Dunkelgrafen
The Dunkelgrafen (french: Comte et Comtesse des Ténèbres, in German) is the nickname given by the locals to a wealthy couple who lived in the vicinity of Hildburghausen, Thuringia in the early 19th century. The man was identified as Leonardus Cornelius van der Valck (1769-1845), and used the alias Count Vavel de Versay. The woman was identified as Sophie Botta (c. 1777-1837). Life The ''Dunkelgräfin'' (Dark Countess) arrived in Hildburghausen on February 7, 1807. In 1810, they moved into the nearby but secluded Eishausen castle where they stayed until their deaths. The man presented himself as Count Vavel de Versay and kept the woman’s identity secret, making only clear that they were neither married nor lovers. They led a secretive life, particularly the Countess who ventured out only in a carriage or with a veil covering her face. At her death (November 28, 1837) she was inhumed very quickly, possibly without a religious service. The Count - later identified as ''Leon ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ernestine De Lambriquet
Ernestine de Lambriquet (''Marie-Philippine Lambriquet'', 31 July 1778 – 31 December 1813) was the adopted/foster daughter of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Biography Playmate of the Princess She was born at Versailles as the daughter of Jacque Lambriquet (d. 1794) and Marie-Philippine Noiret (d. 1788). Her father began his career at court as a servant to the Comte de Provence. Her mother was a chambermaid at the Palace of Versailles. She was said to have a physical resemblance to Louis XVI and to his daughter Marie Thérèse of France, and because of this, she has sometimes been speculated to be the secret illegitimate daughter of the king. She was the second eldest of her parents' four children, but she was the only one of her siblings to be adopted by the royal family. There is, however, nothing to indicate that she was the biological daughter of the king, a rumour which occurred merely because of her physical resemblance to Marie Thérèse. When she ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Renée Suzanne De Soucy
Renée Suzanne de Soucy née ''de Mackau'' (1758-1841), was a French court office holder. She was royal governess to the children of Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette from 1781 and 1792. Life She was the daughter of baron Marie Henri Louis Eleonor Dirkheim de Mackau and Marie Angélique de Mackau, and the sister of Marie-Angélique de Bombelles (1762-1800) and Armand Louis de Mackau (1759-1827). She married her cousin count François-Louis de Fitte de Soucy in 1774. In 1781, she was appointed one of five ''sous gouvernante'' (depute governess) to the royal children: they were placed under the Governess of the Children of France, but normally did most of the daily work. Her mother and her mother-in-law Elisabeth Louise Lenoir de Verneuil de Soucy (1729-1813) were two of the other four ''sous gouvernante''. In contrast to her mother, who was loved by her pupils and respected at court, de Soucy was not as liked by her students, and was described as authoritarian and an intrig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1837 Deaths
Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes 6,000–7,000 casualties in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February – Charles Dickens's '' Oliver Twist'' begins publication in serial form in London. * February 4 – Seminoles attack Fort Foster in Florida. * February 25 – In Philadelphia, the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY) is founded, as the first institution for the higher education of black people in the United States. * March 1 – The Congregation of Holy Cross is formed in Le Mans, France, by the signing of the Fundamental Act of Union, which legally joins the Auxiliary Priests of Blessed Basil Moreau, CSC, and the Brothers of St. Joseph (founded by Jacques-François Dujarié) into one religious association. * March 4 ** Martin Van Buren is sworn in as the eighth President of the United States. ** The city of Chicago is incorporated. April–June * Apr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blackmail
Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to family members or associates rather than to the general public. These acts can also involve using threats of physical, mental or emotional harm, or of criminal prosecution, against the victim or someone close to the victim. It is normally carried out for personal gain, most commonly of position, money, or property. Blackmail may also be considered a form of extortion. Although the two are generally synonymous, extortion is the taking of personal property by threat of future harm. Blackmail is the use of threat to prevent another from engaging in a lawful occupation and writing libelous letters or letters that provoke a breach of the peace, as well as use of intimidation for purposes of collecting an unpaid debt. In many jurisdictions, bla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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People From North Rhine-Westphalia
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of per ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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People From Hildburghausen
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of per ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nobility From Amsterdam
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristics associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles or simply formal functions (e.g., precedence), and vary by country and by era. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is typically hereditary and patrilineal. Membership in the nobility has historically been granted by a monarch or government, and acquisition of sufficient power, wealth, ownerships, or royal favour has occasionally enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are often a variety of ranks within the noble class. Legal recognition of nobility has been much more common in monarchies, but nobility also existed in such regimes as the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), the Republic of Genoa (1005–1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1845 Deaths
Events January–March * January 10 – Elizabeth Barrett receives a love letter from the younger poet Robert Browning; on May 20, they meet for the first time in London. She begins writing her ''Sonnets from the Portuguese''. * January 23 – The United States Congress establishes a uniform date for federal elections, which will henceforth be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. * January 29 – ''The Raven'' by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time, in the ''New York Evening Mirror''. * February 1 – Anson Jones, President of the Republic of Texas, signs the charter officially creating Baylor University (the oldest university in the State of Texas operating under its original name). * February 7 – In the British Museum, a drunken visitor smashes the Portland Vase, which takes months to repair. * February 28 – The United States Congress approves the annexation of Texas. * March 1 – President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1770s Births
Year 177 ( CLXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Plautius (or, less frequently, year 930 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 177 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Lucius Aurelius Commodus Caesar (age 15) and Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus become Roman Consuls. * Commodus is given the title ''Augustus'', and is made co-emperor, with the same status as his father, Marcus Aurelius. * A systematic persecution of Christians begins in Rome; the followers take refuge in the catacombs. * The churches in southern Gaul are destroyed after a crowd accuses the local Christians of practicing cannibalism. * Forty-seven Christians are martyred in Lyon (Saint Blandina and Pothinus, bishop ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1769 Births
Events January–March * February 2 – Pope Clement XIII dies, the night before preparing an order to dissolve the Jesuits.Denis De Lucca, ''Jesuits and Fortifications: The Contribution of the Jesuits to Military Architecture in the Baroque Age'' (BRILL, 2012) pp315-316 * February 17 – The British House of Commons votes to not allow MP John Wilkes to take his seat after he wins a by-election. * March 4 – Mozart departs Italy, after the last of his three tours there. * March 16 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville returns to Saint-Malo, following a three-year circumnavigation of the world with the ships '' La Boudeuse'' and '' Étoile'', with the loss of only seven out of 330 men; among the members of the expedition is Jeanne Baré, the first woman known to have circumnavigated the globe. She returns to France some time after Bougainville and his ships. April–June * April 13 – James Cook arrives in Tahiti, on the ship HM Bark ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is only a small portion of the DNA in a eukaryotic cell; most of the DNA can be found in the cell nucleus and, in plants and algae, also in plastids such as chloroplasts. Human mitochondrial DNA was the first significant part of the human genome to be sequenced. This sequencing revealed that the human mtDNA includes 16,569 base pairs and encodes 13 proteins. Since animal mtDNA evolves faster than nuclear genetic markers, it represents a mainstay of phylogenetics and evolutionary biology. It also permits an examination of the relatedness of populations, and so has become important in anthropology and biogeography. Origin Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA are thought to be of separate evolutionary origin, with the mtDNA being derived ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |