Ringsted
Saint Bendt's Church (Skt. Bendts Kirke) in Ringsted, Denmark, April 2007
Coat of arms
Ringsted Location in Denmark
Coordinates: 55°27′N 11°49′E / 55.45°N 11.817°E / 55.45; 11.817Coordinates: 55°27′N 11°49′E / 55.45°N 11.817°E / 55.45; 11.817
Island of	Municipality
Zealand	Ringsted
Population
• Total	21,412

Ringsted, a city in Ringsted municipality, is in the middle of the Danish island of Zealand. The municipal population is about 31,000^[1] and the city population is 21,412 (1 January 2012).^[2]

Ringsted is approximately 60 km from Copenhagen.

Sister cities[link]

• Gyöngyös - Hungary
• Halden - Norway
• Kutná Hora - Czech Republic
• Ringsted, Iowa, USA
• Skövde - Sweden
• Vammala - Finland

Tourism and transport[link]

Ringsted is one of Denmarks busiest transit cities. The city is located in the very middle of Zealand, connecting both the southern parts of Zealand as well as Funen and Jutland with the Copenhagen area.

• Danish Tramway Museum of Skjoldnæsholm[1], near Jystrup.
• Ringsted railway station, served by both DSB domestic trains and international (EuroCity) services to Hamburg: frequent services to Copenhagen, Nykøbing Falster and Odense, although not all trains to Jutland stop at Ringsted — the bus station is in front of the railway station.
• St. Bendt's Church — a Romanesque, former Benedictine, abbey church containing numerous tombs of medieval Danish royalty.

History[link]

Ringsted was the site of Sjællands landsting.

In 1137, Canute Lavard was killed in Haraldsted forest, leading to outbreaks of civil war.

The town arms goes back to 1421. There has been much discussion about what it portrays. The traditional answer is at the top the hand of God and under that Virgin Mary with Jesus surrounded by three figures that worship her. The city officially interprets the three figures as Saint Canute Lavard, King Eric Plovpenning, and Saint Benedict of Nursia.^[1] The church was consecrated in 1170. In front of the church is the spacious town square leading to the shopping streets with shops and boutiques for every taste. You^[who?] can also shop to your heart's delight in the shopping centres RingStedet and Premier Outlets Center, the only one of its kind in Denmark.^{[citation needed]} Ringsted has a wide selection of cafes and restaurants, and Ringsted has its own brewery. During the summer months, you will also find a mobile tourist office at the town square.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Statistics and Figures
• Ringsted municipality

For more information, please see www.visitringsted.dk or visit the Ringsted Tourist Office at Nøregade 100.

Stein Bagger (born January 20, 1967) is a Danish businessman, entrepreneur and former CEO of the now-bankrupt company IT Factory. Before bankruptcy and subsequent fraud-scandal, he was named "Danish Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young, and his company was named "Denmark's best IT-company" two years in a row by the magazine Computerworld. On the 11 June, 2009, Stein Bagger was sentenced 7 years prison.

Disappearance and charges[link]

Bagger disappeared on 27 November, 2008, while on a trip to Dubai with his wife and some business colleagues.^[1] On 1 December, information emerged indicating that IT Factory's revenue had been artificially inflated and a leasing scam had been instigated, effectively defrauding banks and private investors for over 1.2 billion Danish kroner (250 million US dollars),^[2] making this the biggest financial fraud case in Denmark in recent decades.^[3] As a result, Bagger was charged with fraud and forgery, and a warrant for his arrest was put out by Interpol.^[4]

Fake degrees[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

Stein Bagger claimed that he had several academic degrees, including an MBA and a PhD in International Business from "San Francisco Technical University". No such university exists. After reporters inquired about the alleged degrees, Bagger hired an American actress to impersonate an official of the fake university, to "verify" his degrees.

Re-emergence and incarceration[link]

Stein Bagger turned himself in to US police in downtown Los Angeles at approximately 21:00 GMT on 6 December 2008.^[5][6] Bagger had reportedly left Dubai on a plane destined for New York where he borrowed a car from a Swedish friend, Mikael Ljungman, before making a cross-country trip to Los Angeles. According to statements posted by him on his family's blog (and later repeated in an interview^[7] and apparently in court^[8]), he had allegedly been a victim of systematic extortion and threats towards his family, forcing him to take fraudulent steps in order to raise revenue to secure his family. However, many critics doubt the authenticity of those statements. Bagger was held in US custody until his extradition to Danish legal authorities. On December 16, he was extradited to Denmark and jailed in isolation pending further investigations.

Nature of scam[link]

Investigations revealed that Bagger employed a duping scheme by forging large sales orders creating fictional revenue. In the scheme, real and fictional overseas "partner" companies sold non-existent large hardware and software bundles (such as a complete $10 million hosting center) to IT Factory, IT Factory then obtained leasing contracts financing the fake purchases. About half the leasing funded money paid to the partner was spent on purchases of software from IT Factory, thus inflating company earnings. The leasing contracts were not considered debts under the accounting standards used, so IT Factory looked lucrative on paper, and because the leased goods were fictional, each "partner" was left with about half the price as cash loot. Since each fraudulent transaction was for such a large amount, only a relatively small number of fake documents would be needed to pull off the $200 million scam.^[9]

References[link]

Lola Montez
Lola Montez (1847), painted by Joseph Karl Stieler for Ludwig I of Bavaria and his Schönheitengalerie
Born	Eliza Rosanna Gilbert 17 February 1821 Grange, County Sligo, Ireland, UK
Died	17 January 1861(1861-01-17) (age 39) New York City, United States

Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a "Spanish dancer", courtesan and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Countess of Landsfeld. She used her influence to institute liberal reforms. At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, she was forced to flee. She proceeded to the United States via Switzerland, France and London, returning to her work as an entertainer and lecturer. For a time she visited Australia.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

In his 1996 biography of Lola Montez, author Bruce Seymour revealed that Eliza(beth) Oliver (Lola's mother) was the daughter of Charles Silver Oliver, a former High Sheriff of Cork and member of Parliament for Kilmallock in County Limerick; his residence was Castle Oliver. Eliza Oliver was his youngest child. In December 1818, Ensign Edward Gilbert arrived with his regiment, the 25th Regiment and met Eliza Oliver; they were married on 29 April 1820. Little Eliza was born the following February, which refutes persistent rumors that her mother was pregnant with her at the time of the wedding. At the time of the first printing of Seymour's book the author could only speculate upon the child's birthdate, and "Lola Montez, a Life" was released before an accurate date had been established; the later paperback printing includes the newly discovered information. The young family made their residence at King House in Boyle, County Roscommon until early 1823, when they journeyed to Liverpool, thence departing for India on 14 March.

As with many other aspects of her life, discrepant reports of her birth have been published. For many years it was accepted that she was born in the city of Limerick, as she herself claimed, possibly on 23 June 1818; this year was graven on her headstone, which seemed to make it the literal 'last word'. However, when her baptismal certificate came to light in the late 1990s it was established that Eliza Rosanna Gilbert was actually born in Grange, County Sligo on 17 February 1821.^[1]She was baptised at St Peter's Church in Liverpool on 16 February 1823 while her family was en route to her father's post in India. As her mother's family was in County Limerick, it is not hard to see how little Eliza could have been told 'we're from Limerick' and assumed that the city was meant.

Shortly after arrival in India, Edward Gilbert died of cholera. Her mother, who was now 19, married another officer, Lieutenant Patrick Craigie, the following year. Craigie quickly came to care for little Eliza, but her spoilt and half-wild ways concerned him greatly.

Eventually, it was agreed she would be sent back to Britain to attend school, staying with Craigie's father in Montrose, Scotland, at first. But the "queer, wayward little Indian girl" quickly became known as a mischief-maker. On one occasion, she stuck flowers into the wig of an elderly man during a church service, on another, she ran through the streets naked.

At the age of ten, Eliza was moved on again–this time to Sunderland, England. When her stepfather's older sister, Catherine Rae, set up a boarding school in Monkwearmouth with her husband, Lola joined them to continue her education.^[2]

Eliza obviously made an impression on her teachers, as a Mr Grant, who taught art at the little school, was later to recall her as "an elegant and graceful child." He described her as having eyes of "excessive beauty", an "orientally dark" complexion and an air of "haughty ease". But he also revealed, "The violence and obstinacy of her temper gave too frequent cause of painful anxiety to her good kind aunt."

Eliza's determination and temper were to become her trademarks. The little girl's stay in Sunderland lasted only a year, as she was then transferred to Bath for a more "sophisticated" education.

In 1837, sixteen-year-old Eliza eloped with Lieutenant Thomas James. The couple separated five years later, in Calcutta, and she became a professional dancer under a stage name. Her London debut as "Lola Montez, the Spanish dancer" in June 1843 was successful, but she had been recognized as Mrs. James and a scandal arose over the imposture. The resulting notoriety hampered her career in England and she departed for the Continent, where she became famous more for her beauty and quick temper than for her dancing. At this time, she was almost certainly accepting favours from a few wealthy men, and was regarded by many as a courtesan.^[3]

Life as a courtesan[link]

Lola met and had an affair with Franz Liszt, who introduced her to the circle of George Sand.^[4] After performing in various European capitals, she settled in Paris, where she was accepted in the rather Bohemian literary society of the time, being acquainted with Alexandre Dumas, père, with whom she was rumoured to have had a dalliance. After the 1845 death of her lover, newspaperman Alexandre Dujarier, in a duel (unrelated to her), she left Paris.^[5]

In 1846, she arrived in Munich, where she was discovered by, and became the mistress of, Ludwig I of Bavaria.^[5] The rumour that at the time they met Ludwig had asked her in public if her bosom was real, to which her response was to tear off enough of her garments to prove it^[6][7] is entirely unfounded, and the story only first appeared many decades after Montez's death. She soon began to use her influence on the king and this, coupled with her arrogant manner and outbursts of temper, made her unpopular with the local population, particularly after documents were made public showing that she was hoping to become a naturalized Bavarian citizen and be elevated to the nobility. Despite the opposition, Ludwig made her Countess of Landsfeld on his next birthday, 25 August 1847. Along with her title, he granted her a large annuity.^[8][9]

For more than a year she exercised great political power, which she directed in favor of liberalism and against the conservatives and the Jesuits.^[8][9] Her influence became so great that the ultramontane administration of Abel was dismissed because that minister objected to her being made Countess Landsfeld. The students of the university were divided in their sympathies, and conflicts arose shortly before the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848, which led the king, at Lola's instigation, to close the university.^[10] In March 1848, under pressure from a growing revolutionary movement, the university was re-opened, Ludwig abdicated, and Montez fled Bavaria, her career as a power behind the throne at an end.^[3][10] It seems likely that Ludwig's relationship with Montez contributed greatly to the fall from grace of the previously popular king.^[11] Her reputation in 19th century Germany was highly negative, but in the 20th century Germans came to admire her pluck and liberalism in defiance of Bavarian conservatism.^{[citation needed]}

After a sojourn in Switzerland, where she waited in vain for Ludwig to join her, she made one brief excursion to France and then removed to London in late 1848. There she met and quickly married George Trafford Heald, a young army cornet (cavalry officer) with a recent inheritance.^[11] But the terms of her divorce from Thomas James did not permit of either spouse's remarriage while the other was living, and the beleaguered newlyweds were forced to flee the country to escape a bigamy action brought by Heald's scandalized maiden aunt.^[11] The Healds resided for a time in France and Spain, but within two years, the tempestuous relationship was in tatters, and in 1851 she set off to make a new start in the United States, where she was surprisingly successful at first in rehabilitating her image.^[12]

United States[link]

A caricature from the period showing Lola Montez leaving Europe for the United States.

From 1851 to 1853, she performed as a dancer and actress in the eastern United States, one of her offerings being a play called Lola Montez in Bavaria.^[8] In May 1853, she arrived at San Francisco.^[11] There she married Patrick Hull, a local newspaperman, in July and moved to Grass Valley, California, in August. This marriage failed shortly after, and Montez remained in Grass Valley at her little house for nearly two years.^[13] The restored Home of Lola Montez went on to become California Historical Landmark No. 292.^[14] Montez served as an inspiration to another aspiring young entertainer, Lotta Crabtree. Lotta's parents ran a boarding house in Grass Valley, and Lotta soon attracted the attention of neighbor Montez, who encouraged Lotta's enthusiasm for performance.

Australia[link]

In June 1855, Montez departed for a tour of Australia to resume her career by entertaining miners at the gold diggings during the gold-rush of the 1850s, arriving at Sydney on 16 August 1855.^[3]

Historian Michael Cannon claims that "In September 1855 she performed her erotic Spider Dance at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne, raising her skirts so high that the audience could see she wore no underclothing at all" (actually a salacious and unfounded rumour). Next day the Argus thundered that her performance was 'utterly subversive to all ideas of public morality'". Respectable families ceased to attend the theatre, which began to show heavy losses."^[15] At Castlemaine in April 1856, she was "rapturously encored" after her Spider Dance in front of 400 diggers (including members of the Municipal Council who had adjourned their meeting early to attend the performance), but drew the wrath of the audience by insulting them following some mild heckling.^[16]

She earned further notoriety in Ballarat when, after reading a bad review in The Ballarat Times, she attacked the editor, Henry Seekamp with a whip. The "Lola Montes Polka" composed by Albert Denning was later rumoured to have been inspired by this event, but as the song was published in 1855 and the incident with Seekamp occurred months later in February 1856, this is scarcely probable. She departed for San Francisco on 22 May 1856, having had her fill of the turbulent Australia.

Later life in the U.S.[link]

In America, she did some acting and lectured on gallantry. She finally moved to New York, where she lived until her death.^[17] She spent her last days in rescue work among women.^[8] On 30 June 1860, she suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed for some time. In mid-December she had recovered enough to walk with a slight limp and went out for a stroll in the cold weather. She contracted pneumonia, lingering for nearly a month before dying one month short of her fortieth birthday. She is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York where her tombstone states: "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert / Died Jan. 17, 1861". It also reads that she was 42 at time of death.

Works[link]

• Lectures, with an autobiography
• The Arts of Beauty (1858)

Lola Montez in fiction[link]

• Montez was portrayed by Martine Carol in the film Lola Montès (1955), based on the novel La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montès by Cecil Saint-Laurent, directed by Max Ophüls and co-starring Peter Ustinov and Oskar Werner.
• Montez was last interpretation of Conchita Montenegro in the film Lola Montes (1944), with a moralizing script, directed by Antonio Román.
• Despite critical acclaim, the 1958 Australian musical "Lola Montez" was short-lived.^[18] It starred Mary Preston (who then returned to England to take over the role of Anita in the original London production of West Side Story).
• Montez also appears in Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser, where she has a brief affair with Harry Flashman. She is also a character in the film of the same name, in which she is played by Florinda Bolkan.
• Montez is featured prominently in Spider Dance by Carole Nelson Douglas, the last work in her Irene Adler mystery series. Montez is rumored to be the title character's mother.
• She has been portrayed by Carmen D'Antonio in Golden Girl (1951), Sheila Darcy in Wells Fargo (1937), Yvonne De Carlo in Black Bart (1948), and Rita Moreno in an episode of the 1950s TV show Tales of Wells Fargo.
• In one of J. B. Priestley's last fictional works, The Pavilion of Masks, she is unmistakably the original for Cleo Torres, Spanish dancer and mistress of a German prince.
• Montez was allegedly the inspiration for Jennifer Wilde's historical romance novel Dare To Love (1978), whose protagonist Elena Lopez is also a British woman passing herself off as Spanish who becomes an exotic dancer. In the book Elena has an affair with Franz Liszt, becomes friends with George Sand and has a friendship with the king of a small Germanic country obviously based on Ludwig I of Bavaria, then moves to California, all documented as having happened in Montez's life.
• Montez is also the inspiration for Lola Montero in Edison Marshall's novel Infinite Woman.
• In the 1983 television miniseries Wagner, Richard Wagner (Richard Burton), referring to the rumors surrounding his own relationship with Ludwig II, tells John Gielgud's character, "I am no Lola Montez!"
• Trestle Theatre Company created a production entitled Lola about the life of Lola Montez.
• Montez is described in "Daughter of Fortune" (original Spanish title "Hija de la fortuna") by the Chilean-American author Isabel Allende.^[19]
• A feature film "Spider Dance" (2011) focuses on the latter years of Lola's life and her time in Australia.
• Musician Joanna Newsom's song and title track "Have One on Me" is about Lola Montez.^[20]

"Here's Lola--ta da!--to do her famous Spider Dance for you"

Referring to Ludwig of Bavaria:

"Poor Lola! A tarantula's mounting/Countess Lansfeld's/handsome brassiere,/while they all cheer./And the old king fell from grace,/while Lola fled,/To save face and her career."

• It has been asserted that the character "Lola" in the musical Damn Yankees was inspired by Lola Montez, but there is no evidence for this.
• The British/Irish writer Marion Urch based her epic historical novel "An Invitation to Dance" on the life of Lola Montez. (Brandon 2009) The novel has been published in the US, Russia (Arabesque) and Germany (Aufbau-Verlag.)

Trivia[link]

• Lola Montez has a lake named after her in the Tahoe National Forest in Nevada County, California. Take I-80 east from Sacramento and exit at Cisco Grove.
• There is also a mountain named in her honor, Mount Lola. At 9,148 feet, it is the highest point in Nevada County, California.
• ABC soap opera One Life to Live features a character by the name of Lola Montez.

See also[link]

• Swami Laura Horos

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Nicholas Browne, Castle Oliver & the Oliver Gascoignes
• Leila Mackinlay, Spider dance: A novel based upon incidents in the life of Lola Montez
• Cecil Saint-Laurent, La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montès (basis for the 1955 movie Lola Montès)
• Bruce Seymour, Lola Montez, a Life, Yale University Press, 1996.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lola Montez

• Lola Montez's Gravesite
• Information about Castle Oliver, Lola Montez's ancestral home
• RTE Hidden History Summary about Eliza Gilbert
• Whatever Lola Wants as sung in Damn Yankees
• Photographs of Lola Montez
• Discrepancies concerning the record of Lola Montez Based on comments from Anne Lore
• Bee Wilson: Boudoir Politics Review of Lola Montez: Her Life and Conquests by James Morton · Portrait,(2007) in London Review of Books Vol. 29 No. 11 dated 7 June 2007
• Horace Wyndham, The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to Convert, New York: Hillman-Curl (1935). Project Gutenberg eBook.
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Lola Montez". The American Cyclopædia. 1879. 
  • "Montez, Lola". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
  • "Montez, Lola". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • "Gilbert, Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 
  • "Montez, Lola". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
  • "Montez, Lola". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.