1.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
2.
Place des Victoires
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The Place des Victoires is a circular place in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six streets, Rue de la Feuillade, Rue Vide Gousset, Rue dAboukir, Rue Étienne Marcel, Rue Croix des Petits Champs, and Rue Catinat. At the center of the Place des Victoires is a monument in honor of King Louis XIV. A marshal of France, François de la Feuillade, vicomte dAubusson, on his own speculative initiative, mansarts design, of 1685, articulated the squares unified façades according to a formula utilised in some Parisian hôtels particuliers. However, because the work was incomplete at the time of the unveiling of the monument. By 1692, the Place des Victoires was pierced by six streets, the sculptor was Martin Desjardins, part of the team that was working cooperatively at the Château of Versailles and its gardens. The grandiose memorial that had begun to embarrass Louis XIV himself would eventually be destroyed in 1792, in 1793, the Place was renamed Place des Victoires-Nationaux, and a wooden pyramid was erected on the site of the destroyed statue. In 1810, under the rule of Napoléon I, a statue of the General Louis Desaix replaced the pyramid. However, following the abdication of Napoléon, the statue was taken down, in 1828, the restored Bourbon king, Charles X, commissioned the current equestrian statue, which was sculpted by François Joseph Bosio. Louis XIV, dressed as a Roman emperor, sits on a horse rearing on its hind legs. An iron fence encircles the twelve-meter-high statue, the area surrounding the Place des Victoires is now an upmarket neighborhood. Fashion designers Kenzo and Cacharel have boutiques there, as have the ready-to-wear chains Maje, the German Forum for Art History is on the Place and the French Institut national dhistoire de lart is in nearby Galerie Colbert. The Place des Victoires is, It is served by lines 3,4,7, media related to Place des Victoires at Wikimedia Commons
3.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
4.
Franco-Dutch War
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The war ended with the Treaty of Nijmegen, by which Spain ceded the Franche-Comté and some cities in Flanders and Hainaut to France, while France returned some of its conquests to the Dutch. The year 1672, when an invasion of English, French. In the 1560s, the future Dutch Republicans formed an alliance with France, the alliance lasted for a century. Louis XIV of France considered the Dutch to be trading rivals, seditious republicans and Protestant heretics – and this was until the Dutch signed the Triple Alliance with England and Sweden in support of Spain, and countered French expansion in the Spanish Netherlands in the War of Devolution. To Louis, it seemed clear that France had to deal with the Republic before making another move on the Spanish Netherlands, Louis prepared for war against the Republic. His first and primary objective was to gain the support of England, England felt threatened by the Dutch naval power, it had therefore fought the first and second of the Anglo-Dutch Wars. Thus, the English did not need encouragement to leave the Triple Alliance. Sweden agreed to support the invasion of the Republic, by threatening Brandenburg-Prussia if that state should intervene. Measures taken by Louvois, Louis Secretary of War, allowed France to mobilise about 180,000 men, of these about 120,000 would be used directly against the Republic. The bulk of the French army was divided into two bodies, the body led by field marshal Turenne was stationed in Charleroi, then France. The body led by Condé waited in Sedan, both would march through the pro-France Prince-Bishopric of Liège, join near Maastricht and gain the Rhine. On the Rhine, a body would be waiting. It had been created from the armies of Münster and Cologne and was placed under the command of Luxembourg. The combined armies would attack the duchy of Cleves and the region of Nijmegen. A fourth body was to be an English expeditionary force, the alliances clashed when England declared war on the Republic, on 7 April 1672. Louis arrived in Charleroi on 5 May 1672, Turennes 50,000 men set off on 11 May. Arrived at Visé, Louis decided not to lay siege to Maastricht but only to occupy the forts of Tongeren, Maaseik. Moving along the Rhine, Rheinberg, Wesel, Burick and Orsoy were taken, Turenne then took Nijmegen, with 4,000 infantry and 400 cavalry, and from there Fort Crèvecœur near s-Hertogenbosch, which fell after only two days
5.
County of Flanders
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The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards the Counts of Flanders were one of the twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres formed one of the most affluent regions in Europe, up to 1477, the area under French suzerainty was located west of the Scheldt River and was called Royal Flanders. Aside from this the Counts of Flanders from the 11th century on also held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, an area called Imperial Flanders. Part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1384, the county was removed from French to Imperial control after the Peace of Madrid in 1526. In 1795 the remaining territory within the Austrian Netherlands was incorporated by the French First Republic, the former County of Flanders, except for French Flanders, is the only part of the medieval French kingdom that is not part of modern-day France. Flanders and Flemish are likely derived from the Frisian *flāndra and *flāmisk, the Flemish people are first mentioned in the biography of Saint Eligius, the Vita sancti Eligii. This work was written before 684, but only known since 725 and this work mentions the Flanderenses, who lived in Flandris. The geography of the historic County of Flanders only partially overlaps with present-day region of Flanders in Belgium, though there it extends beyond West Flanders. Some of the county is now part of France and the Netherlands. The arms of the County of Flanders were allegedly created by Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191, as a result, the arms of the county live on as arms of the Flemish Community. It is said that Philip of Alsace brought the flag with him from the Holy Land, where in 1177 he supposedly conquered it from a Saracen knight. The simple fact that the lion appeared on his personal seal since 1163, in reality Philip was following a West-European trend. In the same period also appeared in the arms of Brabant, Luxembourg, Holland, Limburg. It is curious that the lion as a symbol was mostly used in border territories. It was in all likelihood a way of showing independence from the emperor, in Europe the lion had been a well-known figure since Roman times, through works such as the fables of Aesop. The future county of Flanders had been inhabited since prehistory, during the Iron Age the Kemmelberg formed an important Celtic settlement. During the times of Julius Caesar, the inhabitants were part of the Belgae, for Flanders in specific these were the Menapii, the Morini, the Nervii and the Atrebates
6.
County of Hainaut
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The County of Hainaut, sometimes given the archaic spellings Hainault and Heynowes, was a historical lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire, with its capital at Mons. The name comes from the river Haine, besides Mons, it included the cities of Cambrai and Charleroi. It consisted of what is now the Belgian province of Hainaut, originally a gau of Lotharingia, Hainaut was briefly a part of West Francia before becoming definitively attached to Germany. The county was divided in 958 and only emerged in its more or less final form in 1071, during the High Middle Ages, Hainaut became culturally and linguistically French. In 1432, Hainaut was acquired by the House of Valois-Burgundy and in 1477 passed to the Habsburgs with the rest of the Burgundian Netherlands and it was ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1555 to 1714. In 1659 and 1678 southern Hainaut was acquired by France, and in 1797 the rest of the county was ceded to France by the Emperor Francis II, who was also count of Hainaut. In Roman imperial times, Hainaut was, at least for the most part, as the empire lost control, this entire region came under the lordship of the Salian Franks, within their Neustrian territory. By the time of Charlemagne, the Frankish empire had declared a new Holy Roman Empire. After the death of the last Carolingian king in East Francia, Louis the Child in 911, following Gilberts death in 939, his successors from the House of Reginar failed to retain the ducal title, but continued to rule over the Hainaut region. After Count Reginar III Longneck had unsuccessfully rebelled against Duke Bruno the Great, however, in 998 the Reginars regained control over the County of Mons. When the last Count, Herman, died without issue in 1051, his widow Richilde married Baldwin VI, on the death of his father in 1067, Baldwin VI became the ruler of both Hainaut and Mons. He was succeeded by his son Arnulf III, who was killed at the Battle of Cassel in 1071 in a dispute with his uncle. The victorious Robert acquired Flanders, but his sister-in-law Richilde retained the adjacent Lower Lorraine territories in the Holy Roman Empire as her dowry. Henry IV ordered the Prince-Bishop of Liège to purchase the fiefs and then return them as a county to the countess Richilde. The Counts of Hainaut had several connections with the counts of Flanders and Holland. Throughout its history, the county of Hainaut formed a union with other states. The last independent countess died early on 8 October 1436 in Teylingen Castle, near The Hague, when Charles the Bold of Burgundy was killed at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the male line of the Burgundian dukes became extinct. In the same year, Charles daughter Mary of Burgundy married Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg, King Louis XI of France hoped to take advantage of the death of his cousin, Charles, and sent an army to invade the Netherlands
7.
Nijmegen
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Nijmegen, historically anglicized as Nimeguen, is a municipality and a city in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is situated on the Waal river, close to the German border, Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands, the first to be recognized as such in Roman times, and in 2005 celebrated 2,000 years of existence. The municipality is part of the Stadsregio Arnhem-Nijmegen, an area with 736,107 inhabitants. By 69, when the Batavians, the inhabitants of the Rhine and Maas delta, revolted. This village was destroyed in the revolt, but when it had ended the Romans built another, bigger camp where the Legio X Gemina was stationed, soon after, another village formed around this camp. In 98, Nijmegen was the first of two settlements in what is now the Kingdom of the Netherlands to receive Roman city rights. In 103, the X Gemina was re-stationed to Vindobona, modern day Vienna, in 104 Emperor Trajan renamed the town, which now became known as Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum, Noviomagus for short. Beginning in the half of the 4th century, Roman power decreased. It also appeared around this time on the Peutinger Map and it has been contended that in the 8th century Emperor Charlemagne maintained his palatium in Nijmegen on at least four occasions. During his brief deposition of 830, the emperor Louis the Pious was sent to Nijmegen by his son Lothar I, thanks to the Waal river, trade flourished. The powerful Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor was born at Nijmegen in 1165, in 1230 his son Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor granted Nijmegen city rights. In 1247, the city was ceded to the count of Guelders as collateral for a loan, the loan was never repaid, and Nijmegen has been a part of Gelderland ever since. This did not hamper trade, Nijmegen even became part of the Hanseatic League in 1364, the arts also flourished in this period. Famous medieval painters like the Limbourg brothers were born and educated in Nijmegen, during the Dutch Revolt, trade came to a halt and even though Nijmegen became a part of the Republic of United Provinces in 1585, it remained a border town and had to endure multiple sieges. In 1678 Nijmegen was host to the negotiations between the European powers that aimed to put an end to the constant warfare that had ravaged the continent for years, the result was the Treaty of Nijmegen that, unfortunately, failed to provide for a lasting peace. In the second half of the 19th century, the fortifications around the city became a major problem, there were too many inhabitants inside the walls, but the fortifications could not be demolished because Nijmegen was deemed as being of vital importance to the defence of the Netherlands. When events in the Franco-Prussian war proved that old-fashioned fortifications were no more of use, this policy was changed, the old castle had already been demolished in 1797, so that its bricks could be sold. Through the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the Waal was bridged in 1878 by a rail bridge and in 1936 by a car bridge, which was claimed to be Europes biggest bridge at the time
8.
Dutch Republic
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It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces, Seven Provinces, Federated Dutch Provinces, most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. This was the start of the Eighty Years War, in 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II. In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them, but after an attempt to take Antwerp in 1583. After the assassination of William of Orange, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty, however, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England, and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy, the Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the Anglo-French war, the territory was divided into groups, the Patriots, who were pro-French and pro-American and the Orangists. The Republic of the United Provinces faced a series of revolutions in 1783–1787. During this period, republican forces occupied several major Dutch cities, initially on the defence, the Orangist forces received aid from Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands in 1787. After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland, the Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names United Provinces of the Netherlands, on 16 March 1815, the son of stadtholder William V crowned himself King William I of the Netherlands. Between 1815 and 1890 the King of the Netherlands was also in a union the Grand Duke of the sovereign Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After Belgium gained its independence in 1830, the state became known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world, the free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company, while Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the worlds first stock exchange, that of the Dutch East-India Company, went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a city so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles
9.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
10.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
11.
Habsburg Spain
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Habsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was ruled by kings from the House of Habsburg. The Habsburg rulers reached the zenith of their influence and power and this period of Spanish history has also been referred to as the Age of Expansion. The Habsburg years were also a Spanish Golden Age of cultural efflorescence, in some cases, these individual kingdoms themselves were confederations, most notably, the Crown of Aragon. Isabella and Ferdinand were bestowed the title of Most Catholic Monarchs by Pope Alexander VI in 1496, the Habsburg period is formative of the notion of Spain in the sense that was institutionalized in the 18th century. Her husband Philip I was the Habsburg son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, shortly thereafter Joanna began to lapse into insanity, though how mentally ill she actually was the topic of some debate. In 1506, Philip I was declared jure uxoris king, but he died later that year under mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned by his father-in-law, Ferdinand II. Since their oldest son Charles was only six, the Cortes reluctantly allowed Joannas father Ferdinand II to rule the country as the regent of Joanna, Spain was now in personal union under Ferdinand II of Aragon. He also attempted to enlarge Spains sphere of influence in Italy, as ruler of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and the Republic of Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. The war was less of a success than that against Venice, Ferdinand would die later that year. Ferdinands death led to the ascension of young Charles to the throne as Charles I of Castile and Aragon and his Spanish inheritance included all the Spanish possessions in the New World and around the Mediterranean. Upon the death of his Habsburg father in 1506, Charles had inherited the Netherlands and Franche-Comté, in 1519, with the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I, Charles inherited the Habsburg territories in Germany, and was duly elected as Holy Roman Emperor that year. At that point, Emperor and King Charles was the most powerful man in Christendom, the accumulation of so much power by one man and one dynasty greatly concerned Francis I of France, who found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories. In 1521 Francis invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy and Navarre, the war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeats at Biccoca, Pavia, and Landriano before Francis relented and abandoned Milan to Spain once more. Charless victory at the Battle of Pavia surprised many Italians and Germans, Pope Clement VII switched sides and now joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, in the War of the League of Cognac. Henry VIII of England, who bore a grudge against France than he held against the Emperor for standing in the way of his divorce. Although the Spanish army was defeated at the Battle of Ceresole, in Savoy Henry fared better. The Austrians, led by Charless younger brother Ferdinand, continued to fight the Ottomans in the east, with France defeated, Charles went to take care of an older problem, the Schmalkaldic League. The Protestant Reformation had begun in Germany in 1517, the German Peasants War broke out in Germany in 1524 and ravaged the country until it was brutally put down in 1526, Charles, even as far away from Germany as he was, was committed to keeping order
12.
Brandenburg-Prussia
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Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Another consequence of the intermarriage was the incorporation of the lower Rhenish principalities of Cleves, Mark, the Thirty Years War was especially devastating. The Elector changed sides three times, and as a result Protestant and Catholic armies swept the land back and forth, killing, burning, seizing men, upwards of half the population was killed or dislocated. Berlin and the major cities were in ruins, and recovery took decades. By the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War in 1648, Brandenburg gained Minden and Halberstadt, also the succession in Farther Pomerania and the Duchy of Magdeburg. With the Treaty of Bromberg, concluded during the Second Northern War, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye expanded Brandenburgian Pomerania to the lower Oder. The second half of the 17th century laid the basis for Prussia to become one of the players in European politics later on. Brandenburg-Prussia also established a navy and German colonies in the Brandenburger Gold Coast, Frederick William also started to centralize Brandenburg-Prussias administration and reduce the influence of the estates. In 1701, Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, succeeded in elevating his status to King in Prussia, from 1701 onward, the Hohenzollern domains were referred to as the Kingdom of Prussia, or simply Prussia. Legally, the union between Brandenburg and Prussia continued until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. However, by time the emperors overlordship over the empire had become a legal fiction. Hence, after 1701, Brandenburg was de facto treated as part of the Prussian kingdom, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been the seat of the main branch of the Hohenzollerns, who were prince-electors in the Holy Roman Empire, since 1415. In 1525, by the Treaty of Krakow, the Duchy of Prussia was created through partial secularization of the State of the Teutonic Order. It was a vassal of the Kingdom of Poland and was governed by Duke Albert of Prussia, on behalf of her mother Elisabeth of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollern, Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg became Alberts second wife in 1550, and bore him his successor Albert Frederick. In 1563, the Brandenburgian branch of the Hohenzollern was granted the right of succession by the Polish crown, Albert Frederick became duke of Prussia after Alberts death in 1568. His mother died in the year, and thereafter he showed signs of mental disorder. Because of the illness, Prussia was governed by Alberts nephew George Frederick of Hohenzollern-Ansbach-Jägersdorf. In 1573, Albert Frederick married Marie Eleonore of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, with whom he had several daughters, in 1594, Albert Fredericks then 14-year-old daughter Anna married the son of Joachim Frederick of Hohenzollern-Brandenburg, John Sigismund
13.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
14.
Swedish Empire
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The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Swedens territorial control of much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries, a time when Sweden was one of the great European powers. The beginning of the Empire is usually taken as the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, who ascended the throne in 1611, in Swedish history, the period is referred to as stormaktstiden, literally meaning the Great Power era. The interests of the high nobility contrasted with the uniformity policy, in territories acquired during the periods of de facto noble rule, serfdom was not abolished, and there was also a trend to set up respective estates in Sweden proper. The Great Reduction of 1680 put an end to efforts of the nobility. However, in the course of this war as well as in the subsequent Scanian War, Sweden was able to maintain her empire only with support of her closest ally. Charles XI of Sweden consolidated the empire and ensured a period of peace, before Russia, Saxony and Denmark started an attack on his successor. Sweden emerged as a great European power under Axel Oxenstierna and King Gustavus Adolphus, during the Thirty Years War, Sweden managed to conquer approximately half of the member states of the Holy Roman Empire. After France had intervened on the side as Sweden, the fortunes would shift again. As the war continued, it turned more and more grim, although exact population estimates do not exist, historians estimate that as many as one-third of the people in the Holy Roman Empire may have died as a result of the war. At the same time, Sweden joined the other important northern European nations in founding overseas colonies, New Sweden was founded in the valley of the Delaware River in 1638, and Sweden later laid claim to a number of Caribbean islands. A string of Swedish forts and trading posts was constructed along the coast of West Africa as well, at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 granted Sweden territories as war reparations. Sweden demanded Silesia, Pomerania pay a sum of 200,000 Riksdaler out of the lands they would receive, or 2) surrender a fourth of the property itself. Against this, the over-taxed lower estates protested, and the Diet had to be suspended, the king intervened, not to quell the commons, as the senate insisted, but to compel the nobility to give way. He proposed a committee to investigate the matter before the meeting of the next Riksdag. Charles X Gustav had done his best to recover from the extravagance of Christina. However, his own desire for military glory may have caused problems for his country, in three days, he persuaded the Swedish estates of the potential of his attack on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, when he left Stockholm for Warsaw on July 10,1654, the Polish-Swedish War expanded into a general European war. He achieved passage over the Belts and emerged triumphant, only to die of sheer exhaustion, immediately after his death, a regency was appointed to govern Sweden during the minority of his only son and successor, Charles XI of Sweden, who was four years old
15.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
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Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
17.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
18.
Treaty
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A treaty is an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, pact, or exchange of letters, regardless of terminology, all of these forms of agreements are, under international law, equally considered treaties and the rules are the same. A treaty is an official, express written agreement that states use to bind themselves. Since the late 19th century, most treaties have followed a consistent format. A treaty typically begins with a preamble describing the parties and their joint objectives in executing the treaty. Modern preambles are sometimes structured as a very long sentence formatted into multiple paragraphs for readability. The end of the preamble and the start of the agreement is often signaled by the words have agreed as follows. After the preamble comes numbered articles, which contain the substance of the actual agreement. Each article heading usually encompasses a paragraph, a long treaty may further group articles under chapter headings. The date is written in its most formal, longest possible form. For example, the Charter of the United Nations was DONE at the city of San Francisco the twenty-sixth day of June, one nine hundred. If the treaty is executed in multiple copies in different languages, that fact is always noted, the signatures of the parties representatives follow at the very end. Bilateral treaties are concluded between two states or entities, each of these treaties has seventeen parties. These however are still bilateral, not multilateral, treaties, the parties are divided into two groups, the Swiss and the EU and its member states. The treaty establishes rights and obligations between the Swiss and the EU and the member states severally—it does not establish any rights and obligations amongst the EU, a multilateral treaty is concluded among several countries. The agreement establishes rights and obligations between each party and every other party, Treaties of mutual guarantee are international compacts, e. g. the Treaty of Locarno which guarantees each signatory against attack from another. Reservations are essentially caveats to an acceptance of a treaty. Reservations are unilateral statements purporting to exclude or to modify the legal obligation and these must be included at the time of signing or ratification, i. e. a party cannot add a reservation after it has already joined a treaty
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Third Anglo-Dutch War
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The Third Anglo-Dutch War or the Third English War was a military conflict between the Kingdom of England and the Dutch Republic, that lasted between April 1672 and early 1674. It was part of the larger Franco-Dutch War, in 1670, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France concluded the secret Treaty of Dover, intending to subjugate the Dutch state. An attempt to make the province of Holland an English protectorate rump state likewise failed, the Parliament of England, fearful that the alliance with France was part of a plot to make England Roman Catholic, forced the king to abandon the costly and fruitless war. He was promised that after a French victory, he would be rewarded strategic coastal key positions to take as Crown possession, also, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I had promised not to interfere with the French plans, on condition that the Spanish Netherlands would not be attacked. Ultimately Münster and Cologne decided to join the invasion with their armies, but he started his effort to recruit the young prince for his undertaking by advising William to become Roman Catholic, as he believed Catholicism was best fitted to absolutist rulers. Williams horrified reaction to this proposal convinced Charles that it was best not to reveal the Dover Treaty to him, Charles was hampered in his intrigue by needing Parliament to vote for sufficient funds to bring out a strong fleet. Charles was receiving considerable subsidies from Louis, about £225,000 a year, as the treaty with France was secret, he could not direct these subsidies to the fleet anyway. To provide for short-term money, Charles therefore on 2 January 1672 repudiated the Crown debts in the Great Stop of the Exchequer, the Parliament was decidedly unenthusiastic about a new war. The king tried to incite public opinion in England against the Dutch by creating a serious incident, Lord Arlington put it this way, Our business is to break with them, yet to lay the breach at their door. Bennet sent the royal yacht Merlin, with Temples wife Dorothy Osborne aboard, the Dutch ships duly struck their flag in salute first, as was mandatory under treaty, but refused to salute firing white smoke, because they were doubtful the Merlin counted as a real warship. Charles ordered the intriguer George Downing, the new ambassador in The Hague, to demand that the admirals responsible be severely punished, which the States General of the Netherlands refused. In early 1672, Downing, who already had made himself hated by the Dutch population as ambassador in the previous war, had to flee The Hague in fear of his life. Temple – somewhat wryly as he was sympathetic to the Dutch himself – remarked to Charles that now both he and his wife had had the honour to have become instruments of doom for the Dutch. On 25 February 1672, William III, despite his youth, was appointed Captain-General of the confederate Dutch army, factional strife and uncertainty about the French strategy prevented establishing a strong field army, most of the 83,000 troops were assigned to the fortresses. In 1667, the Dutch navy, after having destroyed the core of the English navy at Chatham, had been the strongest in the world. The Dutch nevertheless successfully prevented a blockade of their coast and any landing of enemy troops and their success was the result of the much improved training standards. In the major battles of 1666, the Dutch navy still had to get used to its new, much heavier, warships. In addition, personal conflict between Lieutenant-Admirals Michiel de Ruyter and Cornelis Tromp had damaged the unity of the fleet, De Ruyter used the summer of 1671 to execute many training manoeuvres employing the line-of-battle, perfecting the fire drill, and installing a new sense of coherence and discipline
20.
Scanian War
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The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish provinces along the border with Sweden, the war was prompted by Swedish involvement in the Franco-Dutch War. Sweden had allied with France against several European countries, the United Provinces, under attack by France, sought support from Denmark–Norway. After some hesitation, King Christian V started the invasion of Skåneland in 1675, the Danish objective was to retrieve the Scanian lands that had been ceded to Sweden in the Treaty of Roskilde, after the Northern Wars. Although the Danish offensive was initially a success, Swedish counter-offensives led by the 19-year-old Charles XI of Sweden nullified much of the gain. At the end of the war, the Swedish navy had lost at sea, the Danish army had defeated in Scania by the Swedes. Peace was made on behalf of France with the treaties of Fontainebleau and Lund and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the 1660s and early 1670s, the Swedish Empire experienced a financial crisis. Also, Sweden maintained good relations to the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp south of Denmark, another defensive alliance formed in September 1672 between Denmark, Emperor Leopold I, the Electorate of Brandenburg, and the duchies of Brunswick-Celle, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Hesse-Cassel. This alliance maintained an army of 21,000 foot and 10,500 horse, and since May 1673, Brandenburg was then the second most powerful German state, and maintained its own standing army of 23,000 men. The Netherlands had been attacked by the French army in 1672, known as the rampjaar, in December 1674, Louis XIV of France called upon Sweden to invade Brandenburg. Wrangel advanced into the Uckermark, a region on the Brandenburg-Pomeranian frontier, Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg received the news in the Rhine valley, and turned northeast to confront Wrangel. As a result of defeat, Sweden appeared vulnerable, encouraging neighbouring countries that had suffered invasion by Sweden in the prior Swedish campaigns to join in the Scanian War. Count Peder Griffenfeld, a royal adviser, advised against it. But when the numerically superior Swedes lost the Battle of Fehrbellin on June 28,1675, Christian V saw his chance, and overcoming Griffenfelds opposition, attacked. The second largest Swedish garrison in North Germany, after Swedish Pomerania, was the twin Duchy of Bremen-Verden, for political reasons, and to prevent the Swedes from advertising and recruiting mercenaries, the Allies decided to conquer these two duchies. Denmark and Brandenburg-Prussia were joined by allies from the neighboring imperial principalities of Münster, the campaign began on 15 September 1675 with an Allied advance into the two Swedish duchies. They rapidly captured one Swedish fortress after another, by the end of the year only the Swedish headquarters town of Stade and Carlsburg were still in Swedish hands. In November the Allies sent their troops into winter quarters with the result that the conquest of the last remaining Swedish strongholds had to wait until the following year, Stade did not surrender until 13 August 1676
21.
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1679)
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The Treaty or Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 19 June or 29 June 1679 was a peace treaty between France and the Electorate of Brandenburg. It restored to Frances ally Sweden her dominions Bremen-Verden and Swedish Pomerania, Sweden ratified the treaty on 28 July 1679. The treaty is by some considered the worst political defeat of Elector Frederick William I and he was forced by France to give away the Swedish portion of what he considered his rightful Pomeranian inheritance, despite having conquered it in a four-year campaign. Sweden had allied with France in April 1672, at this time, Great Britain, the Electorate of Brandenburg, the Netherlands and Denmark were hostile towards Sweden. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor had allied with the Netherlands and Spain against France on 30 August 1673, subsequently, Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg joined the anti-French alliance. In support of Louis XIV of France, Charles XI of Sweden invaded Brandenburg in 1674, after the Treaties of Nijmegen had ended the Franco-Dutch War, France was able to support Sweden again, and invaded the Brandenburgian Duchy of Cleves on the lower Rhine. Brandenburg, short of troops in the area and deprived of allies by the Nijmegen treaties, had no choice than to settle for peace with France at the expense of her gains from Sweden, likewise, Denmark-Norway had to conclude the Treaty of Fontainebleau with Sweden in September 1679. Neither did Leopold I want Frederick William to become a new king of the Vandals in the Baltics, furthermore, Frederick William I directly offered Sweden some tons of gold for Swedish Pomerania, and military support against Denmark-Norway. Louis XIV however neither had an interest nor a military need to fulfill any Brandenburgian wish, to the contrary, he had a strong interest that Sweden would not lose any territory as a consequence of her alliance and support for France. With Brandenburgian Cleves occupied and Minden sieged, France also refused another offer of Frederick William to cede his Rhine provinces in return for Swedish Pomerania, the French payment to Brandenburg was fixed at 300,000 talers, to be paid within the following two years. France subsequently managed to have Brandenburg accept this sum also to settle 900,000 talers of French debts, the Electorate of Brandenburg further gained the former Swedish eastern bank of the Oder river except for Gollnow and Damm. Gollnow was pawned to Brandenburg for 50,000 talers, bailed out by Sweden in 1693, Swedish Pomerania was to be cleared of Brandenburgian occupation forces within three months. The treaty also contained a paragraph that forbade Dutch forces to garrison in the Duchy of Cleves, Stettin was restored to Sweden as the last Brandenburgian stronghold in December 1679. This alliance was in due to disappointment of the Hohenzollern Elector of Brandenburg with the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor. However, beginning in 1685, Brandenburg secretly started to form new, Brandenburg-Pomeranian conflict Peace of Westphalia Treaty of Stettin Swedish Pomerania Bremen-Verden Scanian War Ministère des Affaires étrangères, site linking the treaty as pdf
22.
Regions of France
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France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
23.
Southern Netherlands
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The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, was the part of the Low Countries largely controlled by Spain, later Austria, and occupied then annexed by France. The Southern Netherlands were part of the Holy Roman Empire until the area was annexed by Revolutionary France. As they were wealthy, the Netherlands in general were an important territory of the Habsburg crown which also ruled Spain. But unlike the other Habsburg dominions, they were led by a merchant class and it was the merchant economy which made them wealthy, and the Habsburg attempts at increasing taxation to finance their wars was a major factor in their defence of their privileges. This, together with resistance to penal laws enforced by the Habsburg monarchy that made heresy a capital crime, liège, Stavelot-Malmédy and Bouillon maintained their independence. The Habsburg Netherlands, passed to the Austrian Habsburgs after the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714, the Austrian Netherlands were ultimately lost to the French Revolutionary armies, and annexed to France in 1794. Following the war, Austrias loss of the territories was confirmed, the southeastern third of Luxembourg Province was made into the autonomous Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, because it was claimed by both the Netherlands and Prussia. In 1830 the predominantly Roman Catholic southern half became independent as the Kingdom of Belgium, in 1839 the final border between the kingdom of the Netherlands and Belgium was determined and the eastern part of Limburg returned to the Netherlands as the province of Limburg. The autonomy of Luxembourg was recognised in 1839, but an instrument to effect was not signed until 1867. The northwestern two-thirds of the original Luxembourg remains a province of Belgium, the Spanish Netherlands was a portion of the Low Countries controlled by Spain from 1556 to 1714, inherited from the Dukes of Burgundy. They often used the term Burgundy to refer to it, until 1794, when part of the Netherlands separated from Spanish rule and became the United Provinces in 1581 the remainder of the area became known as the Spanish Netherlands and remained under Spanish control. This region comprised modern Belgium, Luxembourg as well as part of northern France, in the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at Brussels, which was under the government of King Philip IIIs half-sister Archduchess Isabella and her husband, Archduke Albert of Austria. Among the artists who emerged from the court of the Archdukes, by the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 the French annexed Artois and Cambrai, and Dunkirk was ceded to the English. By the Treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle and Nijmegen, further territory up to the current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including Walloon Flanders, later, in the War of the Reunions and the Nine Years War, France annexed other parts of the region. However, the Austrians themselves generally had little interest in the region, the area had, in fact, been given to Austria largely at British and Dutch insistence, as these powers feared potential French domination of the region. However the agreement was unimplemented and revoked by the Third Treaty of Versailles, however, the Emperors stance was far from militant, and he called off hostilities after the so-called Kettle War, known by that name because its only casualty was a kettle. The people of the Austrian Netherlands rebelled against Austria in 1788 as a result of Joseph IIs centralizing policies, the different provinces established the United States of Belgium. In the course of the French Revolution, the region was overrun by French armies after they won the Battle of Sprimont in 1794
24.
Treaty of the Pyrenees
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The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed on 7 November 1659 to end the 1635-1659 war between France and Spain, a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, an island on the border between the two countries which has remained a French-Spanish condominium since the treaty. The kings Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain were represented by their ministers, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Luis de Haro. France entered the Thirty Years War after the Spanish Habsburg victories in the Dutch Revolt in the 1620s, by 1640, France began to interfere in Spanish politics, aiding the revolt in Catalonia, while Spain responded by aiding the Fronde revolt in France in 1648. Peace was settled by means of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in November 1659, however, the treaty stipulated only that all villages north of the Pyrenees should become part of France. The historic town of Llívia, once the capital of Cerdanya, was exempted from the treaty and became a Spanish exclave as part of the comarca of Baixa Cerdanya and this border was not properly settled until the Treaty of Bayonne was signed in 1856. On the western Pyrenees a definite borderline was drawn and decisions made as to the affiliation of bordering areas in the Basque region—Baztan, Aldude. Spain was forced to recognise and confirm all of the French gains at the Peace of Westphalia, the Portuguese revolt in 1640, led by the Duke of Braganza, was supported monetarily by Cardinal Richelieu of France. Though the Spanish army reconquered most of Catalonia, the French retained Catalan territory north of the Pyrenees, the treaty also arranged for a marriage between Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Spain, the daughter of Philip IV of Spain. Maria Theresa was forced to renounce her claim to the Spanish throne and this settlement was never paid, a factor that eventually led to the War of Devolution in 1668. At the Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants in June 1660, in addition, the English received Dunkirk, although they elected to sell it to France in 1662. The Treaty of the Pyrenees was the last major achievement by Cardinal Mazarin. In the Pyrenees, the treaty resulted in the establishment of customs and restriction of the free cross-border flow of people. In the context of the changes involved in the Treaty, France gained some territory. In the north, France gained French Flanders, language policy in France List of treaties Full Text of Treaty
25.
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668)
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The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle or Aachen ended the War of Devolution between France and Spain. It was signed on 2 May 1668 in Aachen, Spain acceded on 7 May 1669. The treaty was mediated and guaranteed by the Triple Alliance of England, France was forced to abandon its war against the Spanish Netherlands. Louis XIV returned three cities, Cambrai, Aire, and Saint-Omer to Spain, louis XIV also had to return the province of Franche-Comté. Louis XIV was however allowed to keep Armentières, Bergues, Charleroi, Courtrai, Douai, Furnes, Lille, Oudenarde, the treaty left to France all its conquests in Flanders in 1667. List of treaties Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Termination Of War And Treaties Of Peace, du Mont, Jean, Baron de Carlscroon. Corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens, also OCLC22014082 and OCLC6967152 Transcription of the treaty Herbermann, Charles, ed. Aachen
26.
Saint-Omer
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Saint-Omer is a commune in France. It is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department 68 km west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, the town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area. The canalised portion of the river Aa begins at Saint-Omer, reaching the North Sea at Gravelines in northern France, below its walls, the Aa connects with the Neufossé Canal, which ends at the River Leie. Saint-Omer first appeared in the writings during the 7th century under the name of Sithiu, Omer, bishop of Thérouanne, in the 7th century established the Abbey of Saint Bertin, from which that of Notre-Dame was an offshoot. In the 9th century, the village grew up round the monasteries took the name of St Omer. The Normans laid the place waste about 860 and 880, ten years later the town and monastery had built fortified walls and were safe from their attack. Situated on the borders of territories frequently disputed by French, Flemish, English and Spaniards, St Omer for most of its history continued to be subject to sieges and military invasions. In 932 Arnulf of Flanders conquered the County of Artois and Saint-Omer became part of the County of Flanders for the three centuries. Along with its industry, St-Omer flourished in the 12th and 13th century. In 1127 the town received a charter from the count, William Clito. Later on the city lost its position in the textile industry to Brugge. After the mysterious death of Count Baldwin I, the County of Flanders was weakened, in 1214 Philip II of France captured Baldwins daughter Joan and her husband Ferdinand, Count of Flanders and forced them to sign the Treaty of Pont-à-Vendin, in which Artois was yielded to France. Ferdinand did not take this lying down, and allied with Emperor Otto IV and John, King of England, he battled Philip II at Bouvines, despite the political separation for the next 170 years, the city remained part of the economic network of Flanders. In 1340 a large battle was fought in the suburbs between an Anglo-Flemish army and a French one under Eudes IV, Duke of Burgundy, in which the Anglo-Flemish force was forced to withdraw. From 1384, St-Omer was part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 of the Habsburg Netherlands, the French made futile attempts against the town between 1551 and 1596. During the Thirty Years War, the French attacked in 1638, finally in 1677, after a seventeen day siege, Louis XIV forced the town to capitulate. The peace of Nijmegen signed in the fall of 1678 permanently confirmed the conquest, in 1711, St-Omer was besieged by the Duke of Marlborough. The College of Saint Omer was established in 1593 by Fr Robert Persons SJ, after the Protestant Reformation, England had established penal laws against Catholic education in the country
27.
County of Artois
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The County of Artois was an historic province of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659. Present Artois lies in northern France, on the border with Belgium and its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras, Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Saint-Omer, Lens and it forms the interior of the French département Pas-de-Calais. Originally a feudal county itself, Artois was annexed by the county of Flanders and it came to France in 1180 as a dowry of a Flemish princess, Isabelle of Hainaut, and was again made a separate county in 1237 for Robert, a grandson of Isabelle. Through inheritance, Artois came under the rule of the dukes of Burgundy in 1384, at the death of the fourth duke, Charles the Bold, Artois was inherited by the Habsburgs and passed to the dynastys Spanish line. After the religious revolts of 1566 in the Netherlands, Artois briefly entered the Dutch Revolt in 1576, after the Union, Artois and Hainaut reached a separate agreement with Philip II. Artois remained with the Spanish Netherlands until it was conquered by the French during the Thirty Years War, the annexation was acknowledged during the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, and it became a French province. Artois had already been largely French-speaking, but it was part of the Southern Netherlands until the French annexation, Artois experienced rapid industrial development during the second half of the 19th century, fueled by its rich coal resources. During World War I, the front line between the opposing Entente and Allied armies in France ran through the province, resulting in physical damage. Since the second half of the 20th century, Artois has suffered along with nearby areas because of the decline of the coal industry, Artois occupies the interior of the Pas-de-Calais département, the western part of which constitutes the former Boulonnais. Artois roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Arras, Béthune, Saint Omer, and Lens, and it occupies the western end of the coalfield which stretches eastward through the neighbouring Nord département and across central Belgium. At the time of Julius Caesar, Artois was the province of the Atrebates and their capital, Nemetocenna, is now the city of Arras, which possibly took its later name from the old name of the region. Artois originally was a Carolingian lordship established in West Francia, in Roman times, Artois had been situated in the Roman provinces of Belgica and Germania Inferior and inhabited by Celtic tribes, until Germanic peoples replaced them as the Roman Empire waned. Upon Isabelles death in 1190, it was claimed as a fief by the French crown. In 1237, King Louis VIII gave the County of Artois as an appanage to his younger son Robert, who became the progenitor of the House of Artois. The dispute was settled in favour of Mahaut, upon her death in 1329, Artois passed to her daughter by the Anscarid count Otto IV of Burgundy, Countess Joan II. Joan II had inherited the County of Burgundy in 1315 and when she died in 1330, she bequested Artois and Franche-Comté to her eldest daughter, Joan III. Joan III, Countess of Artois and Burgundy, entered into the dynastic allegiance with the ducal House of Burgundy, until 1350 all territories of Artois, Franche-Comté and the Burgundian duchy were inherited by their grandson Philip I of Burgundy
28.
Cassel, Nord
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Cassel is a commune in the Nord départment in northern France. Built on a prominent hill overlooking French Flanders, the town has existed since Roman times and it was developed by the Romans into an important urban centre and was the focus of a network of roads, which are still in use today, that converge on the hill. It was the headquarters of Marshal Ferdinand Foch during part of the First World War, in 1940, during the German invasion of France, Cassel was the scene of a fierce three-day battle between British and German forces which resulted in much of the town being destroyed. Today the town, which was following the war, is a popular destination for visitors to French Flanders. It is renowned for its views from the summit of Mont Cassel and is the location of the Nord départments principal museum of local art, history. It is also the home of the legendary giants Reuze-Papa and Reuze-Maman, the town of Cassel is situated at the top of Mont Cassel, a prominent hill located in the local Houtland region about 30 kilometres from the sea. The hill rises to a height of 176 metres above sea level and its geological composition comprises limestone capped with a very hard ferruginous layer of rock. The hill of Mont Cassel was occupied during the late Iron Age by the Menapii, a Belgic tribe, the hilltop was probably used as an oppidum or hill fort. The Menapii fought against Julius Caesar but were forced to submit to Rome in 53 BC and they rebelled along with their neighbours, the Morini, in 30 or 29 BC. The Roman governor of Gaul, Carrinas, successfully quelled the rebellion, Cassel was redeveloped as Castellum Menapiorum, the urban centre or civitas of the Menapii, the modern town takes its name from the Roman settlement. From the 1st century AD onwards, Cassel developed into a key centre for the whole region with an extensive road network converging on the hill. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Flanders became part of the Merovingian realm of Neustria, in the 9th century it became part of West Francia, forming a pagus within the kingdom of Charles the Bald. In 864, Cassel passed into the hands of Baldwin Ironarm, at the time, the town was on the edge of a deep bay of the North Sea, making it vulnerable to raids by the Vikings, who attacked and destroyed it in the 9th century. It was rebuilt by Baldwins grandson, Arnulf I, in the 10th century. In 1071, the sixth Count of Flanders, Arnulf III, was killed in the first Battle of Cassel by the forces of Robert the Frisian in a dispute over the succession to the title of count. The town was re-fortified, possibly by Robert, with a castle, Cassel was the capital of a chatellany during the Middle Ages, serving as the administrative centre for an area comprising about fifty towns and villages. It was the site of a battle that took place on 23 August 1328 involving Philip VI of France. The rebels had driven the ruling Count Louis I out of Flanders and sought to press their advantage by occupying Cassel, although they achieved some initial successes, the rebels were decisively defeated when William I, Count of Hainaut lent his support to the French side
29.
Aire-sur-la-Lys
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Aire-sur-la-Lys is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The commune is located 10 miles southeast of Saint-Omer, at the junction of the N43 with several roads, by the banks of the Leie. Aire-sur-la-Lys is mentioned for the first time in 857 and it developed around a fort or castrum built by Baldwin II, Count of Flanders in response to the Norman invasions. More growth followed with the establishment of the Collegiate church of Saint-Pierre by Baldwin V, the town was laid siege ten times between 1127 and 1710. It was separated from the County of Flanders and attached to the County of Artois in 1196, subsequently ruled by the Burgundians then by the Spanish. The church is one of the most important monuments, with its imposing style and it has all the characteristics of a cathedral, but in the absence of a bishop, it cannot claim that title. Witness to the splendour of the city, the church of Saint-Pierre is of Romanesque style. Built between 1492 and the century, one can see both on the inside and the outside of the building carving that details the 400 years progress. It has been the church since 1802. The tower, completed in 1624, collapsed soon after, ten years later, the damage was repaired. The top of the tower was restored between May 2005 and April 2007. The ground floor, the nave, choir and high arches are essentially Gothic, a Flemish Renaissance style building which was built between 1595 and 1600, as guardrooms for the militia of the city. It is commonly known as the Le Bailliage, because at times between 1634 and 1789, it served as the seat of the court bailiffs. The building itself is a quadrilateral of 125m square, with 3 facades giving out onto the Grande Place, Rue d’Arras. The architect, Pierre Framery was inspired by the former Hotel de Ville at Amsterdam, many restorations have been necessary over the centuries. The Bailliage has undergone various uses, guardhouse, courthouse, Town Hall, since 1970, it has been the Tourist Office. The large room upstairs is used for exhibitions, the Bailiwick has been classified as an historic monument since 1886. The Bell-tower, classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2005, rebuilt in 1923 at the same time as the City Hall after a fire in 1914
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Ypres
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Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. Though Ieper is the name, the citys French name. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, together, they are home to about 34,900 inhabitants. During the First World War, Ypres was the centre of Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces, during the war it was nicknamed Wipers, as its name was difficult for English-speaking British Imperial forces troops to pronounce. Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the Romans in the first century BC and it is first mentioned by name in 1066 and is probably named after the river Ieperlee on the banks of which it was founded. During the Middle Ages, Ypres was a prosperous Flemish city with a population of 40,000 in 1200 AD, renowned for its trade with England. As the third largest city in the County of Flanders Ypres played an important role in the history of the textile industry, textiles from Ypres could be found in the markets of Novgorod in Kievan Rus in the early 12th century. In 1241, a fire ruined much of the old city. The powerful city was involved in important treaties and battles, including the Battle of the Golden Spurs, the Battle at Mons-en-Pévèle, the Peace of Melun, the famous Cloth Hall was built in the thirteenth century. Also during this time cats, then the symbol of the devil and witchcraft, were thrown off Cloth Hall, today, this act is commemorated with a triennial Cat Parade through town. During the Norwich Crusade, led by the English bishop Henry le Despenser, Ypres was besieged from May to August 1383, after the destruction of Thérouanne, Ypres became the seat of the new Diocese of Ypres in 1561, and Saint Martins Church was elevated to cathedral. On 25 March 1678 Ypres was conquered by the forces of Louis XIV of France and it remained French under the treaty of Nijmegen, and Vauban constructed his typical fortifications that can still be seen today. In 1697, after the Treaty of Ryswick, Ypres was returned to the Spanish Crown, in 1713 it was handed over to the Habsburgs, and became part of the Austrian Netherlands. In 1782 the Habsburg Austrian Emperor Joseph II ordered parts of the torn down. This destruction, which was partly repaired, made it easier for the French to capture the city in the 1794 Siege of Ypres during the War of the First Coalition. In 1850 the Ypresian Age of the Eocene Epoch was named on the basis of geology in the region by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont, Ypres had long been fortified to keep out invaders. Parts of the ramparts, dating from 1385, still survive near the Rijselpoort. Over time, the earthworks were replaced by masonry and earth structures
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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai
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The current archbishop is François Charles Garnier, appointed in December 2000. Since 2002 the archdiocese has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lille, originally erected in the late 6th century as the Diocese of Cambrai, when the episcopal see after the death of the Frankish bishop Saint Vedast was relocated here from Arras. Though subordinate to the Archdiocese of Reims, Cambrais jurisdiction was immense and included even Brussels, Cambrai from 1512 was part of the Imperial Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle and – like the Prince-Bishopric of Liège – was not incorporated into the Seventeen Provinces of the Burgundian Circle. The councils of Leptines, at which Saint Boniface played an important role, were held in what was then the part of the former Diocese of Cambrai in the Southern Netherlands. Under King Louis XIV the Bishopric of Cambrai finally became French after the Siege of Cambrai of 1677, from 1790 Cambrai was part of the new Nord department. By the Napoleonic Concordat of 1801, Cambrai was again reduced to a bishopric, suffragan to Paris, and included remnants of the former dioceses of Tournai, Ypres. In 1817 both the pope and the king were eager for the erection of a see at Lille, but Bishop Louis de Belmas, immediately upon his death, in 1841, Cambrai once more became an archbishopric, with the diocese of Arras as suffragan. For the first bishops of Arras and Cambrai, who resided at the former place, on the death of Saint Vedulphus the episcopal residence was transferred from Arras to Cambrai. François Buisseret François van der Burch Gaspard Nemius François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon, theologian and writer, Jean d Estrées Cardinal Joseph de la Tremoille. Cardinal Guillaume Dubois, minister to Louis XV, Charles de Saint-Albin Leopold-Charles de Choiseul-Stainville Henri-Marie-Bernardin de Ceilhes de Rosset de Fleury Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec de Rohan. Louis de Belmas Pierre Giraud René-François Régnier Alfred Duquesnay, the list of notable people associated with the Diocese of Cambrai is very extensive, and their biographies, although short, take up no less than four volumes of the work by Canon Destombes. The English college of Douai, founded by William Allen in 1568, gave in subsequent centuries a number of apostles. Since the promulgation of the law of 1875 on higher education, notable French and Flemish composers who served as maître de chapelle at Cambrai include Guillaume Dufay, Robert de Févin, Johannes Lupus and Jean de Bonmarché. See also Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes, a chronicle of the bishops of Cambrai was written in the 11th century. This Gesta episcoporum Cambracensium was for some time attributed to Balderic, archbishop of Noyon, the work is of considerable importance for the history of the north of France during the 11th century, and was first published in 1615. Under the old regime the Archdiocese of Cambrai contained forty-one abbeys, a Benedictine abbey formerly extant here was converted by Marie Antoinette into a house of noble canonesses. Therese, the Sisters of Our Lady of Treille, and the Religious of the Holy Union of the Sacred Hearts, Catholic Church in France Gams, Pius Bonifatius. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo, ratisbon, Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. p. 526-528
32.
Valenciennes
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Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the Scheldt river, although the city and region experienced a steady population decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded. The 1999 census recorded that the population of the commune of Valenciennes was 41,278, Valenciennes is first mentioned in 693 in a legal document written by Clovis II. In the 843 Treaty of Verdun, it was made a city between Neustria and the Austrasia. Later in the 9th century the region was overrun by the Normans, in 923 it passed to the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia dependent on the Holy Roman Empire. Once the Empire of the Franks was established, the city began to develop, under the Ottonian emperors, Valenciennes became the centre of marches on the border of the Empire. In 1008, a famine brought the Plague. According to the tradition, the Virgin Mary held a cordon around the city which. Since then, every year at that time, the Valenciennois used to walk around the 14 kilometres road round the town, many Counts succeeded, first as Margraves of Valenciennes and from 1070 as counts of Hainaut. In 1285, the currency of Hainaut was replaced by the currency of France, Valenciennes was full of activity, with numerous corporations, and outside its walls a large number of convents developed, like that of the Dominicans. In the 14th century, the Tower of Dodenne was built by Albert of Bavaria, where even today, in the 15th century, the County of Hainault, of which Valenciennes is part, was re-attached to Burgundy, losing its autonomy. On the Journée des Mals Brûlés in 1562, a mob freed some Protestants condemned to die at the stake, in the wave of iconoclastic attacks called the Beeldenstorm that swept the Low Countries in the summer of 1566, the city was the furthest south to see an attack. In 1576, when for a time the Southern Netherlands joined the revolt, however, in 1580, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma took Valenciennes and Protestantism was eradicated there. Hereafter, Valenciennes remained under Spanish protection, no longer involved in later fighting of the Eighty Years War. With its manufacturers of wool and fine linens, the city was able to economically independent. In 1591, the Jesuits built a school and then the foundations of a church of Sainte-Croix, in 1611, the façade of the town hall was completely rebuilt in magnificent Renaissance style. In the seventeenth century the Scheldt was channelled between Cambrai and Valenciennes, benefitting Valenciennes wool, fabric and fine arts, to use up flax yarn, women began to make the famous Valenciennes lace. The French army laid siege to the city in 1656, defending the city, Albert de Merode, marquis de Trélon was injured during a sortie on horseback, died as a result of his injuries and was buried in the Church of St. Paul
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Maubeuge
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Maubeuge is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated on banks of the Sambre,36 km east of Valenciennes and about 9 km from the Belgian border. Maubeuge owes its origin to Maubeuge Abbey, a monastery, for men and women, founded in the 7th century by Saint Aldego. It subsequently belonged to the territory of Hainaut and it was burnt by Louis XI of France, by Francis I of France, and by Henry II of France, and was finally assigned to France by the Treaty of Nijmegen. It was fortified by Vauban by the command of Louis XIV of France, besieged in 1793 by Prince Josias of Coburg, it was relieved by the victory of Wattignies, which is commemorated by a monument in the town. It was unsuccessfully besieged in 1814, but was compelled to capitulate, after a vigorous resistance, the forts were besieged in World War I by the German Empire. Maubeuge suffered heavily in World War II, 90% of the centre was destroyed by bombardments in May 1940. Fighting again occurred in early September 1944, in and around the outskirts of Maubeuge, 1st Infantry Division during the American push toward Belgium. There are important foundries, forges and blast furnaces, together with manufactures of machine tools, the town has a board of trade arbitration, a communal college, a commercial and industrial school. In 2003, on the 100th anniversary of his win, he was commemorated with a named after him. Official website Webpage about the fortifications
34.
Maastricht
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Maastricht is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the Meuse river, at the point where the Jeker River joins it, Maastricht developed from a Roman settlement to a Medieval religious centre, a garrison town and an early industrial city. Today, Maastricht is well-regarded as an affluent cultural center, Maastricht has 1677 national heritage sites, which is the second highest number in a Dutch town, after Amsterdam. It has become known, by way of the Maastricht Treaty, as the birthplace of the European Union, European citizenship, and the single European currency, the town is popular with tourists for shopping and recreation, and has a large growing international student population. Maastricht is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network and is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, the name Maastricht is derived from Latin Traiectum ad Mosam, meaning crossing at the Meuse, and referring to the bridge built by the Romans. The Latin name first appears in documents and it is not known whether this was Maastrichts official name during Roman times. A resident of Maastricht is referred to as Maastrichtenaar whilst in the local dialect it is either Mestreechteneer or, colloquially, there is some debate as to whether Maastricht is the oldest city in the Netherlands. Some people consider Nijmegen the oldest, mainly because it was the first settlement in the Netherlands to receive Roman city rights, Maastricht never did, but it may be as old or older as a settlement. In addition, Maastricht can claim uninterrupted habitation since Roman times, a large number of archeological finds confirms this. Nijmegen has a gap in its history, there is no evidence of habitation in the early Middle Ages. Neanderthal remains have been found to the west of Maastricht, of a later date are Palaeolithic remains, between 8,000 and 25,000 years old. Celts lived here around 500 BC, at a spot where the river Meuse was shallow and it is not known when the Romans arrived in Maastricht, or whether the settlement was founded by them. The Romans built a bridge over the Meuse in the 1st century AD, the bridge was an important link in the main road between Bavay and Cologne. Roman Maastricht was probably relatively small, remains of the Roman road, the bridge, a religious shrine, a Roman bath, a granary, some houses and the 4th-century castrum walls and gates, have been excavated. Fragments of provincial Roman sculptures, as well as coins, jewelry, glass, pottery, according to legend, the Armenian-born Saint Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren, died in Maastricht in 384 and was buried there along the Roman road, outside the castrum. According to Gregory of Tours it was bishop Monulph who, around 570, built the first stone church on the grave of Servatius, the city remained an early Christian diocese until it lost this position to nearby Liège in the early 8th century. In the early Middle Ages Maastricht was part of the heartland of the Carolingian Empire along with Aachen, the town was an important centre for trade and manufacturing
35.
Principality of Orange
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The Principality of Orange was, from 1163 to 1713, a feudal state in Provence, in the south of modern-day France, on the left bank of the river Rhone north of the city of Avignon. It was constituted in 1163, when Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I elevated the Burgundian County of Orange to a principality within the Empire. Although permanently lost to the Nassaus then, this gave its name to the extant Royal House of the Netherlands. The area of the principality was approximately 12 miles long by 9 miles wide, Roman Arausio covered an area of some 170 acres and was well endowed with civic monuments - as well as the theatre and arch, it had a monumental temple complex and a forum. It was the capital of an area of northern Provence. The town prospered, though it was sacked by the Visigoths in 412 and it became a bishopric in the 4th century, and the hill fort of the Celtic Cavares was renamed for Saint Eutrope, the first bishop of Saintes. In 441 and 529, Orange hosted two synods, the latter was of importance in condemning the Pelagian heresy, the sovereign Carolingian counts of Orange had their origin in the 8th century, and the fief passed into the family of the lords of Baux. The Baux counts of Orange became fully independent with the breakup of the Kingdom of Arles after 1033, in 1163 Orange was raised to a principality, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1365, foundation of Orange university by Charles IV when he was in Arles for his coronation as king of Arles, in 1431 the Count of Provence waived taxation duties for Orange’s rulers in exchange for liquid assets to be used for a ransom. The town and principality of Orange was a part of administration, in 1544, William I the Silent, count of Nassau, with large properties in the Netherlands, inherited the title Prince of Orange. William,11 years old at the time, was the cousin of René of Châlon who died without an heir when he was shot at St. Dizier in 1544 during the Franco-Imperial wars, René, it turned out, willed his entire fortune to this very young relative. Among those titles and estates was the Principality of Orange, rené’s mother, Claudia, had held the title prior to it being passed to young William since Philibert de Châlon was her brother. When William inherited the Principality, it was incorporated into the holdings of what became the House of Orange and this pitched it into the Protestant side in the Wars of Religion, during which the town was badly damaged. In 1568 the Eighty Years War began with William as stadtholder leading the bid for independence from Spain, William the Silent was assassinated in Delft in 1584. It was his son, Maurice of Nassau, with the help of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, after the defeat of Napoleon the United Provinces morphed into the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the House of Orange-Nassau still the formal head of the government. As an independent enclave within France, Orange became a destination for Protestants. William III of Orange, who ruled England as William III of England, was the last Prince of Orange to rule the principality. The principality was captured by the forces of Louis XIV under François Adhémar de Monteil Comte de Grignan, in 1672 during the Franco-Dutch War, and again in August 1682
36.
William III of England
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It is a coincidence that his regnal number was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II and he is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as King Billy. William inherited the principality of Orange from his father, William II and his mother Mary, Princess Royal, was the daughter of King Charles I of England. In 1677, he married his fifteen-year-old first cousin, Mary, a Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith, in 1685, his Catholic father-in-law, James, Duke of York, became king of England, Ireland and Scotland. Jamess reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, William, supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. On 5 November 1688, he landed at the southern English port of Brixham, James was deposed and William and Mary became joint sovereigns in his place. They reigned together until her death on 28 December 1694, after which William ruled as sole monarch, Williams reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. Williams victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still commemorated by the Orange Order and his reign in Britain marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover. William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650, baptised William Henry, he was the only child of stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland, eight days before William was born, his father died of smallpox, thus William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Immediately, a conflict ensued between his mother the Princess Royal and William IIs mother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William or Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder. William II had appointed his wife as his sons guardian in his will, however, Williams mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society. Williams education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard, from April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius. The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince dOrange, in these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence, fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange. From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius. While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft, William had a personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck, and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein
37.
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
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Leopold I was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and King of Serbia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain, elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1658, Leopold would rule as such until his death in 1705. Leopolds reign is known for the conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the east, and the rivalry with Louis XIV, after more than a decade of warfare, Leopold emerged victorious from the Great Turkish War thanks to military talents of Prince Eugene of Savoy. By the Treaty of Karlowitz, Leopold recovered almost all of the Kingdom of Hungary which had fallen under the Turkish yoke in the years after the 1526 Battle of Mohács. Leopold fought three wars against France including the Dutch War, the Nine Years War, and the War of the Spanish Succession, in this last, Leopold sought to give his younger son the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the late Spanish kings will. To this end, he started a war which soon engulfed much of Europe, when peace returned at the end of it all, Austria could not be said to have emerged as triumphant as it did from the war against the Turks. Born on 9 June 1640 in Vienna, Leopold received an education by excellent teachers. From an early age Leopold showed an inclination toward learning and he became fluent in several languages, Latin, Italian, German, French, and Spanish. In addition to German, Italian would be the most favored language at his court, Leopold was schooled in the classics, history, literature, natural science and astronomy, and was particularly interested in music, having inherited his fathers musical talents. Originally intended for the Church, Leopold had received an ecclesiastical education. But fate put in motion a different plan for him when smallpox took his elder brother Ferdinand on 9 July 1654, nonetheless, Leopolds church education had clearly marked him. Leopold remained influenced by the Jesuits and his education throughout his life, and was uncommonly knowledgeable for a monarch about theology, metaphysics, jurisprudence and he also retained his interest in astrology and alchemy which he had developed under Jesuit tutors. A deeply religious and devoted person, Leopold personified the pietas Austriaca, Leopold was said to have typically Habsburg physical attributes. Short, thin, and of sickly constitution, Leopold was cold and reserved in public, however, he is also said to have been open with close associates. Coxe described Leopold in the manner, His gait was stately, slow and deliberate, his air pensive, his address awkward, his manner uncouth, his disposition cold. He grew to manhood without the military ambition that characterized most of his fellow monarchs, from the beginning, his reign was defensive and profoundly conservative. Hungary elected Leopold as its king in 1655, with Bohemia and Croatia following suit in 1656 and 1657 respectively. To conciliate France, which had influence in German affairs thanks to the League of the Rhine
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Freiburg im Breisgau
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Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany with a population of about 220,000. In the south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain. The city is known for its medieval minster and Renaissance university, as well as for its standard of living. The city is situated in the heart of the major Baden wine-growing region, according to meteorological statistics, the city is the sunniest and warmest in Germany and held the all-time German temperature record of 40.2 °C from 2003 to 2015. Freiburg was founded by Konrad and Duke Berthold III of Zähringen in 1120 as a market town, hence its name. Frei means free, and Burg, like the modern English word borough, was used in those days for a city or town. The German word Burg also means a town, as in Hamburg. Thus, it is likely that the name of place means a fortified town of free citizens. This town was located at a junction of trade routes between the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea regions, and the Rhine and Danube rivers. In 1200, Freiburgs population numbered approximately 6,000 people, at about that time, under the rule of Bertold V, the last duke of Zähringen, the city began construction of its Freiburg Münster cathedral on the site of an older parish church. Begun in the Romanesque style, it was continued and completed 1513 for the most part as a Gothic edifice, in 1218, when Bertold V died, then Egino V von Urach, the count of Urach assumed the title of Freiburgs count as Egino I von Freiburg. The city council did not trust the new nobles and wrote down its established rights in a document, at the end of the thirteenth century there was a feud between the citizens of Freiburg and their lord, Count Egino II of Freiburg. Egino II raised taxes and sought to limit the freedom, after which the Freiburgers used catapults to destroy the counts castle atop the Schloßberg. The furious count called on his brother-in-law the Bishop of Strasbourg, Konradius von Lichtenberg, the bishop responded by marching with his army to Freiburg. According to an old Freiburg legend, a butcher named Hauri stabbed the Bishop of Strasbourg to death on 29 July 1299. It was a Pyrrhic victory, since henceforth the citizens of Freiburg had to pay an annual expiation of 300 marks in silver to the count of Freiburg until 1368, in 1366 the counts of Freiburg made another failed attempt to occupy the city during a night raid. Eventually the citizens were fed up with their lords, and in 1368 Freiburg purchased its independence from them, the city turned itself over to the protection of the Habsburgs, who allowed the city to retain a large measure of freedom. Most of the nobles of the city died in the battle of Sempach, the patrician family Schnewlin took control of the city until the guildsmen revolted
39.
Kehl
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Kehl is a town in southwestern Germany in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the river Rhine, directly opposite the French city of Strasbourg, the village of Kehl was first mentioned in 1038. In 1338 the first permanent bridge between Kehl and Strasbourg was completed, in 1678 the city was taken over by France, as it was considered to be part of the defence system of Strasbourg. Hence the village was transformed into a fortress in 1683 by the French architect Vauban, in 1681, the Imperial City of Strasbourg, a territory of the Holy Roman Empire that included Kehl, was annexed by Louis XIV, King of France. This annexation was recognised by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, on May 7,1770, Marie Antoinette was officially handed over by Austria to France on an island on the Rhine near Kehl. This island was settled in the years before the First World War, in 1774, Kehl received town rights by the Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden. During the First French Empire, Kehl was reunited with Strasbourg under the French First Republic, after briefly being subject to Austria, the city was finally returned to Baden in 1815 and the fortress was dismantled. Between 1842 and 1847, the first port facility was created by the Baden State Railway Administration, in 1861, the first railway bridge was built and the first direct connection from Paris to Vienna was established, with locomotives being changed over in Kehl. During the Second World War, after the Battle of France, after the war, all citizens were expelled from Kehl. This state continued until 1953, when the city was returned to the Federal Republic of Germany, until 1519, Kehl was part of the diocese of Strasbourg. Then, the village had to change religion at the order of the margraves, during the French occupation of the 1690s, Kehl became Roman Catholic again, only to revert to Lutheranism after being ceded back to the margrave of Baden. From the early 19th century up to 1914, Lutherans and Catholics shared one building, then. Several free churches are situated in Kehl, as well as Mennonites, the French city of Strasbourg lies next to Kehl over the Rhine river. Kehl train station is located near the Pont de lEurope bridge, bus line 21 connects Kehl with the nearest tram stations in Strasbourg. A tram link to Strasbourg is also planned, as part of the extension of Strasbourgs tram line D, the latest forecasts in 2016 foresee this tram link becoming operational in 2017
40.
Rhine
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The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe, at about 1,230 km, with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days. The many castles and fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire, in the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism. The variant of the name of the Rhine in modern languages are all derived from the Gaulish name Rēnos, spanish is with French in adopting the Germanic vocalism Rin-, while Italian, Occitan and Portuguese retain the Latin Ren-. The Gaulish name Rēnos belongs to a class of river names built from the PIE root *rei- to move, flow, run, the grammatical gender of the Celtic name is masculine, and the name remains masculine in German, Dutch and French. The Old English river name was variously inflected as masculine or feminine, the length of the Rhine is conventionally measured in Rhine-kilometers, a scale introduced in 1939 which runs from the Old Rhine Bridge at Constance to Hoek van Holland. The river length is shortened from the rivers natural course due to a number of canalisation projects completed in the 19th and 20th century. The total length of the Rhine, to the inclusion of Lake Constance and its course is conventionally divided as follows, The Rhine carries its name without distinctive accessories only from the confluence of the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein near Tamins-Reichenau. Above this point is the catchment of the headwaters of the Rhine. It belongs almost exclusively to the Swiss Canton of Graubünden, ranging from Gotthard Massif in the west via one valley lying in Ticino, traditionally, Lake Toma near the Oberalp Pass in the Gotthard region is seen as the source of the Vorderrhein and the Rhine as a whole. The Hinterrhein rises in the Rheinwald valley below Mount Rheinwaldhorn, the Vorderrhein, or Anterior Rhine, springs from Lai da Tuma, near the Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive Ruinaulta formed by the largest visible rock slide in the alps, the Flims Rockslide. A multiday trekking route is signposted along the young Rhine called Senda Sursilvana, the Hinterrhein/Rein Posteriur, or Posterior Rhine, starts from the Paradies Glacier, near the Rheinwaldhorn. One of its tributaries, the Reno di Lei, drains the Valle di Lei on politically Italian territory, after three main valleys separated by the two gorges, Roflaschlucht and Viamala, it reaches Reichenau. The Vorderrhein arises from numerous source streams in the upper Surselva, one source is Lai da Tuma with the Rein da Tuma, which is usually indicated as source of the Rhine, flowing through it. Into it flow tributaries from the south, some longer, some equal in length, such as the Reno di Medel, the Rein da Maighels, and the Rein da Curnera. The Cadlimo Valley in the Canton of Ticino is drained by the Reno di Medel, all streams in the source area are partially, sometimes completely, captured and sent to storage reservoirs for the local hydro-electric power plants. In its lower course the Vorderrhein flows through a gorge named Ruinaulta through the Flims Rockslide, the whole stretch of the Vorderrhein to the Rhine confluence near Reichenau-Tamins is accompanied by a long-distance hiking trail called Senda Sursilvana
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Marc-Antoine Charpentier
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Marc-Antoine Charpentier was a French composer of the Baroque era. Exceptionally prolific and versatile, Charpentier produced compositions of the highest quality in several genres and his mastery in writing sacred vocal music, above all, was recognized and hailed by his contemporaries. Any family relationship between him and Gustave Charpentier, the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century French opera composer, is highly unlikely, Charpentier was born in or near Paris, the son of a master scribe who had very good connections to influential families in the Parlement of Paris. Marc-Antoine received a good education, perhaps with the help of the Jesuits. He spent two or three years in Rome, probably between 1667 and 1669, and studied with Giacomo Carissimi and he is also known to have been in contact with poet-musician Charles Coypeau dAssoucy, who was composing for the French Embassy in Rome. A legend claims that Charpentier initially traveled to Rome to study painting before he was discovered by Carissimi, regardless, he acquired a solid knowledge of contemporary Italian musical practice and brought it back to France. Immediately on his return to France, Charpentier probably began working as composer to Marie de Lorraine, duchesse de Guise. Throughout the 1670s, the bulk of works were for trios. Then, about 1680, Mlle de Guise increased the size of the ensemble, until it included 13 performers, in the pieces written from 1684 until late 1687, the names of the Guise musicians appear as marginalia in Charpentiers manuscripts – including Charp beside the haute-contre line. Étienne Loulié, the senior instrumentalist who played keyboard, recorder and viole, despite what is often asserted, during his seventeen years in the service of Mlle de Guise, Charpentier was not the director of the Guise ensemble. The director was a gentleman of Mlle de Guises court, a musician, Italophile. During his years of service to Mlle de Guise, Charpentier also composed for Mme de Guise and it was in large part owing to Mme de Guises protection that the Guise musicians were permitted to perform Charpentiers chamber operas in defiance of the monopoly held by Jean Baptiste Lully. By late 1687, Mlle de Guise was dying, around that time, Charpentier entered the employ of the Jesuits. Indeed, he is not named in the princesss will of March 1688, nor in the papers of her estate, during his seventeen-odd years at the Hôtel de Guise, Charpentier had written almost as many pages of music for outside commissions as he had for Mlle de Guise. For example, after Molières falling out with Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1672, after Molières death in 1673, Charpentier continued to write for the playwrights successors, Thomas Corneille and Jean Donneau de Visé. Play after play, he would compose pieces that demanded more musicians than the number authorized by Lullys monopoly over theatrical music, by 1685, the troop ceased flouting these restrictions. Their capitulation ended Charpentiers career as a composer for the spoken theater, in 1679, Charpentier had been singled out to compose for Louis XIVs son, the Dauphin. In short, an ensemble that, with Mlle de Guises permission, by early 1683, when he was awarded a royal pension, Charpentier was being commissioned to write for court events such as the annual Corpus Christi procession
