1.
Filippo Maria Visconti
Filippo Maria Visconti was ruler of Milan from 1412 to 1447. Filippo Maria Visconti, who had become ruler of Pavia in 1402. They were the sons of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Gian Marias predecessor, by his second wife, urged on by Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, decided to intervene on the side of Florence and the war spread to Lombardy. In March 1426 Carmagnola fomented riots in Brescia, which he had conquered for Visconti just five years previously, after a long campaign, Venice conquered Brescia, extending its mainland possessions to the eastern shores of Lake Garda. Filippo Maria unsuccessfully sought imperial aid but was constrained to accept the proposed by Pope Martin V, favoring Venice. The following year the duke married his second wife Marie of Savoy, daughter of Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy, with Viscontis support, Amadeus reigned briefly as antipope Felix V from November 1439 to April 1449. He invited the famous scholar Gasparino Barzizza to establish a school at Milan, Barzizza served as his court orator.
The oldest extant Tarot decks, called carte da trionfi, were commissioned by Filippo Maria Visconti. Montechino Castle Wars in Lombardy Vincenzo Bellinis 1833 opera Beatrice di Tenda This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Hugh
2.
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established.
The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity.
In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
3.
House of Borgia
The House of Borgia was an Italo-Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from Borja, in the Crown of Aragon, especially during the reign of Alexander VI, they were suspected of many crimes, including adultery, simony, theft and murder. Because of their grasping for power, they made enemies of the Medici, the Sforza, and they were patrons of the arts who contributed to the Renaissance. The Borja or Borgia originated in the town of Borja in the Kingdom of Valencia, there were numerous unsubstantiated claims that the family was of Jewish origin. These underground rumours were propagated by, among others, Giuliano della Rovere, the rumours have persisted in popular culture for centuries, listed in the Semi-Gotha of 1912. The family themselves propagated a spurious genealogical descent from a 12th-century claimant to the crown of the Kingdom of Aragon, Pedro de Atarés, Lord of Borja, who actually died childless.
Alfons de Borja, known as Pope Callixtus III, was born to Francina Llançol and Domingo de Borja in La Torreta, which was situated in the Kingdom of Valencia. Alfons de Borja was a professor of law at the University of Lleida, at an advanced age, he was elected Pope Callixtus III in 1455 as a compromise candidate and reigned as Pope for just 3 years. Rodrigo Borgia, one of Alfonso’s nephews, was born in Xàtiva, in the Kingdom of Valencia, to Isabel de Borja i Cavanilles and he studied law at Bologna and was appointed as cardinal by his uncle, Alfons Borgia, Pope Callixtus III. He was elected Pope in 1492, taking the regnal name Alexander VI, while a cardinal, he maintained a long-term illicit relationship with Vannozza dei Cattanei, with whom he had four children, Cesare and Gioffre. Rodrigo had children by women, including one daughter with his mistress. As Alexander VI, Rodrigo was recognized as a politician and diplomat, but was widely criticized during his reign for his over-spending, sale of Church offices, lasciviousness.
As Pope, he struggled to acquire more personal and papal power and wealth and he appointed his son, Giovanni, as captain-general of the papal army, his foremost military representative, and established another son, Cesare, as a cardinal. Alexander used the marriages of his children to build alliances with powerful families in Italy, at the time, the Sforza family, which comprised the Milanese faction, was one of the most powerful in Europe, so Alexander united the two families by marrying Lucrezia to Giovanni Sforza. He married Gioffre, his youngest son from Vannozza, to Sancha of Aragon of the Crown of Aragon and it is reported that under Alexander VIs rule the Borgia hosted orgies in the Vatican palace. The Banquet of Chestnuts is considered one of the most disreputable balls of this kind, johann Burchard reports that fifty courtesans were in attendance for the entertainment of the banquet guests. It is alleged not only was the Pope present, but two of his children and Cesare. Other researchers however, such as Monsignor Peter de Roo, have rejected the rumors of the fifty courtesans as being at odds with Alexander VIs essentially decent, Pope Alexander VI died in Rome in 1503 after contracting a disease, generally believed to have been malaria
4.
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, Pesaro is known as City of Bicycle, thanks to its big net of bicycle paths. The city received this award by Legambiente, the most important ecologist society in Italy, in 2015 and it is known as City of Music thanks to the bond with Gioacchino Rossini, the famous composer born in Pesaro. For this reason, in 2015, the Italian Government officially candidate Pesaro as Creative City in the group of World Heritage Sites of UNESCO, furniture industry and tourism are the main strengths of the local economy. The city was founded as Pisaurum by the Romans in 184 BC as colony in the territory of the Picentes, a settlement of the Picentes tribe has been found at Novilara. The northern Picentes were invaded in the 4th century BC by the Gallic Senones, earlier by the Etruscans, within it the Gauls at least were still distinct, as the Romans separated them out and expelled them from the country.
Under the Roman administration Pesaro, a hub across the Via Flaminia, became an important center of trading, after the fall of the Western Empire, Pesaro was occupied by the Ostrogoths, and destroyed by Vitigis in the course of the Gothic War. Hastily rebuilt five years after the Byzantine reconquest, it formed the so-called Pentapolis, after the Lombard and Frankish conquests of that city, Pesaro became part of the Papal States. During the Renaissance it was ruled successively by the houses of Malatesta, Sforza, in 1475, a legendary wedding took place in Pesaro, when Costanzo Sforza and Camilla DAragona married. On 11 September 1860 Piedmontese troops entered the city, and Pesaro was subsequently annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy, rocca Costanza - Massive castle built by Costanzo I Sforza, it has a square plan with four cylindrical corner towers and a wide dry moat. Its sunken court is the precedent for the more famous one at the Roman Villa Giulia. Rooms are frescoed by prominent Mannerist painters Bronzino, Francesco Menzocchi, Girolamo Genga, mura Roveresche - Della Rovere Walls, demolished in the early 20th century), only two gates, Porta del Ponte and Porta Rimini, and a short section remain.
Birthplace of Gioacchino Rossini- Now a museum dedicated to the composer and it has a museum with manifestoes, prints and his spinet. Among the masterpieces is the Pesaro Altarpiece by Giovanni Bellini, oliveriani Museum and Library- Archaeological Collection and Manuscript Library, founded in 1756 by Annibale degli Abati Olivieri. Cathedral of Pesaro Romanesque-Gothic Basilica built over remains of a late Roman edifice, the façade, in Romanesque-Gothic style, is unfinished, it has a simple ogival portal surmounted by a band of small arches. A recent restoration has brought to light floor mosaics, the Baroque Sanctuary of Beata Vergine del Carmelo. Rossini Opera Festival has taken place every summer since 1980 in Pesaro, Pesaro hosts the home games of Victoria Libertas basketball team, better known across Europe as Scavolini Pesaro. Adriatic Arena, third biggest Italian indoor arena behind Mediolanum Forum in Milan, among the town industries is the motocross and enduro brand of TM Racing, a small manufacturer of race-ready motorbikes based in the coastal town since 1978
5.
Louis XII of France
Louis XII was a monarch of the House of Valois who ruled as King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his cousin Charles VIII, who died without a closer heir in 1498. Before his accession to the throne of France, he was known as Louis of Orléans and was compelled to be married to his disabled and supposedly sterile cousin Joan by his second cousin, king Louis XI. By doing so, Louis XI hoped to extinguish the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois, Louis of Orléans was one of the great feudal lords who opposed the French monarchy in the conflict known as the Mad War. At the royal victory in the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in 1488, Louis was captured and he subsequently took part in the Italian War of 1494–1498 as one of the French commanders. When Louis XII became king in 1498, he had his marriage with Joan annulled by Pope Alexander VI and instead married Anne of Brittany and this marriage allowed Louis to reinforce the personal Union of Brittany and France.
Louis persevered in the Italian Wars, initiating a second Italian campaign for the control of the Kingdom of Naples, Louis conquered the Duchy of Milan in 1500 and pushed forward to the Kingdom of Naples, which fell to him in 1501. Proclaimed King of Naples, Louis faced a new coalition gathered by Ferdinand II of Aragon and was forced to cede Naples to Spain in 1504. A popular king, Louis was proclaimed Father of the People in 1506 by the Estates-General of Tours for his reduction of the tax known as taille, legal reforms, Louis XII died in 1515 without a male heir. He was succeeded by his cousin Francis from the Angoulême cadet branch of the House of Valois, Louis was born on 27 June 1462 in the Château de Blois, Touraine. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, Louis XI may have been more influenced in this opinion by his opposition to the entire Orleanist faction of the royal family than by the actual facts of this paternity case. Despite any alleged doubts that King Louis XI may have had, King Louis XI died on 30 August 1483.
He was succeeded to the throne of France by his thirteen year-old son, nobody knew the direction which the new king would take in leading the kingdom. Accordingly, on 24 October 1483, a call went out for a convocation of the Estates General of the French kingdom, in January 1484, deputies of the Estates General began to arrive in Tours, France. The deputies represented three different estates in society, the First Estate was the Church, in France this meant the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Estate was composed of the nobility and the royalty of France, the Third Estate was generally composed of commoners and the class of traders and merchants in France. Louis, the current Duke of Orleans and future Louis XII, each estate brought their chief complaints to the Estates General in hopes to have some impact on the policies that the new King would pursue. The First Estate wanted a return to the Pragmatic Sanction, the Pragmatic Sanction had been first instituted by King Charles VII, the current King Charles VIIIs grandfather
6.
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire.
In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels.
After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
7.
Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Maria Sforza, was Duke of Milan from 1494 until 1499, following the death of his nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza. A member of the Sforza family, he was the son of Francesco I Sforza. He was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists and he is probably best known as the man who commissioned The Last Supper. Ludovico Sforza was born on 27 July 1452 at Vigevano, in what is now Lombardy and he was the fourth son of Francesco I Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti and, as such, was not expected to become ruler of Milan. Nevertheless, his mother, prudently saw to it that his education was not restricted to the classical languages. Under the tutelage of the humanist Francesco Filelfo, Ludovico received instruction in the beauties of painting and letters and he helped Leonardo paint with pastels. When their father Francesco died in 1466, the titles devolved upon the dissolute Galeazzo Maria. Galeazzo Maria ruled until his assassination in 1476, leaving his titles to his son, Gian Galeazzo Sforza.
For the following 13 years he ruled Milan as its Regent, Leonardo da Vinci orchestrated the wedding celebration. Beatrice and Alfonso’s sister, Isabella dEste was married to Francesco II Gonzaga, the 15-year-old princess quickly charmed the Milanese court with her joy in life, her laughter, and even her extravagance. She helped to make Sforza Castle a center of sumptuous festivals and balls and she loved entertaining philosophers, poets and she would become the mother of Maximilian Sforza and Francesco II Sforza, future Dukes of Milan. Prior to and throughout the duration of his marriage, Ludovico is known to have had mistresses, bernardina de Corradis was an early mistress who bore him a daughter, Bianca Giovanna. The child was legitimized and married to Galeazzo da Sanseverino in 1496, cecilia Gallerani, believed to be a favourite, gave birth to a son named Cesare on 3 May 1491, in the same year in which he married Beatrice dEste. Gallerani is identified as the subject of Leonardo da Vincis Lady with an Ermine – the ermine was the animal of Ludovico il Moro.
Another mistress was Lucrezia Crivelli, who bore him another son, Giovanni Paolo. Ludovico fathered an illegitimate son, called Sforza, who was born around 1484 and died suddenly in 1487. Ludovico contented himself with the rather than the appearance of power. He invested in agriculture and cattle breeding, and the metal industry, some 20,000 workers were employed in the silk industry
8.
Caravaggio, Lombardy
Caravaggio is a town and comune in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Italy,40 kilometres east of Milan. The town received the title of city with a presidential decree on December 22,1954. Caravaggio borders with the municipalities of Bariano, Brignano Gera dAdda, Capralba, Fornovo San Giovanni, Misano di Gera dAdda, Mozzanica and its frazioni are Masano and Vidalengo. The city is best known for the Sanctuary, other sights include, The Gallavresi Palace, now the Town Hall. It dates to the half of the 13th century. Church of San Fermo e Rustico, in Lombard-Gothic style, built in the 13th century over a pre-existing holy edifice, the two aisles were added in 1429. It has a façade in brickwork with a central portal. It is flanked by a 76-metre high bell tower, built in 1500 by governor Giovanni Dandolo, church of Santa Liberata, with frescoes. It has been probably the most important cultural and social spot of the city for decades before being destroyed at the end of the Second World War, in the area it was considered like a little Teatro alla Scala.
Giovanni Mangone, 16th century architect and sculptor, michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio, Italian Baroque painter, who is named after the town. Polidoro da Caravaggio, Renaissance artist Riccardo Montolivo, footballer Caravaggio has a station on the Treviglio–Cremona line. Porto Ercole Valletta Media related to Caravaggio at Wikimedia Commons Caravaggio official website
9.
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was always too risky. He was the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and he ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his fathers reign, from c.1483 to 1493. Charles father Philip died in 1506, so Charles succeeded Maximilian as Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, Maximilian was born at Wiener Neustadt on 22 March 1459. His father, Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, named him for an obscure saint whom Frederick believed had once warned him of imminent peril in a dream, in his infancy, he and his parents were besieged in Vienna by Albert of Austria. One source relates that, during the sieges bleakest days, the prince would wander about the castle garrison, begging the servants. The young prince was an excellent hunter, his hobby was the hunting for birds as a horse archer. The reigning duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was the political opponent of Maximilians father Frederick III.
After the Siege of Neuss, he was successful, the wedding between Maximilian and Mary took place on the evening of 16 August 1477. Maximilians wife had inherited the large Burgundian domains in France and the Low Countries upon her fathers death in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477. Already before his coronation as the King of the Romans in 1486, Maximilian decided to secure this distant and extensive Burgundian inheritance to his family, the House of Habsburg, at all costs. Maximilian undertook the defence of his wifes dominions from an attack by Louis XI and defeated the French forces at Guinegate, the wedding contract between Maximilian and Mary stipulated that only the children of bride and groom had a right to inherit from each, not the surviving parent. Mary tried to bypass this rule with a promise to transfer territories as a gift in case of her death, but her plans were confounded. After Marys death in an accident on 27 March 1482 near the Wijnendale Castle, Maximilians aim was now to secure the inheritance to one of his and Marys children.
Some of the Netherlander provinces were hostile to Maximilian, and they signed a treaty with Louis XI in 1482 that forced Maximilian to give up Franche-Comté and they openly rebelled twice in the period 1482–1492, attempting to regain the autonomy they had enjoined under Mary. Flemish rebels managed to capture Philip and even Maximilian himself, Maximilian continued to govern Marys remaining inheritance in the name of Philip the Handsome. After the regency ended and Charles VIII of France exchanged these two territories for Burgundy and Picardy in the Treaty of Senlis, thus a large part of the Netherlands stayed in the Habsburg patrimony. Maximilian was elected King of the Romans on 16 February 1486 in Frankfurt-am-Main at his fathers initiative and he became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire upon the death of his father in 1493. Much of Austria was under Hungarian rule when he took power, in 1490, Maximilian reconquered the territory and entered Vienna
10.
Leonardo da Vinci
He has been variously called the father of palaeontology and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute and tank, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the Universal Genius or Renaissance Man, an individual of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination. Much of his working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He worked in Rome and Venice, and he spent his last years in France at the home awarded to him by Francis I of France, Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait, Leonardos drawing of the Vitruvian Man is regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, and T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived, Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated power, an adding machine.
Some of his inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder. A number of Leonardos most practical inventions are nowadays displayed as working models at the Museum of Vinci. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, geology and hydrodynamics, Leonardo is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452 at the hour of the night in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci. He was the son of the wealthy Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina. Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense – da Vinci simply meaning of Vinci, his birth name was Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci, meaning Leonardo. The inclusion of the title ser indicated that Leonardos father was a gentleman, little is known about Leonardos early life. He spent his first five years in the hamlet of Anchiano in the home of his mother and his father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera Amadori, who loved Leonardo but died young in 1465 without children.
When Leonardo was sixteen, his father married again to twenty-year-old Francesca Lanfredini, pieros legitimate heirs were born from his third wife Margherita di Guglielmo and his fourth and final wife, Lucrezia Cortigiani. Leonardo received an education in Latin and mathematics. In life, Leonardo recorded only two childhood incidents, which he regarded as an omen, was when a kite dropped from the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his face
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