Campanology is a general name for every kind of knowledge pertaining to bells, theoretical, practical, historical, etc; but commonly restricted to the art and practice of bell-ringing, especially the ringing of bells that are used together in sets, peals, or 'rings', such sets of bells being very common in the towers or belfries of English churches. The 'changes' that may be rung on even a few bells, by changing or varying the order in which they are rung, are exceedingly numerous, the possible changes on seven bells, for instance, being 5040. Research Campanology
A fata morgana is a kind of mirage by which distant objects appear inverted, distorted, displaced, or multiplied. It is noticed particularly at the Straits of Messina, between Calabria and Sicily. The images of men, houses, towers, palaces, columns, trees, etc, are occasionally seen from the coast, sometimes in the water, and sometimes in the air, or at the surface of the water. The same object has frequently two images, one in the natural and the other in an inverted position. The images of a single object are said to be sometimes considerably multiplied. Research Fata Morgana
Terrorism is the systematic use of violence and intimidation to coerce a government or a community into adopting certain specific political ends, such as national independence for a region, or reunification or self-government, or even the adoption of a political system more sympathetic to another country's economic interests. The term terrorism was first coined in England referring to the French revolution, the agents of which were called 'terrorists' by the hostile English press, particularly the Daily Telegraph. Terrorism is so called because of the employment of 'terror' tactics, typically the bombing of property and the murder of civilians which leads to general unrest and pressure from the public onto a government or encourages the public to remove a leader. Within this definition, resistance fighters - civilians who take up arms against another country's uniformed soldiers occupying their country - are not terrorists, but a country which bullies another country with threats of war unless political changes occur within the country, perhaps the adoption of a government more sympathetic to the bullying country's economic interests, clearly is an example of terrorism. Recent examples of terrorism included the Republican terrorists of northern Ireland which sought reunification with the Republic of Ireland through making attacks on the British people in an attempt to coerce the British government into agreeing to their terms. The Islamic fundamentalist attack on the Twin Towers on September the 11th 2001 were not seeking a stated political end, and as such were not a terrorist attack, but were a criminal act of murder and destruction. America's threats to the country of Iraq unless they change their leader - President Saddam Hussein - could be construed as terrorism as the alternative for the Iraqi people is clearly all out war, in which many civilians would be killed and lose their property. A clear use of intimidation for political ends. Research Terrorism
Anthony Trollope was an English novelist. He was born in 1815 at London and died in 1852. Educated at Winchester and Harrow He became a post-office clerk in 1834 and in 1841 was transferred to Ireland where his duties involved him in a great deal of travelling. Returning to England he was promoted to an inspector in the post office, a post which afforded him travel to foreign countries and British colonies. He retired from the post office in 1867. His works include Barchester Towers, published in 1857 and many other works of fiction and also travel guides and biographies and he edited the St Paul's Magazine for a while. Research Anthony Trollope
Charles Ellet was an American civil engineer who designed the first wire- cable suspension bridge in the USA, in 1842. He was born in 1810 at Pennsylvania and died in 1862. He also designed the world's first long-span wire-cable suspension bridge, crossing the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. He began his career as a surveyor and assistant engineer on the Chesapeake and OhioCanal in 1828. In 1831 and 1832 he was in Europe, enrolled at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and studied the various engineering works taking place in France, Germany, and Britain. For his first wire-cable suspension bridge, over the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, Pennsylvania, Ellet introduced a technique he had learned in France of binding small wires together to make the cables. The central span of the suspension bridge over the Ohio River was at 308 meters the longest ever built when it was completed in 1849. The bridge failed under wind forces in 1854; however, Ellet's towers remained standing and the bridge was rebuilt.
Following the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Ellet produced a steam-powered ship for the Union forces to ram the Confederates on the Mississippi River and in June 1862, led a fleet of nine of these rams in the Battle of Memphis. The Union side was victorious, but in the course of the fighting Ellet was fatally wounded. Research Charles Ellet
Breaching Towers were structures used in the sieges of mediaeval castles. They consisted of a long wooden shed fixed to a wheeled framework, with a very strong roof. From the roof hung a battering-ram which could be swung against the castle while the attackers were protected from the fire from the battlements above by the shed. Research Breaching Tower
A castle (from the Latin castellum, meaning fortress) was a stone defensive building. The concept of castles was introduced to the British by the Normans and replaced the earlier Saxonburh. The castle underwent many changes, its size, design, and construction being largely determined by changes in siege tactics and the development of artillery. Outstanding examples are the 12th-century Krak des Chevaliers, Syria (built by crusaders); 13th-century Caernarfon Castle in Wales; and the 15th-century Manzanares el Real in Spain. The main parts of a typical castle are the keep, a large central tower containing store rooms, soldiers' quarters, and a hall for the lord and his family; the inner bailey or walled courtyard surrounding the keep; the outer bailey or second courtyard, separated from the inner bailey by a wall; crenulated embattlements through which missiles were discharged against an attacking enemy; rectangular or round towers projecting from the walls; the portcullis, a heavy grating which could be let down to close the main gate; and the drawbridge crossing the ditch or moat surrounding the castle. Sometimes a tower called a barbican was constructed over a gateway as an additional defensive measure. Early castles (11th century) consisted of an earthen hill (called a motte) surrounded by wooden palisades enclosing a courtyard (called a bailey). The motte supported a wooden keep. Later developments substituted stone for wood and utilised more elaborate defensive architectural detail. After the introduction of gunpowder in the 14th century, castles became less defensible and increases in civil order led to their replacement by unfortified manor houses by the 16th century. Large stone fortifications became popular again in the 18th century, particularly those modelled after the principles of fortification introduced by the French architect Vauban, and were built as late as the first half of the 19th century. In the late 19th century, castle-like buildings were built as residences for the wealthy as part of the Romantic revival in Europe and America. Research Castle
Originally martello towers were towers erected on the coasts of Sicily and Sardinia for protection against the pirates in the time of Charles V. The term became adopted in the 18th century for a fortification of masonry, generally circular, usually erected on the seacoast, with a gun on the summit mounted on a traversing platform, so as to be fired in any direction. Research Martello Tower
A Round Tower was a form of military defensive architecture dating in Britain from the 8th century. They were a round tower with walls sloping inwards from the base to the apex and with three or four one roomed stories, accessible only by a ladder which was pulled up during defence. Round towers were equipped with arrow slits for the defenders to shoot out of. Research Round Tower
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Campanology
