Cardinal Richelieu :: essays research papers

Cardinal Richelieu Cardinal Richelieu was born Armand Jean du Plessis in Paris in September of 1585. The name Richelieu came from the name of his family's estate. The du Plessis' were considered minor nobility and Armand's grandfather, Louis, secured their place in court through marriage to Francoise de Rochechouart, an important family at the time. Louis died young and left five sons, the second oldest of whom, Francois, was Richelieu's father. Francois also died young, leaving his family in dire financial straits due to some poor investments. As a child, Richelieu was sickly and unfortunately would suffer from various maladies for the rest of his life. Armand was extremely intelligent and at the age of nine was sent to College de Navarre in Paris. Originally, Armand was to have had a military career and his older brother Alphonse was to have a religious life, but Alphonse suffered mental problems so, at the age of seventeen, Armand began to study theology seriously, in order to keep the Bishopric in the family. Armand's mother had fought hard for this title and would not let it go easily. He took to his religious studies easily and because of his health problems was ideally suited to this life. In 1606 then Abbe Armand de Richelieu was appointed Bishop of Lucon and in 1622, Pope Gregory appointed him a Cardinal. Like his grandfather and father before him, serving the monarchy was very important to Richelieu. To this end he allied himself with Marie de Medici, the queen mother, and was appointed to the court as Secretary of State to foreign affairs in 1616. This position did not last long as Marie's favorite, Concino Concini, was assassinated; this caused a falling out between mother and son. The king, Louis XII, had decided to take a more direct hand in government at his time. For a time Richelieu was in disgrace but then king and his mother soon reconciled, which was good news for Richelieu. He was made Prime Minister under Louix XIII in 1624. He was dedicated to the supreme authority of the crown. At the time, there was political corruption galore, an independent nobility and problems with the Protestant Huguenots. Richelieu saw all of these things as impediments to his goals and through coercion, manipulation and oppression, set about changing things. In 1628, he defeated a Huguenot rebellion and although they were banned from military service, he allowed them to practice their religion.

Peak – Time Executions as a Television Spectacular

Peak – time Executions as a Television Spectacular Peak-time Executions As a Television Spectacular by Ellen Goodman. Written for The Washington Post in America in 1954 and later published in the British newspaper The Guardian Weekly on April 1, 1984. The article is about how the murderer James David Autry wants his execution to be on the television and Goodman asks questions to whether or not it is okay to show the spectators that kind of violent spectacular and how it will affect them.Obviously this article was meant to create a debate when it was published those many years after in Britain. If we take a look at the different executions that occur in the article, then we get a pretty good view of how the articles main interest and opinion is negative and wants to show that it has done nothing but bring out the bad in people. Watt Espy who is an historian of capital punishment at the University of Alabama Law Center believes and has heard that violence only brings more violen ce – â€Å"[†¦] has collected tales of the violence begat by violence† (p. ll. 1-2). He gives an example of how the execution of two men in Attling, Georgia. leads to a fight between the spectators and ends with a man being killed. He states – â€Å"This was not unique† (p. 2 l. 3). By that he tells us that it was not uncommon at that time to have consequences like that happen during an execution. The people at that time didn’t handle the rush of the spectacle and of the â€Å"show† very well. It got to them and the influence of the bad situation would spread and affect the spectators.Another example of an execution giving by Goodman is when she talks about one of the last time that the public could watch an execution in America. It was August 26, 1936 that Raine Bethea was hung in front of a crowd of 10,000 people in Owensboro, Kentucky. Goodman describe the execution before and after, like it was some kind of concert or entertainment show that the spectators were about to watch. â€Å"Through the early hours of that day, â€Å"Hawkers squeezed their way through the crowd selling popcorn and hot dogs. Telephone poles and trees were festooned with spectators†. (p. 1 ll. 12-13) It reminds me of a circus, where you can buy hot dogs or an outdoor movie theater with popcorn, also Goodman writes that a vivid account by Time Magazine showed that the night before the execution of Bethea, the spectators had gone to hanging parties and drinking like the execution was something to look forward to. â€Å"By 5 o’clock, â€Å"the crowd grew impatient, began to yip, â€Å"Let’s go, bring him out†. † (p. 1 l. 14) Again the crowd shows the influence of what was going on. The bad situation had a violent effect on them.It made them seem and act almost crazy by the things Goodman describes – â€Å"At 5. 28 there was a swish, a snap. † Soon the spectators crowded in and â€Å"eager hands clawed at the black death cloth†¦ The lucky ones stuffed the bits of black cloth in their pockets†. † (p. 1 ll. 16-17) The quote says that â€Å"the lucky ones† got to go home with a piece of clothing from Bethea after he was dead, as proof that they had witnessed the execution. The way that the reaction to Bethea’s execution gets described is very harsh and cynical, like the spectators had forgotten their humanity and compassion.It is an example like this that makes Goodman bring it up. It shows how wrong it is and what impact seeing an execution can have on people. She sees no reason for bringing such a spectacle up again. For example this quote says that if we go back to the way it was back then it would most likely result in videos of the state-approved murders – â€Å"As we resume the march of state-approved murder, it seems likely that television reporters will soon be allowed to bring tools of their trade – cameras – into the death chamber, the way print reporters bring pencils† (p. ll. 21-13) â€Å"Indeed, if others have their way, we may yet tune in on death. Live at Five. We may enter the death chamber through the living room. Once again we may become spectators at executions† (p. 1 ll. 5-7) – Again when she writes â€Å"once again† she refers to it as going around 50 years back in time to when it was executions on the streets. She also uses irony with the â€Å"live at five† because it makes it sound like it was any other television show and that we could watch death â€Å"through the living room†, that doesn’t sound very appealing.By saying things like that she uses the irony to make people think about what this actually means, which is watching another human die as â€Å"entertainment† on the television in your own living room. In the article Goodman also write about arguments for and against showing executions on televisions, but not her own arguments though. â€Å"Some who favour capital punishment as a deterrent to crime are convinced that watching an execution would scare criminals straight. Some who oppose capital punishment believe that the sight would enrage the public† (p. 1 ll. 3-25) as the quote says an argument for, could be to scare the criminals so they could see what could happen to them. And an argument against could be that it would only have a bad effect on the public. â€Å"There’s no scientific way to prove in advance the effect of televised executions on crime [†¦ ] but we do know something about the effect on the â€Å"audience†. We do know something about spectators from the old days† (p. 2 l. 12, ll. 13-14) – Goodman knows that there is no way to prove what effect it would bring but she see no reason to try and test it. The descriptions of his death were graphic enough† (p. 1 l. 1) – When writing about Autry, Goodman clearly states her op inion towards the subject which if the executions should be on television or not. Like the descriptions of how Autry’s execution went in details weren’t enough? She is saying that it should be enough. That showing it on television would be over doing it. Hearing about how someone takes a man’s life on purpose would be hard enough but to actually see it happening with your own eyes would be horrifying.

The Connections Between Renaissance Architecture And...

Renaissance ideas of the relationship of music and cosmology to architecture substantially predate the 15th century and were influential long after it. Discuss. In this essay, I will not only be discussing at the connections between Renaissance architecture and cosmology as well as music, but also the what Renaissance architecture is and how it played a key part in architectural design today. The Renaissance period took place during the early 15th century to early 17th century, the age of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Architects of the time took inspiration from classical Roman architecture. This means it is an analysis of architecture in the ancient world, especially ancient Greece and Rome. What the Renaissance learnt from the Romans has how they used the space, looked at the form and had somewhat accurate measurements. And so, they copied elements and modified it, for example, many columns having a slightly intruded appearance on walls to give decoration to the building. They loved looking at the design and proportions and the mainly thrived in Italy during the early semester. It wasn’t until the latter years where Renaissan ce architecture started to spread throughout Europe, where many architects were fading from the gothic style previously used. However, large numbers of buildings incorporated a mixture of Renaissance and Gothic styles. A famous building built during the Renaissance period is St Peter’s Basilica, made in Rome, which was designed by manyShow MoreRelatedsociology4813 Words   |  20 PagesCoomara Swamy s works helped in the development of sociology in India. Being a believer in the abstract values, e.g., God, values of goodness, architecture and sculpture. his work is just opposite of B.K. Sarkar who worked to explore the material basis of Indian society. The first three decades of 20th century may be described as a period of Renaissance. Notable personalities such as Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, and Rabindranath Tagore were also trying to project an idealistic view of India. TheseRead MoreThe Birth of Civilization18947 Words   |  76 Pagesagainst the inner face. No other Ne olithic settlement has been found with fortifications. These two sites show that the economies and settlement patterns of the Neolithic period may have been more complicated than scholars previously thought. the Renaissance, but it was Europe that produced Copernicus and Newton. The nineteenth century saw the invention of the steam engine, the steamship, the locomotive, the telegraph and telephone, and the automobile. After those inventions came electric lights