Carol I of Romania / 20 April 1839 - 10 October 1914

Carol I (20 April 1839  / 10 October 1914), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was the ruler of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected Ruling Prince (Domnitor) of the Romanian United Principalities on 20 April 1866 after the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire (1878) in the Russo-Turkish War, he declared Romania a sovereign nation (the country had been under the nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire until then). He was proclaimed King of Romania on 26 March [O.S. 14 March] 1881. He was the first ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, which ruled the country until the proclamation of a republic in 1947.

Carol I al României, Principe de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, pe numele său complet Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, (n. 20 aprilie 1839, Sigmaringen - d. 10 octombrie 1914, Sinaia) a fost domnitorul, apoi regele României, care a condus Principatele Române și apoi România după abdicarea forțată de o lovitură de sta a lui Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Din 1867 a devenit membru de onoare al Academiei Române, iar între 1879 și 1914 a fost protector și președinte de onoare al aceleiași instituții.

În toamna anului 1914, CAROL I a fost înmormântat la Curtea de Argeș, în Biserica episcopală, unde, doi ani mai târziu, avea să-şi găsească odihna și soția sa, ELISABETA.

Despre CAROL I, Constantin C. Giurescu scria: 

"A avut simţul datoriei şi al onoarei în gradul cel mai înalt, fiind o pildă vie pentru toţi supuşii săi. A pus întotdeauna mai presus de sine statul, la a cărui ridicare s-a gândit necontenit".

CAROL I, primul rege al României, scria în testamentul său: "Având aproape 60 de ani, privesc ca o datorie ca să mă hotărăsc a lua cele din urmă dispoziţii. Alcătuind acest testament, mă gândesc, înainte de toate, la iubitul meu popor, pentru care inima mea a bătut neîncetat şi care a avut deplină încredere în mine. Viaţa mea era aşa strâns legată de această de Dumnezeu binecuvântată Ţară, că doresc să i las, şi după moartea mea, dovezi vădite de adâncă simpatie şi de viul interes pe care le am avut pentru dânsa. Zi şi noapte m-am gândit la fericirea României, care a ajuns să ocupe acum o poziţie vrednică între statele europene.

M-am silit ca simţământul religios să fie ridicat şi dezvoltat în toate straturile societăţii şi ca fiecare să împlinească datoria sa, având ca ţintă numai interesele statului (...) Succesorul meu la tron primeşte o moştenire de care va fi mândru şi pe care el o va cârmui, am toată speranţa, în spiritul meu, călăuzit fiind de deviza: «Totul pentru Ţară, nimic pentru mine!»".

Tot la Curtea de Argeş îşi dorm somnul de veci: Regele FERDINAND şi Regina MARIA.

Argumentum Ornithologicum J. L. Borges

'I close my eyes and see a flock of birds. The vision lasts a second or perhaps less; I don’t know how many birds I saw. Were they a definite or an indefinite number? This problem involves the question of the existence of God. If God exists, the number is definite, because how many birds I saw is known to God. If God does not exist, the number is indefinite, because nobody was able to take count. In this case, I saw fewer than ten birds (let’s say) and more than one; but I did not see nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, or two birds. I saw a number between ten and one, but not nine, eight, seven, six, five, etc. That number, as a whole number, is inconceivable; ergo, God exists.'

[From Dreamtigers, by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Mildred Boyer]

Some call him The Voice and still marvel at his thunderous, operatic rants and his celestial falsetto. Others follow him as a good-natured English philosopher, a wise, unassuming man who can express our feelings better than anybody, especially when trying to untangle the mysteries of love, memories of childhood, the castrating shadow of religion, the perversity of politics, or the doom of mankind, often portrayed as a spaceship drifting along, worthy of a Stanislav Lem story.

Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano. He also acts as a record producer for his own recordings, and occasionally for other artists.

"Fool's Mate" is his debut solo album. The title is both a chess and tarot reference. It was produced by Trident Studios' in-house producer John Anthony. The album was recorded in 1971, in the midst of one of Van der Graaf Generator's most prolific periods. Peter Hammill used the album to record a backlog of songs which were much shorter and simpler than his Van der Graaf Generator material, and declared on the original album sleeve: "This isn't intended to be any kind of statement of my present musical position, but at the same time, it is an album which involves a great deal of me, the person, basically a return to the roots."

Personnel:

* John Anthony - background vocals, producer
* Hugh Banton - organ, piano, keyboards, background vocals
* Rod Clements - bass, violin
* Guy Evans - percussion, drums, background vocals
* Robert Fripp - electric guitar
* Peter Hammill - acoustic guitar, guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
* David Jackson - saxophone
* Ray Jackson - harmonica, mandolin, harp, background vocals
* Nic Potter - bass
* Martin Pottinger - drums
* Paul Whitehead - drums