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43-560: Three bridges are incorporated into the causeway, the center one being a Strauss trunnion bascule lift bridge , which was designed by Joseph Strauss , who designed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco . The La Salle Causeway was named after René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle . who oversaw the construction of Fort Frontenac in 1673 at what is now the western end of the causeway. The first attempt at transportation across

86-616: A large surface contact area between the trunnion and the cylinder. In airframe engineering, these are self-contained concentric bearings that are designed to offer fluid movement in a critical area of the steering. The term is also used to describe the wheel that a rotating cylinder runs on. For example, a lapidary (stone-polishing) cylinder runs on a pair of rollers, similar to trunnions. The sugar industry uses rotating cylinders up to 22 feet (7 m) in diameter, 131 ft (40 m) long, and weighing around 1,000 tons . These rotate at around 30 revolutions per hour. They are supported on

129-516: A long-term closure of the bridge. On May 28, 2024, Public Services and Procurement Canada announced that the lift bridge will be demolished and replaced by a new moveable bridge. On October 3, 2024, a temporary modular bridge that has replaced the lift bridge was opened to traffic and pedestrians. 44°14′4.8″N 76°28′28.5″W  /  44.234667°N 76.474583°W  / 44.234667; -76.474583 Trunnion A trunnion (from Old French trognon  'trunk')

172-536: A pathring, which runs on trunnions. Similar devices called rotary kilns are used in cement manufacturing. In mining, some refining plants utilise drum scrubbers in the process that are supported by a large trunnion and associated trunnion bearings at each end. Charles VIII of France Charles VIII , called the Affable (French: l'Affable ; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at

215-551: A psychological effect on the battlefield; owning these giant mortars did not guarantee any army a victory. The French saw the limitations of these massive weapons and focused their efforts on improving their smaller and lighter guns, which used smaller, more manageable projectiles combined with larger amounts of gunpowder. Equipping them with trunnions was key for two reasons. First, teams of horses could now move these cannons fast enough to keep up with their armies and no longer had to stop and dismount them from their carriages to achieve

258-506: A series of concessions to neighbouring monarchs and, due to his revolutionary artillery, conquered the Italian Peninsula without much opposition. A coalition formed against the French invasion of 1494–1498 attempted to stop Charles' army at Fornovo, but failed and Charles marched his army back to France. Charles died in 1498 after accidentally striking his head on the lintel of a door at

301-445: A shaft (the trunnion) is inserted into (and turns inside) a full or partial cylinder. In a cannon , the trunnions are two projections cast just forward of the center of mass of the cannon and fixed to a two-wheeled movable gun carriage . As they allowed the muzzle to be raised and lowered easily, the integral casting of trunnions is seen by military historians as one of the most important advances in early field artillery . With

344-814: A team of men or horses could pull them. Due to its capabilities, the French- and Burgundy-designed siege gun, equipped with its trunnions, required little significant modification from around 1465 to the 1840s. King Charles VIII and the French army used this new gun in the 1494 invasion of Italy . Although deemed masters of war and artillery at that time, Italians had not anticipated the innovations in French siege weaponry. Prior to this, field artillery guns were huge, large-caliber bombards: superguns that, along with enormous stones or other projectiles, were dragged from destination to destination. These behemoths could only be used effectively in sieges, and more often than not provided just

387-531: A trunnion which extends into the mass of the dam or lock. The Tainter gate is used in water control dams and locks worldwide. The Upper Mississippi River basin alone has 321 Tainter gates, and the Columbia River basin has 195. In mechanical engineering, it is one part of a rotating joint where a shaft (the trunnion) is inserted into (and turns inside) a full or partial cylinder. Often used in opposing pairs, this joint allows tight tolerances and strength from

430-416: Is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting or pivoting point. First associated with cannons, they are an important military development. Alternatively, a trunnion is a shaft that positions and supports a tilting plate. This is a misnomer, as in reality it is a cradle for the true trunnion. In mechanical engineering (see the trunnion bearing section below), it is one part of a rotating joint where

473-680: The Château d'Amboise , his place of birth. Since he had no male heir, he was succeeded by his second cousin once removed and brother-in-law at the time, Louis XII , from the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois . Charles was born at the Château d'Amboise in France, the only surviving son of King Louis XI by his second wife Charlotte of Savoy . His godparents were Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (the godchild's namesake), Joan of Valois, Duchess of Bourbon , and

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516-504: The Clos Lucé in Amboise. There still remained the matter of Charles' first betrothed, the young Margaret of Austria. Although the cancellation of her betrothal meant that she by rights should have been returned to her family, Charles did not initially do so, intending to marry her usefully elsewhere in France. Eventually, in 1493, she was returned to her family, together with her dowry – though

559-660: The Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in a ceremony of questionable validity. Preoccupied by the problematic succession in the Kingdom of Hungary , Maximilian failed to press his claim. Upon his marriage, Charles became administrator of Brittany and established a personal union that enabled France to avoid total encirclement by Habsburg territories . To secure his rights to the Neapolitan throne that René of Anjou had left to his father, Charles made

602-657: The Kingdom of Spain , the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Naples, appeared to have trapped Charles in southern Italy and blocked his return to France. Charles would have to cross the territory of at least some of the League members to return home to France. At Fornovo in July 1495, the League was unable to stop Charles from marching his army out of Italy. The League lost 2,000 men to Charles' 1,000 and, although Charles lost nearly all

645-1031: The Duchy of Burgundy was retained in the Treaty of Senlis . Around the king there was a circle of court poets, the most memorable being the Italian humanist Publio Fausto Andrelini from Forlì , who spread Renaissance humanism in France. During a pilgrimage to pay respects to his father's remains, Charles observed Mont Aiguille and ordered Antoine de Ville to ascend to the summit in an early technical alpine climb, later alluded to by Rabelais . To secure France against invasions, Charles made treaties with Maximilian I of Austria (the Treaty of Senlis with Maximilian of Austria on 19 January 1493), Ferdinand II of Aragon (The Treaty of Barcelona (1493) ), and England (the Treaty of Étaples with England on 3 November 1492), buying their neutrality with large concessions. The English monarch Henry VII had forced Charles to abandon his support for

688-524: The French Army took Naples without a pitched battle or siege; Alfonso was expelled, and Charles was crowned King of Naples. There were those in the Republic of Florence who appreciated the presence of the French king and his Army. The famous friar Savonarola believed that King Charles VIII was God's tool to purify the corruption of Florence. He believed that once Charles had ousted the evil sinners of Florence,

731-551: The State. The speed and power of the French advance frightened the other Italian rulers, including the Pope and even Ludovico of Milan. They formed an anti-French coalition, the League of Venice on 31 March 1495. The formation of the League of Venice, which included the northern Italian states of Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Mantua, and the Republic of Florence in addition to

774-542: The advent of these new weapons. Defensive tactics and fortifications had to be altered since these new weapons could be transported so speedily and aimed with much more accuracy at strategic locations. Two significant changes were the additions of a ditch and low, sloping ramparts of packed earth ( glacis ) that would surround the city and absorb the impact of the cannonballs, and the replacement of round watchtowers with angular bastions . These towers would be deemed trace Italienne. Whoever could afford these new weapons had

817-497: The affairs of other Italian states was continued by his successor, Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), when the latter supported a plan for a carving out a new state in central Italy. The new state would have impacted on Milan more than any of the other states involved. Consequently, in 1493, Ludovico Sforza , the Duke of Milan , appealed for help to Charles VIII. Charles then returned Perpignan to Ferdinand II of Aragon to free up forces for

860-533: The age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Duke of Bourbon until 1491, when the young king turned 21 years of age. During Anne's regency, the great lords rebelled against royal centralisation efforts in a conflict known as the Mad War (1485–1488), which resulted in a victory for the royal government. In a remarkable stroke of audacity, Charles married Anne of Brittany in 1491 after she had already been married by proxy to

903-527: The booty of the campaign, the League was unable to stop him from crossing their territory on his way back to France. Meanwhile, Charles' remaining garrisons in Naples were quickly subdued by Aragonese forces sent by Ferdinand II of Aragon , ally of Alfonso on 6–7 July 1495. Thus in the end, Charles VIII lost all the gains that he had made in Italy. Over the next few years, Charles VIII tried to rebuild his army and resume

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946-456: The bridge, and since pedestrians were charged a penny, the bridge was popularly known as the "Penny Bridge." A drawbridge allowed larger vessels to pass through but was eventually replaced by an easier-to-operate swing bridge . In 1917, the Penny Bridge was replaced by the causeway which included three bridges: two bridges at each end of the causeway, and the center bascule lift bridge. Only

989-402: The campaign, but he was hampered by the large debts incurred in 1494–95. He never succeeded in gaining anything substantive. Charles died in 1498, two and a half years after his retreat from Italy, as the result of an accident. While on his way to watch a game of jeu de paume ( real tennis ) in Amboise he struck his head on the lintel of a door. At around 2:00 p.m., while returning from

1032-577: The center of mass to allow the barrel to be elevated to any desired angle, without having to dismount it from the carriage upon which it rested. Some guns had a second set of trunnions placed several feet back from the first pair, which could be used to allow for easier transportation. The gun would recoil causing the carriage to move backwards several feet but men or a team of horses could put it back into firing position. It became easier to rapidly transport these large siege guns, maneuver them from transportation mode to firing position, and they could go wherever

1075-647: The city would become a center of morality. Thus, Florence was the appropriate place to restructure the Church. This situation would eventually spill over into another conflict between Pope Alexander VI , who despised the idea of having the king in northern Italy where the Pope feared the King of France would interfere with the Papal States, and Savonarola, who called for the king's intervention. This conflict would eventually lead Savonarola to be suspected of heresy and to be executed by

1118-540: The creation of larger and more powerful siege guns in the early 15th century, a new way of mounting them became necessary. Stouter gun carriages were created with reinforced wheels, axles, and “trails” which extended behind the gun. Guns were now as long as 2.5 metres (8 ft) in length and they were capable of shooting iron projectiles weighing from 10 to 25 kilograms (25 to 50 lb). When discharged, these wrought iron balls were comparable in range and accuracy with stone-firing bombards . Trunnions were mounted near

1161-614: The disputed succession to Mathias Corvinus , King of Hungary . Anne of Brittany was forced to renounce Maximilian (whom she had only married by proxy) and agree to be married to Charles VIII instead. In December 1491, in an elaborate ceremony at the Château de Langeais , Charles and Anne of Brittany were married. The 14-year-old Duchess Anne, not happy with the arranged marriage , arrived for her wedding with her entourage carrying two beds. However, Charles's marriage brought him independence from his relatives and thereafter he managed affairs according to his own inclinations. Queen Anne lived at

1204-483: The game, he fell into a sudden coma and died nine hours later. Charles bequeathed a meagre legacy: he left France in debt and in disarray as a result of his ambition. However, his expedition did strengthen cultural ties to Italy, energizing French art and literature in the latter part of the Renaissance . Since his children predeceased him, Charles was the last of the elder branch of the House of Valois . Upon his death,

1247-501: The independence of her duchy against the ambitions of France, arranged a marriage in 1490 between herself and the widower Maximilian. The regent Anne of France and her husband Peter refused to countenance such a marriage, however, since it would place Maximilian and his family, the Habsburgs, on two French borders. The French army invaded Brittany, taking advantage of the preoccupation of Maximilian and his father, Emperor Frederick III , with

1290-548: The invasion of Italy. The next year in 1494, Milan faced an additional threat. On 25 January 1494, Ferdinand I, King of Naples , died unexpectedly. His death made Alfonso II , king of Naples. Alfonso II laid claim to the Milanese duchy. Alfonso II now urged Charles to take Milan militarily. Charles was also urged on in this adventure by his favorite courtier, Étienne de Vesc . Thus, Charles came to imagine himself capable of actually taking Naples, and invaded Italy. In an event that

1333-500: The nobility began to pay their taxes and more closely follow their ruler’s mandates. With siege guns mounted on trunnions, stronger and larger states were formed, but because of this, struggles between neighboring governments with consolidated power began to ensue and would continue to plague Europe for the next few centuries. A common floodgate used in dams and canal locks is the Tainter gate . This gate opens and closes by pivoting on

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1376-486: The novel The Sultan's Helmsman . In the 2011 Showtime series The Borgias , Charles VIII is portrayed by French actor Michel Muller . In the 2011 French-German historical drama Borgia , Charles VIII is played by Simon Larvaron. The event of the king's death is depicted in the TV series Borgia with a small twist: in the episode, Charles himself plays a game of jeu de paume with Cesare Borgia and loses; while leaving

1419-416: The original center lift bridge remains since the steel bridges at the east and the west ends of the causeway were replaced with concrete bridges in 1962 and 1993, respectively. On March 30, 2024, a diagonal steel truss element supporting the counterweight on the lift bridge was damaged while work was carried out to strengthen it. Public Services and Procurement Canada soon followed with an announcement about

1462-520: The pretender Perkin Warbeck by despatching an expedition which laid siege to Boulogne . He devoted France's resources to building up a large army, including one of Europe's first siege trains with artillery . In 1489, Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492), then being at odds with Ferdinand I of Naples , offered Naples to Charles, who had a vague claim to the Kingdom of Naples through his paternal grandmother, Marie of Anjou . Innocent's policy of meddling in

1505-445: The proper range before firing; second, the capability to adjust firing angle without having to lift the entire weight of the gun allowed tactical selection and reselection of targets rather than being deployed solely on the first target chosen. Francesco Guicciardini , an Italian historian and statesman, wrote that the cannons were placed against town walls so quickly, spaced together so closely and shot so rapidly and with such force that

1548-466: The river was a cable-operated scow type of ferry that began operating in 1786. Two rowboats were often available for use as well. In 1826, the Cataraqui Bridge Company was formed to build a wooden bridge "1800 feet long by 25 feet wide and built on stone piers" (549 × 7.6 m). The Cataraqui Bridge was opened in 1829. Tolls were collected from a toll booth on the west end of

1591-492: The tactical advantage over their neighbors and smaller sovereignties, which could not incorporate them into their army. Smaller states, such as the principalities of Italy, began to conglomerate. Preexisting stronger entities, such as France or the Habsburg emperors, were able to expand their territories and maintain a tighter control over the land they already occupied. With the potential threat of their land and castles being seized,

1634-399: The teenage Edward of Westminster , the son of Henry VI of England who had been living in France since the deposition of his father by Edward IV . Charles succeeded to the throne on 30 August 1483 at the age of 13. His health was poor. He was regarded by his contemporaries as possessing a pleasant disposition, but also as foolish and unsuited for the business of the state. In accordance with

1677-516: The throne passed to his brother-in-law and second cousin once removed, Louis XII . Anne returned to Brittany and began taking steps to regain the independence of her duchy. In order to stymie these efforts, Louis XII had his 24-year childless marriage to Charles's sister, Joan , annulled and married Anne. Charles and Anne had: The 1671 English play Charles VIII of France by John Crowne depicts his reign. Charles VIII's invasion of Italy and his relations with Pope Alexander VI are depicted in

1720-427: The time for a significant amount of damage to be inflicted went from a matter of days (as with bombards) to a matter of hours. For the first time in history, as seen in the 1512 battle of Ravenna and the 1515 Battle of Marignano , artillery weaponry played a very decisive part in the victory of the invading army over the city under siege. Cities that had proudly withstood sieges for up to seven years fell swiftly with

1763-562: The wishes of Louis XI, the regency of the kingdom was granted to Charles' elder sister Anne , a formidably intelligent and shrewd woman described by her father as "the least foolish woman in France". She ruled as regent, together with her husband Peter of Bourbon, until 1491. Charles was betrothed on 22 July 1483 to the 3-year-old Margaret of Austria , daughter of the Archduke Maximilian of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I ) and Mary, Duchess of Burgundy . The marriage

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1806-607: Was arranged by Louis XI, Maximilian, and the Estates of the Low Countries as part of the 1482 Peace of Arras between France and the Duchy of Burgundy . Margaret brought the counties of Artois and Franche-Comté to France as her dowry, and she was raised in the French court as a prospective queen. In 1488, however, Francis II, Duke of Brittany , died in a riding accident, leaving his 11-year-old daughter Anne as his heir. Anne, who feared for

1849-586: Was to prove a watershed in Italian history, Charles invaded Italy with 25,000 men (including 8,000 Swiss mercenaries ) in September 1494 and marched across the peninsula virtually unopposed, using gunpowder artillery powerful enough to rapidly reduce Italian fortifications not designed to endure it. He arrived in Pavia on 21 October 1494 and entered Pisa on 8 November 1494. The French army subdued Florence in passing on their way south. Reaching Naples on 22 February 1495,

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