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Castel Dell'Ovo
Castel dell'Ovo ("Egg Castle") is a seafront castle in Naples, located on the former island of Megaride, now a peninsula, on the Gulf of Naples in Italy. The castle's name comes from a legend about the Roman Republic, Roman poet Virgil, who had a reputation in the Middle Ages as a great sorcerer and predictor of the future. In the legend, Virgil put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications. It remains there along with his bones, and had this egg been broken, the castle would have been destroyed and a series of disastrous events for Naples would have followed. The castle is located between the districts of San Ferdinando, Naples, San Ferdinando and Chiaia, facing Mergellina across the sea. History during the Roman era The Castel dell'Ovo is the oldest castle in Naples. The island of Megaride was where Greek colonists of Magna Graecia from Cumae founded the original nucleus of the city in the 6th century BC. Its location offers an excellent view of the Naples ...
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Clarendon Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books by decree in 1586. It is the second-oldest university press after Cambridge University Press, which was founded in 1534. It is a department of the University of Oxford. It is governed by a group of 15 academics, the Delegates of the Press, appointed by the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. The Delegates of the Press are led by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as OUP's chief executive and as its major representative on other university bodies. Oxford University Press has had a similar governance structure since the 17th century. The press is located on Walton Street, Oxford, opposite Somerville College, in the inner suburb of Jericho. For the last 400 years, OUP has focused primarily on the publication of pedagogic ...
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Battle Of Benevento
The Battle of Benevento was a major medieval battle fought on 26 February 1266, near Benevento in present-day Southern Italy, between the forces of Charles I of Anjou and those of King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred's defeat and death resulted in Charles' conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily, effectively ending the rule of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in the Italian Peninsula and marking the rise of the royal Capetian House of Anjou. The engagement was part of the conflict which pitted Guelphs against Ghibellines. Background The Papacy had long been in conflict with the Imperial house of Hohenstaufen over their rule in Italy. At the time of the battle, the Hohenstaufen ruler of the Kingdom of Sicily (which included Sicily and southern Italy) was Manfred, illegitimate son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. However, the rightful heir to the kingdom was Frederick's legitimate 14-year-old grandson Conradin, living with his uncle and guardian Louis II, Duke of Bavaria. Manfred, acting ...
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Manfred, King Of Sicily
Manfred (; 123226 February 1266) was the last King of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen dynasty, reigning from 1258 until his death. The natural son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, Manfred became regent over the Kingdom of Sicily on behalf of his nephew Conradin in 1254. As regent he subdued rebellions in the kingdom, until in 1258 he usurped Conradin's rule. After an initial attempt to appease Pope Innocent IV, he took up the ongoing conflict between the Hohenstaufens and the papacy through combat and political alliances. He defeated the papal army at Foggia on 2 December 1254. Excommunicated by three successive popes, Manfred was the target of a Crusade (1255–66) called first by Pope Alexander IV and then by Urban IV. Nothing came of Alexander's call, but Urban enlisted the aid of Charles of Anjou in overthrowing Manfred. Manfred was killed during his defeat by Charles at the Battle of Benevento, and Charles assumed kingship of Sicily. Early life Manfred ...
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Conradin
Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (, ), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke of Swabia (1254–1268) and nominal King of Jerusalem (1254–1268) and King of Sicily, Sicily (1254–1258). After Battle of Tagliacozzo, his attempt to reclaim the Kingdom of Sicily for the Hohenstaufen dynasty failed, he was captured and beheaded. Early childhood Conradin was born in Landshut, Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad IV of Germany and Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Germany, Elisabeth of Bavaria. Though he never succeeded his father as King of the Romans, Roman-German king, he was recognized as king of Sicily and Jerusalem by supporters of the Hohenstaufens in 1254. Having lost his father in 1254, he grew up at the court of his uncle and guardian, Louis II, Duke of Bavaria. His guardians were able to hold Swabia for him. Jerusalem was held by a relative from the royal h ...
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Matthew D'Ajello
Matthew of Ajello () was a high-ranking member of the Norman court of the Kingdom of Sicily in the 12th century. His brother John was a bishop. Career He first appears as the notary of the Admiral Maio of Bari who drew up the Treaty of Benevento of 1156. He rose to prominence in the next reign, that of William II of Sicily, becoming first grand protonotary and then chancellor. Maio groomed Matthew to be his successor and, it was alleged, even used him to get permission from Pope Alexander III in Rome for Maio to succeed William I in 1159. On 10 November 1160, Matthew warned Maio of an impending assassination attempt, but to no avail. While Matthew escaped, Maio was killed by Matthew Bonnellus. In 1162, Matthew interceded to prevent the William I from sacking Salerno. On William's death, he became foremost among the advisors of the queen regent, Margaret of Navarre. After the rebellions of the later years of William's reign, Matthew compiled from memory a vast catalogue o ...
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Tancred Of Lecce
Tancred (; 113820 February 1194) was King of Sicily from 1189 to 1194. He was born in Lecce, an illegitimate son of Roger III, Duke of Apulia (the eldest son of King Roger II) by his mistress Emma, a daughter of Achard II, Count of Lecce. He inherited the title "Count of Lecce" from his grandfather and is consequently often referred to as Tancred of Lecce. Due to his short stature and unhandsome visage, he was mocked by his critics as "The Monkey King". Early career After the death of Duke Roger, to prevent any future trouble, King Roger II kept Tancred and his younger brother William in close custody in Palermo. On 9 March 1161, Tancred joined his uncle Simon, Prince of Taranto, in invading the palace, detained the king and queen, William I and Margaret, and their two sons, and incited a massacre of Muslims. Originally, the older of these two sons, Roger IV, Duke of Apulia, was destined to be crowned in place of William, but soon the populace supported the accession o ...
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Constance I Of Sicily
Constance I (; 2 November 1154 – 27 November 1198) was the queen of Sicily from 1194 until her death and Holy Roman empress from 1191 to 1197 as the wife of Emperor Henry VI. As queen regnant of Sicily, she reigned jointly with her spouse and later with her infant son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. She is particularly notable for her actions against her own family, the Norman kings of Sicily; she played an important role in the end of the Hauteville presence in Sicily. Despite being the sole heir to the throne of Sicily, she did not marry until she was 30 due to an ominous prophecy. Shortly after becoming empress, she was involved in the succession war against her illegitimate nephew King Tancred for the Sicilian throne, during which she was captured, though she was later released unharmed. In the history of Holy Roman Empire only two empresses were captured, with the other being her mother-in-law Empress Beatrice. Shortly before ascending the Sicilian thron ...
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Castel Nuovo
Castel Nuovo (; ; 'New Castle'), often called Maschio Angioino (; ; ' Angevin Keep'), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall ( Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy. Its scenic location and imposing size makes the castle, first erected in 1279, one of the main architectural landmarks of the city. It was a royal seat for kings of Naples, Aragon and Spain until 1815. It is the headquarters of Società Napoletana di Storia Patria (Neapolitan Society of Homeland History) and of the Naples Committee of the Istituto per la storia del Risorgimento italiano (Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento). In the complex there is also the civic museum, which includes the Palatine Chapel and the museum paths on the first and second floors. History The origins and the dynasty of the House of Anjou The construction of its former nucleus -today partly re-emerged following restoration and archaeological exploration work- is du ...
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Charles I Of Anjou
Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily. Between 1246 and 1285, he was Count of Provence and Forcalquier in the Holy Roman Empire and Count of Anjou and Maine in France. In 1272 he was proclaimed King of Albania, in 1277 he purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and in 1278 he became Prince of Achaea after the previous ruler, William of Villehardouin, died without heirs. The youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile, Charles was destined for a Church career until the early 1240s. He acquired Provence and Forcalquier through his marriage to their heiress, Beatrice. His attempts to restore central authority brought him into conflict with his mother-in-law, Beatrice of Savoy, and the nobility. He relinquished control of Forcalquier to his mother-in-law in 1248, a ...
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Roger II Of Sicily
Roger II or Roger the Great (, , Greek language, Greek: Ρογέριος; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Kingdom of Sicily, Sicily and Kingdom of Africa, Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon, Count of Sicily, Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1127, then King of Sicily in 1130 and Ifriqiya#Norman kings of the Kingdom of Africa (Ifriqiya), King of Africa in 1148. Background By 999, Normans, Norman adventurers had arrived in southern Italy. By 1016, they were involved in the complex local politics, where Lombards were fighting against the Byzantine Empire. As mercenaries they fought the enemies of the Italian city-states, sometimes fighting for the Byzantines and sometimes against them, but in the following century they gradually became the rulers of the major polities south of Rome. Roger I ruled the County of Sicily at the time of the birth of his youngest son, Roger, a ...
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Italo-Normans
The Italo-Normans (), or Siculo-Normans (''Siculo-Normanni'') when referring to Sicily and Southern Italy, are the Italian-born descendants of the first Norman conquerors to travel to Southern Italy in the first half of the eleventh century. While maintaining much of their distinctly Norman piety and customs of war, they were shaped by the diversity of Southern Italy, by the cultures and customs of the Greeks, Lombards, and Arabs in Sicily. History Normans first arrived in Italy as pilgrims, probably on their way to or returning from either Rome or Jerusalem, or from visiting the shrine at Monte Gargano, during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. In 1017, the Lombard lords in Apulia recruited their assistance against the dwindling power of the Byzantine Catapanate of Italy. They soon established vassal states of their own and began to expand their conquests until they were encroaching on the Lombard principalities of Benevento and Capua, Saracen-controlled ter ...
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