1.
Loggia del Mercato Nuovo
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The Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, popularly known as the Loggia del Porcellino, is a building in Florence, Italy. It is so called to distinguish it from the Mercato vecchio located in the area of todays Piazza della Repubblica, the loggia was built around the middle of the 16th century in the heart of the city, just a few steps from the Ponte Vecchio. Initially, it was intended for the sale of silk and luxury goods and then for the straw hats. In the corner niches statues of famous Florentines were intended to be placed, the focal point of the loggia is the Fontana del Porcellino, actually a copy of a bronze wild boar by Pietro Tacca from the sixteenth century marble. In 2008 the Pietro Taccas masterpiece was replaced with a copy cast by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry in 1998. The original marble of the Porcellino can be found at Palazzo Pitti, popular tradition has it that rubbing the nose brings fortune, so over time, the statue has acquired a certain shine in that spot. The slope of the grate is such that most coins do fall through, there is a copy of Il Porcellino outside Sydney Hospital and passers-by drop coins and rub its nose in the same way. Another oddity of the place is the so-called pietra dello scandalo, a spot marked in bicoloured marble at the centre of the loggia. The design reproduces one of the wheels of a medieval Carroccio, symbol of the Florentine republic, the Carroccio was placed on this spot and Florentine troops met around it before every battle. The spot was chosen for another purpose, whence its alternative name pietra dellacculata. During the Renaissance, the punishment of insolvent debtors included being chained to a post on this spot, the popular expression stare col culo a terra and the word sculo may have originated from this practice
2.
Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
3.
Official
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An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority. A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in administration or government, through either election, appointment, selection. A bureaucrat or civil servant is a member of the bureaucracy, an elected official is a person who is an official by virtue of an election. Officials may also be appointed ex officio, some official positions may be inherited. A person who holds an office is referred to as an incumbent. The word official as a noun has been recorded since the Middle English period and it comes from the Old French official, from the Latin officialis, the noun use of the original adjective officialis from officium. The meaning person in charge of public work or duty was first recorded in 1555. The adjective is first attested in English in 1533 via the Old French oficial, the informal term officialese, the jargon of officialdom, was first recorded in 1884. An officialis was the term for any member of the officium of a high dignitary such as a governor. The 1983 Code of Canon Law gives precedence to the title Judicial Vicar, the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches uses only the title Judicial Vicar. The title of principal, together with that of vicar-general, has in Anglicanism been merged in that of Diocesan chancellor of a diocese. The term officer is close to being a synonym, a functionary is someone who carries out a particular role within an organization, this again is quite a close synonym for official, as a noun, but with connotations closer to bureaucrat. Any such person acts in their capacity, in carrying out the duties of their office, they are also said to officiate. A public official is an official of central or local government, some examples, An official holiday is a public holiday, having national recognition. An official language is a recognised by a government, for its own use in administration. An official spokesperson is an individual empowered to speak for the government, or some part of it such as a ministry, on a range of issues and on the record for the media. An official statement is an issued by an organisation as an expression of its position or opinion. Official policy is policy publicly acknowledged and defended by an organisation, in these cases unofficial is an antonym, and variously may mean informal, unrecognised, personal or unacknowledged
4.
Chronicler
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A chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events and this is in contrast to a narrative or history, which sets selected events in a meaningful interpretive context and excludes those the author does not see as important. Some made use of materials, charters, letters, or the works of earlier chroniclers. Still others are tales of such unknown origins so as to hold mythical status, copyists also affected chronicles in creative copying, making corrections or in updating or continuing a chronicle with information not available to the original author. The reliability of a chronicle is an important determination for modern historians. In modern times various contemporary newspapers or other periodicals have adopted chronicle as part of their name, various fictional stories have also adopted chronicle as part of their title, to give an impression of epic proportion to their stories. A chronicle which traces world history is called a universal chronicle, scholars categorize the genre of chronicle into two subgroups, live chronicles, and dead chronicles. A dead chronicle is one where the author gathers his list of events up to the time of his writing, a live chronicle is where one or more authors add to a chronicle in a regular fashion, recording contemporary events shortly after they occur. Because of the immediacy of the information, historians tend to value live chronicles, such as annals, the earliest medieval chronicle to combine both retrospective and contemporary entries, is the Chronicle of Ireland, which spans the years 431 to 911. Chronicles are the predecessors of modern time lines rather than analytical histories, if the chronicles deal with events year by year, they are often called annals. Unlike the modern historian, most chroniclers tended to take their information as they found it, the point of view of most chroniclers is highly localised, to the extent that many anonymous chroniclers can be sited in individual abbeys. Later 16th century Scottish chronicles, written after the Reformation, shape history according to Catholic or Protestant viewpoints. It is impossible to say how many chronicles exist, as the many ambiguities in the definition of the make it impossible to draw clear distinctions of what should or should not be included. However, the Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle lists some 2,500 items written between 300 and 1500 AD
5.
Chronicle
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A chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events and this is in contrast to a narrative or history, which sets selected events in a meaningful interpretive context and excludes those the author does not see as important. Some made use of materials, charters, letters, or the works of earlier chroniclers. Still others are tales of such unknown origins so as to hold mythical status, copyists also affected chronicles in creative copying, making corrections or in updating or continuing a chronicle with information not available to the original author. The reliability of a chronicle is an important determination for modern historians. In modern times various contemporary newspapers or other periodicals have adopted chronicle as part of their name, various fictional stories have also adopted chronicle as part of their title, to give an impression of epic proportion to their stories. A chronicle which traces world history is called a universal chronicle, scholars categorize the genre of chronicle into two subgroups, live chronicles, and dead chronicles. A dead chronicle is one where the author gathers his list of events up to the time of his writing, a live chronicle is where one or more authors add to a chronicle in a regular fashion, recording contemporary events shortly after they occur. Because of the immediacy of the information, historians tend to value live chronicles, such as annals, the earliest medieval chronicle to combine both retrospective and contemporary entries, is the Chronicle of Ireland, which spans the years 431 to 911. Chronicles are the predecessors of modern time lines rather than analytical histories, if the chronicles deal with events year by year, they are often called annals. Unlike the modern historian, most chroniclers tended to take their information as they found it, the point of view of most chroniclers is highly localised, to the extent that many anonymous chroniclers can be sited in individual abbeys. Later 16th century Scottish chronicles, written after the Reformation, shape history according to Catholic or Protestant viewpoints. It is impossible to say how many chronicles exist, as the many ambiguities in the definition of the make it impossible to draw clear distinctions of what should or should not be included. However, the Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle lists some 2,500 items written between 300 and 1500 AD
6.
Nuova Cronica
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The Nuova Cronica or New Chronicles is a 14th-century history of Florence created in a year-by-year linear format and written by the Florentine banker and official Giovanni Villani. In his Cronica, Villani described in detail the many building projects of the city, statistical information on population, ordinances, commerce and trade, education, and religious facilities. He also described several disasters such as famines, floods, fires, and the pandemic of the Black Death in 1348, Villanis work on the Cronica was continued by his brother and nephew after his death. It has been described as the first introduction of statistics as an element in history. The oldest manuscript is Vatican Library BAV Chigiano L VIII296, Giovanni Villanis Cronica is divided into twelve books, the first six deal with the largely legendary history of Florence, starting at conventionally Biblical times to 1264. The second phase, in six books, covers the history from 1264 until his own time, However, his description of such events as the Battle of Crécy in 1346 was fairly accurate according to historian Kelly De Vries. In his Cronica, Villani writes that the Guelph defeat by the Ghibellines at Montaperti in 1260 was a setback to the historical progress of the Republic of Florence. According to Villani, the Florentine Guelphs last stand was in defending the Carroccio, Villani describes the rebuilding of Florence after the 1293 rebellion of one Giano della Bella, he notes that by 1296 conditions were once again in a tranquil state. A new foundation was laid in September of that year, adding new marble, Villani mentions the cardinal legate sent by the Pope in Rome who laid the first stone of the foundation, a significant event since it was the first papal legate to visit Florence. On July 18,1334, work began on the new campanile of the cathedral, the first stone placed by the bishop of Florence in front of an audience of clergy, priors, and other magistrates. Villani notes that the commune chose our fellow-citizen Giotto as the designer of the tower, a man who was the most sovereign master of painting in his time. According to Villani, in 1299, the commune and people of Florence laid the foundation for the Palazzo Vecchio, according to Villani, the Uberti family was not even allowed to return to Florence. In planning for the large expanse of the plaza, the commune of Florence purchased the homes of such as the Foraboschi family. In fact, the tower of the Palazzo was built upon a previously existing tower of the Foraboschi family known as La Vacca or The Cow. Villani boasts of Florences pristine architecture in its monasteries and churches, as well as its ornate houses and his opinion is clear even in the title of the chapter he devotes to this topic, More on the greatness and status and magnificence of the city of Florence. Villani also describes the trend in the early 14th century of affluent Florentine citizens building large country homes far outside the walls of Florence. While holding the signoria of Florence, Robert of Naples had the part of the Bargello in Florence constructed. Villani reports that Florence did not turn away beggars, but cared for anyone who approached the city and was in need of immediate subsistence
7.
History of Florence
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In the Quaternary Age the Florence-Prato-Pistoia plain was occupied by a great lake bounded by Monte Albano in the west, Monte Giovi in the North and the foothills of Chianti in the South. Even after most of the water had receded, the plain,50 metres above sea level, was strewn with ponds, most of the marshland was in the region of Campi Bisenzio, Signa and Bagno a Ripoli. It is thought there was already a settlement at the confluence of the Mugnone with the River Arno between the 10th and the 8th century BC. Between the 7th and 6th centuries BC Etruscans had discovered and used the ford of the Arno near this confluence, a bridge or a ferry was probably constructed here, about ten metres away from the current Ponte Vecchio, but closer to the ford itself. The Etruscans, however, preferred not to build cities on the plain for reasons of defence and instead settled about six kilometres away on a hill. This settlement was a precursor of the centre of Vipsul. Florence was founded in 59 BC as a settlement for soldiers who were allotted land by Julius Caesar in the rich farming valley of the Arno. Florentia was situated at the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the North, which position enabled it to rapidly expand as a commercial center. Emperor Diocletian made Florentia capital of the province of Tuscia in the 3rd century AD, st Minias was Florence’s first martyr. He was beheaded at about 250 AD, during the persecutions of the Emperor Decius. The Basilica di San Miniato al Monte now stands near the spot, peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century. Conquered by Charlemagne in 774, Florence became part of the March of Tuscany, the population began to grow again and commerce prospered. In 854 Florence and Fiesole were united in one county, margrave Hugo chose Florence as his residence instead of Lucca at about 1000 CE. This initiated the Golden Age of Florentine art, in 1013 the construction was begun of the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. The exterior of the baptistry was reworked in Romanesque style between 1059 and 1128, in 1257 the city was ruled by a podestà, the Guelph Luca Grimaldi. The Guelphs had triumphed and soon split in turn into feuding White and Black factions led respectively by Vieri de Cerchi and these struggles eventually led to the exile of the White Guelphs, one of whom was Dante Alighieri. This factional strife was later recorded by Dino Compagni, a White Guelph, political conflict did not, however, prevent the citys rise to become one of the most powerful and prosperous in Europe, assisted by her own strong gold currency. The florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe and this period also saw the eclipse of Florences formerly powerful rival Pisa, which was defeated by Genoa in 1284 and subjugated by Florence in 1406
8.
Italian Renaissance
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The term Renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century, in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt. The French word renaissance means Rebirth, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labeled the Dark Ages. Though today perhaps best known for Italian Renaissance art and architecture, the period saw major achievements in literature, music, philosophy, Italy became the recognized European leader in all these areas by the late 15th century, and to varying degrees retained this lead until about 1600. This was despite a turbulent and generally disastrous period in Italian politics, the European Renaissance began in Tuscany, and centred in the city of Florence. It later spread to Venice, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together, the Renaissance later had a significant effect on Rome, which was ornamented with some structures in the new allantico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist sixteenth-century popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance is best known for its cultural achievements. Accounts of Renaissance literature usually begin with Petrarch and his friend, famous vernacular poets of the 15th century include the renaissance epic authors Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo, and Ludovico Ariosto. 15th century writers such as the poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek, the same is true for architecture, as practiced by Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante. Their works include Florence Cathedral, St. Peters Basilica in Rome, yet cultural contributions notwithstanding, some present-day historians also see the era as one of the beginning of economic regression for Italy. By the Late Middle Ages, Latium, the heartland of the Roman Empire. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference such as that of France, and later Spain. The Papacy was affronted when the Avignon Papacy was created in southern France as a consequence of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France, in the south, Sicily had for some time been under foreign domination, by the Arabs and then the Normans. Sicily had prospered for 150 years during the Emirate of Sicily, in contrast Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous, and it has been calculated that the region was among the richest of Europe. The Crusades had built lasting trade links to the Levant, the main trade routes from the east passed through the Byzantine Empire or the Arab lands and onwards to the ports of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, moreover, the inland city-states profited from the rich agricultural land of the Po valley. From France, Germany, and the Low Countries, through the medium of the Champagne fairs, land and river trade routes brought goods such as wool, wheat, and precious metals into the region. The extensive trade that stretched from Egypt to the Baltic generated substantial surpluses that allowed significant investment in mining, thus, while northern Italy was not richer in resources than many other parts of Europe, the level of development, stimulated by trade, allowed it to prosper
9.
Divine providence
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In theology, divine providence, or just providence, is Gods intervention in the world. The term Divine Providence is also used as a title of God, miracles generally fall in the latter category. The word comes from Latin providentia foresight, prudence, from pro- ahead, the current use of the word has the sense of knowledge of the future or omniscience, understood as an attribute of God. In Acts 17 Paul says, t is he who gives to life and breath. In him we live and move and have our being, augustine of Hippo is perhaps most famously associated with the doctrine of Divine Providence in the Latin West. However, Christian teaching on providence in the high Middle Ages was most fully developed by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica. The concept of providence as care exercised by God over the universe, his foresight, in it, he presents and solves, according to Catholic doctrine, the most difficult issues as related to providence. This term is an part of John Calvins theological framework known as Calvinism, which emphasizes the total depravity of man. Gods plan for the world and every soul that he has created is guided by his will, in this mode of thought, providence is related to predestination. This concept remains prominent among many Protestant denominations that identify with Calvinism, in Lutheran theology, divine providence refers to Gods preservation of creation, his cooperation with everything that happens, and his guiding of the universe. While God cooperates with both good and evil deeds, with the deeds he does so only inasmuch as they are deeds. God concurs with an effect, but he does not cooperate in the corruption of an act or the evil of its effect. Lutherans believe everything exists for the sake of the Christian Church, according to Martin Luther, divine providence began when God created the world with everything needed for human life, including both physical things and natural laws. Of the services others provide us through family, government, and work, he writes, we receive these blessings not from them, since God uses everyones useful tasks for good, people should look not down upon some useful vocations as being less worthy than others. Instead people should honor others, no matter how lowly, as being the means God uses to work in the world, Divine Providence is a book published by Emanuel Swedenborg in 1764 which describes his systematic theology regarding providence, free will, theodicy, and other related topics. Both meanings of providence are applicable in Swedenborgs theology, in that providence encompasses understanding, intent, Divine providence relative to man is foresight, and relative to the Lord is providence. Swedenborg proposes that one law of divine providence is that man should act from freedom according to reason, Divine providence is discussed throughout Rabbinic literature, and in particular by the classical Jewish philosophers. These writings maintain that divine providence means that God is directing every minute detail of creation and this analysis thus underpins much of Orthodox Judaisms world view, particularly as regards questions of interaction with the natural world
10.
God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
11.
Jubilee (Christianity)
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In Judaism and Christianity, the concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. Christian Jubilees, particularly in the Latin Church, generally involve pilgrimage to a sacred site, the Catholic Church has declared the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy for 2015–2016. In Jewish tradition, the year of Jubilee was a time of joy, leviticus 25,10 reads, Thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land, for it is the year of jubilee. The same concept forms the fundamental idea of the Christian Jubilee, the number 50 was specially associated in the early 13th century with the idea of remission. The translation of the body of Thomas Becket took place in the year 1220,50 years after his martyrdom, in Roman Catholic tradition, a Jubilee or Holy Year is a year of forgiveness of sins and also the punishment due to sin. A Jubilee can be if it falls after the set period of years. In the face of suffering, caused by wars and diseases such as the plague thousands of pilgrims came to Rome at Christmas in 1299. The word jubilee does not occur in the bull, Boniface VIII had intended that the Jubilee should be celebrated only once in a hundred years. Before the middle of the 14th century, Bridget of Sweden, in 1343, Clement VI assented, and set the time frame for every 50 years. In 1350, a Jubilee was held, and although the pope did not return to Rome, on this occasion, daily visits to the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran were enjoined, besides those to the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul outside the Walls. Urban VI reduced the period to 33 years and at the next Jubilee, in 1390. The visit to these four churches has remained as one of the conditions for gaining the Roman Jubilee indulgence, in 1400, so many people came to Rome, Pope Boniface IX granted the indulgence again, though he had not decreed a Jubilee year previously. Paul also permitted foreigners to visit some specified church in their own country, philip Neri, was the most famous. In 1500, Pope Alexander VI announced that the doors in the four major basilicas would be opened simultaneously, and this act definitively ushered in several customs. The 1550 Jubilee was proclaimed by Pope Paul III, but Pope Julius III actually opened it, in 1575, in the time of Pope Gregory XIII, as many as 300,000 people came to Rome from all over Europe. The following Holy Year was proclaimed by Pope Clement VIII in 1600, in 1625, Pope Urban VIII opened the ceremonial doors for the Jubilee year. He then went on to declare a universal or extraordinary jubilee in 1628 to pray for peace and this was repeated the next year in 1629, and brought undoubted material benefits to the city. Finally, Innocent X oversaw the last of his jubilees in 1650, Pope Clement X presided over that of 1675
12.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
13.
Tuscany
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Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is considered a nation within a nation. Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited destination in the region. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val dOrcia are also internationally renowned, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year. In 2012, the city of Florence was the worlds 89th most visited city, roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north and east, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany has a western coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres, surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds of the total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres, and mountains. Plains occupy 8. 4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres —mostly around the valley of the River Arno, many of Tuscanys largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks, following this, the Villanovan culture saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms. City-states developed in the late Villanovan before Orientalization occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose, the Etruscans created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory, throughout their existence, they lost territory to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts. Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks, the cultures of Greece, one reason for its eventual demise was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, however, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, in the years following 572, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia
14.
Supernatural
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One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for the universe, or system of the works of God, as when it is said of a phoenix, or a chimera. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature a semi-deity or other kind of being. Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to a unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Views on the supernatural vary, for example it may be seen as, from this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didnt lead to a logical contradiction, others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, the supernatural is a feature of the philosophical traditions of Neoplatonism and Scholasticism. In contrast, the philosophy of Metaphysical naturalism argues for the conclusion that there are no supernatural entities, objects, most religions include elements of belief in the supernatural while also often featuring prominently in the study of the paranormal and occultism. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as an intervention into the “natural” order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, in process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if “the natural” is defined more neutrally as “what is in the nature of things, in Whiteheads words, “It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity”. It is tempting to emphasize process theisms denial of the supernatural, dreams as a Source of Supernatural Agent Concepts. Riekki T, Lindeman M, Raij T. T, Supernatural Believers Attribute More Intentions to Random Movement than Skeptics, An fMRI Study. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Purzycki Benjamin G, the Minds of Gods, A Comparative Study of Supernatural Agency. Unresolved Mourning, Supernatural Beliefs and Dissociation, A Mediation Analysis, vail K. E, Arndt J, Addollahi A
15.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
16.
Giotto
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Giotto di Bondone, known mononymously as Giotto and Latinized as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of artists who contributed to the Renaissance. Giottos masterwork is the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, also known as the Arena Chapel and this fresco cycle depicts the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ. It is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Early Renaissance. That Giotto painted the Arena Chapel and that he was chosen by the Commune of Florence in 1334 to design the new campanile of Florences Cathedral are among the few certainties of his biography. Tradition holds that Giotto was born in a farmhouse, perhaps at Colle di Romagnano or Romignano, since 1850, a tower house in nearby Colle Vespignano has borne a plaque claiming the honor of his birthplace, an assertion commercially publicized. However, recent research has suggested that he was born in Florence. His fathers name was Bondone, and he is described in surviving records as a person of good standing. Most authors accept that Giotto was his name, but it is likely to have been an abbreviation of Ambrogio or Angelo. The year of his birth is calculated from the fact that Antonio Pucci, however, the word seventy fits into the rhyme of the poem better than would have a longer and more complex age, so it is possible that Pucci used artistic license. In his Lives, Giorgio Vasari states that Giotto was a shepherd boy, the great Florentine painter Cimabue discovered Giotto drawing pictures of his sheep on a rock. They were so lifelike that Cimabue approached Giotto and asked if he could take him on as an apprentice, Cimabue was one of the two most highly renowned painters of Tuscany, the other being Duccio, who worked mainly in Siena. Vasari recounts a number of stories about Giottos skill as a young artist. He tells of one occasion when Cimabue was absent from the workshop, later when Cimabue returned, he tried in vain several times to brush the fly off. The messenger departed ill pleased, not doubting that he had made a fool of. The messenger brought other artists drawings back to the Pope in addition to Giottos, many scholars today are uncertain about Giottos training, and consider Vasaris account that he was Cimabues pupil as legend, citing earlier sources which suggest that Giotto was not Cimabues pupil. About 1290, Giotto married Ciuta, the daughter of Lapo del Pela of Florence, the marriage produced four daughters and four sons, one of whom became a painter. By 1301, Giotto owned a house in Florence, and when he was not traveling he would return there and live in comfort with his family
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Santa Croce, Florence
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The Basilica di Santa Croce is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres south-east of the Duomo, the site, when first chosen, was in marshland outside the city walls. The Basilica is the largest Franciscan church in the world and its most notable features are its sixteen chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, and its tombs and cenotaphs. Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself, the construction of the current church, to replace an older building, was begun on 12 May 1294, possibly by Arnolfo di Cambio, and paid for by some of the citys wealthiest families. It was consecrated in 1442 by Pope Eugene IV, the buildings design reflects the austere approach of the Franciscans. The floorplan is an Egyptian or Tau cross,115 metres in length with a nave, to the south of the church was a convent, some of whose buildings remain. The Primo Chiostro, the cloister, houses the Cappella dei Pazzi, built as the chapter house. Filippo Brunelleschi was involved in its design which has remained rigorously simple, in 1560, the choir screen was removed as part of changes arising from the Counter-Reformation and the interior rebuilt by Giorgio Vasari. As a result, there was damage to the churchs decoration, the bell tower was built in 1842, replacing an earlier one damaged by lightning. The neo-Gothic marble façade dates from 1857-1863, the Jewish architect Niccolo Matas from Ancona, designed the churchs façade, working a prominent Star of David into the composition. Matas had wanted to be buried with his peers but because he was Jewish, he was buried under the threshold, in 1866, the complex became public property, as a part of government suppression of most religious houses, following the wars that gained Italian independence and unity. The Museo dellOpera di Santa Croce is housed mainly in the refectory, a monument to Florence Nightingale stands in the cloister, in the city in which she was born and after which she was named. Brunelleschi also built the cloister, completed in 1453. In 1966, the Arno River flooded much of Florence, including Santa Croce, the water entered the church bringing mud, pollution and heating oil. The damage to buildings and art treasures was severe, taking several decades to repair, today the former dormitory of the Franciscan friars houses the Scuola del Cuoio. Visitors can watch as artisans craft purses, wallets, and other goods which are sold in the adjacent shop. Sylvester. Henry Moore Andrea Orcagna Antonio Rossellino Bernardo Rossellino Santi di Tito Giorgio Vasari with sculpture by Valerio Cioli, Iovanni Bandini, way to Calvary painted by Vasari. Domenico Veneziano Once present in the churchs Medici Chapel, but now split between the Florentine Galleries and the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan, is a polyptych by Lorenzo di Niccolò
18.
Arte di Calimala
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The name Calimala is of great antiquity and obscure etymology. The merchants of the arte di Calimala imported woollen cloth from northern France, from Flanders and Brabant, which was dyed, stretched, fulled, calendared and finished in Florence. Weaving was strictly the province of the Arte della Lana, who imported raw wool from England, the woollen cloth trade was the engine that drove the citys economy. On a larger scale, the compagnia of the merchant-bankers of the Scali family has also been examined, Scali interests extending to England, the source of the wool, led by degrees to their bankruptcy in 1326 in a liquidity crisis. A profit of 10 to 12 per cent was allowed, representing the just price that exercised the Church, members of the Calimala were the elite of Florence. Until 1237 the meeting place of the Arte di Calimala was in the floor of one of the tower houses of the Cavalcanti facing the Mercato Nuovo. Then at the end of the century a new palazzo was built in via Calimaruzza, the facade still bears the guilds insignia of the gilded eagle. The Consoli were required to be at least thirty years of age, to be Florentine by birth, needless to say, and to subscribe, in the civic politics, to the Guelph partisans. The guild supported its members, backed their credit in the city and abroad, provided an annuity to aged members and those of long standing, and cared for their widows and children
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Guild
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A guild /ɡɪld/ is an association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of tradesmen and they were organized in a manner something between a professional association, trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. A lasting legacy of traditional guilds are the guildhalls constructed and used as meeting places, an important result of the guild framework was the emergence of universities at Bologna, Oxford and Paris, they originated as guilds of students as at Bologna, or of masters as at Paris. Usually the founders were free independent master craftsmen who hired apprentices, there were several types of guilds, including the two main categories of merchant guilds and craft guilds but also the frith guild and religious guild. In many cases became the governing body of a town. The Freedom of the City, effective from the Middle Ages until 1835, gave the right to trade, Trade guilds arose in the 14th century as craftsmen united to protect their common interest. The occasion for these oaths were drunken banquets held on December 26, gregory of Tours tells a miraculous tale of a builder whose art and techniques suddenly left him, but were restored by an apparition of the Virgin Mary in a dream. Michel Rouche remarks that the story speaks for the importance of practically transmitted journeymanship, in France, guilds were called corps de métiers. According to Viktor Ivanovich Rutenburg, Within the guild itself there was little division of labour. Thus, according to Étienne Boileaus Book of Handicrafts, by the century there were no less than 100 guilds in Paris. In Catalan towns, specially at Barcelona, guilds or gremis were a basic agent in the society, a shoemakers guild is recorded in 1208. In England, specifically in the City of London Corporation, more than 110 guilds, referred to as companies, survive today. Other groups, such as the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers, have been formed far more recently, membership in a livery company is expected for individuals participating in the governance of The City, as the Lord Mayor and the Remembrancer. The guild system reached a state in Germany circa 1300 and held on in German cities into the 19th century. In the 15th century, Hamburg had 100 guilds, Cologne 80, the latest guilds to develop in Western Europe were the gremios of Spain, e. g. Valencia or Toledo. Not all city economies were controlled by guilds, some cities were free, in order to become a Master, a Journeyman would have to go on a three-year voyage called Journeyman years. The practice of the Journeyman years still exists in Germany and France, in Ghent, as in Florence, the woolen textile industry developed as a congeries of specialized guilds. The appearance of the European guilds was tied to the emergent money economy, before this time it was not possible to run a money-driven organization, as commodity money was the normal way of doing business
20.
Ancient Roman architecture
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Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but differed from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are considered one body of classical architecture. Roman architecture flourished in the Roman Republic and even more so under the Empire and it used new materials, particularly concrete, and newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make buildings that were typically strong and well-engineered. Large numbers remain in some form across the empire, sometimes complete, Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture. Almost no substantial examples survive from before about 100 BC, and most of the major survivals are from the later empire, after about 100 AD. They moved from trabeated construction mostly based on columns and lintels to one based on walls, punctuated by arches. The classical orders now became largely decorative rather than structural, except in colonnades, however, they did not feel entirely restricted by Greek aesthetic concerns, and treated the orders with considerable freedom. Innovation started in the 3rd or 2nd century BC with the development of Roman concrete as a readily available adjunct to, or substitute for, stone, more daring buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches and domes. The freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of decorative columns in front of a load-bearing wall. In smaller-scale architecture, concretes strength freed the floor plan from rectangular cells to a more free-flowing environment, factors such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient Romans to discover new architectural solutions of their own. The use of vaults and arches, together with a knowledge of building materials. Examples include the aqueducts of Rome, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla and these were reproduced at a smaller scale in most important towns and cities in the Empire. Some surviving structures are almost complete, such as the walls of Lugo in Hispania Tarraconensis. The administrative structure and wealth of the empire made possible very large even in locations remote from the main centres, as did the use of slave labour. Especially under the empire, architecture often served a function, demonstrating the power of the Roman state in general. The influence is evident in many ways, for example, in the introduction and use of the Triclinium in Roman villas as a place, Roman builders employed Greeks in many capacities, especially in the great boom in construction in the early Empire. The Roman Architectural Revolution, also known as the Concrete Revolution, was the use in Roman architecture of the previously little-used architectural forms of the arch, vault. For the first time in history, their potential was fully exploited in the construction of a range of civil engineering structures, public buildings
21.
Universal history
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Universal history is a term for a work aiming at the presentation of the history of humankind as a whole, as a coherent unit. A universal chronicle or world chronicle traces history from the beginning of information about the past up to the present. Universal history embraces the events of all times and nations with the only limitation being that they should be ascertained as to make a scientific treatment of them possible. Universal history in the Western tradition is divided into three parts, viz. ancient, medieval, and modern time. The division on ancient and medieval periods is less sharp or absent in the Arabic, Indian, a synoptic view of universal history led some scholars, beginning with Karl Jaspers, to distinguish the Axial Age synchronous to classical antiquity of the Western tradition. Jaspers also proposed a more universal periodization—prehistory, history and planetary history, all distinguished earlier periods belong to the second period which is a relatively brief transitory phase between two much longer periods. Jaspers periodization gains popularity in the current research, the works of world historians, Oswald Spengler, Arnold J. Toynbee and Max Ostrovsky, are three examples of attempts to integrate primary source-based history and Universal History. Spenglers work is more general, Toynbee created a theory that would allow the study of civilizations to proceed with integration of source-based history writing, Ostrovsky based comparative analysis of civilizations on primary sources in order to draw generalizations outlining a Universal History. All three writers attempted to incorporate teleological theories into general presentations of the history, Toynbee and Ostrovsky found as the telos of universal history the emergence of a single World State. In Greco-Roman antiquity, the first universal history was written by Ephorus and this work has been lost, but its influence can be seen in the ambitions of Polybius and Diodorus to give comprehensive accounts of their worlds. Metamorphoses by Ovid has been considered as a universal history because of its comprehensive chronology—from the creation of mankind to the death of Julius Caesar a year before the poets birth, in Leipzig are preserved five fragments dating to the 2nd century AD and coming from a world chronicle. Its author is unknown, but was perhaps a Christian, although his generation was the first in China to discover the existence of kingdoms in Central Asia and India, his work did not attempt to cover the history of these regions. The universal chronicle traces history from the beginning of the world up to the present and was a popular genre of historiography in medieval Western Europe. The Chronica of Eusebius of Caesarea is considered to be the point of this tradition. The second book of work consisted of a set of concordance tables that for the first time synchronized the several concurrent chronologies in use with different peoples. Eusebius chronicle became known to the Latin West through the translation by Jerome, agustine’s thesis depicts the history of the world as universal warfare between God and the Devil. This metaphysical war is not limited by time but only by geography as it takes place on planet Earth, in other cases, any obvious theme may be lacking. Some universal chronicles bear a more or less encyclopedic character, with many digressions on non-historical subjects, while this reading of Gregory is currently a widely accepted hypothesis in historical circles, the central purpose of Gregorys writing is still a topic of hot debate
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Flanders
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Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
23.
Bruges
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Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, the historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval and about 430 hectares in size, the citys total population is 117,073, of whom around 20,000 live in the city centre. The metropolitan area, including the commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km2 and has a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam and Stockholm, Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port and was once one of the worlds chief commercial cities. Bruges is well known as the seat of the College of Europe, the name probably derives from the Old Dutch for bridge, brugga. Also compare Middle Dutch brucge, brugge, and modern Dutch bruggehoofd, the form brugghe would be a southern Dutch variant. The Dutch word and the English bridge both derive from Proto-Germanic *brugjō-, Bruges was a location of coastal settlement during prehistory. This Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement is unrelated to medieval city development, in the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesars conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the region from the Gallo-Romans around the 4th century. The Viking incursions of the century prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications, trade soon resumed with England. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built, in 1089 Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched all the way to Damme, a city became the commercial outpost for Bruges. Bruges had a location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade. They developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and they employed new forms of economic exchange, including bills of exchange and letters of credit. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices, the citys entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotlands wool-producing districts
24.
Siena
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Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena, the historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nations most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008, Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year. Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans when it was inhabited by a called the Saina. A Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site in the time of the Emperor Augustus, the first document mentioning it dates from AD70. Some archaeologists assert that Siena was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Senones, according to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Supposedly after their fathers murder by Romulus, they fled Rome, taking them the statue of the she-wolf suckling the infants. Additionally they rode white and black horses, giving rise to the Balzana, some claim the name Siena derives from Senius. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name Saina, Siena did not prosper under Roman rule. It was not sited near any major roads and lacked opportunities for trade and its insular status meant that Christianity did not penetrate until the 4th century AD, and it was not until the Lombards invaded Siena and the surrounding territory that it knew prosperity. Siena prospered as a trading post, and the constant streams of pilgrims passing to, the oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the Republic of Siena, the Republic existed for over four hundred years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555. During the golden age of Siena before the Black Death in 1348, in the Italian War of 1551–59, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, Siena surrendered to Spain on 17 April 1555, the new Spanish King Felipe II, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. A Republican government of 700 Sienese families in Montalcino resisted until 1559, the picturesque city remains an important cultural centre, especially for humanist disciplines. The city lies at 322 m above sea level, the Siena Cathedral, begun in the 12th century, is a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380, the original plan called for an ambitiously massive basilica, the largest then in the world, with, as was customary, an east-west nave. However, the scarcity of funds, in due to war and plague, truncated the project
25.
Prior
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Prior, derived from the Latin for earlier, first, is an ecclesiastical title for a superior, usually lower in rank than an abbot or abbess. Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior, in the Rule of Saint Benedict, the term appears several times, referring to any superior, whether an abbot, provost, dean, etc. In other old monastic rules the term is used in the generic sense. With the Cluniac Reforms, the prior received a specific meaning, it supplanted the provost or dean. As a result, it is not in use for the congregation as a whole, among them, the equivalent term of prior general is the one used. This applies, e. g. for the Camaldolese and the Carthusians, the term is also used by various mendicant orders, e. g. the Carmelites and the Dominicans. This applies both to the friars and the nuns of these orders and he has no ordinary jurisdiction by virtue of his office, since he performs the duties of his office entirely according to the will and under the direction of the abbot. His jurisdiction is, therefore, a one and extends just as far as the abbot desires. He is appointed by the abbot, generally after a consultation in chapter with the monks of the monastery. In many monasteries, especially larger ones, the prior is assisted by a sub-prior. In former times there were in larger monasteries, besides the prior and he had no authority to correct or punish the brethren, but was to report to the claustral prior whatever he found amiss or contrary to the rules. In the high days of Cluny, the abbot was assisted by a coadjutor styled Grand-Prior, the Conventual prior is the independent superior of a monastery that is not an abbey. In some orders, like the Benedictines, a remains a priory until it is considered stable enough. In other Orders, like the Camaldolese and Carthusians, conventual priors are the norm and this title, in its feminine form prioress, is used for monasteries of nuns in the Dominican and Carmelite orders. An Obedientiary Prior heads a monastery created as a satellite of an abbey, a Prior Provincial is the regional superior of certain Orders, such as the Order of Friars Preachers Dominicans or the Carmelite friars. In this last case, the head of the whole Order is called the prior general, among communities of friars, the second superior is called the sub-prior and his office is similar to that of the claustral prior in the Benedictine Order. Catholic religious order Priory This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles
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Pisa
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Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its tower, the city of over 90,834 residents contains more than 20 other historic churches, several medieval palaces. Much of the architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics. The origin of the name, Pisa, is a mystery, while the origin of the city had remained unknown for centuries, the Pelasgi, the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Ligurians had variously been proposed as founders of the city. Archaeological remains from the 5th century BC confirmed the existence of a city at the sea, trading with Greeks, the presence of an Etruscan necropolis, discovered during excavations in the Arena Garibaldi in 1991, confirmed its Etruscan origins. Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city, strabo referred Pisas origins to the mythical Nestor, king of Pylos, after the fall of Troy. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a center by the times described. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti, or Pelops, the maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the port along the western coast from Genoa to Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians, Gauls, in 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium, Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name in Colonia Iulia obsequens. It is supposed that Pisa was founded on the shore, however, due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 kilometres north of the Arnos, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 kilometres away from the coast, currently, it is located 9.7 kilometres from the coast. However it was a city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a complex was built in the city. During the later years of the Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the cities of Italy, probably thanks to the complexity of its river system. After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, politically it became part of the duchy of Lucca
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Lucca
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Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio, in a fertile plain near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital of the Province of Lucca and it is famous for its intact Renaissance-era city walls. Lucca was founded by the Etruscans and became a Roman colony in 180 BC, the rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. Traces of the amphitheatre still may be seen in the Piazza dellAnfiteatro, at the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate. Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the sixth century. At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy, Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards, it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins, the Holy Face of Lucca, a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742. During the eighth-tenth centuries Lucca was a center of Jewish life, Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent. After the death of Matilda of Tuscany, the city began to constitute itself an independent commune, for almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern Liguria and northern Tuscany dominated by the Malaspina, Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe, dante’s Divine Comedy includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca, in 1273 and again in 1277, Lucca was ruled by a Guelph capitano del popolo named Luchetto Gattilusio. In 1314, internal discord allowed Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca, the Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over the city to another condottiero, Castruccio Castracani, under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy. Lucca rivalled Florence until Castracanis death in 1328, on 22 and 23 September 1325, in the battle of Altopascio, Castracani defeated Florences Guelphs. For this he was nominated by Louis IV the Bavarian to become duke of Lucca, Castracanis tomb is in the church of San Francesco. His biography is Machiavellis third famous book on political rule, in 1408, Lucca hosted the convocation intended to end the schism in the papacy. Occupied by the troops of Louis of Bavaria, the city was sold to a rich Genoese, Gherardino Spinola, then seized by John, Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state with a republican constitution to remain independent over the centuries. In 1805, Lucca was conquered by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as Princess of Lucca, from 1815 to 1847 it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy
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Mint (facility)
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A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins that can be used in currency. The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins, in the beginning, hammered coinage or cast coinage were the chief means of coin minting, with resulting production runs numbering as little as the hundreds or thousands. In modern mints, coin dies are manufactured in large numbers, with the mass production of currency, the production cost is weighed when minting coins. For example, it costs the United States Mint much less than 25 cents to make a quarter, metals were well suited to represent wealth, owing to their great intrinsic value and their durability, divisibility and rarity. The first mint was established in Lydia in the 7th century BC, for coining gold, silver. The Lydian innovation of manufacturing coins under the authority of the spread to neighboring Greece. Some of the earliest Greek mints were within city-states on Greek islands such as Crete, at about the same time, coins and mints appeared independently in China and spread to Korea and Japan. The manufacture of coins in the Roman Empire, dating from about the 4th century BC, the origin of the word mint is ascribed to the manufacture of silver coin at Rome in 269 BC at the temple of Juno Moneta. This goddess became the personification of money, and her name was applied both to money and to its place of manufacture, Roman mints were spread widely across the Empire, and were sometimes used for propaganda purposes. The populace often learned of a new Roman Emperor when coins appeared with the new Emperors portrait, Ancient coins were made by casting in moulds or by striking between engraved dies. The Romans cast their larger copper coins in clay moulds carrying distinctive markings, not because they knew nothing of striking, casting is now used only by counterfeiters. The most ancient coins were cast in bulletshaped or conical moulds, the blank or unmarked piece of metal was placed on a small anvil, and the die was held in position with tongs. The reverse or lower side of the received a rectangular mark made by the sharp edges of the little anvil. Subsequently the anvil was marked in ways, and decorated with letters and figures of beasts. The spherical blanks soon gave place to lenticular-shaped ones, the blank was made red-hot and struck between cold dies. One blow was usually insufficient, and the method was similar to that used in striking medals in high relief. With the substitution of iron for bronze as the material for dies, about 300 AD, in the Middle Ages bars of metal were cast and hammered out on an anvil. Portions of the sheets were then cut out with shears
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Defensive wall
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A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements, beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced. Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick, depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the city gate and are often supplemented with towers. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts, ringworks, early castles, from very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer is one of the worlds oldest known walled cities, before that, the city of Jericho in what is now the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 B. C. hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain, many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. Mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks, babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar, who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate. Exceptions were few — notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar. In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida, the fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, in classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus. Large tempered earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang Dynasty, although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States, mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang Dynasty. The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example, likewise, the famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls, the most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln, apart from these, the early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe and these cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces
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Castruccio Castracani
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Castruccio Castracani degli Antelminelli was an Italian condottiero and duke of Lucca. Castruccio was born in Lucca, a member of the family of Antelminelli. In 1300 he was exiled with his parents and others of their faction by the Guelphs Black party, however, due to his growing popularity, Uguccione had him jailed and condemned to death. An insurrection of the Lucchesi having led to the expulsion of Uguccione and his party, Castruccio regained his freedom and his position, and the Ghibelline triumph was presently assured. Elected lord of Lucca on 12 June 1316, he warred incessantly against the Florentines, though at home he renovated the Ponte della Maddalena, spanning the river Serchio. At first he was the adviser and staunch supporter of Frederick of Austria. After the Battle of Mühldorf he went over to the emperor Louis the Bavarian, but, subsequently, his relations with Louis seem to have grown less friendly and he was afterwards excommunicated by the papal legate in the interests of the Guelphs. At his death in 1328 the fortunes of his children were wrecked in the Guelph triumph. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a Life of Castruccio Castracani and it is understood to be fictional in many places, and based upon classical aphorisms. Mary Shelleys novel Valperga, or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca, published in 1823, is based on the life of Castruccio Castracani, though the dates are slightly changed. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Castruccio Castracani, A study on the Origins and Character of a Fourteenth-Century Italian Despotism, note biografiche di Capitani di Guerra e di Condottieri di Ventura operanti in Italia nel 1330 -1550, Castruccio Castracani Martin W
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Famine
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A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, every inhabited continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. In the 19th and 20th century, it was generally Eastern Europe, the numbers dying from famine began to fall sharply from the 1970s. Some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, continue to have cases of famine. Since 2010, Africa has been the most affected continent in the world, as of 2017, the United Nations has warned some 20 million are at risk in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen. Agricultural conditions have been fluctuating more and more due to variations in weather, most programmes now direct their aid towards Africa. The cyclical occurrence of famine has been a mainstay of societies engaged in agriculture since the dawn of agriculture itself. The frequency and intensity of famine has fluctuated throughout history, depending on changes in demand, such as population growth. Famine was first eliminated in Holland and England during the 17th century, due to the commercialization of agriculture and the implementation of improved techniques to increase crop yields. In the 16th and 17th century, the system began to break down. These capitalist landowners paid their labourers with money, thereby increasing the commercialization of rural society, in the emerging competitive labour market, better techniques for the improvement of labour productivity were increasingly valued and rewarded. It was in the farmers interest to produce as much as possible on their land in order to sell it to areas that demanded that product and they produced guaranteed surpluses of their crop every year if they could. Subsistence peasants were also forced to commercialize their activities because of increasing taxes. Taxes that had to be paid to governments in money forced the peasants to produce crops to sell. Sometimes they produced industrial crops, but they would find ways to increase their production in order to both their subsistence requirements as well as their tax obligations. Peasants also used the new money to purchase manufactured goods, the agricultural and social developments encouraging increased food production were gradually taking place throughout the 16th century, but took off in the early 17th century. By that time, the Netherlands had one of the most commercialized agricultural systems in Europe and they grew many industrial crops such as flax, hemp and hops. Agriculture became increasingly specialized and efficient, the efficiency of Dutch agriculture allowed for much more rapid urbanization in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries than anywhere else in Europe
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Medieval commune
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Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense among the citizens of a town or city. They took many forms, and varied widely in organization and makeup, communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread phenomenon. They had the development in central-northern Italy, where they were real city-states based on partial democracy, while in Germany they became free cities. The English and French word commune appears in Latin records in various forms and they come from Medieval Latin communia, plural form of commune, substantive noun from communis. Ultimately, the Proto-Indo-European root is *mey-, when independence of rule was won through violent uprising and overthrow, the commune was often called conspiratio. In the Low Countries, some new towns were founded upon long-distance trade, the sites for these ab ovo towns, more often than not, were the fortified burghs of counts, bishops or territorial abbots. Such towns were founded in the Rhineland. Other towns were simply market villages, local centers of exchange, the burghers of the tenth and eleventh centuries were ruthlessly harassed, blackmailed, subjected to oppressive taxes and humiliated. This drove the back upon their own resources, and it accounts for the intensely corporate. Because much of medieval Europe lacked central authority to provide protection, thus towns formed communes, a legal basis for turning the cities into self-governing corporations. Every town had its own commune and no two communes were alike, but at their heart, communes were sworn allegiances of mutual defense and it then spread in the early 12th century to France, Germany and Spain and elsewhere. The English state was already very centralized, so the communal movement mainly manifested itself in parishes, craftsmens and merchants guilds and monasteries. According to an English cleric of the late 10th century, society was composed of the three orders, those who fight, those who pray and those who work. In theory this was a balance between spiritual and secular peers, with the third order providing labour for the other two, the urban communes were a break in this order. The Church and King both had mixed reactions to communes, on the one hand, they agreed safety and protection from lawless nobles was in everyones best interest. The communes intention was to keep the peace through the threat of revenge, however, the Church had their own ways to enforce peace, such as the Peace and Truce of God movement, for example. On the other hand, communes disrupted the order of medieval society, furthermore, there was a sense that communes threatened the medieval social order. Only the noble lords were allowed by custom to fight, and ostensibly the merchant townspeople were workers, as such, the nobility and the clergy sometimes accepted communes, but other times did not
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Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
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Talamone
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Talamone is a town in Tuscany, on the west coast of central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma. Talamone is easily reached from Via Aurelia, and is about 25 kilometres from Grosseto and 10 kilometres from Orbetello. The village lies on a promontory, which lies on the southern border of the Maremma nature reserve. The surrounding area is characterized by the presence of typical of Mediterranean scrub and long sandy beaches. An ancient and flourishing city already during the Etruscan period, which saw a battle in 225 BC between Roman and the Celtic hordes who were heading for Rome. Talamone was razed to the ground by Sulla for the support that its citizens gave to Marius in his attempt to march against Rome after the return from his African exile. The port town was also a stage during Admiral Horatio Nelson’s expedition to Egypt in 1798, the citys name is also linked to Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Expedition of the Thousand in 1860. In his route towards Sicily, he made a stop there to stock up on water, the local beach of Talamone has become a very popular area to practice the sport of kitesurfing. In 2008, Talamone was one of the used for the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. Torri e castelli della provincia di Grosseto, albinia Ansedonia Battle of Telamon Fonteblanda Giannella San Donato, Orbetello Comune di Orbetello
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Florin (Italian coin)
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The Florentine florin was a coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 72 grains of pure or fine gold worth approximately 140 modern US dollars. The fiorino doro of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the seventh century, in the fourteenth century, a hundred and fifty European states and local coin-issuing authorities made their own copies of the florin. The most important of these was the Hungarian forint, because the Kingdom of Hungary was a source of European gold. The design of the original Florentine florins was the distinctive fleur-de-lis badge of the city on one side, on other countries florins, the inscriptions were changed, and local heraldic devices were substituted for the fleur-de-lis. Later, other figures were often substituted for St. John, on the Hungarian forints, St. John was re-labelled St. Ladislaus, an early Christian king and patron saint of Hungary, and a battle axe substituted for the originals sceptre. Gradually the image became more regal looking, the weight of the original fiorino doro of Florence was chosen to equal the value of one lira in the local money of account in 1252. However, the content of the florin did not change while the money of account continued to inflate, by 1500. The values of other countries money continually varied against each other, Lira History of coins in Italy Soldo Venetian grosso Venetian lira Denaro Lira http, //www. gmmnut. com/gmm/sca/florin. html - See Discussion Philip Grierson. Money and its use in medieval Europe, richard A. Goldthwaite http, //www3. telus. net/Quattrocento_Florence/economy. html BROKEN as of Feb 2011 Money museum, Fiorino dOro
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Andrea Pisano
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Andrea Pisano also known as Andrea da Pontedera, was an Italian sculptor and architect. Pisano first learned the trade of a goldsmith, Pisano then became a pupil of Mino di Giovanni, about 1300, and worked with him on the sculpture for S. Maria della Spina at Pisa and elsewhere. He made his works in Florence, and the formation of his mature style was due rather to Giotto di Bondone than to his earlier master. Of the three world-famed bronze doors of the Baptistery in Florence, the earliest one on the side was Pisanos work, he started it in 1330. It consists of a number of small panels, the lower eight containing single figures of the Virtues. Andrea Pisano, while living in Florence, also produced important works of marble sculpture. In 1340 he succeeded Giotto as Master of the Works of Florence Cathedral, there he produced a series of reliefs, possibly designed by his former teacher, including the double band of panel-reliefs which Pisano executed for the great campanile. The subjects of these are the Four Great Prophets, the Seven Virtues, the Seven Sacraments, the Seven Works of Mercy, the duomo contains the chief of Pisanos other Florentine works in marble. In 1347 he became Master of the Works at Orvieto Cathedral and these and the aforementioned doors are Pisanos only known works. Pisano also contributed to freeing modern art from Byzantine influence, Andrea Pisano had two sons, Nino and Tommaso. Both sons eventually succeeded him as Master of the Works at Orvieto Cathedral, giorgio Vasari includes a biography of Andrea Pisano in his Lives. Pisanos chief pupil was Andrea di Cione, better known as Andrea Orcagna, another pupil, Giovanni di Balduccio, executed the shrine of SantEustorgio at Milan. Panels by Andrea Pisano in Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy The bronze door of the Baptistery in Florence and other work by Andrea Pisano
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Florence Baptistery
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The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John, is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del Duomo and the Piazza San Giovanni, across from Florence Cathedral and the Campanile di Giotto, the Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in the city, constructed between 1059 and 1128 in the Florentine Romanesque style. The Baptistry is renowned for its three sets of artistically important bronze doors with relief sculptures, the south doors were created by Andrea Pisano and the north and east doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The east doors were dubbed by Michelangelo the Gates of Paradise, the Italian poet Dante and many other notable Renaissance figures, including members of the Medici family, were baptized in this baptistry. It was long believed that the Baptistry was originally a Roman temple dedicated to Mars, the chronicler Giovanni Villani reported this medieval Florentine legend in his fourteenth-century Nuova Cronica on the history of Florence. It is, however, certain that a first octagonal baptistry was erected here in the fourth or early fifth century. It was replaced or altered by another early Christian baptistry in the sixth century and its construction is attributed to Theodolinda, queen of the Lombards to seal the conversion of her husband, King Authari. The octagon had been a common shape for baptisteries for many centuries since early Christian times, the number eight is a symbol of regeneration in Christianity, signifying the six days of creation, the Day of Rest, and a day of re-creation through the Sacrament of Baptism. The earlier baptistry was the second basilica after San Lorenzo, outside the northern city wall. It was first recorded as such on 4 March 897, when the Count Palatine, the granite pilasters were probably taken from the Roman forum sited at the location of the present Piazza della Repubblica. At that time, the baptistry was surrounded by a cemetery with Roman sarcophagi, the present much larger Baptistry was built in Romanesque style around 1059, evidence of the growing economic and political importance of Florence. It was reconsecrated on 6 November 1059 by Pope Nicholas II, according to legend, the marbles were brought from Fiesole, conquered by Florence in 1078. Other marble came from ancient structures, the construction was finished in 1128. An octagonal lantern was added to the roof around 1150. On the corners, under the roof, are monstrous lion heads with a head under their claws. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, three double doors were added, with bronze and marble statues above them. This gives an indication that the Baptistry, at time, was at least equal to the neighbouring cathedral in importance. The Baptistry has eight sides with a rectangular addition on the west side
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Bologna
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Bologna is the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, located in the heart of an area of about one million. The first settlements back to at least 1000 BC. The city has been a centre, first under the Etruscans. Home to the oldest university in the world, University of Bologna, founded in 1088, Bologna is also an important transportation crossroad for the roads and trains of Northern Italy, where many important mechanical, electronic and nutritional industries have their headquarters. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city, Bologna is home to numerous prestigious cultural, economic and political institutions as well as one of the most impressive trade fair districts in Europe. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, the city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the wealthiest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country, after a long decline, Bologna was reborn in the 5th century under Bishop Petronius. According to legend, St. Petronius built the church of S. Stefano. After the fall of Rome, Bologna was a stronghold of the Exarchate of Ravenna in the Po plain. In 728, the city was captured by the Lombard king Liutprand, the Germanic conquerors formed a district called addizione longobarda near the complex of S. Stefano. Charlemagne stayed in this district in 786, traditionally said to be founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely considered to be the first university. The university originated as a centre of study of medieval Roman law under major glossators. It numbered Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca among its students, the medical school is especially famous. In the 12th century, the families engaged in continual internecine fighting. Troops of Pope Julius II besieged Bologna and sacked the artistic treasures of his palace, in 1530, in front of Saint Petronio Church, Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII. Then a plague at the end of the 16th century reduced the population from 72,000 to 59,000, the population later recovered to a stable 60, 000–65,000. However, there was also great progress during this era, in 1564, the Piazza del Nettuno and the Palazzo dei Banchi were built, along with the Archiginnasio, the centre of the University
39.
Bertrand du Pouget
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Bertrand du Pouget was a French papal diplomat and Cardinal. He may have been a nephew of Pope John XXII and he expelled Galeazzo I Visconti, imperial vicar for Emperor Henry VII, from Piacenza and in 1329 arranged for a public burning of Dantes De monarchia. He was created cardinal priest of S. Marcello in 1316 and he participated in the conclave of 1334 that elected Pope Benedict XII and the conclave of 1342 that elected Pope Clement VI. The Name of the Rose - a historical novel by Umberto Eco in which Bertrand du Pouget is one of the characters
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Bell tower
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A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Church bell towers often incorporate clocks, and secular towers usually do, the Italian term campanile, deriving from the word campana meaning bell, is synonymous with bell tower, though in English usage Campanile tends to be used to refer to a free standing bell tower. A bell tower may also in some traditions be called a belfry, though this term may refer specifically to the substructure that houses the bells. The tallest free-standing bell tower in the world, approximately 110 m high, is the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, located at the University of Birmingham, bells are rung from a tower to enable them to be heard at a distance. Church bells can signify the time for worshippers to go to church for a communal service and they are also rung on special occasions such as a wedding, or a funeral service. In some religious traditions they are used within the liturgy of the service to signify to people that a particular part of the service has been reached. A bell tower may have a bell, or a collection of bells which are tuned to a common scale. They may be stationary and chimed, rung randomly by swinging through a small arc and they may house a carillon or chimes, in which the bells are sounded by hammers connected via cables to a keyboard. These can be found in churches and secular buildings in Europe and America including college. A variety of electronic devices exist to simulate the sound of bells, some churches have an exconjuratory in the bell tower, a space where ceremonies were conducted to ward off weather-related calamities, like storms and excessive rain. The main bell tower of the Cathedral of Murcia has four, in addition, most Christian denominations ring church bells to call the faithful to worship, signalling the start of a mass or service of worship. The Christian tradition of the ringing of bells from a belltower is analogous to Islamic tradition of the adhan from a minaret. In AD400, Paulinus of Nola introduced church bells into the Christian Church, by the 11th century, bells housed in belltowers became commonplace. Historic bell towers exist throughout Europe, the Irish round towers are thought to have functioned in part as bell towers. Famous medieval European examples include Bruges, Ypres, Ghent, perhaps the most famous European free-standing bell tower, however, is the so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa, which is the campanile of the Duomo di Pisa in Pisa, Italy. In 1999 thirty-two Belgian belfries were added to the UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites, in 2005 this list was extended with one Belgian and twenty-three Northern French belfries and is since known as Belfries of Belgium and France. In the Middle Ages, cities sometimes kept their important documents in belfries, not all are on a large scale, the bell tower of Katúň, in Slovakia, is typical of the many more modest structures that were once common in country areas. Archaic wooden bell towers survive adjoining churches in Lithuania and as well as in parts of Poland
Balzani, Ugo (1911). "Villani, Giovanni". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 74,75.
Balzani, Ugo (1911). "