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Manuel Blanco Romasanta
Manuel Blanco Romasanta (né Manuela; 18 November 1809 – 14 December 1863) was Spain's first recorded serial killer. In 1853, he admitted to thirteen murders, but claimed he was not responsible because he was suffering from a curse that caused him to turn into a wolf. Although this defense was rejected at trial, Queen Isabella II commuted his death sentence to allow doctors to investigate the claim as an example of clinical lycanthropy. Blanco has become part of Spanish folklore as the ''Werewolf of Allariz'' and is also known as ''The Tallow Man,'' a nickname he earned for rendering his victims' fat to make high-quality soap. Background Manuel Blanco Romasanta was born on 18 November 1809 in Regueiro, Esgos, Ourense province, one of five children born to Miguel Blanco and María Romasanta. Originally thought to be female, he was named Manuela and raised as a girl until the age of six when a doctor reassigned his sex. At the age of eight, the family legally changed his name. ...
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Esgos
Esgos is a municipality in the province of Ourense in the Galicia region of north-west Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i .... References Municipalities in the Province of Ourense {{galicia-geo-stub ...
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Trial In Absentia
Trial in absentia is a criminal proceeding in a court of law in which the person who is subject to it is not physically present at those proceedings. is Latin for "in (the) absence". Its meaning varies by jurisdiction and legal system. In common law legal systems, the phrase is more than a spatial description. In these systems, it suggests a recognition of a violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial. Conviction in a trial in which a defendant is not present to answer the charges is held to be a violation of natural justice. Specifically, it violates the second principle of natural justice, (hear the other party). In some civil law legal systems, such as that of Italy, is a recognized and accepted defensive strategy. Such trials may require the presence of the defendant's lawyer, depending on the country. Europe Member states of the Council of Europe that are party to the European Convention on Human Rights are bound to adher ...
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Cranioscopy
Cranioscopy is a term created by Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828), a German neuroanatomist and physiologist who was a pioneer in the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain, to name his technique to infer localization of function in the brain on the basis of the external anatomy of the skull or cranium. "Cranioscopy, later known as phrenology, asserts that the shape of a person's skull revealed his or her intellectual and emotional characteristics."Schultz, D., and Schultz, S.E. (2003) A history of modern psychology, (9th ed.) Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers Cranioscopy is the basis of phrenology Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ..., but was later proved to be unscientific. References History of neuroscience Phrenology {{Neuroscienc ...
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Phrenology
Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. California: Skeptics Society.Hines, T. (2002). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. New York: Prometheus Books. p. 200 It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. It was said that the brain was composed of different muscles, so those that were used more often were bigger, resulting in the different skull shapes. This led to the reasoning behind why everyone had bumps on the skull in different locations. The brain "muscles" not being used as frequently remained small and were therefore not present on the exterior of the skull. Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology generalized beyond empirical knowledge in a way that ...
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La Rioja (Spain)
La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera. It has an estimated population of 315,675 inhabitants (INE 2018), making it the least populated autonomous community of Spain. It covers part of the Ebro valley towards its north and the Iberian Range in the south. The community is a single province, so there is no County Council, and it is organized into 174 municipalities. It borders the Basque Country (province of Álava) to the north, Navarre to the northeast, Aragón to the southeast (province of Zaragoza), and Castilla y León to the west and south (provinces of Burgos and Soria). The area was once occupied by pre-Roman Berones, Pellendones and Vascones. After partial recapture from the Muslims in the early tenth century, the region became part of the Kingdom of Pam ...
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Lycanthropy
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (often a bite or the occasional scratch from another werewolf) with the transformations occurring on the night of a full moon. Early sources for belief in this ability or affliction, called lycanthropy (), are Petronius (27–66) and Gervase of Tilbury (1150–1228). The werewolf is a widespread concept in European folklore, existing in many variants, which are related by a common development of a Christian interpretation of underlying European folklore developed during the medieval period. From the early modern period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches, in the course of the Late Middle ...
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Allariz
Allariz is a town and municipality (in ) in the province of Ourense, Autonomous Community of Galicia, Spain. It occupies the center of the western half of the province, connecting with the towns (''concellos'') of Taboadela, Paderne, Sandiás, Vilar de Santos, Rairiz de Veiga, Xunqueira de Ambía, A Merca and A Bola. The area of the municipality is 85,3 km² and there are 6.188 inhabitants in 16 parishes. The hydrographic system is made up of the River Arnoia, which crosses the municipality from east to west. The surrounding hills are covered with pine and native oak. The valley itself is very fertile and the river banks are lined with trees. The climate can be defined as inland Atlantic with continental influences. Summers are warm with highs averaging 25 °C, while winter highs average 12 °C. Allariz is a town which relies on tourism and proximity to the provincial capital of Ourense, fifteen kilometers away. Because of its picturesque location on the b ...
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Toledo (province)
Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila. Its capital is the city of Toledo. Demography Of the province's 711,228 people (2012), only about 1/9 live in the capital, Toledo, which is also the capital of the autonomous community. The most populated municipalities in the province are Toledo and Talavera de la Reina with 83,741 and 83,303 inhabitants each (INE, 2017). The province contains 204 municipalities. The smallest municipality in Spain, Illán de Vacas, with a population of 8, is in Toledo province. See List of municipalities in Toledo. Population development The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right ...
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Nombela
Nombela is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Toledo, Castilla–La Mancha. According to the 2006 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 981 inhabitants. Geography Located in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ... at about 490 metres above mean sea level, the town is the Spanish settlement farthest removed from the sea. History Nombela earned the status of 'town' (''villa'') in 1579. References ;Citations ;Bibliography * Municipalities in the Province of Toledo {{CastileLaMancha-geo-stub ...
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Escalona
Escalona is a municipality located in the north part of the province of Toledo, which in turn is part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2017 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 3,240 inhabitants, most of whom are settled in several housing estates such as Ribera del Alberche, Miragredos or Castillo de Escalona. The town is settled alongside the right side of the river Alberche, in the comarca of Torrijos, which is a part of the historical region of New Castile. The Mudéjar-style Castillo-Palacio de Escalona is the most characteristic building of the town, built in the 15th century. Twin towns * Villena, Spain * Peñafiel, Spain Notable people * Don Juan Manuel (1282-1348), writer *Esteban de Aguilar y Zúñiga Esteban de Aguilar y Zúñiga (13 August 1606 – 1681) was a Spanish theologian and writer. He was born in Escalona del Alberche on 13 August 1606 and died in Madrid some time after 1681. He was the so ...
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Effeminate
Effeminacy is the embodiment of traits and/or expressions in those who are not of the female sex (e.g. boys and men) that are often associated with what is generally perceived to be feminine behaviours, mannerisms, styles, or gender roles, rather than with traditionally masculine behaviours, mannerisms, styles or roles. Effeminacy and other gender expressions are independent of a person's sexuality or sexual identity and are displayed by people of all sexualities and none. However, effeminacy is seen in some societies as something embodied by some in the homosexual male community. The embodiment of effeminacy by people in some societies has resulted in prejudice, discrimination, antagonism and insults towards those who display it. History Terminology ''Effeminate'' comes from Latin '' effeminātus'', from the factitive prefix ''ex-'' (from ''ex'' 'out') and ''femina'' 'woman'; it means 'made feminine, emasculated, weakened'. Another Latin term is ''mollities'', meaning 'softn ...
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Spinning Wheel
A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning frame, which displaced the spinning wheel during the Industrial Revolution. Function The basic spinning of yarn involves taking a clump of fibres and teasing a bit of them out, then twisting it into a basic string shape. The spinner continues pulling and twisting to make it longer and longer, and to control the thickness. Thousands of years ago, people began doing this onto a stick, called a spindle, which was a very lengthy process. The actual wheel part of a spinning wheel does not take the place of the spindle, instead it automates the twisting process, allowing one to "twist" the thread without having to constantly do so manually, and also the size of the wheel lets one more finely control the amount of twist. The thread still ends ...
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