Rome
Rome is the capital city and a special comune of Italy. Rome serves as the capital of the Lazio region. With 2,872,800 residents in 1,285 km2, it is the country's most populated comune, it is the fourth most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4,355,725 residents, thus making it the most populous metropolitan city in Italy. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber; the Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: for this reason Rome has been defined as capital of two states. Rome's history spans 28 centuries. While Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe; the city's early population originated from a mix of Latins and Sabines.
The city successively became the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, is regarded by some as the first metropolis. It was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, the expression was taken up by Ovid and Livy. Rome is called the "Caput Mundi". After the fall of the Western Empire, which marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, Rome fell under the political control of the Papacy, in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. Beginning with the Renaissance all the popes since Nicholas V pursued over four hundred years a coherent architectural and urban programme aimed at making the city the artistic and cultural centre of the world. In this way, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, creating masterpieces throughout the city.
In 1871, Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, which, in 1946, became the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city. In 2016, Rome ranked as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, the most popular tourist attraction in Italy, its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The famous Vatican Museums are among the world's most visited museums while the Colosseum was the most popular tourist attraction in world with 7.4 million visitors in 2018. Host city for the 1960 Summer Olympics, Rome is the seat of several specialized agencies of the United Nations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development; the city hosts the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean as well as the headquarters of many international business companies such as Eni, Enel, TIM, Leonardo S.p. A. and national and international banks such as Unicredit and BNL.
Its business district, called EUR, is the base of many companies involved in the oil industry, the pharmaceutical industry, financial services. Rome is an important fashion and design centre thanks to renowned international brands centered in the city. Rome's Cinecittà Studios have been the set of many Academy Award–winning movies. According to the founding myth of the city by the Ancient Romans themselves, the long-held tradition of the origin of the name Roma is believed to have come from the city's founder and first king, Romulus. However, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was derived from Rome itself; as early as the 4th century, there have been alternative theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. Several hypotheses have been advanced focusing on its linguistic roots which however remain uncertain: from Rumon or Rumen, archaic name of the Tiber, which in turn has the same root as the Greek verb ῥέω and the Latin verb ruo, which both mean "flow". There is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from 14,000 years ago, but the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites.
Evidence of stone tools and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence. Several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the bronze age and the beginning of the Iron age, each hill between the sea and the Capitol was topped by a village. However, none of them had yet an urban quality. Nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city developed through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine; this aggregation was facilitated by the increase of agricultural productivity above the subsistence level, which allowed the establishment of secondary and tertiary activities. These in turn boosted the development of trade with the Greek colonies of southern Italy; these developments, which according to archaeological ev
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. It acts in the Pope’s name and with his authority for the good and for the service of the particular Churches and provides the central organization for the Church to advance its objectives; the structure and organization of responsibilities within the Curia are at present regulated by the apostolic constitution Pastor bonus, issued by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1988, which Pope Francis has decided to revise. Other bodies that play an administrative or consulting role in Church affairs are sometimes mistakenly identified with the Curia, such as the Synod of Bishops and regional conferences of bishops. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote in 2015 that "the Synod of Bishops is not a part of the Roman Curia in the strict sense: it is the expression of the collegiality of bishops in communion with the Pope and under his direction.
The Roman Curia instead aids the Pope in the exercise of his primacy over all the Churches." Curia in medieval and Latin usage means "court" in the sense of "royal court" rather than "court of law". The Roman Curia is sometimes anglicized as the Court of Rome, as in the 1534 Act of Parliament that forbade appeals to it from England, it assists the Pope in carrying out his functions. The Roman Curia can be loosely compared to cabinets in governments of countries with a Western form of governance, but only the Second Section of the Secretariat of State, known as the Section for Relations with States, the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and the Congregation for Catholic Education, can be directly compared with specific ministries of a civil government, it is normal for every Latin Catholic diocese to have its own curia for its administration. For the Diocese of Rome, these functions are not handled by the Roman Curia, but by the Vicariate General of His Holiness for the City of Rome, as provided by the apostolic constitution Ecclesia in Urbe.
The Vicar General of Rome, traditionally a cardinal, his deputy the vicegerent, who holds the personal title of archbishop, supervise the governance of the diocese by reference to the Pope himself, but with no more dependence on the Roman Curia, as such, than other Catholic dioceses throughout the world. A distinct office, the Vicar General for Vatican City, administers the portion of the Diocese of Rome in Vatican City; until there still existed hereditary officers of the Roman Curia, holding titles denominating functions that had ceased to be a reality when the Papal States were lost to the papacy. A reorganization, ordered by Pope Pius X, was incorporated into the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Further steps toward reorganization were begun by Pope Paul VI in the 1960s. Among the goals of this curial reform were the modernization of procedures and the internationalization of the curial staff; these reforms are reflected in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The offices of the Vatican City State are not part of the Roman Curia, composed only of offices of the Holy See.
The following organs or charges, according to the official website of the Holy See, comprise the Curia. All members of the Curia except the Cardinal Camerlengo and the Major Penitentiary resign their office after a papal death or resignation. See sede vacante. Sr. Luzia Premoli, superior general of the Combonian Missionary Sisters, was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2014, becoming the first woman to be appointed a member of a Vatican congregation; the principal departments of the Roman Curia are called dicasteries. The most recent comprehensive constitution of the church, Pastor bonus, provides this definition: "By the word "dicasteries" are understood the Secretariat of State, Tribunals and Offices"; those remain the five principal categories of departments, with the noteworthy change in that there is now more than a single Secretariat. Two new departments announced to begin functioning on 1 August 2016 and 1 January 2017 have been identified only as dicasteries–Dicastery for the Laity and Life and Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Both are headed by a prefect. The Secretariat of State is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the government of the Roman Catholic Church, it is headed by the Secretary of State, since 15 October 2013 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, responsible for all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See. The Secretariat is divided into two sections, the Section for General Affairs and the Section for Relations with States, known as the First Section and Second Section, respectively; the Secretariat of State was created in the 15th century and is now the department of the curia most involved in coordinating the Holy See's activities. Matters not within the competence of another dicastery are dealt with by the Secretariat of State; the Secretariat for the Economy was established by Pope Francis in 2014, with the Australian Cardinal George Pell the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, as its Cardinal Prefect. Pell's appointment was terminated on 12 December 2018. Two departments of the Roman Curia established by Pope Francis in 2016 have been identified as "dicasteries" rather than as one of the traditional department types.
A third dicastery was named on 23 June 2018. Pope Francis announced on 15 August 2016 the creation of the Dicastery for the Laity and Life, effective 1 September 2016, it took over the responsibilities of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Family. As its first Prefect, Francis named Bishop Kevin Farrell
Canals, Valencia
Canals is a municipality in the comarca of Costera in the Valencian Community, Spain. It shares borders with the municipalities of l'Alcúdia de Crespins, Cerdà, la Granja de la Costera, Xàtiva, Llanera de Ranes, Montesa and Vallés and with Aielo de Malferit and l'Olleria. Canals is located in the valley between the Grossa mountains and la Costera; the highest points are in la Serra Grossa, where we can find the peaks of l'Atalaia and la Creu, on the municipal boundary with l'Olleria. The Cànyoles River crosses the town in the west-northeast direction; the village lies on the left bank of the Cànyoles river. Canals and l'Alcúdia de Crespins together form a conurbation. From València you can reach Canals taking the A-7 highway. Canals Aiacor Torre d'En Torre dels Frares; some evidence of Roman civilization has been found. During the year of Muslim occupation it was a important "alqueria" owned by Xàtiva. In the Christian era, in 1244, king James I of Aragon gave Dionís of Hungary the tower and the small village of Canals and created the new lordship of the Señorío de Torre de Canals.
Dionis of Hungary gave the king the castle in the valley of Veo and the castle of Ain and other territories. The Christian resettlement was made by Catalans. On July 30, Peter IV "el Cerimoniós" gave the place to Raimon de Riusech taking it from Joan Eximenis d'Urrea, with the condition that if he had no male descendents it would be given back to the crown, but in the end it was sold to Xàtiva, with the king's approval on February 19 of 1353 as a barony. During the rule by Xàtiva there were continuous tributary conflicts. In the year 1506 Xàtiva bought La Torreta. In 1522 during the Revolt of the Brotherhoods, Canals was used by the viceroy as his headquarters to attack Xàtiva, where the'Encobert' was hidden. Many prisoners were taken from Xàtiva to Canals. In 1639 Phillip IV, paid Xàtiva 20.000 pounds, gave independence to Canals as a village. In the 19th century Canals developed industry, with 24 glass factories, a paper factory, metal workshops, flour mills, cloth sellers. In the 20th century this industrial activity increased with oil, construction materials and cloth production.
Tower and walls of the Borgias Oratory of the Borgias Route of the Borgias Alfons de Borja, Pope Callixtus III The economy is divided into agriculture, industry famous for its clothing and leather production, marble. Today the industry is dead with the main companies having closed down: Ferry's, Rodrigo Sancho S. A. and many others. Pottery has been important, has given the people from Canals the nickname of "perolers". Canals Actualitat La web lider en noticies i opinions de Canals. Ajuntament de Canals Assemblea de Joves de Canals Enllaç a Canals en el google maps Conèixer Canals, Web per a conèixer la població de la Costera, Canals La Costera Digital, Periòdic independent de la Costera, Canals. Institut Valencià d'Estadística Portal de la Direcció General d'Administració Local de la Generalitat AI MARE!, Web de fotos i videos d'humor feta a Canals 4Q-QUARTET - Quartet de trombons Associació Musical Canalense
Alfonso V of Aragon
Alfonso the Magnanimous was the King of Aragon, Majorca and Corsica, Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416, King of Naples from 1442 until his death. He was one of the most prominent figures of the early Renaissance and a knight of the Order of the Dragon. Born at Medina del Campo, he was the son of Ferdinand I of Eleanor of Alburquerque, he represented the old line of the counts of Barcelona through the female line, was on his father's side descended from the House of Trastamara, the reigning House of Castile. By hereditary right he was king of Sicily and claimed the island of Sardinia for himself, though it was in the possession of Genoa. Alfonso was in possession of much of Corsica by the 1420s. In 1421 the childless Queen Joanna II of Naples adopted and named him as heir to the Kingdom of Naples, Alfonso went to Naples. Here he hired the condottiero Braccio da Montone with the task of reducing the resistance of his rival claimant, Louis III of Anjou, his forces led by Muzio Attendolo Sforza.
With Pope Martin V supporting Sforza, Alfonso switched his religious allegiance to the Aragonese antipope Benedict XIII. When Sforza abandoned Louis' cause, Alfonso seemed to have all his problems solved. After an attempt to arrest the queen herself had failed, Joan called on Sforza who defeated the Aragonese militias near Castel Capuano in Naples. Alfonso fled to Castel Nuovo, but the help of a fleet of 22 galleys led by Giovanni da Cardona improved his situation. Sforza and Joanna retreated to the fortress of Aversa. Here she repudiated her earlier adoption of Alfonso and, with the backing of Martin V, named Louis III as her heir instead; the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, joined the anti-Aragonese coalition. Alfonso requested support from Braccio da Montone, besieging Joanna's troops in L'Aquila, but had to set sail for Spain, where a war had broken out between his brothers and the Kingdom of Castile. On his way towards Barcelona, Alfonso destroyed Marseille, a possession of Louis III.
In late 1423 the Genoese fleet of Filippo Maria Visconti moved in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea conquering Gaeta, Procida and Sorrento. Naples, held by Alfonso's brother, Pedro de Aragon, was besieged in 1424 by the Genoese ships and Joanna's troops, now led by Francesco Sforza, the son of Muzio Sforza; the city fell in April 1424. Pedro, after a short resistance in Castel Nuovo, fled to Sicily in August. Joanna II and Louis III again took possession of the realm, although the true power was in the hands of Gianni Caracciolo. An opportunity for Alfonso to reconquer Naples occurred in 1432, when Caracciolo was killed in a conspiracy. Alfonso tried to regain the favour of the queen, but failed, had to wait for the death of both Louis and Joanna herself. In her will, she bequeathed her realm to René of Louis III's younger brother; this solution was opposed by the new pope, Eugene IV, who nominally was the feudal lord of the King of Naples. The Neapolitans having called in the French, Alfonso decided to intervene and, with the support of several barons of the kingdom, captured Capua and besieged the important sea fortress of Gaeta.
His fleet of 25 galleys was met by the Genoese ships sent by Visconti, led by Biagio Assereto. In the battle of Ponza that ensued, Alfonso was taken prisoner. In Milan, however, he impressed his captor with his cultured demeanor and persuaded him to let him go by making it plain that it was not in Milan's interest to prevent the victory of the Aragonese party in Naples. Helped by a Sicilian fleet, Alfonso recaptured Capua and set his base in Gaeta in February 1436. Meanwhile, papal troops had invaded the Neapolitan kingdom, but Alfonso bribed their commander, Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, their successes waned. In the meantime, René had managed to reach Naples on 19 May 1438. Alfonso failed, his brother Pedro was killed during the battle. Castel Nuovo, where an Aragonese garrison resisted, fell to the Angevine mercenaries in August 1439. After the death of his condottiero Jacopo Caldora, René's fortune started to decline: Alfonso could capture Aversa, Benevento and Bitonto. René, whose possession included now only part of the Abruzzi and Naples, obtained 10,000 men from the pope, but the cardinal leading them signed a truce with Alfonso.
Giovanni Sforza came with a reduced corps, as troops sent by Eugene IV had halted his father Francesco in the Marche. Alfonso, provided with the most impressive artillery of the times, again besieged Naples; the siege began on 10 November 1441. After the return of René to Provence, Alfonso reduced the remaining resistance and made his triumphal entrance in Naples on 26 February 1443, as the monarch of a pacified kingdom. In 1446 he conquered Sardinia. Alfonso, by formally submitting his reign to the Papacy, obtained the consent of Pope Eugene IV that the Kingdom of Naples would go to his illegitimate son Ferdinand, he died in Castel dell ` Ovo in 1458. At the time, Alfonso was at odds with Callixtus III, his Spanish possessions were ruled for him by his brother John king John II of Aragon. Sicily and Sardinia were inherited by his brother. Alfonso was a powerful and faithful supporter of Skanderbe
Valencia
Valencia València, on the east coast of Spain, is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, with around 800,000 inhabitants in the administrative centre. Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 1.6 million people. Valencia is Spain's third largest metropolitan area, with a population ranging from 1.7 to 2.5 million depending on how the metropolitan area is defined. The Port of Valencia is the 5th busiest container port in Europe and the busiest container port on the Mediterranean Sea; the city is ranked at Beta-global city in World Cities Research Network. Valencia is integrated into an industrial area on the Costa del Azahar. Valencia was founded as a Roman colony by the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 138 BC, called Valentia Edetanorum. In 714 Moroccan and Arab Moors occupied the city, introducing their language and customs. Valencia was the capital of the Taifa of Valencia.
In 1238 the Christian king James I of Aragon conquered the city and divided the land among the nobles who helped him conquer it, as witnessed in the Llibre del Repartiment. He created a new law for the city, the Furs of Valencia, which were extended to the rest of the Kingdom of Valencia. In the 18th century Philip V of Spain abolished the privileges as punishment to the kingdom of Valencia for aligning with the Habsburg side in the War of the Spanish Succession. Valencia was the capital of Spain when Joseph Bonaparte moved the Court there in the summer of 1812, it served as capital between 1936 and 1937, during the Second Spanish Republic. The city is situated on the banks of the Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, fronting the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea, its historic centre is one of the largest in Spain, with 169 ha. Due to its long history, this is a city with numerous popular celebrations and traditions, such as the Fallas, which were declared as Fiestas of National Tourist Interest of Spain in 1965 and Intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in November 2016.
From 1991 to 2015, Rita Barberá Nolla was the mayor of the city, yet in 2015, Joan Ribó from Coalició Compromís, became mayor. The original Latin name of the city was Valentia, meaning "strength", or "valour", the city being named according to the Roman practice of recognising the valour of former Roman soldiers after a war; the Roman historian Livy explains that the founding of Valentia in the 2nd century BC was due to the settling of the Roman soldiers who fought against an Iberian rebel, Viriatus. During the rule of the Muslim kingdoms in Spain, it had the nickname Medina at-Tarab according to one transliteration, or Medina at-Turab according to another, since it was located on the banks of the River Turia, it is not clear if the term Balansiyya was reserved for the entire Taifa of Valencia or designated the city. By gradual sound changes, Valentia has in Castilian and València in Valencian. In Valencian, the grave accent ⟨è⟩ /ɛ/ contrasts with the acute accent ⟨é⟩ /e/—but the word València is an exception to this rule.
It is spelled according to Catalan etymology. Valencia stands on the banks of the Turia River, located on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the western part of the Mediterranean Sea, fronting the Gulf of Valencia. At its founding by the Romans, it stood on a river island in 6.4 kilometres from the sea. The Albufera, a freshwater lagoon and estuary about 11 km south of the city, is one of the largest lakes in Spain; the City Council bought the lake from the Crown of Spain for 1,072,980 pesetas in 1911, today it forms the main portion of the Parc Natural de l'Albufera, with a surface area of 21,120 hectares. In 1976, because of its cultural and ecological value, the Generalitat Valenciana declared it a natural park. Valencia has a subtropical Mediterranean climate with short mild winters and long and dry summers, its average annual temperature is 18.4 °C. In the coldest month, the maximum temperature during the day ranges from 14 to 21 °C, the minimum temperature at night ranges from 5 to 11 °C.
In the warmest month – August, the maximum temperature during the day ranges from 28–34 °C, about 22 to 23 °C at night. Similar temperatures to those experienced in the northern part of Europe in summer last about 8 months, from April to November. March is transitional, the temperature exceeds 20 °C, with an average temperature of 19.3 °C during the day and 10.0 °C at night. December and February are the coldest months, with average temperatures around 17 °C during the day and 8 °C at night. Valencia has one of the mildest winters in Europe, owing to its southern location on the Mediterranean Sea and the Foehn phenomenon; the January average is comparable to temperatures expected for May and September in the major cities of northern Europe. Sunshine duration hours are 2,696 per year, from 15
Siege of Belgrade (1456)
The Siege of Belgrade, Battle of Belgrade or Siege of Nándorfehérvár was a military blockade of Belgrade that occurred from July 4–22, 1456. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror rallied his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary, his immediate objective was the border fort of the town of Belgrade. John Hunyadi, the Voivode of Transylvania, who had fought many battles against the Turks in the previous two decades, prepared the defenses of the fortress; the siege escalated into a major battle, during which Hunyadi led a sudden counterattack that overran the Ottoman camp compelling the wounded Mehmed II to lift the siege and retreat. The battle had significant consequences, as it stabilized the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than half a century and thus delayed the Ottoman advance in Europe; the Pope celebrated the victory as well, as he had ordered all Catholic kingdoms to pray for the victory of the defenders of Belgrade.
This led to the noon bell ritual, still undertaken in Catholic and old Protestant churches. The day of the victory, 22 July, has been a memorial day in Hungary since. At the end of 1455, John Hunyadi began preparations for the defence of Belgrade. At his own expense, he provisioned and armed the fortress with a strong garrison under the command of his brother-in-law Mihály Szilágyi and his own eldest son László. Hunyadi proceeded to form a relief army and an additional fleet of two hundred corvettes; the barons feared Hunyadi's growing power more than the Ottoman threat and left him to his own devices. An Italian Franciscan friar allied to Hunyadi, Giovanni da Capistrano, preached a crusade to attract peasants and local countryside landlords to Hunyadi's cause; the recruits were ill-armed, many with only slings and scythes, but they were motivated. The recruits came under Hunyadi's banner, the core of which consisted of smaller bands of seasoned mercenaries and a few groups of minor knights. All in all, Hunyadi managed to build a force of 25–30,000 men.
Before Hunyadi could assemble his forces, the army of Mehmed II arrived at Belgrade. The siege began on July 4, 1456. Szilágyi could rely on a force of only 5,000-7,000 men in the castle. Mehmed set up his siege on the neck of the headland and started bombarding the city's walls on June 29, he arrayed his men in three sections: The Rumelian corps had the majority of his 300 cannons, while his fleet of 200 river war vessels had the rest of them. The Rumelians were arrayed on the right wing and the Anatolian corps were arrayed on the left. In the middle were the personal guards of the Sultan, the Janissaries, his command post; the Anatolian corps and the Janissaries were both heavy infantry troops. Mehmed posted his river vessels to the northwest of the city to patrol the marshes and ensure that the fortress was not reinforced, they kept an eye on the Sava river to the southwest to avoid the infantry from being outflanked by Hunyadi's army. The zone from the Danube eastwards was guarded by the Sipahi, the Sultan's feudal heavy cavalry corps, to avoid being outflanked on the right.
When Hunyadi was informed of this, he was in the south of Hungary recruiting additional light cavalry troops for the army, with which he would intend to lift the siege. Although few, his fellow nobles were willing to provide manpower, the peasants were more than willing to do so. Friar John of Capistrano had been sent to Hungary by the Vatican both to preach against heretics and to preach a crusade against the Ottomans. Capistrano managed to raise a large, albeit poorly trained and equipped, peasant army, with which he advanced towards Belgrade. Capistrano and Hunyadi traveled together though commanding the army separately. Both of them had gathered around 40,000-50,000 troops altogether; the outnumbered defenders relied on the strength of the formidable castle of Belgrade, at the time one of the best engineered in the Balkans. Belgrade had been designated as the capital of the Serbian Despotate by Stefan Lazarević 53 years prior; the fortress was designed in an elaborate form with three lines of defense: the inner castle with the palace, a huge upper town with the main military camps, four gates and a double wall, as well as the lower town with the cathedral in the urban center and a port at the Danube.
This building endeavor was one of the most elaborate military architecture achievements of the Middle Ages. After the Siege, the Hungarians reinforced the north and eastern side with an additional gate and several towers, one of which, the Nebojša Tower, was designed for artillery purposes. On July 14, 1456, Hunyadi arrived to the encircled city with his flotilla on the Danube, while the Ottoman navy lay astride the Danube River, he broke the naval blockade on July 14, sinking three large Ottoman galleys and capturing four large vessels and 20 smaller ones. By destroying the Sultan's fleet, Hunyadi was able to transport his troops and much-needed food into the city; the fort's defense was reinforced. But Mehmed II was not willing to end the siege and after a week of heavy bombardment, the walls of the fortress were breached in several places. On July 21 Mehmed ordered an all-out assault that continued all night; the besieging army flooded the city and started its assault on the fort. As this was the most crucial moment of the siege, Hunyadi ordered the defenders to throw tarred wood and other flammable material, set it afire.
Soon a wall of flames separated the Janissaries fighting in the city from their fellow soldiers trying to breach through the gaps into the upper town. The fierce battle
Antipope Benedict XIII
Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor, known as el Papa Luna in Spanish and Pope Luna in English, was an Aragonese nobleman, who as Benedict XIII, is considered an antipope by the Catholic Church. Pedro Martínez de Luna was born at Illueca, Kingdom of Aragon in 1328, he belonged to the de Luna family. He studied law at the University of Montpellier, where he obtained his doctorate and taught Canon law, his knowledge of canon law, noble lineage, austere way of life won him the approval of Pope Gregory XI, who appointed de Luna to the position of Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin on 20 December 1375. In 1377 Pedro de Luna and the other cardinals returned to Rome with Pope Gregory, persuaded to leave his papal base at Avignon by Catherine of Siena. After Gregory's death on 27 March 1378, the people of Rome feared that the cardinals would elect a French Pope and return the papacy to Avignon, they rioted and laid siege to the cardinals, insisting on an Italian Pope. The conclave duly elected Bartolomeo Prignano, Archbishop of Bari, as Urban VI on 9 April, but the new Pope proved to be intractably hostile to the cardinals.
Some of them reconvened at Fondi in September 1378, declared the earlier election invalid and elected Robert of Geneva as their new Pope, initiating the Western Schism. Robert moved back to Avignon. Clement VII sent de Luna as legate to Spain for the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon and Portugal, in order to win them over to the obedience of the Avignon pope. Owing to his powerful relations, his influence in the Province of Aragon was great. In 1393 Clement VII appointed him legate to France, Flanders, Scotland and Ireland; as such he stayed principally in Paris, but he did not confine his activities to those countries that belonged to the Avignon obedience. Following Clement's death on 16 September 1394, the cardinals met at Avignon; the conclave consisted of 11 French cardinals, eight Italians, four Spaniards, one from Savoy, all proclaiming the ardent wish to reunite the church. The cardinals elected Luna as the new pope, on the condition that he should labor to quell the schism, should resign the papal dignity whenever the pope of Rome should do the same, or the college of cardinals demand it.
On the death of Urban VI in 1389 the Roman College of Cardinals had chosen Boniface IX. At the start of his term of office, de Luna was recognised as Pope by France, Sicily, Aragon and Portugal. In 1396 Benedict sent Sanchez Muñoz, one of the most loyal members of the Avignon curia, as an envoy to the Bishop of Valencia to bolster support for the Avignon papacy in the Crown of Aragon. In 1398 the Kingdom of France withdrew its recognition of the Avignon anti-popes. Benedict was abandoned with only five remaining faithful to him. Benedict's rationale for continuing the rivalry lay in the fact that he was the last living cardinal created by Gregory XI, the last undoubted Supreme Pontiff; as the only unquestioned cardinal, Benedict argued, he was, by right and by canon law, the only qualified candidate left who could validly claim the papacy. Following the Council of Constance Benedict's logic was not accepted. An army led by Geoffrey Boucicaut, brother of Jean Boucicaut, occupied Avignon and started a five-year siege of the papal palace which ended when Benedict managed to escape from Avignon on 12 March 1403, seek shelter in territory belonging to Louis II of Anjou.
Avignon submitted again to him, his cardinals recognized him, popular sentiment being again in his favor, he was recognized as the legitimate pope by France, Castile and Sicily. After the Roman Pope Innocent VII died in 1406, the newly elected Roman Pope, Gregory XII, started negotiations with Benedict, suggesting that they both resign so a new Pope could be elected to reunite the Catholic Church; when these talks ended in stalemate in 1408, the French king, Charles VI, declared that France was neutral to both papal contenders. Charles helped to organise the Council of Pisa in 1409; this council was supposed to arrange for both Gregory and Benedict to resign, so that a new universally recognised Pope could be elected. To oppose this, Benedict convoked the Council of Perpignan but with little success. Since both Benedict and Gregory refused to abdicate, the only thing in Pisa, achieved was that a third candidate to the Holy See was put forward: Peter Philarghi, who assumed the name Alexander V.
A group of Augustinian clergy, driven from the University of Paris by the Schism and from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge by the Anglo-Scottish Wars, formed a society of higher learning in St Andrews, Scotland in 1410. The Bishop of St Andrews, Henry Wardlaw successfully petitioned Benedict to grant the school university status by issuing a series of papal bulls, which followed on 28 August 1413. Having lost the support of France and driven out from Avignon, Benedict by had taken refuge in Perpignan, on the Catalan border of the Crown of Aragon, but Scotland was among the handful of supporters that remained loyal. Nowadays, the University of St Andrews's coat of arms/emblem still incorporates that of Benedict. In part to bolster faltering support for his papacy, Benedict initiated the year-long Disputation of Tortosa in 1413, which became the most prominent Christian–Jewish disputation of the Middle Ages. Two years Benedict issued the Papal bull Etsi doctoribus gentium, one of the most complete collections of anti-Jewish laws.
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. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
