Philip V of Spain
Philip V was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to his abdication in favour of his son Louis on 14 January 1724, from his reaccession of the throne upon his son's death on 6 September 1724 to his own death on 9 July 1746. Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a grandson of King Louis XIV, his father, Grand Dauphin, had the strongest genealogical claim to the throne of Spain when it became vacant in 1700. However, since neither the Grand Dauphin nor Philip's older brother, Duke of Burgundy, could be displaced from their place in the succession to the French throne, the Grand Dauphin's maternal uncle King Charles II of Spain named Philip as his heir in his will, it was well known that the union of France and Spain under one monarch would upset the balance of power in Europe, such that other European powers would take steps to prevent it. Indeed, Philip's accession in Spain provoked the 13-year War of the Spanish Succession, which continued until the Treaty of Utrecht forbade any future possibility of unifying the French and Spanish thrones.
Philip was the first member of the French House of Bourbon to rule as king of Spain. The sum of his two reigns, 45 years and 21 days, is the longest in modern Spanish history. Philip was born at the Palace of Versailles in France the second son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, the heir apparent to the throne of France, his wife Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, Dauphine Victoire, he was Duke of Burgundy, the father of Louis XV of France. At birth, Philip was created Duke of Anjou, a traditional title for younger sons in the French royal family, he would be known by this name. Since Philip's older brother, the Duke of Burgundy, was second in line to the French throne after his father, there was little expectation that either he or his younger brother Charles, Duke of Berry, would rule over France. Philip lived his first years under the supervision of the royal governess Louise de Prie, was after, tutored with his brothers by François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai; the three were educated by Paul de Beauvilliers.
In 1700 King Charles II of Spain died childless. His will named as successor the 17-year-old Philip, grandson of Charles' half-sister Maria Theresa, the first wife of Louis XIV. Upon any possible refusal, the crown of Spain would be offered next to Philip's younger brother, the Duke of Berry to the Archduke Charles of Austria Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. Philip had the better genealogical claim to the Spanish throne, because his Spanish grandmother and great-grandmother were older than the ancestors of the Archduke Charles of Austria. However, the Austrians maintained that Philip's grandmother had renounced the Spanish throne for herself and her descendants as part of her marriage contract; the French claimed. After a long Royal Council meeting in France at which the Dauphin spoke up in favour of his son's rights, it was agreed that Philip would ascend the throne, but he would forever renounce his claim to the throne of France for himself and his descendants; the Royal Council decided to accept the provisions of the will of Charles II naming Philip king of Spain, the Spanish ambassador was called in and introduced to his new king.
The ambassador, along with his son, knelt before Philip and made a long speech in Spanish, which Philip did not understand. On 2 November 1701 the 18-year-old Philip married the 13-year-old Maria Luisa of Savoy, as chosen by his grandfather King Louis XIV, by an old man of 63, she was the daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, Philip's second cousin Anne Marie d'Orléans the parents of the Duchess of Burgundy, Philip's sister-in-law. There was a proxy ceremony at Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, another one at Versailles on 11 September. Maria Luisa proved popular as Queen of Spain, she served as regent for her husband on several occasions. Her most successful term was when Philip was away touring his Italian domains for nine months in 1702, when she was just 14 years old. On entering Naples that year he was presented with Bernini's Boy with a Dragon by Carlo Barberini. In 1714, Maria Luisa died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis, a devastating emotional blow to her husband; the actions of Louis XIV heightened the fears of the English, the Dutch and the Austrians, among others.
In February 1701, Louis XIV caused the Parlement of Paris to register a decree that if Philip's elder brother, the Petit Dauphin Louis, died without an heir Philip would surrender the throne of Spain for the succession to the throne of France, ensuring dynastic continuity in Europe's greatest land power. However, a second act of the French king "justified a hostile interpretation": pursuant to a treaty with Spain, Louis occupied several towns in the Spanish Netherlands; this was the spark that ignited the powder keg created by the unresolved issues of the War of the League of Augsburg and the acceptance of the Spanish inheritance by Louis XIV for his grandson. The War of the Spanish Succession began. Concern among other European powers that Spain and France united under a single Bourbon monarch would upset the balance of power pitted powerful France and weak Spain against the Grand Alliance of England, the Netherlands and Austria. Inside Spain, the Crown of Castile supported Philip of France.
On the other hand, the majority of the nobility of the Crown of Aragon supported Charles of
Defile (geography)
In geography, a defile is a narrow pass or gorge between mountains or hills. It has its origins as a military description of a pass through which troops can march only in a narrow column or with a narrow front. On emerging from a defile into open country, soldiers are said to "debouch". In a traditional military formation, soldiers march in ranks and files, so, if a column of soldiers approaches a narrow pass, the formation must narrow, so the files on the outside must be ordered to the rear so that the column has fewer files and more ranks; the French verb for this order is défiler, from which the English verb comes, as does the physical description for a valley that forces this manoeuvre. Defiles of military significance can be formed by other physical features that flank a pass or path and cause it to narrow, for example impassable woods and rivers. At the Battle of Agincourt, a defile formed by the woods of Agincourt and Forecourt caused a choke point for the French army and aided the English in their victory over the French.
Some defiles have a permanent strategic importance and become known by that term in military literature. For example, the military historian William Siborne names such a geographic feature in France near the frontier with Germany in his book Waterloo Campaign 1815: On the following day, General Rapp fell back upon the Defile of Brümath. Battle of Cerro Gordo Battle of Thermopylae – Persians defeated Greek states in 480 BC Canyon – Deep ravine between cliffs Draw – Terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between Gully – Landform created by running water eroding into soil Ravine – Small valley, the product of streamcutting erosion Valley – Low area between hills with a river running through it. Water gap Wind gap Fulda Gap
Louis François, Prince of Conti
Louis François de Bourbon, or Louis François I, Prince of Conti, was a French nobleman, the Prince of Conti from 1727 to his death, following his father, Louis Armand II de Bourbon. His mother was Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, the daughter of Louis III, Prince of Condé and Louise Françoise de Bourbon, legitimized daughter of King Louis XIV of France, his younger sister, Louise Henriette de Bourbon, was the mother of Philippe Égalité. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang. Louis François I de Bourbon was born in Paris. In 1731, he married Louise Diane d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres, the youngest daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, daughter of King Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, his marriage was organised by his mother, the Dowager Princess of Conti, future mother-in-law, the Dowager Duchess of Orléans. However, Louis François's wife died giving birth to a stillborn child at the Château d'Issy in 1736, he stayed at the Château de L'Isle-Adam, near Paris.
Louis François pursued a military career, when the War of the Austrian Succession broke out in 1741, he accompanied the Duke of Belle-Isle to Bohemia. His services there led to his command of the army in Italy, where he distinguished himself by forcing the pass of Villafranca and winning the battle of Coni in 1744. In 1745, he was sent to check the Austrians in Germany. In 1746, he was transferred to the Netherlands, where conflicts with the Maréchal de Saxe led to his retirement in 1747 to the Château de L'Isle-Adam. In 1760, he bought a famous Burgundy vineyard which at that time bore the name of La Romanée, at a high price. After the purchase, he added his own name to the vineyard, which since has been known as Romanée-Conti; the wine from this vineyard is one of the world's most expensive. In that same year, a faction of Polish nobles offered Conti the throne of Poland, where King Augustus III was expected to die soon. Conti was able to win the personal support of Louis XV of France for his candidacy.
However, the policy of the king's ministers was to establish the ruling house of Saxony upon the throne in Poland, as Louis XV's daughter-in-law, Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, was a daughter of the ailing Augustus. As a result of this conflict, Louis XV began secret communications with his ambassadors at certain influential foreign courts that were in direct opposition to the official communications being sent to those same ambassadors by his ministers; the system of couriers used to relay the king's secret messages developed into a spy-network known as the Secret du Roi. Although Conti did not secure the Polish throne, he did remain in the confidence of the king until 1755, when his influence was destroyed by the intrigues of the king's mistress, Madame de Pompadour, his relationship with Louis XV deteriorated so, that when the Seven Years' War broke out in 1756, Conti was refused the command of the army of the Rhine. Angry, he began opposing the royal government, which caused Louis to refer to him as, "my cousin, the advocate".
In 1771, Conti took the lead in opposing Maupeou. He supported the parlements against the government and was hostile to Turgot. Due to the intensity of his anti-government feelings, he was suspected of aiding an uprising which took place in Dijon in 1775, he was exiled from court, following involvement in a Frondiste association with Protestants and with the affairs of Parlement, Conti settled into stylish retirement as Grand Prior of the Knights of the Order of Malta, resident at the Palais du Temple in Le Marais. Conti went on to accumulate a vast and celebrated art collection, housed in a special gallery at the Temple collected during the last twenty years of his life; this was dispersed by auction between April and June 1777, a sale which retained an impact on the Parisian art market through the following decade. His collection included Michel Barthélemy Ollivier's English Tea Served in the Salon des Glaces at the Palais du Temple, dated 1764, showing the infant Mozart at the clavichord.
Conti inherited literary tastes from his father, was a brave and skillful general, a diligent student of military history. His mistress, the cultivated Comtesse de Boufflers, presided over a salon at his home in Paris, which attracted many men of letters. Through his mistress, he became a patron of Jean Jacques Rousseau, he was succeeded by his son, Louis François Joseph, the last person to bear the Prince of Conti title. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Conti, Princes of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois Dauphiny in English, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme, Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was the County of Albon. In the 12th century, the local ruler Count Guigues IV of Albon bore a dolphin on his coat of arms and was nicknamed le Dauphin, his descendants changed their title from Count of Albon to Dauphin of Viennois. The state took the name of Dauphiné, it became a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century. The Dauphiné is best known for its transfer from the last non-royal Dauphin to the King of France in 1349; the terms of the transfer stipulated that the heir apparent of France would henceforth be called "le Dauphin" and included significant autonomy and tax exemption for the Dauphiné region, most of which it retained only until 1457, though it remained a province until the French Revolution. The historical capital is Grenoble and the other main towns are Vienne, Montélimar and Romans-sur-Isère.
The demonym for its inhabitants is Dauphinois. Under the Ancien Régime, the province was bordered in the North by the River Rhône which separated the Dauphiné from the Bresse and Bugey. To the east it bordered the Savoy and Piedmont, to the south the Comtat Venaissin and Provence; the western border was marked by the Rhône to the south of Lyon. The Dauphiné extended up to, it was divided into the "High Dauphiné" and "Low Dauphiné". The first covered: the Grésivaudan the Royans the Champsaur the Trièves the Briançonnais the Queyras the Embrunais the Gapençais the Dévoluy the Vercors the Bochaine the BaronniesThe second included: the County of Albon with the Viennois around the city of Vienne, annexed in 1450 and the Turripinois around the city of La Tour-du-Pin; the County of Valentinois with the city of Valence, annexed in 1404 the County of Diois, around the episcopal city of Die annexed in 1404 the Tricastin the Principality of Orange annexed to Dauphiné, The province included the current Italian Dauphiné, which belonged to France and to Briançonnais until 1713.
Vivaro-Alpine dialect was still spoken there until the 20th century: the Oulx valley the Pragela the Castelade de Châteaudauphin. The province offers a range of terrain, from the alpine summits of the High-Dauphiné, the Prealps, the plains of the Drôme, which resemble the landscapes of Provence; the area of the future Dauphiné was inhabited by the Allobroges and other Gaulish tribes in ancient times. The region was conquered by the Romans before Gallia conquest by Julius Caesar. Vienne became a Roman one of the most important cities of Gallia. After the end of the Western Roman Empire, the region suffered from invasions of Visigoths and Alans tribes; the Burgundians settled in Vienne. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the region became part of the kingdom of Lotharingia. However, the King of France Charles the Bald soon claimed authority over this territory; the governor of Vienne, Boson of Provence, proclaimed himself king of Burgundy and the region became part of the Kingdom of Arelat, which remained independent until 1032, when it became part of the Holy Roman Empire.
At that time, the development of feudal society and the weakness of the Emperor's rule allowed for the creation of several small ecclesiastic or secularist States. In the middle of that chaos, the Counts of Albon succeeded in uniting these different territories under their rule. Amidst the chaos of feudal rule, the Counts of Albon began to rise above other feudal lords and acquire dominance over the region, their story begins with Guigues I the Old, Lord of Annonay and Champsaur. During his reign, he gained significant territories for his province: a part of the Viennois, the Grésivaudan and the Oisans. Moreover, the Emperor gave him the region of Briançon; the territories combined under his personal rule became a sovereign mountain principality within the Holy Roman Empire. The count made a significant decision when he chose the small city of Grenoble as capital of his state instead of the prestigious city of Vienne, the long-established seat of a powerful bishop; this choice allowed him to assert authority over all his territories.
In the 12th century, the local ruler Count Guigues IV of Albon bore a dolphin on his coat of arms and was nicknamed le Dauphin. His descendants changed their title from Count of Albon to Dauphin of Viennois; the state took the name of Dauphiné. However, the Dauphiné did not, at this point, have its modern borders; the region of Vienne and Valence were independent and in Grenoble, the capital, the authority was shared with the bishop. Furthermore, the cities of Voiron and la Côte-Saint-André were parts of the County of Savoy, while the Dauphins had the Faucigny and territories in Italy; this tangle between Dauphiné and Savoy resulted in several conflicts. The last Dauphin, Humbert II of Viennois, made peace with his neighbour, he acquired the city of Romans. He created the Conseil Delphinal and the University of Grenoble and enacted the Delphinal Status, a kind of constitution that protected the rights of his people; the significant debts of Humbert II and the death of his son and heir led to the sale of his lordship to King Philip VI in 1349, by the terms of the treaty of Romans, negotiated by his protonotary, Amblard de Beaumont.
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Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia was a state in Southern Europe from the early 14th until the mid-19th century. When it was acquired by the Duke of Savoy in 1720, it was a former Iberian state as well as a member of the Council of Aragon. However, the Savoyards united it with their possessions on the Italian mainland and, by the time of the Crimean War in 1853, had built the resulting kingdom into a strong power; the composite state under the rule of Savoy in this period may be called Savoy-Sardinia or Piedmont-Sardinia, or the Kingdom of Piedmont to emphasise that the island of Sardinia had always been of secondary importance to the monarchy. The formal name of the entire Savoyard state was the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia", its final capital was the capital of Savoy since the mid 16th century. The kingdom consisted of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, sovereignty over both of, claimed by the Papacy, which granted them as a fief, the regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae, to King James II of Aragon in 1297.
Beginning in 1324, James and his successors conquered the island of Sardinia and established de facto their de jure authority. In 1420, after the Sardinian-Catalan War, the last competing claim to the island was bought out. After the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, Sardinia became a part of the burgeoning Spanish Empire. In 1720, the island was ceded by the Habsburg and Bourbon claimants to the Spanish throne to Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. While in theory the traditional capital of the island of Sardinia and seat of its viceroys was Cagliari, the Piedmontese city of Turin was the de facto capital of Savoy; when the mainland domains of the House of Savoy were occupied and annexed by Napoleonic France, the king of Sardinia made his permanent residence on the island for the first time in its history. The Congress of Vienna, which restructured Europe after Napoleon's defeat, returned to Savoy its mainland possessions and augmented them with Liguria, taken from the Republic of Genoa.
In 1847–48, through the "Perfect Fusion", the various Savoyard states were unified under one legal system with their capital in Turin, granted a constitution, the Statuto Albertino. There followed the annexation of Lombardy, the central Italian states and the Two Sicilies and the Papal States. On 17 March 1861, to more reflect its new geographic extent, the Kingdom of Sardinia changed its name to the Kingdom of Italy, its capital was moved first to Florence and to Rome; the Savoy-led Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia was thus the legal predecessor of the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn is the predecessor of the present-day Italian Republic. In 238 BC Sardinia became, along with a province of the Roman Empire; the Romans ruled the island until the middle of the 5th century, when it was occupied by the Vandals, who had settled in north Africa. In 534 AD it was reconquered by the Romans, but now from Byzantium, it remained a Byzantine province until the Arab conquest of Sicily in the 9th century. After that, communications with Constantinople became difficult, powerful families of the island assumed control of the land.
Facing Arab attempts to sack and conquer, while having no outside help, Sardinia utilized the principle of translatio imperii and continued to organize itself along the ancient Roman and Byzantine model. The island was not the personal property of the ruler and of his family, as was the dominant practice in western Europe, but rather a separate entity and during the Byzantine Empire, a monarchical republic, as it had been since Roman times. Starting from 705–706, Saracens from north Africa harassed the population of the coastal cities. Information about the Sardinian political situation in the following centuries is scarce. Due to Saracen attacks, in the 9th century Tharros was abandoned in favor of Oristano, after more than 1800 years of occupation. There is a record of another massive Saracen sea attack in 1015–16 from the Balearics, commanded by Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī; the Saracen attempt to invade the island was stopped by the Judicates with the support of the fleets of the maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa, free cities of the Holy Roman Empire.
Pope Benedict VIII requested aid from the maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa in the struggle against the Arabs. After the Great Schism, Rome made many efforts to restore Latinity to the Sardinian church and society, to reunify the island under one Catholic ruler, as it had been for all of southern Italy, when the Byzantines had been driven away by Catholic Normans; the title of "Judge" was a Byzantine reminder of the Greek church and state, in times of harsh relations between eastern and western churches. Before the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica, the Archons or, in Latin, who reigned in the island from the 9th or 10th century until the beginning of the 11th century, can be considered real kings of all Sardinia though nominal vassals of the Byzantine emperors. Of these sovereigns only two names are known: Turcoturiu and
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty held thrones in Spain, Naples and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs of the House of Bourbon; the royal Bourbons originated in 1272, when the youngest son of King Louis IX married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. The house continued for three centuries as a cadet branch, serving as nobles under the Direct Capetian and Valois kings; the senior line of the House of Bourbon became extinct in the male line in 1527 with the death of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon. This made the junior Bourbon-Vendome branch the genealogically senior branch of the House of Bourbon. In 1589, at the death of Henry III of France, the House of Valois became extinct in the male line. Under the Salic law, the Head of the House of Bourbon, as the senior representative of the senior-surviving branch of the Capetian dynasty, became King of France as Henry IV.
Bourbon monarchs united to France the small kingdom of Navarre, which Henry's father had acquired by marriage in 1555, ruling both until the 1792 overthrow of the monarchy during the French Revolution. Restored in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, the senior line of the Bourbons was overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830. A cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown; the Princes de Condé were a cadet branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV, the Princes de Conti were a cadet line of the Condé branch. Both houses were prominent French noble families well known for their participation in French affairs during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. In 1700, at the death of Charles II of Spain, the Spanish Habsburgs became extinct in the male line. Under the will of the childless Charles II, the second grandson of Louis XIV of France was named as his successor, to preclude the union of the thrones of France and Spain.
The prince Duke of Anjou, became Philip V of Spain. Permanent separation of the French and Spanish thrones was secured when France and Spain ratified Philip's renunciation, for himself and his descendants, of the French throne in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1714, similar arrangements kept the Spanish throne separate from those of the Two Sicilies and Parma; the Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, since 1975. Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734 to 1806 and in Sicily from 1734 to 1816, in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816 to 1860, they ruled in Parma from 1731 to 1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859. Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg married a cadet of the Parmese line and thus her successors, who have ruled Luxembourg since her abdication in 1964, have been members of the House of Bourbon. Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil, regent for her father, Pedro II of the Empire of Brazil, married a cadet of the Orléans line and thus their descendants, known as the Orléans-Braganza, were in the line of succession to the Brazilian throne and expected to ascend its throne had the monarchy not been abolished by a coup in 1889.
All legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV through his son Louis XIII of France. The pre-Capetian House of Bourbon was a noble family, dating at least from the beginning of the 13th century, when the estate of Bourbon was ruled by the Sire de Bourbon, a vassal of the King of France; the term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1272, Count of Clermont and youngest son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and member of the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527; because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, his title was discontinued after his death.
The remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, the senior line of the Count of La Marche became extinct. All future Bourbons would descend from James II's younger brother, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mother's inheritance. In 1525, at the death of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon, all of the princes of the blood royal were Bourbons. In 1514, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme, his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoine's younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon and the French and Huguenot general Louis de Bourbon, 1st Prince of Condé. Louis' male-line descendants, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. In 1589, the House of Valois died out and Antoine's son Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France. Family from India's claim to be a branch and their claim to The "Throne of France" Bourbons of India, claim to be descendants of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, of the first House of Bourbon-Montpensier.
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Cuneo
Cuneo is a city and comune in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the third largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the rivers Stura and Gesso. Cuneo is bounded by the municipalities of Beinette, Borgo San Dalmazzo, Busca, Castelletto Stura, Cervasca, Peveragno and Vignolo, it is located near six mountain passes: Colle della Maddalena at 1,996 metres Colle di Tenda at 1,871 metres - Tunnel of Tenda at 1,300 metres, 3 kilometres long Colle del Melogno at 1,027 metres Colle San Bernardo at 957 metres Colle di Nava at 934 metres Colle di Cadibona at 459 metres. Cuneo was founded in 1198 by the local population, who declared it an independent commune, freeing themselves from the authority of the bishops of Asti and the marquisses of Montferrat and Saluzzo. In 1210 the latter occupied it, in 1231 the Cuneesi rebelled. In 1238 they were recognized as free commune by Emperor Frederick II. In 1259 the independence of Cuneo ceased forever, as it gave itself to take protection against its more powerful neighbours, to Charles I of Anjou, King of Naples and Count of Provence.
Together with Alba, it was the main Angevine possession in Northern Italy. Cuneo became an important stronghold of the expanding Savoy state, was thus besieged by France several times: first in 1515 by Swiss troops of Francis I of France again in 1542, 1557, 1639, 1641, 1691 and, during the War of Austrian Succession, in 1741. In all the sieges Cuneo resisted successfully. Cuneo was conquered by France only during the Napoleonic Wars, when it was made the capital of the Stura department. After the restoration of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the unification of Italy, Cuneo became the capital of its namesake province in 1859. During World War II, from 1943 to 1945, it was one of the main centres of partisan resistance against the German occupation of Italy. Villa Oldofredi Tadini, built in the 14th and 15th centuries as a watchtower, it is now a museum housing collections of the Mocchia and Oldofredi Tadini families. Villa Tornaforte, surrounded by an English-style park. Civic Museum Railway Museum Churches of Santa Croce, San Giovanni Decollato and Santissima Annunziata, housing paintings by Giovan Francesco Gaggini.
Panoramic funicular. Monument of Stura and Gesso in Torino Square The median way of the plateau: the commercial heart of Cuneo. New Bridge between the center of the city and Madonna dell' Olmo Monument at Peano's curve Palazzo Uffici Finanziari, highest edifice in the city at about 50 metres Most important and populated: Centro storico, Cuneo centro, Cuneo nuova, San Paolo, Gramsci, San Rocco, Cerialdo and Borgo San Giuseppe. Cuneo has a temperate sub-continental climate, with hot, dry summers. However, it is situated more than 500 metres above sea level, which helps to make summers more bearable: the hottest month, has an average temperature of 21.6 °C. The coldest, averages 1.7 °C. Annual precipitation is about 962 mm, distributed over 81 days; the rainfall pattern is similar to that of Turin, with two maxima—one primary and one secondary and two minima. The driest month is 44 millimetres. Snowfalls are frequent owing to high wind patterns. Cuneo's specialty is Cuneesi al rhum, small meringues with dark chocolate coating and a rum-based chocolate filling.
They are a creation of Andrea Arione, who registered the name, sold them in the bar still located in the central square, Piazza Galimberti. Another specialty is "raviolini al plin", a small ravioli pasta made with meat and vegetables; the most famous brand there is Pastificio Boetti located close to the central square. There is an important volleyball club, Piemonte Volley who won 1 Italian Volleyball League, 3 CEV Cup, 2 CEV SuperCup, 4 Italian Volleyball Cup and 3 Italian Volleyball SuperCup. Associazione Calcio Cuneo 1905 who plays in the 3rd level of Italian football. Many times stage of Giro d'Italia. In 2016, for the first time in the Giro history, the race arrived in Sant'Anna di Vinadio sanctuary, the highest sanctuary in Europe, 2035 m, the day after, on May 29, the race started from Cuneo. Since 1987 Cuneo has been the start and arrival point of the amateur international race "La Fausto Coppi". Venchi Ferrero SpA Annibale Santorre di Rossi de Pomarolo, Count of Santarosa, early Risorgimento leader.
Franco Andrea Bonelli, ornithologist and collector. Giuseppe Peano, mathematician. Giovanni Battista Ceirano 1860 - automobile pioneer, joint founder of Ceirano, Well-Eyes bicycles, Well-Eyes cars - the first F. I. A. T. SCAT Matteo Ceirano 1870 - automobile pioneer, joint founder of Itala Fabrica Automobile and S. P. A. Ernesto Ceirano 1875 - Winner of 1911 and 1914 Targa Florio in SCAT automobiles. Giorgio Federico Ghedini, composer. Tancredi "Duccio" Galimberti, a lawyer, against fascists, Italian National Hero. Nuto Revelli and writer. Cesare Damiano, politicia
Kingdom of Spain
Kingdom of France[1]
Kingdom of Sardinia
Habsburg Monarchy
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 454–463.
Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Flag". The American Cyclopædia. 8. p. 250.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). 
Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879).