1.
Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy
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Emmanuel Philibert was Duke of Savoy from 1553 to 1580, KG. Born in Chambéry, Emmanuel Philibert was the child of Charles III, Duke of Savoy. Instead, he continued to serve the Habsburgs in hopes of recovering his lands, in this capacity he personally led the Spanish invasion of northern France and won a brilliant victory at Saint-Quentin on 10 August 1557. He was also a suitor to Lady Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII of England and their only child was Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy. Following the death of his uncle, Henry I of Portugal, on 31 January 1580, however, he soon realised that he had quite a fragile position due to the claims of Philip II, who gained control of the country, thus uniting Spain and Portugal. Emmanuel Philibert spent his rule regaining what had been lost in the wars with France. A skilled political strategist, he took advantage of various squabbles in Europe to slowly regain territory from both the French and the Spanish, including the city of Turin. Internally, he moved the capital of the duchy from Chambéry to Turin and he was attempting to acquire the marquisate of Saluzzo when he died in Turin. Later, he was buried in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud of the Turin Cathedral, where he did move the Sindone in 1578
2.
Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy
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Victor Amadeus I was the Duke of Savoy from 1630-37. He was titular King of Cyprus and Jerusalem and he was also known as the Lion of Susa. He was born in Turin, Piedmont to Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Catherine Micaela of Spain and he spent much of his childhood at the Spanish court in Madrid, at the court of his grandfather Philip II. He stayed there until the death in 1598, when Victor Amadeus was 11. When his brother, Filippo Emanuele, died in 1605, he became heir to the Duchy of Savoy. Victor Amadeus became Duke of Savoy after his fathers death in 1630, Charles Emmanuels policies had brought a great instability in the relationships with both France and Spain, and troops were needed to defend the Duchy. As money was lacking to recruit mercenaries or train indigenous soldiers, with the Treaty of Cherasco, Savoy was forced to give Pinerolo to France. This gave France a strategic route into the heart of Savoy territory, the rulers of Savoy from that point resented this loss, and worked for decades with the goal of regaining that loss. Subsequently, under the direction of Cardinal Richelieu, Victor Amadeus attempted to create a league in Italy. He achieved two victories against the Spanish, In 1636 in the Battle of Tornavento and on 8 September 1637 in the Battle of Mombaldone, on 25 September of that year, Victor Amadeus fell ill after a dinner offered by the Duke of Créqui. He was carried to Vercelli, where he died on 7 October, in 1619, he married Christine Marie of France, a daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici. Following his death, she served as regent of the Duchy from 1637 to 1663, war, Diplomacy and the Rise of Savoy 1690-1720
3.
Castle of Rivoli
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The Castle of Rivoli is a former Residence of the Royal House of Savoy in Rivoli. It is currently home to the Castello di Rivoli - Museo dArte Contemporanea, the House of Savoy acquired Rivoli in the 11th century, and soon began a feud with the bishops that as soon as 1184 resulted in damage to the castle. In 1330 Amadeus VI of Savoy moved in the castle the Consiglio dei Principi, the castle was also the first place of public veneration of the Shroud of Turin in his path towards Turin under Amadeus IX. After a period of decline, the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis established that Duke Emmanuel Philibert could not reside in Turin until he had not a male child and he therefore set his residency in the Castle of Rivoli, having it restored by architect Ascanio Vitozzi. In 1562 heir Charles Emmanuel I was born, and he returned to Turin, numerous works of art were however stolen by French troops in the following years. Victor Amadeus II commissioned a new façade from Filippo Juvarra, Victor Amadeus lived here as a prisoner with his morganatic spouse the Marchesa di Spigno after his abdication and his failed attempt to regain the reign from his son Charles Emmanuel III. After his death, the castle was abandoned, and in 1863 the commune of Rivoli turned it into barracks. The edifice was damaged during World War II, and remained in a substantial state of abandon until 1979. In 1984 the castle was reopened as seat of the Museo di Arte Contemporanea, the castle also contains the Michelin-starred restaurant Combal. Zero. The first renovation works was made by the Turin architect Andrea Bruno, unfortunately, the initiative was not completed for the budget was only enough to repair the structure damages. A few years later, in 1967, the same Bruno proceed to break down the parts of the atrium. The palace is the setting for the play King Victor and King Charles by Robert Browning
4.
Rivoli, Piedmont
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Rivoli, is a comune established around the 1st century CE, in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, about 14 kilometres west of Turin. As of 2009, it had a population of 50,115, Rivoli borders the following municipalities, Turin, Pianezza, Caselette, Alpignano, Collegno, Rosta, Grugliasco, Villarbasse, Rivalta di Torino, Orbassano. The Romans conquered the area in 221 BC, the first findings are from the 1st and 2nd century CE, belonging to Roman sepultures. The Castle of Rivoli, a residence of the Royal House of Savoy
5.
Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain
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Catherine Michelle of Spain was a Duchess consort of Savoy by marriage to Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, she also served as Regent of Savoy several times during the absence of her spouse. She was the youngest surviving daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elisabeth of Valois, she was also the sister of Isabella Clara Eugenia, catherine Michelle was described as beautiful, intelligent, arrogant and well aware of her high social status. She had a relationship with her father and exchanged letters with him after her marriage. Charles Emmanuel I suggested the marriage as a way of gaining Spanish support for his plans to expand Savoy on the coast of the then weakened France, the wedding took place in Zaragoza on 11 March 1585 and the couple made their entrance to Turin in Savoy 10 August 1585. Catherine Michelle was initially unpopular because of her arrogance and attempts to introduce Spanish pomp, ceremony, however, she soon gained respect because of her political and diplomatic skill, which she used to defend the autonomy of Savoy against Spain. She refused the Spanish offer to install a Spanish garrison in Turin from Milan with the excuse of giving her a life guard and she is reported to have had great influence on Charles Emmanuel I and to have reformed him for the better. She also served as regent several times during the absence of the duke on military campaigns, catherine Michelle died near the end of 1597, she had miscarried earlier that year. Her father died the following year and her sister Isabella married Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, and later became Governess of the Netherlands. In 1584, she married Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and this marriage produced ten children, Philip Emanuel Victor Amadeus Emanuel Filibert of Savoy, Spanish Viceroy of Sicily
6.
Emanuel Filibert of Savoy
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Emanuel Filibert of Savoy was the third son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Viceroy of Sicily between 1622 and 1624. Born in Turin, Emanuel Filibert of Savoy was the son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. He was destined for a career in the Church and entered at the age of 12 in the Order of the Knights Hospitaller, in 1603 he and his elder brothers, Philip Emanuel and Victor Amadeus, traveled to Madrid, to complete their education. After the death of Philip Emanuel, they returned to Savoy in 1606, in 1610, Emanuel Filibert returned to Madrid, and entered in the service of King Philip III of Spain, who made him Grand Admiral of Spain. Under the next King Philip IV of Spain, Emanuel Filibert was appointed in 1622 viceroy of Sicily and his reign came to an end when he died at the age of 36 in the Plague epidemic of 1624. He was buried in the Royal Crypt of the Escorial, anthony van Dyck made a painting of him in 1623, after being invited by the Viceroy to Palermo. The painting is now conserved in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
7.
Margaret of Savoy, Vicereine of Portugal
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Margaret of Savoy was the last Habsburg Vicereine of Portugal. In Portuguese she is known as Duquesa de Mântua, being by marriage the Duchess of Mantua and she was born in Turin, as the fifth child of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Infanta Catherine Micaela of Spain, the daughter of Philip II of Spain. She was married to the future Francis IV, Duke of Mantua, the wedding was celebrated in Turin. In 1612 Margarets husband succeeded his father, Vincent I, as Duke of Mantua and their marriage produced three children, but only one daughter, Maria, survived childhood. Indeed, it had brought to the Mantuan princely dynasty by the marriage of Margherita Paleologa, Margravine of Montferrat. Accordingly, Marias claims were asserted and Dowager Duchess Margaret required to be made her regent in Montferrat, Duchess Margarets daughter Maria was in 1627 married to Charles, the eldest son of the distant Gonzaga heir-male, in order to join two of the Mantuan claims. They had to war, but in the end their line prevailed and they commanded universal recognition as Dukes of Mantua. She had ancestral links to Portugal, two of her great-grandmothers had been daughters of king Manuel I of Portugal. In 1635, after the demise of the Count of Basto, she was named by her cousin Philip IV of Spain Vicereine of Portugal, at the time in a union with Spain. As a result of the Portuguese revolution of 1640, Vasconcelos was assassinated, the Portuguese proclaimed the duke of Braganza as their new king. Margaret was surrounded in her headquarters in Lisbon, and her support collapsing, at her death, both her grandchildren had already produced great-grandchildren for her. Margaret had three children Maria, married Charles II Gonzaga, duke of Nevers, in 1627
8.
Isabella of Savoy
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Isabella of Savoy was a daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Catherine Michelle of Spain. Her maternal grandparents where Philip II of Spain and Elisabeth of Valois, her grandparents were Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy and Margaret of France. She was the Hereditary Princess of Modena, dying before her husband succeeded to the Duchy of Modena in 1628. Isabella was born in Turin to Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and his wife Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain, in Turin on 22 February 1608 she married Alfonso, Hereditary Prince of Modena, this was a happy marriage, Alfonso was loving and loyal towards his wife. Within two years Isabella bore Alfonso a son, Francesco who would one day succeed his father as Duke of Modena, when Isabella died on 28 August 1626 Alfonso was heartbroken, he never remarried and died in 1644. She died as a result of childbirth and before her husband became duke so she was never Duchess of Modena
9.
Prince Maurice of Savoy
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Maurice of Savoy was a Prince of Savoy and a 17th-century cardinal. He was the son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, aged 14, in 1607, he became cardinal and bishop of Vercelli. In 1642 he left the clergy to become prince of Oneglia, on 28 August 1642 he married his brother Victor Amadeuss daughter Louise-Christine of Savoy in Turin. It was Maurice who owned the future Villa della Regina and was an inhabitant of the future Palazzo Chiablese
10.
Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano
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His mother died the following year. While still a man, Thomas bore arms in the service of the king of Spain in Italy. Not only did Thomas have older brothers, he was but one of the twenty-one acknowledged children of Charles Emmanuel. While only nine of these were legitimate, the others, being the widowed dukes offspring by noble mistresses and he was appointed Grand Maître of the kings household, briefly replacing the traitorous Grand Condé. He engaged the services of the grammarian and courtier Claude Favre de Vaugelas as tutor for his children. This prevented the substitution of Savoyard for French influence in that region, marie did eventually inherit her brothers main holding in France, the county of Soissons, but this would be established as a secundogeniture for the French branch of the family. After Thomas, the branch of his descendants repatriated to Savoy, alternately marrying French. Thomas first recorded service is as a commander in the Piedmontese army under his father in the war against France in 1630 and it was probably around this time that he first encountered Mazarin, who was during 1630-32 in effect a French agent at the Piedmontese court. He managed to rally the remnants at Namur, then retreated before the numerically-superior French and Dutch forces, and he probably served the rest of the campaign with Ferdinand. Late in the year, the refugee Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine arrived in Brussels and met Thomas, they may have formed a joint court, Thomas and Piccolimini subsequently stuck so close to La Force that the French were unable to undertake any serious operations. He took Turin by trickery, but the French continued to control its citadel, in 1640, he held the city in the multi-layered siege of Turin. By late summer, both Thomas and Turenne were seriously ill and Du Plessis Praslin was in temporary command. In 1645, now commanding with Du Plessis Praslin, he took Vigevano, and repulsed a Spanish attempt to block his withdrawal at the River Mora, the nearest he ever came to a success in the field. On his return with the French fleet, Thomas was delayed in Provence, when he returned to Piedmont, Thomas had no choice but to accept the fait accompli, and soon after this he went to live in Paris. During the Fronde, Thomas linked himself closely with Cardinal Mazarin, in the early 1650s, Thomas was seen as an important member of Mazarins party, closely linked to the Cardinal, regularly seen in conference with him, and active in his support. In January 1654, when the last of the offices formerly belonging to the rebel leader Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé were disposed of. On 16 December 1654 he arrived in Turin, to a welcome by the French troops. On April 4,1655, Thomas Francis commanded the Waldensians to attend Mass or remove to the upper valleys, giving them twenty days in which to sell their lands
11.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
12.
House of Savoy
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The House of Savoy is one of the oldest royal families in the world, being founded in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to the attainment of the rank of king in 1713, the Savoyard kings of Italy were Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II. The last monarch ruled for a few weeks before being deposed following the Constitutional Referendum of 1946, the name derives from the historical region of Savoy in the Alpine region between what is now France and Italy. Over time, the House of Savoy expanded its territory and influence through judicious marriages, from rule of a small region on the French/Italian border, the dynastys realm included nearly all of the Italian Peninsula by the time of its deposition. The house descended from Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia, Humberts family are thought to have originated from near Magdeburg in Saxony, with the earliest recording of the family being two 10th century brothers, Amadeus and Humbert. Though Sabaudia was originally a county, later counts were diplomatically skilled. Two of Humberts sons were bishops at the Abbey of Saint Maurice on the River Rhone east of Lake Geneva and this diplomatic skill caused the great powers such as France, England, and Spain to take the counts opinions into account. Piedmont was later joined with Sabaudia, and the name evolved into Savoy, the people of Savoy were descended from the Celts and Romans. In 1494, Charles VIII of France passed through Savoy on his way to Italy and Naples, during the outbreak of the Italian war of 1521-1526, Emperor Charles V stationed imperial troops in Savoy. In 1536, Francis I of France invaded Savoy and Piedmont taking Turin by April of that year, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, fled to Vercelli. He served Philip II as Governor of the Netherlands from 1555 to 1559, in this capacity he led the Spanish invasion of northern France and won a victory at St. Quentin in 1557. He took advantage of various squabbles in Europe to slowly regain territory from both the French and the Spanish, including the city of Turin and he moved the capital of the duchy from Chambéry to Turin. The 17th century brought economic development to the Turin area. Charles Emmanuel II developed the port of Nice and built a road through the Alps towards France, and through skillful political manoeuvres territorial expansion continued. Savoy rule over Sicily lasted only seven years, the crown of Sicily, the prestige of being kings at last, and the wealth of Palermo helped strengthen the House of Savoy further. In 1720 they were forced to exchange Sicily for Sardinia as a result of the War of the Quadruple Alliance, on the mainland, the dynasty continued its expansionist policies as well. In 1798, Joubert occupied Turin and forced Charles Emmanuel IV to abdicate, eventually, in 1814 the kingdom was restored and enlarged with the addition of the former Republic of Genoa by the Congress of Vienna. In the meantime, nationalist figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini were influencing popular opinion, the Kingdom of Italy was the first Italian state to include the Italian Peninsula since the fall of the Roman Empire
13.
Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry
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Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry was the daughter of King Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany. Margaret was born at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 5 June 1523 the youngest daughter and child of King Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany. Margaret was very close to her aunt, Marguerite de Navarre, who took care of her and her sister Madeleine during her childhood. Near the end of 1538, her father and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, agreed that Margaret should marry Charles son, however, the agreement between Francis and Charles was short-lived and the marriage never took place. On 29 April 1550 at the age of 26 she was created suo jure Duchess of Berry, the husband selected for her was Philips ally, Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont. At the time, Margaret was described as having been a lady of excellent breeding. The wedding took place in tragic circumstances, a lance wielded by his opponent the Count of Montgomery accidentally struck his helmet at a point beneath the visor and shattered. The wooden splinters deeply penetrated his eye and entered his brain. Close to death, but still conscious, the ordered that his sisters marriage should take place immediately, for fear that the Duke of Savoy might profit from his death. The ceremony did not take place in Notre Dame Cathedral as had been planned, instead it was a solemn, subdued event conducted at midnight on 9 July in Saint Pauls, a small church not far from the Tournelles Palace where Margarets dying brother was ensconced. Among the few guests was the French queen consort Catherine de Medici who sat by herself, King Henry died the following day. Margaret and her husband had one surviving child, Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy who was born in January 1562. He later married Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain, the daughter of King Philip by his marriage to Margarets niece, Margaret died on 14 September 1574 at the age of 51. She was buried in Turin at the Cathedral of Saint Giovanni Battista, peace of Cateau Cambrésis Duke of Berry
14.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
15.
Giacomo Vighi
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Giacomo Vighi was an Italian painter, he was active mainly in the court of the House of Savoy as a portrait painter. Vighi was born likely in Argenta, near Ferrara and he is said to have painted a loggetta in the tower of Santa Caterina in the Castello di Ferrara, depicting the then princes and princesses of the House of Este. In Turin, he became the official painter of the Royal family. He traveled to France, Spain, Bohemia, and Saxony in this role and he was also commissioned by Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, as a buyer for artworks for the Savoy Palaces. Two of his portraits, Emmanuel Philibert and Carlo Emanuele I, remain in the Galleria Sabauda
16.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
17.
Piedmont
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Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.6 million, the capital of Piedmont is Turin. The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i. e. ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains”. Other towns of Piedmont with more than 20,000 inhabitants sorted by population and it borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43. 3% mountainous, along with areas of hills. Piedmont is the second largest of Italys 20 regions, after Sicily and it is broadly coincident with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po, which rises from the slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and is Italy’s largest river. The Po collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains which surround the region on three sides, from the highest peaks the land slopes down to hilly areas, and then to the upper, and then to the lower great Padan Plain. 7. 6% of the territory is considered protected area. There are 56 different national or regional parks, one of the most famous is the Gran Paradiso National Park located between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, Piedmont was inhabited in early historic times by Celtic-Ligurian tribes such as the Taurini and the Salassi. They were later subdued by the Romans, who founded several colonies there including Augusta Taurinorum, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was repeatedly invaded by the Burgundians, the Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks. In the 9th–10th centuries there were incursions by the Magyars. At the time Piedmont, as part of the Kingdom of Italy within the Holy Roman Empire, was subdivided into several marks, in 1046, Oddo of Savoy added Piedmont to their main territory of Savoy, with a capital at Chambéry. Other areas remained independent, such as the powerful comuni of Asti and Alessandria, the County of Savoy was elevated to a duchy in 1416, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the seat to Turin in 1563. In 1720, the Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, founding what evolved into the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont. A new client republic, the Piedmontese Republic, existed between 1798 and 1799 before it was reoccupied by Austrian and Russian troops, in June 1800 a third client republic, the Subalpine Republic, was established in Piedmont. It fell under full French control in 1801 and it was annexed by France in September 1802, in the congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as a barrier against France. Piedmont was a springboard for Italys unification in 1859–1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820–1821 and this process is sometimes referred to as Piedmontisation. However, the efforts were countered by the efforts of rural farmers
18.
French Wars of Religion
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Approximately 3,000,000 people perished as a result of violence, famine and disease in what is accounted as the second deadliest European religious war. Unlike all other wars at the time, the French wars retained their religious character without being confounded by dynastic considerations. At the conclusion of the conflict in 1598, Huguenots were granted rights and freedoms by the Edict of Nantes. The wars weakened the authority of the monarchy, already fragile under the rule of Francis II and then Charles IX, apart from previously mentioned names, the wars have been variously described as the Eight Wars of Religion, or simply the Wars of Religion. However, the Massacre of Vassy in 1562 is agreed to begin the French Wars of Religion, during this time, complex diplomatic negotiations and agreements of peace were followed by renewed conflict and power struggles. Humanism, until the late 1520s, served as a ground for the French Protestant Reformation. The spirit of the Renaissance interested Francis I and he encouraged the study of the classics by establishing royal professorships in Paris, equipping more people with the knowledge necessary to understand the classics. Francis I had no qualms with the religious order. Through the Concordat of Bologna, Pope Leo X increased the power of the king over the church, nomination of clergy depended upon the kings choice, in France, unlike in Germany, the nobles supported the policies and the status quo of their time. The establishment of the college and the spread of the printing press served the purposes of the Reformation. The printing press made mass production of inexpensive and fueled the spread of knowledge in all disciplines. Interest in the classics soared and literature was available to a wider audience. The accessibility coupled with romanticism for the knowledge from the past that built empires, precise language and eloquence were valued among scholars and true understanding of the classics meant studying them from the originals. Theological and religious thoughts were disseminated at an unprecedented pace, ideas about the Reformation were widespread in France by 1519. John Froben, a humanist printer, published a collection of Luther’s works, in one correspondence, he reported that 600 copies of such works were being shipped to France and Spain and were sold in Paris. The humanist perspective on understanding Scriptures had theological and ecclesiastical implications, studying Scriptures in the original flourished in the Renaissance period. This contrasted the heavy reliance of the church on the Vulgate - the Latin translation of the Bible. The Meaux Circle was formed by a group of humanists including Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Guillaume Briçonnet, bishop of Meaux, in the effort to reform preaching, the Meaux circle was joined by Vatable, a Hebraist and Guillaume Budé the classicist and librarian to the king
19.
Henry III of France
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Henry III was a monarch of the House of Valois who was elected the monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1575 and ruled as King of France from 1574 until his death. He was the last French monarch of the Valois dynasty, as the fourth son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, Henry was not expected to assume the throne of France. He was thus a candidate for the vacant Commonwealth throne. Henrys rule over Commonwealth was brief, but notable, the Henrician Articles he signed into law accepting the Commonwealth throne established Poland as an elective monarchy subject to free election by the Polish nobility. Of his three brothers, two would live long enough to ascend the French throne, but both died young and without a legitimate male heir. He abandoned Commonwealth upon receiving word that he had inherited the throne of France at the age of 22, Henry III was himself a politique, arguing that a strong and religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse. Henry IIIs legitimate heir was his distant cousin Henry, King of Navarre, the Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, sought to exclude Protestants from the succession and championed the Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, as Henry IIIs heir. Henry was born at the royal Château de Fontainebleau, the son of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici and grandson of Francis I of France. His older brothers were Francis II of France, Charles IX of France and he was made Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans in 1560, then Duke of Anjou in 1566. He was his mothers favourite, she called him chers yeux and lavished fondness and his elder brother, Charles, grew to detest him, partially because he resented his better health. In his youth, Henry was considered the best of the sons of Catherine de Medici, unlike his father and elder brothers, he had little interest in the traditional Valois pastimes of hunting and physical exercise. Although he was fond of fencing and skilled in it, he preferred to indulge his tastes for the arts. These predilections were attributed to his Italian mother, at one point in his youth he showed a tendency towards Protestantism as a means of rebelling. At the age of nine, calling himself a little Huguenot, he refused to attend Mass, sang Protestant psalms to his sister Margaret and his mother firmly cautioned her children against such behaviour, and he would never again show any Protestant tendencies. Instead, he became nominally Roman Catholic, reports that Henry engaged in same sex relations with his court favourites, known as the mignons, date back to his own time. Certainly he enjoyed relationships with them. The scholar Louis Crompton provides substantial contemporary evidence of Henry IIIs homosexuality, and it is difficult, he writes, to reconcile the king whose use of favourites is so logically strategic with the man who goes to pieces when one of them dies. In 1570, discussions commenced to arrange for Henry to court Queen Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth, almost 37, was expected by many parties in her country to marry and produce an heir
20.
Marquisate of Saluzzo
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The Marquisate of Saluzzo was a historical Italian state that included French and Piedmont territories on the Alps. The Marquisate of Saluzzo occupied parts of the provinces of Cuneo and Turin, however, Saluzzo was historically the area between the Stura, the Po and the Alps. The del Vasto family, who ruled Saluzzo throughout its period, also owned other areas in Liguria and Italy for the arranged marriages. Probably, if there had not been the Italian advance of Savoy, Saluzzo might have able to conquer other lands in Piedmont. The ancient and noble dynasty of Liguria was located in the region around Ventimiglia, the House of Del Vasto became masters of the city when Ulric Manfred II of Turin chose to enfeoff Boniface del Vasto as marquis. His eldest son Manfred inherited it, from that moment the del Vasto became Marquis of the Piedmontese town and handed the title dynastically as a true signoria. Manfred II tried to extend the marquisate beyond its domain so battled with the Savoy, during his reign, however, he was attentive in developing trade by building the first Alpine tunnel, the Buco di Viso connecting with a safe road Saluzzo with the Dauphiné and Provence. Saluzzo List of Margraves of Saluzzo County of Savoy Duchy of Savoy Piedmont Province of Cuneo
21.
Henry IV of France
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Henry IV, also known by the epithet Good King Henry, was King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first French monarch of the House of Bourbon, baptised as a Catholic but raised in the Protestant faith by his mother Jeanne dAlbret, Queen of Navarre, he inherited the throne of Navarre in 1572 on the death of his mother. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the French Wars of Religion, barely escaping assassination in the St. Bartholomews Day massacre, and later led Protestant forces against the royal army. Henry, as Head of the House of Bourbon, was a direct descendant of Louis IX of France. Upon the death of his brother-in-law and distant cousin Henry III of France in 1589 and he initially kept the Protestant faith and had to fight against the Catholic League, which denied that he could wear Frances crown as a Protestant. To obtain mastery over his kingdom, after four years of stalemate, as a pragmatic politician, he displayed an unusual religious tolerance for the era. Notably, he promulgated the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants and he was assassinated in 1610 by François Ravaillac, a fanatical Catholic, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII. Considered a usurper by some Catholics and a traitor by some Protestants, an unpopular king immediately after his accession, Henrys popularity greatly improved after his death, in light of repeated victories over his enemies and his conversion to Catholicism. The Good King Henry was remembered for his geniality and his concern about the welfare of his subjects. He was celebrated in the popular song Vive le roi Henri, Henry was born in Pau, the capital of the joint Kingdom of Navarre with the sovereign principality of Béarn. His parents were Queen Joan III of Navarre and her consort, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, although baptised as a Roman Catholic, Henry was raised as a Protestant by his mother, who had declared Calvinism the religion of Navarre. As a teenager, Henry joined the Huguenot forces in the French Wars of Religion, on 9 June 1572, upon his mothers death, he became King of Navarre. At Queen Joans death, it was arranged for Henry to marry Margaret of Valois, daughter of Henry II, the wedding took place in Paris on 18 August 1572 on the parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral. On 24 August, the Saint Bartholomews Day Massacre began in Paris, several thousand Protestants who had come to Paris for Henrys wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed. Henry narrowly escaped death thanks to the help of his wife and he was made to live at the court of France, but he escaped in early 1576. On 5 February of that year, he formally abjured Catholicism at Tours and he named his 16-year-old sister, Catherine de Bourbon, regent of Béarn. Catherine held the regency for nearly thirty years, Henry became heir presumptive to the French throne in 1584 upon the death of Francis, Duke of Anjou, brother and heir to the Catholic Henry III, who had succeeded Charles IX in 1574. Because Henry of Navarre was the senior agnatic descendant of King Louis IX, King Henry III had no choice
22.
Bresse
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Bresse is a former French province. It is located in the regions of Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne, the geographical term Bresse has two meanings, Bresse bourguignonne, which is situated in the east of the department of Saône-et-Loire, and Bresse, which is located in the department of Ain. The corresponding adjective is bressan, and the inhabitants are Bressans and it is a plain varying from 600 to 800 feet above the sea, with few eminences and a slight inclination westwards. Heaths and coppice alternate with pastures and arable land, pools and marshes are numerous and its chief rivers are the Veyle, the Reyssouze and the Seille, all tributaries of the Saône. The soil is a gravelly clay but moderately fertile, and cattle-raising is largely carried on, the region is, however, more especially celebrated for its table poultry. During the Middle Ages Bresse belonged to the lords of Bâgé and it was not until the first half of the 15th century that the province, with Bourg as its capital, was founded as such. In 1601 it was ceded to France by the Treaty of Lyon, after which it formed first a separate government, initially, Bâgé was the principal city of the province. But its location, close to the borders of France, encouraged the emergence of Bourg-en-Bresse, the province was coveted by the King of France, who wanted to increase his territory. The flat nature of Bresse was difficult to defend, finally the sovereigns of Savoy agreed to relocate to the Alpine part of the Duchy and to give up Bresse and Bugey in exchange for Château-Dauphin in Piedmont. Bresse is noted for the 1,200,000 chickens per year which are raised primarily outdoors by 330 stockbreeders and they are sold at an average of 10 euros per kilo. The chickens of Bresse, formerly ranging freely, were the first animals to have an Appellation dOrigine Contrôlée, Bresse chickens are noted as the best quality chicken for cooking. The cheese, Bleu de Bresse originates here, Bourg-en-Bresse Louhans A chiefly rural region, Bresse was historically organized around an agricultural economy. The countryside is bocage, resulting in independent individuals within the community, organized around the parish, social structures, then, are defined by a mixture of conservatism, attachment to ancestral values, and direct democratic participation in community life. The traditional festival costumes of Bresse are preserved by historical societies and they include, for the women, a wide-brim hat, in the shape of plate, topped by a black cone. For men, they comprise a blue tunic, a bonnet, long trousers. The conscripts festival is a ceremony for people,20 years of age. It has its roots in the period of conscription founded by General Jourdan in 1798, the people organized festivals before their departure. The ceremonies survive to the present, and are appreciated by the population and these festivals generally take place between January and March
23.
Alps
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The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
24.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
25.
Geneva
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Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic, the municipality has a population of 198,072, and the canton has 484,736 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France, within Swiss territory, the commuter area named Métropole lémanique contains a population of 1.25 million. This area is essentially spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, Geneva is the city that hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, Geneva was ranked as the worlds ninth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Frankfurt, and third in Europe behind London and Zürich. A2009 survey by Mercer found that Geneva has the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world, the city has been referred to as the worlds most compact metropolis and the Peace Capital. In 2009 and 2011, Geneva was ranked as, respectively, the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava, probably from a Celtic toponym *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis, the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva /dʒᵻˈniːvə/ in English, French, Genève, German, Genf, Italian, Ginevra, and Romansh, Genevra. The city in origin shares its name, *genawa estuary, with the Italian port city of Genoa, Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC. It became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, and acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, around this time the House of Savoy came to dominate the city. In the 15th century, a republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In 1541, with Protestantism in the ascendancy, John Calvin, by the 18th century, however, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France also tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, in 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, in 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09 East, at the end of Lake Geneva. It is surrounded by two chains, the Alps and the Jura
26.
Cuirassier
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Cuirassiers were cavalry equipped with armour and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. This French term means one with a cuirass, the armour which they wore. The first cuirassiers were produced as a result of armoured cavalry, such as the man-at-arms and demi-lancer, discarding their lances, in the later 17th century, the cuirassier lost his limb armour and subsequently employed only the cuirass, and sometimes a helmet. By this time, the sword was the weapon of the cuirassier. Cuirassiers achieved increased prominence during the Napoleonic Wars and were last fielded in the stages of World War I. Cuirassiers continue to be employed as ceremonial troops by a number of countries, the first cuirassiers were similar in appearance to the fully armoured Late Medieval man-at-arms. They wore three-quarter armour that covered the upper body as well as the front half of the legs down to the knee. The head was protected by a helm, burgonet or lobster-tailed pot helmet. The torso was protected by a breast and back plate, sometimes reinforced by a placate, the arms and shoulders were fully armoured with pauldrons, rerebraces, elbow couters and vambraces. Armoured gauntlets were often abandoned, particularly for the right hand, long tassets, instead of a combination of short tassets with cuisses, protected the front of the thighs and knees, Riding boots were substituted for lower leg armour. Weapons included a pair of pistols in saddle holsters, sometimes a pick. The armour of a cuirassier was very expensive, in England, in 1629, during the latter half of the 16th century, the heavy knightly lance gradually fell out of use perhaps because of the widespread adoption of the infantry pike. Also, the lance required an amount of practice to perfect its use. The lancer or demi-lancer, when he had abandoned his lance, following some initial successes, this tactic proved to be extremely ineffective as infantry, with superior firearms and numbers could easily outgun the cuirassiers. The change from cavalry being reliant on firearms, to close combat cavalry reliant mainly on the sword was often attributed to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in the 1620s and 1630s. Only two cuirassier regiments were raised during the English Civil War, the Lifeguard of the Earl of Essex, with the refinement of infantry firearms, especially the introduction of the powerful musket, the usefulness of the protection afforded by full armour became greatly lessened. By the mid 17th century, the fully armoured cuirassier was becoming increasingly anachronistic, the cuirassier lost his limb armour and entered the 18th century with just the breast and backplate. Cuirassiers played a prominent role in the armies of Austria, by the time of the French Revolutionary War, few heavy cavalry regiments, excepting those of Austria, wore the cuirass on campaign
27.
L'Escalade
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The celebrations and other commemorative activities are usually held on 12 December or the closest weekend. For years, the duke coveted the wealth of the city-state, when Charles Emmanuel came to the throne of the House of Savoy in 1580, he longed to make Geneva his capital north of the Alps and crush Protestantism. The troops marched along the Arve River at night and assembled at Plainpalais, just outside the walls of Geneva, the original plan was to send in a group of commandos to open the city gate and let the other troops in. The Geneva citizens defeated the invaders by preventing them from scaling the wall using cannon fire, the alarm was raised, the church bells were rung and the Genevese were alerted. The night guard Isaac Mercier succeeded in cutting the rope holding up the portcullis, the populace fought alongside their town militia and the dukes 2000-plus mercenaries were defeated. The Genevese lost 18 men in the fighting, the Savoyards suffered 54 fatalities and the troops had to retreat. According to Genevese legend, Catherine Cheynel, originally from Lyon and the wife of Pierre Royaume, the Royaume family lived just above the La Monnaie town gate. The heavy cauldron of boiling soup landed on the head of a Savoyard attacker, the commotion that this caused also helped to rouse the townsfolk to defend the city. After the defeat, the Duke of Savoy accepted a lasting peace, the story of LEscalade is told in a song called Cé què lainô, written in a Franco-Provençal dialect around 1603 by an unknown author. The song has become the anthem of Geneva, while the complete version comprises 68 stanzas. It was also celebrated in verse by Samuel Chappuzeau in his Genève Délivrée, celebrations include a large marmite made of chocolate and filled with marzipan vegetables and candies wrapped in the Geneva colours of red and gold. It is customary for the eldest and youngest in the room to smash the marmite, while reciting, referring to how Catherine Cheynel, better known as Mère Royaume, poured boiling hot vegetable soup on soldiers climbing up the walls of the city. Other traditions include mulled wine, a serving of soup. It is also common for children in school to prepare vegetable soup, teenagers tend to throw eggs, shaving cream, and flour at each other as part of the celebration. There is also a parade on Friday evening, the names of the eighteen who died—Jacques Billon finally died of his wounds a year later—are called out, one after another. The historical procession on Sunday features more or less 800 people with historical costumes, the fragments of the ladders used by the Savoyards. This parade - organised since 1926 by the Compagnie de 1602 - attracts every year tens of thousand spectators. Since 1978 there has been another element to the celebration of the Escalade, the run traditionally starts in the parc des Bastions and goes through the Old City of Geneva, before finishing near the start again
28.
Marie de' Medici
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Marie de Medici was Queen of France as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici, following the assassination of her husband in 1610, which occurred the day after her coronation, she acted as regent for her son, King Louis XIII of France, until he came of age. She was noted for her ceaseless political intrigues at the French court and she was born as Maria at the Palazzo Pitti of Florence, Italy, the sixth daughter of Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Archduchess Joanna of Austria. Marie was one of seven children, but only she and her sister Eleonora survived to adulthood, Marie is not a male-line descendant of Lorenzo the Magnificent but from Lorenzo the Elder, a branch of the Medici family sometimes referred to as the cadet branch. She does descend from Lorenzo in the female-line however, through his daughter Lucrezia de Medici, nonetheless this cadet branch produced every Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1537 to 1737, and the kings of France from Louis XIII in 1601 to Louis XVI in 1793. This cadet branch is already 700 years old, beginning with Averardo de Medici in 1320 and flourishes to this day with Louis Alphonse and her daughter, Henrietta Maria was queen consort of England, Scotland, and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I. Henrietta Maria, in turn, was mother of two successors, Charles II and James II. Lorenzo the Magnificents line instead became extinct shortly after the death of Lorenzo in 1492, at the time of his death the Medici Bank was already in bankruptcy. A portrait of Marie as a girl shows her with regular features. Her wavy hair was light brown in colour, and she had honey-brown eyes, the painter was from the school of Santi di Tito. She married Henry IV of France in October 1600 following the annulment of his marriage to Margaret of Valois. The wedding ceremony in Florence, Italy was celebrated with 4,000 guests and lavish entertainments, including examples of the newly invented musical genre of opera and she brought as part of her dowry 600,000 crowns. Her eldest son, the future King Louis XIII, was born at Fontainebleau the following year and her husband was almost 47 at the marriage and had a long succession of mistresses. Dynastic considerations required him to take a second wife, the marriage was successful in producing children, but it was not a happy one. The queen feuded with Henrys mistresses in language that shocked French courtiers, when he failed to do so, and instead married Marie, the result was constant bickering and political intrigues behind the scenes. Catherine referred to Maria as the fat bankers daughter, Henry used Maria for breeding purposes exactly as Henry II had treated Catherine de Medici, although the king could have easily banished his mistress, supporting his queen, he never did so. She, in turn, showed sympathy and support to her husbands banished ex-wife Marguerite de Valois. Marie was crowned Queen of France on 13 May 1610, a day before her husbands death, hours after Henrys assassination, she was confirmed as regent by the Parliament of Paris
29.
Louis XIII of France
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Louis XIII was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1610 to 1643 and King of Navarre from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. Shortly before his birthday, Louis became king of France. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during his minority, Louis XIII, taciturn and suspicious, relied heavily on his chief ministers, first Charles dAlbert, duc de Luynes then Cardinal Richelieu, to govern the kingdom of France. King and cardinal are remembered for establishing the Académie française, the reign of Louis the Just was also marked by the struggles against Huguenots and Habsburg Spain. This battle marked the end of Spains military ascendancy in Europe and foreshadowed French dominance in Europe under Louis XIV, his son, born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the oldest child of King Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de Medici. As son of the king, he was a Fils de France and his father Henry IV was the first French king of the House of Bourbon, having succeeded his ninth cousin, Henry III of France, in application of Salic law. Louis XIIIs paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme and his maternal grandparents were Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Eleonora de Medici, his aunt, was his godmother. His mother Marie de Medici acted as Regent until 1617, although Louis XIII became of age at thirteen, his mother did not give up her position as Regent until 1617. Marie maintained most of her husbands ministers, with the exception of Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully and she mainly relied on Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, and Pierre Jeannin for political advice. Marie pursued a policy, confirming the Edict of Nantes. She was not, however, able to prevent rebellion by nobles such as Henri, Prince of Condé second in line to the throne after Maries second surviving son Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Condé squabbled with Marie in 1614, and briefly raised an army, but he found support in the country. Nevertheless, Marie agreed to call an Estates General assembly to address Condés grievances, the assembly of this Estates General was delayed until Louis XIII formally came of age on his thirteenth birthday. Although Louiss coming-of-age formally ended Maries Regency, she remained the de facto ruler of France, the Estates General accomplished little, spending its time discussing the relationship of France to the Papacy and the venality of offices, but reaching no resolutions. Beginning in 1615, Marie came to rely increasingly on the Italian Concino Concini, Concini was widely unpopular because he was a foreigner. This further antagonised Condé, who launched another rebellion in 1616, Huguenot leaders supported Condés rebellion, which led the young Louis XIII to conclude that they would never be loyal subjects. Eventually, Condé and Queen Marie made peace via the Treaty of Loudun, which allowed Condé great power in government, but did not remove Concini
30.
Alba, Piedmont
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Alba is a town and comune of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of Cuneo. It is considered the capital of the UNESCO Human Heritage hilly area of Langhe, the confectionery group Ferrero is based there. Alba was the birthplace of Publius Helvius Pertinax, briefly Roman emperor in 193, after the fall of the Western Empire, the city was repeatedly sacked by Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks, Hungarians and Saracens. In the 11th century it became a commune and was a member of the Lombard League. Montferrat and the Visconti fought over the town, later it became a possession of the Gonzaga, charles Emmanuel I of Savoy conquered it twice, while later France and Spain battled for its possession. The Treaty of Cherasco assigned Alba definitively to Savoy, during Napoleonic Wars, it was part of the Republic of Alba and of the Subalpine Republic, both French clients, before being annexed to the French Empire in 1802. It was an arrondissement center in firstly Tanaro department between 1802-1805, later in Stura one between 1805-1814 before liberation by Austrian troops and it was returned to Kingdom of Sardinia in 1814. Alba won a Gold Medal for Military Valour for the activity of its citizens in the Italian resistance movement during the course of World War II. On 10 October 1944, the town was liberated by partisans who established a Republic of Alba which for a few weeks was able to maintain its independence from the Fascist Republic of Salò, the republic lasted to 2 November 1944, when Republic of Salo retook it. It was finally liberated by French troops on 2 May 1945, of the Roman city, which had a polygonal form, parts of the fortified gate and remains of some edifices with marble and mosaics can still be seen. Other attractions include, The Palazzo Comunale and the Bishops Palace, some towers of the 14th and 15th centuries, Alba was once known as the City with hundred towers. The Romanesque Alba Cathedral of San Lorenzo, built in the 12th century and it was restructured in the 15th century, by bishop Andrea Novelli, and again in the following centuries. The current appearance is from the restoration of the 19th century. The church is known for its wood-carved chorus made in 1512 by Bernardino Fossati. The current belfry, from the 12th century, includes entirely the original bell tower, the Gothic church of San Domenico, the most artistically relevant church in town. It has a portal with a triple arch within a pointed arch. During the Napoleonic Wars it was used a stable, and was reconsecrated on 22 June 1827, the Baroque church of St. John the Baptist, housing a Madonna of the Graces by Barnaba da Modena and a Madonna with Saints by Macrino dAlba. The city museums include the F. Eusebio Municipal Museum of Archaeology, in addition to traditional agriculture, Alba is a very important center of wine
31.
Christine of France
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Christine Marie of France was the sister of Louis XIII and the Duchess of Savoy by marriage. At the death of her husband Victor Amadeus I in 1637, Christine was born in the Palais du Louvre in Paris, she was the third child and second daughter of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, the Italian Marie de Medici. As a daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France and she was a younger sister of Louis XIII of France and Elisabeth of France. She was also a sister of Nicholas Henri, Duke of Orléans, Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Christine was a sister-in-law of Philip IV of Spain through Élisabeth, after her marriage, the style went to her younger sister Henrietta Maria of France. She married Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, on 10 February 1619 at the Louvre in the capital, from 1619 till her husbands accession, she was known as the Princess of Piedmont. He was a son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, caterina Micaela was in turn a daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elisabeth of Valois. Elisabeth was a daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici and she was said to be volatile and frivolous. Educated at the French court, she introduced French culture to the court of Savoy and she was also the driving force for the reconstruction of the Castello del Valentino as well as the additions to the Royal Palace of Turin. She would also later own Vigna di Madama Reale, old residence of her brother in law Maurice of Savoy and she did as much as she could to ensure that her court rivalled in splendour that of her sister Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England. The sisters would have somewhat of a rivalry and she did not keep it a secret that she would rather be a queen than a duchess, she also wanted to transform the minor Duchy of Savoy into a little France. Victor Amadeus became Duke after the death of his father on 26 July 1630, when her husband died in 1637, she was created regent in the name of her son Francis Hyacinth. At the death of Francis Hyacinth in 1638, her second son Charles Emmanuel II succeeded, both Prince Maurice and his younger brother Prince Thomas of Savoy disputed the power of their sister-in-law and her French entourage. When the first heir Francis Hyacinth died in 1638, both started the Piedmontese Civil War, with Spanish support. The two parties were called principisti and madamisti, Christine was notorious as much for her capricious rule as for her many lovers, a trait from her father Henry IV who was famed for his many lovers also. After four years of fighting, Christine was victorious, thanks to French military support, not only did she keep the Duchy for her son, she also prevented France getting too much power in the Duchy. She encouraged her son Charles Emmanuel to marry her niece Françoise Madeleine dOrléans, Christine died at the Palazzo Madama, Turin on 27 Dec 1663 at the age of 57 and was buried at the Basilica of SantAndrea. She had outlived 4 of her seven children, Françoise Madeleine died in January 1664 and her son later married another cousin, Marie Jeanne of Savoy
32.
Relief of Genoa
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The Relief of Genoa took place between 28 March 1625 and 24 April 1625, during the Thirty Years War. In 1625, when the Republic of Genoa, traditionally an ally of Spain, was occupied by French troops of the Duke of Savoy, the city underwent a hard siege. However, the Spanish fleet commanded by General Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz, came to the aid of Genoa, the joint Franco-Piedmontese army was forced to leave Liguria and Spanish troops invaded Piedmont, thereby securing the Spanish Road. Richelieus Invasion of Genoa and the Valtelline had resulted in his humiliation by the Spaniards, in northern Italy, Philip IV of Spain had followed his fathers efforts to defend Catholics in the valleys of Valtellina against the Protestants in Graubünden. In 1622 Richelieu had arranged an anti-Spanish league with Venice and Savoy, with his ascendancy, the French policy changed. Consequently, Spain formed an alliance with the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the Duke of Modena and Parma, the irony of a Cardinal attacking the troops of a Pope was not lost on Rome, Spain, and ultra-Catholics in France. In 1625 the French marshals François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières and Charles de Blanchefort, Marquis de Créquy, joined the Duke of Savoy, an attack on Genoa would cut the southern end of the Spanish Road and knock out Spains banker. The time seemed opportune, with the apparent convergence of Protestant hostility to the Habsburgs, Richelieu hoped Britain and the Dutch would send a fleet to assist his own squadron in cutting the seaway between Spain and Genoa, while Venice attacked Milan. François Annibal dEstrées, Duke of Estrées and 3,500 French troops crossed Protestant Swiss territory to join a number of Rhetians levied with French money. More subsidies and troops poured into Savoy, where the French formed a third of the 30, the attack caught the Genoese Republic unprepared. Most of the Republic was overrun, while 4,000 reinforcements from Spain were intercepted by French warships in March, by this time Cardinal Richelieu remarked, The Duke of Estrées quickly conquered the Valtellina, because the Papal garrisons offered no resistance except at Riva and Chiavenna. Richelieus elaborate plan then began to unravel, the Valtellina operation placed France in direct opposition to an essentially Francophile papacy, incensing the dévots. Venice abstained from the fighting, while British and Dutch support failed to materialize, enabling Spain to break through the relatively weak French fleet, Genoese doge Alessandro Giustiniani, wrote, France also sent financial help to the Dutch Republic, and subsidised the siege of Mansfeld. By February the invaders were within sight of the city and began to occupy the western riviera, in March Genoa was attacked by the combined army and the French fleet threatened to cut communications with Spain, capturing three Genoese ships carrying nearly 650,000 pieces of eight. Above all, Spanish naval superiority would make an effective blockade of Genoa impossible. Despite these dangers the Duke de Lesdigueres and constable of France, moved down through Piedmont to blockade Genoa with an army of 23,000 men, one third of whom were French. Genoa entrusted the command of his army to the Carlo Doria, Duke of Tursi and his field master Giovanni Gerolamo Doria. Spanish infantry from Naples embarked, carrying a total of 4,000 soldiers among whom 2,000 were elite infantry tercios viejos from the Army of Flanders, Santa Cruz reached Genoa and was received with great joy by the decayed spirits of the citizens
33.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
34.
Genoa
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Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trades included skins, wood, and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was also found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
35.
Casale Monferrato
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Casale Monferrato is a town in the Piedmont region in Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about 60 km east of Turin on the bank of the Po. Beyond the river lies the vast plain of the Po valley, since it became a Roman municipium the town has been the most important center of the zone. Then the Gonzaga got hold of the town and built one of the biggest and most important citadel of Europe, thousands of inhabitants of Casale have died from mesothelioma, a fatal disease caused by the breathing of asbestos. The origins of the town are fairly obscure and it is known that the Gaulish settlement of Vardacate existed on the Po in this area, and that it became a Roman municipium. By the beginning of the 8th century, there was a town under Lombard rule. It was here that one Saint Evasius, along with 146 followers, was decapitated on the orders of the Arian Duke Attabulo, liutprand, King of the Lombards is said to have supported the construction of a church in honour of Evasius. Certainly the martyr’s cult flourished, and by 988 AD, the town had become known as Casale di Sant’Evasio. At the time of Charlemagne, the town came under the temporal and religious power of the bishops of Vercelli, from which it was freed by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy. It was sacked by the troops of Vercelli, Alessandria and Milan in 1215. It fell under the power of the Marquess of Montferrat in 1292, Gian Galeazzo spent 300,000 golden florins in attempting to turn from their courses the river Mincio from the city of Mantua, but Gian Galeazzo died. In 1536 it passed to the Gonzagas of Mantua, who fortified it strongly, thereafter it was of considerable importance as a fortress. In 1745, following the defeat of the Piedmontese army at the Battle of Bassignano, Casale was occupied by the victorious French, much damage was caused to the city’s buildings, the subsequent renovation and rebuilding in the Baroque style made a substantial contribution to the urban texture. It successfully resisted the Austrians in 1849, and was strengthened in 1852, the historic centre of the town is itself centred on Piazza Mazzini, the site of the Roman forum. Locally the square is called Piazza Cavallo, a little to the east of the square is the Lombard Romanesque cathedral of SantEvasio, founded in 742, rebuilt in the early 12th century and consecrated on 7 January 1107 by Pope Paschal II. It occupies a site once was a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter. It underwent restoration in 1706 and again in the 19th century, the cathedral has an asymmetric façade, including a complex narthex with two galleries connected by a tribune and closed by round arches. The interior houses the relics of Saint Evasius and, near the presbytery, work on the building ceased for some time, as a result of political instability, in the early 16th century a fine, if slightly incongruous, Renaissance portal was imposed on the late Gothic façade
36.
Cardinal Richelieu
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Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu and Fronsac, commonly referred to as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616, Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIIIs chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642, he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, Cardinal de Richelieu was often known by the title of the kings Chief Minister or First Minister. He sought to consolidate power and crush domestic factions. By restraining the power of the nobility, he transformed France into a strong and his chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty, and to ensure French dominance in the Thirty Years War that engulfed Europe. Although he was a cardinal, he did not hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to achieve his goals. While a powerful figure, events like the Day of the Dupes show that in fact he very much depended on the kings confidence to keep this power. As alumnus of the University of Paris and headmaster of the Collège de Sorbonne, Richelieu was also famous for his patronage of the arts, most notably, he founded the Académie Française, the learned society responsible for matters pertaining to the French language. Richelieu is also known by the sobriquet lÉminence rouge, from the red shade of a cardinals clerical dress and this in part allowed the colony to eventually develop into the heartland of Francophone culture in North America. He is also a character in The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Born in Paris, Armand du Plessis was the fourth of five children, at the age of nine, young Richelieu was sent to the College of Navarre in Paris to study philosophy. Thereafter, he began to train for a military career and his private life seems to have been typical of a young officer of the era, in 1605, aged twenty, he was treated by Théodore de Mayerne for gonorrhea. King Henry III had rewarded Richelieus father for his participation in the Wars of Religion by granting his family the bishopric of Luçon. The family appropriated most of the revenues of the bishopric for private use, they were, however, challenged by clergymen, to protect the important source of revenue, Richelieus mother proposed to make her second son, Alphonse, the bishop of Luçon. Alphonse, who had no desire to become a bishop, became instead a Carthusian monk, thus, it became necessary that the younger Richelieu join the clergy. He had strong interests, and threw himself into studying for his new post. In 1606 King Henry IV nominated Richelieu to become Bishop of Luçon, as Richelieu had not yet reached the canonical minimum age, it was necessary that he journey to Rome for a special dispensation from the Pope. This secured, Richelieu was consecrated bishop in April 1607, soon after he returned to his diocese in 1608, Richelieu was heralded as a reformer
37.
Susa, Piedmont
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Susa is a city and comune in Piedmont, Italy. In the middle of Susa Valley, it is situated on at the confluence of the Cenischia with the Dora Riparia, Susa was founded by the Gauls. In the late 1st century BC it became part of the Roman Empire. Remains of the Roman city have found in the excavations of the central square. Susa was the capital of the province of Alpes Cottiae, according to the medieval historian Rodulfus Glaber, Susa was the oldest of Alpine towns. In the Middle and Modern ages Susa remained important as a hub of connecting southern France to Italy. Taking part of the county or march of Turin, henry of Segusio, usually called Hostiensis, an Italian canonist of the thirteenth century, was born in the city. During the Napoleonic era a new road, the Via Napoleonica, was built, the citys role as a communications hub has been confirmed recently by a nationwide dispute over the construction of the proposed Turin-Lyon high-speed rail link to France. The triumphal Arch of Augustus, erected by a Romanized Sugusian chief to Augustus in 8 BC and it is likely located in the same site of the ancient Roman Praetorium. Barnstaple, United Kingdom Briançon, France Paola, Italy Val di Susa Treno Alta Velocità Roman Catholic Diocese of Susa Bertrand, E. R. Talbert, T. Elliott, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list
38.
Philip IV of Spain
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Philip IV of Spain was King of Spain and Portugal as Philip III. He ascended the thrones in 1621 and reigned in Spain until his death, Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the challenging period of the Thirty Years War. Philip IV was born in Valladolid, and was the eldest son of Philip III and his wife, Philip had seven children by Elisabeth, with only one being a son, Balthasar Charles, who died at the age of sixteen in 1646. The death of his son deeply shocked the king, who appears to have been a father by the standards of the day. Philip remarried in 1646, following the deaths of both Elisabeth and his legitimate heir. Perceptions of Philips personality have altered considerably over time, victorian authors were inclined to portray him as a weak individual, delegating excessively to his ministers, and ruling over a debauched Baroque court. Victorian historians even attributed the death of Baltasar to debauchery. The doctors who treated the Prince at that time in fact diagnosed smallpox, Philip was idealised by his contemporaries as the model of Baroque kingship. Philip was a horseman, a keen hunter and a devotee of bull-fighting. Privately, Philip appears to have had a lighter persona, when he was younger, he was said to have a keen sense of humour and a great sense of fun. He privately attended academies in Madrid throughout his reign — these were lighthearted literary salons, aiming to analyse contemporary literature, a keen theatre-goer, he was sometimes criticised by contemporaries for his love of these frivolous entertainments. Others have captured his private personality as naturally kind, gentle and affable and those close to him claimed he was academically competent, with a good grasp of Latin and geography, and could speak French, Portuguese and Italian well. Like many of his contemporaries, including Olivares, he had a keen interest in astrology and his handwritten translation of Francesco Guicciardinis texts on political history still exists. Although Philips Catholic beliefs no longer attract criticism from English language writers, notably, from the 1640s onwards he sought the advice of a noted cloistered abbess, Sor María de Ágreda, exchanging many letters with her. By the end of the reign, and with the health of Carlos José in doubt, there was a possibility of Juan Josés making a claim on the throne. Philip IV came to power as the influence of the Sandovals was being undermined by a new noble coalition, over the course of at least a year, however, the relationship became very close, with Philips tendency towards underconfidence and diffidence counteracted by Olivares drive and determination. Philip retained Olivares as his confidant and chief minister for the twenty years. Philip himself argued that it was appropriate for the king himself to go house to house amongst his ministers to see if his instructions were being carried out
39.
Como
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Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Como. With 215,320 overnight guests, in 2013 Como was the fourth most visited city in Lombardy after Milan, Bergamo, the hills surrounding the current location of Como have been inhabited, since at least the Bronze Age, by a Celtic tribe known as the Orobii. Remains of settlements are still present on the wood covered hills to the South West of town, around the 1st century BC, the territory became subject to the Romans. The newly founded town was named Novum Comum and had the status of municipium, in 774, the town surrendered to invading Franks led by Charlemagne, and became a center of commercial exchange. In 1127, Como lost a war with the nearby town of Milan. A few decades later, with the help of Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick promoted the construction of several defensive towers around the city limits, of which only one, the Baradello, remains. Subsequently, the history of Como followed that of the Ducato di Milano, through the French invasion and the Spanish domination, until 1714, Napoleon descended into Lombardy in 1796 and ruled it until 1815, when the Austrian rule was resumed after the Congress of Vienna. Finally in 1859, with the arrival of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the town was freed from the Austrians, as a curiosity, the Rockefeller fountain that today stands in the Bronx Zoo in New York City was once in the main square by the lakeside. It was bought by William Rockefeller in 1902 for 3,500 lire, nearby major cities are Varese, Lecco and Lugano. Wind is quite rare, only sudden bursts of foehn or thunderstorms manage to sweep the air clean, pollution levels rise significantly in winter when cold air clings to the soil. Rain is more frequent during spring, summer is subject to thunderstorms and, occasionally, Como Cathedral, construction began in 1396 on the site of the previous Romanesque church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The façade was built in 1457, with the rose window. The construction was finished in 1740, the interior is on the Latin cross plan, with Gothic nave and two aisles divided by piers, while the transept wing and the relative apses are from the Renaissance age. It includes a carved 16th century choir and tapestries on cartoons by Giuseppe Arcimboldi, the dome is a rococo structure by Filippo Juvarra. Other artworks include 16th–17th century tapestries and 16th century paintings by Bernardino Luini, San Fedele, a Romanesque church erected around 1120 over a pre-existing central plan edifice. The original bell tower was rebuilt in modern times, the main feature is the famous Door of St. Fedele, carved with medieval decorations. SantAgostino, built by the Cistercians in the early 14th century, the interior and adjoining cloister have 15th–17th century frescoes, but most of the decoration is Baroque
40.
Pinerolo
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Pinerolo is a town and comune in Piedmont, northwestern Italy,50 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary between Pinerolo and San Pietro Val di Lemina, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance was the origin of the military school that still exists today. The fortress of Fenestrelle is nearby, later Pinerolo was ruled by the abbot nullius of Pinerolo who ran the abbey of Abbadia Alpina, even after the city had established itself as a municipality under the government of Thomas II of Savoy. From 1235, Amadeus IV of Savoy exercised over the town a kind of protectorate which became absolute in 1243, when French troops invaded Piedmont, Pinerolo was conquered and it remained under their control until 1574. With the treaty of Cherasco it again fell to France, the 2011 Tour de France featured a stage in the area. It is around Pinerolo that revolves the economy of the waldensian valleys, several industries have their base in this area, particularly mechanical, paper making, chemical and textile industries, and also absorb manpower from the nearby centres. Moreover, Pinerolo is the center of the surrounding mountain area. The agriculture and the breeding of the livestock are conducted with advanced techniques, the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned in Pinerolo starting from 1669. The venue Pinerolo Palaghiaccio hosted curling events at the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Uruguayan football team Peñarol takes its name from the Montevideo neighbourhood of Peñarol, which in turn takes its name from this town. Gap, France, since 1963 Traunstein, Germany, since 1986 San Francisco, Argentina, since 1996 Derventa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, since 2005 Diocese of Pinerolo
41.
Avigliana
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Avigliana is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, with about 11,000 inhabitants, located about 25 kilometres west of Turin. Avigliana lies in the Susa valley, on the highway going from Turin to Frejus and it is best known for two maar lakes, Lago Grande and Lago Piccolo. Also nearby is the massive Sacra di San Michele, in 574 the Lombard King Cleph built a castle here. According to some sources, the battle between the Franks of Pippin the Younger and the Lombards of Aistulf occurred in the nearby in 750, later Avigliana depended from the Abbey of Novalesa. Later it was a possession of the House of Savoy, Avigliana was captured by Emperor Henry VI in 1187, but later it was acquired by Thomas I of Savoy. In 1536, in the course of the Italian Wars, it was stormed by French troops. French attacks repeated in 1630 and 1690, the latter with the destruction of the castle, ruins of the castle, destroyed in the 17th century by the French. Church of San Giovanni, with works by Defendente Ferrari. The Romanesque church of San Pietro, natural Park of the Lakes of Avigliana. Avigliana has two gates on the A32 Bardonecchia-Turin motorway and it has also a station on the Turin-Modane railroad
42.
Serbia in the Middle Ages
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Тhe medieval history of Serbia begins in the 6th century with the Slavic invasion of the Balkans, and lasts until the Ottoman occupation of 1540. Sclaveni raided and settled the western Balkans in the 6th and 7th century, through linguistical studies, it is concluded that the Early South Slavs were made up of a western and eastern branch, of parallel streams, roughly divided in the Timok–Osogovo–Šar line. The DAI drew information on the Serbs from, among others, the first capital was Ras, in Raška. The other Serb-inhabited lands that were mentioned included the countries of Paganija, Zahumlje and Travunija and these polities bordered Serbia to the north. The exact borders of the early Serbian state are unclear, the Serbian ruler was titled Prince of the Serbs. The DAI mentions that the Serbian throne is inherited by the son, i. e. the first-born, his descendants succeeded him, between 1043 and 1080, under Mihailo Vojislavljević, and his son, Constantine Bodin, Duklja saw its apogee. Mihailo was given the nominal title King of Slavs by the Pope after having left the Byzantine camp and supported a Slavic uprising in the Balkans, in which his son Bodin played a central part. Having incorporated the Serbian hinterland and installed vassal rulers there, this maritime principality emerged as the most powerful Serb polity, between 1113 and 1149 Duklja was the centre of Serbian–Byzantine conflict, with members of the Vojislavljević as protégés of either fighting each other for power. The Serbian Grand Principality, also known as Rascia, was founded in 1090, when Bodin had died, Rascia became the strongest entity, in which the Serbian realm would be seated, in hands of the Vukanović dynasty. Uroš I, the son of Vukan, ruled Serbia when the Byzantines invaded Duklja, and Rascia would be next in line, Uroš II initially fought the Byzantines, but after a defeat soon gives oaths of servitude to the Emperor. Desa, the brother of Uroš II and an initial Byzantine ally, turned to Hungarian support, but was deposed in 1163, Stefan Nemanja was succeeded by his middle son Stefan, while his first-born son Vukan was given the rule of the Zeta region. Stefan Nemanjas youngest son Rastko became a monk, turning all his efforts to spread religion among his people, since the Catholic Church already had ambitions to spread its influence to the Balkans as well, Stefan took advantage and obtained the royal crown from the Pope in 1217. In Byzantium, Sava managed to secure autocephaly for the Serbian Church, in the same year Sava issued the first constitution in Serbia, the Zakonopravilo. Thus the medieval Serbian state acquired both forms of independence, political and religious, the next generation of Serbian rulers, the sons of King Stefan, Stefan Radoslav, Stefan Vladislav and Stefan Uroš I, marked a period of stagnation of the state structure. All three kings were more or less dependent on some of the neighbouring states—Byzantium, Bulgaria or Hungary, the ties with the Hungarians played a decisive role in the fact that Uroš I was succeeded by his son Stefan Dragutin, whose wife was a Hungarian princess. Thus, some of these became part of the Serbian state for the first time. His new state was named Kingdom of Srem, in that time the name Srem was a designation for two territories, Upper Srem and Lower Srem. Kingdom of Srem under the rule of Stefan Dragutin was actually Lower Srem, after Dragutin died, the new ruler of the Kingdom of Srem became his son, king Vladislav II, who ruled this state until 1325
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