[This thread will be in installments. Before we can really talk about the role of Bach and Luther in Germanic culture, we'll have to get into some background to gain historical perspective.]
Background
The nation of Germany is really a relatively recent development. As far back as 100 BCE, the Romans listed a region of central Europe they called Germania but it was little more than a territory populated by various tribes the Romans were always trying to conquer. One of those tribes was called the Cherusci among whom the Romans discovered a seemingly invincible warrior they called Arminius. The Cherusci tribe came from the region known as Germania Magna. There were two other regions sharing the name Germania-Germania Inferior and Germania Superior-which were held by the Romans while Germania Magna was was as yet unconquered and populated by the Germanic tribes as well as Gauls. Celts, Slavs and others.
Julius Caesar understood the warlike tribes in the area called themselves Germani although the meaning of the name is not clear. Tacitus detailed the war between the Romans and Germani in his accounts. The Cherusci had united other tribes in Germania Magna against the Romans. Arminius had lived in Rome when he was younger and was given a Roman education and trained in the Roman martial arts. He was the son of a chieftain name Segimir. The Romans took Arminius and his brother, Flavus, to Rome to serve as hostages. They would be shown and treated to the best Rome had to offer including Roman schooling and citizenship as well as the rank of petty noble but their presence was to ensure that the Germani behaved themselves. Any uprisings or acts of war would result in the deaths of Segimir's sons.
Arminius, however, proved to be a brave soldier and an able commander and was given control of his own Roman detachment in Germania Magna. When the Romans began pushing into lands east of the Rhine under the command of Varus, appointed governor by Augustus, Arminius secretly began uniting tribes against the Roman encroachment. In 9 CE, with a major rebellion in the Balkans that required eight of the eleven legions in Germania, Varus had only three legions left to fight off any attacking Germani. Arminius then baited a trap for Varus and his men by luring them out to Kalkriese Hill in the Teutoburg Forest where they were ambushed by superior Germanic forces and defeated. It would be a good five years before the Romans would be able to defeat Arminius but Tiberius decided to keep the border of the Roman-occupied region at the Rhine River in 17 CE which was essentially a victory for Arminus who died fours years later, murdered by some of his fellow tribesmen who feared he was becoming too powerful. Arminus is also known as Hermann but this appears to be a 19th century name change. Despite the similarity of "German" and "Hermann," Germany was not named after him. The defeat of the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest has far-reaching implications. The Romans lost their appetite for conquest of Germania Magna which would eventually give birth to the country of Germany.
By the third century CE, the Roman Empire had divided into western and eastern halves on the orders of Diocletian. The year is given as 284 CE. The empire was simply too vast to be run from only one seat of power. Diocletian would govern the Western Empire (which spoke Latin) from Milan and Maximian would govern the Eastern Empire (which spoke Greek) from Byzantium and so the Eastern Empire is more famously known to history as the Byzantine Empire (although they called themselves Romans). Migrations to and assaults on the Western Empire were carried out mainly of Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Franks and Vandals which pushed the Empire to the brink of dissolution. For example, prior to Diocletian's order to split the empire, Rome was already fracturing. The army had taken on so many Goths and Germani and what not that much of the army was mercenary and these mercenaries were only loyal to their commanders rather than to Rome (which few of them had ever visited). Meanwhile, the Eastern Empire got along nicely and, in 324, the emperor, Constantine, renamed Byzantium after himself-Constantinople-and the city was consecrated in 330. Constantine declared it the new capital of the entire empire and moved there.
The numerous invasions of the Western Empire were taking a toll on its finances. The wars were expensive and this resulted in very high taxation rates among the citizenry which was hard pressed trying to keep up with the payments. Plus the mercenary army had to be paid in gold or they would mutiny. Generals became warlords and proclaimed themselves emperor. There were literally dozens of these warlords with sizable mercenary armies all insisting that they were emperor of Rome. Corruption within the government was rife and the military was angry about it which affected morale. In 410, the Visigoths under Alaric sacked Rome. Then the Vandals took the city in 455 leaving the bureaucracy teetering. In 476, Odoacer, a Germanic king, deposed Romulus Augustus, who had been proclaimed emperor less than a year before and took his place as emperor and sending Romulus into exile and no Roman ruler would ever return to reclaim the throne. The Empire collapsed and Western Europe, for the first time in centuries, had no emperor (although the Byzantine Empire would continue strong for another thousand years). The period after the collapse is often referred to as the Dark Ages.
Although we have been conditioned to regard the Dark Ages as this period when Europe fell into anti-intellectualism and superstition, there is not much evidence to support this. In fact, many historians refuse to use this term to describe that period preferring instead to call it the Early Middle Ages. There was serfdom but slavery was abolished during this period while the Romans had been over-reliant on slavery (it was one of the many things that destroyed the Western Empire). Public health organizations and charities started during this time. Reading and writing actually flourished comparatively speaking and there was much leisure time for everything from card-playing to archery competitions to pitching horseshoes. Wars were small and usually over very quickly because armies were necessarily small, there not being much money to raise large ones.
In the wake of the collapse of Western Empire, a tribe from the Middle and Lower Rhine flourished in that region. They were called the Franks. Being a very large tribe, some Frankish groups were Roman allies while other antagonized them. Still others were mercenaries in the Roman army. The Romans recognized the Frankish Kingdom (Regnum Francorum) in 357. After the collapse, the Franks found themselves under constant assault by Vikings and were united under the Merovingian rulers a.k.a the Meerwings. The Meerwings were Salian Franks. They believed their lineage began after a fish-man or lizard-man raped a human maiden and impregnated her and she gave birth to the Merovingian line. The first Meerwing ruler was Clovis I, who was crowned King in 496. The Meerwing Dynasty ruled for the next three centuries but, as time wore on, the Merovingian kings exercised less and less power. The real power behind the throne were the Carolingians who consolidated their power under Charles Martel, the Mayor of the Palace (Maior Domus) and Duke of the Franks in 718. Martel called all the shots until his death in 741.
Martel was mainly concerned about encroachment from the Muslims whom he defeated at the Battle of Tours in 732. Martel had two sons, Pepin III and Carloman. Upon his death, Pepin became Mayor of the Palace and he and Carloman ran things behind the scenes until 752 when Childeric III, a mere figurehead and last of the Meerwings, was deposed by Pope Zachary at the behest of Pepin and Carloman (who installed him in the first place). By that time, the Frankish Empire encompassed nearly all of Western Europe. Two years later, Pope Stephen II named Pepin the king and he ruled under the moniker of Pepin the Short until his death in 768.
Upon the death of Pepin the Short, his sons, Charles and Carloman were co-rulers. Carloman died mysteriously in 771 and King Charles I became the sole King of the Franks. In 774, Charles, a devout Catholic, defeated then declared himself king of the Lombards of Northern Italy to prevent them from opposing the pope. On Christmas Day in 800, Charles was declared the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III while Charles was visiting Rome. Apparently, he did not want this title but was tricked into accepting it by Leo. Charles expanded the Empire and converted pagan areas to Christianity. He never learned to read nor write (although he constantly practiced his letters) but championed education and had schools built throughout the empire.
Charles became known to history as Karolus Magnus, Charlemagne or Charles the Great. The Germans call him Karl der Grosse. His biographer, Eginhard (some sources say Einhard), gave a good profile of the man. While the later medieval period depicted him with long, unruly, white hair and a long beard and mustache and adorned in long flowing robes, Eginhard described Charlemagne as wearing short close-cropped, black hair that he sometimes grew to his shoulders but no longer. He was usually clean-shaven but often sported a pencil-thin mustache. He spurned elegant clothing and preferred rugged hunting attire.
Charlemagne's monogram. He practiced his letters although he remained illiterate throughout his life. KRLS stands for "Karolus." This was his official mark.
He was married four times and had at least three children although only one, Louis, survived him. Culture flourished well under Charlemagne who ruled from his court in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) in what is now in North Rhine-Westphalia. There are lots of stories about him which may or may not be true. One such story is that Charlemagne championed education and so once dropped in on a children's school unannounced and observed a boy misbehaving and so grabbed the child and spanked him soundly. In another case, he bade his courtiers go hunting with him dressed as they were-in their fine, expensive clothing. When they returned, their clothes were filthy and tattered. Charlemagne then admonished them for spending inordinate amounts of money on clothing that had no practical value.
Charlemagne died in 814 and became recognized as first true emperor in Western Europe since the collapse of the Roman Empire. Supposedly, Charlemagne loved music and had an open door policy at the palace where people could go in and play songs they knew or had written themselves. If Charlemagne liked the song, he would have a scribe skilled in musical notation write it down and it would then be preserved in the court's library. Many of these songs were quite ribald but Charlemagne was apparently quite fond of such songs. By the time of his death, there were reportedly thousands of these songs in the library. His son, Louis the Pious, as his name suggests disliked the profane pieces and, upon becoming emperor, had this sheet music burned. If true, the world was deprived of an invaluable source of music from the Dark Ages.
Charlemagne as remembered for posterity. He is shown wearing the "hoop crown" of the Holy Roman Empire but this crown did not exist until the 11th century. What crown Leo III allegedly placed on Charlemagne's head on Christmas Day in 800 is not known.
Charlemagne on a Frankish coin depicting him as a Roman emperor but the likeness is probably closer to his true appearance.
The Frankish Empire
Louis's reign was an unsteady one. He had to put down rebellions a fair amount and jailed King Bernard of Italy in 817 for leading a rebellion against him (Bernard died in prison a year later). Louis probably only maintained the empire simply because he was the son of the greatest ruler of Western Europe. In those days, the Franks did not yet practice primogeniture where the only eldest son inherits his father's throne so, to maintain control of the empire, Louis made his three sons co-rulers by splitting the empire into three slices. His eldest son, Lothair was King of Italy and co-emperor, Pepin was King of Aquitaine and Louis the German was King of Bavaria.
In 823, Louis attempted to bring his fourth son, Charles the Bald, into the co-rulership but his other sons objected. They didn't like splitting the kingdom anymore than it already had been. Six years later, Lothair was stripped of his titles and exiled to Italy apparently by his father. His sons then attacked and dethroned Louis in 830. The following year, Louis attacked his sons and again stripped Lothair of his titles and gave Italy to Charles the Bald. Lothair, Pepin and Louis the German then revolted in 832 and dethroned and imprisoned by Louis and Charles. In 835, family peace broke out and Louis was returned to the throne. When Pepin died in 838, Louis declared Charles the Bald as King of Aquitaine even though others wanted Pepin's son, Pepin II, to succeed his father.
Louis the Pious died in 840 and Lothair declared himself the emperor of the entire Frankish Empire. Needless to say, this didn't sit well with his brothers who joined forces and attacked Lothair's army at Fontenoy-en-Puisaye in 841. Lothair's army was defeated and so he retreated to Aachen. When Louis and Charles caught up to Lothair, he was trying to raise an army against them but he was no match for the combined forces of his two brothers. Louis and Charles declared Lothair unfit to hold the titles of emperor of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor. On February 12, 842, Louis, Charles and their respective armies met in Strasbourg. The Oaths of Strasbourg were drawn up with Louis representing the kingdom of East Francia and Charles of West Francia. The Oaths were written in Caroline miniscule in Medieval Latin, Old Gallo-Romance and Old High German. Charles's kingdom spoke Gallo-Romance, Louis's kingdom spoke Old High German and Latin was the lingua franca of that time.
Each ruler addressed the assembly and gave the same speech pledging allegiance to his brother and condemning Lothair. Each brother spoke in the language of his brother's kingdom. But then the oaths also extended to the soldiers themselves. Each had to swear that if his ruler broke the oath and tried to move against his brother, they would be honor-bound not to assist him in any way.
Rather than find himself locked out of rulership, Lothair gave in and in August of 843, the Treaty of Verdun was drawn up between Lothair, Louis and Charles. Lothair was named king of Middle Francia including Aachen and Rome, Louis was given East Francia, Charles received West Francia and he granted Aquitaine to Pepin II. At this point, historians agree, France and Germany were formed although the borders would shift significantly over the years.
Not until 962 would the Holy Roman Empire be established in a succession that would last centuries. That year, Otto I was crowned as the emperor by Pope John XII. The Holy Roman Empire was, for all intents and purposes, Germany. Different parts of the Empire were under the control of different families as the Hohenstaufens of Swabia, the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg-Prussia and the Hapsburgs of Austria and Spain (the Hapsburgs actually had their own empire which was both within and without the Holy Roman Empire).
Background
The nation of Germany is really a relatively recent development. As far back as 100 BCE, the Romans listed a region of central Europe they called Germania but it was little more than a territory populated by various tribes the Romans were always trying to conquer. One of those tribes was called the Cherusci among whom the Romans discovered a seemingly invincible warrior they called Arminius. The Cherusci tribe came from the region known as Germania Magna. There were two other regions sharing the name Germania-Germania Inferior and Germania Superior-which were held by the Romans while Germania Magna was was as yet unconquered and populated by the Germanic tribes as well as Gauls. Celts, Slavs and others.
Julius Caesar understood the warlike tribes in the area called themselves Germani although the meaning of the name is not clear. Tacitus detailed the war between the Romans and Germani in his accounts. The Cherusci had united other tribes in Germania Magna against the Romans. Arminius had lived in Rome when he was younger and was given a Roman education and trained in the Roman martial arts. He was the son of a chieftain name Segimir. The Romans took Arminius and his brother, Flavus, to Rome to serve as hostages. They would be shown and treated to the best Rome had to offer including Roman schooling and citizenship as well as the rank of petty noble but their presence was to ensure that the Germani behaved themselves. Any uprisings or acts of war would result in the deaths of Segimir's sons.
Arminius, however, proved to be a brave soldier and an able commander and was given control of his own Roman detachment in Germania Magna. When the Romans began pushing into lands east of the Rhine under the command of Varus, appointed governor by Augustus, Arminius secretly began uniting tribes against the Roman encroachment. In 9 CE, with a major rebellion in the Balkans that required eight of the eleven legions in Germania, Varus had only three legions left to fight off any attacking Germani. Arminius then baited a trap for Varus and his men by luring them out to Kalkriese Hill in the Teutoburg Forest where they were ambushed by superior Germanic forces and defeated. It would be a good five years before the Romans would be able to defeat Arminius but Tiberius decided to keep the border of the Roman-occupied region at the Rhine River in 17 CE which was essentially a victory for Arminus who died fours years later, murdered by some of his fellow tribesmen who feared he was becoming too powerful. Arminus is also known as Hermann but this appears to be a 19th century name change. Despite the similarity of "German" and "Hermann," Germany was not named after him. The defeat of the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest has far-reaching implications. The Romans lost their appetite for conquest of Germania Magna which would eventually give birth to the country of Germany.
By the third century CE, the Roman Empire had divided into western and eastern halves on the orders of Diocletian. The year is given as 284 CE. The empire was simply too vast to be run from only one seat of power. Diocletian would govern the Western Empire (which spoke Latin) from Milan and Maximian would govern the Eastern Empire (which spoke Greek) from Byzantium and so the Eastern Empire is more famously known to history as the Byzantine Empire (although they called themselves Romans). Migrations to and assaults on the Western Empire were carried out mainly of Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Franks and Vandals which pushed the Empire to the brink of dissolution. For example, prior to Diocletian's order to split the empire, Rome was already fracturing. The army had taken on so many Goths and Germani and what not that much of the army was mercenary and these mercenaries were only loyal to their commanders rather than to Rome (which few of them had ever visited). Meanwhile, the Eastern Empire got along nicely and, in 324, the emperor, Constantine, renamed Byzantium after himself-Constantinople-and the city was consecrated in 330. Constantine declared it the new capital of the entire empire and moved there.
The numerous invasions of the Western Empire were taking a toll on its finances. The wars were expensive and this resulted in very high taxation rates among the citizenry which was hard pressed trying to keep up with the payments. Plus the mercenary army had to be paid in gold or they would mutiny. Generals became warlords and proclaimed themselves emperor. There were literally dozens of these warlords with sizable mercenary armies all insisting that they were emperor of Rome. Corruption within the government was rife and the military was angry about it which affected morale. In 410, the Visigoths under Alaric sacked Rome. Then the Vandals took the city in 455 leaving the bureaucracy teetering. In 476, Odoacer, a Germanic king, deposed Romulus Augustus, who had been proclaimed emperor less than a year before and took his place as emperor and sending Romulus into exile and no Roman ruler would ever return to reclaim the throne. The Empire collapsed and Western Europe, for the first time in centuries, had no emperor (although the Byzantine Empire would continue strong for another thousand years). The period after the collapse is often referred to as the Dark Ages.
Although we have been conditioned to regard the Dark Ages as this period when Europe fell into anti-intellectualism and superstition, there is not much evidence to support this. In fact, many historians refuse to use this term to describe that period preferring instead to call it the Early Middle Ages. There was serfdom but slavery was abolished during this period while the Romans had been over-reliant on slavery (it was one of the many things that destroyed the Western Empire). Public health organizations and charities started during this time. Reading and writing actually flourished comparatively speaking and there was much leisure time for everything from card-playing to archery competitions to pitching horseshoes. Wars were small and usually over very quickly because armies were necessarily small, there not being much money to raise large ones.
In the wake of the collapse of Western Empire, a tribe from the Middle and Lower Rhine flourished in that region. They were called the Franks. Being a very large tribe, some Frankish groups were Roman allies while other antagonized them. Still others were mercenaries in the Roman army. The Romans recognized the Frankish Kingdom (Regnum Francorum) in 357. After the collapse, the Franks found themselves under constant assault by Vikings and were united under the Merovingian rulers a.k.a the Meerwings. The Meerwings were Salian Franks. They believed their lineage began after a fish-man or lizard-man raped a human maiden and impregnated her and she gave birth to the Merovingian line. The first Meerwing ruler was Clovis I, who was crowned King in 496. The Meerwing Dynasty ruled for the next three centuries but, as time wore on, the Merovingian kings exercised less and less power. The real power behind the throne were the Carolingians who consolidated their power under Charles Martel, the Mayor of the Palace (Maior Domus) and Duke of the Franks in 718. Martel called all the shots until his death in 741.
Martel was mainly concerned about encroachment from the Muslims whom he defeated at the Battle of Tours in 732. Martel had two sons, Pepin III and Carloman. Upon his death, Pepin became Mayor of the Palace and he and Carloman ran things behind the scenes until 752 when Childeric III, a mere figurehead and last of the Meerwings, was deposed by Pope Zachary at the behest of Pepin and Carloman (who installed him in the first place). By that time, the Frankish Empire encompassed nearly all of Western Europe. Two years later, Pope Stephen II named Pepin the king and he ruled under the moniker of Pepin the Short until his death in 768.
Upon the death of Pepin the Short, his sons, Charles and Carloman were co-rulers. Carloman died mysteriously in 771 and King Charles I became the sole King of the Franks. In 774, Charles, a devout Catholic, defeated then declared himself king of the Lombards of Northern Italy to prevent them from opposing the pope. On Christmas Day in 800, Charles was declared the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III while Charles was visiting Rome. Apparently, he did not want this title but was tricked into accepting it by Leo. Charles expanded the Empire and converted pagan areas to Christianity. He never learned to read nor write (although he constantly practiced his letters) but championed education and had schools built throughout the empire.
Charles became known to history as Karolus Magnus, Charlemagne or Charles the Great. The Germans call him Karl der Grosse. His biographer, Eginhard (some sources say Einhard), gave a good profile of the man. While the later medieval period depicted him with long, unruly, white hair and a long beard and mustache and adorned in long flowing robes, Eginhard described Charlemagne as wearing short close-cropped, black hair that he sometimes grew to his shoulders but no longer. He was usually clean-shaven but often sported a pencil-thin mustache. He spurned elegant clothing and preferred rugged hunting attire.
Charlemagne's monogram. He practiced his letters although he remained illiterate throughout his life. KRLS stands for "Karolus." This was his official mark.
He was married four times and had at least three children although only one, Louis, survived him. Culture flourished well under Charlemagne who ruled from his court in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) in what is now in North Rhine-Westphalia. There are lots of stories about him which may or may not be true. One such story is that Charlemagne championed education and so once dropped in on a children's school unannounced and observed a boy misbehaving and so grabbed the child and spanked him soundly. In another case, he bade his courtiers go hunting with him dressed as they were-in their fine, expensive clothing. When they returned, their clothes were filthy and tattered. Charlemagne then admonished them for spending inordinate amounts of money on clothing that had no practical value.
Charlemagne died in 814 and became recognized as first true emperor in Western Europe since the collapse of the Roman Empire. Supposedly, Charlemagne loved music and had an open door policy at the palace where people could go in and play songs they knew or had written themselves. If Charlemagne liked the song, he would have a scribe skilled in musical notation write it down and it would then be preserved in the court's library. Many of these songs were quite ribald but Charlemagne was apparently quite fond of such songs. By the time of his death, there were reportedly thousands of these songs in the library. His son, Louis the Pious, as his name suggests disliked the profane pieces and, upon becoming emperor, had this sheet music burned. If true, the world was deprived of an invaluable source of music from the Dark Ages.
Charlemagne as remembered for posterity. He is shown wearing the "hoop crown" of the Holy Roman Empire but this crown did not exist until the 11th century. What crown Leo III allegedly placed on Charlemagne's head on Christmas Day in 800 is not known.
Charlemagne on a Frankish coin depicting him as a Roman emperor but the likeness is probably closer to his true appearance.
The Frankish Empire
Louis's reign was an unsteady one. He had to put down rebellions a fair amount and jailed King Bernard of Italy in 817 for leading a rebellion against him (Bernard died in prison a year later). Louis probably only maintained the empire simply because he was the son of the greatest ruler of Western Europe. In those days, the Franks did not yet practice primogeniture where the only eldest son inherits his father's throne so, to maintain control of the empire, Louis made his three sons co-rulers by splitting the empire into three slices. His eldest son, Lothair was King of Italy and co-emperor, Pepin was King of Aquitaine and Louis the German was King of Bavaria.
In 823, Louis attempted to bring his fourth son, Charles the Bald, into the co-rulership but his other sons objected. They didn't like splitting the kingdom anymore than it already had been. Six years later, Lothair was stripped of his titles and exiled to Italy apparently by his father. His sons then attacked and dethroned Louis in 830. The following year, Louis attacked his sons and again stripped Lothair of his titles and gave Italy to Charles the Bald. Lothair, Pepin and Louis the German then revolted in 832 and dethroned and imprisoned by Louis and Charles. In 835, family peace broke out and Louis was returned to the throne. When Pepin died in 838, Louis declared Charles the Bald as King of Aquitaine even though others wanted Pepin's son, Pepin II, to succeed his father.
Louis the Pious died in 840 and Lothair declared himself the emperor of the entire Frankish Empire. Needless to say, this didn't sit well with his brothers who joined forces and attacked Lothair's army at Fontenoy-en-Puisaye in 841. Lothair's army was defeated and so he retreated to Aachen. When Louis and Charles caught up to Lothair, he was trying to raise an army against them but he was no match for the combined forces of his two brothers. Louis and Charles declared Lothair unfit to hold the titles of emperor of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor. On February 12, 842, Louis, Charles and their respective armies met in Strasbourg. The Oaths of Strasbourg were drawn up with Louis representing the kingdom of East Francia and Charles of West Francia. The Oaths were written in Caroline miniscule in Medieval Latin, Old Gallo-Romance and Old High German. Charles's kingdom spoke Gallo-Romance, Louis's kingdom spoke Old High German and Latin was the lingua franca of that time.
Each ruler addressed the assembly and gave the same speech pledging allegiance to his brother and condemning Lothair. Each brother spoke in the language of his brother's kingdom. But then the oaths also extended to the soldiers themselves. Each had to swear that if his ruler broke the oath and tried to move against his brother, they would be honor-bound not to assist him in any way.
Rather than find himself locked out of rulership, Lothair gave in and in August of 843, the Treaty of Verdun was drawn up between Lothair, Louis and Charles. Lothair was named king of Middle Francia including Aachen and Rome, Louis was given East Francia, Charles received West Francia and he granted Aquitaine to Pepin II. At this point, historians agree, France and Germany were formed although the borders would shift significantly over the years.
Not until 962 would the Holy Roman Empire be established in a succession that would last centuries. That year, Otto I was crowned as the emperor by Pope John XII. The Holy Roman Empire was, for all intents and purposes, Germany. Different parts of the Empire were under the control of different families as the Hohenstaufens of Swabia, the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg-Prussia and the Hapsburgs of Austria and Spain (the Hapsburgs actually had their own empire which was both within and without the Holy Roman Empire).