First Reserve Corporation is a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts and growth capital investments in the energy sector . First Reserve was founded in 1984 and is the oldest and largest private equity fund dedicated to investments in the energy sector.
110-503: As of 2017, First Reserve had approximately 155 employees across three offices in Stamford, Connecticut , Houston, Texas and London . The firm is currently investing out of its twelfth private equity fund First Reserve Fund XII LP, raised in 2008 with approximately $ 8.9 billion of investor commitments, which is the largest energy-focused fund raised to that point. Fund XI was raised in 2006 with $ 7.8 billion of investor commitments. Fund XI
220-520: A Bachelor's degree or higher. This compares to 91.1% and 37.9% nationally, respectively. Stamford is home to a branch of the University of Connecticut , commonly called UConn Stamford. Sacred Heart University also hosts a physician assistant studies program located on the Stamford Hospital campus. The city also used to host a branch of the University of Bridgeport . UConn Stamford's campus
330-526: A European renewable energy group with the ability to deliver solar capacity of up to 400 MW in Southern Europe by 2012. Among First Reserve's most notable transactions in the traditional energy sector include: In September 2006, First Reserve Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William E. Macaulay donated $ 30 million to the City University of New York (the largest single donation in
440-445: A case was brought to trial, the prosecutors hunted for accomplices. The use of magic was considered wrong, not because it failed, but because it worked effectively for the wrong reasons. Witchcraft was a normal part of everyday life. Witches were often called for, along with religious ministers, to help the ill or deliver a baby. They held positions of spiritual power in their communities. When something went wrong, no one questioned either
550-504: A combination company (paid and volunteer members), Long Ridge. Budgeting and districting of the various fire departments throughout the city had been unstable since 2007, due to an extended legal conflict between the volunteer departments and the Malloy administration. As of May 16, 2012, a decision was reached by the city's charter revision committee to combine the paid and volunteer fire departments into one combination fire department, known as
660-402: A conspicuous part. The Code of Hammurabi (18th century BC short chronology ) prescribes that If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not yet justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river ; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcomes him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If
770-531: A cultural phenomenon. Throughout the early medieval period, notable rulers prohibited both witchcraft and pagan religions, often on pain of death. Under Charlemagne, for example, Christians who practiced witchcraft were enslaved by the Church, while those who worshiped the Devil (Germanic gods) were killed outright. Witch-hunting also appears in period literature. According to Snorri Sturluson , King Olaf Trygvasson furthered
880-507: A downtown with many tall office buildings. The F.D. Rich Company was the city-designated urban renewal developer of the downtown area in an ongoing, contentious project beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the 1970s. The company put up what was the city's tallest structure, One Landmark Square , at 21 floors high, and the GTE building (now One Stamford Forum), along with the Marriott Hotel,
990-427: A form of Satanic influence and its classification as a heresy. As Renaissance occultism gained traction among the educated classes, the belief in witchcraft, which in the medieval period had been part of the folk religion of the uneducated rural population at best, was incorporated into an increasingly comprehensive theology of Satan as the ultimate source of all maleficium . These doctrinal shifts were completed in
1100-520: A human cultural universal. One study finds that witchcraft beliefs are associated with antisocial attitudes: lower levels of trust, charitable giving and group participation. Another study finds that income shocks (caused by extreme rainfall) lead to a large increase in the murder of "witches" in Tanzania. Punishment for malevolent magic is addressed in the earliest law codes which were preserved, in both ancient Egypt and Babylonia , where it played
1210-419: A pact with the devil and using witchcraft. In 1615, she was called a witch by a female neighbor in the duchy of Württemberg following a dispute with her of having given her a bitter drink that had made her ill. She was held captive for over a year and threatened with torture, but was finally acquitted thanks to her son's efforts. Modern scholarly estimates place the total number of executions for witchcraft in
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#17328484398821320-546: A persecution and expulsion of witches among the Goths in a mythical account of the origin of the Huns . The ancient fabled King Filimer is said to have found among his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue Haliurunnae . Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through
1430-556: A population greater than 100,000 that report crime statistics to the FBI. In 2015, Stamford reported three murders, 19 rapes, and 92 robberies. Crime in Stamford is much more controlled in comparison to cities with similar population size in Connecticut and nationally. Lower crime rates in Stamford are attributed to the city's robust economic growth in recent decades. Criminal cases are prosecuted by
1540-649: A smaller extent Colonial America , took place from about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War , resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 60,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia , contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea , and official legislation against witchcraft
1650-456: A soothsayer, or an augur , or a sorcerer , or one that casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord"; and Exodus 22:18 prescribes: "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". Tales like that of 1 Samuel 28, reporting how Saul "hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of
1760-564: A town in 1801, followed by Darien in 1820. Starting in the late 19th century, New York residents built summer homes on the shoreline, and some moved to Stamford permanently and started commuting to Manhattan by train. Stamford incorporated as a city in 1893. In 1950, the U.S. Census Bureau reported the city's population as 94.6% white and 5.2% black. In the 1960s and 1970s, Stamford's commercial real estate boomed as corporations relocated from New York City to peripheral areas. A massive urban redevelopment campaign during that time resulted in
1870-586: A widely circulated pamphlet, "Newes from Scotland," James VI personally presided over the torture and execution of Doctor Fian. Indeed, James published a witch-hunting manual, Daemonologie , which contains the famous dictum: "Experience daily proves how loath they are to confess without torture." Later, the Pendle witch trials of 1612 joined the ranks of the most famous witch trials in English history. In England, witch-hunting would reach its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to
1980-811: A witch, for it is not possible, nor ought to be believed by Christian minds. This conforms to the teachings of the Canon Episcopi of circa 900 AD (alleged to date from 314 AD), which, stated that witchcraft did not exist and that to teach that it was a reality was, itself, false and heterodox teaching. Other examples include an Irish synod in 800 AD, and a sermon by Agobard of Lyons (810 AD). King Kálmán (Coloman) of Hungary , in Decree 57 of his First Legislative Book (published in 1100), banned witch-hunting because he said, "witches do not exist". The "Decretum" of Burchard, Bishop of Worms (about 1020), and especially its 19th book, often known separately as
2090-519: A witch-hunter, the methods used to extract confessions, and the tests he employed to test the accused: stripping them naked to find the Witches' mark , the "swimming" test , and pricking the skin . The swimming test, which included throwing a witch, who was strapped to a chair, into a bucket of water to see if she floated, was discontinued in 1645 due to a legal challenge. The 1647 book, The Discovery of Witches , soon became an influential legal text. The book
2200-467: Is a prominent beach and recreation area. It lies approximately 9 miles (14 kilometers) from Norwalk. Under the Köppen climate classification , Stamford has a temperate climate ( Cfa ), with long, hot summers, and cool to cold winters, with precipitation spread fairly evenly throughout the year. Like the rest of coastal Connecticut, it lies in the broad transition zone between the colder continental climates of
2310-945: Is called the Board of Representatives. The forty members of the Board of Representatives are elected from twenty districts, with each district electing two representatives every four years, concurrent with the Mayor's term. Democrat Caroline Simmons is Stamford's current mayor. Notable Republicans from the city include former U.S. Representative Chris Shays , former Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele , and former mayor Michael Pavia . Prominent Democrats from Stamford include current Attorney General William Tong , former two-term Governor Dannel Malloy , former Attorney General and incumbent senior U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal , former Attorney General George Jepsen , former U.S. Attorney General and former mayor Homer Stille Cummings , Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Andrew J. McDonald , and Chief Justice of
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#17328484398822420-412: Is clear from his much-quoted sermon of 1427, in which he says: One of them told and confessed, without any pressure, that she had killed thirty children by bleeding them ... [and] she confessed more, saying she had killed her own son ... Answer me: does it really seem to you that someone who has killed twenty or thirty little children in such a way has done so well that when finally they are accused before
2530-569: Is far more variable than summer weather along the Connecticut coast, ranging from sunny days with higher temperatures to cold and blustery conditions with occasional snow. As on much of the Connecticut coast and nearby Long Island, some of the winter precipitation is rain or a mix and rain and wet snow. Stamford averages about 30 inches (75 cm) of snow annually, compared to inland areas like Hartford and Albany that average 45–60 inches (110–150 cm). Although infrequent, tropical cyclones (hurricanes/tropical storms) have struck Connecticut and
2640-528: Is home to colleges and universities including UConn Stamford and Norwalk Community College . Stamford was known as Rippowam by the Siwanoy Native American inhabitants of the region, and the very first European settlers in the area also called it that. The present name is after the town of Stamford, Lincolnshire , England. The deed to Stamford was signed on July 1, 1640, between Captain Turner of
2750-532: Is located in Downtown Stamford , and its main building, reconverted from hosting a former Bloomingdale's store that had closed in 1990, opened in 1998. In 2017, UCONN Stamford opened a 300-student dormitory around the corner from the Stamford Campus on Washington Boulevard. Stamford Public Schools comprises 13 elementary schools , 5 middle schools , and 3 high schools. As of the 2022–2023 school year,
2860-630: Is on the New Haven Line of the Metro-North Railroad , the commuter rail system for northern metropolitan New York City. Stamford is the second-busiest station on the Metro-North system, after Grand Central Terminal , and serves as a major transfer point for local trains. Stamford Station is also the terminus of a Metro-North branch that ends in New Canaan , 8 mi (13 km) away, known as
2970-508: Is part of the Gold Coast . Stamford comprises approximately 45 distinct neighborhoods and villages, and two historic districts, including Cove , East Side , Downtown , North Stamford , Glenbrook , West Side , Turn of River , Waterside, Springdale , Belltown, Ridgeway, Newfield, South End , Westover , Shippan , Roxbury, and Palmers Hill. North of the Merritt Parkway is considered
3080-534: Is recorded in 1563 in a pamphlet called "True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches". Witchcraft persecution spread to all areas of Europe. Learned European ideas about witchcraft and demonological ideas, strongly influenced the hunt for witches in the North. These witch-hunts were at least partly driven by economic factors since a significant relationship between economic pressure and witch hunting activity can be found for regions such as Bavaria and Scotland. In Denmark,
3190-464: Is still found in Saudi Arabia , Cameroon and South Africa today. In current language, "witch-hunt" metaphorically means an investigation that is usually conducted with much publicity, supposedly to uncover subversive activity, disloyalty, and so on, but with the real purpose of harming opponents. It can also involve elements of moral panic , as well as mass hysteria . The wide distribution of
3300-593: Is the only Connecticut EMS service accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS). All SEMS units are staffed by at least one Connecticut-licensed paramedic. Stamford EMS responds to 14,000 calls annually. In Stamford, medical facilities include: Fire protection in the city of Stamford is provided by the paid Stamford Fire Department (SFD) and four all-volunteer fire departments—Glenbrook-New Hope, Belltown, Springdale, and Turn of River—plus
3410-616: Is the sixth- most populous city in New England . Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region , and Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport . With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 census . It is in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area , which is part of
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3520-409: Is water. Stamford is the state's largest city by area. The population density was 3,101.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,197.7/km ) in 2010. The city is halfway between Manhattan and New Haven at approximately 38 miles (60 kilometers) from each; it is 79 miles (127 kilometers) from the state capital of Hartford . Stamford is near the southwestern point of Connecticut, on Long Island Sound ; it
3630-570: The 2000 presidential election ; William F. Buckley, Jr. , conservative commentator; and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau . Stamford has consistently received a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign for LGBT-friendly policies since 2016. Stamford has a highly educated population. Per the American Community Survey from 2017 to 2021, 89.1% of adults aged 25 and older graduated from high school , and 52.3% have
3740-485: The 5th century BC laws of the Twelve Tables laid down penalties for uttering harmful incantations and for stealing the fruitfulness of someone else's crops by magic. The only recorded trial involving this law was that of Gaius Furius Cresimus . The Classical Latin word veneficium meant both poisoning and causing harm by magic (such as magic potions), although ancient people would not have distinguished between
3850-747: The Academy of Information Technology and Engineering . As of 2022, the Stamford School District's average SAT score was 990, below the state average. The city also has several private schools, including Villa Maria School, Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut , King School , and The Long Ridge School. A not-for-profit agency, Stamford Emergency Medical Services (SEMS) provides pre-hospital emergency care in Stamford, Connecticut. SEMS also provides contracted paramedic intercept response to Darien Emergency Medical Services, located in Darien, Connecticut. SEMS
3960-644: The Ferguson Library , is one of the largest in Connecticut. The library also shows movies and has a used book store run by Friends of Ferguson Library. The library has branches in South End, Springdale, and the Turn of River sections of the city, it also has a bookmobile that runs daily to different neighborhoods. The Turn of River branch, officially called the Harry Bennett Branch, is the largest library branch in
4070-900: The Guinness World Record as the largest columnless trading floor in the world until surrendering that space in 2017. The building was sold after the bank downsized. The Royal Bank of Scotland moved its North American operations into Stamford in 2009, including its RBS Greenwich Capital subsidiary. The Harbor Point development, in the South End , is one of the nation's largest private-sector development projects. Many large retail stores, such as Design within Reach (also headquartered in Stamford), have moved in, along with multiple companies including ITV America , McKinsey & Company , Bridgewater Associates and Kayak.com . Stamford's public library ,
4180-474: The New Canaan Branch , and a part-time terminal of Shore Line East and Danbury Branch trains. Two smaller train stations in Stamford are Glenbrook and Springdale , both a part of the New Canaan branch . Commuter trains come into Stamford from all points between New London to the east and New York (Grand Central Terminal) to the south. The average nonstop commute is 47 minutes. Trains operate from
4290-572: The New Haven Colony and Chief Ponus. By the 18th century, one of the town's primary industries was merchandising by water, which was possible due to Stamford's proximity to New York. In 1692, Stamford was home to a less famous witch trial than the well-known Salem witch trials , which also occurred in 1692. The accusations were less fanatical and on a smaller scale, but they also grew to prominence through gossip and hysterics. New Canaan officially separated from Stamford when it incorporated as
4400-777: The New York City metropolitan area (specifically, the New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA Combined Statistical Area). As of 2023, Stamford is home to eight Fortune 500 companies and numerous divisions of large corporations. This gives it the largest financial district in the New York metropolitan region outside New York City and one of the nation's largest concentrations of corporations. Dominant sectors of Stamford's economy include financial management and real estate, tourism , information technology , healthcare , telecommunications , transportation , and retail . Its metropolitan division
4510-742: The North Stamford section of the city, encompassing its largest land mass though it is the least densely populated. North Stamford functionally and legally acts as one municipality with the city of Stamford. Stamford borders Pound Ridge , New York to the north, the Long Island Sound to the south, Greenwich to the west, Darien to the east, and New Canaan to the northeast. The city has islands in Long Island Sound: Cove Island , Grass Island, Greenway Island, Jack Island, and Cuties Island (also known as Vincent Island). Cove Island
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4620-548: The Stamford Town Center and many other downtown office buildings. One Landmark Square has since been dwarfed by the new 34-story Park Tower Stamford condominium tower, and again by the Atlantic Station development, another Rich Company project in partnership with Cappelli Enterprises. Over the years, other developers have joined in building up the downtown, a process that continued through the 1980s and 1990s and into
4730-436: The school district serves 16,212 students, a slight increase over the previous year. Stamford Public Schools students come from a diverse array of backgrounds, mirroring the city's diversity. As of 2022, the majority of Stamford Public Schools students are Hispanic or Latino . 75 different languages are spoken at home by Stamford Public School students, with English , Spanish , Haitian Creole , Bengali , and Polish among
4840-403: The "Corrector", is another work of great importance. Burchard was writing against the superstitious belief in magical potions , for instance, that may produce impotence or abortion. These were also condemned by several Church Fathers. But he altogether rejected the possibility of many of the alleged powers with which witches were popularly credited. Such, for example, were nocturnal riding through
4950-416: The 15th and early 16th centuries, but then the witch scare went into decline, before becoming a major issue again and peaking in the 17th century; particularly during the Thirty Years' War . What had previously been a belief that some people possessed supernatural abilities (which were sometimes used to protect the people), now became a sign of a pact between the people with supernatural abilities and
5060-513: The 300-year period of European witch-hunts in the five digits, mostly at roughly between 35,000 and 60,000 (see table below for details), The majority of those accused were from the lower economic classes in European society, although in rarer cases high-ranking individuals were accused as well. On the basis of this evidence, Scarre and Callow asserted that the "typical witch was the wife or widow of an agricultural labourer or small tenant farmer, and she
5170-626: The 3rd century AD, the Lex Cornelia had begun to be used more broadly against other kinds of magic deemed harmful. The magicians were to be burnt at the stake. Persecution of witches continued in the Roman Empire until the late 4th century AD and abated only after the introduction of Christianity as the Roman state religion in the 390s. The German author Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan argued in History of
5280-536: The Christian conversion of Norway by luring pagan magicians to his hall under false pretenses, barring the doors and burning them alive. Some who escaped were later captured and drowned. The manuals of the Roman Catholic Inquisition remained highly skeptical of witch accusations, although there was sometimes an overlap between accusations of heresy and of witchcraft, particularly when, in the 13th century,
5390-479: The City of Stamford. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, Stamford Public Schools had a total operating budget of $ 301,843,542, provided by the City of Stamford. This represented 82.6% of its total revenue that year, with an additional 9.8% coming from federal grants , 7.5% coming from state grants, and 0.1% coming from other sources. Stamford's three public high schools are Westhill High School , Stamford High School , and
5500-504: The Connecticut Supreme Court Richard A. Robinson . Other notable politicians with Stamford roots include Carrie Clyde Holly , the first woman (along with two colleagues) elected to serve in a State Legislature (Colorado, from Pueblo County in the 1894 election) in U.S. history, Joe Lieberman , former Attorney General of Connecticut and Independent/Democratic U.S. Senator who was Al Gore 's vice-presidential nominee in
5610-538: The Harbor Point area, which is considered New Stamford. From 2008 to 2017, the city issued permits for 4,341 housing units. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. , many New Yorkers relocated to Stamford and its metropolitan area. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the city has an area of 52.09 square miles (134.9 km ), of which 37.62 square miles (97.4 km ) is land and 14.41 square miles (37.3 km )
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#17328484398825720-608: The Inquisition to prosecute sorcerers in 1320, inquisitorial courts rarely dealt with witchcraft save incidentally when investigating heterodoxy. In the case of the Madonna Oriente , the Inquisition of Milan was not sure what to do with two women who, in 1384, confessed to have participated in the society around Signora Oriente or Diana . Through their confessions, both of them conveyed the traditional folk beliefs of white magic. The women were accused again in 1390, and condemned by
5830-464: The Signoria you should go to their aid and beg mercy for them? Perhaps the most notorious witch trial in history was the trial of Joan of Arc . Although the trial was politically motivated, and the verdict later overturned, the position of Joan as a woman and an accused witch became significant factors in her execution. Joan's punishment of being burned alive (victims were usually strangled before burning)
5940-573: The Stamford Fire Department. The Stamford Police Department (SPD) is Stamford's only police force, and has lost four officers in the line of service since 1938. The police force has about 280 sworn police officers making it the fifth largest police force in Connecticut after Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury. Most Stamford Officers were trained at the Connecticut Police Training Academy before patrolling in
6050-690: The Stamford metropolitan area. Hurricane landfalls have occurred along the Connecticut coast in 1903, 1938, 1944, 1954 (Carol), 1960 (Donna), Hurricane Gloria in 1985, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Stamford lies in USDA garden zone 7a. It averages about 90 days annually with freeze. Coastal Connecticut is the broad transition zone where so-called "subtropical indicator" plants and other broadleaf evergreens can be cultivated. As such, Southern Magnolias, Needle Palms, Windmill palm, Loblolly Pines, and Crape Myrtles are grown in private and public gardens. As in much of coastal Connecticut, Long Island, and coastal New Jersey ,
6160-604: The Stamford station between 4:43 a.m. (first departure to Grand Central) until 12:55 a.m. (last departure to Grand Central). Stamford also serves as a prominent station along Amtrak 's Northeast Corridor . The Acela , a high speed train service between Boston and Washington D.C., makes several daily stops in Stamford. Amtrak's higher-speed Northeast Regional (between Boston or Springfield, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.) and Vermonter (between Saint Albans, Vermont and Washington, D.C.) also make plentiful daily stops in Stamford. Amtrak has facilities in upper level of
6270-709: The Stamford station. Stamford is within reasonable distance of 11 airports: four general aviation, two regional, five international. Witch trial A witch hunt , or a witch purge , is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft . Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East . In medieval Europe , witch-hunts often arose in connection to charges of heresy from Christianity. An intensive period of witch-hunts occurring in Early Modern Europe and to
6380-529: The State's Attorney's Office, and Stamford is home to a State Superior Court, at 123 Hoyt Street, adjacent to the Stamford Police Headquarters. Stamford's cluster of corporate headquarters includes a number of Fortune 500 , Fortune 1000 and Forbes Global 2000 companies. In 2017, Stamford had four Fortune 500, nine Fortune 1000, three Forbes Global 2000 and one Fortune Global 500 company. Among
6490-408: The U.S. median age of 37.2. Composition of the population based on sex was 50.7 females to 49.3 males. According to Sperling's BestPlaces , 64.0% of the city's inhabitants are religious or religiously affiliated. The largest religious group in the city are Christians , followed by Judaism , Islam , and eastern religions including Hinduism and Buddhism . The largest Christian denomination in
6600-573: The Witchcraft Trials that the philosopher and mathematician Hypatia , murdered by a mob in 415 AD for threatening the influence of Cyril of Alexandria , may have been, in effect, the first famous "witch" to be punished by Christian authorities. Cyril's alleged role in her murder, however, was already controversial among contemporary sources, and the surviving primary account by Socrates Scholasticus makes no mention of religious motivations. The 6th century AD Getica of Jordanes records
6710-470: The Würzburg trials of 1629, children made up 60% of those accused, although this had declined to 17% by the end of the year. Rapley (1998) claims that "75 to 80 percent" of a total of "40,000 to 50,000" victims were women. The claim that "millions of witches" (often: " nine million witches ") were killed in Europe is spurious, even though it is occasionally found in popular literature, and it is ultimately due to
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#17328484398826820-444: The accused, which was important for the success of the witch trials. In practice, appeals were made to other witnesses to the crimes, so that the first informer was followed by others. In the event of a conviction, the informer sometimes received a third of the accused's assets, but at least 2 guilders . A well-known and well-documented example is the case of Katharina Kepler , the mother of the astronomer Johannes Kepler , for being in
6930-734: The air, the changing of a person's disposition from love to hate, the control of thunder, rain, and sunshine, the transformation of a man into an animal, the intercourse of incubi and succubi with human beings, and other such superstitions. Not only the attempt to practice such things, but the very belief in their possibility, is treated by Burchard as false and superstitious. Pope Gregory VII , in 1080, wrote to King Harald III of Denmark forbidding witches to be put to death upon being suspected of having caused storms or failure of crops or pestilence. There were many such efforts to prevent unjust treatment of innocent people. On many occasions, ecclesiastics who spoke with authority did their best to disabuse
7040-454: The belief that humans could enter pacts with demons, which became the basis of future witch hunts. Ironically, many clerics of the Middle Ages openly or covertly practiced goetia , believing that as Christ granted his disciples power to command demons, to summon and control demons was not, therefore, a sin. Whatever the position of individual clerics, witch-hunting seems to have persisted as
7150-425: The breath" meant slashing across a woman's forehead in order to remove the power of her magic. This was seen as a kind of emergency procedure which could be performed in absence of judicial authorities. Another important element of the persecution of witches were denunciations . "In England, most of the accusers and those making written complaints against witches were women." Informers did not have to be revealed to
7260-403: The burning of witches increased following the reformation of 1536. Christian IV of Denmark , in particular, encouraged this practice, and hundreds of people were convicted of witchcraft and burnt. In the district of Finnmark, northern Norway, severe witchcraft trials took place during the period 1600–1692. A memorial of international format, Steilneset Memorial , has been built to commemorate
7370-601: The city is the Roman Catholic Church , served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport . There are four synagogues in Stamford: Temple Sinai (Reform), Temple Beth El (Conservative), Congregation Agudath Sholom (Orthodox), and Young Israel of Stamford (Orthodox). According to FBI statistics in 2014, Stamford is the 16th safest of the 269 cities in the nation and well ahead of any in Connecticut with
7480-417: The city was West Indian . The median age was 37.2 in 2018, lower than the national average of 37.9. There were 54,513 housing units at the 2018 estimates and 50,847 households. The average household size was 2.53 and there were approximately 31,347 families living in the city. The owner-occupied housing rate was 46.6% and the renter-occupied housing rate was 53.4%. Stamford's median household income in 2023
7590-486: The city. Aside from Police Headquarters, located at 725 Bedford St., opened in 2019, in Downtown Stamford , SPD also operates substations in Stamford's West Side at Wilson St. and W. Main St., and at 1137 High Ridge Rd and Hope Street. The current Chief of Police is Tim Shaw since April 9, 2020, who was a police officer in Stamford before leaving to Easton, Connecticut and coming back to Stamford to become police chief. Stamford
7700-509: The death penalty. This law banned the trading and possession of harmful drugs and poisons, possession of magical books and other occult paraphernalia. Emperor Augustus strengthened laws to curb these practices, for instance in 31 BC, by burning over 2,000 magical books in Rome, except for certain portions of the hallowed Sibylline Books . While Tiberius Claudius was emperor, 85 women and 45 men accused of sorcery were executed. By
7810-477: The devil. To justify the killings, some Christians of the time and their proxy secular institutions deemed witchcraft as being associated to wild Satanic ritual parties in which there was naked dancing and cannibalistic infanticide . It was also seen as heresy for going against the first of the Ten Commandments ("You shall have no other gods before me") or as violating majesty , in this case referring to
7920-460: The divine majesty, not the worldly. Further scripture was also frequently cited, especially the Exodus decree that "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18), which many supported. Witch-hunts were seen across early modern Europe, but the most significant area of witch-hunting in modern Europe is often considered to be central and southern Germany. Germany was a late starter in terms of
8030-483: The efforts of Puritan Matthew Hopkins . Although operating without an official Parliament commission, Hopkins (calling himself Witchfinder General) and his accomplices charged hefty fees to towns during the English Civil War . Hopkins' witch-hunting spree was brief but significant: 300 convictions and deaths are attributed to his work. Hopkins wrote a book on his methods, describing his fortuitous beginnings as
8140-552: The growing season is rather long in Stamford, averaging 210 days from April 8 to November 5 according to the National Weather Service in Bridgeport. Census data from 2020 showed the city of Stamford with a population of 135,470. This was a 10.5% increase from 2010. Census data also showed Stamford had surpassed New Haven's population, making it the state's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. In 2020,
8250-453: The harmful effects of pharmaka – an ambiguous term that might mean "poison", "medicine", or "magical drug" – do survive, especially those where the drug caused injury or death. Antiphon 's speech " Against the Stepmother for Poisoning " tells of the case of a woman accused of plotting to murder her husband with a pharmakon ; a slave had previously been executed for the crime, but the son of
8360-470: The history of CUNY) to endow The William E. Macaulay Honors College . In 2002 affiliates of the company helped establish Alpha Natural Resources which has since become one of the largest US coal companies. Stamford, Connecticut Stamford ( / ˈ s t æ m f ər d / ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut , United States, 34 miles (55 kilometers) outside of New York City . It
8470-400: The holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him. The Hebrew Bible condemns sorcery. Deuteronomy 18:10–12 states: "No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, who practices divination, or is
8580-427: The inquisitor. They were eventually executed by the secular arm. In a notorious case in 1425, Hermann II, Count of Celje accused his daughter-in-law Veronika of Desenice of witchcraft – and, though she was acquitted by the court, he had her murdered by drowning. The accusations of witchcraft are, in this case, considered to have been a pretext for Hermann to get rid of an "unsuitable match," Veronika being born into
8690-566: The king 120 shillings, and pay the wer to his kindred, and enter into borh for him, that he evermore desist from the like. In some prosecutions for witchcraft, torture (permitted by the Roman civil law ) apparently took place. However, Pope Nicholas I (866 AD), prohibited the use of torture altogether, and a similar decree may be found in the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals . Condemnations of witchcraft are nevertheless found in
8800-613: The land", suggest that in practice sorcery could at least lead to exile. In the Judaean Second Temple period , Rabbi Simeon ben Shetach in the 1st century BC is reported to have sentenced to death eighty women who had been charged with witchcraft on a single day in Ascalon . Later the women's relatives took revenge by bringing false witnesses against Simeon's son and causing him to be executed in turn. No laws concerning magic survive from Classical Athens. However, cases concerning
8910-404: The larger companies with headquarters in Stamford are Charter Communications , Harman International , Synchrony Financial , Indeed.com , Webster Bank , United Rentals , Conair , Gartner , Henkel North American Consumer Goods , WWE , Pitney Bowes , ITT Inc. , Gen Re , NBC Sports Group , Nestle Waters North America , Crane Co. and Vineyard Vines . UBS ' Stamford trading floor held
9020-687: The largest and most notable of these trials were the Trier witch trials (1581–1593), the Fulda witch trials (1603–1606), the Würzburg witch trial (1626–1631) and the Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631). In addition to known witch trials, witch hunts were often conducted by vigilantes, who may or may not have executed their victims. In Scotland, for example, cattle murrains were blamed on witches, usually peasant women, who were duly punished. A popular method called "scoring above
9130-485: The lower nobility and thus "unworthy" of his son. A Catholic figure who preached against witchcraft was popular Franciscan preacher Bernardino of Siena (1380–1444). Bernardino's sermons reveal both a phenomenon of superstitious practices and an over-reaction against them by the common people. However, it is clear that Bernardino had in mind not merely the use of spells and enchantments and such like fooleries but much more serious crimes, chiefly murder and infanticide. This
9240-591: The mid-15th century, specifically in the wake of the Council of Basel and centered on the Duchy of Savoy in the western Alps, leading to an early series of witch trials by both secular and ecclesiastical courts in the second half of the 15th century. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued Summis desiderantes affectibus , a Papal bull authorizing the "correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising" of devil-worshippers who have "slain infants", among other crimes. He did so at
9350-676: The ministers or the power of the witchcraft. Instead, they questioned whether the witch intended to inflict harm or not. Current scholarly estimates of the number of people who were executed for witchcraft vary from about 35,000 to 60,000. The total number of witch trials in Europe which are known to have ended in executions is around 12,000. Prominent contemporaneous critics of witch-hunts included Gianfrancesco Ponzinibio (fl. 1520), Johannes Wier (1515–1588), Reginald Scot (1538–1599), Cornelius Loos (1546–1595), Anton Praetorius (1560–1613), Alonso Salazar y Frías (1564–1636), Friedrich Spee (1591–1635), and Balthasar Bekker (1634–1698). Among
9460-710: The most common languages. Per an April 2023 report by the Connecticut State Department of Education on racial imbalance in public school enrollment, none of the 10 Stamford School District schools studied had a racial imbalance of more than 14% compared to the school district at large. According to the Connecticut State Department of Education, in the 2004–2005 academic year, 42.7% of Stamford's public school students were economically disadvantaged, and 11.6% were students with disabilities. The supermajority of Stamford Public Schools funding comes from
9570-484: The new century. Since 2008, an 80-acre (32-hectare) mixed-use redevelopment project for Stamford's Harbor Point neighborhood has added additional growth south of downtown. The redevelopment plan included six million square feet (560,000 m ) of new residential, retail, office and hotel space, and a marina. In July 2012, roughly 900 of the projected 4,000 Harbor Point residential units had been constructed. New restaurants and recreational activities have come up in
9680-778: The newly formed Inquisition was commissioned to deal with the Cathars of Southern France, whose teachings were charged with including witchcraft and magic. Although it has been proposed that the witch-hunt developed in Europe from the early 14th century, after the Cathars and the Knights Templar were suppressed, this hypothesis has been rejected independently by virtually all academic historians (Cohn 1975; Kieckhefer 1976). In 1258, Pope Alexander IV declared that Inquisition would not deal with cases of witchcraft unless they were related to heresy. Although Pope John XXII had later authorized
9790-505: The newly invented printing presses, enjoyed a wide readership. It was reprinted in 14 editions by 1520 and became unduly influential in the secular courts. In Europe, the witch-hunt craze was negligible in Spain, Poland, and Eastern Europe; conversely, it was intense in Germany, Switzerland, and France. The witch trials in Early Modern Europe came in waves and then subsided. There were trials in
9900-424: The northern U.S. and southern Canada to the north, and the warmer temperate and subtropical climates of the middle and south Atlantic states to the south. The warm/hot season in Stamford is from mid-April through early November. Late day thundershowers are common in the hottest months (June through September), despite the mostly sunny skies. The cool/cold season is from late November though mid-March. Winter weather
10010-411: The numbers of trials, compared to other regions of Europe. Witch-hunts first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670. The first major persecution in Europe, when witches were caught, tried, convicted, and burned in the imperial lordship of Wiesensteig in southwestern Germany,
10120-772: The people of their superstitious belief in witchcraft. A comparable situation in Russia is suggested in a sermon by Serapion of Vladimir (written in 1274~1275), where the popular superstition of witches causing crop failures is denounced. Early secular laws against witchcraft include those promulgated by King Athelstan (924–939): And we have ordained respecting witch-crafts, and lybacs [read lyblac "sorcery"] , and morthdaeds ["murder, mortal sin"] : if any one should be thereby killed, and he could not deny it, that he be liable in his life. But if he will deny it, and at threefold ordeal shall be guilty; that he be 120 days in prison: and after that let kindred take him out, and give to
10230-457: The practice of witch hunts in geographically and culturally separated societies (Europe, Africa, New Guinea) since the 1960s has triggered interest in the anthropological background of this behaviour. The belief in magic and divination , and attempts to use magic to influence personal well-being (to increase life, win love, etc.) are universal across human cultures. Belief in witchcraft has been shown to have similarities in societies throughout
10340-634: The racial makeup of the city was 49.3% non-Hispanic white , 14.1% Black or African American , 0.3% American Indian or Alaska Native , 8.6% Asian American , 3.2% from two or more races , and 27.2% Hispanic or Latino (of any race). 2020 American Community Survey estimates show that of the Hispanic or Latin American population, Guatemalans form the largest group (6.75% of the city's population), followed by Puerto Ricans (3.77%), Colombians (2.87%), Ecuadorians (2.42%), and Mexicans (2.38%). In 2018, 5.9% of
10450-469: The request of inquisitor Heinrich Kramer , who had been refused permission by the local bishops in Germany to investigate. However, historians such as Ludwig von Pastor insist that the bull neither allowed anything new, nor was necessarily binding on Catholic consciences. Three years later in 1487, Kramer published the notorious Malleus Maleficarum (lit., 'Hammer against the Evildoers') which, because of
10560-452: The state. That branch also has a used book store run by Friends of Ferguson Library. Stamford is predominantly Democratic but not nearly as heavily Democratic as Connecticut's more urban cities like Bridgeport and New Haven . In 2008 , Democrat Barack Obama received 64.06% of the city vote to Republican John McCain 's 35.35%. Stamford is governed via the strong-mayor form of the mayor-council system . The city's legislative body
10670-593: The two. In 331 BC, a deadly epidemic hit Rome and at least 170 women were executed for causing it by veneficium . In 184–180 BC, another epidemic hit Italy, and about 5,000 people were brought to trial and executed for veneficium . If the reports are accurate, writes Hutton , "then the Republican Romans hunted witches on a scale unknown anywhere else in the ancient world". Under the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis of 81 BC, killing by veneficium carried
10780-479: The victim claimed that the death had been arranged by his stepmother. The most detailed account of a trial for witchcraft in Classical Greece is the story of Theoris of Lemnos , who was executed along with her children some time before 338 BC, supposedly for casting incantations and using harmful drugs. During the pagan era of ancient Rome , there were laws against harmful magic. According to Pliny ,
10890-678: The victims of the Finnmark witchcraft trials. In England, the Witchcraft Act 1541 regulated the penalties for witchcraft. In the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, over 70 people were accused of witchcraft on account of bad weather when James VI of Scotland , who shared the Danish king's interest in witch trials, sailed to Denmark in 1590 to meet his betrothed Anne of Denmark . According to
11000-495: The view of the Church for many centuries. The general desire of the Catholic Church 's clergy to check fanaticism about witchcraft and necromancy is shown in the decrees of the Council of Paderborn , which, in 785 AD, explicitly outlawed condemning people as witches and condemned to death anyone who burnt a witch. The Lombard code of 643 AD states: Let nobody presume to kill a foreign serving maid or female servant as
11110-427: The wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human, and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech. The Councils of Elvira (306 AD), Ancyra (314 AD), and Trullo (692 AD) imposed certain ecclesiastical penances for devil-worship. This mild approach represented
11220-457: The world. It presents a framework to explain the occurrence of otherwise random misfortunes such as sickness or death, and the witch sorcerer provides an image of evil. Reports on indigenous practices in the Americas, Asia and Africa collected during the early modern Age of Exploration have been taken to suggest that not just the belief in witchcraft but also the periodic outbreak of witch-hunts are
11330-465: The writings of Augustine of Hippo and early theologians, who made little distinction between witchcraft and the practices of pagan religions. Many believed witchcraft did not exist in a philosophical sense: Witchcraft was based on illusions and powers of evil, which Augustine likened to darkness, a non-entity representing the absence of light. Augustine and his adherents like Saint Thomas Aquinas nevertheless promulgated elaborate demonologies, including
11440-619: Was $ 106,552. The average household income was $ 161,829. The per capita income in 2022 was $ 58,297, the highest of any city in Connecticut. About 9.1% of the population was at or below the poverty line . In 2010, its population was 122,643. At the U.S. Census Bureau 's mid-year 2010 estimates, it grew to 122,902. Roughly 49.8% of the population was non-Hispanic white, 12.9% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, 6.8% Asian, 1.6% from two or more races, and 28.3% Hispanic or Latino. The American Community Survey determined there were 46,396 households. The average household size
11550-420: Was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.15. The owner-occupied housing rate was 56.5% and the renter-occupied rate was 43.5%. The 2000 census determined Stamford had a population of 117,083. The proportion of the population under the age of 18 was 21.6%, age 18 to 24 was 7.8%, age 25 to 44 was 32.5%, age 45 to 64 was 25.0%, and 65 years of age or older was 13.1%. The median age of 37.1 was slightly lower than
11660-451: Was found innocent, while Mary was acquitted of witchcraft but she was still sentenced to be hanged as punishment for the death of her child. She died in prison. About eighty people throughout England's Massachusetts Bay Colony were accused of practicing witchcraft; thirteen women and two men were executed in a witch-hunt that occurred throughout New England and lasted from 1645 to 1663. The Salem witch trials followed in 1692–1693. Once
11770-410: Was more than $ 5.5 billion larger (and three times the size) of Fund X which closed with $ 2.3 billion in 2004. First Reserve's fundraising has benefited from the recent focus on the energy industry in the broader market. In 2008, First Reserve advanced its renewable energy investment program with the €261 million acquisition of Gamesa Solar . Additionally, First Reserve committed €600 million to form
11880-422: Was reserved solely for witches and heretics, the implication being that a burned body could not be resurrected on Judgment Day . The resurgence of witch-hunts at the end of the medieval period, taking place with at least partial support or at least tolerance on the part of the Church, was accompanied with a number of developments in Christian doctrine, for example, the recognition of the existence of witchcraft as
11990-838: Was used in the American colonies as early as May 1647, when Margaret Jones was executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts , the first of 17 people executed for witchcraft in the Colonies from 1647 to 1663. Witch-hunts began to occur in North America while Hopkins was hunting witches in England. In 1645, forty-six years before the notorious Salem witch trials , Springfield, Massachusetts experienced America's first accusations of witchcraft when husband and wife Hugh and Mary Parsons accused each other of witchcraft. In America's first witch trial, Hugh
12100-663: Was well known for a quarrelsome and aggressive nature." According to Julian Goodare, in Europe, the overall proportion of women who were persecuted as witches was 80%, although there were countries and regions like Estonia, Normandy and Iceland, that targeted men more. In Iceland 92% of the accused were men, in Estonia 60%, and in Moscow two-thirds of those accused were male. In Finland, a total of more than 100 death row inmates were roughly equal in both men and women, but all Ålanders sentenced to witchcraft were only women. At one point during
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