1.
Count of Champagne
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The Count of Champagne was the ruler of the region of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the county of Troyes in the eleventh century. When Sancho VII of Navarre died childless in 1234, his nephew Count Theobald IV of Champagne became also King of Navarre, the latters greatgrandaughter Joan married King Philip IV of France. Upon Joans death in 1305, her son Louis became the last independent count of Champagne, the titular counts of Champagne also inherited the post of seneschal of France. In Merovingian and Carolingian times, several dukes of Champagne are known, the duchy appears to have been created by joining together the civitates of Rheims, Châlons-sur-Marne, Laon, and Troyes. In the late seventh and early centuries, Champagne was controlled by the Pippinids, first by Drogo, son of Pippin of Herstal. Feudal Society in the Baillage of Troyes under the Counts of Champagne, feudal Society in Medieval France, Documents from the County of Champagne. ISBN 0-8122-1441-2, ISBN 0-8122-3225-9 Evergates, Theodore, the Aristocracy of Champagne in the Mid-Thirteenth Century, A Quantitative Description. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol.5, sánchez-Marco, Carlos, Casa de Champagne, La Historia Medieval del Reyno de Navarra, retrieved 24 August 2010
2.
Theobald II of Navarre
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Theobald II, called the Young, was Count of Champagne and Brie and King of Navarre from 1253 until his death. Theobald was the eldest son of Theobald I of Navarre and his third wife and he succeeded to his fathers titles on his death at only fourteen years of age. His mother acted as regent with James I of Aragon until 1256, on 27 November, he affirmed the Fueros of Navarre, which limited his power by putting him under the counsel of a tutor from among the aristocracy. He could not make judgements without a council of twelve of noblemen, Theobald was not content, however, to be so restricted in royal prerogative before his twenty-first birthday. In order to counter the tendency to decentralisation, diminish the power of the nobility and he exacted extraordinary taxes and imposts from them, but they supported him nevertheless because he granted them rights, prestige, and political clout. He extended the fueros of Pamplona to Lantz and Estella to Tiebas—nowadays in ruins, Theobald continued the power struggle with the bishop of Pamplona started during his fathers reign. The former stood by his native Basque parishioners of the Navarreria borough, while Theobald championed the Saint Nicolas borough of Pamplona, in other affairs, Theobald continued the policies of his father. He improved the administration, of incomes and expenditures. The count of 1266 indicated a population of 150,000 inhabitants in Navarre, approximately 6. 75% of royal revenues were spent on a bureaucracy,33. 84% on the military, and 59. 6% to the maintenance of the monarch and his household and duties. Theobald found support in Louis IX of France, who supported his fellow kings against their vassals with consistency, Theobald married Isabella, Louiss daughter, on 6 April 1255. Theobald acted as an advisor of Louis and Louis as an arbiter in Navarres internal problems. When Alfonso X of Castiles daughter Berengaria was betrothed to Louis IX of Frances son Louis, Castile ceded the use of the ports of Fuenterrabía, in July 1270, Theobald embarked with his father-in-law on the Eighth Crusade to Tunis. Louis died of dysentery at the siege, Theobald died childless at Trapani in Sicily while returning that same year. He was succeeded by his brother, Henry I. His widow Isabella returned home to France, where she died a few months later, ciampolo, a soul found by Dante in the Inferno who defrauded Theobald
3.
Joan I of Navarre
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Joan I, the daughter of King Henry I of Navarre and Blanche of Artois, reigned as queen regnant of Navarre and also served as queen consort to Philip IV of France. Joan was born in Bar-sur-Seine, Champagne on 14 January 1273 as a princess of the House of Blois, the following year, upon the death of her father, she became Countess of Champagne and queen regnant of Navarre. Her mother, Blanche, was her guardian and regent in Navarre and her mother arrived in France in 1274, and by the Treaty of Orléans in 1275, Joan was betrothed to one of Philips sons. Blanche therefore placed her daughter and the government of Navarre under the protection of the King of France, after this, Joan was brought up with Philip. It is, in fact, uncertain whether she ever resided in Navarre during her childhood, at the age of 11, Joan married the future Philip IV of France on 16 August 1284, becoming queen consort of France in 1285 a year later. Their three surviving sons would all rule as kings of France, in turn, and their surviving daughter. Joan was described as having been plump and plain, whereas her beautiful daughter Isabella resembled her father more in physical appearance, as regards her character, Joan was bold, courageous, and enterprising. Having grown up together, the couple was close to each other. His emotional dependence on her is suggested as a reason to why she never visited Navarre, in 1294, Philip appointed her regent of France should his son succeed him being still a minor. However, he is not believed to have entrusted her with influence over the affairs of France, unless they concerned her own domains Navarre, queen Joan founded the famous College of Navarre in Paris in 1305. Queen Joan I of Navarre and countess of Champagne and Brie was declared to be of legal majority upon her marriage in 1284, and did homage for Champagne and Brie to her father-in-law in Paris. Joan never visited the Kingdom of Navarre, which was ruled in her name by French governors appointed first by her father-in-law, from afar, edicts were issued in her name, coins struck in her image, and she gave her protection to chapels and convents. She never came closer to Navarre than to Carcasonne in 1300, Joan was much more directly active as countess of Champagne. While being a county rather than a kingdom, Champagne was much richer, in 1297, she raised and led an army against the Count of Bar when he rebelled against her by invading Champagne. This was explicitly in the absence of her spouse, and she brought the count to prison before she joined her spouse. She also personally acted in her process against Bishop Guichard of Troyes, Joan died in 1305, allegedly in childbirth, though one chronicler accused her husband of having killed her. Her personal physician was the inventor Guido da Vigevano, the Queens Regnant of Navarre, Succession, Politics, and Partnership, 1274-1512
4.
Pamplona
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Pamplona or Iruña is the historical capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former Kingdom of Navarre. The city is famous worldwide for the running of the bulls during the San Fermín festival and this festival was brought to literary renown with the 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingways novel The Sun Also Rises. Pamplona is located in the middle of Navarre in a valley, known as the Basin of Pamplona. It is 92 km from the city of San Sebastián,117 km from Bilbao,735 km from Paris and 407 km from Madrid, the climate and landscape of the basin is a transition between those two main Navarrese geographical regions. Its central position at crossroads has served as a link between those very different natural parts of Navarre. The historical centre of Angelo is on the bank of the Arga. The city has developed on both sides of the river, the climate of Pamplona is normally classified as oceanic with influences of a semi-continental mediterranean climate. In the winter of 75–74 BC, the served as a camp for the Roman general Pompey in the war against Sertorius. He is considered to be the founder of Pompaelo, which became Pamplona, actually it was the chief town of the Vascones, and they called it Iruña, the city. During the Visigothic period, Pamplona alternated between self-rule, Visigoth domination or Frankish suzerainty in the Duchy of Vasconia. During the beginning of the 6th century, Pamplona probably stuck to an unstable self-rule, circa 581, the Visigoth king Liuvigild overcame the Basques, seized Pamplona, and founded in the town of Victoriacum. After 684 and 693, a bishop called Opilano is mentioned again in 829, followed by Wiliesind, even in the 10th century, important gaps are found in bishop succession, which is recorded unbroken only after 1005. At the time of the Umayyad invasion in 711, the Visigothic king Roderic was fighting the Basques in Pamplona and had to turn his attention to the new enemy coming from the south. By 714-16, the Umayyad troops had reached the Basque-held Pamplona, the position was then garrisoned by Berbers, who were stationed on the outside of the actual fortress, and established the cemetery unearthed not long ago at the Castle Square. In 740, the Wali Uqba ibn al-Hayyay imposed direct central Cordovan discipline on the city, however, in 755 the last governor of Al-Andalus, Yusuf al Fihri, sent an expedition north to quash Basque unrest near Pamplona, resulting in the defeat of the Arab army. From 755 until 781, Pamplona remained autonomous, probably relying on regional alliances, to a considerable extent, that alternation reflected the internal struggles of the Basque warrior nobility. After the Frankish defeat at Roncevaux, Pamplona switched again to Cordovan rule, a Wali or governor was imposed, Mutarrif ibn-Musa up to the 799 rebellion. In that year, the Pamplonese-—possibly led by a certain Velasko-—stirred against their governor, following a failed expedition to the town led by Louis the Pious around 812, allegiance to the Franks collapsed after Enecco Arista rose to prominence
5.
Pamplona Cathedral
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The Pamplona Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the archdiocese of Pamplona, Spain. The current 15th century Gothic church replaced an older Romanesque one, archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of other two previous churches. The Neoclassical façade was designed by Ventura Rodríguez in 1783 and it has a 13th-14th-century Gothic cloister, that gives access to two other Gothic rooms, the Barbazan chapel and the refectory. The Mediaeval kings of Navarre were crowned there and some of them were also buried, the Navarrese Cortes was held there even during the early modern ages. The site of the cathedral is the oldest part of the Roman Pompaelo, archaeological excavations in 1994 have revealed streets and buildings from the 1st century BC. The oldest cathedral was demolished in 924 during the invasion of Abd-al-Rahman III, during the reign of Sancho III the church was reconstructed. That church was demolished from 1083 to 1097, and the Romanesque cathedral was built from 1100 to 1127 and it collapsed in 1391, with only the façade remaining. The building of the current Gothic church began in 1394 and lasted to 1501, the floorplan is cruciform with ambulatory, a central nave and four shorter aisles, all covered by partially polycromed rib vault. The style is influenced by French models. The sculpture of the interior includes the sepulchre of Charles III of Navarre and spouse, by Jehan Lome de Tournai, and the image of Royal Saint Mary, the choir, with its Renaissance choir stalls, is separated from the nave by a Gothic iron grating. There was a Renaissance retable in the presbytery, now in the church of Saint Michael in Pamplona, in the lateral chapels there are two Gothic retables, one Italian Renaissance retable, one late Renaissance retable, and five Baroque retables. Probably, the most outstanding element of the cathedral is its 13th century cloister, as the temple, the style followed the French Gothic architecture, and the sculptural decoration is very rich. The door that gives access from the shows the Dormition of the Virgin. The Barbazan chapel—named after the Pamplonese bishop buried there, Arnaldo de Barbazán—is covered by a Gothic eight-rib vault, the so-called Precious Door gives access to the ancient canons dormitory and shows a complete sculptural story of the Virgin Marys life. There are several burials, Bishop Miguel Sánchez de Asiáins, Viceroy of Navarre Count of Gages. The lavatory is closed by a grid whose iron is said to be from the battle of Navas de Tolosa, another decorated Gothic door gives access to the old kitchen and the refectory. The former canons rooms house the Diocesan Museum, the main room is a 14th-century rib-vault covered refectory. The adjacent kitchen is covered by a pyramidal stone-built chimney. D, 500-1200, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Pamplona Cathedral
6.
Blanche of Artois
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Blanche of Artois was a member of the Capetian House of Artois who, as queen dowager, held regency over the Kingdom of Navarre and the County of Champagne. She was first married to Henry I of Navarre, after death she became regent in the name of their infant daughter. She passed on the regency of Navarre to Philip III of France, her cousin and her daughters prospective father-in-law and she later shared the government of Champagne with her second husband, the English prince Edmund Crouchback, until her daughter reached the age of majority. Blanche was the child and only daughter of Robert I, Count of Artois. A fraternal niece of King Louis IX of France, Blanche was probably born in 1248, by February 1269, having received a papal dispensation, she was married to King Theobald II of Navarres brother Henry. The ceremony took place in Melun near Paris and her brother-in-law, in turn, was married to her cousin, Isabella of France. Henry was governing his brothers realm when King Theobald and Queen Isabella left to join the Seventh Crusade, when the King died in December 1270, followed by his widow within a few months, Blanches husband became King of Navarre and Count of Champagne. King Henry and Queen Blanche were a couple with a son, Theobald. In 1273, however, they lost their son in an accident, a daughter named Joan, born the same year, remained the royal couples only child and was recognized as heir presumptive by the King and the Estates. The following year, on 22 July, King Henry himself died, the death of two kings within five years and accession of an infant queen, the first woman to rule Navarre and Champagne alike, triggered a political crisis. Now queen dowager, Blanche became regent for her daughter and her regency in Champagne was preceded by several long regencies of widowed mothers, but this was the first regency for a female ruler. The neighbouring kingdoms of Castile and Aragon moved to exploit the precarious situation, both Alfonso X of Castile and Peter III of Aragon wanted to secure Navarre for their respective houses either by marriage with Joan or by force. While Peter contemplated a marriage with a cousin of Joan, Alfonso moved his army to Navarre, the citizens loyally defended the city, for which Queen Blanche thanked them by granting special privileges. Blanche remained in Pamplona at least until 14 April, but then fled the kingdom, taking Joan with her, in reality, she sought protection from her cousin, King Philip III of France. In November, she paid homage to him for her daughters French possessions, the almost immediate departure of both the monarch and the regent only complicated the situation in Navarre. In May 1275, Queen Blanche signed the Treaty of Orléans, the elder died within a year, and Philip was left as both heir to the French throne and Joans bridegroom. Blanche administered Joans territories from Paris, appointing governors for Navarre, later this role was taken over by Joans prospective father-in-law, while Blanche retained the administration of Champagne and Brie. Between 28 July and 29 October 1276, in Paris, Blanche became the wife of Edmund Crouchback
7.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
8.
House of Blois
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The House of Blois is a lineage derived from the Frankish nobility, whose principal members were often named Theobald. The family was founded by Theobald the Old in the year 906, the senior line of the House of Blois became extinct with the death of Joan I of Navarre, wife of Philip IV of France, in 1305. Champagne and Navarre passed to the Capetian dynasty, King Stephen I of England, 1135-1154, was both a member of the House of Blois and the last Anglo-Norman King, being the grandson of William the Conqueror through his daughter Adela. A branch of the family was established in Sancerre by Stephen I of Sancerre and this branch became extinct at the death of Margaret of Sancerre in 1418 or 1419. Navarre monarchs family tree List of Navarrese monarchs from the House of Blois
9.
Margaret of Bourbon, Queen of Navarre
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Margaret of Bourbon was Queen of Navarre and Countess of Champagne from 1232 until 1253 as the third wife of Theobald I of Navarre. After her husbands death, she ruled both the kingdom and the county as regent for three years in the name of their son, Theobald II of Navarre, Margaret was born into the House of Dampierre, the eldest daughter of Archambaud VIII, Lord of Bourbon. Her mother was her fathers first wife, Alice of Forez, daughter of Guigues III, Archambaud was the constable of Count Theobald IV of Champagne. Margaret was 15 years old when, on 12 September 1232 and his first wife, Gertrude of Dagsburg, had been repudiated and already deceased, while the second, Agnes of Beaujeu, died leaving only a daughter, Blanche. Their marriage was one of two unions of the counts of Champagne with a significant age disparity between spouses, the other one being the marriage of Henry I of Champagne and Marie of France. Only if the union ended in annulment, as her parents, Margarets marriage lasted twenty years, during which she delivered seven children. In 1234, she became Queen of Navarre when Theobald inherited the kingdom from his maternal uncle, little is known of Margarets life as queen consort, until her husbands death in 1253 brought her into the spotlight. Their son Theobald II of Navarre being 18 at the time could not, by the laws of the realm, Margaret, now queen dowager, became regent. She immediately had to deal with a crisis in the kingdom. Margaret prevented the outbreak of a rebellion by travelling with Theobald to the capital, Pamplona. She also inherited her husbands long-standing dispute with the Knights Templar, Margaret resolutely prohibited them from acquiring any more land within the county. In 1254, Margaret was persuaded by her son to arrange a marriage for him with Isabella, King Theobald II reached the age of majority in 1256. No longer regent, Queen Margaret retired to her dower lands, consisting of seven castellanies. She died in Provins and was buried at the Saint-Joseph de Clairval abbey in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain
10.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
11.
Basque language
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Basque is the language spoken by the Basques. Linguistically, Basque is unrelated to the languages of Europe and indeed, as a language isolate. The Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, the Basque Country, the Basque language is spoken by 27% of Basques in all territories. Of these, 93% are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country, native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish territories and the three ancient provinces in France. However, in those Basque-speaking regions that supported the uprising the Basque language was more than merely tolerated, overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish. As a part of process, a standardized form of the Basque language. Besides its standardised version, the five historic Basque dialects are Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain and they take their names from the historic Basque provinces, but the dialect boundaries are not congruent with province boundaries. Euskara Batua was created so that Basque language could be easily understood by all Basque speakers—in formal situations. In both Spain and France, the use of Basque for education varies from region to region, a language isolate, Basque is believed to be one of the few surviving pre-Indo-European languages in Europe, and the only one in Western Europe. Basque has adopted a good deal of its vocabulary from the Romance languages, the Basque alphabet uses the Latin script. In Basque, the name of the language is officially Euskara, three etymological theories of the name Euskara are taken seriously by linguists and Vasconists. In French, the language is normally called basque, though in recent times euskara has become common, Spanish has a greater variety of names for the language. Today, it is most commonly referred to as el vasco, la lengua vasca, both terms, vasco and basque, are inherited from Latin ethnonym Vascones, which in turn goes back to the Greek term οὐασκώνους, an ethnonym used by Strabo in his Geographica. The Spanish term Vascuence, derived from Latin vasconĭce, has acquired negative connotations over the centuries and is not well-liked amongst Basque speakers generally, Basque is geographically surrounded by Romance languages but is a language isolate unrelated to them. It is the last remaining descendant of one of the languages of Western Europe. Consequently, its prehistory may not be reconstructible by means of the comparative method except by applying it to differences between dialects within the language. Little is known of its origins, but a form of the Basque language likely was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages to the area. Others find this unlikely, see the aizkora controversy, Latin inscriptions in Gallia Aquitania preserve a number of words with cognates in the reconstructed proto-Basque language, for instance, the personal names Nescato and Cison
12.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
13.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
14.
King of Navarre
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This is a list of the kings and queens of Pamplona, later Navarre. Pamplona was the name of the kingdom until its union with Aragon. However, the territorial designation Navarre came into use as an name in the late tenth century. The Íñiguez dynasty founded the Navarrese kingdom in or around 824 when they rebelled against nominal Frankish authority, in 905, a coalition of neighbors forced Fortún Garcés to retire to a monastery, and enthroned in his place a scion of a new dynasty. Under their reign, the name Navarre began to supplant that of Pamplona, the death of Alfonso led to a succession crisis in Aragon, and the nobles of Navarre took advantage to reestablish an independent monarchy, crowning a grandnephew of the assassinated Sancho IV. Henrys unexpected death left his infant daughter Joan as the heir to the throne. Joans mother Blanche of Artois served as regent for the ten years. In 1284 Joan was married to the future Philip IV of France, Philip assumed the throne of France a year later as King of France and Navarre. After the deaths of Louis and his infant son John, his brothers Philip and Charles held the crowns of France and Navarre until their own deaths. At that time, the crown of France passed to Philip of Valois, a distant cousin who was not descended from Joan I, Joan reigned together with her husband Philip III until his death, and then alone until her own death. Blanche reigned together with her husband John II, after Blanches death in 1441, John retained the crown of Navarre for himself until he died 38 years later, keeping it from his son and elder daughter, Charles and Blanche. Conflict with his son led to the Navarrese Civil War, though some of the resources regard Charles and Blanche and the legitimate monarchs, the de facto king of Navarre is still John II. Eleanor didnt claim to be the queen until her fathers death, eleanor, who had allied with her father against her brother and sister, outlived her father by only three weeks. By that time she was the widow of Gaston IV, Count of Foix and she was thus succeeded by her grandson Francis. Catherine reigned together with her husband John III, after his death, she reigned alone for 8 months until her own death. During their reign, Navarre was defeated by Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1512, resulting in the loss of all its territory south of the Pyrenees, jeanne III reigned together with her husband Antoine until his death, and then alone until her own death. Their son Henry became King of France in 1589, taking possession of the kingdom in 1593 as the French Wars of Religion came to a close, thereafter the crown of Navarre passed to the kings of France. Alicia was the daughter of Elias, Duke of Parma, whose father Robert I, Duke of Parma was the son and heir of Louise Marie Thérèse dArtois, granddaughter of Charles X of France
15.
Regent
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A regent is a person appointed to administer a state because the monarch is a minor, is absent or is incapacitated. The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency, a regent or regency council may be formed ad hoc or in accordance with a constitutional rule. Regent is sometimes a formal title, if the formally appointed regent is unavailable or cannot serve on a temporary basis, a Regent ad interim may be appointed to fill the gap. In a monarchy, a regent usually governs due to one of these reasons and this was the case in the Kingdom of Finland and the Kingdom of Hungary, where the royal line was considered extinct in the aftermath of World War I. In Iceland, the regent represented the King of Denmark as sovereign of Iceland until the country became a republic in 1944, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, kings were elective, which often led to a fairly long interregnum. In the interim, it was the Roman Catholic Primate who served as the regent, in the small republic of San Marino, the two Captains Regent, or Capitani Reggenti, are elected semi-annually as joint heads of state and of government. Famous regency periods include that of the Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, giving rise to terms such as Regency era. Strictly this period lasted from 1811 to 1820, when his father George III was insane, as of 1 December 2016, Liechtenstein is the only country with an active regency. The term regent may refer to lower than the ruler of a country. The term may be used in the governance of organisations, typically as an equivalent of director, some university managers in North America are called regents and a management board for a college or university may be titled the Board of Regents. The term regent is used for members of governing bodies of institutions such as the national banks of France. This type of group portrait was popular in Dutch Golden Age painting during the 17th century, in the Dutch East Indies, a regent was a native prince allowed to rule de facto colonized state as a regentschap. Consequently, in the state of Indonesia, the term regent is used in English to mean a bupati. Again in Belgium and France, Regent is the title of a teacher in a lower secondary school. In the Philippines, specifically, the University of Santo Tomas, the Father Regent and they also form the Council of Regents that serves as the highest administrative council of the university. In the Society of Jesus, a regent is a training to be a Jesuit. A regent in the Jesuits is often assigned to teach in a school or some other academic institution as part of the formation toward final vows, list of regents Viceroy, an individual who, in a colony or province, exercised the power of a monarch on his behalf
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Louis IX of France
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Louis IX, commonly known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. Louis was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the death of his father Louis VIII the Lion, although his mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled the kingdom until he reached maturity. During Louiss childhood, Blanche dealt with the opposition of rebellious vassals, as an adult, Louis IX faced recurring conflicts with some of the most powerful nobles, such as Hugh X of Lusignan and Peter of Dreux. Simultaneously, Henry III of England tried to restore his continental possessions and his reign saw the annexation of several provinces, notably Normandy, Maine and Provence. Louis IX was a reformer and developed French royal justice, in which the king is the judge to whom anyone is able to appeal to seek the amendment of a judgment. He banned trials by ordeal, tried to prevent the private wars that were plaguing the country, to enforce the correct application of this new legal system, Louis IX created provosts and bailiffs. According to his vow made after an illness, and confirmed after a miraculous cure. He was succeeded by his son Philip III, Louiss actions were inspired by Christian values and Catholic devotion. He decided to punish blasphemy, gambling, interest-bearing loans and prostitution and he also expanded the scope of the Inquisition and ordered the burning of Talmuds. He is the only canonized king of France, and there are many places named after him. Much of what is known of Louiss life comes from Jean de Joinvilles famous Life of Saint Louis, two other important biographies were written by the kings confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and his chaplain, William of Chartres. The fourth important source of information is William of Saint-Parthus biography, while several individuals wrote biographies in the decades following the kings death, only Jean of Joinville, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and William of Chartres wrote from personal knowledge of the king. Louis was born on 25 April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris, the son of Prince Louis the Lion and Princess Blanche, and baptised in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church. His grandfather on his fathers side was Philip II, king of France, while his grandfather on his mothers side was Alfonso VIII, tutors of Blanches choosing taught him most of what a king must know—Latin, public speaking, writing, military arts, and government. He was 9 years old when his grandfather Philip II died, a member of the House of Capet, Louis was twelve years old when his father died on 8 November 1226. He was crowned king within the month at Reims cathedral, because of Louiss youth, his mother ruled France as regent during his minority. Louis mother trained him to be a leader and a good Christian. She used to say, I love you, my son, as much as a mother can love her child
17.
Robert I, Count of Artois
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Robert I, called the Good, was the first Count of Artois, the fifth son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. He received Artois as an appanage, in accordance with the will of his father on attaining his majority in 1237. In 1240 Pope Gregory IX, in conflict with the Emperor Frederick II, offered to crown Robert as emperor in opposition to Frederick, on 14 June 1237 Robert married Matilda, daughter of Henry II of Brabant and Marie of Hohenstaufen. They had two children, Blanche Robert II, who succeeded to Artois, while participating in the Seventh Crusade, Robert died while leading a reckless attack on Al Mansurah, without the knowledge of his brother King Louis IX. He and the Templars after fording a river, charged a Mamluk outpost in which the Mamluk commander, enbolded by his success, Robert, the Templar knights, and a contingent of English troops charged into the town and became trapped in the narrow streets. According to Jean de Joinville, he defended himself for some time in a house there, Jean Dunbabin, Charles I of Anjou, Power, Kingship and State-Making in Thirteenth-Century, Routledge,2014. Jean-François Nieus, Un pouvoir comtal entre Flandre et France, Saint-Pol, 1000-1300, a History of the Crusades, Vol. II, ed. Kenneth M. Setton, University of Wisconsin,1969, Charles T. Wood, The French Apanages and the Capetian Monarchy, Harvard University Press,1966
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Capetian House of Anjou
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The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct French House of Capet, part of the Capetian dynasty. It is one of three royal houses referred to as Angevin, meaning from Anjou in France. Founded by Charles I of Naples, a son of Louis VIII of France, later the War of the Sicilian Vespers forced him out of the island of Sicily, leaving him with just the southern half of the Italian Peninsula — the Kingdom of Naples. The house and its various branches would go on to much of the history of Southern and Central Europe during the Middle Ages. Historically, the House ruled Naples and Sicily, parts of Greece, Hungary, and Poland. A younger son of House of Capet king Louis VIII of France the Lion, Charles married the heiress of the County of Provence named Beatrice of Provence, she was a member of the House of Barcelona, this meant Charles holdings were growing as Count of Provence. The reason for Charles being offered the kingdom was because of a conflict between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, the latter of whom were represented by the ruling House of Hohenstaufen. It was at the Battle of Benevento that the Guelph Capetians gained the Sicilian kingdom from the Ghibelline Swabians, in keeping with the political landscape of the period, Charles is described by scholars as shrewd, energetic and highly ambitious. The Byzantines had taken back the city of Constantinople in 1261, for a while Charles was preoccupied helping his French brother in the unsuccessful Eighth Crusade on Tunis. After this he once again focused on Constantinople, but his fleet was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Trapani. Charles had fully solidified his rule over Durazzo by 1272, creating a small Kingdom of Albania for himself, out of previously Despotate of Epirus territory, Charles was driven out of Sicily in 1282, but his successors ruled Naples until 1435. The line became extinct in the line with the death of King Ladislaus of Naples in 1414. The Kingdom of Albania, or Regnum Albaniae, was established by Charles of Anjou in the Albanian territory he conquered from the Despotate of Epirus in 1271 and he took the title of King of Albania in February 1272. The kingdom extended from the region of Durrës south along the coast to Butrint, a major attempt to advance further in direction of Constantinople, failed at the Siege of Berat. A Byzantine counteroffensive soon ensued, which drove the Angevins out of the interior by 1281, the Sicilian Vespers further weakened the position of Charles, and the Kingdom was soon reduced by the Epirotes to a small area around Durrës. The Angevins held out here, however, until 1368, when the city was captured by Karl Thopia, in 1392 Karl Thopias son surrendered the city and his domains to the Republic of Venice. The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press. A History of the Crusades, Volume III, The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, madison, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Press
19.
Kingdom of Navarre
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The medieval Kingdom of Pamplona was formed when the native chieftain Íñigo Arista was elected or declared King in Pamplona, and led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority. The southern part of the kingdom was conquered by the Crown of Castile in 1512, the monarchs of this unified state took the title King of France and Navarre until its fall in 1792, and again during the Bourbon Restoration from 1814 until 1830. There are similar earlier toponyms but the first documentation of Latin navarros appears in Eginhards chronicle of the feats of Charles the Great, other Royal Frankish Annals give nabarros. Basque naba/Castilian nava + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines consider naba as not clearly Basque in origin but as part of a wider pre-Roman substrate. The area was conquered by the Romans by 74 BC. It was first part of the Roman province of Citerior, then of the Tarraconensis province, after that it was part of the conventus Caesaraugustanus. The Roman empire influenced the area in urbanization, language, infrastructure, commerce, after the decline of the Western Roman Empire, neither the Visigoths nor the Arabs succeeded in permanently occupying the western Pyrenees. The western Pyrenees passages were the only ones allowing good transit through the mountains and that made the region strategically important from early in its history. The Franks under Charlemagne extended their influence and control towards the south, occupying several regions of the north and it is not clear how solid the Frankish control over Pamplona was. In response, the Cordoban Emirate launched a campaign to place the region under their firm control and it placed a muwallad governor, Mutarrif ibn Musa, in Pamplona. The same year the Basque leader, Jimeno the Strong, submitted to the Emir, in 799, Mutarrif ibn Musa was killed by a pro-Frankish faction whose leader Velasco gained control of the region. In 806 and 812 Pamplona fell into the Franks hands, due to difficulties at home, the Frankish rulers could not give full attention to the outlying borderlands, and the country gradually withdrew entirely from their allegiance. In 816, Louis the Pious removed Seguin as Duke of Vasconia, the rebel Garcia Jiménez arose in his place, and was killed in turn in 818. Louis son Pepin, then King of Aquitaine, stamped out the Vasconic revolt in Gascony and he next hunted the chieftains who had taken refuge in southern Vasconia, i. e. Pamplona and Navarre, no longer controlled by the Franks. He sent an army led by the counts Aeblus and Aznar-Sanchez, on the way back, however, they were ambushed and defeated in Roncesvaux by a probable joint Vasconic-Banu Qasi force. Out of this pattern of resistance against both Frankish and Cordoban interests, the Basque chieftain Íñigo Arista took power, tradition tells he was elected as king of Pamplona in 824, giving rise to a dynasty of kings in Pamplona that would last for eighty years. Pamplona and Navarre are cited as separate entities in a Frankish Carolingian chronicle, Pamplona is cited in 778 by another Frankish account as a Navarrese stronghold, while this may be put down to their vague knowledge of the Basque territory. They distinguished Navarre and its main town in 806 though, while the Chronicle of Fontenelle quotes Induonis et Mitionis, however, Arab chroniclers make no such distinctions, and just talk of the Baskunisi, a transliteration of Vascones, since a big majority of the population was Basque
20.
Fueros of Navarre
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The Fueros of Navarre were the laws of the Kingdom of Navarre up to 1841, tracing its origins to the Early Middle Ages and issued from Basque consuetudinary law prevalent across the Pyrenees. The first such written document goes back to 1238, the next codifications are attested by modifications or amendments dated to 1330 and 1419. After 1512, Navarre was divided two, with Upper Navarre a part of the nascent Kingdom of Spain and Lower Navarre an independent kingdom. From 1515 until 1841, Upper Navarre was in effect an autonomous kingdom in union with the Spanish crown. In 1528, the Cortes of Navarre sitting at Pamplona authorised a simplified law code known as the Fuero Reducido, although widely used, it was never confirmed by the king. A viceroy represented the Spanish monarch, the Cortes was the main legislative body, composed of three estates of clergy, nobles and burgesses. There was a Royal Council and a Supreme Court, as well as a Diputación del Reyno or Government of Navarre, an Occitan translation of the Navarrese fueros was made under the title Los Fors et Costumas deu Royaume de Navarre deça-ports. It was approved by Henry III in 1608, then confirmed by Louis II in 1611 before Navarre was integrated into France in 1620 and it was re-confirmed by Louis in 1622. It was not printed until 1644 and its last printing was in 1722 and it was in effect until the French Revolution. A modern edition was published in 1968, Basque fueros during the Modern Period English Magna Carta
21.
Homage (feudal)
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Homage in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title to his new position. It was an acknowledgement to the lord that the vassal was, literally. The oath known as fealty implied lesser obligations than did homage, a similar concept is the bayah, a type of oath in Islam. There have been some conflicts about obligations of homage in history, for example, the Angevin monarchs of England were sovereign in England, i. e. they had no duty of homage regarding those holdings, but they were not sovereign regarding their French holdings. So Henry II was king of England, but he was merely Duke of the Normans and Angevins, the Capetian kings in Paris, though weak militarily, claimed a right of homage. The usual oath was therefore modified by Henry to add the qualification for the lands I hold overseas, the implication was that no knights service was owed for the conquered English lands. After King John was forced to surrender Normandy to France in 1204, John still expected to recover his ancestral lands, and those English lords who held lands in Normandy would have to choose sides. Many were forced to abandon their continental holdings, at first that seemed to satisfy John, but eventually, as a price for making peace with the French king to keep his lands, the Earl Marshall fell out of favour with John. The conflict between the French monarchs and the Angevin kings of England continued through the 13th century, when Edward I was asked to provide military service to Philip III in his war with Aragon in 1285, Edward made preparations to provide service from Gascony. A truce was arranged, however, before Edward had to decide what to do, but when Phillip III died, and his son Philip IV ascended the French throne in 1286, Edward dutifully but reluctantly performed homage for the sake of peace. In doing so, Edward added yet another qualification – that the duty owed was according to the terms of the peace made between our ancestors, allegiance Bayah Charge Duty Fealty Feudalism in the Holy Roman Empire Honor
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Philip III of France
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It can also refer to Philippe III de Croÿ and Philippe III, Duke of Orléans. Philip III, called the Bold, was King of France from 1270 to 1285, Philip proved indecisive, soft in nature, and timid. The strong personalities of his parents apparently crushed him, and policies of his father dominated him, people called him the Bold on the basis of his abilities in combat and on horseback and not on the basis of his political or personal character. He was pious but not cultivated and he followed the suggestions of others, first of Pierre de La Broce and then of his uncle King Charles I of Naples, Sicily, and Albania. His father, Louis IX, died in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade, Philip, who was accompanying him, came back to France to claim his throne and was anointed at Reims in 1271. Philip made numerous territorial acquisitions during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse which was annexed to the Crown lands of France in 1271. Following the Sicilian Vespers, a rebellion triggered by Peter III of Aragon against Philips uncle Charles I of Naples, Philip was forced to retreat and died from dysentry in Perpignan in 1285. He was succeeded by his son Philip the Fair, Philip was born in Poissy to King Saint Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence, queen consort of France. As a younger son, Philip was not expected to rule a kingdom, at the death of his elder brother Louis in 1260, he became the heir to the throne. He was then 15 years old and has less skill than his brother, being of a character, submissive, timid and versatile. Pope Urban IV released Philip from his oath on June 6,1263, from 1268 Pierre de La Brosse became mentor. Saint Louis also provided him his own advice, writing in particular Enseignements and he also received a very faith-oriented education. Guillaume dErcuis was also his chaplain before being the tutor of his son, as Count of Orléans, he accompanied his father to the Eighth Crusade in Tunis,1270. After taking Carthage, the army was struck by an epidemic of dysentery and his brother John Tristan, Count of Valois died first, on August 3, and on August 25 the king died. To prevent putrefaction of the remains of the sovereign, they recoursed to Mos Teutonicus, Philip, then 25 years old, was proclaimed king in Tunis. With neither great personality or will, very pious, but a good rider and he was unable to command the troops at the death of his father. He left his uncle Charles I of Naples to negotiate with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Sultan of Tunis and he got the payment of tribute from the caliph of Tunis in exchange for the departure of the crusaders. A treaty was concluded October 28,1270 between the kings of France, Sicily and Navarre and the barons on one hand and the caliph of Tunis on the other
23.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
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Gascony
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Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the Province of Guyenne and Gascony prior to the French Revolution. The region is defined, and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear, by some they are seen to overlap, while others consider Gascony a part of Guyenne. Most definitions put Gascony east and south of Bordeaux and it is currently divided between the region of Aquitaine and the region of Midi-Pyrénées. Gascony was historically inhabited by Basque-related people who appear to have spoken a language similar to Basque, the name Gascony comes from the same root as the word Basque. From medieval times until today, the Gascon language has been spoken, Gascony is the land of dArtagnan, who inspired Alexandre Dumass character dArtagnan in The Three Musketeers. It is also home to Henry III of Navarre, who became king of France as Henry IV. In pre-Roman times, the inhabitants of Gascony were the Aquitanians, the Aquitanians inhabited a territory limited to the north and east by the Garonne River, to the south by the Pyrenees mountain range, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. In the 50s BC, Aquitania was conquered by lieutenants of Julius Caesar, later, in 27 BC, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, the province of Gallia Aquitania was created. In 297, as Emperor Diocletian reformed the administrative structures of the Roman Empire, the territory of Novempopulania corresponded quite well to what we call now Gascony. The Aquitania Novempopulana or Novempopulania suffered like the rest of the Western Roman Empire from the invasions of Germanic tribes, the Visigoths were defeated by the Franks in 507, and fled into Spain and Septimania, as well as Albania. Novempopulania then became part of the Frankish Kingdom like the rest of southern France, however, Novempopulania was far away from the home base of the Franks in northern France, and was only very loosely controlled by the Franks. Modern historians reject this hypothesis, which is sustained by no archeological evidence, for Juan José Larrea, and Pierre Bonnassie, a Vascon expansionism in Aquitany is not proved and is not necessary to understand the historical evolution of this region. This Basque-related culture and race is, whatever the origin, attested in Medieval documents, the word Vasconia evolved into Wasconia, and then into Gasconia. The gradual abandonment of the Basque-related Aquitanian language in favor of a local vulgar Latin, was not reversed, the replacing local vulgar Latin evolved into Gascon. It was heavily influenced by the original Aquitanian language, quite paradoxically the Basques from the French side of the Basque Country traditionally call anyone who does not speak Basque a Gascon. Meanwhile, Viking raiders conquered several Gascon towns, among them Bayonne in 842–844 and their attacks in Gascony may have helped the political disintegration of the Duchy until their defeat against William II Sánchez of Gascony in 982. In turn, the weakened ethnic polity known as Duchy of Wasconia/Wascones, unable to get round the general spread of feudalization and his 1152 marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine allowed the future Henry II to gain control of his new wifes possessions of Aquitaine and Gascony. This addition to his already plentiful holdings made Henry the most powerful vassal in France, in 1248, Simon de Montfort was appointed Governor in the unsettled Duchy of Gascony
25.
Estella-Lizarra
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Estella or Lizarra is a town located in the autonomous community of Navarre, in northern Spain. It lies south west of Pamplona, close to the border with La Rioja, the town was founded in 1090 when the place, lying by the fortified settlement of Lizarra, was granted a charter by the Pamplonese king Sancho Ramirez. The wealth resulted in a development of Romanesque architecture, well represented in the town, Church of San Pedro de la Rúa, Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra, Church of San Miguel, among others. The town was a headquarters of the Carlist party in the Carlist Wars of the mid 19th century. Between 1927 and 1967, the town held the terminus of the iconic Ferrocarril Vasco-Navarro railway extending up to Bergara, the line was fitted with electrified power supply as of 1938, a provision considered a feat at the time. The town regularly hosts the GP Miguel Indurain, ayuntamiento de Estella - Lizarra Estella. - Medieval History of Navarre Estella - Lizarra in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia Estella-Lizarra Info. Official Website of Tourism in Spain
26.
Kingdom of Castile
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The Kingdom of Castile was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region and it began as the County of Castile, an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León in the 9th century. During the 10th century its counts increased their autonomy, but it was not until 1065 that it was separated from León, between 1072 and 1157 it was again united with León, and after 1230 this union became permanent. Throughout this period the Castilian kings made conquests in southern Iberia at the expense of the Islamic principalities. Castile and León, with their southern acquisitions, came to be known collectively as the Crown of Castile, according to the chronicles of Alfonso III of Asturias, the first reference to the name Castile can be found in a document written during AD800. The name reflects its origin as a march on the frontier of the Kingdom of Asturias, protected by castles. The County of Castile, bordered in the south by the northern reaches of the Spanish Sistema Central mountain system and it was re-populated by inhabitants of Cantabria, Asturias, Vasconia and Visigothic and Mozarab origins. It had its own Romance dialect and customary laws, the areas that they settled didnt extend far from the Cantabrian southeastern ridges, and not beyond the southern reaches of the high Ebro river valleys and canyon gores. Subsequently, the region was subdivided, separate counts being named to Alava, Burgos, Cerezo & Lantarón, the minority of Count García Sánchez led Castile to accept Sancho III of Navarre, married to the sister of Count García, as feudal overlord. García was assassinated in 1028 while in León to marry the princess Sancha, Sancho III, acting as feudal overlord, appointed his younger son Ferdinand as Count of Castile, marrying him to his uncles intended bride, Sancha of León. At the Battle of Tamarón Bermudo was killed, leaving no surviving offspring, in right of his wife, Ferdinand then assumed the royal title as king of León and Castile, for the first time associating the royal title with the rule of Castile. When Ferdinand I died in 1065, the territories were divided among his children, Sancho II became King of Castile, Alfonso VI, King of León and García, King of Galicia, while his daughters were given towns, Urraca, Zamora, and Elvira, Toro. Sancho II allied himself with Alfonso VI of León and together they conquered, Sancho later attacked Alfonso VI and invaded León with the help of El Cid, and drove his brother into exile, thereby reuniting the three kingdoms. Urraca permitted the greater part of the Leonese army to take refuge in the town of Zamora, Sancho laid siege to the town, but the Castilian king was assassinated in 1072 by Bellido Dolfos, a Galician nobleman. As a result, Alfonso VI recovered all his territory of León. This was the union of León and Castile, although the two kingdoms remained distinct entities joined only in a personal union. The sworn oath taken by El Cid before Alfonso VI in Santa Gadea de Burgos regarding the innocence of Alfonso in the matter of the murder of his brother is well known, under Alfonso VI, there was an approach to the rest of Europeans kingdoms, including France. He gave his daughters, Elvira, Urraca and Theresa, in marriage to Raymond of Toulouse, Raymond of Burgundy, in the Council of Burgos in 1080 the traditional Mozarabic rite was replaced by the Roman one
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Alfonso X of Castile
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Alfonso X, called the Wise, was the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death. During the Imperial election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be King of the Romans on 1 April and he renounced his imperial claim in 1275, and in creating an alliance with England in 1254, his claim on Gascony as well. Alfonso X fostered the development of a court that encouraged learning. Jews, Muslims, and Christians had prominent roles in his court, Alfonso was a prolific author of Galician poetry, such as the Cantigas de Santa Maria, which are equally notable for their musical notation as for their literary merit. Alfonsos scientific interests—he is sometimes nicknamed the Astrologer —led him to sponsor the creation of the Alfonsine tables, as a legislator he introduced the first vernacular law code in Spain, the Siete Partidas. He created the Mesta, an association of farmers in the central plain. He fought a war with Portugal, but a less successful one with Granada. The end of his reign was marred by a war with his eldest surviving son, the future Sancho IV. Born in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile, Alfonso was the eldest son of Ferdinand III of Castile and his mother was the paternal cousin of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, to whom Alfonso is often compared. His maternal grandparents were Philip of Swabia and Irene Angelina, little is known about his upbringing, but he was most likely raised in Toledo. For the first nine years of his life Alfonso was only heir to Castile until his paternal grandfather king Alfonso IX of Leon died and his father united the kingdoms of Castile and Leon. He began his career as a soldier, under the command of his father, after the election of Theobald I as king of Navarre, his father tried to arrange a marriage for Alfonso with Theobalds daughter, Blanche of Navarre, but the move was unsuccessful. At the same time, he had a relationship with Mayor Guillén de Guzmán. In 1240, he married Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, but the marriage was later annulled, in the same period he conquered several Muslim strongholds in Al-Andalus alongside his father, such as Murcia, Alicante and Cadiz. In 1249, Alfonso married Violante of Aragon, the daughter of King James I of Aragon and Yolande of Hungary, Alfonso succeeded his father as King of Castile and León in 1252. The following year he invaded Portugal, capturing the region of the Algarve, King Afonso III of Portugal had to surrender, but he gained an agreement by which, after he consented to marry Alfonso Xs daughter Beatrice of Castile, the land would be returned to their heirs. In 1263 he returned Algarve to the King of Portugal and signed the Treaty of Badajoz, in 1254 Alfonso X signed a treaty of alliance with the King of England and Duke of Aquitaine, Henry III, supporting him in the war against Louis IX of France. In 1256, at the death of William II of Holland, Alfonsos descent from the Hohenstaufen through his mother, Alfonsos election as King of the Romans by the imperial prince-electors misled him into complicated schemes that involved excessive expense but never succeeded
28.
Philip of Castile
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Philip of Castile was an Infante of Castile and son of Ferdinand III, King of Castile and León, and his first queen, Beatrice of Swabia. Infante Philip of Castile was born in 1231 as the son of Ferdinand III and he was named after his maternal grandfather, Philip of Swabia, King of Germany and Duke of Swabia. From childhood he was groomed by his father, King Ferdinand III, for a career, along with his brother Infante Sancho. In 1249 Infante Philip was named Procurator of the Archdiocese of Seville by Pope Innocent IV, two years later, in 1251, he was named archbishop-elect of Seville by the same pope. The archdiocese continued to be administered by Raimundo de Losana, Bishop of Segovia, nonetheless, the falsehood of the legend is demonstrated by the fact that Queen Violant had already given birth to several children by 1258. In fact, Haakon sent Christina to Castile to marry one of the kings brothers, on her way to Castile, the princess passed through France and Aragon, where she was received with full honors by James I, who ended up proposing marriage to her. Apparently, the princess preferred Philip to Frederick, due to a scar which the latter had on his lip, however, in a later document, Alfonso X stated that it had been his decision that the Norwegian princess marry Infante Philip. The wedding of Philip and Christina was held in April 1258 in Valladolid, the vacancy left by Infante Philip in the Archdiocese of Seville was not filled until May 1259, when Pope Alexander IV named Raimundo de Losana to the post. Infante Philip, widowed of his first two wives, was married to Leonor Rodríguez de Castro, the daughter of Nuño González de Laras sister. After the meeting of the plotters in Lerma, Alfonso X tried to find out what had actually happened there, communicating with Infante Philip. Nuño González de Lara declared the end of his agreement with Alfonso X, which obliged him not to establish common positions with either Muslims or Christians without previously informing the king. Moreover, they asked him to reduce the frequency of their service to the Cortes, to them from payment of the Burgos municipal tax. Shortly thereafter Alfonso X signed an alliance with the Kingdom of Navarre and he specifically reproached Nuño González de Lara for the fact that, during his youth, he had granted him the estate of Écija over the objections of his father King Ferdinand III. The king sent the dean of the Cathedral of Seville, Fernán Pérez, to talk to Infante Philip in order to him to leave the nobles party. At the beginning of 1273, Juan Núñez de Lara, who then had acted as a mediator, along with the Bishop of Cuenca. Those of Lope, Nuño González de Lara, and his son Juan Núñez the Fat de Lara do not appear until the beginning of 1274. Nuño González de Laras signature began to once more on royal privileges on 24 January 1274. In the beginning of 1274 he was named Governor of Andalusia, Infante Philip of Castile died on 28 November 1274, the date which is engraved on his tomb, at the age of 43
29.
Battlement
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These gaps are termed crenels, and the act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons, a wall with battlements is said to be crenelated or embattled. Battlements on walls have protected walkways behind them, on tower or building tops, the roof is used as the protected fighting platform. The term originated in about the 14th century from the Old French word batailler, the word crenel derives from the ancient French cren, Latin crena, meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing, see also crenation. In medieval England a licence to crenellate granted the permission to fortify their property. The castles in England vastly outnumber the licences to crenellate, royal pardons were obtainable, on the payment of an arbitrarily determined fine, by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent, there has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army and they indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, battlements have been used for thousands of years, the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt. Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud, traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece, and some ancient Greek vases suggest the existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements, late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms. From the 13th century, the merlons could be connected with wooden shutters that provided added protection when closed, the shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres, in the battlements of Pompeii, additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which the defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height, Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright, the normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded, the battlements of the Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance. European architects persistently used battlements as a decorative feature throughout the Decorated
30.
Castle
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A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. Usage of the term has varied over time and has applied to structures as diverse as hill forts. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with different features, although some, such as curtain walls. A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures served as centres of administration. Many castles were built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire, many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castles firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape, while castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum, which is a diminutive of the word castrum, meaning fortified place. The Old English castel, Old French castel or chastel, French château, Spanish castillo, Italian castello, the word castle was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is a fortified residence. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for service and the expectation of loyalty. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, as well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a base of operations in enemy territory
31.
Philip IV of France
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Philip IV, called the Fair or the Iron King, was King of France from 1285 until his death. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also Philip I, Philip relied on skillful civil servants, such as Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny, to govern the kingdom rather than on his barons. Philip and his advisors were instrumental in the transformation of France from a country to a centralized state. Philip, who sought an uncontested monarchy, compelled his vassals by wars and his ambitions made him highly influential in European affairs. His goal was to place his relatives on foreign thrones, princes from his house ruled in Naples and Hungary. He tried and failed to make relative the Holy Roman Emperor. He began the advance of France eastward by taking control of scattered fiefs. To further strengthen the monarchy, he tried to control the French clergy and this conflict led to the transfer of the papal court to the enclave of Avignon in 1309. In 1306, Philip the Fair expelled the Jews from France and, in 1307, Friday 13th, Philip was in debt to both groups and saw them as a state within the state. His final year saw a scandal amongst the family, known as the Tour de Nesle Affair. His three sons were kings of France, Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born in the fortress of Fontainebleau to the future Philip III. He was the second of four born to the couple. His father was the heir apparent of France at that time, in August 1270, when Philip was two years old, his grandfather died while on Crusade, his father became king, and his elder brother Louis became heir apparent. Only five months later, in January 1271, Philips mother died after falling from a horse, a few months later, one of Philips younger brothers, Robert, also died. Philips father was crowned king at Rhiems on 15 August 1271. Six days later, he married again, Philips step-mother was Marie, in May 1276, Philips elder brother Louis died, and the eight year old Philip became crown prince. It was suspected that Louis had been poisoned, and that his stepmother, one reason for these rumours was the fact that the queen gave birth to her own eldest son in the same month as the death of the crown prince
32.
King of France
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The monarchs of the Kingdom of France and its predecessors ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of the Franks in 486 till the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870. Sometimes included as kings of France are the kings of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled from 486 until 751, and of the Carolingians, who ruled until 987. The Capetian dynasty, the descendants of Hugh Capet, included the first rulers to adopt the title of king of France for the first time with Philip II. The Capetians ruled continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848, the branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon. During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect and after the July Revolution in 1830 and it was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarchs title to the French people rather than to the possession of the territory of France. With the House of Bonaparte Emperors of the French ruled in 19th century France and it was used on coins up to the eighteenth century. During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect and after the July Revolution in 1830 and it was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarchs title to the French people rather than to the possession of the territory of France. They used the title Emperor of the French and this article lists all rulers to have held the title King of the Franks, King of France, King of the French or Emperor of the French. For other Frankish monarchs, see List of Frankish kings, in addition to the monarchs listed below, the Kings of England and Great Britain from 1340–60, 1369-1420, and 1422–1801 also claimed the title of King of France. For a short time, this had some basis in fact – under the terms of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, Charles VI had recognized his son-in-law Henry V of England as regent and heir. Henry V predeceased Charles VI and so Henry Vs son, Henry VI, most of Northern France was under English control until 1435, but by 1453, the English had been expelled from all of France save Calais, and Calais itself fell in 1558. Nevertheless, English and then British monarchs continued to claim the title for themselves until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801. The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years in a known as Francia in Latin. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul as well as the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior, the Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. In 751, a Carolingian, Pepin the Younger, dethroned the Merovingians and with the consent of the Papacy, the Robertians were Frankish noblemen owing fealty to the Carolingians, and ancestors of the subsequent Capetian dynasty. Odo, Count of Paris, was chosen by the western Franks to be their king following the removal of emperor Charles the Fat, the Bosonids were a noble family descended from Boso the Elder, their member, Rudolph, was elected King of the Franks in 923. After the death of Louis V, the son of Hugh the Great and grandson of Robert I, the Capetian Dynasty, the male-line descendants of Hugh Capet, ruled France continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848. They were direct descendants of the Robertian kings, the cadet branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon
33.
Crown lands of France
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The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France refers to the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the first Capetians—while being the kings of France—were among the least powerful of the feudal lords of France in terms of territory possessed. Patiently, through the use of law, conquest, annexation, skillful marriages with heiresses of large fiefs, and even by purchase. However, the system of appanage alienated large territories from the royal domain. During the Wars of Religion, the alienation of lands and fiefs from the domain was frequently criticized. These lands were largely the inheritance of the Robertians, the ancestors of the Capetians. 988, Montreuil-sur-Mer, the first port held by the Capetians, is acquired though the marriage of the crown prince Robert with Rozala,1016, acquisition of the Duchy of Burgundy. The king was the nephew of Duke Henry of Burgundy, who died without heirs, other additions to the royal domain include, Montlhéry and Châteaufort, Chevreuse, Corbeil, Meung-sur-Loire, Châteaurenard and Saint-Brisson. 1137, marriage of Louis with Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine and Gascony, by this marriage, Louis hopes to attach most of South-West France to the royal domain. 1137, Louis gives Dreux to his brother Robert,1151, separation of Louis VII and of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who in 1152 weds Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine and Duke of Normandy, who becomes in 1154, King of England. Eleanors lands come to Henry in her dowry,1160, gives Norman Vexin to his daughter Margaret as a dowry. Margaret is later forced to surrender her dowry,1185, by the Treaty of Boves, gains Amiens and Montdidier, Roye, Choisy-au-Bac, and Thourotte and rights to the inheritance of Vermandois and Valois. 1187, seizes Tournai from the bishop, confiscates Meulan, Gisors, and other castles. 1191, at the death of Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders, the County of Artois and its dependencies and these areas would not become integrated into the royal domain until 1223 when Louis becomes king. 1191, the County of Vermandois is acquired by the king, after the death of Elisabeth of Vermandois, confirmed in 1213, by Eléonore of Vermandois sister of Elisabeth. 1200, the Norman Vexin is annexed 1200 the County of Évreux and Issoudun are annexed,1204, confiscation of the Duchy of Normandy, the Touraine, Anjou, Saintonge and, temporarily, of the Poitou from John of England. 1208, La Ferté-Macé confiscated from Guillaume IV of Ferté-Macé1220,1223, Philip Hurepel, half-brother of the king, received in appanage the Counties of Boulogne, and of Clermont, as well as the fiefs of Domfront, Mortain and Aumale. Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois, Périgord and a part of the Bordelais were confiscated from the king of England,1241, the king confirms the appanage grant of Poitou for his brother Alfonso, Count of Poitou
34.
Divine Comedy
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The Divine Comedy is a long narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c.1308 and completed in 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work in Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature, the poems imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written and it is divided into three parts, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. On the surface, the poem describes Dantes travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise or Heaven, but at a level, it represents, allegorically. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy, consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called the Summa in verse. The work was simply titled Comedìa and the word Divina was added by Giovanni Boccaccio. The first printed edition to add the word divina to the title was that of the Venetian humanist Lodovico Dolce, the Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines that are divided into three canticas – Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso – each consisting of 33 cantos. An initial canto, serving as an introduction to the poem and generally considered to be part of the first cantica, the number three is prominent in the work, represented in part by the number of canticas and their lengths. Additionally, the scheme used, terza rima, is hendecasyllabic, with the lines composing tercets according to the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc. Written in the first person, the tells of Dantes journey through the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory, Beatrice, Dantes ideal woman, within each group of 9,7 elements correspond to a specific moral scheme, subdivided into three subcategories, while 2 others of greater particularity are added to total nine. For example, the seven sins of the Catholic Church that are cleansed in Purgatory are joined by special realms for the Late repentant. The core seven sins within Purgatory correspond to a scheme of love perverted, subdivided into three groups corresponding to excessive love, deficient love, and malicious love. In central Italys political struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Dante was part of the Guelphs, who in general favored the Papacy over the Holy Roman Emperor, florences Guelphs split into factions around 1300, the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs. The last word in each of the three canticas is stelle, the poem begins on the night before Good Friday in the year 1300, halfway along our lifes path. Conscious that he is ruining himself and that he is falling into a low place where the sun is silent, Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, the circles number 9, with the addition of Satan completing the structure of 9 +1 =10. Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil ascend out of the undergloom to the Mountain of Purgatory on the far side of the world. The Mountain is on an island, the land in the Southern Hemisphere
35.
Dante Alighieri
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Durante degli Alighieri, simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages. In the late Middle Ages, the majority of poetry was written in Latin. In De vulgari eloquentia, however, Dante defended use of the vernacular in literature, as a result, Dante played an instrumental role in establishing the national language of Italy. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, Dante has been called the Father of the Italian language and one of the greatest poets of world literature. In Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta and il Poeta, he, Petrarch, Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, present-day Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from autobiographic allusions in the Divine Comedy, in 1265, the sun was in Gemini between approximately May 11 and June 11. Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans, but the earliest relative he could mention by name was Cacciaguida degli Elisei, born no earlier than about 1100. Dantes father, Alaghiero or Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. Dantes family had loyalties to the Guelphs, an alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines. The poets mother was Bella, likely a member of the Abati family and she died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati, contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. But by this time Dante had fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari, years after his marriage to Gemma he claims to have met Beatrice again, he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. The exact date of his marriage is not known, the certain information is that, before his exile in 1301. Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino and this victory brought about a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in life, one had to enroll in one of the citys many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians. In the following years, his name is recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. A substantial portion of minutes from meetings in the years 1298–1300 was lost, however
36.
Purgatory
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The notion of Purgatory is associated particularly with the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief. Judaism also believes in the possibility of purification and may even use the word purgatory to present its understanding of the meaning of Gehenna. However, the concept of soul purification may be denied in these other faith traditions. The same practice appears in traditions, such as the medieval Chinese Buddhist practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead. Roman Catholics consider the teaching on Purgatory, but not the imaginative accretions, of the early Church Fathers, Origen says that He who comes to be saved, comes to be saved through fire that burns away sins and worldliness like lead, leaving behind only pure gold. St. Ambrose of Milan speaks of a kind of baptism of fire which is located at the entrance to Heaven, and through which all must pass, at the end of the world. By this he meant that attachments to sin, habits of sin, and even venial sins could be removed in Purgatory, but not mortal sin, which, according to Catholic doctrine, causes eternal damnation. The Catholic Church gives the name Purgatory to the purification of all who die in Gods grace and friendship. Though Purgatory is often pictured as a rather than a process of purification. According to Catholic belief, immediately after death, a person undergoes judgment in which the eternal destiny is specified. Some are eternally united with God in Heaven, envisioned as a paradise of eternal joy, conversely, others reach a state called Hell, that is eternal separation from God often envisioned as an abode of never ending, fiery torment, a fire sometimes considered to be metaphorical. In addition to accepting the states of heaven and hell, Catholicism envisages a third state before being admitted to heaven, such souls, ultimately destined to be united with God in heaven, must first be cleansed through purgatory – a state of purification. Through purgatory, souls achieve the necessary to enter the joy of heaven. Mortal sin incurs both temporal punishment and eternal punishment, venial sin incurs only temporal punishment, the Catholic Church makes a distinction between these two types of sin. According to Catholicism, purification from our sinful tendencies can occur during life, the situation has been compared to that of someone who needs to be cleansed of any addiction. As from any addiction, rehabilitation from the disordered affection for created goods will be a gradual and it can be advanced during life by voluntary self-mortification and penance and by deeds of generosity that show love of God rather than of creatures. After death, a process can be recognized as a still necessary preparation for entering the divine presence. The writings of Saint Catherine of Genoa explain, As for paradise, whoever wishes to enter, does so
