Early Modern Italy
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Early Modern Italy
The history of early modern Italy roughly corresponds to the period from the Renaissance to the Congress of Vienna in 1814. The following period was characterized by political and social unrest which then led to the unification of Italy, which culminated in 1861 with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. Overview The Italian Renaissance covered the 15th and 16th centuries of Italian history and brought about considerable economic and cultural development of the country. After 1600, however, Italy experienced an economic decline. In 1600 Northern and Central Italy comprised one of the most advanced industrial areas of Europe. There was an exceptionally high standard of living. By 1814 Italy was an economically backward and depressed area; its industrial structure had almost collapsed, its population was too high for its resources, its economy had become primarily agricultural. Wars, political fractionalization, limited fiscal capacity and the shift of world trade to north-wes ...
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Congress Of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte. Participants were representatives of all European powers (other than the Ottoman Empire) and other stakeholders. The Congress was chaired by Austrian Empire, Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich, and was held in Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815. The objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars through negotiation. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries, but to resize the main powers so they could European balance of power, balance each other and remain at peace, being at the same time shepherds for the smaller powers. More generally, conservative leaders like Metternich also soug ...
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Italian War Of 1551–1559
The Italian War of 1551–1559 began when Henry II of France declared war against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the intent of recapturing parts of Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. The war ended following the signing of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis between the monarchs of Spain, England and France in 1559. Historians have emphasized the importance of gunpowder technology, new styles of fortification to resist cannon fire, and the increased professionalization of the soldiers. Timeline This is an overview of notable events including battles during the war. ;Prelude (1547–1551) * 10 September 1547: Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma, was assassinated, after which troops of Emperor Charles V occupied the Duchy of Parma. * ? 1547: Ottavio Farnese, Pier Luigi's son, attacked but failed to regain Parma from the Imperial garrison commanded by Ferrante Gonzaga. * 7 February 1550: The 1549–1550 papal conclave after Pope ...
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Catherine De Medici
Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II. She was the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. She was a cousin of Pope Clement VII. The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, albeit at times varying, influence on the political life of France. Catherine was born in Florence to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne. In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine married Henry, the second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France, who would become Dauphin of France (heir to the throne) upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536. Catherine's marriage was arranged by Clement VII. Henry largely excluded Catherine from state affairs during his reign, inst ...
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European Wars Of Religion
The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe during the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries. Fought after the Protestant Reformation began in 1517, the wars disrupted the religious and political order in the Catholic Church, Catholic countries of Europe, or Christendom. Other motives during the wars involved revolt, territorial ambitions and European balance of power, great power conflicts. By the end of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Catholic France had allied with the Protestant forces against the Catholic Habsburg monarchy. The wars were largely ended by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which established a new political order that is now known as Westphalian sovereignty. The conflicts began with the minor Knights' War (1522–1523), followed by the larger German Peasants' War (1524–1525) in the Holy Roman Empire. Warfare intensified after the Catholic Church began the Counter-Reformation against the growth of Protestantism in 1545. The confl ...
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Peace Of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their respective allies among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, participated in the treaties.Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). ''Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015.'' McFarland. p. 40. . The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two cities, because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control. A total of 109 delegations arrived to represent the belligerent states, but not all delegations were present at the same time. Two treaties were signed to end the war in the Empi ...
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Council Of Trent
The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most impressive embodiment of the ideals of the Counter-Reformation.""Trent, Council of" in Cross, F. L. (ed.) ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', Oxford University Press, 2005 (). It was the last time an ecumenical council was organized outside the city of Rome. The Council issued key statements and clarifications of the Church's doctrine and teachings, including scripture, the biblical canon, sacred tradition, original sin, justification, salvation, the sacraments, the Mass, and the veneration of saintsWetterau, Bruce. ''World History''. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994. and also issued condemnations of what it defined to be heresies committed by proponents of Protestantism. The consequences of the council were als ...
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Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It was a comprehensive effort arising from the decrees of the Council of Trent. As a political-historical period, it is frequently dated to have begun with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and to have ended with the political conclusion of the European wars of religion in 1648, though this is controversial. However, as a theological-historical description, the term may be obsolescent or over-specific: the broader term Catholic Reformation () also encompasses the reforms and movements within the Church in the periods immediately before Protestantism or Trent, and lasting later. The effort produced Apologetics, apologetic and polemical documents, anti-corruption efforts, spiritual movements, the promotion of new religious orders, and the flo ...
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Papal States
The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th century until the unification of Italy, which took place between 1859 and 1870, culminated in their demise. The state was legally established in the 8th century when Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, gave Pope Stephen II, as a temporal sovereign, lands formerly held by Arian Christian Lombards, adding them to lands and other real estate formerly acquired and held by the bishops of Rome as landlords from the time of Constantine onward. This donation came about as part of a process whereby the popes began to turn away from the Byzantine emperors as their foremost temporal guardians for reasons such as increased imperial taxes, disagreement with respect to iconoclasm, and failure of the emperors, or their exarchs in Italy, to pro ...
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Battle Of Lepanto
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval warfare, naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League (1571), Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The Ottoman forces were sailing westward from their naval station in Naupactus, Lepanto (the Venetian language, Venetian name of ancient Naupactus – Greek , Turkish language, Turkish ) when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Italy, Messina, Sicily. Lepanto marks the last major engagement in the Western world to be fought almost entirely between rowing vessels, namely the galleys and galleasses, which were the direct descendants of ancient trireme warships. The battle was in essence an "infantry battle on floating platforms".William Stevens, ''History of Sea Power'' (1920),p. 83 It was the Largest naval battle in history, largest naval battle in Western histo ...
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Holy League (1571)
The Holy League (, , ) of 1571 was arranged by Pius V, Pope Pius V and included the major Roman Catholic Church, Catholic powers of southern Europe (Iberian Peninsula and Italian Peninsula), specifically the Spanish Empire as well as the Maritime republics, Italian maritime powers. It was intended to break the Ottoman Empire’s control of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and was formally concluded on 25 May 1571. Members The League's members were: * the Papal States under Pius V, * Spanish Empire under Philip II of Spain, Philip II (including kingdom of Naples, Naples and kingdom of Sicily, Sicily), * the Republic of Venice, * the Republic of Genoa, * the Knights Hospitaller, Knights of Malta, * the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Order of Saint Stephen under Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, * the Duchy of Savoy under Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel Philibert, * the Duchy of Urbino under Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Guidob ...
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Pope Pius V
Pope Pius V, OP (; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (and from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 January 1566 to his death, in May 1572. He was an inquisitor and is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the implementation of the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman Rite within the Latin Church, known as the Tridentine mass. Pius V declared Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church. As a cardinal, Ghislieri gained a reputation for putting orthodoxy before personalities, prosecuting eight French bishops for heresy. He also stood firm against nepotism, rebuking his predecessor Pope Pius IV to his face when he wanted to make a 13-year-old member of his family a cardinal and subsidize a nephew from the papal treasury.
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Grand Duchy Of Tuscany
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany (; ) was an Italian monarchy located in Central Italy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1860, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In the 19th century the population of the Grand Duchy was about 1,815,000 inhabitants. Having brought nearly all Tuscany under his control after conquering the Republic of Siena, Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, was elevated by a papal bull of Pope Pius V to Grand Duke of Tuscany on 27 August 1569. The Grand Duchy was ruled by the House of Medici until the extinction of its senior branch in 1737. While not as internationally renowned as the old republic, the grand duchy thrived under the Medici and it bore witness to unprecedented economic and military success under Cosimo I and his sons, until the reign of Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II, which saw the beginning of the state's long economic decline. That econo ...
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