1.
Avignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon rather than in Rome. The situation arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown, Clement declined to move to Rome, remaining in France, and in 1309, he moved his court to the papal enclave at Avignon, where it remained for the next 67 years. The absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, a total of seven popes reigned at Avignon, all were French, and they increasingly fell under the influence of the French Crown. Finally, on September 13,1376, Gregory XI abandoned Avignon and moved his court to Rome, officially ending the Avignon Papacy. Despite this return, following Gregorys death on March 27,1378 and this started a second line of Avignon popes, now regarded as illegitimate and known as antipopes. The second and final Avignon antipope, Benedict XIII, lost most of his support in 1398, including that of France, following five years of siege by the French, he fled to Perpignan on March 11,1403.
The schism ended in 1417 at the Council of Constance, after two popes had reigned in opposition to the Papacy in Rome. Parties within the Roman Church were divided in their allegiance among the claimants to the office of pope. The Council of Constance finally resolved the controversy in 1417 when the election of Pope Martin V was accepted by all. Avignon and the enclave to the east remained part of the Papal States until the French Revolution. The Papacy in the Late Middle Ages played a major role in addition to its spiritual role. The conflict between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor was fundamentally a dispute over which of them was the leader of Christendom in secular matters. In the early 14th century, the papacy was well past the prime of its secular rule – its importance had peaked in the 12th and 13th centuries, one exception was Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was twice excommunicated by the Pope during a Crusade. Frederick II ignored this and was successful in the Holy Land.
This state of affairs culminated in the declaration of papal supremacy, Unam sanctam. In that papal bull, Pope Boniface VIII decreed that it is necessary to salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff. This was directed primarily to King Phillip IV of France who responded by saying, in 1303 AD, Pope Boniface VIII followed up with a bull that would excommunicate the king of France and put the interdict over France, and depose the entire clergy of France. Before this was finalized, Italian allies of the King of France broke into the papal residence, nicholas Boccasini was elected as his successor and took the name Pope Benedict XI
2.
Lyon
Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, the city is known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games.
Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul.
Two emperors were born in city, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
3.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France. The municipality of Bordeaux proper has a population of 243,626, together with its suburbs and satellite towns, Bordeaux is the centre of the Bordeaux Métropole. With 749,595 inhabitants and 1,178,335 in the area, it is the fifth largest in France, after Paris, Lyon and Lille. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department and its inhabitants are called Bordelais or Bordelaises. The term Bordelais may refer to the city and its surrounding region, Bordeaux is the worlds major wine industry capital. It is home to the main wine fair, Vinexpo. Bordeaux wine has been produced in the region since the 8th century, the historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble of the 18th century. After Paris, Bordeaux has the highest number of preserved buildings of any city in France. In historical times, around 300 BC it was the settlement of a Celtic tribe, the Bituriges Vivisci, the name Bourde is still the name of a river south of the city.
In 107 BC, the Battle of Burdigala was fought by the Romans who were defending the Allobroges, a Gallic tribe allied to Rome, the Romans were defeated and their commander, the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus, was killed in the action. The city fell under Roman rule around 60 BC, its importance lying in the commerce of tin, it became capital of Roman Aquitaine, flourishing especially during the Severan dynasty. In 276 it was sacked by the Vandals, further ravage was brought by the same Vandals in 409, the Visigoths in 414 and the Franks in 498, beginning a period of obscurity for the city. In the late 6th century, the city re-emerged as the seat of a county and an archdiocese within the Merovingian kingdom of the Franks, the city started to play a regional role as a major urban center on the fringes of the newly founded Frankish Duchy of Vasconia. Around 585, a certain Gallactorius is cited as count of Bordeaux, the city was plundered by the troops of Abd er Rahman in 732 after storming the fortified city and overwhelming the Aquitanian garrison.
After Duke Eudess defeat, the Aquitanian duke could still save part of its troops, the following year, the Frankish commander descended again over Aquitaine, but clashed in battle with the Aquitanians and left to take on hostile Burgundian authorities and magnates. In 745, Aquitaine faced yet another expedition by Charles sons Pepin and Carloman against Hunald, Hunald was defeated, and his son Waifer replaced him, who in turn confirmed Bordeaux as the capital city. During the last stage of the war against Aquitaine, it was one of Waifers last important strongholds to fall to King Pepin the Shorts troops. Next to Bordeaux, Charlemagne built the fortress of Fronsac on a hill across the border with the Basques, in 778, Seguin was appointed count of Bordeaux, probably undermining the power of the Duke Lupo, and possibly leading to the Battle of Roncevaux Pass that very year
4.
Papal conclave
A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a new Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope. The pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the successor of Saint Peter. The conclave has been the procedure for choosing the pope for almost a thousand years, conclaves are now held in the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. Since the Apostolic Age, the Bishop of Rome, like other bishops, was chosen by the consensus of the clergy, the body of electors was more precisely defined when, in 1059, the College of Cardinals was designated the sole body of electors. Since then, other details of the process have developed, in 1970, Pope Paul VI limited the electors to cardinals under 80 years of age. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to elect the new pope, the procedures relating to the election of the pope have undergone almost two millennia of development. As the Christian communities became established they started to elect bishops, chosen by the clergy and laity of the community with the assistance of the bishops of neighbouring dioceses.
St. Cyprian says that Pope Cornelius was chosen Bishop of Rome by the decree of God and of His Church, by the testimony of all the clergy, by the college of aged bishops. As was true for bishops of dioceses, the clergy of the Diocese of Rome was the electoral body for the Bishop of Rome. Instead of casting votes, the bishop was selected by consensus or by acclamation. The candidate would be submitted to the people for their approval or disapproval. This lack of precision in the election procedures occasionally gave rise to rival popes or antipopes. The right of the laity to refuse the person elected was abolished by a Synod held in the Lateran in 769, the pope was subjected to oaths of loyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor, whose task it was to provide security and public peace in Rome. The cardinal bishops were to meet first and discuss the candidates before summoning the cardinal priests, through much of the Middle Ages and Renaissance there were a small number of cardinals, down to as few as seven under either Pope Alexander IV or Pope John XXI.
Difficult travel further reduced the number arriving at the conclave, with a small electorate an individual vote was significant, and was not easily shaken from familial or political lines. Conclaves could last months and even years, lengthy elections resumed and continued to be the norm until 1294, when a Benedictine hermit was elected Pope Celestine V. Celestine reinstated the strict conclave, but soon resigned the papacy. Beginning with Pope John XXIIIs attempts to broaden the representation of nations in the College of Cardinals, though this remains the theoretical limit, John Paul II exceeded this for short periods of time with knowledge of impending retirements. Originally, lay status did not bar election to the Bishop of Rome, Bishops of dioceses were sometimes elected while still catechumens, such as the case of St. Ambrose
5.
Council of Vienne
The Council of Vienne was the fifteenth Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church that met between 1311 and 1312 in Vienne. Its principal act was to withdraw support for the Knights Templar on the instigation of Philip IV of France. The Knights Templar were founded after the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of European pilgrims to Jerusalem, in the following centuries the order grew in power and wealth. In the early 14th century, Philip IV of France needed money urgently to continue his war with England and so he accused the Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques De Molay, of corruption and heresy. In 1307 Philip had many French Templars arrested, charged with heresies and this action released Philip from his obligation to repay loans from the Templars and allowed him to confiscate the Templars assets in France. Pope Clement V was under the control of Philip, one of the Popes predecessors, Boniface VIII, had claimed supremacy over Philip and had attempted to excommunicate him when Philip disagreed.
However Boniface was seized at Anagni by a party of horsemen under the command of Philips men, though he was released, the elderly Boniface died shortly after. Bonifaces successor, Pope Benedict XI, lasted less than a year before he too died, the Frenchman Pope Clement thereafter was strongly pressured to follow Philips directions. Pope Clement V caused the Council to meet by issuing the bulls Faciens misericordiam, the city chosen was Vienne, which is on the Rhône River in the south of modern France and at the time was outside the direct control of Philip IV. The neutral setting was intended to give the impression of independent action, the main item on the agenda of the Council not only cited the Order of Knights Templar itself, but its lands, which indicated that further seizures of property were proposed. However the agenda invited archbishops and prelates to bring proposals for improvements in the life of the Church, special notice were sent to the Templars directing them to send suitable defensores to the Council.
The Grand Master Jacques de Molay and others had commanded to appear in person. However, Molay was already imprisoned in Paris and trials of other Templars were already in progress and this delayed the opening of the Council, which finally convened on 16 October 1311. The attendees consisted of twenty cardinals, four patriarchs, about one hundred archbishops and bishops, plus several abbots and priors. The acts of the Council have disappeared, with the exceptions of a fragment in a manuscript in the National Library in Paris, the pope and the cardinals negotiated with the members of this commission respecting the matter. A commission of cardinals was appointed in order to investigate grievances, the discussion of Knights Templar was put in abeyance. The topic changed to the need for an expedition to the Holy Land, the delegates of the King of Aragon wanted the city of Granada to be attacked, to attack the Muslims on the flank, others wanted a crusade to the east only. In February 1312 envoys from the Philip IV negotiated with the Pope without consulting the Council, and Philip held an assembly in Lyon to put pressure on the Pope
6.
Avignon
Avignon is a commune in south-eastern France in the department of Vaucluse on the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 90,194 inhabitants of the city, about 12,000 live in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval ramparts. Between 1309 and 1377, during the Avignon Papacy, seven popes resided in Avignon. Papal control persisted until 1791 when, during the French Revolution, the town is now the capital of the Vaucluse department and one of the few French cities to have preserved its ramparts. The historic centre, which includes the Palais des Papes, the cathedral, the medieval monuments and the annual Festival dAvignon have helped to make the town a major centre for tourism. The commune has been awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns, the earliest forms of the name were reported by the Greeks, Аὐενιὼν = Auenion Άουεννίων = Aouennion. The Roman name Avennĭo Cavarum, i. e. Avignon of Cavares accurately shows that Avignon was one of the three cities of the Celtic-Ligurian tribe of Cavares, along with Cavaillon and Orange.
The current name dates to a pre-Indo-European or pre-Latin theme ab-ên with the suffix -i-ōn This theme would be a hydronym - i. e. a name linked to the river, but perhaps an oronym of terrain. The site of Avignon has been occupied since the Neolithic period as shown by excavations at Rocher des Doms and the Balance district. In 1960 and 1961 excavations in the part of the Rocher des Doms directed by Sylvain Gagnière uncovered a small anthropomorphic stele. Carved in Burdigalian sandstone, it has the shape of a tombstone with its face engraved with a stylized human figure with no mouth. On the bottom, shifted slightly to the right is an indentation with eight radiating lines forming a solar representation - a unique discovery for this type of stele. There were some Chalcolithic objects for adornment and an abundance of Hallstatt pottery shards which could have been native or imported, the name of the city dates back to around the 6th century BC. The first citation of Avignon was made by Artemidorus of Ephesus, although his book, The Journey, is lost it is known from the abstract by Marcian of Heraclea and The Ethnics, a dictionary of names of cities by Stephanus of Byzantium based on that book.
He said, The City of Massalia, near the Rhone and this name has two interpretations, city of violent wind or, more likely, lord of the river. Other sources trace its origin to the Gallic mignon and the Celtic definitive article, Avignon was a simple Greek Emporium founded by Phocaeans from Marseille around 539 BC. It was in the 4th century BC that the Massaliotes began to sign treaties of alliance with some cities in the Rhone valley including Avignon and Cavaillon, a century Avignon was part of the region of Massaliotes or country of Massalia. Fortified on its rock, the city became and long remained the capital of the Cavares, with the arrival of the Roman legions in 120 BC. the Cavares, allies with the Massaliotes, became Roman
7.
Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano
The Diocese of Albano is a suburbicarian see of the Roman Catholic Church in a diocese in Italy, comprising seven towns in the Province of Rome. Albano Laziale is situated some 15 kilometers from Rome, on the Appian Way, under current arrangements it has both a titular bishop and a diocesan bishop. This same Acilius Glabrio is included in a Christian group of the Flavian family as a molitor rerum novarum, the Liber Pontificalis under the name Silvester says, fecit basilicam Augustus Constantinus in civitate Albanensis, videlicet S. Joannis Baptistae. Under the basilica there was a crypt, or confessio, from which bodies were transferred to the cemetery nearby, the foundation of the episcopal see of Albano is very probably contemporaneous with the erection of the Constantinian basilica. However, the first bishop of the see of whom we have any knowledge is Dionysius and it is more than a century that we meet with another Bishop of Albano, Romanus. To these is to be added Ursinus, whose name is found on an inscription in the Catacomb of Domitilla, the consular date is either 345 or 395.
The importance of this early Christian community is apparent from its cemetery and it differs but little from the Christian cemeteries found in Rome. Its plan, clearly mapped out in the Epitome de locis ss, senatoris ubi et Perpetua jacet corpore et innumeri sancti et magna mirabilia ibidem geruntur. The saints here named are not known, saint Senator of Albano is inserted without further explanation in the martyrology for 26 September. From this he passed to the Roman martyrology, where he is commemorated on the same day, but the first account of the martyrs of Albano is found in the Almanac of Philocalus on 8 August, VI Idus aug. Carpophori, Victorini et Severiani, Albano, et Ostense septimo ballistaria, Largi, Memmiae, the cemetery has frescoes, painted at various times by unknown artists, which show the progress of Christian art from the fourth to the 9th century. Since 1966 functions are divided between the titular-bishop and the diocesan bishop, Johannes M. Die Mitglieder des Kardinalskollegiums von 1130-1181, Berlin 1912.
De Rossi, Le catacombe di Albano, in Bull, Le chiese dItalia della loro origine sino ai nostri giorni. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo, Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. pp. xxii–xxiv. Kardinäle, Klerus und Kirchen Roms, 1049–1130, Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom 1977 Kehr, Harris M. Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century, A Biographical Dictionary. Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Vienna 1984, Orazio Di alcune inscrizioni recentement trovate e ricomposte nel cimitero di Domitilla, in Nuovo bull. Memorie storiche dell antichissima citta di Alba-Longa e dell Albano moderno, hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V. Patavii, Messagero di S. Antonio. Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI, italia sacra sive De Episcopis Italiae, et insularum adjacentium
8.
Anagni
Anagni is an ancient town and comune in Frosinone Province, central Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome. It is a center in Ciociaria. Anagni still maintains the appearance of a medieval hill town, with small twisting streets. It is built inside Roman boundary walls, the built-up area initially included only the acropolis and partially defended by walls in opus quasi-quadratum. Under Roman domination, the map of the city changed, starting from the modification of the boundary walls. The archaic inhabited places spread out protected by the so-called Servian walls, made with stone blocks placed in alternate lines and dating back to the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Most of the walls have been subjected to rebuilding and restoration in the course of the first millennium AD. The municipality borders with Acuto, Fumone, Gorga, Paliano, the town is divided into eight districts, or contrade of Castello, Colle SantAngelo, Torre, Trivio and Valle SantAndrea. It counts the hamlets of Ara Stella, Cucugnano, Faito, Osteria della Fontana, San Filippo, San Bartolomeo, San Filippo, Tufano-Vallenova and Vignola-Monti.
Several objects made of bone and flint stone and two human molars and incisors belonging to fossil Homo erectus have been found in Fontana Ranuccio, only two words remain of their language, Samentum, a strip of sacrificial skin, and Bututti, a sort of funeral lament. Anagni was an important city and spiritual centre of the Hernici, of these writings, there is a sole survivor, which is the Liber Linteus. It is speculated that, at the foot of the hill on which the city stands, there was the so-called Maritime Circle, in 307 BC, the Hernici, with the exception of Aletrium and Ferentinum declared war on Rome. After suffering setbacks the Hernici offered unconditional surrender, in 306 BC the towns which had not joined the war remained independent, while “Anagnia and such others as had borne arms against the Romans were admitted to citizenship without the right to vote. They were prohibited from holding councils and from intermarrying, and were allowed no magistrates save those who had charge of religious rites.
”Anagni preserved her religious autonomy and strategic importance. In Imperial times, many emperors spent their summers in Anagni to escape the heat of Rome, the most notable ones being Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus and Caracalla. By the end of the Roman Empire, a deep political, Anagni has been a diocese, the seat of a bishop, since the 5th century. In the 9th century, the first Cathedral was built on the ruins of the dedicated to the Goddess Ceres. As a result, several events connected with the struggle between Papacy and Empire took place in the city, including some of the most important political events in two centuries
9.
Knights Hospitaller
It was headquartered variously in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Malta, until it became known by its current name. Some scholars, consider that the Amalfitan order and hospital were different from Gerard Thoms order and it regained strength during the early 19th century as it redirected itself toward religious and humanitarian causes. In 1834, the order, by this time known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, acquired new headquarters in Rome, in 800, Emperor Charlemagne enlarged Probus hospital and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroyed the hospital, in 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist and it was served by the Order of Saint Benedict. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem, under his successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence, the original hospice was expanded to an infirmary near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Initially the group cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem, but the order extended to providing pilgrims with an armed escort. Thus the Order of St. John imperceptibly became military without losing its charitable character. Raymond du Puy, who succeeded Gerard as Master of the Hospital in 1118, organised a militia from the orders members, in 1130, Pope Innocent II gave the order its coat of arms, a silver cross in a field of red. The Hospitallers and the Knights Templar became the most formidable military orders in the Holy Land, frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged his protection to the Knights of St. John in a charter of privileges granted in 1185. The statutes of Roger de Moulins deal only with the service of the sick, the order numbered three distinct classes of membership, the military brothers, the brothers infirmarians, and the brothers chaplains, to whom was entrusted the divine service. In 1248 Pope Innocent IV approved a military dress for the Hospitallers to be worn during battle.
Instead of a closed cape over their armour, they wore a red surcoat with a cross emblazoned on it. Many of the more substantial Christian fortifications in the Holy Land were built by the Templars, at the height of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers held seven great forts and 140 other estates in the area. The two largest of these, their bases of power in the Kingdom and in the Principality of Antioch, were the Krak des Chevaliers, the property of the Order was divided into priories, subdivided into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies. As early as the late 12th century the order had begun to achieve recognition in the Kingdom of England, as a result, buildings such as St Johns Jerusalem and the Knights Gate, Quenington in England were built on land donated to the order by local nobility. An Irish house was established at Kilmainham, near Dublin, after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights were confined to the County of Tripoli and, when Acre was captured in 1291, the order sought refuge in the Kingdom of Cyprus.
His successor, Foulques de Villaret, executed the plan, and on 15 August 1310, after four years of campaigning
10.
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, spelled Il-khanate, was established as a khanate that formed the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire, ruled by the Mongol House of Hulagu. It was founded in the 13th century and was based primarily in Iran as well as neighboring territories, such as present-day Azerbaijan and the central and eastern parts of present-day Turkey. The Ilkhanate was originally based on the campaigns of Genghis Khan in the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219–24 and was founded by Hulagu Khan, with the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259 it became a functionally separate khanate. At its greatest extent, the state expanded into territories that comprise most of Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, western Afghanistan. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, would convert to Islam, according to the historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Kublai Khan granted Hulagu the title of Ilkhan after his defeat of Ariq Böke. The term il-Khan means subordinate khan and refers to their initial deference to Möngke Khan, the title Ilkhan, borne by the descendants of Hulagu and other Borjigin princes in Persia, does not materialize in the sources until after 1260.
When Muhammad II of Khwarezm executed a contingent of merchants dispatched by the Mongols, the Mongols overran the empire, occupying the major cities and population centers between 1219 and 1221. Persian Iraq was ravaged by the Mongol detachment under Jebe and Subedei, Transoxiana came under Mongol control after the invasion. The undivided area west of the Transoxiana was the inheritance of Genghis Khans Borjigin family, the families of the latters four sons appointed their officials under the Great Khans governors, Chin-Temür, and Korguz, in that region. Muhammads son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu returned to Iran in c.1224 after his exile in India, the rival Turkic states, which were all that remained of his fathers empire, quickly declared their allegiance to Jalal. He repulsed the first Mongol attempt to take Central Persia, Jalal ad-Din was overwhelmed and crushed by Chormaqans army sent by the Great Khan Ögedei in 1231. During the Mongol expedition and the southern Persian dynasties in Fars and Kerman voluntarily submitted to the Mongols, to the west and the rest of Persia was secured by Chormaqan.
The Mongols invaded Armenia and Georgia in 1234 or 1236, completing the conquest of the Kingdom of Georgia in 1238 and they began to attack the western parts of Greater Armenia, which was under the Seljuks, the following year. In 1236 Ögedei was commanded to raise up Khorassan and proceeded to populate Herat, the Mongol military governors mostly made camp in the Mughan plain in what is now Azerbaijan. Realizing the danger posed by the Mongols, the rulers of Mosul, Chormaqan divided the Transcaucasia region into three districts based on the Mongol military hierarchy. In Georgia, the population was divided into eight tumens. By 1237 the Mongol Empire had subjugated most of Persia, Georgia, as well as all of Afghanistan and Kashmir. After the battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, the Mongols under Baiju occupied Anatolia, while the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and the Empire of Trebizond became vassals of the Mongols
11.
Giovanni Villani
Giovanni Villani was an Italian banker, official and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica on the history of Florence. He was a statesman of Florence but gained an unsavory reputation. His interest in and elaboration of details, statistical information. His Cronica is viewed as the first introduction of statistics as an element in history. Villani was inspired to write his Cronica after attending the celebration in Rome in 1300. He outlined the events in his Cronica year for year, following a linear narrative format. He provided intricate details on important historical events of the city of Florence and the wider region of Tuscany, such as construction projects, fires, famines. While continuing work on the Cronica and detailing the loss of life during the Black Death in 1348. His work on the Cronica was continued by his brother and nephew, Villanis work has received both praise and criticism from modern historians. The criticism is aimed at his emphasis on supernatural guidance of events, his organizational style.
Giovanni Villani was born into the Florentine merchant middle class and he was the son of Villano di Stoldi di Bellincione, who came from an old and well-respected arti maggiori family of merchants. Villani was a member of the Arte di Calimala guild in Florence since 1300, during that year he visited Rome during the jubilee celebration. Traveling abroad as a factor for the company, Villani was paid a salary in addition to his shareholding profits. Villani and his brother Matteo transferred most of their activities to the Buonaccorsi firm by 1322. Giovanni Villani was a co-director of Buonaccorsi in 1324, the Buonaccorsi handled banking and commodity trade activities, spreading their influence throughout Italy, Flanders and several places in the Mediterranean. Villani returned to Florence in 1307 where he married and settled down for a life of city politics and he became one of the priors of Florence in 1316 and 1317. At the same time, he participated in the crafty diplomatic tactics that resulted in peace with Pisa, as head of the mint beginning in 1316, he collected its earlier records and created a register of all the coins struck in Florence.
In 1321, he was chosen prior, and in 1324 was deputed to inspect the rebuilding of the city walls
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). 
