History.

Pre-World War I.

The company was founded in Essen in 1898, as Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk Aktiengesellschaft (RWE) by Elektrizitäts-Actien-Gesellschaft vorm. W. Lahmeyer & Company (EAG) and others. Its first power station started operating in Essen in 1900. In 1902, EAG sold its shares to a consortium formed by Ruhr industrialists Hugo Stinnes and August Thyssen.  In 1906, it expanded its operations beyond Essen by acquiring Elektrizitätswerk Berggeist AG in Brühl, and Bergische Elektrizitätswerke GmbH, Solingen. At the same year it also acquired shareholdings in the tramway companies Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Straßenbahn AG and Rheinische Bahngesellschaft AG.  In 1908, RWE signed demarcation contracts with Städtische Elektrizitätswerk Dortmund and Elektrizitätswerk Westfalen AG. Together they created Westfälische Verbands-Elektrizitätswerk AG. RWE contributed to the newly established company by its power station in Dortmund–Kruckel and the supply grid in Witten/Dortmund. Later all these companies formed Vereinigte Elektrizitätswerke Westfalen AG (VEW).  In 1909, RWE opened the Reisholz Power Plant and acquired a stake in the tram company Süddeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft AG. At the same year, RWE started to build its own gas supply network. Deliveries of coal gas to the Bergisches Land region started in 1912. In 1914, RWE opened Vorgebirgszentrale power plant in Hürth. By 1920, the plant had installed capacity of 190 megawatts which made it the largest in Europe.  Before World War I municipalities of Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr, and Gelsenkirchen, became shareholders in RWE. By the 1920s, also Bonn, Cologne, Krefeld, Duisburg, and Düsseldorf became shareholders and municipalities owned the majority of RWE's shares. In 1925, Prussian state became a shareholder in RWE. In 1929, municipalities and the Rhine Province combined their shareholdings into a holding company Kommunale Aufnahmegruppe für Aktien GmbH.

Interwar years and World War II.

In 1920, RWE acquired Niedersächsische Kraftwerke AG, located in Osnabrück. In 1922, it expanded its coal business by acquiring three anthracite mines in Essen and a majority stake in the lignite company Braunkohlen- und Briketwerke Roddergrube AG. In 1923, it acquired its founder company EAG. Three year later, the company acquired a stake in Rheinische Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft (Rheinelektra) and became a shareholder in the newly established Ruhrgas gas company in exchange of its gas grid. In 1927, RWE and Prussia swapped their holdings in the Brunswick and Cologne coalfields and RWE became an owner of Braunkohlen-Industrie AG Zukunft.  In 1932, RWE acquired a majority stake in the coal company Rheinische Aktiengesellschaft für Braunkohlenbergbau (Rheinbraun). In 1936, it acquired Niederrheinische Braunkohlenwerke AG, an operator of the Frimmersdorf Power Plant.  On 1 May 1933, the Executive Board including Ernst Henke joined the NSDAP as a unified body.  Since autumn 1943, the Essen state police had been investigating Wilhelm Ricken, RWE's technical director and designated general director, for "subversion of the military". The then First Mayor of Essen, Just Dillgardt, who was also second chairman of RWE's Supervisory Board, had reported Ricken to the state police. Previously, he had received a tip from the then commercial director and fellow board member of Ricken, Friedrich Praedel. This "board member" of RWE is said to have pushed Dillgardt to press charges. Wilhelm Ricken was then arrested on 20 October 1943, and sentenced to death on 8 March 1944, by the Volksgerichtshof (People's Court), partly because of his statement that "the war would end like 1918". On 2 May 1944, Wilhelm Ricken was executed in Berlin-Plötzensee.  In 2015, a "stumbling block" was placed at this final address in Essen to commemorate his Ricken's fate.

Developments since World War II.

During World War II, the infrastructure owned by RWE was severely damaged but mostly repaired by 1948. In 1952, the company was excluded from the Allies' control. In 1957, RWE acquired the coal company Neurath AG.  RWE and the Bavarian state owned 'Bayernwerk' join forces to build Germany's first industrial nuclear reactor. The Kahl experimental nuclear power plant (15 megawatts), constructed right next to RWE's Dettingen hard coal fired power plant, supplies its first electricity in 1962. Until its closure in 1985, this plant will serve as a source of important findings which aid the design and operation of commercial nuclear reactors.  RWE's nuclear operations started in 1961, when RWE and Bayernwerk (now part of E.ON) started to build the German first industrial nuclear reactor—the Kahl Nuclear Power Plant. In 1962, they started to build the Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant. In 1965, the at the request of the surrounding municipalities, the Karnap power plant in Essen started to burn domestic waste.  In 1969, RWE acquired a stake in "Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-Aktiengesellschaft" which allowed its expansion into the oil industry. However, in 1974, it was sold to VEBA AG.  In 1971, founded "Gesellschaft für elektrischen Straßenverkehr", a company to develop an electric car for a commercial scale production. The prototype produced in cooperation with Volkswagen and named City-Stromer was presented in 1983.  In 1988, RWE again expanded into the oil industry by acquiring Deutsche Texaco, formerly known as Deutsche Erdoel AG, which was renamed RWE-DEA AG für Mineralöl und Chemie (RWE-DEA). RWE was reorganized to hold energy, mining and raw materials; petroleum and chemicals; waste management; mechanical and plant engineering; and construction divisions.  In the 1990s, RWE acquired a number of assets in the former East Germany, including stakes in the mining company Lausitzer Braunkohle AG (LAUBAG) and the power company VEAG. In 2000, RWE and VEW merged to create a "new" RWE, and stakes in LAUBAG and VEAG (now both merged into Vattenfall Europe) were sold to avoid competition violation.  In 2001, RWE took over the British company Thames Water. In 2002, it acquired American Water Works Company, based in New Jersey, which became a subsidiary of Thames Water. In 2006, RWE sold Thames Water to Kemble Water Limited, a consortium led by Macquarie Group.  In 2002, RWE acquired the British electricity and gas utility company Innogy for £3 billion (US$4.3 billion). Innogy was subsequently renamed RWE npower plc.  As a result of the assets swap with RAG AG, RWE gave away its stake in the power company STEAG, it received almost full control of the renewable energy company Harpen AG. The full control of Harpen was achieved in 2005. In 2003, RWE achieved also full control over Thyssengas. At the same year, it decided to divest its American coal company Consol Energy.  In 2011, RWE unbundled its transmission system by selling its majority stake in the transmission system operator Amprion (RWE Transportnetz Strom GmbH), but keeping 25.1% in the company.  On 14 August 2012 RWE AG announced that the company would cut 2,400 more jobs to reduce costs. Previously the company had announced to eliminate 5,000 jobs and 3,000 jobs through divestments as anticipated of closing all nuclear reactors by 2022.  In August 2013, RWE completed the disposal of NET4GAS, the Czech gas transmission network operator, for €1.6billion to a consortium consisting of Allianz and Borealis. The company (named r Transgas A.S. then) was privatized to RWE in 2002. In 200s, RWE also acquired energy companies in Poland (STOEN S.A.), and Slovenia (VSE a.s).  In March 2015, RWE closed the sale of its oil and gas production unit, RWE Dea, to a group led by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman despite opposition from UK regulators. The $5.6 billion deal, announced in 2014, required approval from 14 countries where RWE Dea operates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  On 1 April 2016, RWE transferred its renewable, network and retail businesses into a separate company named Innogy, which is listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The new entity combined RWE subsidiaries RWE Innogy, RWE Deutschland, RWE Effizienz, RWE Vertrieb and RWE Energiedienstleistungen.  In March 2018, it was announced that E.ON will acquire Innogy in a complex €43 billion deal of assets swap with RWE. As a result, RWE will take a 16.7% stake in E.ON. Following the purchase of E.ON's renewables business and nuclear electricity generation assets, RWE is expected to become Europe's third-largest renewable energy provider behind Spain's Iberdrola and Italy's Enel, and the second-largest in the market for offshore wind power.

Operations.

RWE operates in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.  In the UK RWE fully owns RWE Generation UK plc., which operates a number of coal, natural gas, oil-fired and renewable energy power stations across the UK. The company owns the gas-fired power stations Staythorpe in Nottinghamshire, Pembroke in West Wales, Little Barford in Bedfordshire, Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and Didcot 'B' Station in Oxfordshire, and the coal-fired power station Aberthaw Power Station in South Wales. It has closed its Didcot 'A' Power Station in Oxfordshire, Littlebrook Power Station in Kent, Fawley Power Station in Hampshire, and Tilbury Power Station in Essex.  RWE jointly owns one third of the Urenco Group with E.ON. The remaining stakes are held by the British and Dutch governments, with one-third each.

Fuel mix disclosure.

RWE produced in 2007, electricity from the following sources: 32.9% hard coal, 35.2% lignite, 1.1% pumped storage, 2.4% renewables, 13.6% natural gas and 14.9% nuclear power. In total, the company produced 324.3 TWh of electricity in 2007, which makes it the 2nd largest electricity producer in Europe, after EdF. Electricity production at the German branch of RWE had in 2006, the following environmental implications: 700 μg/kWh radioactive waste and 752 g/kWh CO2 emissions. In 2010, the company was responsible for 164.0 MTon of CO, In 2007, the company ranked between the 28th and the 29th place of emitters by country.

Criticism and controversies.

RWE has long been among the top targets of climate activists, in part as a result of a long-running, high-profile battle to preserve a forest in western Germany that is threatened by the planned expansion of one of the group’s coal mines. RWE also operates some of the largest coal-fired power stations in Europe.  In 2018, RWE was the largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions in Europe.  Since 2012, environmentalists have protested against RWE because of the Hambach surface mine situated in the area of Hambach Forest. In November 2017, in the lawsuit filed by "Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland" (BUND), the German arm of Friends of the Earth, the Higher Administrative Court in Münster ruled to end the tree cutting. According to BUND, Hambach Forest is a habitat type 9160 of annex I of the European Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992).  Opponents also argue that an environmental impact assessment study for the mine was never conducted. The Administrative Court in Cologne denied the necessity of such a study in November 2017, because the permission for the mining operations was given in the 1970s, long before environmental impact assessment studies became mandatory. In October 2018, an estimated 50,000 protesters turned out against the company's planned continued forest clear-cutting for its open-pit coal mine expansion while a court order delayed the process until at least late 2020, to explore if it violated EU environmental regulations.

RWE AG, until 1990: "Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG" (Rhenish-Westphalian Power Plant), is a German electric utilities company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company supplies electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe. RWE is the second largest electricity producer in Germany, and has increased renewable energy production in recent years.

Die RWE AG (bis 1990 "Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG") mit Sitz in Essen ist ein börsennotierter Energieversorgungskonzern. Am Umsatz gemessen war er zeitweise der zweitgrößte Versorger Deutschlands. Der Konzern gehört auch in den Niederlanden seit der Übernahme von Essent zu den führenden Energieversorgern und ist auch in anderen Märkten (beispielsweise Großbritannien, Belgien, Österreich, Tschechien, Osteuropa, Türkei) vertreten.


Noble gas.

The noble gases were previously known as 'inert gases' because of their perceived lack of participation in any chemical reactions. The reason for this is that their outermost electron shells (valence shells) are completely filled, so that they have little tendency to gain or lose electrons. They are said to acquire a noble gas configuration, or a full electron configuration.  It is now known that most of these gases in fact "do" react to form chemical compounds, such as xenon tetrafluoride. Hence, they have been renamed to 'noble gases', as the only two of these we know truly to be inert are helium and neon. However, a large amount of energy is required to drive such reactions, usually in the form of heat, pressure, or radiation, often assisted by catalysts. The resulting compounds often need to be kept in moisture-free conditions at low temperatures to prevent rapid decomposition back into their elements.

Inert gas.

The term "inert" may also be applied in a relative sense. For example, molecular nitrogen is an inert gas under ordinary conditions, existing as diatomic molecules,. The presence of a strong triple covalent bond in the molecule renders it unreactive under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, nitrogen gas does react with the alkali metal lithium to form compound lithium nitride (LiN), even under ordinary conditions. Under high pressures and temperatures and with the right catalysts, nitrogen becomes more reactive; the Haber process uses such conditions to produce ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen.

Main uses.

Inert atmospheres consisting of gases such as argon, nitrogen, or helium are commonly used in chemical reaction chambers and in storage containers for oxygen-sensitive or water-sensitive substances, to prevent unwanted reactions of these substances with oxygen or water.  Argon is widely used in fluorescence tubes and low energy light bulbs. Argon gas helps to protect the metal filament inside the bulb from reacting with oxygen and corroding the filament under high temperature.  Neon is used in making advertising signs. Neon gas in a vacuum tube glows bright red in colour when electricity is passed through. Different coloured neon lights can also be made by using other gases.  Helium gas is mainly used to fill hot air and party balloons. Balloons filled with it float upwards and this phenomenon is achieved as helium gas is less dense than air.

In chemistry, the term chemically inert is used to describe a substance that is not chemically reactive. From a thermodynamic perspective, a substance is inert, or nonlabile, if it is thermodynamically unstable (positive standard Gibbs free energy of formation) yet decomposes at a slow, or negligible rate.

Als chemisch inert (lateinisch für „untätig, unbeteiligt, träge“) bezeichnet man Substanzen, die unter den jeweilig gegebenen Bedingungen mit potentiellen Reaktionspartnern (etwa Luft, Wasser, Edukte und Produkte einer Reaktion) nicht oder nur in verschwindend geringem Maße reagieren. Der Begriff wird in der chemischen Literatur häufig nicht eindeutig verwendet. Im Zusammenhang mit der Reaktionskinetik wird "inert" gegenteilig zu "labil" verwendet, so wie in der chemischen Thermodynamik oft zwischen "stabil" und "instabil" unterschieden wird. Die Internationale Union für reine und angewandte Chemie definiert den Begriff dagegen als "stabil und unreaktiv unter gegebenen Bedingungen".


Early years.

Condorcet was born in Ribemont (in present-day Aisne), descended from the ancient family of Caritat, who took their title from the town of Condorcet in Dauphiné, of which they were long-time residents. Fatherless at a young age, he was raised by his devoutly religious mother. He was educated at the Jesuit College in Reims and at the "Collège de Navarre" in Paris, where he quickly showed his intellectual ability and gained his first public distinctions in mathematics. When he was sixteen, his analytical abilities gained the praise of Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Alexis Clairaut; soon, Condorcet would study under d'Alembert.  From 1765 to 1774, he focused on science. In 1765, he published his first work on mathematics, entitled "Essai sur le calcul intégral", which was well received, launching his career as a mathematician. He went on to publish more papers, and on 25 February 1769, he was elected to the "Académie royale des Sciences". In 1772, he published another paper on integral calculus. Soon after, he met Jacques Turgot, a French economist, and the two became friends. Turgot became an administrator under King Louis XV in 1772 and Controller-General of Finance under Louis XVI in 1774.  Condorcet worked with Leonhard Euler and Benjamin Franklin. He soon became an honorary member of many foreign academies and philosophic societies, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1785), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1792) and also in Prussia and Russia.  His political ideas, many in congruity with Turgot's, were criticized heavily in the English-speaking world, however, most notably by John Adams who wrote two of his principal works of political philosophy to oppose Turgot's and Condorcet's unicameral legislature and radical democracy.

Early political career.

In 1774, Condorcet was appointed inspector general of the Paris mint by Turgot. From this point on, Condorcet shifted his focus from the purely mathematical to philosophy and political matters. In the following years, he took up the defense of human rights in general, and of women's and Blacks' rights in particular (an abolitionist, he became active in the Society of the Friends of the Blacks in the 1780s). He supported the ideals embodied by the newly formed United States, and proposed projects of political, administrative and economic reforms intended to transform France.  In 1776, Turgot was dismissed as Controller General. Consequently, Condorcet submitted his resignation as Inspector General of the "Monnaie", but the request was refused, and he continued serving in this post until 1791. Condorcet later wrote "Vie de M. Turgot" (1786), a biography which spoke fondly of Turgot and advocated Turgot's economic theories. Condorcet continued to receive prestigious appointments: in 1777, he became Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Sciences, holding the post until the abolition of the Académie in 1793; and, in 1782, secretary of the "Académie française".

Condorcet's paradox and the Condorcet method.

In 1785, Condorcet published his "Essay on the Application of Analysis to the Probability of Majority Decisions", one of his most important works. This work described several now famous results, including Condorcet's jury theorem, which states that if each member of a voting group is more likely than not to make a correct decision, the probability that the highest vote of the group is the correct decision increases as the number of members of the group increases, and Condorcet's paradox, which shows that majority preferences can become intransitive with three or more options – it is possible for a certain electorate to express a preference for A over B, a preference for B over C, and a preference for C over A, all from the same set of ballots.  The paper also outlines a generic Condorcet method, designed to simulate pair-wise elections between all candidates in an election. He disagreed strongly with the alternative method of aggregating preferences put forth by Jean-Charles de Borda (based on summed rankings of alternatives). Condorcet was one of the first to systematically apply mathematics in the social sciences.

Other works.

In 1781, Condorcet wrote a pamphlet, "Reflections on Negro Slavery", in which he denounced slavery. In 1786, Condorcet worked on ideas for the differential and integral calculus, giving a new treatment of infinitesimals – a work which apparently was never published. In 1789, he published "Vie de Voltaire (1789)", which agreed with Voltaire in his opposition to the Church. In 1791, Condorcet, along with Sophie de Grouchy, Thomas Paine, Etienne Dumont, Jacques-Pierre Brissot, and Achilles Duchastellet published a brief journal titled "Le Républicain", its main goal being the promotion of republicanism and the rejection of constitutional monarchy. The journal's theme was that any sort of monarchy is a threat to freedom no matter who is leading and that liberty is freedom from domination.  In 1795, Condorcet had a book published called "Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind". It dealt with theoretical thought on perfecting the human mind and analyzing intellectual history based on social arithmetic. Thomas Malthus wrote "An Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798) partly in response to Condorcet's views on the ""perfectibility of society"."

French Revolution.

Deputy.

Condorcet took a leading role when the French Revolution swept France in 1789, hoping for a rationalist reconstruction of society, and championed many liberal causes. As a result, in 1791 he was elected as a Paris representative in the Legislative Assembly, and then became the secretary of the Assembly.  In April 1792 Condorcet presented a project for the reformation of the education system, aiming to create a hierarchical system, under the authority of experts, who would work as the guardians of the Enlightenment and who, independent of power, would be the guarantors of public liberties. The project was judged to be contrary to the republican and egalitarian virtues, giving the education of the Nation over to an aristocracy of savants. The institution adopted Condorcet's design for the state education system, and he drafted a proposed Bourbon Constitution for the new France.  He advocated women's suffrage for the new government, writing an article for "Journal de la Société de 1789", and by publishing "De l'admission des femmes au droit de cité" ("For the Admission to the Rights of Citizenship For Women") in 1790.  Condorcet was not affiliated with any political party but counted many friends among the Girondins. He distanced himself from them during the National Convention, however, due to his distaste for their factionalism.  At the Trial of Louis XVI, Condorcet, who opposed the death penalty albeit supporting the trial itself, spoke out against the execution of the King during the public vote at the Convention – he proposed to send the king to the galleys.  Condorcet was on the Constitution Committee and was the main author of the Girondin constitutional project. The constitution was not put to vote. When the Montagnards gained control of the Convention, they wrote their own, the French Constitution of 1793. Condorcet criticized the new work, and as a result, he was branded a traitor. On 3 October 1793, a warrant was issued for Condorcet's arrest.

Arrest and death.

The warrant forced Condorcet into hiding. He hid for five (or eight) months in the house of Mme. Vernet, on Rue Servandoni, in Paris. It was there that he wrote "Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain" ("Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Spirit"), which was published posthumously in 1795 and is considered one of the major texts of the Enlightenment and of historical thought. It narrates the history of civilization as one of progress in the sciences, shows the intimate connection between scientific progress and the development of human rights and justice, and outlines the features of a future rational society entirely shaped by scientific knowledge.  On 25 March 1794 Condorcet, convinced he was no longer safe, left his hideout and attempted to flee Paris. He went to seek refuge at the house of Jean-Baptiste Suard, a friend of his with whom he had resided in 1772, but he was refused on the basis that he would be betrayed by one of their residents. Two days later, he was arrested in Clamart and imprisoned in Bourg-la-Reine (or, as it was known during the Revolution, "Bourg-l'Égalité", "Equality Borough" rather than "Queen's Borough") where, after another two days, he was found dead in his cell. The most widely accepted theory is that his friend, Pierre Jean George Cabanis, gave him a poison which he eventually used. However, some historians believe that he may have been murdered (perhaps because he was too loved and respected to be executed). Jean-Pierre Brancourt (in his work "L'élite, la mort et la révolution") claims that Condorcet was killed with a mixture of "Datura stramonium" and opium.  Condorcet was symbolically interred in the Panthéon in 1989, in honour of the bicentennial of the French Revolution and Condorcet's role as a central figure in the Enlightenment. His coffin, however, was empty as his remains, originally interred in the common cemetery of Bourg-la-Reine, were lost during the nineteenth century.

Family.

In 1786 Condorcet married Sophie de Grouchy, who was more than twenty years his junior. Sophie, reckoned one of the most beautiful women of the day, became an accomplished salon hostess as Madame de Condorcet, and also an accomplished translator of Thomas Paine and Adam Smith. She was intelligent and well educated, fluent in both English and Italian. The marriage was a strong one, and Sophie visited her husband regularly while he remained in hiding. Although she began proceedings for divorce in January 1794, it was at the insistence of Condorcet and Cabanis, who wished to protect their property from expropriation and to provide financially for Sophie and their young daughter, Louise 'Eliza' Alexandrine.  Condorcet was survived by his widow and four-year-old Eliza. Sophie died in 1822, never having remarried, and having published all her husband's works between 1801 and 1804. Her work was carried on by Eliza, wife of former United Irishman Arthur O'Connor. The Condorcet-O'Connors published a revised edition between 1847 and 1849.

Gender equality.

Condorcet's work was mainly focused on a quest for a more egalitarian society. This path led him to think and write about gender equality in the Revolutionary context. In 1790, he published ""De l'admission des femmes au droit de cité"" ("On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship") in which he strongly advocated for women's suffrage in the new Republic as well as the enlargement of basic political and social rights to include women. One of the most famous Enlightenment thinkers at the time, he was one of the first to make such a radical proposal. A visionary, he identified gender as a social construction based on perceived differences in sex and rejected biological determinism as being able to explain gender relations in society. He denounced patriarchal norms of oppression, present at every institutional level, and continuously subjugating and marginalising women. Like fellow Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his book "Emile ou De l'Education" (1762), Condorcet identified education as crucial to the emancipation of individuals. He stated: "I believe that all other differences between men and women are simply the result of education". He saw it as the only solution for women to deconstruct gender roles and promote another kind of masculinity, not based on violence, virility and the subjugation of women but rather on shared attributes such as reason and intelligence. In her book "Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism", Hooks calls this new concept "feminine masculinity", "new models of self–assertion that do not require the construction of an enemy 'other,' be it a woman or the symbolic feminine, for them to define themselves against".  Condorcet's whole plea for gender equality is founded on the recognition that the attribution of rights and authority comes from the false assumption that men possess reason and women do not. This is, according to Nall, an obvious example of an individual practising and advocating this feminist masculinity. As such, women should enjoy the same fundamental "natural right".  Scholars often disagree on the true impact that Condorcet's work had on pre-modern feminist thinking. His detractors point out that, when he was eventually given some responsibilities in the constitutional drafting process, his convictions did not translate into concrete political action and he made limited efforts to push these issues on the agenda. Some scholars on the other hand, believe that this lack of action is not due to the weakness of his commitment but rather to the political atmosphere at the time and the absence of political appetite for gender equality on the part of decision-makers. Along with authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft, d'Alembert or Olympe de Gouges, Condorcet made a lasting contribution to the pre-feminist debate.

The Idea of Progress.

Condorcet's "Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Spirit" (1795) was perhaps the most influential formulation of the idea of progress ever written. It made the Idea of Progress a central concern of Enlightenment thought. He argued that expanding knowledge in the natural and social sciences would lead to an ever more just world of individual freedom, material affluence, and moral compassion. He argued for three general propositions: that the past revealed an order that could be understood in terms of the progressive development of human capabilities, showing that humanity's "present state, and those through which it has passed, are a necessary constitution of the moral composition of humankind"; that the progress of the natural sciences must be followed by progress in the moral and political sciences "no less certain, no less secure from political revolutions"; that social evils are the result of ignorance and error rather than an inevitable consequence of human nature.  Condorcet's writings were a key contribution to the French Enlightenment, particularly his work on the Idea of Progress. Condorcet believed that through the use of our senses and communication with others, knowledge could be compared and contrasted as a way of analyzing our systems of belief and understanding. None of Condorcet's writings refer to a belief in a religion or a god who intervenes in human affairs. Condorcet instead frequently had written of his faith in humanity itself and its ability to progress with the help of philosophers such as Aristotle. Through this accumulation and sharing of knowledge he believed it was possible for any man to comprehend all the known facts of the natural world. The enlightenment of the natural world spurred the desire for enlightenment of the social and political world. Condorcet believed that there was no definition of the perfect human existence and thus believed that the progression of the human race would inevitably continue throughout the course of our existence. He envisioned man as continually progressing toward a perfectly utopian society. He believed in the great potential towards growth that man possessed.  However, Condorcet stressed that for this to be a possibility man must unify regardless of race, religion, culture or gender. To this end, he became a member of the French Société des Amis des Noirs (Society of the Friends of the Blacks). He wrote a set of rules for the Society of the Friends of the Blacks which detailed the reasoning and goals behind the organization along with describing the injustice of slavery and put in a statement calling for the abolition of the slave trade as the first step to true abolition.  Condorcet was also a strong proponent of women's civil rights. He claimed that women were equal to men in nearly every aspect and asked why then should they be debarred from their fundamental civil rights; the few differences that existed were due to the fact that women were limited by their lack of rights. Condorcet even mentioned several women who were more capable than average men, such as Queen Elizabeth and Maria-Theresa.

Civic duty.

For Condorcet's republicanism the nation needed enlightened citizens and education needed democracy to become truly public. Democracy implied free citizens, and ignorance was the source of servitude. Citizens had to be provided with the necessary knowledge to exercise their freedom and understand the rights and laws that guaranteed their enjoyment. Although education could not eliminate disparities in talent, all citizens, including women, had the right to free education. In opposition to those who relied on revolutionary enthusiasm to form the new citizens, Condorcet maintained that revolution was not made to last and that revolutionary institutions were not intended to prolong the revolutionary experience but to establish political rules and legal mechanisms that would insure future changes without revolution. In a democratic city there would be no Bastille to be seized. Public education would form free and responsible citizens, not revolutionaries.

Evaluation.

Rothschild (2001) argues that Condorcet has been seen since the 1790s as the embodiment of the cold, rational Enlightenment. However she suggests his writings on economic policy, voting, and public instruction indicate different views both of Condorcet and of the Enlightenment. Condorcet was concerned with individual diversity; he was opposed to proto-utilitarian theories; he considered individual independence, which he described as the characteristic liberty of the moderns, to be of central political importance; and he opposed the imposition of universal and eternal principles. His efforts to reconcile the universality of some values with the diversity of individual opinions are of continuing interest. He emphasizes the institutions of civilized or constitutional conflict, recognizes conflicts or inconsistencies within individuals, and sees moral sentiments as the foundation of universal values. His difficulties call into question some familiar distinctions, for example between French, German, and English-Scottish thought, and between the Enlightenment and the counter-Enlightenment. There was substantial continuity between Condorcet's criticism of the economic ideas of the 1760s and the liberal thought of the early 19th century.  The Lycée Condorcet in the rue du Havre, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, is named in his honour, as are streets in many French cities.

Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal public instruction, constitutional government, and equal rights for women and people of all races, have been said to embody the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment and Enlightenment rationalism. He died in prison after a period of flight from French Revolutionary authorities.

Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (* 17. September 1743 in Ribemont; † 29. März 1794 in Bourg de l'Égalité, jetzt Bourg-la-Reine) war ein französischer Philosoph, Mathematiker und Politiker der Aufklärung.


Description.

A CDS is linked to a "reference entity" or "reference obligor", usually a corporation or government. The reference entity is not a party to the contract. The buyer makes regular premium payments to the seller, the premium amounts constituting the "spread" charged by the seller to insure against a credit event. If the reference entity defaults, the protection seller pays the buyer the par value of the bond in exchange for physical delivery of the bond, although settlement may also be by cash or auction.  A default is often referred to as a "credit event" and includes such events as failure to pay, restructuring and bankruptcy, or even a drop in the borrower's credit rating. CDS contracts on sovereign obligations also usually include as credit events repudiation, moratorium and acceleration. Most CDSs are in the $10–$20 million range with maturities between one and 10 years. Five years is the most typical maturity.  An investor or speculator may "buy protection" to hedge the risk of default on a bond or other debt instrument, regardless of whether such investor or speculator holds an interest in or bears any risk of loss relating to such bond or debt instrument. In this way, a CDS is similar to credit insurance, although CDS are not subject to regulations governing traditional insurance. Also, investors can buy and sell protection without owning debt of the reference entity. These "naked credit default swaps" allow traders to speculate on the creditworthiness of reference entities. CDSs can be used to create synthetic long and short positions in the reference entity. Naked CDS constitute most of the market in CDS. In addition, CDSs can also be used in capital structure arbitrage.  A "credit default swap" (CDS) is a credit derivative contract between two counterparties. The buyer makes periodic payments to the seller, and in return receives a payoff if an underlying financial instrument defaults or experiences a similar credit event. The CDS may refer to a specified loan or bond obligation of a "reference entity", usually a corporation or government.  As an example, imagine that an investor buys a CDS from AAA-Bank, where the reference entity is Risky Corp. The investor—the buyer of protection—will make regular payments to AAA-Bank—the seller of protection. "If" Risky Corp defaults on its debt, the investor receives a one-time payment from AAA-Bank, and the CDS contract is terminated.  If the investor actually owns Risky Corp's debt (i.e., is owed money by Risky Corp), a CDS can act as a hedge. But investors can also buy CDS contracts referencing Risky Corp debt without actually owning any Risky Corp debt. This may be done for speculative purposes, to bet against the solvency of Risky Corp in a gamble to make money, or to hedge investments in other companies whose fortunes are expected to be similar to those of Risky Corp (see Uses).  If the reference entity (i.e., Risky Corp) defaults, one of two kinds of settlement can occur:  The "spread" of a CDS is the annual amount the protection buyer must pay the protection seller over the length of the contract, expressed as a percentage of the notional amount. For example, if the CDS spread of Risky Corp is 50 basis points, or 0.5% (1 basis point = 0.01%), then an investor buying $10 million worth of protection from AAA-Bank must pay the bank $50,000. Payments are usually made on a quarterly basis, in arrears. These payments continue until either the CDS contract expires or Risky Corp defaults.  All things being equal, at any given time, if the maturity of two credit default swaps is the same, then the CDS associated with a company with a "higher" CDS spread is considered "more likely" to default by the market, since a higher fee is being charged to protect against this happening. However, factors such as liquidity and estimated loss given default can affect the comparison. Credit spread rates and credit ratings of the underlying or reference obligations are considered among money managers to be the best indicators of the likelihood of sellers of CDSs having to perform under these contracts.

Uses.

Credit default swaps can be used by investors for speculation, hedging and arbitrage.

Speculation.

Credit default swaps allow investors to speculate on changes in CDS spreads of single names or of market indices such as the North American CDX index or the European iTraxx index. An investor might believe that an entity's CDS spreads are too high or too low, relative to the entity's bond yields, and attempt to profit from that view by entering into a trade, known as a basis trade, that combines a CDS with a cash bond and an interest rate swap.  Finally, an investor might speculate on an entity's credit quality, since generally CDS spreads increase as credit-worthiness declines, and decline as credit-worthiness increases. The investor might therefore buy CDS protection on a company to speculate that it is about to default. Alternatively, the investor might sell protection if it thinks that the company's creditworthiness might improve. The investor selling the CDS is viewed as being "long" on the CDS and the credit, as if the investor owned the bond. In contrast, the investor who bought protection is "short" on the CDS and the underlying credit.  Credit default swaps opened up important new avenues to speculators. Investors could go long on a bond without any upfront cost of

Hedging.

Credit default swaps are often used to manage the risk of default that arises from holding debt. A bank, for example, may hedge its risk that a borrower may default on a loan by entering into a CDS contract as the buyer of protection. If the loan goes into default, the proceeds from the CDS contract cancel out the losses on the underlying debt.  There are other ways to eliminate or reduce the risk of default. The bank could sell (that is, assign) the loan outright or bring in other banks as participants. However,

Arbitrage.

"Capital Structure Arbitrage" is an example of an arbitrage strategy that uses CDS transactions. This technique relies on the fact that a company's stock price and its CDS spread should exhibit negative correlation; i.e., if the outlook for a company improves then its share price should go up and its CDS spread should tighten, since it is less likely to default on its debt. However, if its outlook worsens then its CDS spread should widen and its stock price should fall.  Techniques reliant on this are known as capital structure arbitrage because they exploit market inefficiencies between different parts of the same company's capital structure; i.e., mis-pricings between a company's debt and equity. An arbitrageur attempts to exploit the "spread" between a company's CDS and its equity in certain situations.  For example, if a company has announced some bad news and its share price has dropped by 25%, but its CDS spread has remained

History.

Conception.

Forms of credit default swaps had been in existence from at least the early 1990s, with early trades carried out by Bankers Trust in 1991. J.P. Morgan & Co. is widely credited with creating the modern credit default swap in 1994. In that instance, J.P. Morgan had extended a $4.8 billion credit line to Exxon, which faced the threat of $5 billion in punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. A team of J.P. Morgan bankers led by Blythe Masters then sold the credit risk from the credit line to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development in order to cut the reserves that J.P. Morgan was required to hold against Exxon's default, thus improving its own balance sheet.

Market growth.

At first, banks were the dominant players in the market, as CDS were primarily used to hedge risk in connection with its lending activities. Banks also saw an opportunity to free up regulatory capital. By March 1998, the global market for CDS was estimated at about $300 billion, with JP Morgan alone accounting for about $50 billion of this.  The high market share enjoyed by the banks was soon eroded as more and more asset managers and hedge funds saw trading opportunities in credit default swaps. By 2002, investors as speculators, rather than banks as hedgers, dominated the market. National banks in the USA used credit default swaps as early as 1996. In that year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency measured the size of the market as tens of billions of

Market as of 2008.

Since default is a relatively rare occurrence (historically around 0.2% of investment grade companies default in any one year), in most CDS contracts the only payments are the premium payments from buyer to seller. Thus, although the above figures for outstanding notionals are very large, in the absence of default the net cash flows are only a small fraction of this total: for a 100 bp = 1% spread, the annual cash flows are only 1% of the notional amount.

Regulatory concerns over CDS.

The market for Credit Default Swaps attracted considerable concern from regulators after a number of large scale incidents in 2008, starting with the collapse of Bear Stearns.  In the days and weeks leading up to Bear's collapse, the bank's CDS spread widened dramatically, indicating a surge of buyers taking out protection on the bank. It has been suggested that this widening was responsible for the perception that Bear Stearns was vulnerable, and therefore restricted its access to wholesale capital, which eventually led to its forced sale to JP Morgan in March. An alternative view is that this surge in CDS protection buyers was a "symptom" rather than a "cause" of Bear's collapse; i.e., investors saw that Bear was in trouble, and sought to hedge any naked exposure to the bank, or speculate on its collapse.  In September, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers caused a total close to $400 billion to become payable to the buyers of CDS protection referenced against the insolvent bank. However the net amount that changed hands was around $7.2 billion. This difference is due to the process of 'netting'. Market participants co-operated so that CDS sellers were allowed to deduct from their payouts the inbound funds due to them from their hedging positions. Dealers generally attempt to remain risk-neutral, so that their losses and gains after big events offset each other.  Also in September American International Group (AIG) required an $85 billion federal loan because it had been excessively selling CDS protection without hedging against the possibility that the reference entities might decline in value, which exposed the insurance giant to potential losses over $100 billion. The CDS on Lehman were settled smoothly, as was largely the case for the other 11 credit events occurring in 2008 that triggered payouts. And while it is arguable that other incidents would have been as bad or worse if less efficient instruments than

Market as of 2009.

The early months of 2009 saw several fundamental changes to the way CDSs operate, resulting from concerns over the instruments' safety after the events of the previous year. According to Deutsche Bank managing director Athanassios Diplas "the industry pushed through 10 years worth of changes in just a few months". By late 2008 processes had been introduced allowing CDSs that offset each other to be cancelled. Along with termination of contracts that have recently paid out such as those based on Lehmans, this had by March reduced the face value of the market down to an estimated $30 trillion.  The Bank for International Settlements estimates that outstanding derivatives total $708 trillion. U.S. and European regulators are developing separate plans to stabilize the derivatives market. Additionally there are some globally agreed standards falling into place in March 2009, administered by International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). Two of the key changes are:

Government approvals relating to ICE and its competitor CME.

The SEC's approval for ICE Futures' request to be exempted from rules that would prevent it clearing CDSs was the third government action granted to Intercontinental in one week. On March 3, its proposed acquisition of Clearing Corp., a Chicago clearinghouse owned by eight of the largest dealers in the credit-default swap market, was approved by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department. On March 5, 2009, the Federal Reserve Board, which oversees the clearinghouse, granted a

Clearing house member requirements.

Members of the Intercontinental clearinghouse ICE Trust (now ICE Clear Credit) in March 2009 would have to have a net worth of at least $5 billion and a credit rating of A or better to clear their credit-default swap trades. Intercontinental said in the statement today that all market participants such as hedge funds, banks or other institutions are open to become members of the clearinghouse as long as they meet these requirements.  A clearinghouse acts as the buyer to every seller and seller to every buyer, reducing the risk of counterparty defaulting on a transaction. In the over-the-counter market, where credit- default swaps are currently traded, participants are exposed to each other in case of a default. A clearinghouse also provides one location for regulators to view traders’ positions and prices.

J.P. Morgan losses.

In April 2012, hedge fund insiders became aware that the market in credit default swaps was possibly being affected by the activities of Bruno Iksil, a trader for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., referred to as "the London whale" in reference to the huge positions he was taking. Heavy opposing bets to his positions are known to have been made

Terms of a typical CDS contract.

A CDS contract is typically documented under a "confirmation" referencing the credit derivatives definitions as published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. The confirmation typically specifies a "reference entity", a corporation or sovereign that generally, although not always, has debt outstanding, and a "reference obligation", usually an unsubordinated corporate bond or government bond. The period over which default protection extends is defined by the contract "effective date" and "scheduled termination date".  The confirmation also specifies a "calculation agent" who is responsible for making determinations as to "successors" and "substitute reference obligations" (for example necessary if the original reference obligation was a loan that is repaid before the expiry of the contract), and for performing various calculation and administrative functions in connection with the transaction. By market convention, in contracts between CDS dealers and end-users, the dealer is generally the calculation agent, and in contracts between CDS dealers, the protection seller is generally the calculation agent.  It is not the responsibility of the calculation agent to determine whether or not a credit event has occurred but rather a matter of fact that, pursuant to the terms of typical contracts, must be

Credit default swap and sovereign debt crisis.

The European sovereign debt crisis resulted from a combination of complex factors, including the globalisation of finance; easy credit conditions during the 2002–2008 period that encouraged high-risk lending and borrowing practices; the 2007–2012 global financial crisis; international trade imbalances; real-estate bubbles that have since burst; the 2008–2012 global recession; fiscal policy choices related to government revenues and expenses; and approaches used by nations to bail out troubled banking industries and private bondholders, assuming private debt burdens or socialising losses. The Credit default swap market also reveals the beginning of the sovereign crisis.  Since December 1, 2011 the European Parliament has banned naked Credit default swap (CDS) on the debt for sovereign nations.  The definition of restructuring is quite

Settlement.

Physical or cash.

As described in an earlier section, if a credit event occurs then CDS contracts can either be "physically settled" or "cash settled".  The development and growth of the CDS market has meant that on many companies there is now a much larger outstanding notional of CDS contracts than the outstanding notional value of its debt obligations. (This is because many parties made CDS contracts for speculative purposes,

Auctions.

When a credit event occurs on a major company on which a lot of CDS contracts are written, an auction (also known as a "credit-fixing event") may be held to facilitate settlement of a large number of contracts at once, at a fixed cash settlement price. During the auction process participating dealers (e.g., the big investment banks) submit prices at which they would buy and sell the reference entity's debt obligations, as well as net requests for physical settlement against par. A second stage Dutch auction is held following the publication of the initial midpoint of the dealer markets and what is the net open interest

Pricing and valuation.

There are two competing theories usually advanced for the pricing of credit default swaps. The first, referred to herein as the 'probability model', takes the present value of a series of cashflows weighted by their probability of non-default. This method suggests that credit default swaps should trade at a considerably lower spread than corporate bonds.  The second model, proposed by Darrell Duffie, but also by John Hull and Alan White, uses a no-arbitrage approach.

Probability model.

Under the probability model, a credit default swap is priced using a model that takes four inputs; this is similar to the rNPV (risk-adjusted NPV) model used in drug development: If default events never occurred the price of a CDS would simply be the sum of the discounted premium payments. So CDS pricing models have to take into account the possibility of a default occurring some time between the effective date and maturity date of the CDS contract. For the purpose of explanation we can imagine the case of a one-year CDS with effective date formula_1 with four quarterly premium payments occurring at times formula_2, formula_3, formula_4, and formula_5. If the nominal for the CDS is formula_6 and the issue premium is formula_7 then the size of the quarterly premium payments is formula_8. If we assume for simplicity that defaults can only occur on one of the payment dates then there are five ways the contract could end:  To price the CDS we now need to assign probabilities to the five possible outcomes, then calculate the present value of the

No-arbitrage model.

In the "no-arbitrage" model proposed by both Duffie, and Hull-White, it is assumed that there is no risk free arbitrage. Duffie uses the LIBOR as the risk free rate, whereas Hull and White use US Treasuries as the risk free rate. Both analyses make simplifying assumptions (such as the assumption that there is zero cost of unwinding the fixed leg of the swap on default), which may invalidate the no-arbitrage assumption. However

Criticisms.

Critics of the huge credit default swap market have claimed that it has been allowed to become too large without proper regulation and that, because all contracts are privately negotiated, the market has no transparency. Furthermore, there have been claims that CDSs exacerbated the 2008 global financial crisis by hastening the demise of companies such as Lehman Brothers and AIG.  In the case of Lehman Brothers, it is claimed that the widening of the bank's CDS spread reduced confidence in the bank and ultimately gave it further problems that it was not able to overcome. However, proponents of the CDS market argue that this confuses cause and effect; CDS spreads simply reflected the reality that the company was in serious trouble. Furthermore, they claim that the CDS market allowed investors who had counterparty risk with Lehman Brothers to reduce their exposure in the case of their default.  Credit default swaps have also faced criticism that they contributed to a breakdown in negotiations during the 2009 General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization, because certain bondholders might benefit from the credit event of a GM bankruptcy due to their holding of CDSs. Critics speculate that these creditors had an incentive to push for the company to enter bankruptcy protection. Due to a lack of transparency, there was no way to identify the protection buyers and protection writers.  It was also feared at the time of Lehman's bankruptcy that the $400 billion notional of CDS protection which had been written on the bank could lead to a net payout of $366 billion from protection sellers to buyers (given the cash-settlement auction settled at a final price of 8.625%) and that these large payouts could lead to further bankruptcies of firms without enough cash to settle their contracts. However, industry estimates after the auction suggest that net cashflows were only in the region of $7 billion. because many parties held offsetting positions. Furthermore, CDS deals are marked-to-market frequently. This would have led to margin calls from buyers to sellers as Lehman's CDS spread widened, reducing the net cashflows on the days after the auction.  Senior bankers have argued that not only has the CDS market functioned remarkably well during the financial crisis; that CDS contracts have been acting to distribute risk just as was intended; and that it is not CDSs themselves that need further regulation but the parties who trade them.  Some general criticism of financial derivatives is also relevant to credit derivatives. Warren Buffett famously described derivatives bought speculatively as "financial weapons of mass destruction." In Berkshire Hathaway's annual report to shareholders in 2002, he said, "Unless derivatives contracts are collateralized or guaranteed, their ultimate value also depends on the creditworthiness of the counterparties to them. In the meantime, though, before a contract is settled, the counterparties record profits and losses—often huge in amount—in their current earnings statements without so much as a penny changing hands. The range of derivatives contracts is limited only by the imagination of man (or sometimes, so it seems, madmen)."  To hedge the counterparty risk of entering a CDS transaction, one practice is to buy CDS protection on one's counterparty. The positions are marked-to-market daily and collateral pass from buyer to seller or vice versa to protect both parties against counterparty default, but money does not always change hands due to the offset of gains and losses by those who had both bought and sold protection. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, the clearinghouse for the majority of trades in the US over-the-counter market, stated in October 2008 that once offsetting trades were considered, only an estimated $6 billion would change hands on October 21, during the settlement of the CDS contracts issued on Lehman Brothers' debt, which amounted to somewhere between $150 to $360 billion.  Despite Buffett's criticism on derivatives, in October 2008 Berkshire Hathaway revealed to regulators that it has entered into at least $4.85 billion in derivative transactions. Buffett stated in his 2008 letter to shareholders that Berkshire Hathaway has no counterparty risk in its derivative dealings because Berkshire require counterparties to make payments when contracts are initiated, so that Berkshire always holds the money. Berkshire Hathaway was a large owner of Moody's stock during the period that it was one of two primary rating agencies for subprime CDOs, a form of mortgage security derivative dependent on the use of credit default swaps.  The monoline insurance companies got involved with writing credit default swaps on mortgage-backed CDOs. Some media reports have claimed this was a contributing factor to the downfall of some of the monolines. In 2009 one of the monolines, MBIA, sued Merrill Lynch, claiming that Merrill had misrepresented some of its CDOs to MBIA in order to persuade MBIA to write CDS protection for those CDOs.

Tax and accounting issues.

The U.S federal income tax treatment of CDS is uncertain (Nirenberg and Kopp 1997:1, Peaslee & Nirenberg 2008-07-21:129 and Brandes 2008). Commentators have suggested that, depending on how they are drafted, they are either notional principal contracts or options for tax purposes,(Peaslee & Nirenberg 2008-07-21:129). but this is not certain. There is a risk of having CDS recharacterized as different types of financial instruments because they resemble put options and credit guarantees. In particular, the degree of risk depends on the type of settlement (physical/cash and binary/FMV) and trigger (default only/any credit event) (Nirenberg & Kopp 1997:8). And, as noted below, the appropriate treatment for Naked CDS may be entirely different.  If a CDS is a notional principal contract, pre-default periodic and nonperiodic payments on the swap are deductible and included in ordinary income. If a payment is a termination payment, or a payment received on a sale of the swap to a third party, however, its tax treatment is an open question. In 2004, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it was studying the characterization of CDS in response to taxpayer confusion. As the outcome of its study, the IRS issued proposed regulations in 2011 specifically classifying CDS as notional principal contracts, and thereby qualifying such termination

LCDS.

A new type of default swap is the "loan only" credit default swap (LCDS). This is conceptually very similar to a standard CDS, but unlike "vanilla" CDS, the underlying protection is sold on syndicated secured loans of the Reference Entity rather than the broader category of "Bond or Loan". Also, as of May 22, 2007, for the most widely traded LCDS form, which governs North American single name and index trades, the default settlement method for LCDS shifted to auction settlement rather than physical settlement. The auction method is essentially the same that has been used in the various ISDA cash settlement auction protocols, but does not require parties to take any additional steps following a credit event (i.e., adherence to a protocol) to elect cash settlement. On October 23, 2007, the first ever LCDS auction was held for Movie Gallery.  Because LCDS trades are linked to secured obligations with much higher recovery values than the unsecured bond obligations that are typically assumed the cheapest to deliver in respect of vanilla CDS, LCDS spreads are generally much tighter than CDS trades on the same name.

A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer in the event of a debt default (by the debtor) or other credit event. That is, the seller of the CDS insures the buyer against some reference asset defaulting. The buyer of the CDS makes a series of payments (the CDS "fee" or "spread") to the seller and, in exchange, may expect to receive a payoff if the asset defaults.

Ein Credit Default Swap (CDS) oder Kreditausfalltausch ist ein Kreditderivat, bei dem Ausfallrisiken von Krediten, Anleihen oder Schuldnernamen gehandelt werden. Ein weiterer deutscher Begriff hierfür ist Kreditausfallversicherung – allerdings wird diese Bezeichnung bisweilen ebenfalls für die Restschuldversicherung verwendet.


History.

The term "bayonette" itself dates back to the second half of the 16th century, but it is not clear whether bayonets at the time were knives that could be fitted to the ends of firearms, or simply a type of knife. For example, Cotgrave's 1611 "Dictionarie" describes the bayonet as "a kind of small flat pocket dagger, furnished with knives; or a great knife to hang at the girdle". Likewise, Pierre Borel wrote in 1655 that a kind of long-knife called a "bayonette" was made in Bayonne but does not give any further description.

Plug bayonets.

The first recorded instance of a bayonet proper is found in the Chinese military treatise published in 1606. It was in the form of the, a breech-loading musket that was issued with a roughly long plug bayonet, giving it an overall length of with the bayonet attached. It was labelled as a "gun-blade" (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ) with it being described as a "short sword that can be inserted into the barrel and secured by twisting it slightly" that it is to be used "when the battle have depleted both gunpowder and bullets as well as fighting against bandits, when forces are closing into melee or encountering an ambush" and

Socket bayonets.

The major problem with plug bayonets was that when attached they made it impossible to fire the musket, requiring soldiers to wait until the last possible moment before a melee to fix the bayonet. The defeat of forces loyal to William of Orange by Jacobite Highlanders at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 was due (among other things) to the use of the plug bayonet. The Highlanders closed to 50 metres, fired a single volley, dropped their muskets, and using axes and swords quickly overwhelmed the loyalists before they had time to fix bayonets. Shortly thereafter, the defeated leader, Hugh Mackay, is believed to have introduced a socket bayonet of his own invention. Soon "socket" bayonets would incorporate both socket mounts and an offset blade that fit around the

Sword bayonets.

The 19th century introduced the concept of the sword bayonet, a long-bladed weapon with a single- or double-edged blade that could also be used as a shortsword. Its initial purpose was to ensure that riflemen could form an infantry square properly to fend off cavalry attacks when in ranks with musketmen, whose weapons were longer. A prime early example of a sword bayonet-fitted rifle is the British Infantry Rifle of 1800–1840, later known as the "Baker Rifle". The hilt usually had quillons modified to accommodate the gun barrel and a hilt mechanism that enabled the bayonet to be attached to a bayonet lug. A sword bayonet could be used in combat as a side arm. When attached to the musket or rifle, it effectively turned almost any long gun into a spear

Multipurpose bayonets.

One of these multipurpose designs was the'sawback' bayonet, which incorporated saw teeth on the spine of the blade. The sawback bayonet was intended for use as a general-purpose utility tool as well as a weapon; the teeth were meant to facilitate the cutting of wood for various defensive works such as barbed-wire posts, as well as for butchering livestock. It was initially adopted by the German states in 1865; until the middle of WWI approximately 5% of every bayonet style was complemented with a sawback version, for example in Belgium in 1868, Great Britain in 1869 and Switzerland in 1878 (Switzerland introduced their last model in 1914). The original sawback bayonets were typically of the heavy sword-type, they were issued to engineers, with to some extent the bayonet aspect being secondary to the "tool" aspect. Later German sawbacks were more of a rank indicator than a functional saw. The sawback proved relatively ineffective

"Reach" controversy.

Prior to World War I, bayonet doctrine was largely founded upon the concept of "reach"; that is, a soldier's theoretical ability, by use of an extremely long rifle and fixed bayonet, to stab an enemy soldier without having to approach within reach of his opponent's blade. A combined length of rifle and bayonet longer than that of the enemy infantryman's rifle and attached bayonet, like the infantryman's pike of bygone days, was thought to impart a tactical advantage on the battlefield.  In 1886, the French army introduced a quadrangular épée spike for the bayonet of the Lebel Model 1886 rifle,

Reversal in opinion.

The experience of World War I reversed opinion on the value of long rifles and bayonets in typical infantry combat operations. Whether in the close confines of trench warfare, night time raiding and patrolling, or attacking across open ground, soldiers of both sides soon recognized the inherent limitations of a long and ungainly rifle and bayonet when used as a close-quarters battle weapon. Once Allied soldiers had been trained to expect the "throw point" or "extended thrust-and-lunge attack", the method lost most of its tactical value on the World War I battlefield. It required a strong arm and wrist, was very

Bayonet charge.

The development of the bayonet in the late 17th century led to the bayonet charge becoming the main infantry tactic through the 19th century and into the 20th. As early as the 19th century, military scholars were already noting that most bayonet charges did not result in close combat. Instead, one side usually fled before actual bayonet fighting ensued. The act of fixing bayonets has been held to be primarily connected to morale, the making of a clear signal to friend and foe of a willingness to kill at close quarters.

Napoleonic wars.

The bayonet charge was a common tactic used during the Napoleonic wars. Despite its effectiveness, a bayonet charge did not necessarily cause substantial casualties through the use of the weapon itself. Detailed battle casualty lists from the 18th century showed that in many battles, fewer than 2% of all wounds treated were caused by bayonets. Antoine-Henri Jomini, a celebrated military author who served in numerous armies during the Napoleonic period, stated that the majority of bayonet charges in the

American Civil War.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865) the bayonet was found to be responsible for less than 1% of battlefield casualties, a hallmark of modern warfare. The use of bayonet charges to force the enemy to retreat was very successful in numerous small unit engagements at short range in the American Civil War, as most troops would retreat when charged while reloading (which could take up to a minute with loose powder even

Going over the top.

The popular image of a World War I combat is of a wave of soldiers with bayonets fixed, "going over the top" and charging across no man's land into a hail of enemy fire. Although this was the standard method of fighting early in the war, it was rarely successful. British casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme were the worst in the history of the

Banzai charges.

The advent of modern warfare in the 20th century made bayonet charges dubious affairs. During the Siege of Port Arthur (1904–05), the Japanese used suicidal human wave attacks against Russian artillery and machine guns, suffering massive casualties. One description of the aftermath was that a "thick, unbroken mass of corpses covered the cold earth like a [carpet]".  However, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese were able to effectively use bayonet charges against poorly organized and lightly armed Chinese troops. "Banzai charges" became an accepted military tactic where Japanese forces were able to

Human wave attack.

The term "human wave attack" was often misused to describe the Chinese short attack — a combination of infiltration and the shock tactics employed by the PLA during the Korean War. A typical Chinese short attack was carried out at night by sending a series of small five-men fireteams to attack the weakest point of an enemy's defenses. The Chinese assault team would crawl undetected within grenade range, then launch surprise attacks with fixed bayonets against the defenders in order to breach the defenses by relying on maximum shock and confusion.  If the initial shock failed to breach the defenses, additional fireteams would press on

Last hurrahs.

During the Korean War, the French Battalion and Turkish Brigade were not averse to using bayonet charges against their enemy.  United States Army officer Lewis L. Millett led soldiers of the US Army's 27th Infantry Regiment in taking out a machine gun position with bayonets. Historian S. L. A. Marshall described the attack as "the most complete bayonet charge by American troops since Cold Harbor". Out of about 50 enemy dead, roughly 20 were found to have been killed by bayonets, and the location subsequently became known as Bayonet Hill. This was the last bayonet charge by the US Army. For his leadership during the assault, Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor. The medal was formally presented to him by President Harry S. Truman in July 1951. He was also awarded the Army's second-highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, for leading another bayonet charge in the same month.  In 1982, the British Army 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards mounted bayonet charges during the Falklands War at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown.

Contemporary bayonets.

Today the bayonet is rarely used in one-to-one combat. Despite its limitations, many modern assault rifles (including bullpup designs) retain a bayonet lug and the bayonet is still issued by many armies. The bayonet is still used for controlling prisoners, or as a weapon of last resort. In addition, some authorities have concluded that the bayonet serves as a useful training aid in building morale and increasing desired aggressiveness in troops.  Today's bayonets often double as multi-purpose utility knives, bottle openers or throwing knives. Also, issuing one modern multi-purpose bayonet/knife is obviously more cost effective than issuing separate specialty bayonets, field knives and combat knives.

USSR.

The original AK-47 has an adequate but unremarkable bayonet. However, the AKM Type I bayonet (introduced in 1959) was a revolutionary design. It has a Bowie style (clip-point) blade with saw-teeth along the spine, and can be used as a multi-purpose survival knife and wire-cutter when combined with its steel scabbard. This design was copied by other nations and formed the basis of the US M9 bayonet. The AK-74 bayonet 6Kh5 (introduced in

United States.

The American M16 rifle used the M7 bayonet which is based on earlier designs such as the M4, M5 and M6 models, all of which are direct descendants of the M3 Fighting Knife and have a spear-point blade with a half sharpened secondary edge. The newer

People's Republic of China.

The AK-47 assault rifle was copied by China as the Type 56 assault rifle and include an integral folding spike bayonet,

Belgium.

The FN FAL has two types of bayonet. The first is a traditional spear point bayonet. The second is the Type C socket bayonet introduced in the 1960s. It

United Kingdom.

The current British L3A1 socket bayonet is based on the FN FAL Type C socket bayonet with a clip-point blade. It has a hollow handle that fits over the SA80/L85 rifle's muzzle and slots that lined

Germany.

The H&K G3 rifle uses two types of bayonets, both of which mount above the G3's barrel. The first is the standard G3 bayonet which has a blade similar to the American M7. The second is an EICKHORN KCB-70 type multi-purpose knife bayonet, featuring a clip-point with saw-back, a wire-cutter

Austria.

The Steyr AUG uses two types of bayonet. The first and most common is an Eickhorn KCB-70 type multi-purpose bayonet with an M16 bayonet type interface. The second are the Glock "Feldmesser 78" (Field Knife 78) and the "Feldmesser 81" (Survival Knife 81), which can also be

France.

The French use a more traditional spear point bayonet with the current FAMAS bayonet which is nearly identical to that of the M1949/56 bayonet. The new French H&K 416F rifle uses the Eickhorn "SG

Linguistic impact.

The push-twist motion of fastening the older type of bayonet has given a name to:  In chess, an aggressive variation of the King's Indian Defence is known as the "Bayonet Attack".  The bayonet

Badges and insignias.

The Australian Army 'Rising Sun' badge features a semicircle of bayonets. The Australian Army Infantry Combat Badge (ICB) takes the form of a vertically mounted Australian Army SLR (7.62mm self-loading rifle FN FAL) bayonet surrounded by an oval-shaped laurel wreath. The US Army Combat Action Badge, awarded to personnel who have come under fire since 2001 and who are not eligible for the Combat Infantryman Badge (due to the fact that only Infantry personnel may be awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge), has a bayonet as its central motif.  The shoulder sleeve insignia for the 10th Mountain Division in the US Army features crossed bayonets. The US Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team's shoulder patch features a bayonet wrapped in a wing, symbolizing their airborne status. The brigade regularly deploys in task forces under the name "Bayonet". The insignia of the British Army's School of Infantry is an SA80 bayonet against a red shield. It is worn as a Tactical recognition flash (TRF) by instructors at the Infantry Training Centre Catterick, the Infantry Battle School at Brecon and the Support Weapons School in Warminster.  The vocation tab collar insignia for the Singapore Armed Forces Infantry Formation utilizes two crossed bayonets. The bayonet is often used as a symbol of the Infantry in Singapore.

A bayonet (from French "baïonnette") is a knife, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear. From the 17th century to World War I, it was considered the primary weapon for infantry attacks. Today, it is considered an ancillary weapon or a weapon of last resort.

Als Bajonett (nach der französischen Stadt Bayonne) wird eine am Lauf von Schusswaffen befestigbare Stichwaffe in Form eines langen Dorns oder einer Stahlklinge bezeichnet. Unter der Bezeichnung "Seitengewehr" oder auch "Seitenwehr" versteht man die heute üblichen Bajonette, die auch als eigenständige Waffen geführt werden können und bei Bedarf auf das Gewehr "aufgepflanzt" werden.


Life and career.

Birthplace and background.

Gibbons was born in Oxford. Until the mid-20th century he was believed to have been born in Cambridge. This was accepted as fact by his contemporaries, stated in multiple early biographies and even recorded on a monument in Canterbury Cathedral, erected in his memory soon after his death. It is even possible that Gibbons himself thought that he was born in Cambridge, since he spent most of his life there and only the first 4–5 years of his life in Oxford. Matters are made more confusing as his father had lived in Cambridge for at least 10 years, 1–3 years before the birth of Orlando. Therefore, even though the 17th-century biographer, Anthony Wood, discovered a record of an "Orlando Gibbons" being baptised in St. Martin's Church, Oxford, it was assumed to be either a mistake, or a reference to a someone else of the same name. Modern historians have proved the claim that he was born in Cambridge to be incorrect. Not only was the baptismal record shown to be authentic, but it was discovered that Orlando's parents both resided in Oxford at the time of his birth, confirming that Orlando's birthplace was in St. Martin's, Oxford.

Early life.

Gibbons was born to William and Mary Gibbons as probably the seventh of nine surviving children in Oxford, where his father was a city councillor and head of the town waits. There is no surviving record of the date of his birth, but he is recorded as being baptised at St. Martin's on Christmas Day 1583. It would be consistent with the normal practice of the time that Gibbons was born no more than a week before his baptism. Gibbons's father had previously lived in Cambridge where he was also the head of the town waits and around 1588, when Orlando was 4–5 years old, the Gibbons family moved back to Cambridge and William resumed his previous post there.  Orlando was born into a musical family: not only was his father a musician, but his oldest brother, Edward, was a composer and master of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. His second brother, Ellis, was a promising composer but died prematurely, and his third brother, Ferdinando, may have eventually taken their father's place as a wait. Not much else is known about Orlando Gibbons's youth, but being born into a musical family he was probably instructed on various instruments by his father or older brothers. At the age of 12, he became a member of Edward's Choir of King's College, Cambridge on 14 February 1596. He was a regular member of the choir until some time in the Michaelmas term of 1598. In the Easter term (summer term) of the same year he enrolled at King's College, Cambridge as a sizar, meaning he paid reduced fees but had to do various menial tasks. From 1598–99 Gibbons's name appeared sporadically in the chorus member logs, suggesting that, if not a clerical error, he continued to sing from time to time, perhaps for special occasions. Gibbons's composition teacher is unknown, but it is likely to have been an older brother or his father, as they were experienced musicians. Edward is often proposed as the most likely candidate by historians, as he was the oldest brother, had achieved a Bachelor of Music degree at King's College, Cambridge, and was already experienced as the master of the choruses there. Another possible composition teacher is William Byrd, who was at least 40 years his senior and the most respected English composer at the time. Gibbons and Byrd along with the composer John Bull later collectively published music and since Bull was a student of Byrd's, Gibbons may very well also have been. Regardless of how his musical education came about, Gibbons was known to be composing music by the end of his time at the choir in 1599, at age 15–16.

Early career and marriage.

Gibbons's abilities had reached the point to allow him become a Musician of the Chapel Royal on 19 May 1603. His name appears at this time in a Cheque book from the Chapel Royal for services to King James I, as he was likely Gentleman Extraordinary (unpaid substitute) awaiting the vacancy of a paid position. 1603 was a year of mixed fortunes: he received his first position as a professional musician, but in the same year both his mother and his brother Ellis died. Eventually Gibbons's awaited vacancy occurred with the death of Arthur Cook, and on 21 March 1605 he secured the prestigious position of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, as the junior chapel organist. Edward Gibbons's friendship with the former organist, Arthur Cook, and the senior chapel organist, John Bull, may have helped his younger brother secure this position. Either way, becoming a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal at the age of only 21 would have been an impressive feat at the time and he kept this position until the end of his life.  In 1606 Gibbons married Elizabeth Patten on 17 February. Her father, John Patten, was a Yeoman of the Vestry in the Chapel Royal, and probably well acquainted with Gibbons, which would have helped to bring about the marriage. When Patten died in 1623, he made Gibbons his sole heir, residuary legatee and left 200 pounds for his children. The same year, shortly after his marriage, Orlando graduated from Cambridge with the degree of Bachelor in Music. Gibbons and his wife lived in Woolstaple (now Bridge Street) which was in the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster, the church where Gibbons's seven children would be baptised, including the well-known composer, Christopher Gibbons.

Publishing and patronage.

By the 1610s Gibbons had become a composer of high repute and perhaps the best organist in England. At around this time he became a close friend of Sir Christopher Hatton, who became an important patron of his. Hatton was the second cousin and heir of the more famous Christopher Hatton, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England. In fact, Hatton and his wife, Alice Fanshawe, were probably the namesakes of two of Gibbons's children, Alice and the future composer Christopher. The next years saw the publishing of various works by Gibbons, the first of which, his "First Set of Madrigals and Motets" was published in 1612 under the patronage of Hatton. One of the Madrigals in the set was renowned and probably the most famous English Madrigal, "The Silver Swan". Gibbons dedicated the entire set of works to Hatton and said that most of it was composed in Hatton's house:  This quote has been interpreted in suggesting that Hatton wrote some or all of the poems that Gibbons set to music in his "First Set of Madrigals and Motets," but there is no evidence to support this. Additionally, it is unlikely that Gibbons was a resident of Hatton's household, although their friendship suggests that Hatton may have set a room aside for him to compose. Some time in 1612–1613, Gibbons had six works published in the first printed collection of keyboard music, "Parthenia", which included works by the older and important composers, Byrd and Bull. This publication was to celebrate the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to Duke Frederick V, the Elector of Palestine. Compositions written around the time of Parthenia, including various anthems dedicated to senior clergy, the pavan "Lord Salisbury" for Lord Salisbury and the wedding anthem "Blessed are all they" in 1613 for the Earl of Somerset suggest that he was well associated throughout the court. In 1614 William Leighton published "The Teares and Lamentatacions of a Sorrowfull Soule" with 2 contributions by Gibbons, "O Lord how do my woes increase" and "O Lord, I lift my heart to Thee". Although he possibly started as early as 1605, Gibbons was the joint organist with Edmund Hooper by at least 1615. The same year he received two grants from King James I, worth 150 pounds total. These grants were:  Gibbons continued writing for James I, composing the anthem "Great King of Gods" and the court song "Do not repine, fair sun" in celebration of the King's 1617 visit to Scotland.

Late career.

By the late 1610s Gibbons was undoubtedly the most important musician and composer at court as Byrd had retired in Essex and Bull had fled to the Low Countries to avoid a charge of adultery. In 1617 Gibbons gained the position as keyboard player in an ensemble, organised by John Cooper, for the privy chamber of Prince Charles (later King Charles I). Gibbons was the only keyboardist in a group of 17 musicians of whom the Prince himself was thought to have occasionally joined on either the Bass-Viol or Viol da Gamba. It is likely that Gibbons was able to write for this ensemble and had pieces premiered by it. In addition to this, Gibbons probably gained a 3rd position in September 1619, attending the royal privy chamber of James I. His next major work, "Fantasies of Three Parts" was published around 1620 and dedicated it to Edmund Wry. This seemingly random dedication has provoked much speculation. It may be because Wry could secure Gibbons a better post, or it may be an action of gratitude for having already secured him the post for the royal privy chamber of the King.  While once assumed to be fact, there is now much doubt whether Gibbons received a Doctorate of Music in May 1622. In 1815, Wood stated:  This uncertainty has continued until the present day. Gibbons’s 8-part full anthem, "O clap your hands" was sung on 17 May 1622 at the degree ceremony for William Heather. Heather had financially supported William Camden's creation and maintenance of the Camden Professor of Ancient History chair and in return the university awarded him the honorary degrees of bachelor in music and doctor of music, even though he was not known to be a musician. The author Sir John Hawkins and musicologists Edmund Fellowes and David Mateer state unequivocally that Gibbons was awarded a doctorate along with Heather, and cite "O clap your hands" as the composer’s qualifying exercise for the degree. Other musicologists – Peter Le Huray, John Harper and John Harley – express some doubt whether Gibbons received a doctorate. Specifically, Harley cites a record in the Cheque book of the Chapel Royal that refers to William Heather as "doctor" but Gibbons as "senior organist." The same writer refers to a letter from Camden to William Piers from 18 May 1622 that says Gibbons is a Doctor of Music. Harley suggests that the authenticity of the letter is uncertain, since the original does not survive; he suggests that Camden could have written something such as "G––––s," which an editor assumed to mean Gibbons. The most convincing piece of evidence is thought to be the absence of mention of the supposed doctorate of music on Gibbons's Cambridge monument, erected in his memory when he died. Although the existing evidence seems to support the conclusion that he never achieved a doctorate in music, there is no indisputable evidence to confirm it.

Final years and death.

Some time in 1623, George Wither published "Hymnes and Songs of the Church" in which Gibbons provided the tunes for most of the songs. The same year he succeeded John Parsons as the organist at Westminster Abbey, with Thomas Day as junior organist. This was probably the most important position Gibbons had taken in his career thus far and on 7 May 1625 he officiated at the funeral of King James I.  During late May 1625, the English court was preparing to receive Queen Henrietta Maria, whom the now King Charles I of England had married through proxy in France on 1 May. Gibbons and other Chapel Royal members had begun travelling to Canterbury on 31 May when Gibbons suddenly succumbed to an illness, probably a cerebral aneurysm. He died at age 41 in Canterbury and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. His death was a shock to his peers and brought about a post-mortem, although the cause of death aroused less comment than the haste of his burial and his body not being returned to London. His wife, Elizabeth, died a little over a year later, in her mid-30s, leaving Orlando's eldest brother, Edward, to care for the orphaned children.

Music.

One of the most versatile English composers of his time, Gibbons wrote a large number of keyboard works, around thirty fantasias for viols, a number of madrigals (the best-known being "The Silver Swan"), and many popular verse anthems, all to English texts (the best known being "Great Lord of Lords"). Perhaps his best-known verse anthem is "This Is the Record of John", which sets an Advent text for solo countertenor or tenor, alternating with full chorus. The soloist is required to demonstrate considerable technical facility, and the work expresses the text's rhetorical force without being demonstrative or bombastic. He also produced two major settings of Evensong, the Short Service and the Second Service, an extended composition combining verse and full sections. Gibbons's full anthems include the expressive "O Lord, in thy wrath", and the Ascension Day anthem "O clap your hands together" (after Psalm 47) for eight voices.  He contributed six pieces to the first printed collection of keyboard music in England, "Parthenia" (to which he was by far the youngest of the three contributors), published in about 1611. Gibbons's surviving keyboard output comprises some 45 pieces. The polyphonic fantasia and dance forms are the best represented genres. Gibbons's writing exhibits a command of three- and four-part counterpoint. Most of the fantasias are complex, multi-sectional pieces, treating multiple subjects imitatively. Gibbons's approach to melody, in both his fantasias and his dances, features extensive development of simple musical ideas, as for example in "Pavane in D minor" and "Lord Salisbury's Pavan and Galliard".

Legacy.

In the 20th century, the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould championed Gibbons's music, and named him as his favourite composer. Gould wrote of Gibbons's hymns and anthems: "ever since my teen-age years this music... has moved me more deeply than any other sound experience I can think of." In one interview, Gould compared Gibbons to Beethoven and Webern:...despite the requisite quota of scales and shakes in such half-hearted virtuoso vehicles as the "Salisbury Galliard", one is never quite able to counter the impression of music of supreme beauty that lacks its ideal means of reproduction. Like Beethoven in his last quartets, or Webern at almost any time, Gibbons is an artist of such intractable commitment that, in the keyboard field, at least, his works work better in one's memory, or on paper, than they ever can through the intercession of a sounding-board.  Gibbons's death, on 5 June 1625, is regularly marked in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, by the singing of his music at Evensong. A number of Gibbons's church anthems were included in the "Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems" (OUP, 1978).  He was praised in his time by a visit in 1624 from the French ambassador, Charles de L'Aubespine, who stated upon entering Westminster Abbey that “At the entrance, the organ was touched by the best finger of that age, Mr. Orlando Gibbons." Musicologist and composer, Frederick Ouseley, dubbed him to be the "English Palestrina" and the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould praised him highly and compared his music, especially for the keyboard, to the likes of Beethoven and Webern. Gibbons paved the way for a future generation of English composers by perfecting the Byrd's foundations of the English madrigal as well as both full and verse anthems, and especially by teaching music to his oldest son, Christopher, who in turn taught John Blow, Pelham Humfrey and most notably Henry Purcell, the English pioneer of the Baroque era. The modern music critic John Rockwell claimed that the oeuvre of Gibbons: "all attested not merely to a significant figure in music's past but to a composer who can still speak directly to the present."

Orlando Gibbons (bapt. 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English Renaissance composer, virginalist and organist of the Elizabethan (late Tudor) and early Jacobean periods. Due to his sudden and early death, Gibbons' oeuvre was not as large as that of his older contemporary William Byrd, but his compositional versatility led to him writing significant works in almost every form of his day. He was a pivotal transitional figure from the Renaissance to the Baroque era.

Orlando Gibbons (* getauft 25. Dezember 1583 in Oxford; † 5. Juni 1625 in Canterbury) war ein englischer Komponist der Renaissance.


Historical development.

In the mid-eighteenth century as the investigation of geology found evidence such as fossils, naturalists developed new ideas which diverged from the Genesis creation narrative. Georges de Buffon proposed that the Earth was over 75,000 years old, possibly much older, and showed signs of historical development in a series of distinct epochs.  Abraham Gottlob Werner was the inspector of mines and professor of mining and mineralogy at the Mining Academy in Freiberg (Saxony) which became dominant in late eighteenth-century geology. His "Short Classification and Description of Rocks" of 1787 and his lectures set out a classification of rocks on the basis of their age based on the sequence of layers of differing material, rather than by the types of minerals as had been previous practice.  He based his historical sequence of rock formation on the theory that the Earth had originally consisted of water. According to this account, the water contained material which settled out of suspension in a process of sedimentation to form the core of the planet and the continents as a series of layers, the oldest and hardest being granite while newer layers showed an increasing number of fossils. Volcanos had a minor effect, modifying the continents and adding more sediment as well as some volcanic rocks, and successive lesser floods added more layers, so that most rocks resulted from precipitates settling out of water. There is no indication that any of the floods in Werner's cosmogony were Noah's flood.

The neptunist–plutonist controversy.

A rival theory known as plutonism (or vulcanism) held that rocks were formed in fire. This was originally proposed by Abbé Anton Moro (1687–1750) with reference to his studies of volcanic islands, and was taken up by James Hutton who put forward a uniformitarian theory of a rock cycle extending over infinite time in which rocks were worn away by weathering and erosion, then were re-formed and uplifted by heat and pressure.  Neptunists differed from the plutonists in holding that basalt was a sedimentary deposit which included fossils and so could not be of volcanic origin. Hutton correctly asserted that basalt never contained fossils and was always insoluble, hard, and crystalline. He found geological formations in which basalt cut through layers of other rocks, supporting his theory that it originated from molten rock under the Earth's crust.  The debate was not just between scientists. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of the most respected authors of the day, took sides with the neptunists. The fourth act of his famous work "Faust" contains a dialogue between a neptunist and a plutonist, the latter being Mephistopheles, the antagonist of the play who is a devil. Doing so he implicitly expressed his favour for the neptunist theory, though he also did so explicitly and sometimes even harshly elsewhere.  The controversy lasted into the early years of the 19th century, but the works of Charles Lyell in the 1830s gradually won over support for the uniformitarian ideas of Hutton and the plutonists. However, sedimentary rocks such as limestone are considered to have resulted from processes like those described by the neptunists, and so modern theory can be seen as a synthesis of the two approaches.

Fictional account.

The theory, and its intellectual context, are treated in Daniel Kehlmann's fictionalised account of the travels of Alexander von Humboldt, "Die Vermessung der Welt" ("Measuring the World") of 2006.

Neptunism is a superseded scientific theory of geology proposed by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) in the late 18th century, proposing that rocks formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans.

Der Neptunismus (oder Diluvianismus) ist eine verworfene geologische Anschauung, wonach alle Gesteine Sedimentgesteine sind, das heißt sich aus Wasser der Ozeane abgelagert haben. Der Neptunismus steht im Gegensatz zur Lehre des Plutonismus (auch: "Vulkanismus").