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Vincigliata
Vincigliata Castle (Italian: ''Castello di Vincigliata'') is a medieval castle which stands on a rocky hill to the east of Fiesole in the Italian region of Tuscany. In the mid-nineteenth century the building, which had fallen into a ruinous state, was acquired by the Englishman John Temple-Leader and entirely reconstructed in the feudal style. Between 1941 and 1943 it served as a small prisoner-of-war camp known as Castello di Vincigliata Campo P.G. 12. It housed some high-ranking British and Commonwealth officers, including Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, who was employed by the Italian government in the Armistice negotiations with the Allies in 1943. Original castle The 13th-century castle located on a hill north of Florence close to Fiesole is medieval in origin. It was once the ancient stronghold of the Visdomini family, important Florentine nobility since the 11th century. They enjoyed special privileges from the Florentine bishops. A son of the family John Gualb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Temple-Leader
John Temple Leader (7 May 1810 – 1 March 1903) was an English politician and connoisseur. Early life Born at his father's house, Putney Hill Villa, on 7 May 1810, he was the younger son of Mary and William Leader, a London merchant, and Whig Member of Parliament for and then . He entered Charterhouse School in 1823, but left shortly to study with a private tutor, the Rev. Patrick Smyth, and visited Ireland, Norway, and France. The accidental death at Oxford of his older brother William in February 1826 made him heir to most of his father's large fortune, which he inherited on his father's death on 13 January 1828. On 12 February 1828 Leader matriculated as a gentleman commoner at Christ Church, Oxford, meeting there James Robert Hope Scott, W. E. Gladstone, and Sir Stephen Glynne with whom he made archæological excursions. In his Oxford vacations he continued his travels, and was in Paris daring the July Revolution of 1830; and there, through his father's friend Henry Bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian Carton De Wiart
Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart, (; 5 May 1880 – 5 June 1963) was a British Army officer born of Belgian and Irish parents. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" in various Commonwealth countries. He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; was blinded in his left eye; survived two plane crashes; tunnelled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, "Frankly I had enjoyed the war." After returning home from service (including a period as a prisoner-of-war) in the Second World War, he was sent to China as Winston Churchill's personal representative. While ''en route'' he attended the Cairo Conference. In his memoirs, Carton de Wiart wrote, "Governments may think and say a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiesole
Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Since the fourteenth century, the city has always been considered a getaway for members of the upper class of Florence and, up to this day, Fiesole remains noted for its very expensive residential properties, just as well as its centuries-old villas and their formal gardens. The city is generally considered to be the wealthiest and most affluent suburb of Florence. In 2016, the city had the highest median family income in the whole of Tuscany. Fiesole is a centre of higher education. The campus of the European University Institute is situated in the suburb and uses several historical buildings including the Badia Faesolina and the Villa Schifanoia. Additionally, the American universities, Harvard, Georgetown, and Saint Mary's of Minnesota a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sulmona
Sulmona ( nap, label= Abruzzese, Sulmóne; la, Sulmo; grc, Σουλμῶν, Soulmôn) is a city and ''comune'' of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in prehistoric times. In the ancient era, it was one of the most important cities of the Paeligni and is known for being the native town of the Roman poet Ovid, of whom there is a bronze statue, located on the town's main road and named after him. History Ancient era Sulmona was one of the principal cities of the Paeligni, an Italic tribe, but no notice of it is found in history before the Roman conquest. A tradition alluded to by Ovid and Silius Italicus, which ascribed its foundation to Solymus, a Phrygian and one of the companions of Aeneas, is evidently a mere etymological fiction. The first mention of Sulmo occurs in the Second Punic War, when its territory was ravaged by Hannibal in 211 BC, who, however, did not attack the city itse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castello Di Vincigliata, Torre 2
Castello may refer to: Places * Castello, Venice, the largest of the six ''sestieri'' of Venice *''Castello'', the old town center of Giudicato of Cagliari in Sardinia *''Castello'', a neighbourhood in Florence * Castello, Hong Kong, a private housing estate in Hong Kong *A locality in the town of Monteggio in Switzerland *Cittadella (Gozo), a citadel in Gozo, Malta *Short name of Castellón de la Plana, a city in the Valencian Community, Spain Other *Roman Catholic Diocese of Castello, a former diocese based in Venice *Castello (surname) *Castello cheeses See also *Città di Castello, a town in Umbria, Italy *Castell (other) *Castella (other) *Castelli (other) *Castellón (other) *Castells (other) Castells () is a Catalan name, the plural form of Castell (castle). It may refer to: * Castells (surname) * The Castells, American early 1960s pop band * ''Castells'', the Catalan tradition of building human towers See also * Castel (di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Condottiero
''Condottieri'' (; singular ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other European monarchs during the Italian Wars of the Renaissance and the European Wars of Religion. Notable ''condottieri'' include Prospero Colonna, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Cesare Borgia, the Marquis of Pescara, Andrea Doria, and the Duke of Parma. The term ''condottiero'' in medieval Italian originally meant "contractor" since the ''condotta'' was the contract by which the condottieri put themselves in the service of a city or of a lord. The term, however, became a synonym of "military leader" during the Renaissance and Reformation era. Some authors have described the legendary Alberto da Giussano as the "first condottiero" and Napoleon Bonaparte (in virtue of his Italian origins) as the "last condottiero". According to this view, the condott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign, any previous British monarch and is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was Kensington System, raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between ''émigré ''Americans, English people, and continental Europeans. Examples of such novels include '' The Portrait of a Lady'', ''The Ambassadors'', and ''The Wings of the Dove''. His later works were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hawkwood
Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or '' condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it in the historical record. He often referred to himself as ''Haukevvod'' and in Italy he was known as Giovanni Acuto, literally meaning "John Sharp" (or "John the Astute") in reference to his "cleverness or cunning". His name was Latinised as ''Johannes Acutus'' ("John Sharp"). Other recorded forms are ''Aucgunctur'', ''Haughd'', ''Hauvod'', ''Hankelvode'', ''Augudh'', ''Auchevud'', ''Haukwode'' and ''Haucod''. His exploits made him a man shrouded in myth in both England and Italy. Much of his enduring fame results from the surviving large and prominent fresco portrait of him in the Duomo, Florence, made in 1436 by Paolo Uccello, seen every year by 4½ million tourists. Early life Hawkwood is believed to have been born in about 1323 at Sib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batman (military)
A batman or an orderly is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. Before the advent of motorized transport, an officer's batman was also in charge of the officer's "bat-horse" that carried the officer's kit during a campaign. The British English term is derived from the obsolete ''bat'', meaning "pack saddle" (from French ''bât'', from Old French ''bast'', from Late Latin ''bastum'') The military term long predates the appearance of the fictional superhero Batman. Duties A batman's duties often include: * acting as a "runner" to convey orders from the officer to subordinates * maintaining the officer's uniform and personal equipment as a valet * driving the officer's vehicle, sometimes under combat conditions * acting as the officer's bodyguard in combat * digging the officer's foxhole in combat, giving the officer time to direct his unit * other miscellaneous tasks the officer does not have time or inclination to do The action of servi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baron Westbury
Baron Westbury, of Westbury, Wiltshire, Westbury in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 27 June 1861 for the lawyer and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury, Sir Richard Bethell on his appointment as Lord Chancellor, a post he held until 1865. The title descended in the direct line until the death of his great-great-grandson, the fourth baron (who succeeded his grandfather), in 1961. The fourth baron was succeeded by his younger brother, the fifth baron. He was equerry to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester from 1947 to 1949 and also served as Deputy Lieutenant of North Yorkshire in 1973. the title is held by his son, the sixth baron, who succeeded in 2001. Barons Westbury (1861) *Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury (30 June 1800 – 24 July 1873) *Richard Bethell, 2nd Baron Westbury, Richard Augustus Bethell, 2nd Baron Westbury (11 March 1830 – 28 March 1875) *Richard Bethell, 3rd Baro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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