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Francesco Bussone
Francesco Bussone, often called Count of Carmagnola (c. 1382 – 5 May 1432), was an Italian condottiero. Life Bussone was born at Carmagnola, near Turin, in a humble peasant family. He began his military career when twelve years old under Facino Cane, a condottiero then in the service of the Marquess of Montferrat and later Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan. On the death of Cane, the duchy was divided among his captains; but Gian Galeazzo's son and heir, Filippo Maria, determined to reconquer it by force of arms. Facino Cane being dead, Visconti applied to Carmagnola, then in his thirtieth year, and gave him command of the army. Carmagnola's success was astonishingly rapid: he subdued Bergamo, Brescia, Parma, Genoa, and other cities. Soon the whole duchy was brought once more under Visconti's sway. But Filippo Maria, although he rewarded Carmagnola generously, feared that he might become a danger to himself, and instead of giving him further military commands made him gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castelnuovo Scrivia
Castelnuovo Scrivia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about northeast of Alessandria. History The city was fortified around 500 CE by order of Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, and in 722 it was enlarged by the Lombard king Liutprand. An ally of Frederick Barbarossa in his war against the Lombardy communes, it took part in the destruction of Tortona in 1115, obtaining certain privileges in exchange. Around 1300 Castelnuovo became part of the Duchy of Milan. In 1570 it changed name from Castelnuovo di Tortona to Castelnuovo Scrivia, and become a fief of the Marini family and, after their extinction in 1778, of the Centurione family. Main sights *The parish church, in Romanesque style, dates to the 12th century although restored in the 16th and 19th century. It has a portal with medieval lions sculptures, lunette and capitals executed in Frederick Barbarossa times. The interior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests. Beginning in the 20th century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces. In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap. Modern mercenary organizations are generally referred to as private military companies or PMCs. Laws of war Protocol Additional GC 1977 (APGC77) is a 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry ( ) is a textural term for an igneous rock consisting of coarse-grained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a fine-grained silicate-rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts. In its non-geologic, traditional use, the term ''porphyry'' refers to the purple-red form of this stone, valued for its appearance. The term ''porphyry'' is from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "purple". Purple was the color of royalty, and the "imperial porphyry" was a deep purple igneous rock with large crystals of plagioclase. Some authors claimed the rock was the hardest known in antiquity. Thus, "imperial"-grade porphyry was prized for monuments and building projects in Imperial Rome and thereafter. Subsequently, the name was given to any igneous rocks with large crystals. The adjective ''porphyritic'' now refers to a certain texture of igneous rock regardless of its chemical and mineralogical composition. Its chief characteris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bellarion
''Bellarion the Fortunate'', published in 1926, is an historical novel by Rafael Sabatini. Set at the beginning of the 15th century in northern Italy, it takes place first in the Marquessate of Montferrat and later in the Duchy of Milan. Most of its characters, including Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Gian Maria Visconti, Facino Cane, Filippo Maria Visconti, and Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, were real historical figures; the scheming title character is the notable exception. Plot summary The narrative is presented as the author's compilation of histories of Bellarion's life, in particular that of one Fra Serafino of Imola. Bellarion, abandoned as a child and raised in an abbey, departs as a young man with a letter of introduction from the respected abbot, intending to study in Pavia. He meets and travels with a Franciscan friar, but discovers that someone has robbed him of his money and letter. Upon arriving in Casale, the capital of Montferrat, he finds himself pursued by the auth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini (29 April 1875 – 13 February 1950) was an Italian-born British writer of romance and adventure novels. He is best known for his worldwide bestsellers: ''The Sea Hawk'' (1915), ''Scaramouche'' (1921), ''Captain Blood'' (a.k.a. ''Captain Blood: His Odyssey'') (1922), and ''Bellarion the Fortunate'' (1926). In all, Sabatini produced 34 novels, eight short story collections, six non-fiction books, numerous uncollected short stories, and several plays. Biography Rafael Sabatini was born in Iesi, Italy, to an English-speaking mother, Anna Trafford, and Italian father, Vincenzo Sabatini. His parents were opera singers who then became teachers. At a young age, Sabatini was exposed to many languages, living with his grandfather in Britain, attending school both in Portugal, and, as a teenager, in Switzerland. By the time he was 17, when he returned to Britain to live permanently, he had become proficient in five languages. He quickly added a sixth language – En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Vidal
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (schooner), several ships * ''Elizabeth'' (freighter), an American freighter that was wrecked off New York harbor in 1850; see Places Australia * City of Elizabeth ** Elizabeth, South Australia * Elizabeth Reef, a coral reef in the Tasman Sea United States * Elizabeth, Arkansas * Elizabeth, Colorado * Elizabeth, Georgia * Elizabeth, Illinois * Elizabeth, Indiana * Hopkinsville, Kentucky, originally known as Elizabeth * Elizabeth, Louisiana * Elizabeth Islands, Massachusetts * Elizabeth, Minnesota * Elizabeth, New Jersey, largest city with the name in the U.S. * Elizabeth City, North Carolina * Elizabeth (Charlotte neighborhood), North Carolina * Elizabeth, Pennsylvania * Elizabeth Township, Pennsylvania (other) * Elizabeth, West Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning France's top music prize, the Prix de Rome. He pursued a career as a composer of operas, completing his first opera, ''La double échelle'', in 1837. He wrote twenty further operas over the next decades, mostly comic, but he also treated more serious subjects, finding considerable success with audiences in France and abroad. Thomas was appointed as a professor at the Conservatoire in 1856, and in 1871 he succeeded Daniel Auber as director. Between then and his death at his home in Paris twenty-five years later, he modernised the Conservatoire's organisation while imposing a rigidly conservative curriculum, hostile to modern music, and attempting to prevent composers such as César Franck and Gabriel Fauré from influencing t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of many of the most successful grand operas and opéras-comiques. Born to a middle-class Parisian family, Scribe was intended for a legal career, but was drawn to the theatre, and began writing plays while still in his teens. His early years as a playwright were unsuccessful, but from 1815 onwards he prospered. Writing, usually with one or more collaborators, he produced several hundred stage works. He wrote to entertain the public rather than educate it. Many of his plays were written in a formulaic manner which aimed at neatness of plot and focus on dramatic incident rather than naturalism, depth of characterisation or intellectual substance. For this he was much criticised by intellectuals, but the "well-made play" remained established in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. The novel is also a symbol of the Italian Risorgimento, both for its patriotic message and because it was a fundamental milestone in the development of the modern, unified Italian language. Manzoni also contributed to the stabilization of the modern Italian language and helped to ensure linguistic unity throughout Italy. He was an influential proponent of Liberal Catholicism in Italy. His work and thinking has often been contrasted with that of his younger contemporary Giacomo Leopardi by critics. Early life Manzoni was born in Milan, Italy, on 7 March 1785. Pietro, his father, aged about fifty, belonged to an old family of Lecco, originally feudal lords of Barzio, in the Valsassina. The poet's maternal grandfa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Fontana (engineer)
Giovanni Fontana, also known as Johannes de Fontana (ca. 1395 – ca. 1455) was a fifteenth-century Italian physician and engineer. He was born in Venice in the 1390s and attended the University of Padua, where he received his degree in arts in 1418 and his degree in medicine in 1421. University records list him as "Master John, son of Michael de la Fontana". His most famous promoter at the University was the scholastic Paul of Venice. He tells us that the Doge of Venice sent him to Brescia to deliver a message to the condottiere Francesco Carmagnola. He was also employed as the municipal physician by the city of Udine. Works Fontana composed treatises on a diverse array of topics, including measurement of heights or depths by falling stones. We have early works of his on water-clocks (with wheels), sand-clocks and measurement. Fontana studied trigonometric measurements, mentioned in ''De trigono balistario'', and through his own designed instrument, also explained in a larger tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luigi Dal Verme
Luigi dal Verme (died 1449) was an Italian condottiero. The son of the condottiero Jacopo dal Verme, initially he followed the latter's campaigns, then fought in the company of Muzio Attendolo in the war against Joan II of Naples. Later he was hired by the Bolognesi and then by the Republic of Venice. He married Luchina Bussone, daughter of condottiero Carmagnola. After fighting in the war between the Republic of Florence and Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, the latter give him the title of count and several fiefs. In 1437 he returned to Lombardy and, together with Niccolò Piccinino, defended Bellinzona but was defeated at Orzinuovi and Soncino. In 1446, for Visconti, he besieged Cremona with Francesco Piccinino, but was pushed back by Scaramuccia da Forlì's Venetian troops. Later he was commander-in-chief of the Estensi army. He was defeated at Monte Brianza by Attendolo. When in 1447 the Ambrosian Republic was proclaimed, he joined Francesco Sforza in its defence, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trezzo Bridge
The Trezzo sull'Adda Bridge or Trezzo Bridge was a medieval bridge at Trezzo sull'Adda in Lombardy, Italy, spanning the Adda river. Completed in 1377, the single-arch bridge held the record for the largest span for over four hundred years, until the beginnings of the Industrial Age, while it was not until the early 20th century that masonry bridges with larger openings were constructed. History The Trezzo Bridge was built between 1370 and 1377 by order of the lord of Milan Bernabò Visconti. Fortified with towers, it provided access to the Visconti Castle high above the Adda. During a siege in 1416, the condottiero Carmagnola deliberately caused the structure to collapse by weakening one of its abutments. Its single arch featured a span of , according to other sources even as much as . By comparison, the second largest pre-industrial bridge vault, the French Pont de Vieille-Brioude, spans . The rise of the segmental arch was ca. , with a span-to-rise ratio of 3.3:1. The arch ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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