title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "Rebirth" released to critical acclaim. Reviewers praised its gameplay and improvements compared to the original "Binding of Isaac", but criticized its graphic imagery. "Afterbirth", "Afterbirth+" and "Repentance" also had a generally-favorable reception, with reviewers criticizing their difficulty but praising their added content. Tools for modding "Afterbirth+" were criticized by users. By July 2015, "Rebirth" and "The Binding of Isaac" had sold over five million copies combined. The game is widely regarded as one of the best roguelike games of all time.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth" (like the original) is a top-down 2D game where the player controls the character Isaac, alongside sixteen other unlockable characters, as he traverses his mother's basement, fighting off monsters and collecting items. The gameplay is presented in a roguelike style; the dungeon levels are procedurally generated through a randomly generated seed into a number of self-contained rooms, including at least one boss battle. Like most roguelike games, it has permadeath; when the chosen character dies from too much damage, the game is over. "Rebirth" allows a play-through to be saved at any point. Map seeds can be shared, allowing for multiple people to try the same dungeon layout. However, seeded runs can’t earn player’s achievements, preventing users using overpowered seeds to get unlocks.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: The game is controlled similarly to a multidirectional shooter. The player moves their character around the screen, shooting their tears in other directions; the tears are bullets which defeat enemies. The player-character's health is tracked by a number of hearts. The character can find items which replenish hearts; other items give the character additional hearts, extending their health. Throughout the dungeons, the player will find bombs to damage foes and destroy obstacles; keys to open doors and treasure chests; and coins to buy items. Many items impact the character's attributes (such as speed and the damage and range of their tears) and other gameplay effects, including a character who floats behind the player-character and aids in combat. Some items are passive; some are active and reusable (requiring the player to wait a number of rooms before they can reuse them), and others are single-use items which then disappear. The player can collect any number of passive items, whose effects build on previous ones (creating potentially powerful combinations). A player can only carry one reusable item or one single-use item, replacing it with another if found. Other rooms in the dungeons include special challenges, mini-boss fights, dice pip rooms, arcades, vaults, and curse rooms.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: In addition to expanding "The Binding of Isaac" number of items, monsters, and room types (including those spanning multiple screens), "Rebirth" provides integrated controller support and allows a second local player to join in with a drop-in-drop-out mechanic. The second player controls a follower of the first player-character with the same attributes and abilities of that character, costing the first player-character one heart. The second character cannot plant bombs or carry items.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth" plot follows the biblical story of the same name, similar to the original game. Isaac, a child, and his mother live in a small house on a hill, both happily keeping to themselves, with Isaac drawing pictures and playing with his toys, and his mother watching Christian broadcasts on television. Isaac's mother then hears "a voice from above", stating her son is corrupted with sin, and needs to be saved. She removes all his possessions (including toys and clothing), believing they were the corrupting agents, and later locks him in his room to protect him from the evil outside. When she receives instructions to sacrifice her son to prove her devotion to her faith, Isaac flees through a trap door in his room, leading to "the unknown depths below".


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: After venturing through various floors and reaching The Depths, Isaac battles his mother. After defeating her, the game cuts back to Isaac in his room, where his mother attempts to kill him, grasping a butcher's knife. A Bible is knocked off a shelf, striking Isaac's mother in the head, killing her. Isaac celebrates, before the game cuts again to a smiling Isaac, where his mother once again opens his door, holding a knife.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: The game, including all DLCs, features 23 possible endings. The base game contains 17 endings, with the ending obtained for defeating Isaac's mother being called the Epilogue. The first ten endings are unlocked by defeating the Mom's Heart boss and serve as introductions to newly unlocked items, mechanics and characters. The 11th ending permanently replaces Mom's Heart with a harder version, called "It Lives."


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Endings 12 and 13 are unlocked by defeating the bosses Satan and Isaac respectively. Ending 12 shows Isaac climbing into his toy chest. Endings 14 and 15 are unlocked by defeating the bosses The Lamb and ???, who in turn are unlocked by defeating Satan and Isaac 6 times. Ending 15 shows a missing poster for Isaac attached to a telephone pole, with Isaac's mother seen looking for her son. The final ending in the base game, ending 16, is unlocked by defeating the "true" final boss, Mega Satan. It shows Isaac curled up in his toy chest from Ending 12, suffocating.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth" expansion contains two new endings, both of which involve the expansion's new content. Ending 17 is unlocked by defeating the newly added boss, Hush. It opens with the missing poster from Ending 15 and zooms in on Isaac's house. The scene cuts to Isaac's mother opening his toy chest, revealing Isaac's skeletal remains. Isaac is seen in a dull-colored landscape, where a shadow forms behind him.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Ending 18 is unlocked by defeating the boss Ultra Greed at the end of the new Greed Mode. It shows Isaac in a small cave, which caves in on him. The scene then changes to show one of the shopkeepers found throughout the game. It smiles, and the scene ends.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+", like the expansion before it, contains 2 new endings involving the new content added in the expansion. Ending 19 is unlocked by defeating the boss Ultra Greed at the end of the new Greedier mode. It is almost exactly the same as Ending 18, with the major difference being that after the shopkeeper smiles, its head falls off and the body begins to spew out a geyser of spiders.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Ending 20, called "Final Ending" prior to "The Binding of Isaac: Repentance", is unlocked after defeating the boss Delirium, who is Isaac's representation of the "light at the end of the tunnel". It builds upon events seen in Endings 12, 15, and 17, and shows Isaac recalling his memories in his final moments before dying. Isaac is shown lying in his toy chest, breathing heavily. He recalls a memory of him overhearing a fight between his parents while he is drawing, and looks at a drawing he made of his house, with the caption "WE LIVED HERE". He then recalls a memory of his mother crying in front of a TV. His breathing gets faster as he recalls another memory, this one of him looking at a burnt family photo with his father removed. His breathing slows down, with Isaac visibly turning blue. Another memory is then shown, showing a wall covered in drawings Isaac made. As the scene pans to the left, the drawings get more disturbed, and the noises of an argument in the background becomes more audible, culminating in a drawing of a demon towering over Isaac's dead and bloody parents, and Isaac's father saying "I'm outta here!"


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: After a cut to black, the scene changes to Isaac's skeleton lying in the chest, covered in cobwebs. The chest is opened like in Ending 12, and the missing poster from Ending 15 is shown flying off the telephone pole. Isaac is then seen roaming the dull-colored landscape from Ending 17.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "The Binding of Isaac: Repentance" contains two new endings involving the new content added. Ending 21 is unlocked for defeating the newly added Mother boss. It shows Isaac drawing a picture of the boss. His mother walks in, and Isaac tries to hide the drawing from her. His mother reacts by throwing him into a closet, saying "You think I'm a monster, Isaac? I'll show you a monster!" The scene cuts to Isaac in the closet, hyperventilating. His mother then begins to tearfuly recite the Lord's Prayer, with the closet growing darker and darker. A statue of Satan materializes behind Isaac, and the scene ends.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Ending 22 is the Final Ending, and is unlocked by defeating The Beast, the true final boss of the game. This ending completes the story of the game and its expansions.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Normally, after defeating the Mom boss on Depths II (or its equivalent alternate floor), the player is locked out of leaving the room. If the player brings an item to teleport out of the room, they can enter a special door. Isaac finds a note left from his dad, and the game begins the Ascent sequence. Isaac begins to go up through the floors he visited throughout the game in reverse order.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Arguments can be heard that explain what happened to Isaac's family prior to the game. Isaac, a child, lives with his parents in a small house, on a hill. His parents become unhappy with each other, commonly fighting late at night while Isaac watches from a crack in the living room door. Isaac's father starts stealing money from his mother, who slowly develops into a religious fanatic to cope with her domestic abuse, prompting Isaac's father to leave and divorce Isaac's mother. Without Isaac's father around, her mental health worsens as she begins watching Christian broadcasts on the television, which in turn causes her to abuse Isaac.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Isaac throws himself into his toy chest from Ending 12 to hide from both his mother and himself, believing he is the reason his parents fought. The chest locks, preventing Isaac from leaving. Isaac slowly suffocates to death, with the events of the game being his final delusions. His mother realizes Isaac has gone missing, and puts up missing posters around the neighborhood in an attempt to find him, but no word comes. After an indeterminate amount of time, she opens the locked chest Isaac was in. Seeing that her son is dead, she cries over his body, mourning him.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: In-game, upon venturing back from the depths of the basement to the surface, Isaac finds himself in a memory of his house. He sleeps in his mother's bed, and is awoken by a nightmare. Isaac enters the living room, where he fights Dogma, an embodiment of the Christian broadcasts watched by his mother. After defeating Dogma, Isaac fights the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, followed by The Beast (who is wearing his mother's dress), the true final boss of the game.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Isaac then finally ascends up to the sky, and his life flashes back before him once more, before he sees nothing. In a final hallucination, Isaac's dad interjects, asking if Isaac really wants the story to end like this, and changes it to have a happy ending, with the opening narration changed to "Isaac and his parents lived in a small house, on the top of a hill...". Isaac finally passes as the scene fades to black.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "The Binding of Isaac" was developed by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl in 2011 during a game jam after the completion of "Super Meat Boy", McMillen's previous game. Since "Super Meat Boy" was successful, McMillen was not concerned about making a popular game; he wanted to craft a game which melded "The Legend of Zelda's" top-down dungeon approach with the roguelike genre, wrapping it in religious allegory inspired by his upbringing. They used Adobe Flash, since it enabled them to develop the game quickly. McMillen quietly released the game to Steam for PC, where it unexpectedly became very popular. Wanting to expand the game, McMillen and Himsl discovered limitations in Flash which made an expansion difficult. Although they could incorporate more content with the "Wrath of the Lamb" expansion, McMillen had to abandon a second expansion due to the limitations.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: After "The Binding of Isaac" release, McMillen was approached by Tyrone Rodriguez of Nicalis (a development and publishing studio which had helped bring the PC games "Cave Story" and "VVVVVV" to consoles). Rodriguez offered Nicalis' services to help port "The Binding of Isaac" to consoles. McMillen was interested, but required they recreate the game outside Flash to incorporate the additional content he had to forego and fix additional bugs found since release. He also asked to be left out of the business side of the game's release (after his negative experiences dealing with business matters with "Super Meat Boy"), and Rodriguez agreed. "Rebirth" was announced in November 2012 as a console version of "The Binding of Isaac", with plans to improve its graphics to 16-bit colors and incorporate the new content and material originally planned for the second expansion. Local cooperative play would also be added to the game, but McMillen said that they could not add online cooperative play because it would drastically lengthen development time.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: McMillen wanted to overhaul the entire game, particularly its graphics (which he called an "eyesore"). After polling players about which art style to use for the remake, McMillen and Nicalis brought in artists to improve the original assets in the new style and began working on the new content. McMillen commissioned a new soundtrack for the remake from Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: McMillen and Rodriguez initially wanted to develop "The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth" for the Nintendo 3DS as a tribute to its roots in Nintendo's "Legend of Zelda" series. Nintendo, however, did not authorize the game's release for the 3DS in 2012 for content reasons. Although they had spent some time creating the 3DS version, McMillen and Rodriguez decided to focus on PC and PlayStation versions instead; those platforms allowed them to increase the game's capabilities. In addition to the PlayStation 3 and Vita consoles, Nicalis was in discussions with Microsoft for a release on the Xbox systems and McMillen had also considered a future iOS release. McMillen and Nicalis opted to move development from the PlayStation 3 to the new PlayStation 4 in August 2013, announcing its release at Sony's Gamescom presentation. The PlayStation 4 and Vita versions were released with the PC versions on November 4, 2014.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: During development, three senior Nintendo employees—Steve Singer, vice president of licensing; Mark Griffin, a senior manager in licensing, and indie development head Dan Adelman—championed the game within the company. They continued to work within Nintendo, and secured approval of "Rebirth" release for the 3DS and Wii U in 2014. McMillen and Nicalis, after tailoring the game to run on more powerful systems, worked to keep it intact for the 3DS port. They spent about a year on the conversion and, although they got the game to work on the original 3DS, its performance was sub-optimal. They were one of the first developers (with Nintendo help) to obtain a development kit for the New Nintendo 3DS, which had more powerful hardware and memory to run the game at a speed matching that of the other platforms. The announcement of the New 3DS and Wii U versions was made with plans for an Xbox One version, and the game was released for all three systems on July 23, 2015.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: In January 2016, Nicalis reported that it was working on an iOS port of the game. The company reported the following month that Apple rejected its application to Apple's app, citing "violence towards children" violating content policies. Nicalis has worked with Apple to obtain preapproval and will release a universal iOS version of "Rebirth" (including the "Afterbirth+" expansion) with improvements for that platform, including the use of iCloud for ease of play on multiple devices. Although Nicalis wants to add this to the Vita port, the company said it was a low priority due to the Vita's limited ability to handle many weapon combos. The initial iOS version of the core game, without expansions, was released on January 11, 2017.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: After hinting at a release on the upcoming Nintendo Switch console, Nicalis confirmed in January 2017 that "Rebirth" (with both expansions) would be released for the Switch in March 2017 as retail and digital titles. Scheduled for release on March 3 as a launch title, last-minute adjustments required the company to delay it until March 17. Because of the existing relationship with Nintendo for the Wii U and New Nintendo 3DS versions, Rodriguez said that they could obtain developer-prototype hardware for the Switch to port the game to that system. McMillen said that they could get "Rebirth" working on the Switch easily due to their approach to developing the game (with hooking integrated into respective system features, such as achievements, to simplify porting) and the ease of the Switch's development platform. The game was released for Switch on March 17, 2017. The version allows up to four players in a drop-in/drop-out cooperative mode, with the other three players using Joy-Con to control one of Isaac's "buddies" (similar to the two-player cooperative mode for PC). The physical version of the Switch game includes a manual similar to the manual which shipped with "The Legend of Zelda" for the Nintendo Entertainment System.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: McMillen announced "The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth", the first expansion for "Rebirth", in February 2015. "Afterbirth" added items, enemies, alternate floors and bosses, and endings (including Greed Mode, which differs from the main game and is reportedly more difficult). "Afterbirth" was released on October 30, 2015, for Windows, OS X, and Linux computers. The expansion was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions on May 10, 2016. The expansion is unlikely to be released on any other platforms due to limitations in the platforms' hardware capabilities and "Afterbirth" more complex mechanics.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: McMillen had programmed a number of hidden secrets into "The Binding of Isaac" (which fans were discovering and discussing on a Reddit subforum), and took additional care to hide them in patches and updates. He knew that players would be looking for hidden secrets in "Rebirth", and took steps to completely hide the Lost (a new playable character). Unlocking it required a number of steps (including having the player-character repeatedly die in specific circumstances), and hints for what needed to be done were scattered among the game's assets; therefore, McMillen and his team anticipated that it would take a long time before players would discover the Lost. However, players on the Reddit subforum went to its executable files to search for clues to secrets and discovered the Lost (and how to unlock it) within 109 hours of the game's release. McMillen said that he was disappointed with the community because his team hid the secrets for discovery in gameplay and clues in the game; although he still planned to release "Afterbirth", he said that he would not rush its release.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: McMillen wanted to hide the Keeper (another character) and elements already hinted at in the game about Isaac's father in "Afterbirth", but knew that players would data-mine its program files to find them; instead, he planned an alternate reality game (ARG) which would require players to discover real-world clues. Since he expected the birth of his daughter at the end of September 2015 and the expansion was planned for release in October, he arranged the ARG to continue without him. When "Afterbirth" was released, players found what they thought were bugs (such as missing new items which had been promised on the game's store page); some accused McMillen of deceiving them. Although some of these omissions were planned as part of the ARG, McMillen discovered that the released game accidentally lacked some new items because it used a different build than originally planned. His team raced to patch the game and tried to provide support (and hints) about the Keeper, using the number 109. McMillen later said that the items missing from the released game distracted players from the secrets he had hidden.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: With the release of the patch, players began discovering in-game hints about the Keeper and engaged in McMillen's ARG as planned. Clues included calling a special phone number and identifying actual locations in the Santa Cruz area (where McMillen lives) which were related to the game. Following additional clues (including locating a buried figure of one of the game's mini-bosses), they unlocked the Keeper and additional in-game items to collect. Although McMillen thought that the ARG ultimately worked out, he would not engage the community in a similar manner again to avoid seeming egotistical.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Nicalis announced in December 2015 that a second expansion, "Afterbirth+", was in development. In addition to adding monsters, bosses, items and a playable character called Apollyon to the game, the expansion includes a bestiary which tracks how many of each type of creature (and boss) the player has defeated and modding support to allow players to craft room types, import graphics, and script events with Lua. The expansion was released for Windows on January 3, 2017, and for PlayStation 4 on September 19, 2017. The expansion later released to Xbox One as downloadable content on October 24, 2019. The Switch version of the game was released in North America on March 17, 2017, and in Europe and Australasia on September 7 of that year. This version includes "Afterbirth" and "Afterbirth+"; limited-time launch editions of the game are available physically and digitally, making it the first Nicalis-published game to be released physically.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Some of the best community mods were added to the game in "booster packs" (initially planned monthly, becoming less frequent), with the first release in March 2017 and the fifth (and final) release on May 1, 2018. The last two packs include material developed by players who created the "Antibirth" fan expansion and whom McMillen enlisted.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Before the release of "Afterbirth+", "The Binding of Isaac: Antibirth" (a fan-made mod of "Rebirth") was released in December 2016. Similar to the official expansions, "Antibirth" adds playable characters, bosses, power-ups and other content, and returns some gameplay aspects (which had been changed in the "Afterbirth" expansion) to the original "Rebirth" version. Alice O'Connor of "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" called the mod "more difficult than ["The Binding of Isaac"]" and a new challenge compatible with the official game expansions. At McMillen's request, the group reworked some "Antibirth" content (which was incorporated into the "Afterbirth+" booster packs). McMillen said at PAX West in September 2018 that "Antibirth" would be made into "Repentance" (official DLC for "Rebirth"), and he was working with some of the mod's creators on balance tweaking and ensuring that its narrative was consistent with "Isaac". Initially, Repentance was announced to be a reworking of the extremely well-regarded Antibirth mod for The Binding of Isaac (it's being developed alongside Antibirth's original creator Vinh), albeit tweaked to "make it canon" and expanded with "a ton more content".


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: The expansion was released for PC on March 31, 2021. "Repentance" was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 4, 2021.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Although McMillen wanted to support the modding community and its expansions as part of "The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth", he found that several ideas began overlapping with his own thoughts about what a sequel to "The Binding of Isaac" should be; in addition, further expansion of the game would require him to rework the base game engine. With the last booster packs (containing "Antibirth" content), he considered "The Binding of Isaac" complete. The addition of the "Antibirth" content somewhat extends the game, but McMillen does not plan anymore updates. He plans to continue to develop "The Binding of Isaac" franchise; a prequel, "The Legend of Bum-bo", was released on November 12, 2019. During an investigation by Kotaku exploring questionable business practices and behavior from Nicalis, McMillen announced that he would be severing his working relationship with the company, with "Repentance" being their final planned collaboration.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: According to review aggregator Metacritic, "The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth" received "generally favorable" reviews; the iOS version received "universal acclaim". Dan Stapleton of "IGN" praised "Rebirth" for the seemingly-endless variation in gameplay created by each run-through, giving him "plenty of motivation" to continue playing; his only criticism was its lack of in-game information on available power-ups. "GameSpot"s Brent Todd wrote that the game's story and imagery may be initially disturbing, "Rebirth" has "speedy, varied gameplay and seemingly neverending new features" which would keep the player entertained for a long time. Simon Parkin of "Eurogamer" said that "Rebirth" "feels like the product of the psychotherapeutic process", but is "the most accessible Rogue-like [game] yet made" due to its easy control scheme and randomization of each run. Nic Rowen of "Destructoid" said that "Rebirth" was a great improvement on "The Binding of Isaac", "an incredible experience that can't be missed".


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: "Afterbirth+" received generally-favorable reviews from critics. Jose Otero of "IGN" praised its variety: "The unpredictable items and varied enemies make it one of the most wacky and replayable games I've ever experienced." Although Peter Glagowksi of "Destructoid" gave its DLC a positive review, calling it an "impressive effort", he wrote that the DLC's base content has little to offer newcomers to the series.


title: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

text: Rock, Paper, Shotgun was critical of the DLC's difficulty, which it thought was largely derived from random, untelegraphed enemy behavior. About "Afterbirth+" design cohesion, reviewer Adam Smith characterized its DLC as "mashing together existing parts of the game and producing either a weak cover version or a clumsy remix". Review website Beastby criticized of "Afterbirth+" fairness: "The question isn't always 'Will I enjoy the gameplay loop?' but rather 'How many unfair runs will it take for me to have one in which I stand a chance? The expansion's modding application programming interface was called "a disappointment" by members of the Team Alpha modding group, who expressed frustration with the API's "massive shortcomings" and Nicalis' lack of support.


title: Ionization

text: Ionization, or Ionisation is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged atom or molecule is called an ion. Ionization can result from the loss of an electron after collisions with subatomic particles, collisions with other atoms, molecules and ions, or through the interaction with electromagnetic radiation. Heterolytic bond cleavage and heterolytic substitution reactions can result in the formation of ion pairs. Ionization can occur through radioactive decay by the internal conversion process, in which an excited nucleus transfers its energy to one of the inner-shell electrons causing it to be ejected.


title: Ionization

text: Everyday examples of gas ionization are such as within a fluorescent lamp or other electrical discharge lamps. It is also used in radiation detectors such as the Geiger-Müller counter or the ionization chamber. The ionization process is widely used in a variety of equipment in fundamental science (e.g., mass spectrometry) and in industry (e.g., radiation therapy).


title: Ionization

text: Negatively charged ions are produced when a free electron collides with an atom and is subsequently trapped inside the electric potential barrier, releasing any excess energy. The process is known as electron capture ionization.


title: Ionization

text: Positively charged ions are produced by transferring an amount of energy to a bound electron in a collision with charged particles (e.g. ions, electrons or positrons) or with photons. The threshold amount of the required energy is known as ionization potential. The study of such collisions is of fundamental importance with regard to the few-body problem, which is one of the major unsolved problems in physics. Kinematically complete experiments, i.e. experiments in which the complete momentum vector of all collision fragments (the scattered projectile, the recoiling target-ion, and the ejected electron) are determined, have contributed to major advances in the theoretical understanding of the few-body problem in recent years.


title: Ionization

text: Adiabatic ionization is a form of ionization in which an electron is removed from or added to an atom or molecule in its lowest energy state to form an ion in its lowest energy state.


title: Ionization

text: The Townsend discharge is a good example of the creation of positive ions and free electrons due to ion impact. It is a cascade reaction involving electrons in a region with a sufficiently high electric field in a gaseous medium that can be ionized, such as air. Following an original ionization event, due to such as ionizing radiation, the positive ion drifts towards the cathode, while the free electron drifts towards the anode of the device. If the electric field is strong enough, the free electron gains sufficient energy to liberate a further electron when it next collides with another molecule. The two free electrons then travel towards the anode and gain sufficient energy from the electric field to cause impact ionization when the next collisions occur; and so on. This is effectively a chain reaction of electron generation, and is dependent on the free electrons gaining sufficient energy between collisions to sustain the avalanche.


title: Ionization

text: Ionization efficiency is the ratio of the number of ions formed to the number of electrons or photons used.


title: Ionization

text: The trend in the ionization energy of atoms is often used to demonstrate the periodic behavior of atoms with respect to the atomic number, as summarized by ordering atoms in Mendeleev's table. This is a valuable tool for establishing and understanding the ordering of electrons in atomic orbitals without going into the details of wave functions or the ionization process. An example is presented in the figure at right. The periodic abrupt decrease in ionization potential after rare gas atoms, for instance, indicates the emergence of a new shell in alkali metals. In addition, the local maximums in the ionization energy plot, moving from left to right in a row, are indicative of s, p, d, and f sub-shells.


title: Ionization

text: Classical physics and the Bohr model of the atom can qualitatively explain photoionization and collision-mediated ionization. In these cases, during the ionization process, the energy of the electron exceeds the energy difference of the potential barrier it is trying to pass. The semi-classical description, however, cannot describe tunnel ionization since the process involves the passage of electron through a classically forbidden potential barrier.


title: Ionization

text: The interaction of atoms and molecules with sufficiently strong laser pulses leads to the ionization to singly or multiply charged ions. The ionization rate, i.e. the ionization probability in unit time, can only be calculated using quantum mechanics. In general, the analytic solutions are not available, and the approximations required for manageable numerical calculations do not provide accurate enough results. However, when the laser intensity is sufficiently high, the detailed structure of the atom or molecule can be ignored and analytic solution for the ionization rate is possible.


title: Ionization

text: Tunnel ionization is ionization due to quantum tunneling. In classical ionization, an electron must have enough energy to make it over the potential barrier, but quantum tunneling allows the electron simply to go through the potential barrier instead of going all the way over it because of the wave nature of the electron. The probability of an electron's tunneling through the barrier drops off exponentially with the width of the potential barrier. Therefore, an electron with a higher energy can make it further up the potential barrier, leaving a much thinner barrier to tunnel through and, thus, a greater chance to do so. In practice, tunnel ionization is observable when the atom or molecule is interacting with near-infrared strong laser pulses. This process can be understood as a process by which a bounded electron, through the absorption of more than one photon from the laser field, is ionized. This picture is generally known as multiphoton ionization (MPI).


title: Ionization

text: Keldysh modeled the MPI process as a transition of the electron from the ground state of the atom to the Volkov states. In this model the perturbation of the ground state by the laser field is neglected and the details of atomic structure in determining the ionization probability are not taken into account. The major difficulty with Keldysh's model was its neglect of the effects of Coulomb interaction on the final state of the electron. As it is observed from figure, the Coulomb field is not very small in magnitude compared to the potential of the laser at larger distances from the nucleus. This is in contrast to the approximation made by neglecting the potential of the laser at regions near the nucleus. Perelomov et al. included the Coulomb interaction at larger internuclear distances. Their model (which we call PPT model) was derived for short range potential and includes the effect of the long range Coulomb interaction through the first order correction in the quasi-classical action. Larochelle et al. have compared the theoretically predicted ion versus intensity curves of rare gas atoms interacting with a Ti:Sapphire laser with experimental measurement. They have shown that the total ionization rate predicted by the PPT model fit very well the experimental ion yields for all rare gases in the intermediate regime of Keldysh parameter.


title: Ionization

text: The rate of MPI on atom with an ionization potential formula_1 in a linearly polarized laser with frequency formula_2 is given by


title: Ionization

text: will be the even function of formula_15 and therefore having the maximum at formula_16 while for that initial condition the solution will be formula_17 in the K-H and it will be therefore identical to the free electron solution in the laboratory frame. The electron velocity on the other hand is phase shifted both to the field strength and to the electron position:


title: Ionization

text: Therefore, considering the wavelet pulses and defining the ionization as the full escape from the line segment of the length 2r (or from the spherical region in three dimensions) the full ionization happens in the classical model after the time formula_19 or no ionization at all depending if the harmonic field wavelet is cut at the zero minimum or the maximum velocity.


title: Ionization

text: A substance may dissociate without necessarily producing ions. As an example, the molecules of table sugar dissociate in water (sugar is dissolved) but exist as intact neutral entities. Another subtle event is the dissociation of sodium chloride (table salt) into sodium and chlorine ions. Although it may seem as a case of ionization, in reality the ions already exist within the crystal lattice. When salt is dissociated, its constituent ions are simply surrounded by water molecules and their effects are visible (e.g. the solution becomes electrolytic). However, no transfer or displacement of electrons occurs.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore International (other names include Commodore International Limited) was an American home computer and electronics manufacturer founded by Jack Tramiel. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Machines (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the home personal computer industry in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. The company developed and marketed the world's best-selling computer, the Commodore 64 (1982), and released its Amiga computer line in July 1985. With quarterly sales ending 1983 of $ (equivalent to $ in ), Commodore was one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore co-founders Jack Tramiel and Manfred Kapp met in the early 1950s while both employed by the Ace Typewriter Repair Company in New York City. In 1954, they formed a partnership to sell used and reconditioned typewriters and used their profits to purchase the Singer Typewriter Company. After acquiring a local dealership selling Everest adding machines, Tramiel convinced Everest to give him and Kapp exclusive Canadian rights to its products and established Everest Office Machines in Toronto in 1955.


title: Commodore International

text: By 1958, the adding machine business was slowing, but Tramiel made a connection with an Everest agent in England who alerted him to a business opportunity to import into Canada portable typewriters manufactured by a Czechoslovakian company. On October 10, 1958, Tramiel and Kapp incorporated Commodore Portable Typewriter, Ltd. in Toronto to sell the imported typewriters. Commodore funded its operations through factoring over its first two years, but faced a continual cash crunch. To bolster the company's financial condition, Tramiel and Kapp sold a portion of the company to Atlantic Acceptance Corporation, one of Canada's largest financing companies, and Atlantic President C. Powell Morgan became chairman of Commodore. In 1962, the company went public on the Montreal Stock Exchange, under the name of Commodore Business Machines (Canada), Ltd.


title: Commodore International

text: With the financial backing of Atlantic Acceptance, Commodore expanded rapidly in the early 1960s. It purchased a factory in West Germany to manufacture its own typewriters, began distributing office furniture for a Canadian manufacturer, and sold Pearlsoud radio and stereo equipment. In 1965, it purchased the furniture company for which it served as the distributor and moved its headquarters to that company's facilities on Warden Avenue in the Scarborough district of Toronto. That same year, the company made a deal with a Japanese manufacturer to produce adding machines for Commodore and purchased the office supply retailer Wilson Stationers to serve as an outlet for its typewriters.


title: Commodore International

text: In 1965, Atlantic Acceptance collapsed when it failed to make a routine payment. A subsequent investigation by a royal commission revealed a massive fraud scheme in which the company falsified financial records to acquire loans funneled into a web of subsidiaries in which C. Powell Morgan held a personal stake. Morgan then either pocketed the money or invested it in a series of unsuccessful ventures. Commodore was one of the Atlantic subsidiaries directly implicated in this scheme, but the commission was unable to find any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Tramiel or Kapp despite heavy suspicion. Nevertheless, the scandal left Commodore in a bad financial position because it had borrowed heavily from Atlantic to purchase Wilson, and the loan was called in. Due to the financial scandal, Tramiel could only secure a bridge loan by paying interest well above the prime rate and putting the German factory up as collateral. To extricate himself, Tramiel worked with a financier named Irving Gould, who brokered a deal to sell Wilson Stationers to an American company. Commodore now owed Gould money and still did not have sufficient capital to meet its payments, so Tramiel sold 17.9% of the company to Gould in 1966 for $500,000. As part of the deal, Gould became the new chairman of the company.


title: Commodore International

text: Through his Japanese contacts, Tramiel saw some of the first electronic calculators in the late 1960s and pivoted from adding machines to marketing calculators produced by companies like Casio under the Commodore brand name. In 1969, Commodore began manufacturing its own electronic calculators. Commodore soon had a profitable calculator line and was one of the more popular brands in the early 1970s, producing both consumer as well as scientific/programmable calculators. However, in 1975, Texas Instruments, the main supplier of calculator parts, entered the market directly and put out a line of machines priced at less than Commodore's cost for the parts. Commodore obtained an infusion of cash from Gould, which Tramiel used beginning in 1976 to purchase several second-source chip suppliers, including MOS Technology, Inc., in order to assure his supply. He agreed to buy MOS, which was having troubles of its own, only on the condition that its chip designer Chuck Peddle join Commodore directly as head of engineering.


title: Commodore International

text: Through the 1970s, Commodore also produced numerous peripherals and consumer electronic products such as the Chessmate, a chess computer based around a MOS 6504 chip, released in 1978.


title: Commodore International

text: Chuck Peddle convinced Jack Tramiel that calculators were already a dead end and that they should turn their attention to home computers. Peddle packaged his single-board computer design in a metal case, initially with a keyboard using calculator keys, later with a full-travel QWERTY keyboard, monochrome monitor, and tape recorder for program and data storage, to produce the Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor). From PET's 1977 debut, Commodore would be a computer company.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore had been reorganized the year before into Commodore International, Ltd., moving its financial headquarters to the Bahamas and its operational headquarters to West Chester, Pennsylvania, near the MOS Technology site. The operational headquarters, where research and development of new products occurred, retained the name Commodore Business Machines, Inc. In 1980 Commodore launched production for the European market in Braunschweig, Germany.


title: Commodore International

text: By 1980, Commodore was one of the three largest microcomputer companies and the largest in the Common Market. The company had lost its early domestic-market sales leadership, however; by mid-1981 its US market share was less than 5%, and US computer magazines rarely discussed Commodore products. "BYTE" stated of the business computer market that "the lack of a marketing strategy by Commodore, as well as its past nonchalant attitude toward the encouragement and development of good software, has hurt its credibility, especially in comparison to the other systems on the market". The author of "Programming the PET/CBM" (1982) stated in its introduction that "CBM's product manuals are widely recognized to be unhelpful; this is one of the reasons for the existence of this book."


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore reemphasized the US market with the VIC-20. The PET computer line was used primarily in schools, where its tough all-metal construction and ability to share printers and disk drives on a simple local area network were advantages, but PETs did not compete well in the home setting where graphics and sound were important. This was addressed with the VIC-20 in 1981, which was introduced at a cost of and sold in retail stores. Commodore bought aggressive advertisements featuring William Shatner asking consumers "Why buy just a video game?" The strategy worked and the VIC-20 became the first computer to ship more than one million units. A total of 2.5 million units were sold over the machine's lifetime and helped Commodore's sales to Canadian schools. In another promotion aimed at schools (and as a way of getting rid of old unsold inventory), some PET models labeled "Teacher's PET" were given away as part of a "buy 2 get 1 free" promotion.


title: Commodore International

text: In 1982, Commodore introduced the Commodore 64 as the successor to the VIC-20. Thanks to a well-designed set of chips designed by MOS Technology, the Commodore 64, (also referred to as C64), possessed remarkable sound and graphics for its time and is often credited with starting the computer demo scene. Its price was high compared with that of the VIC-20, but it was still much less expensive than any other 64K computer on the market. Early C64 advertisements boasted, "You can't buy a better computer at twice the price." Australian adverts in the mid-1980s used a tune speaking the words "Are you keeping up with the Commodore? Because the Commodore is keeping up with you."


title: Commodore International

text: In 1983, Tramiel decided to focus on market share and cut the price of the VIC-20 and C64 dramatically, starting what would be called the "home computer war". TI responded by cutting prices on its TI-99/4A, which had been introduced in 1981. Soon there was an all-out price war involving Commodore, TI, Atari, and practically every vendor other than Apple Computer. Commodore began selling the VIC-20 and C64 through mass-market retailers such as K-Mart, in addition to traditional computer stores. By the end of this conflict, Commodore had shipped somewhere around 22 million C64s, making the C64 the best selling computer of all time.


title: Commodore International

text: At the June 1983 Consumer Electronics Show, Commodore lowered the retail price of the 64 to , and stores sold it for as little as . At one point the company was selling as many computers as the rest of the industry combined. Its prices for the VIC-20 and 64 were $50 lower than Atari's prices for the 600XL and 800XL. Commodore's strategy was to, according to a spokesman, devote 50% of its efforts to the under- market, 30% on the market, and 20% on the over- market. Its vertical integration and Tramiel's focus on cost control helped Commodore do well during the price war, with in 1983 sales. Although the company and Tramiel's focus on cost cutting over product testing caused some hardware defects in the initial 64, some resolved in later iterations by early 1984, Synapse Software—the largest provider of third-party Atari 8-bit software—received 65% of sales from the Commodore market, and Commodore sold almost three times as many computers as Atari that year.


title: Commodore International

text: Despite its focus on the lower end of the market, Commodore's computers were also sold in upmarket department stores such as Harrods. The company also attracted several high-profile customers. In 1984, the company's British branch became the first manufacturer to receive a royal warrant for computer business systems. NASA's Kennedy Space Center was another noted customer, with over 60 Commodore systems processing documentation, tracking equipment and employees, costing jobs, and ensuring the safety of hazardous waste.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore by early 1984 was the most successful home computer company, with more than in annual revenue and more than in net income while competitors had large losses. The company's revenue in the fourth calendar quarter of 1983 of more than doubled the of a year earlier. Although "Creative Computing" compared the company to "a well-armed battleship [which] rules the micro waves" and threatened to destroy rivals like Atari and Coleco, Commodore's board of directors were as impacted as anyone else by the price spiral and decided they wanted out. An internal power struggle resulted; in January 1984, Tramiel resigned due to intense disagreement with the chairman of the board, Irving Gould. Gould replaced Tramiel with Marshall F. Smith, a steel executive who had no experience with computers or consumer marketing. Tramiel's departure at the moment of Commodore's greatest financial success surprised the industry; he founded a new company, Tramel Technology (spelled differently so people would pronounce it correctly), and hired away a number of Commodore engineers to begin work on a next-generation computer design.


title: Commodore International

text: Now it was left to the remaining Commodore management to salvage the company's fortunes and plan for the future. It did so by buying a small startup company called Amiga Corporation in August 1984, for ( in cash and 550,000 in common shares) which became a subsidiary of Commodore, called Commodore-Amiga, Inc. Commodore brought this new 32-bit computer design (initially codenamed "Lorraine", later dubbed the Amiga 1000) to market in the fall of 1985 for .


title: Commodore International

text: But Tramiel had beaten Commodore to the punch. His design was 95% completed by June. In July 1984 he bought the consumer side of Atari Inc. from Warner Communications which allowed him to strike back and release the Atari ST earlier in 1985 for about . The Amiga chipset was already demonstrated at the CES in 1984, however the Atari ST was ready for retailers sooner.


title: Commodore International

text: During development in 1981, Amiga had exhausted venture capital and was desperate for more financing. Jay Miner and company had approached former employer Atari, and the Warner-owned Atari had paid Amiga to continue development work. In return, Atari was to get one-year exclusive use of the design as a video game console. After one year, Atari would have the right to add a keyboard and market the complete Amiga computer. The Atari Museum has acquired the Atari-Amiga contract and Atari engineering logs revealing that the Atari Amiga was originally designated as the 1850XLD. As Atari was heavily involved with Disney at the time, it was later code-named "Mickey", and the 256K memory expansion board was codenamed "Minnie".


title: Commodore International

text: The following year, Tramiel discovered that Warner Communications wanted to sell Atari, which was rumored to be losing about a day. Interested in Atari's overseas manufacturing and worldwide distribution network for his new computer, he approached Atari and entered negotiations. After several on-again/off-again talks with Atari in May and June 1984, Tramiel had secured his funding and bought Atari's Consumer Division (which included the console and home computer departments) in July.


title: Commodore International

text: As more execs and researchers left Commodore after the announcement to join up with Tramiel's new company Atari Corp., Commodore followed by filing lawsuits against four former engineers for theft of trade secrets in late July. This was intended, in effect, to bar Tramiel from releasing his new computer.


title: Commodore International

text: One of Tramiel's first acts after forming Atari Corp. was to fire most of Atari's remaining staff, and to cancel almost all ongoing projects, in order to review their continued viability. In late July/early August, Tramiel representatives discovered the original Amiga contract from the previous fall. Seeing a chance to gain some leverage, Tramiel immediately used the contract to counter-sue Commodore through its new subsidiary, Amiga, on August 13.


title: Commodore International

text: The Amiga crew, still suffering serious financial problems, had sought more monetary support from investors that entire spring. At around the same time that Tramiel was in negotiations with Atari, Amiga entered into discussions with Commodore. The discussions ultimately led to Commodore's intentions to purchase Amiga outright, which would (from Commodore's viewpoint) cancel any outstanding contracts including Atari Inc.'s. This "interpretation" is what Tramiel used to counter-sue, and sought damages and an injunction to bar Amiga (and effectively Commodore) from producing any resembling technology. This was an attempt to render Commodore's new acquisition (and the source for its next generation of computers) useless. The resulting court case lasted for several years, with both companies releasing their respective products. In the end, the Amiga computer outlasted the Atari.


title: Commodore International

text: Throughout the life of the ST and Amiga platforms, a ferocious Atari-Commodore rivalry raged. While this rivalry was in many ways a holdover from the days when the Commodore 64 had first challenged the Atari 800 (among others) in a series of scathing television commercials, the events leading to the launch of the ST and Amiga only served to further alienate fans of each computer, who fought vitriolic holy wars on the question of which platform was superior. This was reflected in sales numbers for the two platforms until the release of the Amiga 500 in 1987, which led the Amiga sales to exceed the ST by about 1.5 to 1, despite reaching the market later. However, the battle was in vain, as neither platform captured a significant share of the world computer market and only the Apple Macintosh would survive the industry-wide shift to Microsoft Windows running on PC clones.


title: Commodore International

text: Adam Osborne stated in April 1981 that "the microcomputer industry abounds with horror stories describing the way Commodore treats its dealers and its customers." Many in the industry believed rumors in late 1983 that Commodore would discontinue the 64 despite its great success because they disliked the company's business practices, including poor treatment of dealers and introducing new computers incompatible with existing ones. One dealer said "It's too unsettling to be one of their dealers and not know where you stand with them." After Tramiel's departure, another journalist wrote that he "had never been able to establish very good relations with computer dealers ... computer retailers have accused Commodore of treating them as harshly as if they were suppliers or competitors, and as a result, many have become disenchanted with Commodore and dropped the product line". However, upon the 1987 introduction of the Amiga 2000, Commodore retreated from its earlier strategy of selling its computers to discount outlets and toy stores, and now favored authorized dealers. Software developers also disliked the company, with one stating that "Dealing with Commodore was like dealing with Attila the Hun." At the 1987 Comdex, an informal "InfoWorld" survey found that none of the developers present planned to write for Commodore platforms. Although Comdex was oriented toward business computing, not Commodore's traditional consumer market, such a response did not bode well for Commodore's efforts to establish the Amiga as a business platform.


title: Commodore International

text: Tramiel's successor Smith left the company in 1986, as did Smith's successor Thomas Rattigan in 1987 after a failed boardroom coup. The head of Blue Chip Electronics, a former Commodore employee, described his former employer as "a well-known revolving door". Commodore faced the problem, when marketing the Amiga, of still being seen as the company that made cheap computers like the 64 and VIC; the 64 remained the company's cash cow but its technology was aging. By the late 1980s, the personal computer market had become dominated by the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh platforms and Commodore's marketing efforts for the Amiga were less successful in breaking the new computer into this now-established market than its promotions for the 8-bit line had been in making Commodore the home computer leader. The company put effort into developing and promoting consumer products that would not be in demand for years, such as an Amiga 500-based HTPC called CDTV. As early as 1986, the mainstream press was predicting Commodore's demise, and in 1990 "Computer Gaming World" wrote of its "abysmal record of customer and technical support in the past". Nevertheless, as profits and the stock price began to slide, "The Philadelphia Inquirer's" Top 100 Businesses annual continued to list several Commodore executives among the highest-paid in the region and the paper documented the company's questionable hiring practices and large bonuses paid to executives amid shareholder discontent.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore failed to update the Amiga to keep pace as the PC platform advanced. CBM continued selling the Amiga 2000 with 7.14 MHz 68000 CPUs, even though the Amiga 3000 with its 25 MHz 68030 was on the market. Apple by this time was using the 68040 and had relegated the 68000 to its lowest end model, the black and white Macintosh Classic. The 68000 was used in the Sega Genesis, one of the leading game consoles of the era, PCs fitted with high-color VGA graphics cards and SoundBlaster (or compatible) sound cards had finally caught up with the Amiga's performance and Commodore began to fade from the consumer market. Although the Amiga was originally conceived as a gaming machine, Commodore had always emphasized the Amiga's potential for professional applications. But the Amiga's high-performance sound and graphics were irrelevant for most of the day's MS-DOS-based routine business word-processing and data-processing requirements, and the machine could not successfully compete with PCs in a business market that was rapidly undergoing commoditization. Commodore introduced a range of PC compatible systems designed by its German division, and while the Commodore name was better known in the US than some of its competition, the systems' price and specs were only average.


title: Commodore International

text: In 1992, the A600 replaced the A500. It removed the numeric keypad, Zorro expansion slot, and other functionality, but added IDE, PCMCIA and a theoretically cost-reduced design. Designed as the Amiga 300, a nonexpandable model to sell for less than the Amiga 500, the 600 was forced to become a replacement for the 500 due to the unexpected higher cost of manufacture. Productivity developers increasingly moved to PC and Macintosh, while the console wars took over the gaming market. David Pleasance, managing director of Commodore UK, described the A600 as a 'complete and utter screw-up'.


title: Commodore International

text: In 1992, Commodore released the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000 computers, which featured an improved graphics chipset, the AGA. The advent of PC games using 3D graphics such as "Doom" and "Wolfenstein 3D" spelled the end of Amiga as a gaming platform, due to mismanagement.


title: Commodore International

text: In 1993, the 'make or break' system, according to Pleasance, was a 32-bit CD-ROM-based game console called the Amiga CD32, but it was not sufficiently profitable to put Commodore back in the black. This was not a universal opinion at Commodore with hardware expert Rainer Benda who worked for Commodore Germany in Frankfurt stating 'The CD32 was a year late for Commodore. In other words, here, too, it might have been better to focus on the core business than jump on a console and hope to sell 300,000 or more units in a short period of time to avoid bankruptcy.


title: Commodore International

text: In 1992, all UK servicing and warranty repairs were outsourced to Wang Laboratories, which was replaced by ICL after failing to meet repair demand during the Christmas rush in 1992. Commodore International's Canadian subsidiary authorized 3D Microcomputers of Ontario to manufacture IBM PC clones with the Commodore brand in late 1993.


title: Commodore International

text: By 1994, only the operations in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom were still profitable. Commodore announced voluntary bankruptcy liquidation on May 6, 1994, causing the board of directors to "authorize the transfer of its assets to trustees for the benefit of its creditors", according to an official statement. With Commodore International having reported a quarterly loss in the US, hopes were expressed that the UK and European divisions might be able to continue trading and even survive the demise of the parent company, with a management buyout considered a possibility. Other possibilities included the sale of profitable parts of the company to other parties, with Philips and Samsung considered "likely choices".


title: Commodore International

text: The company's computer systems, especially the C64 and Amiga series, retain a cult following decades after its demise.


title: Commodore International

text: Following its liquidation, Commodore's former assets went their separate ways, with none of the descendant companies repeating Commodore's early success. Both Commodore and Amiga product lines were produced in the 21st century, but separately with Amiga, Inc. being its own company and Commodore computers briefly being produced by Commodore USA, an unrelated Florida-based company that licensed the brand name. Other companies develop operating systems and manufacture computers for both Commodore and Amiga brands as well as software.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore UK and Commodore BV (Netherlands) were the subsidiaries that survived the bankruptcy but failed to place a bid to buy out the rest of the operation, or at least the former parent company. Due to press exposure at the time Commodore UK was considered the front runner in the bid. Commodore UK and Commodore BV (Netherlands) stayed in business by selling old inventory and making computer speakers and some other types of computer peripherals. Commodore BV (Netherlands) dissolved in early 1995, leaving Commodore UK left to make a bid. However, Commodore UK withdrew its bid at the start of the auction process after several larger companies, including Gateway Computers and Dell Inc., became interested, primarily for Commodore's 47 patents relating to the Amiga. The only companies who entered bids were Dell and Escom. The successful bidder was German PC conglomerate Escom on April 22, 1995, beating Dell's bid by $6.6 million. Commodore UK went into liquidation on August 30, 1995.


title: Commodore International

text: In 1995 Escom paid US$14 million for the assets of Commodore International. It separated the Commodore and Amiga operations into separate divisions and quickly started using the Commodore brand name on a line of PCs sold in Europe. However, it soon started losing money due to over-expansion, went bankrupt on July 15, 1996, and was liquidated.


title: Commodore International

text: In July 2004, Tulip announced a new series of products using the Commodore name: fPET, a flash memory-based USB Flash drive; mPET, a flash-based MP3 Player and digital recorder; eVIC, a 20 GB music player. Also, it licensed the Commodore trademark and Chicken Lips logo to the producers of the C64 DTV, a single-chip implementation of the Commodore 64 computer with 30 built-in games.


title: Commodore International

text: In late 2004, Tulip sold the Commodore trademarks to Yeahronimo Media Ventures for €22 million. The sale was completed in March 2005 after months of negotiations. Yeahronimo Media Ventures soon renamed itself to "Commodore International Corporation" and started an operation intended to relaunch the Commodore brand. The company launched its "Gravel" line of products: personal multimedia players equipped with Wi-Fi, with the hope the Commodore brand would help them take off. The "Gravel" was never a success and was discontinued. On June 24, 2009, CIC renamed itself to Reunite Investments. CIC's founder, Ben van Wijhe, bought a Hong Kong-based company called Asiarim. The brand is now owned by C= Holdings (formerly Commodore International B.V.): Reunite became the sole owner of it in 2010, after buying the remaining shares from the bankrupt Nedfield, then sold it to Commodore Licensing BV, a subsidiary of Asiarim, later in 2010. It was sold again on November 7, 2011: this transaction became the basis of a legal dispute between Asiarim (which, even after that date, made commercial use of the Commodore trademark, among others by advertising for sale Commodore-branded computers, and dealing licensing agreements for the trademarks) and the new owners, that was resolved by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on December 16, 2013 in favour of the new owners.


title: Commodore International

text: The Commodore Semiconductor Group (formerly MOS Technology, Inc.) was bought by its former management and in 1995, resumed operations


title: Commodore International

text: Ownership of the remaining assets of Commodore International, including the copyrights and patents, and the Amiga trademarks, passed from Escom to U.S. PC clone maker Gateway 2000 in 1997, who retained the patents and sold the copyrights and trademarks, together with a license to use the patents, to Amiga, Inc., a Washington company founded, among others, by former Gateway subcontractors Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss in 2000. On March 15, 2004, Amiga, Inc. announced that on April 23, 2003 it had transferred its rights over past and future versions of the Amiga OS (but not yet over other intellectual property) to Itec, LLC, later acquired by KMOS, Inc., a Delaware company. Shortly afterwards, on the basis of some loans and security agreements between Amiga, Inc. and Itec, LLC, the remaining intellectual property assets were also transferred from Amiga, Inc. to KMOS, Inc. On March 16, 2005, KMOS, Inc. announced that it had completed all registrations with the State of Delaware to change its corporate name to Amiga, Inc. The Commodore/Amiga copyrights were later sold to Cloanto. AmigaOS (as well as spin-offs MorphOS and AROS) is still maintained and updated. Several companies produce related hardware and software today.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore's former US headquarters in West Chester, Pennsylvania, is currently the headquarters to QVC.


title: Commodore International

text: In February 2017, an exhibition room for about 200 Commodore products was opened in Braunschweig, commemorating the European production site of Commodore which had up to 2000 employees.


title: Commodore International

text: 774D, 776M, 796M, 9R23, C108, C110, F4146R, F4902, MM3, Minuteman 6, P50, PR100, SR1800, SR4120D, SR4120R, SR4148D, SR4148R, SR4190R, SR4212, SR4912, SR4921RPN, SR5120D, SR5120R, SR5148D, SR5148R, SR5190R, SR59, SR7919, SR7949, SR9150R, SR9190R, US*3, US*8 and The Specialist series: M55 (The Mathematician), N60 (The Navigator), S61 (The Statistician).


title: Commodore International

text: 1000, 1024, 1070, 1080, 1081, 1083S, 1084, 1084S, 1084ST, 1085S, 1201, 1402, 1403, 1404, 1405, 1407, 1428, 1428x, 1432D, 1432V, 1701, 1702, 1703, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1900M/DM602, 1901/75BM13/M1, 1902, 1902A, 1930, 1930-II, 1930-III, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1936ALR, 1940, 1942, 1950, 1960, 1962, 2002, A2024, 2080, 76M13, CM-141, DM-14, DM602


title: Commodore International

text: A somewhat rare and niche piece of equipment, it used the ALPS mechanicals, and four color rotary pen setup that scrolled a 4 1/4" roll paper. The ALPS mechanism was shared with a number of other 8 bit computers of the era, including Tandy, Atari and Apple among others.


title: Commodore International

text: Commodore's own software had a poor reputation; "InfoWorld" in 1984, for example, stated that "so far, the normal standard for Commodore software is mediocrity". Third parties developed the vast majority of software for Commodore computers.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: Archduchess Gisela Louise Marie of Austria (12 July 1856 – 27 July 1932) was the second daughter and eldest surviving child of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: Although christened "Gisella", she only ever wrote her name with one L. Just like her elder sister Archduchess Sophie and her brother Crown Prince Rudolf, Gisela was raised by her paternal grandmother, Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Of a sober nature like her father, she kept a reserved attitude towards her mother. She had a very close relationship with her brother, whose suicide affected her greatly.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: Her father collected some of the family's personal items, such as the first pair of shoes worn by each of his children. Among these keepsakes was a poem written for him by a young Gisela one Christmas; the poem was said to be the most treasured item among this collection. Archduchess Gisela was also known to paint in her later years.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: On 20 April 1873, at the age of 16, Gisela was married to Prince Leopold of Bavaria in Vienna. Prince Leopold was a son of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria and Auguste Ferdinande of Austria: Gisela's second cousin. Leopold had initially fallen for Princess Amalie of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, whom Empress Elisabeth's younger brother Duke Maximilian Emanuel in Bavaria intended to marry. The Empress therefore arranged an encounter of Leopold and Gisela at Gödöllő Palace, and the prince knew he could not refuse her offer.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: According to a letter to his mother written in 1872, Emperor Franz Josef wanted the match between his daughter and the Wittelsbach prince, as there were so few Catholic princes available at that time. It seems he felt he had to secure the only viable candidate to whom he could give Gisela (whom he called "our darling girl" during the wedding rites) with confidence. Prince Leopold received the immense dowry of a half a million guilders and soon overcame his former infatuation with Princess Amalie.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: Gisela's mother remained absent during the wedding celebrations. The young couple was made welcome in Munich by her husband's family and went on to live in the Palais Leopold residence in Schwabing. The Palais was renamed "Giselastraße" in her honor in 1873.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: A year after her wedding, she gave birth to her first child and even Empress Elisabeth was present during the baptism. Gisela and Leopold had four children in total:


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: Especially after the death of her brother, Gisela was deeply involved in a variety of social and political issues and founded charities to support the poor, blind, and deaf people where she took an active role herself. During World War I she ran a military hospital in her Palais while her husband was a field marshal on the eastern front. When the Revolution broke out in 1918, the rest of her family fled the city, but Gisela remained and took part in the 1919 elections for the Weimar National Assembly where women above the age of 20 were allowed to vote for the first time.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: Such was the esteem in which she was held that she was commonly known as the "Good Angel from Vienna" and became patron for a number of institutions, such as the Giselabahn (a train running from Salzburg to Tirol), the still active paddle steamer "Gisela" on the Traunsee and the Gisela Gymnasium in Munich.


title: Archduchess Gisela of Austria

text: Gisela and her husband celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1923. Her husband died in 1930; Gisela only survived him by two years. She died aged 76 in Munich on 27 July 1932, and is buried next to Prince Leopold in the "Colombarium" at the St.Michaelskirche, Munich.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504 – 22 August 1553) was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane Grey on the English throne after the King's death. The son of Edmund Dudley, a minister of Henry VII executed by Henry VIII, John Dudley became the ward of Sir Edward Guildford at the age of seven. Dudley grew up in Guildford's household together with his future wife, Guildford's daughter Jane, with whom he was to have 13 children. Dudley served as Vice-Admiral and Lord Admiral from 1537 until 1547, during which time he set novel standards of navy organisation and was an innovative commander at sea. He also developed a strong interest in overseas exploration. Dudley took part in the 1544 campaigns in Scotland and France and was one of Henry VIII's intimates in the last years of the reign. He was also a leader of the religious reform party at court.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: In 1547 Dudley was created Earl of Warwick and, with the Duke of Somerset, England's Lord Protector, distinguished himself in the renewed Scottish war at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. During the country-wide uprisings of 1549 Dudley put down Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk. Convinced of the Protector's incompetence, he and other privy councillors forced Somerset out of office in October 1549. Having averted a conservative reaction in religion and a plot to destroy him alongside Somerset, Dudley emerged in early 1550 as "de facto" regent for the 12-year-old Edward VI. He reconciled himself with Somerset, who nevertheless soon began to intrigue against him and his policies. Somerset was executed on largely fabricated charges, three months after Dudley had been raised to the Dukedom of Northumberland in October 1551.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: As Lord President of the Council, Dudley headed a distinctly conciliar government and sought to introduce the adolescent King into business. Taking over an almost bankrupt administration, he ended the costly wars with France and Scotland and tackled finances in ways that led to some economic recovery. To prevent further uprisings he introduced countrywide policing on a local basis, appointing lord-lieutenants who were in close contact with the central authority. Dudley's religious policy was — in accordance with Edward's religion — decidedly Protestant, further enforcing the English Reformation and promoting radical reformers to high Church positions.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: The 15-year-old King fell ill in early 1553 and excluded his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, whom he regarded as illegitimate, from the succession, designating non-existent, hypothetical male heirs. As his death approached, Edward changed his will so that his Protestant cousin Jane Grey, Northumberland's daughter-in-law, could inherit the Crown.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: To what extent the Duke influenced this scheme is uncertain. The traditional view is that it was Northumberland's plot to maintain his power by placing his family on the throne. Many historians see the project as genuinely Edward's, enforced by Dudley after the King's death. The Duke did not prepare well for this occasion. Having marched to East Anglia to capture Mary, he surrendered on hearing that the Privy Council had changed sides and proclaimed Mary as queen.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Convicted of high treason, Northumberland returned to Catholicism and abjured the Protestant faith before his execution. Having secured the contempt of both religious camps, popularly hated, and a natural scapegoat, he became the "wicked Duke" — in contrast to his predecessor Somerset, the "good Duke". Only since the 1970s has he also been seen as a Tudor Crown servant: self-serving, inherently loyal to the incumbent monarch, and an able statesman in difficult times.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: John Dudley was the eldest of three sons of Edmund Dudley, a councillor of Henry VII, and his second wife Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle. His father was attainted and executed for high treason in 1510, having been arrested immediately after Henry VIII's accession because the new king needed scapegoats for his predecessor's unpopular financial policies.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: In 1512, the seven-year-old John became the ward of Sir Edward Guildford and was taken into his household. At the same time Edmund Dudley's attainder was lifted and John Dudley was restored "in name and blood". The King was hoping for the good services "which the said John Dudley is likely to do".


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: At about age 15 John Dudley probably went with his guardian to the Pale of Calais to serve there for the next years. He took part in Cardinal Wolsey's diplomatic voyages of 1521 and 1527, and was knighted by Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, during his first major military experience, the 1523 invasion of France. In 1524 Dudley became a Knight of the Body, and from 1534 he was responsible for the King's body armour as Master of the Tower Armoury.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Being "the most skilful of his generation, both on foot and on horseback", he excelled in wrestling, archery, and the tournaments of the royal court, as a French report stated as late as 1546.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: In 1525, Dudley married Guildford's daughter Jane, who was four years his junior and his former classmate. The Dudleys belonged to the new evangelical circles of the early 1530s, and their 13 children were educated in Renaissance humanism and science.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Sir Edward Guildford died in 1534 without a written will. His only son having predeceased him, Guildford's nephew, John Guildford, asserted that his uncle had intended him to inherit. Dudley and his wife contested this claim. The parties went to court and Dudley, who had secured Thomas Cromwell's patronage, won the case.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: In 1532 he lent his cousin, John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley, over £7,000 on the security of the baronial estate. Lord Dudley was unable to pay off any of his creditors, so when the mortgage was foreclosed in the late 1530s Sir John Dudley came into possession of Dudley Castle.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Dudley was present at Henry VIII's meeting with Francis I of France at Calais in 1532. Another member of the entourage was Anne Boleyn, who was soon to be queen. Dudley took part in the christenings of the King's children, Elizabeth and Edward and, in connection with the announcement of the Prince's birth to the Emperor, travelled to Spain via France in October 1537. He sat in the Reformation parliament for Kent, in place of his deceased father-in-law, in 1534–1536, and led one of the contingents sent against the Pilgrimage of Grace in late 1536.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: In January 1537, Dudley was made Vice-Admiral and began to apply himself to naval matters. He was Master of the Horse to Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, and in 1542 returned to the House of Commons as MP for Staffordshire but was soon promoted to the House of Lords following 12 March 1542, when he became Viscount Lisle after the death of his stepfather Arthur Plantagenet and "by the right of his mother". Being now a peer, Dudley became Lord Admiral and a Knight of the Garter in 1543; he was also admitted to the Privy Council.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: In the aftermath of the Battle of Solway Moss in 1542 he served as Warden of the Scottish Marches, and in the 1544 campaign the English force under Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, was supported by a fleet which Dudley commanded. Dudley joined the land force that destroyed Edinburgh, after he had blown the main gate apart with a culverin. In late 1544 he was appointed Governor of Boulogne, the siege of which had cost the life of his eldest son, Henry. His tasks were to rebuild the fortifications to King Henry's design and to fend off French attacks by sea and land.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: As Lord Admiral, Dudley was responsible for creating the Council for Marine Causes, which for the first time co-ordinated the various tasks of maintaining the navy functioning and thus made English naval administration the most efficient in Europe. At sea, Dudley's fighting orders were at the forefront of tactical thinking: Squadrons of ships, ordered by size and firepower, were to manoeuvre in formation, using co-ordinated gunfire. These were all new developments in the English navy.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: In 1545, he directed the fleet's operations before, during, and after the Battle of the Solent and entertained King Henry on the flagship "Henri Grace a Dieu". A tragic loss was the sinking of the "Mary Rose" with 500 men aboard. In 1546 John Dudley went to France for peace negotiations. When he suspected the Admiral of France, Claude d'Annebault, of manoeuvres which might have led to a renewal of hostilities, he suddenly put to sea in a show of English strength, before returning to the negotiating table. He then travelled to Fontainebleau, where the English delegates were entertained by the Dauphin Henri and King Francis. In the Peace of Camp, the French king acknowledged Henry VIII's title as "Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland", a success for both England and her Lord Admiral.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: John Dudley, popularly fêted and highly regarded by King Henry as a general, became a royal intimate who played cards with the ailing monarch. Next to Edward Seymour, Prince Edward's maternal uncle, Dudley was one of the leaders of the Reformed party at court, and both their wives were among the friends of Anne Askew, the Protestant martyr destroyed by Bishop Stephen Gardiner in July 1546. Dudley and the Queen's brother, William Parr, 1st Earl of Essex, tried to convince Anne Askew to conform to the Catholic doctrines of the Henrician church, yet she replied "it was great shame for them to counsel contrary to their knowledge". In September Dudley struck Gardiner in the face during a full meeting of the council. This was a grave offence, and he was lucky to escape with a month's leave from court in disgrace. In the last weeks of the reign Seymour and Dudley played their parts in Henry's strike against the conservative House of Howard, thus clearing the path for a Protestant minority rule. They were seen as the likely leaders of the impending regency—"there are no other nobles of a fit age and ability for the task", Eustache Chapuys, the former Imperial ambassador, commented from his retirement.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: The 16 executors of Henry VIII's will also embodied the Regency Council that had been appointed to rule collectively during Edward VI's minority. The new Council agreed on making Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford Lord Protector with full powers, which in effect were those of a prince. At the same time the Council awarded themselves a round of promotions based on Henry VIII's wishes; the Earl of Hertford became the Duke of Somerset and John Dudley was created Earl of Warwick. The new Earl had to pass on his post of Lord Admiral to Somerset's brother, Thomas Seymour, but advanced to Lord Great Chamberlain. Perceived as the most important man next the Protector, he was on friendly terms with Somerset, who soon reopened the war with Scotland. Dudley accompanied him as second-in-command with a taste for personal combat. On one occasion he fought his way out of an ambush and, spear in hand, chased his Scottish counterpart for some , nearly running him through. In the Battle of Pinkie Dudley led the vanguard, being "one of the key architects of the English victory".


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: The Protector's agrarian policy and proclamations were inspired by a group of intellectuals sometimes called "the commonwealth men". These were highly critical of landlords and left many commoners with the impression that enclosures were unlawful. As one of England's major landowners, Dudley soon feared that this would lead to serious trouble and discreetly tried to warn Somerset. By the summer of 1549 there was widespread unrest or even rebellion all over England. The Marquess of Northampton had been unable to restore order in and around Norwich, so John Dudley was sent to get hold of Kett's Rebellion. Dudley offered Robert Kett a pardon on the condition that the peasant army disband at once. This was rejected and the next night Dudley stormed the rebel-held city with a small mercenary contingent and drove the rebels out after fierce street fighting; 49 prisoners he had immediately hanged. Two days later Kett, who had his main camp outside the city, confronted the royal army, resulting in a slaughter of over 2,000 peasants. In the following weeks Dudley conducted courts-martial which executed many rebels, perhaps up to 300. For the enraged and humiliated local gentry this was still not enough punishment, so Dudley warned them: "Is there no place for pardon? ... What shall we then do? Shall we hold the plough ourselves, play the carters and labour the ground with our own hands?"


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: The Lord Protector, in his proclamations, appealed to the common people. To his colleagues, whom he hardly consulted, he displayed a distinctly autocratic and "increasingly contemptuous" face. By autumn 1549 the same councillors who had made him Protector were convinced that he had failed to exercise proper authority and was unwilling to listen to good counsel. Dudley still had the troops from the Norfolk campaign at his disposal, and in October 1549 he joined the Earl of Southampton and the Earl of Arundel, prominent religious conservatives, to lead a coup of councillors to oust the Protector from office. They withdrew from court to London, meeting in Dudley's residence. Starting with the Protector, each side issued proclamations accusing the other of treason and declared to act in defence of the King's safety. Somerset tried in vain to raise a popular force and entrenched himself with the King at the fortress Windsor Castle. Military force near King Edward's presence was unthinkable and, apparently, Dudley and Archbishop Cranmer brokered an unofficial deal with Somerset, who surrendered. To keep appearances, the 12-year-old King personally commanded his uncle's arrest. For a moment there was hope of a conservative restoration in some quarters. However, Dudley and Cranmer secured the Reformed agenda by persuading Edward to appoint additional Reformed-minded members to the Council and Privy Chamber. In December 1549 Southampton tried to regain predominance by charging Dudley with treason, alongside Somerset, for having been an original ally of the Protector. The scheme misfired when Dudley invited the council to his house and baffled the plotters by exclaiming, with his hand at his sword and "a warlike visage": "my lord, you seek his [Somerset's] blood and he that seeketh his blood would have mine also".


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Dudley consolidated his power through institutional manoeuvres and by January 1550 was in effect the new regent. On 2 February 1550 he became Lord President of the Council, with the capacity to debar councillors from the body and appoint new ones. He excluded Southampton and other conservatives, but arranged Somerset's release and his return to the Privy Council and Privy Chamber. In June 1550 Dudley's heir John married Somerset's daughter Anne as a mark of reconciliation. Yet Somerset soon attracted political sympathizers and hoped to re-establish his power by removing Dudley from the scene, "contemplating", as he later admitted, the Lord President's arrest and execution. Relying on his popularity with the masses, he campaigned against and tried to obstruct Dudley's policies. His behaviour increasingly threatened the cohesion vital within a minority regime. In that respect Warwick would take no chances, and he now also aspired to a dukedom. He needed to advertise his power and impress his followers; like his predecessor, he had to represent the King's honour. His elevation as Duke of Northumberland came on 11 October 1551 with the Duke of Somerset participating in the ceremony. Five days later Somerset was arrested, while rumours about supposed plots of his circulated. He was accused of having planned a "banquet massacre", in which the council were to be assaulted and Dudley killed. Somerset was acquitted of treason, but convicted of felony for raising a contingent of armed men without a licence. He was executed on 22 January 1552. While technically lawful, these events contributed much to Northumberland's growing unpopularity. Dudley himself, according to a French eyewitness, confessed before his own end that "nothing had pressed so injuriously upon his conscience as the fraudulent scheme against the Duke of Somerset".


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Instead of taking the title of Lord Protector, John Dudley set out to rule as "primus inter pares", the working atmosphere being more conciliar and less autocratic than under Somerset. The new Lord President of the Council reshuffled some high offices, becoming Grand Master of the Household himself and giving Somerset's former office of Lord Treasurer to William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester. The office of Grand Master entailed supervising the Royal Household, which gave Dudley the means to control the Privy Chamber and thus the King's surroundings. This was done via his "special friends" (as he called them), Sir John Gates and Lord Thomas Darcy. Dudley also placed his son-in-law Sir Henry Sidney and his brother Sir Andrew Dudley near the King. William Cecil was still in the Duke of Somerset's service when he gradually shifted his loyalty to John Dudley, who made him Secretary of State and thought him "a most faithful servant and by that term most witty [wise] councillor ... as was scarce like in this realm". In this position Cecil was Dudley's trusted right hand, who primed the Privy Council according to the Lord President's wishes. At the same time Cecil had intimate contact with the King because Edward worked closely with the secretaries of state.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Dudley organised Edward's political education so that he should take an interest in affairs and at least appear to influence decisions. He wanted the King to grow into his authority as smoothly as possible. Disruptive conflicts when Edward took over government could thus be minimised, while Dudley's chances to continue as principal minister would be good. From the age of about 14 Edward's signature on documents no longer needed the council's countersignatures, and the King was regularly debriefed in meetings with a Council of his own choosing—the principal administrators and the Duke of Northumberland were among the chosen. Dudley had a warm if respectful relationship with the teenager, who "loved and feared" him according to Jean Scheyfve, the Imperial ambassador. At a dinner Edward discussed with the envoy at length until Northumberland discreetly indicated to the King that he had said enough. Yet the Duke did not necessarily have his way in all things. In 1552–1553 the King's hand can be discerned behind decisions (and omissions) that directly contravened Dudley's wishes. At court, complex networks of influence were at work and Edward listened to more than one voice. Regarding the question to what extent Edward played a role in his own government, Stephen Alford writes:


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: Dudley set out to restore administrative efficiency and maintain public order to prevent renewed rebellion as seen in 1549. Equipped with a new law "for the punishment of unlawful assemblies", he built a united front of landholders and Privy Council, the government intervening locally at any sign of unrest. He returned to the ancient practice of granting licences to retain liveried followers and installed lord-lieutenants that represented the central government and were to keep ready small bands of cavalry. These measures proved effective and the country was calm for the rest of the reign. In fact, in the summer of 1552—a year before the succession crisis—the cavalry bands were disbanded to save money.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: John Dudley also strove to alleviate the social situation. The 1547 "Act for the Punishment of Vagabonds", which had enacted that any unemployed man found loitering was to be branded and given to the "presentor" as a slave, was abolished as too harsh in 1550. In 1552, Northumberland pushed a novel Poor Law through parliament which provided for weekly parish-based collections for the "relief of the poor". Parishes were to register their needy inhabitants as well as the amounts people agreed to give for them, while unwilling contributors were to be "induced" by the parson and, if need be, by the bishop. The years 1549–1551 saw poor harvests and, accordingly, soaring food prices. Dudley tried to intervene against the malpractices of middlemen by official searches for hidden corn and by fixing maximum prices for grain, meat, and other victuals. However, the set prices were so unrealistic that farmers stopped to sell their produce at the open market and the regulations had to be rescinded. The regime's agrarian policy, while giving landlords much freedom to enclose common land, also distinguished between different forms of enclosure. Landlords guilty of illegal enclosures were increasingly prosecuted.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: The financial legacy of the Protectorate consisted, apart from crippling Crown debts, of an unprecedentedly debased coinage. On the second day as Lord President of the Council, Dudley began a process to tackle the problems of the mint. He set up a committee that looked into the peculation by the officers of the mint and other institutions. In 1551, the government at the same time tried to yield profit and restore confidence in the coin by issuing yet further debased coinage and "crying it down" immediately afterwards. The result was panic and confusion and, to get hold of the situation, a coin of 92.3% silver content (against 25% silver content in the last debasement) was issued within months. The bad coin prevailed over the good, however, because people had lost confidence. Northumberland admitted defeat and recruited the financial expert Thomas Gresham. After the first good harvest in four years, by late 1552 the currency was stable, prices for foodstuffs had dropped, and a basis for economic recovery had been laid. A process to centralise the administration of Crown revenue was underway and foreign debt had been eliminated.


title: John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

text: The use of the "Book of Common Prayer" became law in 1549. King Edward's half-sister, Mary Tudor, "de facto" had licence to continue hearing mass in private. So soon as he was in power, Dudley put pressure on her to stop her from allowing her entire household and flocks of visitors to attend. Mary, who in her turn did not tolerate the "Book of Common Prayer" in any of her residences, was not prepared to make any concessions. She planned to flee the country but then could not make up her mind in the last minute. Mary denied Edward's personal interest in the issue and entirely blamed John Dudley for her troubles. After a meeting with King and Council, in which she was told that what mattered was not her faith but her disobedience to the law, she sent the Imperial ambassador Scheyfve to threaten war on England. The English government could not swallow a war threat from an ambassador who had stepped out of his commission, but at the same time would not risk all-important commercial ties with the Habsburg Netherlands, so an embassy was sent to Brussels and some of Mary's household officers were arrested. On his next visit to the council, Scheyfye was informed by the Earl of Warwick that the King of England had as much authority at 14 as he had at 40—Dudley was alluding to Mary's refusal to accept Edward's demands on grounds of his young age. In the end a silent compromise came into effect: Mary continued to hear mass in a more private manner, while augmenting her landed property by exchanges with the Crown.