Piedmont History

HISTORY OF ITALY

CARLINGIAN KINGS OF NORTHER ITALY The year 781 saw the final conclusion of the efforts of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne to fully conquer and subdue the Lombards in Italy. In that same year his second son, Pepin, was given command of the Frankish possessions in Italy, which largely consisted of the former territory of the Lombard kingdom in northern Italy. The Franks also dominated the Papacy, having saved it from the Lombards, and as the upholders of Western Christendom, they were looked to as the source of patronage and security. The Middle Franks (Francia Media in Latin) gained their name due to their geographical position between the Western and Eastern Franks. Under Lothar I, Francia Media included all of central and northern Italy (the territory of the former exarchate of Ravenna and the Lombard kingdom), and the Rhine corridor up to the modern Netherlands, which also included Switzerland. The imperial city of Aachen, Charlemagne's former residence, was included in this territory. However, this greatness was ephemeral. Lothar's death signalled its division under the Frankish practice of partible inheritance. His territory, which had never really bonded into a single entity thanks to its very different cultural backgrounds, was divided relatively equally between his three sons. Louis II received Italy and also retained his father's position as de facto head of the Frankish Empire. 781 - 810 Pepin Son of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne. King of Italy. 790 - 791 Claimed both by the Carolingian Franks and Byzantium, the principality of Benevento is now attacked by the latter. Byzantine troops under the command of Adelchis, son of the last king of Lombardy, land on the coast of Italy around 790, but are almost immediately faced by a coalition of troops from Benevento, Spoleto and the Franks. The attack is successfully repelled, and the Franks think that they have retained nominal control over the region. However, Duke Grimoaldo of Benevento also resists them successfully, probably in the following year, and maintains the independence of his principality.Charlemagne Charlemagne unified all the Frankish states under one ruler and created an empire that stretched deep into modern Germany, something that the Romans had never managed 791 - 796 Pepin marches a Lombard army into the Drava valley to ravage Pannonia, with Duke Eric of Friuli assisting him. This strike is a diversionary tactic so that Charlemagne is able to take his own Frankish forces along the Danube into Avar territory. In 792 Charlemagne breaks off to handle a revolt by the Saxons, but Pepin and Eric continue to attack the Avars, taking their capital twice. The Avars are forced to submit in 796. 810 A military expedition guided by Pepin to conquer the Venetian lagoons is stopped by the Venetian people themselves. Pepin's siege of Venice lasts for six months, but his forces are ravaged by disease borne by insects from the surrounding swamps and are in no fit state to fight off the Venetians. Pepin dies a few months later. The iron crown of the Lombards passes to his son Bernard, but upon the death of Charlemagne in 814, the empire goes to Pepin's younger brother, Louis the Pious. 810 - 818 Bernard Illegitimate son. King of Italy. 814 - 818 Louis the Pious, the surviving son of Charlemagne, becomes Frankish emperor in 814, holding authority over Italy as well as his many other domains. Bernard remains on the throne, but as a vassal-to-be of Lothar, Louis' son. In 818, Bernard is implicated in a move to regain his full independence. He is captured by Louis and blinded, but dies in agony two days later. Louis replaces him on the Italian throne with Lothar. 818 - 840 Lothar I Nephew. Son of Louis the Pious. King of Italy (& Bavaria). 840 - 843 Louis I wills the Frankish empire to his sons, but tries to ensure that the eldest gains the biggest share in order to avoid the fragmentation of territory that so weakened the Merovingians. Lothar receives Middle Francia (the Rhine corridor including the kingdom of Burgundy, and Italy, which includes the duchy of Spoleto); Charles the Bald receives Western Francia (France and the duchy of Burgundy); and Louis the German receives Eastern Francia (Germany). However, Lothar initially claims overlordship over all three regions and Louis and Charles have to go to war to convince him to relent. The Treaty of Verdun, signed in 843, recognises the division of the empire. 840 - 855 Lothar I Lothar I of Francia Media, Burgundy, & Empire. 844 - 855 Louis II Son and co-ruler. Sole ruler following the death of his father. 849 Louis intervenes directly in the ten year war between the new prince of Benevento, Radelchis I, and the brother of the former prince, Siconulf. He formalises the division of Benevento between the principality itself and the city of Salerno, in Campania in south-western Italy. This city will form the capital of a new principality which also gains the cities of Capua, Cassano Irpino, Cimitile (Nola), Conza, Paestum, Sarno, Sora, Taranto, and Teano. In the same year, a fresh Aghlabid incursion threatens Rome and other Italian coastal cities, so the pope organises the creation of a defensive league. The league, under the command of Caesar, son of Sergius I of Naples, sails out to meet the Saracen fleet at the Battle of Ostia. A storm divides the participants halfway through the fight and the Italians return safely to port while the Saracens are scattered. Their remnants are easily picked off or captured afterwards and the successful defence of Italy is celebrated.Zowan Gate near Carthage Having captured Carthage (and what became the ruins of the Zowan Gate near Carthage), Islam began to push northwards to attack Italy and Spain 855 Upon Lothar's death at Prüm Abbey in Lotharingia, Middle Francia is divided between his three sons. Louis II receives Italy and the imperial crown; Charles receives southern Burgundy, which includes Lyon, Provence, and Vienne, and which comes to be known as the kingdom of Provence; and Lothar II the remainder - the Rhine corridor from Burgundy up to the North Sea. This area has no traditional name of its own, so it is named after its ruler - Lotharingia (which later becomes Lorraine). 855 - 875 Louis I, Louis II of Italy & Empire. 855 - 875 Louis' title of emperor has little meaning since he rules only in Italy, and even there his reign is constantly challenged by independent Lombard dukes and by the Arab Aghlabid invaders of southern Italy. He supports his brother Lothar II, king of Lotharingia, in a dispute with the Pope, and briefly (864) occupies Rome. He subsequently submits to the pope. He also unsuccessfully tries to claim Lotharingia after Lothar's death. 860 Duke Adelchis of Benevento is forced to play the traditional game of fending off the hostile intentions of both south and north, this time in the form of Aghlabid Islamic invaders in the south and the Middle Franks of Italy in the north. In 860 he is defeated by the Muslims at Bari and is forced to agree a truce. Subsequently, this forces him to call on the aid of Emperor Louis II. The emperor attempts to gain greater influence in Benevento, but Adelchis is able to fend him off as well as defeating a fresh Muslim invasion. 875 Charles the Bald of the Western Franks is crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope John VIII and thereafter nominally rules Italy, and the Frankish Empire as Charles II. Boso is his viceroy in Italy and Provence (and later becomes independent king of the latter).Silver denierThis denier was issued during the reign of Louis II in Italy, and minted at Benevento 875 - 877 Charles the Bald, Charles II of Western Franks, Italy & Empire. 875 - 877 Boso, Viceroy of Italy & Provence. 877 Charles the Bald dies while fending off Carloman (son of Louis the German, king of the Eastern Franks, who himself had been beaten to the Italian throne by Charles the Bald). Carloman gains Italy. 877 - 880 Carloman of Bavaria / Charles King of Germany. 879 Carloman suffers a debilitating stroke just two years after gaining Italy. Unable to rule in anything but name and having no legitimate offspring, he divides his holdings between his brothers. Louis the Younger gains Bavaria while Charles the Fat gains Italy. Carloman's illegitimate son, Arnulf, becomes duke of Carinthia. 879 - 888 Charles the Fat King of Germany. Gained Frankish Empire in 881 as Charles III. 881 - 888 Charles the Fat succeeds as titular head of the Frankish Empire, holding the position as Emperor Charles III. He is crowned by Pope John VIII. In the following year, 882, Louis the Younger dies and Charles, as the last remaining of the three brothers, inherits his territories of Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony, and Thuringia, thereby reuniting East Francia following its division in 876. 883 - 884 The Byzantine empire is enjoying a resurgence of fortune in southern Italy. Under Nicephorus Phocas the Elder, the Byzantine forces slowly reconquer Calabria from 883, with attacks being concentrated on territory around Benevento. Following the deposing of Duke Radelchis there, his successor, Aione, responds by capturing Bari, although he loses it again within a year. 887 Charles the Fat is deposed by the Germans at the Diet of Tribur (November 887) and the Frankish Empire is officially divided between East and West. The western section becomes France, while the eastern section becomes the Germanic Roman Empire (modern Germany). Berengar of Friuli is acclaimed king of Italy (perhaps by himself).

History Of Italy

THE KINGDOM OF ITALY During 1859-1861, a politically fragmented Italy was forged by nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi into a single kingdom. His War of Unification freed Italy from Austrian control. The process of reunification had effectively begun with the Congress of Vienna in 1815, although it meant that Austrian control over large areas of Italy had to be endured for another two generations, along with the restored and fragmented regional authorities which included the fiercely protective Papal States. It took a long time before even those who supported reunification could agree on how to achieve it. One of the most feared (and soon outlawed) revolutionary groups were that of the Carbonari, the coal burners. They almost succeeded in assassinating Napoleon III of the French Second Empire in 1858 for his allegedly turning his back on them. With support growing, and with a secret agreement in place with France, the war soon achieved its aims. Once reunification had been achieved, the conservatively supportive Savoyard king of Sardinia became king of Italy (a title previously held by the Holy Roman Emperors), gaining Parma, Sicily & Naples, and Spoleto, while at the same time handing Savoy to France as promised. In 1866 Venice was annexed to the new Italy, while the Papal States were also seized by the kingdom in 1870. Initially, the capital of this newly unified state was at Savoy's old capital of Turin (between 1861-1864), but was moved to Florence, where it remained until the capture of Rome. In 1861, the kingdom was set up as a constitutional monarchy with a representative parliamentary body. During the Mussolini years, that was swept aside for a single party fascist state, between 1928-1943, and it was this that essentially sealed the kingdom's end three years later. 1861 - 1878 Victor Emanuel II Formerly the Savoyard king of Sardinia (1849-1861). 1866 Prussia fights the Austro-Prussian War against Austria, essentially as a decider to see which of the two powers will be dominant in central Europe. Prussia gains Italy as an ally in the south and several minor German states in the north. Austria and its southern German allies are crushed in just seven weeks (giving the conflict its alternative title of the Seven Weeks' War), and Prussia is now unquestionably dominant. Bismark oversees the seizure of four of Austria's northern German allies, the kingdom of Hanover, the electorate of Hessen-Kassel, and the duchy of Nassau, along with the free city of Frankfurt. Prussia also subsumes Schleswig and Holstein and Saxe-Lauenberg, while despite being defeated in its own theatre of the war, Italy gains Venice thanks to Prussia's dominance, completely terminating the Austrian kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. 1870 - 1871 Italy achieves full union under the House of Savoy. In 1871, Rome becomes its capital for the first time since the collapse of the Western Roman empire (although even then, Ravenna had been the capital for some considerable time). 1871 Plenipotentiary Conference in RomeThe delegates of the 1871 Plenipotentiary Conference in Rome pose for a group photo 1878 - 1900 Umberto I 'the Good' Son. Killed by an anarchist. Amadeo / Amadeus Brother. King of Spain (1870-1873). 1882 Italy and France disagree over their respective colonial expansionism so, seeing an opportunity to isolate France, Bismarck welcomes Italy into a Triple Alliance with the Prussian-dominated German empire and Austria. Italian relations with Berlin now enter their best period, although Vienna remains icily formal with its former subject. 1900 Umberto is assassinated by an Italo-American anarchist named Gaetano Bresci in Monza. The reason is that Bresci wanted to avenge the people killed during the Bava-Beccaris massacre in Milan in May 1898. Umberto is laid to rest in the Pantheon in Rome, alongside his father. 1900 - 1946 Victor Emanuel III Son of Umberto I. Abdicated. 1911 Italy invades Ottoman Libya. An Italian protectorate is declared in 1912, and the region is governed by Italy in this fashion until 1934, when the colony of Libya is formed. 1915 - 1919 In the secret Treaty of London of 26 April 1915, Italy agrees to abandon its allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary, declaring war on them instead. Italy has been promised territory in compensation for its change of allegiance, which will certainly be at Austria's expense. With the collapse of Austria's empire at the end of the First World War, and the agreement of a ceasefire on 3 November 1918, Italy inherits the province of Istria. The victory elevates Italy to a major power and gains it a permanent seat at the League of Nations. In 1919, Italy also gains the Canal Valley region of Carinthia from Austria under the terms of the Treaty of St Germain. 1922 The fascist leader Benito Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy and has the support (officially, at least) of the king. He also seeks to heal the breach between the Papacy and the state, an act that will strengthen his position, but this takes until 1929 to achieve. Totalitarian rule is established over the country and political and intellectual opposition is crushed. 1929 The Pope and Mussolini sign the Lateran Treaty, finally settling the breach between the Italian government and the papacy that has existed since the seizure of the Papal States in 1870. The treaty establishes the independent Vatican City State. 1936 - 1939 In 1936 Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after a short military campaign in which mustard gas is used. For much of the Spanish Civil War both Germany and Italy supply weapons and even aircraft to General Franco's forces. 1939 - 1941 Italy invades and occupies Albania in 1939. The following year it demands to be allowed to station troops in Greece, but the Greek king refuses. The resultant Greco-Italian War is a victory for Greece, with southern Albania also being occupied. Nazi Germany is forced to intervene, invading Greece in 1941 and capturing it. In the same year, the USA and Cuba enter the war against Italy and on the side of the allies.Mussolini is hung 1943 - 1945 The Italian fleet surrenders at Valetta, Malta, on 10 September 1943, giving Britain's Royal Navy control of the Mediterranean. With the collapse and surrender of the Italians, northern and central Italy is occupied by Nazi Germans. Mussolini is summarily executed the day after he is captured by communist partisans on 27 April 1945, as he attempts to escape to Switzerland. 1946 Umberto II Son. Succeeded 9 May, abdicated 12 June. 1946 A constitutional referendum is held in the country and Italians take the decision to form a republic. The king is forced into exile as punishment for his support of Mussolini.

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