1.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
2.
Ancona
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Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of c.101,997 as of 2015. Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region, the city is located 280 km northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic Sea, between the slopes of the two extremities of the promontory of Monte Conero, Monte Astagno and Monte Guasco. Ancona is one of the ports on the Adriatic Sea, especially for passenger traffic. Greek merchants established a Tyrian purple dye factory here, in Roman times it kept its own coinage with the punning device of the bent arm holding a palm branch, and the head of Aphrodite on the reverse, and continued the use of the Greek language. When it became a Roman colony is uncertain and it was occupied as a naval station in the Illyrian War of 178 BC. Julius Caesar took possession of it immediately after crossing the Rubicon and its harbour was of considerable importance in imperial times, as the nearest to Dalmatia, and was enlarged by Trajan, who constructed the north quay with his Syrian architect Apollodorus of Damascus. At the beginning of it stands the marble triumphal arch with a single archway, Ancona was successively attacked by the Goths, Lombards and Saracens between the 3rd and 5th centuries, but recovered its strength and importance. It was one of the cities of the Pentapolis of the Roman Exarchate of Ravenna in the 7th and 8th centuries, in 840, Saracen raiders sacked and burned the city. After Charlemagnes conquest of northern Italy, it became the capital of the Marca di Ancona, after 1000, Ancona became increasingly independent, eventually turning into an important maritime republic, often clashing against the nearby power of Venice. An oligarchic republic, Ancona was ruled by six Elders, elected by the three terzieri into which the city was divided, S. Pietro, Porto and Capodimonte. It had a coin of its own, the agontano, Ancona was usually allied with Ragusa and the Byzantine Empire. In 1137,1167 and 1174 it was enough to push back the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. Anconitan ships took part in the Crusades, and their navigators included Cyriac of Ancona, in the struggle between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors that troubled Italy from the 12th century onwards, Ancona sided with the Guelphs. Differently from other cities of northern Italy, Ancona never became a seignory, the sole exception was the rule of the Malatesta, who took the city in 1348 taking advantage of the black death and of a fire that had destroyed many of its important buildings. The Malatesta were ousted in 1383, in 1532 it definitively lost its freedom and became part of the Papal States, under Pope Clement VII. Symbol of the authority was the massive Citadel. Together with Rome, and Avignon in southern France, Ancona was the city in the Papal States in which the Jews were allowed to stay after 1569. The southern quay was built in 1880, and the harbour was protected by forts on the heights, from 1797 onwards, when the French took it, it frequently appears in history as an important fortress
3.
Macerata
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Macerata listen is a city and comune in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. Together with the town, sprawling on the plain below the historic centre. The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza rivers and it first consisted of the Picenes city named Ricina, then, after its romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina. The newly rebuilt town was Macerata and it became a municipality in August 1138. Typically hilly, the climate is both Mediterranean and continental, the Adriatic Sea, which is approximately 30 kilometres away, and particularly the Apennine Mountains influence the weather. The elevation of Macerata is approximately 315 metres above sea level, so winter is particularly rainy, balkanic and northwestern perturbations may cause snow. Middle seasons are variable, and late snowfall and frost may occur during April, october is neither warm nor very cold. Summer is rather sunny, and sometimes the thermometer reaches 40 °C, garbino is the cause, a hot wind from the hinterland. Summer thunderstorms are frequent in August during the evening, when the weather becomes quite unstable, in the central Piazza della Libertà is the Loggia dei Mercanti with two-tier arcades dating from the Renaissance. There are a number of striking palazzi, mostly along Corso Matteotti, next to the Loggia dei Mercanti, Corso della Repubblica leads to Piazza Vittorio Veneto where, in the Palazzo Ricci, there is a modern art gallery. Another museum that is worth a visit is Palazzo Buonaccorsi where you can see the amazing Eneide Hall. Soon the building will host the city Art Gallery with its most important artpiece, the University of Macerata was founded in 1290 and has about 13,000 students, Macerata also has an art school, two publishing houses, jazz clubs and the like. The Palazzo Buonaccorsi was built in 1700–1720 for Count Raimondo Buonaccorsi, the piano nobile is known for the Sala dellEneide, decorated with frescoes by Rambaldi, Dardani, Solimena, and canvases by Garzi and Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole. Just north of the town, at the Villa Potenza, lie the remains of ancient Helvia Recina, among the churches in the town are, Macerata Cathedral, built in Neoclassical style in 1771–1790, it has the remains of a 15th-century Gothic bell tower. The interior was designed by Cosimo Morelli, San Claudio al Chienti, Romanesque church south of the Town. Its unusual shape is due to one church being built on the remains of another and it was built during the 14th century as war reparation to Montolmo, which defeated Macerata in a bloody and long war. San Claudio al Chienti is very close to Macerata, but it has been a frazione of Corridonia since that time, San Filippo Neri San Giorgio Santa Maria della Misericordia Santo Stefano In July and August the Sferisterio Opera Festival is held in the 2,500 seat Arena Sferisterio. It is a huge neoclassical arena erected in the 1820s as a stadium for a form of handball by the architect Ireneo Aleandri, the orchestra pit is so wide that musicians at each end cannot hear each other
4.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
5.
Marche
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Marche, or The Marches /ˈmɑːrtʃᵻz/, is one of the twenty regions of Italy. The name of the region derives from the name of marca, originally referring to the medieval March of Ancona and nearby marches of Camerino. Marche is well known for its tradition, with the finest and most luxurious Italian footwear being manufactured in this region. Except for river valleys and the very narrow coastal strip. A railway from Bologna to Brindisi, built in the 19th century, inland, the mountainous nature of the region, even today, allows relatively little travel north and south, except by twisting roads over the passes. Most of the region is mountainous or hilly, the features being the Apennine chain along the internal boundary. With the sole exception of Monte Vettore,2,476 metres high, the hilly area covers two-thirds of the region and is interrupted by wide gullies with numerous – albeit short – rivers and by alluvial plains perpendicular to the principal chain. The parallel mountain chains contain deep river gorges, the best known being those of the Furlo, the Rossa and the Frasassi. The coastal area is 173 kilometres long and is relatively flat, inland, in the mountainous areas, is more continental with cold and often snowy winters, by the sea is more mediterranean. Precipitation varies from 1000-1500 mm. per year inland and 600-800 mm. per year on the Adriatic coast, Marche was known in ancient times as the Picenum territory. The Picens or Picentes were the Italic tribe who lived in Picenum during the Iron Age, in the fourth century BC the northern area was occupied by the Senones, a tribe of Gauls. In Marche was fought the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC, after it, the Romans founded numerous colonies in the areas, connecting them to Rome by the Via Flaminia, Ascoli was a seat of Italic resistance during the Social War. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was invaded by the Goths, after the Gothic War, it was part of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. After the fall of the Exarchate it was briefly in the possession of the Lombards, in the ninth to eleventh centuries the marches of Camerino, Fermo and Ancona were created, hence the modern name. Marche was nominally part of the Papal States, but most of the territory was under local lords, in the twelfth century, the commune of Ancona resisted both the imperial authority of Frederick Barbarossa and the Republic of Venice, and was a maritime republic on its own. An attempt to restore Papal suzerainty by Gil de Albornoz in the century was short-lived. During the Renaissance, the region was fought over by rival aristocratic families, such as the Malatesta of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano and the house of Montefeltro of Urbino. The last independent entity, the Duchy of Urbino, was dissolved in 1631, after Napoleons defeat, Marche returned to Papal rule until 4 November 1860, when it was annexed to the unified Kingdom of Italy by a plebiscite
6.
Province of Ancona
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The province of Ancona is a province in the Marche region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Ancona, and the borders the Adriatic Sea. The city of Ancona is also the capital of Marche, to the north, the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea, and the Apennine Mountains to the west. The population of the province is located in coastal areas and in the provincial capital Ancona, which has a population of 101,518. Due to its location, it is strategically important. The president of the province is Liana Serrani and its coastline of sandy beaches is popular to Italians but has not been greatly affected by tourism. A large area of the land is farmland often used for wine production, the province produces wines using the Montepulciano, Sangiovese. Annually, feasts occur in the province during the harvesting period and it contains mountainous regions and the Conero Regional Park, which contain dense forests where black truffles are found. These are sold in Acqualagna in the province of Pesaro e Urbino. Comunes of the Province of Ancona Official website
7.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren
8.
Pope Innocent III
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Pope Innocent III reigned from 8 January 1198 to his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni, Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential popes. He exerted an influence over the Christian states of Europe. Pope Innocent was central in supporting the Catholic Churchs reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and this resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law. Pope Innocent is notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, Innocent called for Christian crusades against Muslim Spain and the Holy Land, as well as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. One of Pope Innocents critical decisions was organizing the Fourth Crusade, originally intended to attack Jerusalem through Egypt, a series of unforeseen circumstances led the crusaders to Constantinople, where they ultimately sacked the city in 1204. Lotario de Conti was born in Gavignano, near Anagni and his father was Count Trasimund of Segni and was a member of a famous house, Conti, which produced nine Popes, including Gregory IX, Alexander IV and Innocent XIII. Lotario was the nephew of Pope Clement III, his mother, as Pope, Lotario was to play a major role in the shaping of canon law through conciliar canons and decretal letters. He subscribed the papal bulls between 7 December 1190 and 4 November 1197, as a cardinal, Lotario wrote De miseria humanae conditionis. The work was popular for centuries, surviving in more than 700 manuscripts. Although he never returned to the work he intended to write, On the Dignity of Human Nature. Celestine III died on 8 January 1198 and he was only thirty-seven years old at the time. He took the name Innocent III, maybe as a reference to his predecessor Innocent II, as pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority. The Muslim recapture of Jerusalem in 1187 was to him a divine judgment on the moral lapses of Christian princes and he was also determined to protect what he called the liberty of the Church from inroads by secular princes. The patrimonium was routinely threatened by Hohenstaufen German kings who, as Roman emperors, the early death of Henry VI left his 4-year-old son Frederick II as king. Henry VI’s widow Constance of Sicily ruled over Sicily for her son before he reached the age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III, before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV, the Pope invested the young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198
9.
Adriatic
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The Adriatic Sea /ˌeɪdriˈætᵻk/ is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula and the Apennine Mountains from the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest, the countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Adriatic contains over 1,300 islands, mostly located along its eastern, Croatian and it is divided into three basins, the northern being the shallowest and the southern being the deepest, with a maximum depth of 1,233 metres. The Otranto Sill, a ridge, is located at the border between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The prevailing currents flow counterclockwise from the Strait of Otranto, along the eastern coast, tidal movements in the Adriatic are slight, although larger amplitudes are known to occur occasionally. The Adriatics salinity is lower than the Mediterraneans because the Adriatic collects a third of the water flowing into the Mediterranean. The surface water temperatures range from 30 °C in summer to 12 °C in winter. The Adriatic Sea sits on the Apulian or Adriatic Microplate, which separated from the African Plate in the Mesozoic era, the plates movement contributed to the formation of the surrounding mountain chains and Apennine tectonic uplift after its collision with the Eurasian plate. In the Late Oligocene, the Apennine Peninsula first formed, separating the Adriatic Basin from the rest of the Mediterranean, all types of sediment are found in the Adriatic, with the bulk of the material transported by the Po and other rivers on the western coast. The western coast is alluvial or terraced, while the eastern coast is indented with pronounced karstification. There are dozens of protected areas in the Adriatic, designed to protect the seas karst habitats. The sea is abundant in flora and fauna—more than 7,000 species are identified as native to the Adriatic, many of them endemic, rare and threatened ones. The Adriatics shores are populated by more than 3.5 million people, the earliest settlements on the Adriatic shores were Etruscan, Illyrian, and Greek. By the 2nd century BC, the shores were under Romes control, following Italian unification, the Kingdom of Italy started an eastward expansion that lasted until the 20th century. Following World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, the former disintegrated during the 1990s, resulting in four new states on the Adriatic coast. Italy and Albania agreed on their maritime boundary in 1992, Fisheries and tourism are significant sources of income all along the Adriatic coast. Adriatic Croatias tourism industry has grown faster economically than the rest of the Adriatic Basins, maritime transport is also a significant branch of the areas economy—there are 19 seaports in the Adriatic that each handle more than a million tonnes of cargo per year. The largest Adriatic seaport by annual cargo turnover is the Port of Trieste, in the southeast, the Adriatic Sea connects to the Ionian Sea at the 72-kilometre wide Strait of Otranto
10.
Urbino
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The town, nestled on a high sloping hillside, retains much of its picturesque medieval aspect, an illusion only slightly broken by the large car parks below the town. It hosts the University of Urbino, founded in 1506, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Urbino and its best-known architectural piece is the Palazzo Ducale, rebuilt by Luciano Laurana. The city is located in a hilly area, at the foothills of the Northern Apennines. The city is in the area of Montefeltro, an area classified as medium-high seismic risk. In the database of earthquakes developed by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and they include 24 April 1741, when the shocks were stronger than VIII on the Mercalli intensity scale, with an epicenter in Fabriano. Though Pepin the Short presented Urbino to the Papacy in 754–56, independent traditions were expressed in its commune, until, around 1200, eventually, though, the Montefeltro noblemen took control once more, and held it until 1508. The most famous member of the Montefeltro family, Federico da Montefeltro, federicos brilliant court, according to the descriptions in Baldassare Castigliones Il Cortegiano, set standards of what would characterize a modern European gentleman for centuries to come. Cesare Borgia dispossessed Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and Elisabetta Gonzaga in 1502, with the complicity of his father, Pope Alexander VI. They moved in 1523 the court in the city of Pesaro, the state was ruled since then by a papal legate, generally belonging to high ecclesiastical hierarchy. These works went on to form the core of the future Uffizi Gallery, among the works that went to Florence is the diptych of the Dukes of Urbino by Piero della Francesca. Other works of the Ducal Palace were brought to Rome, such as the Barberini Ex Tables of Fra Carnevale, the eighteenth century opened with the election to the papacy of Cardinal Giovan Francesco Albani Urbino, under the name of Clement XI. This was a windfall for the city and was its last great era, especially in terms of arts and culture, thanks to funding by Pope Albani and his family. In addition, due to the patronage of the Pope and of his family and this new age of splendor for the city ended with the death of Clement XI in 1721, placing the city in a long decline that has continued to the present day. After the Popes death, the Albani family remained the patron of the most significant works until the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1789, the collapse of the Cathedral dome following an earthquake led to the total renovation of the church. Between 1797 and 1800 the city was occupied by French troops, like much of northern and this event was a further cause of the impoverished local artistic heritage, already tried by the loss of the works following the devolution of the duchy in the seventeenth century. Sergius, now occupied by the Hotel Raffaello. This resulted in a new layout with the large spit of land below the Doges Palace incorporated into the city
11.
Loreto (AN)
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Loreto is a hilltown and comune of the Italian province of Ancona, in the Marche. It is most commonly known as the seat of the Basilica della Santa Casa, Loreto is located 127 metres above sea level on the right bank of the Musone river. It is 22 kilometres by rail south-southeast of Ancona, like many places in the Marche, it provides good views from the Apennines to the Adriatic. The city has also a line of walls designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. Notes Official website Official website of the sanctuary Catholic Encyclopedia article Loreto
12.
Camerino
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Camerino is a town in the province of Macerata, Marche, central-eastern Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about 64 kilometres from Ancona, Camerino is home to the University of Camerino, founded in the Middle Ages. Camerino occupies the site of the ancient Camerinum, the inhabitants of which became allies of the Romans in 310 BC or 309 BC, on the other hand, the Katspriot referred to in the history of the year 295 BC are probably the inhabitants of Clusium. Later it appears as a dependent autonomous community with the foedus aequum, two cohorts of Camertes fought with distinction under Gaius Marius against the invading Germanic Cimbri. It was much affected by the conspiracy of Catiline, and is mentioned in the Civil Wars. It belonged to ancient Umbria, but was on the borders of Picenum, Camerino was part of the Exarchate of Ravenna until 592, when it was captured by the Lombards. The city under the latter was the seat of a marquisate and then of a duchy which was sometimes under the suzerainty of Spoleto, in the 10th to 11th centuries the city was under the Mainardi family. Boniface III of Tuscany occupied the duchy around 1050, and then ceded it to his daughter Matilda, after the year 1000, however, Camerino turned itself into an independent commune. Gentile formed a lasting fiefdom for his family which lasted three centuries, in 1382, his descendant Giovanni Da Varano built a 12-kilometre long wall to defend the city, while a sumptuous Ducal Palace was built by Giulio Cesare in 1460. Giulio Cesares daughter, Camilla Battista da Varano, was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, in 1336 the University was founded. The Da Varano were nearly extinguished by Cesare Borgia in 1502, in 1861, after Camerino become part of the unified Kingdom of Italy, the university was recognised by the new state. In 1958, the became known as the University of Camerino. No ancient building is today, the Roman remains lying as much as one metre below ground level. Principal sights include, Camerino Cathedral, built over a previous structured destroyed in 1799, the interior houses some artworks from the former edifice, including a wooden Crucifix dating back to the 13th century and a Madonna of Misericord from the 15th century. The crypt has two lions from the late 13th century, two busts from Berninis workshop and a marble medieval arch dedicated to Saint Ansovinus, a bishop of the city in the 9th century. San Venanzio, Late Gothic church also damaged in 1799, but retains part of the original façade, Ducal Palace, seat of the Faculty of Jurisprudence of the University, is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in central Italy. It was created in the late 15th century by Giulio Cesare Da Varano and it has a portico, a wide panoramic balcony, loggias and frescoed halls. Porta Malatestiana, built in 1511 Archbishops Palace, The museum includes a canvas by Gianbattista Tiepolo, a St. Sebastian from 1446, rocca di Borgia, designed by Ludovico Clodio for Cesare Borgia, dates from 1503
13.
Fermo
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Fermo listen is a town and comune of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation 319 metres, the oldest human remains from the area are funerary remains from the 9th–8th centuries BC, belonging to the Villanovan culture or the proto-Etruscan civilization. It was originally governed by five quaestors and it was made a colony with full rights after the battle of Philippi, the 4th Legion being settled there. It lay at the junction of roads to Pausulae, Urbs Salvia, with the Pentapolis, in the 8th century it passed under the authority of the Holy See was thenceforth subject to the vicissitudes of the March of Ancona. In the 10th century it became the capital of the Marchia Firmana, under the predecessors of Honorius III the bishops of city became prince-bishops, first with the secular rights of counts, and later as princes of Fermo. In 1199 it became a city, and remained independent until 1550. After this it was governed by different lords, who ruled as more or less legitimate vassals of the Holy See, the Roman theater, scant traces of an amphitheater also exist. Remains of the city wall, of blocks of hard limestone, may be seen just outside the Porta S. Francesco. The medieval embattled walls superposed on it are picturesque, the cisterns of Fermo are an archaeological site situated on top of the hill, at 310 metres above sea level. Fermo boasts one of the most gigantic and well-preserved example of Roman cisterns in Italy and they were built around 1st century a. C. The structure is a construction of about 30 by 70 metres consisting of 30 underground rooms. The underground pipe network above the cisterns was connected to a canal around the external walls, from the canal, small pipes brought water into the cisterns, water inlets are still visible inside the rooms. The cisterns are made of Opus caementicium which is the waterproofing old Roman concrete, the level of the water inside the rooms was about 70 centimetres and the total amount of water inside was about 3000 mq. The Palazzo dei Priori, restored in 1446, with a statue of Pope Sixtus V in front of it, the Biblioteca Comunale contains a collection of inscriptions and antiquities. Fermo Cathedral, Excavations undertaken in 1934–35 under the churchs pavement brought to light remains from the age of Antoninus Pius and this had three naves divided into four bays, with a raised presbytery. Of its mosaic decorations today only those in the apse are visible, after the destruction of this church by Christian of Mainz in 1176 by order of Frederick Barbarossa, the church reconstructed in 1227 by Giorgio da Como. It has a Gothic facade made of Istrian stone, divided by pillars and with a central rose window, a bell tower from the same age. In the vestibule are several tombs, including one from 1366 by Tura da Imola, and also the modern monument to Giuseppe Colucci, the interior reflects the late 18th century reconstruction
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Osimo
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Osimo is a town and comune of the Marche region of Italy, in the province of Ancona. The municipality covers an area located approximately 15 km south of the port city of Ancona. At the census of 2011 Osimo had a population of 33,891. The total area is 106 km² which gives a density of 320 inhabitants per km². The walls were made of rectangular stones which are still visible in some locations. It was a colony until 157 BC, the family of Pompey were its protectors and resisted Caesar in 49 BC. Inscriptions and monuments in its town square attest to the importance of Osimo during imperial times, in the 6th century it was besieged twice in the course of the Gothic War, by Belisarius and Totila, the Byzantine historian Procopius said it was the leading town of Picenum. Osimo was a commune by 1100 A. D. It was later returned to the Pope by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz, in 1399–1430 it was a fief of the Malatesta family, who built a rocca, or castle, which is no longer intact. Osimo was again made a part of the Papal States, Osimo retains a portion of its ancient town wall. Under the town is a series of tunnels with esoteric bas-reliefs. The town hall contains a number of statues found on the site of the ancient forum, the new castle, of which parts remain today, was built by Baccio Pontelli. The baptistery is from the early 17th century and also has a baptismal font. San Marco Evangelista, Erected in 14th century by Augustinian order, refurbished in later centuries, contains an altarpiece by Guercino
15.
San Severino Marche
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San Severino Marche is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 50 kilometres southwest of Ancona and about 25 kilometres southwest of Macerata. The oldest remains of human presence in San Severino date back to the Palaeolithic, but there are other remains, found in many localities of the communal territory, documenting several settlements in the area in different ages. The first significant civilization can be traced back to the Piceni, excavations since 1932 have brought to light a residential area on top of the hill and three necropolis in the vicinity, all dating back to a period between the 7th and 5th century BC. Remains of funerary sets, with presents from other areas, highlight the social levels of the populations living in the area. At the foot of the Monte Nero there was a sacred temple and this suggests that the town of Septempeda had a pre-Roman origin. During the period of the persecutions of the Christians, the temple of Feronia was used as a catacomb, between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. the conciliabulum and the center of praefectura were built. The Roman municipality of Septempeda gradually fell into ruin in early Middle Ages and its territory was elevated to Gastaldato, a civil and military Lombard jurisdiction, testifying that the town was still important at that time. This confutes the legend of the destruction inflicted by Totila in 545 during the Gothic Wars, the Roman city, or its remains, continued to be inhabited, especially during peaceful periods, due to its ease of communication through Roman roads, keeping the name of Septempeda. Accordin to tradition, St. Severinus, from whom the city takes its present name, was consecrated as a Bishop by Pope Vigilius in 540, Severinus died in 545, the same year of the passage of the Goths towards Rome. The remains of the saint were hidden in the Cathedral of St. Maria in Septempeda to protect them from looting, found in 590 during the restoration of the cathedral, they were carried to Monte Nero. With Charlemagnes conquest of northern Italy in 773, San Severino swore loyalty to Pope Adrian I, the dynasty of Werner rule the Marche and San Severino’s territories until about 1170, when the establishment of the Commune of San Severino can be traced back. The first consuls of the commune were Petrino and Offroduccio, appointed by Frederick Barbarossa in 1177, the initial office of the consuls was later replaced with the podestà, an official coming from a different city. San Severino remained Ghibellin, swearing loyalty to Manfred of Hohenstaufen, after the death of Manfred, the Guelphs got the upper hand and San Severino came under the control of the Pope. By nature allied to the Guelphs, but more often as opportunists, the Smeducci lords were often hated by their subjects, during the rule of the Smeducci lords, San Severino lived also its period of maximum commercial, industrial and social development. New public buildings, churches and bell towers were built, after having reconquered twice the Marca territory, Sforza decided to abandon his possessions to concentrate his efforts on the fight against the Visconti from Milan. The descendants of the Smeducci – who were back in favour with the Church – took advantage of the Sforza’s absence to run the last attempt to re-conquer the state of San Severino. This ended up with the subjugation of San Severino by the army of Papal commander Giovanni Vitelleschi, sanseverino became part of the Papal States by a treaty signed at Tolentino in 1445. In 1502 the town had to fight to defend itself from the invasion and devastation operated by Giovanni Maria Varano, in 1523 a plague decimated the population of S. Severino and all its commercial and cultural activities
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Tolentino
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Tolentino is a town and comune of about 20,000 inhabitants, in the province of Macerata in the Marche region of central Italy. It is located in the middle of the valley of the Chienti, signs of the first inhabitants of this favorable and fertile coastal zone, between the mountains and the Adriatic, date to the lower Paleolithic. Numerous tombs, from the 8th to the 4th centuries BCE, attest to the presence of the Piceni culture at the site of city, Roman Tolentinum. Tolentinum was the seat of the diocese of Tolentino from the late 6th century, the urban commune is attested from 1099, assuming its mature communal form between 1170 and 1190, settling its boundaries through friction with neighboring communes like S. Severino and Camerino. From the end of the 14th century, the commune passed into the hands of the da Varano family and then the Sforza, before becoming part of the Papal States until the arrival of Napoleon. The Treaty of Tolentino between Bonaparte and Pope Pius VI was signed in the city on 19 February 1797, this imposed territorial and economic strictures on the Papacy. In 1815, at the battle of Tolentino, Joachim Murat was decisively defeated by Frederick Bianchi at the head of Austrian forces, Tolentino returned to papal control until Italian unification in 1861. In the late 19th century industrial development decisively linked Tolentino economically to the rest of Italy, there are bus lines from here to the nearby minor towns and villages and a railway leading from Civitanova to Fabriano. The nearest major airport is Falconara, about 100 kilometres from Tolentino but linked by highway, U. S. Tolentino Tolentino official website tolentinoline. com Biennale dellUmorismo nellArte Basilica of San Nicola da Tolentino Historical fair Tolentino 815
17.
St. Francis of Assisi
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Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco, was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the mens Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228, along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades, by this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order, once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is also known for his love of the Eucharist, in 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene. He died during the hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142. Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born in Assisi, upon his return to Assisi, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco, possibly in honor of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French. Since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some have thought. While going off to war in 1202, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, in 1205, Francis left for Apulia to enlist in the army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a young man. In 1201, he joined an expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada. It is possible that his conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life, in 1204, a serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical awakening, on a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peters Basilica, an experience that moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers and his Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became a religious order for women. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things Transalpine, in this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms
18.
House of Este
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The House of Este is a European princely dynasty. The elder branch of the House of Este included the dukes of Brunswick and Lüneburg and produced Britains Hanoverian monarchs, the younger branch of the House of Este included rulers of Ferrara, and of Modena and Reggio. According to Edward Gibbon the family originated from the Roman Attii family, however, there is little evidence to support this hypothesis. The names of the members of the family indicate that a Frankish origin is much more likely. The first known member of the house was Margrave Adalbert of Mainz, known only as the father of Oberto I, Count palatine of Italy, who died around 975. Obertos grandson, Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan built a castle at Este, near Padua, and named himself after the location. He had three sons from two marriages, two of whom became the ancestors of the two branches of the family, Welf IV, the eldest, was the son of Kunigunde, the last of the Elder Welfs. He inherited the property of his uncle, Welf, Duke of Carinthia, became duke of Bavaria in 1070, and is the ancestor of the elder branch. Hugh, issue of Azzos second marriage to Garsend of Maine, inherited the French County of Maine, a legacy of his mothers dowry, Fulco I, Margrave of Milan, the third son, is the ancestor of the younger Italian line of Este. Este itself was taken over in 1275 by Padua and in 1405, after the peace ending the Napoleonic wars reshaped Europe, ushering in the Modern era, the Electorate of Hanover, was dissolved by treaty. Its lands were enlarged and the state was promoted to a kingdom, the House of Este gave Great Britain and the United Kingdom the Hanoverian monarchs. All later generations of the Italian branch are descendants of Fulco dEste, from 1171 on, his descendants were titled Margraves of Este. Obizzo I, the first margrave, battled against Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and his nephew Azzo dEste VI became podestà of Mantua and Verona. As the dowry of his niece the Marchesella, Ferrara passed to Azzo VI dEste In 1146, in 1242 Azzo VII Novello was nominated podestà for his lifetime. The lordship of Ferrara was made hereditary by Obizzo II, who was proclaimed Lord of Ferrara in 1264, Lord of Modena in 1288, Ferrara was a papal fief and the Este family were given the position of hereditary papal vicars in 1332. Ferrara became a significant center of culture under Niccolò dEste III and he held a Council in Ferrara in 1438, later known as the Council of Florence. His successors were his brothers Leonello and Borso, who was elevated to Duke of Modena and Reggio by Emperor Frederick III in 1452, receiving these duchies as imperial fiefs. In 1471, he received the duchy of Ferrara as papal fief from Pope Paul II, Borso was succeded by a half-brother, Ercole, who was one of the most significant patrons of the arts in late 15th and early 16th century Italy
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Markward von Annweiler
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Markward von Annweiler was Imperial Seneschal and Regent of the Kingdom of Sicily. During the reign of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Markward became one of the most important figures in the administration, from 1184, Markward served Barbarossas son Henry VI in Italy. Henry appointed him Margrave of Ancona and Count of Abruzzo, placing him in a strategic position in north-central Italy. After the death of Henry, Markward at first supported his widow Constance of Sicily and he had been excommunicated by Popes Celestine III and Innocent III, who were trying to take over lands in central Italy. Markward stayed in Italy, and became a supporter of Philip of Swabia, markwards political and military activities caused great problems for the Popes, whose control of Sicily gradually weakened. Two years after Constances death, Philip gave Markward the lordship of Palermo, where the under-age heir, despite the opposition of Innocent III, Markward became Guardian of Frederick II and Regent of Sicily. However, Markward died within a few years and he was succeeded in Palermo by one William of Capparone
20.
Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan
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Alberto Azzo II, Margrave of Milan, and Liguria, Count of Gavello and Padua, Rovigo, Lunigiana, Monselice, and Montagnana, aka, Albertezzo II, was a powerful nobleman in the Holy Roman Empire. He is considered the founder of Casa dEste, having been head of the first family to be master of Este, Alberto Azzo II was the only son of Albert Azzo I, Margrave of Milan. He inherited his fathers offices around 1020, and continually increased his properties in northern Italy, in 1069–1070, he tried to acquire Maine for his son Hugh, because his wife, Garsende, was a co-heiress of the previous counts of Maine. Hugh was declared count, but he could not prevail against Robert, the Duke of Normandy, in the Investiture Controversy between Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Pope Gregory VII, Azzo attempted to mediate, but later he joined the side of the pope. Around 1073 he made a castle at Este his residence, from which the House of Este, before his building project, Este was little more than a village. His son Welf moved first to Carinthia and then to Bavaria, giving rise to one of the most important families in European history, another son, Fulk I of Milan, made the first documented use of the title Marquis dEste. Azzo II married Kunigunde, the daughter of Welf II, Count of Altdorf and they had one known child, Welf Duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to his death who was the first member of the Welf branch of the House of Este. His second marriage was to Garsende, daughter of Herbert I, Count of Maine and they had the following known sons, Fulco I, Margrave of Milan, ancestor of the Italian branch of the House of Este Hugh V, Count of Maine, had no issue. Some sources say he also married Vitalia Orseolo, daughter of Peter Orseolo and he had an extra-marital affair with Matilda, sister of William, Bishop of Padua, with whom he had a daughter named Adelasia who married Guglielmo Adelardi. Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Oberto died about 1014, and was succeeded by his son, Alberto Azzo I, CONTAINING A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE UNDER THE SAXON AND FRANCONIAN DYNASTIES. WITH THE HISTORY OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER DURING THAT PERIOD, annals of the house of Hanover. London, William Sams. pp. 137–138,141,148,151, 155–156
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Este, Veneto
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Este is a town and comune of the Province of Padua, in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Euganei Hills, the town is a centre for farming, crafts and industry worthy of note. Este had given its name to the Este culture, a proto-historic culture existing from the late Italian Bronze Age to the Roman period, during the Iron Age Este was a major center of the Veneti who left a number of inscriptions on funerary and votive objects. During the late 3rd century BC, Este peacefully fell under the sway of Rome and became a Roman colony under the name of Ateste, when much of northern Italy was granted Roman citizenship in 49 BC, the citizens of Este were inscribed into the Roman tribe of Romilia. In Late Antiquity, Este was devastated and reduced to a village because of barbarian invasions. It arose again only after the 10th century, when Azzo II dEste built a castle there and named himself and his family after it, the House of Este would hold the city until 1240, when it moved its capital to Ferrara. Este, meanwhile, was conquered twice by Ezzelino da Romano III and it was disputed during the 14th century by the Scaligeri, the Carraresi and the Visconti, until it surrendered spontaneously to Venice in 1405. Under the Republic of Venice, Este went through a period of economic growth, duomo of Este Church of San Martino Church of the Salute Church of Santa Maria della Grazie Museo Nazionale Atestino Villa Contarini, also known as Vigna Contarena, is a villa veneta. It was built in the 17th century by Giorgio Contarini, a Senator of the Republic of Venice, the main frescoes are placed in the eastern side of the villa, more exactly in the ballroom, in the Stanzette Affrescate and in the Sala dei Fauni. The villa is surrounded by a park and an Enclosed Garden. Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States of America, Ateste, ancient town Villa Contarini Comuni italiani, Este Official website Guide Comune di Este
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Azzo VI of Este
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Azzo VI, also known as Azzolino, was an Italian nobleman and condottiero. He held the title of Marquis of Este from the death of his father and he was heavily involved in the Guelph politics of Lombardy in the first decade of the 13th century, serving as podestà of Ferrara, Padua, Verona, and Mantua. In his capacity as a leading Guelph condottiero Azzo fought a war with Salinguerra Torelli. In 1205 he conquered and razed the castle of Fratta, residence of Salinguerra and his opponent responded by allying with Ezzelino II da Romano and drove Azzo away, but the next year he had reconquered Fratta, which he held until 1209. When emperor Otto IV descended to Italy, he had Azzo, however, after Salinguerra left the alliance, Azzo entered the league formed by pope Innocent III against the emperor. In 1208 the pope made him marquis of Ancona, while the people of Ferrara named him at the citys seignior, in 1212 Azzo sided with the exiles from Vicenza in the war against Ezzelino, but the latter defeated him at Pontalto near Vicenza. Azzo took refuge in Verona, where he died in November of that year, Azzos first wife Elisa, a daughter of a count Aldobrandino, was dead by 1192. They had a son, Aldobrandino I, who succeeded his father in 1212, by 1192 he had remarried to a daughter of Humbert III of Savoy, named either Sophia or Eleanor. She died on 3 December 1202 and they had his only daughter, Beatrice, later Abbess of Monte Gemmola. On 22 February 1204 Azzo married for the time to Alice, daughter of Raynald of Châtillon. While Alberic de Trois-Fontaines calls Aleydem marchionis Eystensis in Italia as the third of the three daughters of Raynaldus de Castellione uxor and she was more likely the daughter of Raynalds last wife, Stephanie de Milly. By his third and last wife he left a son, Azzo VII, Azzos court was a cultural centre in northern Italy, drawing poets and artists from afar. He played host and patron to the troubadours Aimeric de Peguilhan, Peire Raimon de Tolosa, Rambertino celebrated Azzos daughter Beatrice in all of his love songs, an overtly political act in the climate of the times. In a contemporary vernacular vita of his daughter, the biography sums up Azzos character and reputation, he was beautiful of form, a prudent yet daring man, valiant in feats of arms and of perspicacious learning, a wise and marvellous conversationalist. I Trovatori dItalia, Biografie, testi, tradizioni, note, modena/Ferrara, Marchesi dEste at Medieval Lands Project
23.
Obizzo II d'Este
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Obizzo II dEste was Marquis of Ferrara and the March of Ancona. He was a bastard, the fruit of a relation of Rinaldo I dEste - the only son. Soon after his birth, Obizzo was expelled from Ferrara with his mother, without any other sons to continue his line, the Margrave Azzo VII saw in Obizzo the only chance of survival of the House of Este and fought for his recognition as his heir. Obizzo was legitimated by the Pope Innocent IV in 1252, shortly after his mother was drowned in the Adriatic, in 1264 he was proclaimed lifelong ruler of Ferrara, Lord of Modena in 1288 and of Reggio in 1289. His rule marked the end of the period in Ferrara and the beginning of the Lordship. He was most likely killed by his son Azzo VIII dEste without having nominated an heir, Azzo claimed the government as the eldest son but his brothers Aldobrandino and Francesco made a violent dispute for their rights. Finally, they made a treaty over the lands, Azzo retained Ferrara, Aldobrandino received Modena. Obizzo dEste is cited in Dantes Inferno and is in the first compartment of the Seventh Circle of Hell for purchasing Ghisola from her brother Venedico Cacciamenico for sexual relations, in 1263 Obizzo married firstly with Giacomina, daughter of Niccolò Fieschi di Lavagna and niece of Pope Innocent IV. They had five children, Azzo VIII, beatrice, married firstly with Ugolino Visconti, Giudice of Gallura and secondly on 24 June 1300 to Galeazzo I Visconti, Lord of Milan. Maddalena, married firstly with Aldobrandino Turchi, from Ferrara, in 1289 Obizzo married secondly with Costanza, daughter of Alberto I della Scala, Lord of Verona
24.
Azzo VIII d'Este
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Azzo VIII dEste was lord of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1293 until his death. He inherited the lands from his father, Obizzo II. The Florentine poet cites him as half-son, but it is not clear if to stress Azzos bad acts or if he was truly illegitimate. The early part of his rule was spent in almost continuous warfare, war with Padua at his accession and with Parma and he was accused of the assassination of the podestà of Bologna, Jacopo del Cassero, who had opposed the Este expansion plans. Modena and Reggio rebelled in 1306 over an attempt to assign them to Beatrice as part of the bride price, francesco dEste left Ferrara as Beatrice arrived and joined the coalition of cities that moved against Azzo in 1306, determined that he should not make himself lord of Lombardy. Clement V. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
25.
Obizzo III d'Este
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Obizzo III dEste was the Marquess of Ferrara from 1317 until his death. He was the son of Aldobrandino II dEste and Alda Rangoni, Obizzo was lord of Ferrara together with his brothers Rinaldo and Niccolò, and his cousin Folco II, but in the end reigned as sole ruler. He managed to enlarge the family possessions with the conquests of Modena, in May 1317 Obizzo married firstly Giacoma, daughter of Romeo de Peppoli from Bologna, with whom he had no children. There are also reports that he married Elisabeth of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia, daughter of Albert II, in 1347 Obizzo married secondly Lippa Ariosti, known as la Bella and his long-time mistress. The marriage took place shortly before Lippas death on 27 November 1347 in order to legitimized their children, Beatrice, married in 1365 to Waldemar I. Alda, married in 1356 to Ludovico II Gonzaga, alisia, married in 1349 to Guido III Novello di Polenta, Lord of Ravenna. Costanza, married in 1363 to Malatesta IV Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, ugo, married in 1363 to Constanza Malatesta. In addition, Obizzo had another son by an unknown mistress, Giovanni, later Governor of Frignano
26.
House of Sforza
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Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan from the previously ruling Visconti family in the mid-15th century, rising from rural nobility, the Sforzas became condottieri and used this military position to become rulers in Milan. The family governed by force, ruse, and power politics, under their rule the city-state flourished and expanded. Muzio Attendolo, called Sforza, founded the dynasty, a condottiero from Romagna, he served the Angevin kings of Naples and became the most successful dynast of the condottieri. His son Francesco I Sforza ruled Milan, having acquired the title of Duke of Milan after the extinction of the Visconti family in 1447, the family also held the seigniory of Pesaro, starting from Muzio Attendolos second son, Alessandro. The Sforza held Pesaro until 1519, with the death of Galeazzo, muzios third son, Bosio, founded the branch of Santa Fiora, who held the title of count of Cotignola, the Sforza ruled the small county of Santa Fiora in southern Tuscany until 1624. Members of this family held important ecclesiastical and political position in the Papal States. The Sforza became allied with the Borgia family through the marriage between Lucrezia Borgia and Giovanni. This alliance failed as the Borgia annulled the marriage once the Sforzas were no longer needed, in 1499, in the course of the Italian Wars, the army of Louis XII of France took Milan from Ludovico Sforza. After Imperial German troops drove out the French, Maximilian Sforza, son of Ludovico, became Duke of Milan until the French returned under Francis I of France, thomas Harriss character Hannibal Lecter is a descendant of the House of Sforza. In the anime, manga and book series Trinity Blood, one of the Cardinals, Caterina Sforza appears as a non-playable character in the video game Assassins Creed 2 and its sequel, Assassins Creed, Brotherhood. The Sforza figure prominently in the Showtime series on the Borgia family, the house is mentioned in a song about the Borgia Family in the British edutainment TV show Horrible Histories. List of rulers of Milan Gradara House of Visconti Italian Wars Pesaro
27.
Francesco Sforza
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Francesco I Sforza was an Italian condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Milan, Italy, and was the fourth Duke of Milan from 1450 until his death. He was the brother of Alessandro, whom he fought alongside. Francesco Sforza was born in San Miniato, Tuscany, one of the seven sons of the condottiero Muzio Sforza. He spent his childhood in Tricarico, the marquisate of which he was granted in 1412 by King Ladislaus of Naples, in 1418, he married Polissena Ruffo, a Calabrese noblewoman. From 1419, he alongside his father, soon gaining fame for being able to bend metal bars with his bare hands. He later proved himself to be a tactician and very skilled field commander. After some successes, he fell in disgrace and was sent to the castle of Mortara as a de facto. He regained his status after leading an expedition against Lucca, in 1431, after a period during which he fought again for the Papal States, he led the Milanese army against Venice, the following year the dukes daughter, Bianca Maria, was betrothed to him. Despite these moves, the wary Filippo Maria never ceased to be distrustful of Sforza, in 1436-39, he served variously both Florence and Venice. In 1440, his fiefs in the Kingdom of Naples were occupied by King Alfonso I, on 25 October 1441, in Cremona, he could finally marry Bianca Maria. The following year, he allied with René of Anjou, pretender to the throne of Naples, Sforza later found himself warring against Francesco Piccinino and, later, the alliance of Visconti, Eugene IV, and Malatesta, who had allegedly murdered Polissena. With the help of Venice, Sforza was again victorious and, in exchange for abandoning the Venetians, after the duke died without a male heir in 1447, fighting broke out to restore the so-called Ambrosian Republic. The name Ambrosian Republic takes its name from St. Ambrose, agnese del Maino, his wifes mother, convinced the condottiero who held Pavia to restore it to him. He also received the seigniory of other cities of the duchy, including Lodi, in 1450, after years of famine, riots raged in the streets of Milan and the citys senate decided to entrust to him the duchy. Sforza entered the city as Duke on 26 February and it was the first time that such a title was handed over by a lay institution. While the other Italian states gradually recognized Sforza as the legitimate Duke of Milan and that did not come to the Sforza Dukes until 1494, when Emperor Maximilian formally invested Francescos son, Ludovico, as Duke of Milan. Under his rule, Sforza modernised the city and duchy, in Milan, he founded the Ospedale Maggiore, restored the Palazzo dellArengo, and had the Naviglio dAdda, a channel connecting with the Adda River, built. During Sforzas reign, Florence was under the command of Cosimo de Medici, after the peace, Sforza renounced part of the conquests in eastern Lombardy obtained by his condottieri Bartolomeo Colleoni, Ludovico Gonzaga, and Roberto Sanseverino after 1451
28.
List of historic states of Italy
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The following is a list of the various Italian states during that period. Under its terms, France restored Piedmont and Savoy to the Duke of Savoy, more importantly, the treaty confirmed Spanish direct control of Milan, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and the State of Presidi, and indirectly of northern Italy. The Pope was also their natural ally, the only truly independent entities on Italian soil were the Duchy of Savoy and the Republic of Venice. In Italy, the Congress restored the pre-Napoleonic patchwork of independent governments, either directly ruled or strongly influenced by the prevailing European powers, particularly Austria. The Congress also determined the end of two republics, Genoa was annexed by Sardinia, and Venice was incorporated with Milan into a new kingdom of the Austrian Empire. The Austrian Empire vigorously repressed nationalist sentiment growing on the Italian peninsula, as well as in the other parts of Habsburg domains
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Etruscan civilization
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The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio. Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC, the latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by ancient Greece, Magna Graecia, and Phoenicia. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands, the last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC. Politics were based on the city, and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south, archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them. The study also excluded recent Anatolian connection, the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians, from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia, the word may also be related to the Hittite Taruisa. The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna, the origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC, repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians with Pelasgians. Strabo as well as the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates, pliny the Elder put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History, Adjoining these the Noricans are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states, the Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Raetus. Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy, therefore, much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods, another source of genetic data on Etruscan origins is from four ancient breeds of cattle. Analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of these and seven other breeds of Italian cattle, the other Italian breeds were linked to northern Europe. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennine Mountains and into Campania, some small towns in the sixth century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbours. However, it is certain that the structure of the Etruscan culture was similar to, albeit more aristocratic than. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean Sea. Here, their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the sixth century BC and this led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean, from the first half of the 5th century BC, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces
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Etruscan cities
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Etruscan cities are those that shared a common Etruscan language and culture even though they were independent city-states. They flourished over a part of the northern half of Italy starting from the Iron Age and became rich. They were eventually assimilated first by Italics in the south, then by Celts in the north, the Etruscan names of the major cities whose names were later Romanised survived in inscriptions and are listed below. Some cities were founded by Etruscans in prehistoric times and bore entirely Etruscan names, others, usually Italic, were colonised by Etruscans who Etruscanised the name. The estimates for the populations of the largest cities range between 25,000 and 40,000 in each in the 6th century BC, of several Etruscan leagues, the Dodecapolis of the Etruscan civilization is legendary amongst Roman authors particularly Livy. However the dodecapolis had no fixed roster and if a city was removed it was replaced by another. By the time the dodecapolis sprung into the light of history, the Etruscan cities to the north had been assimilated by invasions of the Celts, and those of the south by infiltration of the Italics. Etruscan cities were autonomous states, but they were linked in the dodecapolis and had a sanctuary at the Fanum Voltumnae near Volsinii. Roman and Italian names are given, but they are not necessarily etymologically related, for sources and etymologies refer to the linked articles. The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, available in the Gazetteer of Bill Thayers Website at Names of the member-cities of the Etruscan Leagues in Etruscan and Italian
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Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
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Roman Kingdom
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The Roman Kingdom was the period of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a monarchical form of government of the city of Rome and its territories. The site of the founding of the Roman Kingdom and eventual Republic, the Palatine Hill and hills surrounding it presented easily defensible positions in the wide fertile plain surrounding them. All of these contributed to the success of the city. The Gauls destroyed much of Romes historical records when they sacked the city after the Battle of the Allia in 390 BC, with no contemporary records of the kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned. The insignia of the kings of Rome were twelve lictors wielding the fasces bearing axes, the right to sit upon a Curule chair, the purple Toga Picta, red shoes, of all these insignia, the most important was the purple toga. The imperium of the king was held for life and protected him from ever being brought to trial for his actions. As being the owner of imperium in Rome at the time. Also, the laws that kept citizens safe from magistrates misuse of imperium did not exist during the monarchical period, another power of the king was the power to either appoint or nominate all officials to offices. The king would appoint a tribunus celerum to serve as both the tribune of Ramnes tribe in Rome and as the commander of the personal bodyguard. The king was required to appoint the tribune upon entering office, the tribune was second in rank to the king and also possessed the power to convene the Curiate Assembly and lay legislation before it. Another officer appointed by the king was the praefectus urbi, who acted as the warden of the city. When the king was absent from the city, the prefect held all of the powers and abilities. The king even received the right to be the person to appoint patricians to the Senate. The people knew the king as a mediator between them and the gods and thus viewed the king with religious awe and this made the king the head of the national religion and its chief executive. Having the power to control the Roman calendar, he conducted all religious ceremonies and appointed lower religious offices and it is said that Romulus himself instituted the augurs and was believed to have been the best augur of all. Likewise, King Numa Pompilius instituted the pontiffs and through them developed the foundations of the dogma of Rome. They could only be called together by the king and could discuss the matters the king laid before them. While the Curiate Assembly did have the power to pass laws that had submitted by the king
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Roman Republic
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It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
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Roman Italy
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Roman Italy was created officially by the Roman emperor Augustus with the Latin name Italia. It was the first time in history that the Italian Peninsula was united under the same name, in the year 292, the three islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily were added to Roman Italy by Diocletian. Roman Italy remained united until the sixth century, when it was divided between the Byzantine Empire and territories of the Germanic peoples, since then, Italia remained divided for nearly thirteen centuries until 1861 when it was reunited in a similar way in the modern Kingdom of Italy. Italy was the name of the division of the Italian Peninsula during the Roman era. It was not a province, but became the territory of the city of Rome, following the end of the Social War, Rome had allowed its Italian allies full rights in Roman society and granted the Roman citizenship to all the Italic peoples. Although not founded as a city in 330, Constantinople gained in importance. It finally gained the rank of capital when given an urban prefect in 359. In 402, the capital was moved to Ravenna from Milan, the name Italia covered an area whose borders evolved over time. Under Augustus, the peoples of todays Aosta Valley and of the western and northern Alps were subjugated, and the Italian eastern border was brought to the Arsia in Istria. Finally, in the late 3rd century, Italy came to include the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and Sicily, as well as Raetia, the city of Emona was the easternmost town of Italy. At the beginning of the era, Italy was a collection of territories with different political statuses. Some cities, called municipia, had independence from Rome, while others. The Italian economy flourished, agriculture, handicraft and industry had a sensible growth, the Italian population may have grown as well, three census were ordered by Augustus, to record the number of Roman citizens throughout the empire. The surviving totals were 4,063,000 in 28 BC,4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD14, but it is still debated whether these counted all citizens, all adult male citizens, or citizens sui iuris. During the Crisis of the Third Century the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the pressures of invasions, military anarchy and civil wars. In 284, emperor Diocletian restored political stability and he carried out thorough administrative reforms to maintain order. He created the so-called Tetrarchy whereby the empire was ruled by four co-emperors and he decreased the size of the Roman provinces by doubling their number to reduce the power of the provincial governors. He grouped the provinces into several dioceses and put them under the supervision of the imperial vicarius, during the Crisis of the Third Century the importance of Rome declined because she was far from the troubled frontiers
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Sicilia (Roman province)
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Sicilia was the first province acquired by the Roman Republic. The western part of the war was brought under Roman control in 241 BC at the conclusion of the First Punic War with Carthage. A praetor was assigned to the island from c.227 BC. The Kingdom of Syracuse under Hieron II remained an independent ally of Rome until its defeat in 212 BC during the Second Punic War, thereafter the province included the whole of the island of Sicily, the island of Malta, and the smaller island groups. During the Roman Republic, the island was the source of grain for the city of Rome. Extraction was heavy, provoking armed uprisings known as the Servile Wars in the second century BC, in the first century, the Roman governor, Verres, was famously prosecuted for his corruption by Cicero. In the civil wars which brought the Roman Republic to an end, when the island finally came under the control of Augustus in 36 BC, it was substantially reorganised, with large Roman colonies being established in several major cities. For most of the Imperial period, the province was a peaceful and these communities were organised in a similar way to other cities of the Roman Empire and were largely self-governing. Greek and Latin were the languages of the island, but Punic, Hebrew. There were several Jewish communities on the island and from around AD200 there is evidence of substantial Christian communities. Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse from 317 and King of Sicily from 307 or 304 BC, a group of his Campanian mercenaries, called the Mamertines, were offered compensation in excange for leaving the city. They took control of Messina, killing and exiling the citizens, in response to this, the Syracusan general Hiero, who had reorganised the mercenaries and was able to bring banditry under control in 269 BC, before advancing on Messina. The Carthaginians, always eager to prevent the excessive empowerment of a single force, Hiero had to return to Syracuse, where he assumed the title of king. Shortly thereafter, the Mamertines decided to expel the Carthaginian garrison, at Rome, there was a debate on the appropriateness of helping the Mamertines. Previously, Rome had intervened against Campanian mercenaries who had followed the Mamertines example, moreover, it seemed clear that intervention in Sicily would lead to conflict with Carthage. This Philinus Treaty is known to us from Polybius, who mentions it in order to deny its existence, Polybius also claims that the Romans were encouraged to intervene by economic motivations, on account of the wealth of Sicily in this period. The Senate gave the decision on whether or not to help the Mamertines to the popular assembly and this was not a formal declaration of war against Carthage, but the intervention in Sicily sufficed as a casus belli and thus marked the beginning of the First Punic War. This was the first time that Roman forces had campaigned outside the Italian peninsula, Hiero, allied with Carthage against the Mamertines, had to face the legions of Valerius Messalla
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Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
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Praetorian prefecture of Italy
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The praetorian prefecture of Italy was one of four Praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula, the Western Balkans, the Danubian provinces, the Prefectures seat moved from Rome to Milan and finally, Ravenna. The prefecture was established in the division of the Empire after the death of Constantine the Great in 337, initially these were the Diocese of Africa, the Diocese of Italy, the Diocese of Pannonia, the Diocese of Dacia and the Diocese of Macedonia. Eventually the Diocese of Italy was split in two, the Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy and the Diocese of Annonarian Italy, in 347, the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was established, comprising the dioceses of Pannonia, Dacia and Macedonia. Vulcaius Rufinus was the prefect, 347-352, the new prefecture was abolished in 361 by Julian and reestablished in 375 by Gratian. The Prefecture thus survived, and came again into Roman hands after Justinians Gothic War, prefects continue however to be attested until well into the 7th century. The last attested holder occurs in 639, and a couple of seals bearing the title eparchos survive from the late 7th century, although it has been suggested that they are a misprint for exarchos
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Western Roman Empire
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Theodosius I divided the Empire upon his death between his two sons. As the Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point where the government in Rome could not effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic given the vast extent of the Empire, for this reason, provincial governors had de facto rule in the name of the Roman Republic. Antony received the provinces in the East, Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus, Bithynia, Pontus and Asia, Syria, Cyprus and these lands had previously been conquered by Alexander the Great, thus, much of the aristocracy was of Greek origin. The whole region, especially the cities, had been largely assimilated into Greek culture. Octavian obtained the Roman provinces of the West, Italia, Gaul, Gallia Belgica and these lands also included Greek and Carthaginian colonies in the coastal areas, though Celtic tribes such as Gauls and Celtiberians were culturally dominant. Lepidus received the province of Africa. Octavian soon took Africa from Lepidus, while adding Sicilia to his holdings, upon the defeat of Mark Antony, a victorious Octavian controlled a united Roman Empire. While the Roman Empire featured many distinct cultures, all were often said to experience gradual Romanization, minor rebellions and uprisings were fairly common events throughout the Empire. Conquered tribes or cities would revolt, and the legions would be detached to crush the rebellion, while this process was simple in peacetime, it could be considerably more complicated in wartime, as for example in the Great Jewish Revolt. In a full-blown military campaign, the legions, under such as Vespasian, were far more numerous. To ensure a commanders loyalty, an emperor might hold some members of the generals family hostage. To this end, Nero effectively held Domitian and Quintus Petillius Cerialis, governor of Ostia, the rule of Nero ended only with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard, who had been bribed in the name of Galba. The Praetorian Guard, a sword of Damocles, were often perceived as being of dubious loyalty. Following their example, the legions at the increased participation in the civil wars. The main enemy in the West was arguably the Germanic tribes behind the rivers Rhine, Augustus had tried to conquer them but ultimately pulled back after the Teutoburg reversal. The Parthian Empire, in the East, on the hand, was too remote. Those distant territories were forsaken to prevent unrest and also to ensure a more healthy, the Parthians were followed by the Sasanian Empire, which continued hostilities with the Roman Empire
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Odoacer
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Flavius Odoacer, also known as Flavius Odovacer, was a soldier who in 476 became the first King of Italy. His reign is seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos death in 480, Odoacer introduced few important changes into the administrative system of Italy. He had the support of the Roman Senate and was able to land to his followers without much opposition. Unrest among his warriors led to violence in 477–478, but no such disturbances occurred during the period of his reign. Although Odoacer was an Arian Christian, he intervened in the affairs of the orthodox. Probably of Scirian descent, Odoacer was a leader in Italy who led the revolt of Herulian, Rugian. With the backing of the Roman Senate, Odoacer thenceforth ruled Italy autonomously, paying lip service to the authority of Julius Nepos, the last Western emperor, and Zeno, upon Nepos murder in 480 Odoacer invaded Dalmatia, to punish the murderers. He did so, executing the conspirators, but within two years also conquered the region and incorporated it into his domain. When Illus, master of soldiers of the Eastern Empire, asked for Odoacer’s help in 484 in his struggle to depose Zeno, the emperor responded first by inciting the Rugi of present-day Austria to attack Italy. During the winter of 487–488 Odoacer crossed the Danube and defeated the Rugi in their own territory, Zeno also appointed the Ostrogoth Theoderic the Great who was menacing the borders of the Eastern Empire, to be king of Italy, turning one troublesome, nominal vassal against another. Theoderic invaded Italy in 489 and by August 490 had captured almost the entire peninsula, the city surrendered on 5 March 493, Theoderic invited Odoacer to a banquet of reconciliation and there killed him. Odoacer is the earliest ruler of Italy for whom an autograph of any of his legal acts has survived to the current day. The larger portion of a record of Odoacer granting properties in Sicily, except for the fact that he was not considered Roman, Odoacers ethnic origins are not completely known. Both the Anonymus Valesianus and John of Antioch state his fathers name was Edeko, since Sebastian Tillemont in the 17th century, all three have been considered to be the same person. In his Getica, Jordanes describes Odoacer as king of the Turcilingi, however, in his Romana, the same author defines him as a member of the Rugii. The Consularia Italica calls him king of the Heruli, while Theophanes appears to be guessing when he calls him a Goth, marcellinus Comes calls him the king of the Goths. One of these is that his name, Odoacer, for which an etymology in Germanic languages had not been found, could be a form of the Turkish Ot-toghar
