resigning from membership in the staff in 1781 he ended a brilliant military career at Yorktown, studied law, and married the daughter of General Schuyler. For a short time, between 1782 and 1783 he was in the Continental Congress.
He had risen to eminence at the New York bar, when he took part in the Annapolis Convention of 1786. There followed two years of contests and triumphs of the greatest renown to himself and moment to his country. Alexander Hamilton was one of the chief members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He advocated a very strong-central government, but accepted the results of that assembly, and returned to New York to further by pen and voice the ratification of the American National Constitution. It is little exaggeration to say that Alexander Hamilton was practically the Federal party in New York. Of the eighty-five papers in the Federalist fifty-one are undisputedly his, and he had a part in the production of others.
At the State ratifying Convention in 1788 at Poughkeepsie he contended almost single-handed against a two-thirds majority, which he converted into a minority. He entered George Washington's Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury in 1789. His report on the public credit, reports on revenue, the mint, the bank, manufactures, etc., were of the utmost value in placing the finances on a sound footing. Meanwhile within the Cabinet he was confronted with Jefferson, advocate of radically different ideas; the two great leaders quarrelled almost incessantly, and Alexander Hamilton resigned in 1795.
He had previously accompanied the army for the suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection. He defended Jay's Treaty with Great Britain in the able Camillus letters, and was concerned in the preparation of George Washington's Farewell Address. He was, in 1798, appointed inspector-general in view of the imminent war with France. But he quarrelled with President John Adams and intrigued against the latter and in favour of Pinckney. Alexander Hamilton and Burr had been political enemies; the latter, while Vice-President, brought on a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey, on July the 11th, 1804, in which Alexander Hamilton was mortally wounded.
He also wrote, the Pacificus letters, report on the public debt in 1789, etc. Alexander Hamilton was perhaps one of the most brilliant of early American statesmen; his state papers were models of luminous and convincing argumentation; and he had an extraordinary genius for administrative organization. His weaknesses were, an imperious self-confidence, and want of popular sympathies. Research Alexander Hamilton
Benjamin Rush was an American physician. He was born in 1745 near Philadelphia and died in 1813. He was elected a member of Congress to support the American Declaration of Independence, which he signed, and in 1777 was appointed physician- general of the army. This appointment he resigned for a private practice in Philadelphia, where he distinguished himself by his successful treatment of an epidemic of yellow fever in 1793. From 1799 until his death he was treasurer of the United States mint. Research Benjamin Rush
Daniel Sturgeon was an American politician. He was born in 1789 and died in 1878. He was treasurer of Pennsylvania in 1838 and 1839. He represented Pennsylvania in the US Senate as a Democrat from 1839 to 1851, and was treasurer of the US Mint from 1853 to 1858. Research Daniel Sturgeon
David Rittenhouse was an American astronomer. He was born in 1732 and died in 1796. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety in 1776 and treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1789. He was director of the US mint from 1792 to 1795. Research David Rittenhouse
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Boroughs
