1.
Bern
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The city of Bern or Berne is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to by the Swiss as their Bundesstadt, or federal city. With a population of 141,762, Bern is the fourth-most populous city in Switzerland, the Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000, Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern, the second-most populous of Switzerlands cantons. The official language in Bern is German, but the language is an Alemannic Swiss German dialect. In 1983, the old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bern is ranked among the top ten cities for the best quality of life. The etymology of the name Bern is uncertain and it has long been considered likely that the city was named after the Italian city of Verona, which at the time was known as Bern in Middle High German. As a result of the find of the Bern zinc tablet in the 1980s, it is now common to assume that the city was named after a pre-existing toponym of Celtic origin. The bear was the animal of the seal and coat of arms of Bern from at least the 1220s. The earliest reference to the keeping of bears in the Bärengraben dates to the 1440s. No archaeological evidence that indicates a settlement on the site of city centre prior to the 12th century has been found so far. In antiquity, a Celtic oppidum stood on the Engehalbinsel north of Bern, fortified since the second century BC, during the Roman era, a Gallo-Roman vicus was on the same site. The Bern zinc tablet has the name Brenodor, in the Early Middle Ages, a settlement in Bümpliz, now a city district of Bern, was some 4 km from the medieval city. The medieval city is a foundation of the Zähringer ruling family, according to 14th-century historiography, Bern was founded in 1191 by Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen. In 1218, after Berthold died without an heir, Bern was made an imperial city by the Goldene Handfeste of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In 1353, Bern joined the Swiss Confederacy, becoming one of the eight cantons of the period of 1353 to 1481. The city grew out towards the west of the boundaries of the peninsula formed by the river Aare, the Zytglogge tower marked the western boundary of the city from 1191 until 1256, when the Käfigturm took over this role until 1345. It was, in turn, succeeded by the Christoffelturm until 1622, during the time of the Thirty Years War, two new fortifications – the so-called big and small Schanze – were built to protect the whole area of the peninsula
2.
Hans Holbein the Younger
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Hans Holbein the Younger was a German and Swiss artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century and he also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history of book design. He is called the Younger to distinguish him from his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, Born in Augsburg, Holbein worked mainly in Basel as a young artist. At first he painted murals and religious works and designed for stained glass windows and he also painted the occasional portrait, making his international mark with portraits of the humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. When the Reformation reached Basel, Holbein worked for reformist clients while continuing to serve traditional religious patrons and his Late Gothic style was enriched by artistic trends in Italy, France and the Netherlands, as well as by Renaissance humanism. The result was a combined aesthetic uniquely his own, Holbein travelled to England in 1526 in search of work, with a recommendation from Erasmus. He was welcomed into the humanist circle of Thomas More, where he built a high reputation. After returning to Basel for four years, he resumed his career in England in 1532 and this time he worked under the patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. By 1535, he was Kings Painter to King Henry VIII, in this role, he produced not only portraits and festive decorations but designs for jewellery, plate and other precious objects. His portraits of the family and nobles are a record of the court in the years when Henry was asserting his supremacy over the English church. Holbeins art was prized from early in his career, the French poet and reformer Nicholas Bourbon dubbed him the Apelles of our time, a typical contemporary accolade. Holbein has also described as a great one-off of art history. After his death, some of his work was lost, but much was collected, recent exhibitions have also highlighted his versatility. He turned his fluid line to designs ranging from jewellery to monumental frescoes. Holbeins art has sometimes been called realist, since he drew and his portraits were renowned in their time for their likeness, and it is through Holbeins eyes that many famous figures of his day, such as Erasmus and More, are now seen. Holbein was never content, however, with outward appearance and he embedded layers of symbolism, allusion, and paradox in his art, to the lasting fascination of scholars. In the view of art historian Ellis Waterhouse, his portraiture remains unsurpassed for sureness and economy of statement, penetration into character, Holbein was born in the free imperial city of Augsburg during the winter of 1497–98. He was a son of the painter and draughtsman Hans Holbein the Elder, whose trade he and his brother, Ambrosius
3.
Swiss mercenaries
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Their service as mercenaries was at its peak during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them sought-after mercenary troops. There followed a period of decline, as technological and organizational advances counteracted the Swiss advantages, switzerlands military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity, the principal remnant of the practice is the Swiss Guard at the Vatican. In William Shakespeares Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, Swiss mercenaries are called Switzers, Swiss mercenaries were valued throughout Late Medieval Europe for the power of their determined mass attack in deep columns with the pike and halberd. Some Swiss also hired themselves out individually or in small bands and this was furthered by later successful campaigns of regional expansion. By the fifteenth century they were valued as mercenary soldiers. The standing mercenary army of king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary also contained Swiss pikemen units, the native term Reisläufer literally means one who goes to war and is derived from Middle High German Reise, meaning military campaign. The Valois Kings of France, in fact, considered it an impossibility to take the field of battle without Swiss pikemen as the infantry core of their armies. Until roughly 1490, the Swiss had a monopoly on pike-armed mercenary service. However, after that date, the Swiss mercenaries were increasingly supplemented by imitators, Landsknechts were Germans and became proficient at Swiss tactics, even surpassing them with their usage of the Zweihänder to crush opposing pike formations. This produced a force that filled the ranks of European armies with mercenary regiments for decades, after 1515 the Swiss pledged themselves to neutrality, other than regarding Swiss soldiers serving in the ranks of the Royal French army. The Landsknecht, however, would continue to serve any paymaster, even, the Landsknecht often assumed the bright soldiers outfits of the Swiss. Although the Swiss generally had a significant edge in a push of pike, the resulting combat was nonetheless quite savage. Period artists such as Hans Holbein attest to the fact that two such huge pike columns crashing into each other could result in a maelstrom of battle, with many dead. Never before had the Swiss suffered such heavy losses while being unable to inflict damage upon their foe. The early contingents of Swiss mercenary pikemen organized themselves rather differently than the cantonal forces, in the cantonal forces, their armies were usually divided into the Vorhut, Gewalthut and Nachhut, generally of different sizes. In mercenary service they became less likely to resort to outmaneuvering the enemy. Such deep pike columns could crush lesser infantry in combat and were invulnerable to the effects of a cavalry charge. The Swiss mercenaries did deploy crossbows, handguns and artillery of their own, however these always remained very subsidiary to the pike and halberd square
4.
Danse Macabre
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Dance of Death, also called Danse Macabre, is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death, no matter ones station in life, the Dance of Death unites all. The Danse Macabre consists of the dead or personified Death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer. They were produced as mementos mori, to people of the fragility of their lives. Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts, the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now-lost mural in the Saints Innocents Cemetery in Paris dating from 1424 to 1425, the earliest recorded visual example is from the cemetery of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Paris. Marija na Škrilinama in the Istrian town of Beram, painted by Vincent of Kastav, there was also a Dance of Death painted in the 1540s on the walls of the cloister of St Pauls Cathedral, London with texts by John Lydgate, which was destroyed in 1549. The deathly horrors of the 14th century—such as recurring famines, the Hundred Years War in France, and, most of all, the Black Death—were culturally assimilated throughout Europe. Short verse dialogues between Death and each of its victims, which could have performed as plays, can be found in the direct aftermath of the Black Death in Germany. The French term danse macabre may derive from the Latin Chorea Machabæorum, in 2 Maccabees, a deuterocanonical book of the Bible, the grim martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons is described, and was a well-known mediaeval subject. An alternative explanation is that the term entered France via Spain, both the dialogues and the evolving paintings were ostensive penitential lessons that even illiterate people could understand. Numerous mural versions of that legend from the 13th century onwards have survived, since they showed pictorial sequences of men and corpses covered with shrouds, those paintings are sometimes regarded as cultural precursors of the new genre. A danse macabre painting may show a round dance headed by Death or a chain of alternating dead, from the highest ranks of the mediaeval hierarchy descending to its lowest, each mortals hand is taken by a skeleton or an extremely decayed body. The apparent class distinction in almost all of these paintings is completely neutralized by Death as the ultimate equalizer, the Totentanz of Metnitz, for example, shows how a pope crowned with his mitre is being led into Hell by the dancing Death. Usually, a dialogue is attached to each victim, in which Death is summoning him to dance. Who the beggar or the Emperor, ob arm, ob reich, im Tode gleich. Whether rich or poor, equal in death, the famous designs by Hans Holbein the Younger for his Dance of Death series were drawn in 1526 while he was in Basel. They were cut in wood by the accomplished Formschneider Hans Lützelburger and these woodcuts soon appeared in proofs with titles in German. The first book edition, containing forty-one woodcuts, was published at Lyons by the Treschsel brothers in 1538, ten further designs were added in later editions. The Dance of Death refashions the late-medieval allegory of the danse macabre as a reformist satire, most importantly, it was The pictures and the Bible quotations above them were the main attractions
5.
Novara
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Novara listen is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With about 105,000 inhabitants, it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin and it is an important crossroads for commercial traffic along the routes from Milan to Turin and from Genoa to Switzerland. Novara lies between the rivers Agogna and Terdoppio in northeastern Piedmont,50 kilometres from Milan and 95 kilometres from Turin, Novara was founded in ancient times by the Romans. Its name is formed from Nov, meaning new, and Aria, ancient Novaria, which dates to the time of the Ligures and the Celts, was a municipium and was situated on the road from Vercellae to Milan. Its position on perpendicular roads dates to the time of the Romans, after the city was destroyed in 386 by Magnus Maximus for having supported his rival Valentinian II, it was rebuilt by Theodosius I. Subsequently, it was sacked by Radagaisus and Attila, under the Lombards, Novara became a duchy, under Charles the Fat, a countship. Novara came to enjoy the rights of an imperial city. In 1110, it was conquered by Henry V and destroyed, at the end of the 12th century, it accepted the protection of Milan and became practically a dominion of the Visconti and later of the Sforza. In the Battle of Novara in 1513, Swiss mercenaries defending Novara for the Sforzas of Milan routed the French troops besieging the city and this defeat ended the French invasion of Italy in the War of the League of Cambrai. In 1706, Novara, which had long ago been promised by Filippo Maria Visconti to Amadeus VIII of Savoy, was occupied by Savoyard troops, with the Peace of Utrecht, the city, together with Milan, became part of the Habsburg Empire. After its occupation in 1734, Novara passed, in the following year, after Napoleons campaign in Italy, Novara became the capital of the Department of the Agogna, but was then reassigned to the House of Savoy in 1814. In 1821, it was the site of a battle in which regular Sardinian troops defeated the Piedmontese constitutional liberals, in the even larger Battle of Novara in 1849, the Sardinian army was defeated by the Austrian army of Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. This defeat led to the abdication of Charles Albert of Sardinia, the defeat of the Sardinians can be seen as the beginning of the Italian unification movement. A decree in 1859 created the province of Novara, which included the present-day provinces of Vercelli, Biella. The city of Novara had a population of 25,144 in 1861, industrialisation during the 20th century brought an increase in the citys population to 102,088 in 1981. The citys population has changed little in subsequent years, oscar Luigi Scalfaro, former president of Italy and Italian senator for life, was born in Novara in 1918. Novaras sights can be divided into two groupings, the citys most important sights lie within its historic centre, the area once enclosed by the city walls. However, several important sights also lie outside the line of the city walls
6.
Landsknecht
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Consisting predominantly of German mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, they achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenaries of early modern Europe. The Germanic compound Landsknecht combines land land, country, here in the sense of lowlands and knecht servant, vassal, the compound Lantknecht was used during the 15th century of bailiffs or court ushers. As early as 1500, the term was re-etymologized as Lanzknecht, suggesting a derivation from Lanze lance, the modern term Landser is possibly based on Landsknecht, as is the name of the French card game Lansquenet. The more common English-language plural form is Landsknechts, but the original German form Landsknechte is also in use, since it is a common noun, it may also be written with lower-case l, landsknechts. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 to 1519, formed the first mercenary Landsknecht regiments in 1487 and he called upon Georg von Frundsberg, sometimes referred to as the Father of the Landsknechts, to assist him in their organization. Landsknechts later went on to fight in almost every 16th-century military campaign, French artillery or Spanish firepower dealt serious blows to the Swiss formations, and the Landsknecht pike blocks were there to fight off the depleted Swiss attack columns once this had occurred. The Landsknechts were conservative in their usage of weapons and contained a majority of pikemen. However, they inclined more to the use of firearms than the Swiss because Landsknechts relied less on the precipitous rush to close combat. As Imperial soldiers, they fought in formations mixed with Spaniards during the reign of King of Spain. These Spaniards made a widespread use of the arquebus and later. Landsknechte typically came from Swabia, Alsace, Tyrol and the Rhineland, in the 1490s, the well-trained Landsknechte managed to defeat significantly greater Frisian armies. Paul Dolstein wrote of the siege of Älfsborg in July 1502, fighting for the King of Denmark, We were 1800 Germans and we struck most of them dead. In 1521, the Spaniards recruited German infantrymen to defend their country against the French because, at the Battle of Bicocca and the Battle of Marignano, they performed well, defeating the famed Swiss Pikemen. The Imperial Landsknechts were instrumental in many of the Emperors victories, the same year, they also managed to defeat the peasants revolt in the Empire. At their peak in the early 16th century, the Landsknechte were considered as formidable soldiers who were often brave, however, these qualities may have declined afterward. Indeed, from the 1560s on, the reputation of the Landsknechte steadily decreased and their status also suffered from the rising reputation of the dreaded Spanish tercios which, however, were far less abundant and more expensive to train. It should also be noted that when serving in southern Europe, in the army of the Dutch rebels, many German mercenaries were hired but were forced to give up many Landsknechtes traditions in order to increase their discipline and their fighting abilities. They are attested as deployed in the armies of Kings John III of Navarre, in the same context, they are found fighting on Charles Vs side too where they performed strongly
7.
Pope Leo X
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Pope Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici, was Pope from 9 March 1513 to his death in 1521. The second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, ruler of the Florentine Republic, following the death of Pope Julius II, Giovanni was elected pope after securing the backing of the younger members of the Sacred College. Early on in his rule he oversaw the sessions of the Fifth Council of the Lateran. In 1517 he led a war that succeeded in securing his nephew as duke of Urbino. He later only narrowly escaped a plot by some cardinals to poison him and he is probably best remembered for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peters Basilica, which practice was challenged by Martin Luthers 95 Theses. He seems not to have taken seriously the array of demands for reform that would quickly grow into the Protestant Reformation. His Papal Bull of 1520, Exsurge Domine, simply condemned Luther on a number of areas and he did, however, grant establishment to the Oratory of Divine Love. A significant patron of the arts, upon election Leo is alleged to have said, Since God has given us the papacy, under his reign, progress was made on the rebuilding of Saint Peters Basilica and artists such as Raphael decorated the Vatican rooms. Leo also reorganised the Roman University, and promoted the study of literature, poetry and he died in 1521 and is buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. He is the last pope not to have been in priestly orders at the time of his election to the papacy. Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici was born on December 11,1475 in the Republic of Florence, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. From an early age he was destined for an ecclesiastical career and he received the tonsure at the age of seven and was soon granted rich benefices and preferments. Meanwhile, he received an education at Lorenzos humanistic court under such men as Angelo Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, from 1489 to 1491 he studied theology and canon law at Pisa. On 23 March 1492, he was admitted into the Sacred College of Cardinals and took up his residence at Rome. The death of Lorenzo on the following 8 April, however and he returned to Rome to participate in the conclave of 1492 which followed the death of Innocent VIII, and unsuccessfully opposed the election of Cardinal Borgia. While Piero found refuge at Venice and Urbino, Giovanni traveled in Germany, in the Netherlands, in May 1500, he returned to Rome, where he was received with outward cordiality by Pope Alexander VI, and where he lived for several years immersed in art and literature. In 1503 he welcomed the accession of Pope Julius II to the pontificate and this and other attempts to regain political control of Florence were frustrated until a bloodless revolution permitted the return of the Medici. Giovannis younger brother Giuliano was placed at the head of the republic, Giovanni was elected Pope on 9 March 1513, and this was proclaimed two days later
8.
Italian Wars
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Ludovico Sforza of Milan, seeking an ally against the Republic of Venice, encouraged Charles VIII of France to invade Italy, using the Angevin claim to the throne of Naples as a pretext. For several months, French forces moved through Italy virtually unopposed, Charles VIII made triumphant entries into Pisa on November 8,1494, Florence on November 17,1494, and Rome on December 31,1494. Upon reaching the city of Monte San Giovanni in the Kingdom of Naples, Charles VIII sent envoys to the town, the garrison killed and mutilated the envoys and sent the bodies back to the French lines. This enraged the French army so that reduced the castle in the town with blistering artillery fire on February 9,1495 and stormed the fort. This was the sack of Naples. News of the French Armys sack of Naples provoked a reaction among the city-states of Northern Italy, the League was specifically formed to resist French aggression. The League was established on 31 March after negotiations by Venice, Milan, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Later on the League consisted of the Holy Roman Empire, the Duchy of Milan, Spain, the Papal States, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Mantua and this coalition, effectively, cut Charles army off from returning to France. After establishing a government in Naples, Charles started to march north on his return to France. However, in the town of Fornovo he met the League army. In contemporary tradition, though, the battle counted as a Holy League victory, because the French forces had to leave, to the Italian coalition, however, it was at best a pyrrhic victory, in that its strategic outcome and long-term consequences were unfavorable. Although the League managed to force Charles VIII off the battlefield, it suffered much higher casualties and could not prevent the opposing army crossing the Italian lands as it returned to France. As a result of Charles VIIIs expedition, the states of Italy were shown once. In fact, the individual Italian states could not field armies comparable to those of the feudal monarchies of Europe in numbers. Thus, Charles VIII lost all that he conquered in Italy, King Charles VIII died on April 7,1498 and was succeeded to the throne of France by his cousin, Louis II, Duke of Orléans, who became Louis XII of France. Ludovico Sforza retained his throne in Milan until 1499, when Charless successor, Louis XII of France, invaded Lombardy, Louis XII justified his claim to the Duchy of Milan by right of his paternal grandfather, Louis duc dOrléans having married Valentina Visconti in 1387. Valentina Visconti was the heir to the Duchy of Milan in the Visconti dynasty, the marriage contract between Valentina Visconti and Louis, duc dOrléans, guaranteed that in failure of male heirs, she would inherit the Visconti dominions. However, when the Visconti dynasty died out in 1447, the Milanese ignored the Orleans claim to the Duchy of Milan, however, bitter factionalism arose under the new republic which set the stage for Francisco Sforza to seize control of Milan in 1450
9.
Huldrych Zwingli
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Huldrych Zwingli or Ulrich Zwingli was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. He continued his studies while he served as a pastor in Glarus and later in Einsiedeln, in 1519, Zwingli became the pastor of the Grossmünster in Zurich where he began to preach ideas on reform of the Catholic Church. In his first public controversy in 1522, he attacked the custom of fasting during Lent, in his publications, he noted corruption in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, promoted clerical marriage, and attacked the use of images in places of worship. In 1525, Zwingli introduced a new liturgy to replace the Mass. Zwingli also clashed with the Anabaptists, which resulted in their persecution, historians have debated whether or not he turned Zurich into a theocracy. The Reformation spread to parts of the Swiss Confederation, but several cantons resisted. Zwingli formed an alliance of Reformed cantons which divided the Confederation along religious lines, in 1529, a war between the two sides was averted at the last moment. Meanwhile, Zwinglis ideas came to the attention of Martin Luther and other reformers and they met at the Marburg Colloquy and although they agreed on many points of doctrine, they could not reach an accord on the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In 1531 Zwinglis alliance applied an unsuccessful food blockade on the Catholic cantons, the cantons responded with an attack at a moment when Zurich was ill prepared. Zwingli was killed in battle at the age of 47 and his legacy lives on in the confessions, liturgy, and church orders of the Reformed churches of today. The Swiss Confederation in Huldrych Zwinglis time consisted of thirteen states as well as affiliated areas, unlike the modern state of Switzerland, which operates under a federal government, each of the thirteen cantons was nearly independent, conducting its own domestic and foreign affairs. Each canton formed its own alliances within and without the Confederation and this relative independence served as the basis for conflict during the time of the Reformation when the various cantons divided between different confessional camps. Military ambitions gained an additional impetus with the competition to new territory and resources. The wider political environment in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries was also volatile, for centuries the relationship with the Confederations powerful neighbour, France, determined the foreign policies of the Swiss. Nominally, the Confederation formed a part of the Holy Roman Empire, however, through a succession of wars culminating in the Swabian War in 1499, the Confederation had become de facto independent. During this time the mercenary pension system became a subject of disagreement, the religious factions of Zwinglis time debated vociferously the merits of sending young Swiss men to fight in foreign wars mainly for the enrichment of the cantonal authorities. At the same time, Renaissance humanism, with its universal values, within this environment, defined by the confluence of Swiss patriotism and humanism, Zwingli was born in 1484. Huldrych Zwingli was born on 1 January 1484 in Wildhaus, in the Toggenburg valley of Switzerland, to a family of farmers and his father, Ulrich, played a leading role in the administration of the community
10.
Bern Minster
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The Bern Minster is a Swiss Reformed cathedral, in the old city of Bern, Switzerland. Built in the Gothic style, its construction started in 1421 and its tower, with a height of 100.6 m, was only completed in 1893. It is the tallest cathedral in Switzerland and is a Cultural Property of National Significance, the Minster of Bern is located on the southern side of the Aare peninsula. The cathedral is oriented east and west like the rest of the Old City of Bern, to the north, Münstergasse runs along the side of the building. The west façade of the Münster dominates Münsterplatz, on the south side of the cathedral is the Münsterplattform. It is a three nave basilica without a transept, the entire cathedral is 84.2 meters long and 33.68 m wide. The central nave is 39.37 m long by 11.10 m wide and is 20.70 m high. The two side naves are very similar in dimensions, the nave is 52.50 m long. They are both 6.45 m wide and 10.40 m high, the altar house and choir together are 25.20 m long,10.92 m wide and 19.40 m high. The cathedral has a tower in the west, which is 100.60 m high. Below the tower, there is a 10.15 m long by 10.46 m wide, there are a total of ten bays in the building. The central nave has five of these bays, each of the side naves has two bays, with side chapels built against the exterior walls. The last bay is within the choir, the central nave walls are supported by fourteen flying buttresses. Each buttress starts at a column which rises above the roof of the side naves. The buttresses rise at an angle of 43° 30’, the lower side of the buttresses are decorated with egg-shaped cut outs, with vesica piscis and spandrel designs. The majority of the building is built from local sandstone, the vaults are built of brick. In the 18th Century, limestone sheathing was added to the pillars, most of the sandstone came from a quarry at Ostermundingen. Additional material came from three quarries, each with differing color and quality
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