Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Robert the Bruce Biography

Robert the Bruce Biography Robert the Bruce (July 11, 1274–June 7, 1329) was king of Scotland for the last two decades of his life. An ardent proponent of Scottish independence and a contemporary of William Wallace, Robert remains one of Scotlands most beloved national heroes. Early Years and Family Born into an Anglo-Norman family, Robert was no stranger to royalty. His father, Robert de Brus, was the 6th Lord of Annandale and a great-great-grandson of King David mac Mail Choluim, or David I of Scotland. His mother, Marjorie, was the Countess of Carrick, descended from the Irish King Brian Boru. His sister Isabel became the Queen of Norway by marrying King Eric II, long before Robert ascended to the Scottish throne. Robert’s grandfather, also named Robert, was the 5th Earl of Annandale. In the autumn of 1290, Margaret, the Maid of Norway, who was the seven-year-old heiress to the Scottish throne, died at sea. Her death set off a whirlwind of disputes regarding who should succeed to the throne, and the 5th Earl of Annandale (Roberts grandfather) was one of the claimants. Robert V, with the aid of his son Robert VI, captured a number of strongholds in the southwest of Scotland during the period between 1290 – 1292. Naturally, young Robert supported his grandfather’s claim to the throne, but ultimately, the role of king was given to John Balliol. Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images Association With William Wallace King Edward I of England was known as the Hammer of the Scots, and worked diligently during his reign to turn Scotland into a feudal tributary state. Naturally, this did not sit well with the Scots, and soon Edward found himself having to deal with uprisings and rebellions. William Wallace led a revolt against Edward, and Robert joined in, believing that Scotland needed to remain independent of England. The Battle of Stirling Bridge, in September 1297, was a devastating blow for the English. Shortly afterwards, Bruce family lands were sacked by Edwards troops in retaliation for the familys role in the rebellion. In 1298, Robert succeeded Wallace as one of the Guardians of Scotland. He served alongside John Comyn, who would become his chief rival for the country’s throne. Robert resigned his seat after just two years, when the conflicts with Comyn escalated. In addition, there were rumors that John Balliol would be restored as king despite his abdication in 1296. Instead, Scotland functioned without a monarch, and under the guidance of the countrys Guardians, until 1306, one year after Wallace was captured, tortured, and executed. Rise to the Throne In early 1306, two very important events took place that would shape the future of Scotland. In February, matters came to a head between John Comyn and Robert. During an argument, Robert stabbed Comyn at a church in Dumfries, killing him. When word of Comyn’s death reached King Edward, he was livid; Comyn had been distantly related to the king, and Edward saw this as a deliberate plot to stir up dissent. Comyn’s son, John IV, was immediately whisked off to England for his own safety, and put into the care of a nobleman who was raising Edward’s own children. John Comyn was stabbed by Robert the Bruce in 1306. Print Collector / Getty Images Just a few weeks later, at the beginning of March, Robert’s father, the 6th Earl of Annandale, died. With his father now dead, and Comyn also out of the way, Robert was the chief claimant to the Scottish throne. He moved rapidly to take power. Robert was crowned king on March 25, but an attack by Edward’s army pushed him out of the country. For a year, Robert hid out in Ireland, raising a loyal army of his own, and in 1307 he returned to Scotland. In addition to battling Edward’s troops, he laid waste to the lands of Scottish nobles who supported the English king’s claim to rule Scotland. In 1309, Robert the Bruce held his first parliament. Bannockburn and Border Raids Over the next few years, Robert continued to fight against the English, and was able to reclaim much of Scotlands land. Perhaps his most famous victory of all took place at Bannockburn in the summer of 1314. That spring, Roberts younger brother Edward had laid siege to Stirling Castle, and King Edward II decided it was time to move up north and take Stirling back. Robert, upon hearing of these plans, rounded up his army and moved into position above the marshy area that surrounded the Bannock Burn (a burn is a creek), intending to stop English troops from reclaiming Stirling. The Scottish army was thoroughly outnumbered, with an estimated five to ten thousand men, compared to an English force of more than twice that size. However, despite the larger numbers, the English were not expecting to encounter any Scottish resistance, so they were caught completely by surprise in the narrow, low-lying area of the marsh, as Roberts spearmen attacked from the wooded hillside. With English archers at the far back of the marching formation, the cavalry was rapidly decimated, and the army retreated. King Edward is said to have barely escaped with his life. Following the victory at Bannockburn, Robert grew bolder in his attacks on England. No longer content to just wait around defending Scotland, he led incursions into the border regions of northern England, as well as into Yorkshire. By 1315, he had attacked English troops in Ireland, at the request of Donall ONeill, the king of Tyrone, one of Gaelic Irelands eastern kingdoms. A year later, Roberts younger brother Edward was crowned as High King of Ireland, temporarily cementing the bond between Ireland and Scotland. Robert attempted for several years to bring about an alliance between the two countries, but eventually it crumbled, as the Irish saw Scottish occupation as no different than English occupation. The Declaration of Arbroath In 1320, Robert decided that diplomacy rather than military force might be a viable method of asserting Scottish independence. The Declaration of Arbroath, which later served as the template for Americas Declaration of Independence, was sent to Pope John XXII. The document outlined all of the reasons that Scotland should be considered an independent nation. In addition to detailing the atrocities committed upon the countrys people by King Edward II, the declaration specifically said that although Robert the Bruce had saved the country from English dominion, the nobility would not hesitate to replace him if he became unfit to rule. One of the results of the declaration was that the Pope lifted Roberts excommunication, which had been in place since he murdered John Comyn in 1306. Some eight years after the Declaration of Arbroath was sealed by more than fifty Scottish nobles and dignitaries, King Edward III, the fourteen-year-old son of Edward II, signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton. This treaty declared peace between England and Scotland, and recognized Robert the Bruce as Scotlands lawful king. Statue of Robert the Bruce at Stirling. Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images Death and Legacy After a two-year-long illness, Robert the Bruce died at the age of fifty-four. Although there has been speculation that his death was caused by leprosy, there is no evidence to indicate that he suffered from the disease. Western University anthropology professor Andrew Nelson studied Roberts skull and foot bone in 2016, and concluded: The anterior nasal spine (the bone support around the nose) in a healthy person is teardrop-shaped; in a person with leprosy, that structure is eroded and almost circular. King Robert’s nasal spine is teardrop-shaped... In a person with leprosy, the end of th[e] metatarsal bone [from the foot] would be pointed, as if inserted into a pencil sharpener. This bone shows no sign of â€Å"pencilling.† After his death, Roberts heart was removed and buried at Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire. The rest of his body was embalmed and interred at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, but was not discovered until construction workers found the casket in 1818. Statues in his honor exist in several Scottish cities, including Stirling. Robert the Bruce Fast Facts Full Name:  Robert I, also Robert the Bruce, Roibert a Briuis in medieval Gaelic.Known for:  King of Scotland and a celebrated warrior in the Scottish fight for independence from England.Born:  July 11, 1274 in Ayrshire, Scotland.Died:  June 7, 1329 at Cardross Manor, Dunbartonshire, Scotland.Parents’ Names:  Robert de Brus, the 6th Earl of Annandale, and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick. Sources Letter from Robert the Bruce to Edward II Reveals Power Struggle in the Build Up to Bannockburn. University of Glasgow, 1 June 2013, www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2013/june/headline_279405_en.html.Macdonald, Ken. â€Å"Reconstructed Face of Robert the Bruce Is Unveiled - BBC News.†Ã‚  BBC, BBC, 8 Dec. 2016, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-38242781.Murray, James. â€Å"Robert the Bruce in Battle: A Battlefield Trail from Methven to Bannockburn.†Ã‚  30 Aug. 2018, www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/military-history/pre-20th-century-conflict/art487284-Robert-the-Bruce-in-Battle-A-battlefield-trail-from-Methven-to-Bannockburn.Watson, Fiona. â€Å"Great Scot, Its Robert the Bruce!†Ã‚  The History Press, www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/great-scot-it-s-robert-the-bruce/.

Monday, March 2, 2020

11 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Quotes

11 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' Quotes Robert Louis Stevenson made literary history with his novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This story of the dual personality being personified during a medical experiment has been told and re-told in adaptations since it was first published in 1886. The novel became so popular that the phrase Jekyll and Hyde has come to mean someone whose behavior changes based on the situation theyre in.   The Nature of Evil I incline to Cains heresy, he used to say quaintly. I let my brother go to the devil in his own way. Mr. Gabriel Utterson, Chapter 1 The last I think; for, O poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satans signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend. Mr. Gabriel Utterson, Chapter 2 My fears incline to the same point. Evil, I fear, founded - evil was sure to come - of that connection. Ay truly, I believe you; I defer (for what purpose, God alone can tell) is still lurking in his victims room. Well, let our name be vengeance. Mr. Gabriel Utterson, Chapter 8 Quotes About Fear It was for one minute that I saw him, but the hair stood upon my head like quills. Sir, if that was my master, why had he a mask upon his face? Mr. Poole, Chapter 8 O God! I screamed, and O God! again and again; for there before my eyes - pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with his hands, like a man restored from death - there stood Henry Jekyll! Dr. Lanyon, Chapter 9 On Jekyll and Hyde Behavior You start a question, and its like starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill, and away the stone goes, starting others, and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of) is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name. No, sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask. Mr. Enfield, Chapter 1 I am painfully situated, Utterson; my position is a very strange - a very strange one. It is one of those affairs that cannot be mended by talking. Dr. Jekyll, Chapter 3 With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two. Dr. Jekyll, Chapter 10 Someday, Utterson, after I am dead, you may perhaps come to learn the right and wrong of this. I cannot tell you. Dr. Lanyon, Chapter 6 On Endings I swear to God I will never set eyes on him again. I bind my honor to you that I am done with him in this world. It is all at an end. And indeed he does not want my help; you do not know him as I do; he is safe, he is quite safe; mark my words, he will never more be heard of. Dr. Jekyll, Chapter 5 Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end. Dr. Jekyll, Chapter 10

Friday, February 14, 2020

Talent Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Talent Management - Essay Example To this end, they needs must be cognizant of the fact that to become business leaders, high performing and motivated employees are critical. Business leaders who implement the best talent management systems will at the end of the day be more prepared than their counterparts to capitalize on new opportunities and maximize their usage of limited resources (Kehinde, 2012). In a nutshell, strategic talent management is a process through which an organization ensures it has placed the right people for the right jobs at the right place and time so as to achieve the long and short term goals and objectives. The contention of this paper will be to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the talent management approach as well try to justify its application in an organization with global latitude, and the need to actively involve employees’ opinion due to cultural variants owing to the international latitude of the firms operations. Benefits and Drawbacks As aforementioned, through proper talent management stratagem the skills and strengths of employees can be assessed and the HR managers will make recruitment, promotion and deployment decisions form a point of information. Ideally, each employee would be placed at the point where they are most productive and this is significant in reducing wastage and enhancing both individual and collective productivity. Secondly, there are always firms that are willing to poach talent and if an organization does not nurture its employees, they could end up losing their best talent to the competition (Global Novations, 2012). Therefore, when firms focus on the recruitment and retention programs that will allow them to contract and maintain their employees through the talent approach they will be have a low staff turnover which will contribute to the organization’s growth and stability (Li and Scullion, 2010). Employees feel motivated and less inclined to change jobs if they feel their growth needs are being attended to by t heir employers and that they can be rewarded for their skills, if they are neglected, they may end up leaving. Talent management planning is useful in aligning the firms strategic plan with the overall business needs, through goal alignment job roles for individual employees and teams can be clarified. In addition, employees working in such a system are likely to have a heighted sense of ownership for the firms decisions and products thus they will intrinsically motivated to perform. The talent management approach also comes with the benefit of increasing success and productivity while at the same time reducing the risk factors (HR Focus, 2010). A study by the talent management institute indicated that the success rate of organizations that align their operational strategy to talent management is about 72% which puts it ahead other firms which average at 58% success (Professional Management Institute, p. 2). A possible drawback of the talent management approach is that it has been f ound to have the potential to result in arrested in personal and moral development, Glover et al (1997) discovered that an individual’s level of experience was directly proportional to their propensity for ethical decision making. However a different study found that the more one rise in seniority the more their predisposition for unethical action increases (Ford & Richardson, 1994), by considering the results of both

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Pros and Cons of Abortion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pros and Cons of Abortion - Research Paper Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that to understand the phenomenon of abortion better it would be ideal to look at its pros and cons. It is believed that abortion is a justifiable act as it is a killing of a fetus and not that of a human being. A person is originated at birth and not during conception. This is a biologically proven fact and hence favor abortion. The oath of Hippocrates which the medical professionals take itself forbids abortion and hence is a malpractice. â€Å"The original text of the Hippocratic Oath, the oath that doctors traditionally take when swearing to practice medicine ethically, forbids abortions†. The U.S constitution gives liberty to live to all men and killing of one life is against nation’s proclamation. â€Å"Allowing abortion directly contradicts the Founding Fathers intentions for an inalienable right to life in this country†. It is evidently clear from the discussion that abortion having pros and cons can be defended and justified according to the situation and effect of this medical procedure. It is not possible to condemn abortion altogether as it offers va rious benefits to women. The good side of abortion is weighed more in American society and the bad effects stand as reasons for the public to defend against it.

Friday, January 24, 2020

Comparing Story Openings of Bleak House by Charles Dickens to The Outsi

At the opening of the story 'The Outsider', the writer Albert Camus places time in the wrong order. This creates the impression that we are seeing into the character's thoughts rather than a story being told to us. It works very effectively as the paragraphs are spontaneous and not in any form of order, thus creating a mental picture in our heads of one or two day?s worth of events, as if we were remembering them ourselves. This, however, does not apply to Bleak house. Dickens does not use any form of time, but instead decides to describe what is happening and makes the days, time, week or month irrelevant. It could be any day, but Dickens does not want time to be the focal point of his story. This is effective because our interest is drawn to the descriptions and happenings of the city. Surprisingly, both story start with short, improperly composed sentences, most of the time with little or no verbs. This works differently for each story. In ?The Outsider?, the short, blunt sentences arouse interest that forces you to continue reading, this is because the ?thoughts? of the character are rather cold and blunt about a situation that should be upsetting, for example ?Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday?, as the opening paragraph. The punctuation break up the sentence into emphasized words. Camus directs us to feel slightly disturbed by his descriptions of the events taken place and puts us in the position of psychologist, eager to hear what comes next, but wary of it also. In ?Bleak House? the short, improper sentences create a very descriptive picture of a cold, dark city, the blunt words mimicking the blunt feelings and people in the city. This is very effective as he uses the same words over again to emphasize the poin... ...he Chancellor and Chancery both being the cause and the centre of the fog, paralleling the weather with the situation. Fog is not a good thing in the court of Chancery and the narrator describes the Chancery as having a dark and unclear vision. They are not good at their jobs and the narrator calls the old Chancellor as being ?leaden-headed? or ?stupid? to emphasizing his views on that particular character. Both story openings, although composed differently, draw the reader in. Both author?s, Albert Camus and Charles Dickens, use a variety of techniques, which are all very effective when the author uses them to his will. Either way we get a clear and pointed view of the spot-lit aspects that the author wants us to focus on, and maybe sometime miss the subtle, important information between the lines that are not the centre of attention at that moment in the story.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Prophet Muhammad as Role Model for Religious Teachers

ENGLISH ESSAY: PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH) AS A ROLE MODEL FOR RELIGIOUS TEACHERS Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the example par excellence for his ummah, especially for religious teachers with his good example and noble personality. His behavior in all cases is the behavior that is not contrary with the Qur'an, in fact his behavior reflects the contents of the Qur'an such as his patient, sincere and forgiving character. In education, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has provided many lessons especially for religious teachers which can be applied on students.Firstly, as religious teachers we must always be patient as was done by Prophet Muhammad when he was performing prayers and Uqbah bin Abi Muit threw waste on him where he did not get angry instead He continued His prayer. Therefore, accept the students behaviour in whatever manner they are. Secondly, teaching sincerely is very important for religious teachers in which we should not hope for any rewards, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, â€Å"Verily Allah will not accept charity unless the charity is exercised in good faith and done solely to please Allah. † Even Prophet Muhammad did not hope for any material rewards when delivering knowledge.Lastly, we must emulate the forgiving character of Prophet Muhammad where He was tested by a Jewish woman who tried to poison Him and He forgave her instead of having a grudge against the her. So as religious teachers, we have to forgive our students for whatever mistakes they make to guide them to seek Allah’s pleasure and Grace. In conclusion, religious education would be pointless if the teachers themselves behave badly. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) exemplary conduct is the one and only to emulate to help us perform our duties as religious teachers effectively in order to get Allah’s Blessings. (281 words)

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

The Impact Of Marketing On The Marketing Field - 779 Words

Over the years, there has been an absolute change in innovation in the marketing field. The first change that has been extremely significant was the development of electronic computers. John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry first invented the electronic computer in 1940. The two were graduate students at the Iowa State College. They were both trying to come up with a method to solve linear equations. In 1942, the first television advertising was recorded. A very big and important part of marketing is advertising. This was a major groundbreaking way to advertise to individual’s homes. In the 1970’s e-commerce was invented. E-commerce is the organized buying and selling of goods and services using an automated electronic transactions using the†¦show more content†¦Successes and Failures John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry’s creative and innovative idea led to many of today’s technology – including our own personal computer. The creation of electronic computer’s changed the marketers advertise and sell their products. This innovation was definitely a success in terms of creative influence. (Stansifer) Television advertising targets a very specific audience. This was a very effective way to advertising until a few years ago. Now with the ability to record shows and watch it later, a lot of television viewers are skipping through the advertisements. It is still a very successful way to advertise – however, as the technology world is improving this way to advertise might not be as effective anymore due to the ability to skip those television advertisements. The guerrilla marketing strategy changed the way companies advertise to a larger audience – this advertising style uses high energy and imagination. The main purpose of it is to take the consumer by surprise, to make them talk about something or remember the advertisement. Guerrilla marketing is extremely successful in the marketing world. Advertising agencies can target massive audiences and not break their bank account at the same time. Spam advertisement was a creative innovation, but not a very effective one – making it into a failure. It is not only annoying to consumers but it could also be potentially dangerous. Spam emails could be