Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2012 June 26

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June 26

Sculptor Bernard Spinetti and his vain Saint Brigita

I am trying to find information on 18th century painter/sculptor Bernard Spinetti. He was one of the main artisians that helped create St. George's Basillica in the Prague Castle. (As well as several other statues throughout the Czech Republic.) The Castle's web site mentions him often, but there are very few details. I am particularly interested in his sculpture of St. Brigita a.k.a. Vanitus or Vanity. They attribute the name Vanitus to a fable. However, I can't find any fable that this statue might represent. Why would they name a statue of a dead/decaying SAINT as vanity? It seems rather odd, and probably has a very scandalous origin. Is there a written version of the fable/folktale?

http://www.free-prague-guide.com/prague-walking-tours/prague-castle/from-vikarka-to-golden-lane-and-the-old-castle-steps

http://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle/photogallery/prague-castle/12.shtml

107.4.74.219 (talk) 08:41, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure why it would be connected to St. Brigitta, but vanitas was a common theme in art, a memento mori, a reminder that everyone is going to die. Even the most powerful, the most proud, the most vain, would end up like that image. Adam Bishop (talk) 10:08, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

You know, it´s called only Brigita in Czech as a nickname with no connection to St. Brigitta...

Odd-shaped bit of the English/Welsh border

Just east of Breidden Hill, there's an odd bit of the English-Welsh border (map). I've looked at the articles for Breidden Hill, and Wales, but I can't find anything that helps me understand how that bit of the border ended up the shape it is. Can anyone tell me how to find out? --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 16:57, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps so that the owner(s) of that bit of land north of Bulthy wouldn't have part of their property in Shropshire and another part in Powys? Deor (talk) 17:15, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Oops, I foolisly didn't look at your map and thought you were referring specifically to this little excursion of the border. But in your case I assume that it's a similar effort to keep Pecknall and Shotten farms wholly within Wales. Deor (talk) 17:50, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Boarders in Europe usually preserve the old original parish boundaries (Northern Island and Eire especially. If you look to the right hand side of the Google Image, the boarder also follows a river which are natural feature often used as boundary lines. So look up up some of the old tithe maps and see it this is part of an ancient parish. Back when the parishes where being established, much of this land could have been unclaimed forest and wast-land. This was long before the 1500's when the boarder was ratified to stop the dragons ravishing English virgins (or was it vice versa - I forget). --Aspro (talk) 17:49, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

This book might tell you more:http://www.amazon.com/History-parish-Llandrinio-Richard-Thomas/dp/B0008CPT8S The Old maps website show the rivers of Llandrinio quite clearly [1]. So the boundaries appear to follow obvious natural features of the landscape. By the way, the article on Llandrinio could do with the addition of a guide to pronunciation, so that foreign readers of WP don't pronounce it as Llandrinio. --Aspro (talk) 18:27, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Oh. Here where are: Llan (placename element); "an enclosed piece of land", but it later evolved to mean the parish surrounding a church. Therefore, It is probably the old parish boundary of Llandrinio.--Aspro (talk) 18:35, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia hase an article about Wales–England border and that too states that the border was not ratified until 1535/6 --Aspro (talk) 18:40, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

It's not Llandrinio - it's Alberbury (see below). Map of boundaries here. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:45, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

The parish here is Alberbury. But what is interesting - and I don't yet understand the reason - is that the ancient parish of Alberbury was divided between two separate hundreds - part in the hundred of Ford, in Shropshire, and part in the hundreds of Cawrse and Deythur, in Montgomeryshire - here and here. The reasons may, as Deor suggested, have something to do with land ownership, but we are probably talking about the 16th century at the latest. I haven't checked to see whether the county boundary changed between then and now - it may well have done - but the fact that it is now a national boundary between England and Wales is incidental - at the time the county boundaries were drawn in this area, under Henry VIII, both sides of the border would have been treated as part of the single unified Kingdom of England. The fact that the main road seems to cut off part of the area is also coincidental - roads were largely incidental to parish boundaries, and in this case the road could be a turnpike dating from the 18th or 19th centuries. This link should give you the boundaries of the hundred of Cawrse, which looks odd in itself. There's no accounting for British administrative geography, I'm afraid. Ghmyrtle (talk) 18:03, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Lets run this by you. As another example – Hanwell held ( not owned) land in West Twyford. [2] Forget about land ownership for the moment, because the monarch owned all the land and an influential family only had possession by his Grace (well almost). A parish is was a self-contained unit. The vicar lorded over spiritual matters and the Lord of the manor kept the law with very little outside interference. To be self-contained, they need woods to let the pigs root in (the Doomsday book even gives the size of wood by the number of pigs they will support)– pastures to grass cattle, arable land to plough, common land for the peasants to gather and hunt in. Plus other things like access to reed beds for thatch etc, etc. Non of this land could encroach on the Royal forest which was for sole use of the monarch. The land was their only resource. No supermarkets, no juggernauts to bring stuff in from outside. National trade was restricted to only what people could carry on their backs. Thus, a parish needed enough of the right type of land to provided all their needs –( hence the origin for the word hundreds). The parish of Alberbury could have been fragment just so that they had access to the range of natural resources that would provide them with all their needs. --Aspro (talk) 22:19, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

That's true of almost anywhere in England. The Alberbury parish boundary is not particularly strange - many similarly shaped, or more strangely shaped, parishes occur all over the place, but this one stands out simply because of its chance location on what is now a national boundary. Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:28, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

It seems it may be due to the re-drawing of the boundaries of the dioceses of St Asaph and Hereford in the 1280s: [3]. Warofdreams talk 15:45, 27 June 2012 (UTC)

Great source - thank you! "Alberbury has a history of surpassing interest to those who would study the principles and the workings of the feudal system" (p.67) Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:28, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

member of the Ford administration staff

White House Chief of Staff Richard Cheney (left) with another member of the Ford administration staff at the White House, Washington, D.C.

What is the name of the other man? --Eingangskontrolle (talk) 17:10, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Wow, he looks very familiar, but I can't place him. Not Ron Nessen or Jerry ter Horst. The picture is in various places on the internet and they all say "with another member..." There's a website for the Gerald Ford Presidential Library,[4] and maybe someone there could tell you, if you send them the picture.

Looks a little bit like Chevy Chase... -- AnonMoos (talk) 12:39, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

Does Category:Ford Administration personnel help anyone? Dru of Id (talk) 03:39, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

Not really. After browsing through all of them, he seems not to be in the category. 217.7.150.122 (talk) 12:43, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

Hrm. Maybe mentioned in one of them? Dru of Id (talk) 16:38, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

I have asked the Ford Library, but got no answer sofar. --Eingangskontrolle (talk) 17:24, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

I tried searching out photos of the staff members in the category who lack photos in their Wikipedia articles. I could not find a photo of Carlyle E. Maw, (but the pictured man seems way younger than Maw would have been). None of the others in the category resemble the individual in the photo. There are probably many staffers not listed in the category. Edison (talk) 18:09, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

british politics

OP indef'd for trolling
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
are there any naked pictures of british politicians in existence and where can I find them Roger 11 Handyman (talk) 20:10, 26 June 2012 (UTC) There certainly are some! And you can probably find them in their mothers' family photo albums. Sittin' there in the bath tub with their siblings --::Slomox:: >< 20:34, 26 June 2012 (UTC) It is not out of the realm of possibility. Read this about a former PM.    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 00:31, 27 June 2012 (UTC)