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149-556: The avvisi found their origins, and peaked, in the early modern Italian world in Rome and Venice. In the Middle Ages, diplomats, merchants, and scholars would gather information and keep records about news that were relevant to them through journals, account books, and letters. The latter of these became part of a complex network of correspondence, such as that compiled in the Fuggerzeitungen ,

298-572: A contingent of fellow Protestant militias from Germany – including 14,000 mercenary reiters led by the Calvinist Duke of Zweibrücken . After the Duke was killed in action, his troops remained under the employ of the Huguenots who had raised a loan from England against the security of Jeanne d'Albret 's crown jewels. Much of the Huguenots' financing came from Queen Elizabeth of England, who

447-610: A cost to the state of 1,000 crowns per week. The electress donated much of her fortune to charity: £4,000 a month. On 19 February 1743, she died, and the grand ducal line of the House of Medici died with her. The Florentines grieved her, and she was interred in the crypt that she helped to complete, San Lorenzo. The extinction of the main Medici dynasty and the accession in 1737 of Francis Stephen , Duke of Lorraine and husband of Maria Theresa of Austria , led to Tuscany's temporary inclusion in

596-571: A court official stationed in Brussels "I remind you again about the attachments [of avvisi] and I await the gazettes and will accept no excuse." Avvisi were highly influential in the public opinion of events and different agents would attempt to limit or increase their availability depending on their agenda. After the Great Armada was destroyed, the Spanish Minister of War both suppressed reports of

745-668: A definitive ruling by classifying "Lutherans" as heretical Zwinglians . Calvin, originally from Noyon in Picardy , went into exile in 1535 to escape persecution and settled in Basel , where he published the Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1538. This work contained the key principles of Calvinism , which became immensely popular in France and other European countries. While Lutheranism

894-477: A high proportion of the major Florentine works of art created during their period of rule. Their support was critical, since artists generally began work on their projects only after they had received commissions. Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, the first patron of the arts in the family, aided Masaccio and commissioned Filippo Brunelleschi for the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence in 1419. Cosimo

1043-399: A long rivalry themselves, but the pope gave no official sanction to the plan. Despite his refusal of official approval, the pope nonetheless allowed the plot to proceed without interfering, and, after the failed assassination of Lorenzo, also gave dispensation for crimes done in the service of the church. After this, Lorenzo adopted his brother's illegitimate son Giulio de' Medici (1478–1535),

1192-497: A peaceful solution led to the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (8 August 1570), negotiated by Jeanne d'Albret, which once more allowed some concessions to the Huguenots. With the kingdom once more at peace, the crown began seeking a policy of reconciliation to bring the fractured polity back together. One key part of this was to be a marriage between Navarre , the son of Jeanne d'Albret and Antoine of Navarre, and Margaret of Valois ,

1341-606: A prolonged struggle for power between his widow Catherine de' Medici and powerful nobles. These included a fervently Catholic faction led by the Guise and Montmorency families, and Protestants headed by the House of Condé and Jeanne d'Albret . Both sides received assistance from external powers, with Spain and Savoy supporting the Catholics, and England and the Dutch Republic backing

1490-564: A series of civil wars between French Catholics and Protestants (called Huguenots ) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease directly caused by the conflict, and it severely damaged the power of the French monarchy. One of its most notorious episodes was the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572. The fighting ended with a compromise in 1598, when Henry of Navarre, who had converted to Catholicism in 1593,

1639-548: A sudden introduction in society but rather an evolved form of previous ways of reporting information of interest. Avvisi were also an important contributor in the creation of Grand Duchy of Tuscany 's early postal service under the Medici, as the court put a heavy interest in acquiring the political intrigue they contained. House of Medici The House of Medici ( English: / ˈ m ɛ d ɪ tʃ i / MED -itch-ee , UK also / m ə ˈ d iː tʃ i / mə- DEE -chee ; Italian: [ˈmɛːditʃi] )

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1788-418: A threat to their job security), and clients desiring the status offered by hand-written information as opposed to the "vulgar" print. Printed zeitungen, meanwhile, were available both earlier and with wider readership to their Italian counterparts. The avvisi would then be distributed by regular news services and organized courier networks. Whether newsletters were sent weekly, bi-weekly, or annually depended on

1937-630: A time. From this base, they acquired political power initially in Florence and later in wider Italy and Europe. They were among the earliest businesses to use the general ledger system of accounting through the development of the double-entry bookkeeping system for tracking credits and debits. The Medici family financed the construction of Saint Peter's Basilica and Florence Cathedral , and were patrons of Donatello , Brunelleschi , Botticelli , Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo , Raphael , Machiavelli , Galileo , and Francesco Redi , among many others in

2086-687: A view to religious renewal and reform. Humanist scholars argued interpretation of the Bible required an ability to read the New Testament and Old Testaments in the original Greek and Hebrew , rather than relying on the 4th century Latin translation known as the " Vulgate Bible". In 1495, the Venetian Aldus Manutius began using the newly invented printing press to produce small, inexpensive, pocket editions of Greek, Latin, and vernacular literature, making knowledge in all disciplines available for

2235-412: Is generally seen as the spark which led to open hostilities between the two religions. Guyenne was the epicentre of the turn to religious violence in late 16th-century France. Many explanations have been proffered for the rise of violence. Traditional explanations focus on the influence of Jeanne d'Albret and Antoine of Navarre. Other explanations focus on the rise of seigneurialism in the 1550s and see

2384-477: Is most remembered as the patron of astronomer Galileo Galilei , whose 1610 treatise, Sidereus Nuncius , was dedicated to him. Cosimo died of consumption ( tuberculosis ) in 1621. Cosimo's elder son, Ferdinando, was not yet of legal maturity to succeed him, thus Maria Maddalena and his grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, acted as regents. Their collective regency is known as the Turtici . Maria Maddelana's temperament

2533-598: The Albizzi or the Strozzi . One Salvestro de' Medici was speaker of the woolmakers' guild during the Ciompi revolt of 1378–82, and one Antonio de' Medici was exiled from Florence in 1396. Involvement in another plot in 1400 caused all branches of the family to be banned from Florentine politics for twenty years, with the exception of two. Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (c. 1360–1429), son of Averardo de' Medici (1320–1363), increased

2682-517: The Bardi , Altoviti , Ridolfi, Cavalcanti and the Tornabuoni. This has been suggested as a reason for the rise of the Medici family. Members of the family rose to some prominence in the early 14th century in the wool trade, especially with France and Spain . Despite the presence of some Medici in the city's government institutions , they were still far less notable than other outstanding families such as

2831-568: The Battle of Jarnac (16 March 1569), the prince of Condé was killed, forcing Admiral de Coligny to take command of the Protestant forces, nominally on behalf of Condé's 16-year-old son, Henry , and the 15-year-old Henry of Navarre , who were presented by Jeanne d'Albret as the legitimate leaders of the Huguenot cause against royal authority. The Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille was a nominal victory for

2980-771: The Congress of Vienna . Tuscany became a province of the United Kingdom of Italy in 1861. However, several extant branches of the House of Medici survive, including the Princes of Ottajano , the Medici Tornaquinci, and the Verona Medici Counts of Caprara and Gavardo . (see Medici family tree ) The greatest accomplishments of the Medici were in the sponsorship of art and architecture , mainly early and High Renaissance art and architecture. The Medici were responsible for

3129-623: The Council of Ten in the late 1500s, which both limited production of hand-written avvisi and forbade "disclosure of information". The disclosure of state secrets to other rulers carried the death penalty. After the execution of a newswriter in November 1587 in Rome, the Pope explicitly forbade the spread outside of Rome of news regarding the Curia , while Venice used a similar law to execute another newswriter earlier in

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3278-508: The Dutch Republic gave any credence to it, and the plan ultimately died with Cosimo III in 1723. On 4 April 1718, Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic (also later, Austria) selected Don Carlos of Spain , the elder child of Elisabeth Farnese and Philip V of Spain , as the Tuscan heir. By 1722, the electress was not even acknowledged as heiress, and Cosimo was reduced to spectator at

3427-725: The Edict of Nantes (13 April 1598) and the Peace of Vervins (2 May 1598) concluded the wars, while the ensuing 1620s Huguenot rebellions lead others to believe the Peace of Alès in 1629 is the actual conclusion. However, the agreed upon beginning of the wars is the Massacre of Wassy in 1562, and the Edict of Nantes at least ended this series of conflicts. During this time, complex diplomatic negotiations and agreements of peace were followed by renewed conflict and power struggles. American military historians Kiser, Drass & Brustein (1994) maintained

3576-416: The Edict of Saint-Maur revoked the freedom of Huguenots to worship. In November, William of Orange led an army into France to support his fellow Protestants, but, the army being poorly paid, he accepted the crown's offer of money and free passage to leave the country. The Huguenots gathered a formidable army under the command of Condé, aided by forces from south-east France, led by Paul de Mouvans, and

3725-582: The Luxembourg Palace by court painter Peter Paul Rubens in 1622–23. French Wars of Religion#War with Spain (1595–1598) Second; 1567–1568 Saint-Denis ; Chartres Third; 1568–1570 Jarnac ; La Roche-l'Abeille ; Poitiers ; Orthez ; Moncontour ; Saint-Jean d'Angély ; Arney-le-Duc Fourth; 1572–1573 Mons ; Sommières ; Sancerre ; La Rochelle Fifth; 1574–1576 Dormans Sixth; 1577 La Charité-sur-Loire ; Issoire ; Brouage Seventh; 1580 La Fère War of

3874-668: The Medici court's epistolary archive, and the Urbinate collection in the Vatican Library . Over time, this information that had been provided for free eventually was sold by specialists and distributed by couriers in order to meet the high demand for such a product. Multiple factors in 16th century Venice gave rise to the print culture in which the Avvisi originated. These were the growing local publishing industry, an Italian culture that encouraged

4023-557: The Napoleons ) were descended from Francesco. Ferdinando eagerly assumed the government of Tuscany. He commanded the draining of the Tuscan marshlands, built a road network in southern Tuscany and cultivated trade in Livorno . To augment the Tuscan silk industry, he oversaw the planting of mulberry trees along the major roads (silk worms feed on mulberry leaves). In foreign affairs, he shifted Tuscany away from Habsburg hegemony by marrying

4172-565: The Palazzo Medici . Later, in Rome, the Medici popes continued in the family tradition of patronizing artists in Rome. Pope Leo X would chiefly commission works from Raphael , whereas Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel just before the pontiff's death in 1534. Eleanor of Toledo , a princess of Spain and wife of Cosimo I the Great, purchased

4321-626: The Rhine added to these fears, and political discontent grew. After Protestant troops unsuccessfully tried to capture and take control of King Charles IX in the Surprise of Meaux , a number of cities, such as La Rochelle , declared themselves for the Huguenot cause. Protestants attacked and massacred Catholic laymen and clergy the following day in Nîmes , in what became known as the Michelade . This provoked

4470-574: The Vatican , including Martin Luther 's Protestant Reformation and the infamous sack of Rome in 1527 . Leo X's fun-loving pontificate bankrupted Vatican coffers and accrued massive debts. From Leo's election as pope in 1513 to his death in 1521, Florence was overseen, in turn, by Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours , Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino , and Giulio de' Medici, the latter of whom became Pope Clement VII . Clement VII's tumultuous pontificate

4619-711: The Venetian senates or the Papal consistory ; chancelleries; churches; foreign embassies; important households; and less formal environments such as shops, town squares , and market places. Information was gathered and put together individually or at a scrittoria (writer's workshop). This process was originally done by hand, with printed avvisi not appearing in Venice until late in the 17th century. Possible reasons for this were easier avoidance of censorship in hand-written form, reluctance of copyists to use printing technology (which they viewed as

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4768-525: The carnival of Venice and other such festivals as well as pasquinades . Both cities' avvisi became more diversified over time, eventually anticipating modern newspapers. Italian states originally sourced individual news pieces from German regions in Italian, but over time they began receiving them as part of complete translations of zeitungen. As a consequence, news from Central and Western Europe began to spread throughout Italy in almost identical versions due to

4917-635: The 1400s and facilitated the Medicis' rise to political power in Florence , although they officially remained citizens rather than monarchs until the 16th century. In 1532, the family acquired the hereditary title Duke of Florence . In 1569, the duchy was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany after territorial expansion. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy from its inception under the builder Cosimo I until 1737, with

5066-570: The 14th century in Italy and arrived in France in the early 16th, coinciding with the rise of Protestantism in France . The movement emphasised the importance of ad fontes , or study of original sources, and initially focused on the reconstruction of secular Greek and Latin texts. It later expanded into the reading, study and translation of works by the Church Fathers and the New Testament , with

5215-616: The 15-year-old Francis II lacked the ability to control. Francis, Duke of Guise , whose niece Mary, Queen of Scots, was married to the king, exploited the situation to establish dominance over their rivals, the House of Montmorency . Within days of the King's accession, the English ambassador reported "the house of Guise ruleth and doth all about the French King". On 10 March 1560, a group of disaffected nobles led by Jean du Barry, attempted to break

5364-532: The 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in Paris , which resulted in Catholic mobs killing between 5,000 and 30,000 Protestants throughout France. The wars threatened the authority of the monarchy and the last Valois kings, Catherine's three sons Francis II , Charles IX , and Henry III . Their Bourbon successor Henry IV responded by creating a strong central state and extending toleration to Huguenots;

5513-521: The 17th century, the population of Florence declined by 50%, and the population of the grand duchy as a whole declined by an estimated 40%. Cosimo desperately tried to reach a settlement with the European powers, but Tuscany's legal status was very complicated: the area of the grand duchy formerly comprising the Republic of Siena was technically a Spanish fief, while the territory of the old Republic of Florence

5662-472: The Castro mercenaries were paid for, the state could no longer afford to pay interest on government bonds, with the result that the interest rate was lowered by 0.75%. At that time, the economy was so decrepit that barter trade became prevalent in rural market places. Ferdinando died on 23 May 1670 afflicted by apoplexy and dropsy . He was interred in the Basilica of San Lorenzo , the Medici's necropolis. At

5811-647: The Circle of Meaux , aiming to improve the quality of preaching and religious life in general. They were joined by François Vatable , an expert in Hebrew , along with Guillaume Budé , a classicist and Royal librarian. Lefèvre's Fivefold Psalter and his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans emphasised the literal interpretation of the Bible and the centrality of Jesus Christ . Many of

5960-527: The Duchies of Rovere and Montefeltro , passed to her younger son. Cosimo III married Marguerite Louise d'Orléans , a granddaughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici. An exceedingly discontented pairing, this union produced three children, notably Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, Electress Palatine , and the last Medicean Grand Duke of Tuscany, Gian Gastone de' Medici . Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine , Anna Maria Luisa's spouse, successfully requisitioned

6109-568: The Elder , the youngest son of Giovanni di Bicci, starting with his great-great-grandson Cosimo I "the Great" . Cosimo the Elder and his father started the Medici foundations in banking and manufacturing—including a form of franchises . The family's influence grew with its patronage of wealth, art, and culture. Ultimately, it reached its zenith in the papacy and continued to flourish for centuries afterward as Dukes of Florence and Tuscany. At least half, probably more, of Florence's people were employed by

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6258-558: The Elder's notable artistic associates were Donatello and Fra Angelico . In later years the most significant protégé of the Medici family was Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), who produced work for a number of family members, beginning with Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was said to be extremely fond of the young Michelangelo and invited him to study the family collection of antique sculpture. Lorenzo also served as patron to Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) for seven years. Indeed, Lorenzo

6407-503: The English in 1562 as part of the Treaty of Hampton Court between its Huguenot leaders and Elizabeth I of England . That July, the French expelled the English. On 17 August 1563, Charles IX was declared of age at the Parlement of Rouen ending the regency of Catherine de Medici. His mother continued to play a principal role in politics, and she joined her son on a Grand Tour of

6556-607: The European output in that period. However, the Italians' production of news would eventually fall behind in output and readership to German news writers. Germany and the Spanish Netherlands followed a similar process to Italy later on in the century, with Antwerp and Cologne emerging as significant producers of news sheets, in their case called Zeitungen . These reports originated more significantly from commercial sources than their Italian predecessors. German zeitungen reached

6705-635: The Florentine Republic). The Medici additionally benefited from the discovery of vast deposits of alum in Tolfa in 1461. Alum is essential as a mordant in the dyeing of certain cloths and was used extensively in Florence, where the main industry was textile manufacturing. Before the Medici, the Turks were the only exporters of alum, so Europe was forced to buy from them until the discovery in Tolfa. Pius II granted

6854-464: The French nobility also generally supported the status quo and existing policies. Despite his personal opposition, Francis tolerated Martin Luther ’s ideas when they entered France in the late 1520s, largely because the definition of Catholic orthodoxy was unclear, making it hard to determine precisely what was or was not heresy . He tried to steer a middle course in the developing religious schism, but in January 1535, Catholic authorities made

7003-524: The Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Cosimo purchased a portion of the island of Elba from the Republic of Genoa and based the Tuscan navy there. He died in 1574, succeeded by his eldest surviving son Francesco , whose death without male heirs led to the succession of his younger brother, Ferdinando , in 1587. Francesco married Johanna of Austria , and with his consort produced Eleonora de' Medici , Duchess of Mantua, and Marie de' Medici , Queen of France and Navarre. Through Marie, all succeeding French monarchs (bar

7152-404: The Grand Duchy, a law later overturned, but resurrected by Maria Maddalena's grandson, Cosimo III . Harold Acton , an Anglo-Italian historian, ascribed the decline of Tuscany to the Turtici regency. Grand Duke Ferdinado was obsessed with new technology, and had a variety of hygrometers, barometers, thermometers, and telescopes installed in the Palazzo Pitti . In 1657, Leopoldo de' Medici ,

7301-416: The Grand Duke's youngest brother, established the Accademia del Cimento , organized to attract scientists to Florence from all over Tuscany for mutual study. Tuscany participated in the Wars of Castro (the last time Medicean Tuscany proper was involved in a conflict) and inflicted a defeat on the forces of Pope Urban VIII in 1643. The war effort was costly and the treasury so empty because of it that when

7450-429: The Guisard compromise of scaling back persecution but not permitting toleration . For the moment she held to the Guisard line. Before his death, Francis II had called the first Estates General held since 1484, which in December 1560 assembled in Orléans to discuss topics which included taxation and religion. It made little progress on the latter, other than agreeing to pardon those convicted of religious offences in

7599-608: The Holy Roman Church), Alessandro de' Medici (future duke of Florence), and their guardians. In 1530, after allying himself with Charles V, Pope Clement VII succeeded in securing the engagement of Charles V's daughter Margeret of Austria to his illegitimate nephew (reputedly his son) Alessandro de' Medici . Clement also convinced Charles V to name Alessandro as Duke of Florence. Thus began the reign of Medici monarchs in Florence, which lasted two centuries. After securing Alessandro de' Medici's dukedom, Pope Clement VII married off his first cousin, twice removed, Catherine de' Medici , to

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7748-462: The Huguenots, but they were unable to seize control of Poitiers and were soundly defeated at the Battle of Moncontour (30 October 1569). Coligny and his troops retreated to the south-west and regrouped with Gabriel, comte de Montgomery , and in spring of 1570, they pillaged Toulouse , cut a path through the south of France, and went up the Rhone valley up to La Charité-sur-Loire . The staggering royal debt and Charles IX's desire to seek

7897-516: The Medici and their foundational branches in business. The Medici briefly became leaders of Western Christendom through their two famous 16th century popes, Leo X and Clement VII . Both also served as de facto political rulers of Rome, Florence, and large swaths of Italy known as the Papal States . They were generous patrons of the arts who commissioned masterpieces such as Raphael 's Transfiguration and Michelangelo 's The Last Judgment ; however, their reigns coincided with troubles for

8046-399: The Medici family a monopoly on the mining there, making them the primary producers of alum in Europe. Three successive generations of the Medici—Cosimo, Piero, and Lorenzo—ruled over Florence through the greater part of the 15th century. They clearly dominated Florentine representative government without abolishing it altogether. These three members of the Medici family had great skills in

8195-410: The Medici to the Tuscan state, provided that nothing was ever removed from Florence. The "Lorrainers", as the occupying forces were called, were popularly loathed, but the regent, the Prince de Craon, allowed the electress to live unperturbed in the Palazzo Pitti . She occupied herself with financing and overseeing the construction of the Basilica of San Lorenzo , started in 1604 by Ferdinando I , at

8344-450: The Medici, first under Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici , later under his son Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici and great-grandson, Lorenzo de' Medici . The Medici controlled the Medici Bank—then Europe's largest bank—and an array of other enterprises in Florence and elsewhere. In 1433, the Albizzi managed to have Cosimo exiled. The next year, however, a pro-Medici Signoria (civic government) led by Tommaso Soderini, Oddo Altoviti and Lucca Pitti

8493-594: The Papal reception of Protestant German princes in 1601 mentions this was done "to put them in the mood for a good conversion", while German coverage says the action should be understood as a sign of respect to the power of one of the princes . The differences between these reports shows the differences in both the religious and political opinion of the two regions. Avvisi were helpful to preventing epidemics, as whenever they raised suspicion of plague in other cities nearby Italian cities were able to institute control measures in response. These were often draconian, such as in

8642-404: The Pitti Palace from Buonaccorso Pitti in 1550. Cosimo in turn patronized Vasari , who erected the Uffizi Gallery in 1560 and founded the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno – ("Academy of the Arts of Drawing") in 1563. Marie de' Medici , widow of Henry IV of France and mother of Louis XIII , is the subject of a commissioned cycle of paintings known as the Marie de' Medici cycle , painted for

8791-414: The Protestants led by de Bèze and the Catholics by Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine , brother of the Duke of Guise. The two sides initially sought to accommodate Protestant forms of worship within the existing church but this proved impossible. By the time the Colloquy ended on 8 October, it was clear the divide between Catholic and Protestant theology was too wide to be bridged. With their options narrowing,

8940-470: The Protestants. Moderates, also known as Politiques , hoped to maintain order by centralising power and making concessions to Huguenots, rather than the policies of repression pursued by Henry II and his father Francis I . They were initially supported by Catherine de' Medici, whose January 1562 Edict of Saint-Germain was strongly opposed by the Guise faction and led to an outbreak of widespread fighting in March. She later hardened her stance and backed

9089-480: The Seventh War of Religion to 1579–1580 rather than just 1580. Holt (2005) asserted a rather different periodisation from 1562 to 1629, writing of 'civil wars' rather than wars of religion, dating the Sixth War to March–September 1577, and dating the Eight War from June 1584 (death of Anjou) to April 1598 (Edict of Nantes); finally, although he didn't put a number on it, Holt regarded the 1610–1629 period as 'the last war of religion'. Renaissance humanism began during

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9238-467: The Three Henrys (1585–1589) Coutras ; Vimory ; Auneau ; Day of the Barricades Succession of Henry IV of France (1589–1594) Arques ; Ivry ; Paris ; Château-Laudran ; Rouen ; Caudebec ; Craon ; 1st Luxembourg ; Blaye ; Morlaix ; Fort Crozon Franco-Spanish War (1595–1598) 2nd Luxembourg ; Fontaine-Française ; Ham ; Le Catelet ; Doullens ; Cambrai ; Calais ; La Fère ; Ardres ; Amiens The French Wars of Religion were

9387-558: The aftermath of the plot, the term " Huguenot " for France's Protestants came into widespread usage. Shortly afterwards, the first instances of Protestant iconoclasm or the destruction of images and statues in Catholic churches, occurred in Rouen and La Rochelle . This continued throughout 1561 in more than 20 cities and towns, sparking attacks on Protestants by Catholic mobs in Sens , Cahors , Carcassonne , Tours and elsewhere. When Francis II died on 5 December 1560, his mother Catherine de' Medici became regent for her second son,

9536-553: The archive of Medici court letters, includes creations from London and Constantinople in its over 100 volumes of avvisi, while the Fuggerzeitungen contains sheets originating in 88 different places. The networks of individuals that compiled and traded in avvisi could be similarly diverse. One such example is Ulisse del Pace who was active in Trento and collected, transcribed, or forwarded news from Venice, Trento, Perugia , Milan, Rome and Turin within Italy and also Antwerp, Cologne, Prague , Lyon and Istanbul elsewhere. Such

9685-414: The arts and sciences. They funded the invention of the piano , and arguably that of opera , They were also protagonists of the Counter-Reformation , from the beginning of the Reformation through the Council of Trent and the French Wars of Religion . The Medici family came from the agricultural Mugello region north of Florence, and they are first mentioned in a document of 1230. The origin of

9834-407: The blood of my brother and of myself, should be ended by any means. My desire is that by my life or my death, my misfortune or my prosperity, I may contribute to the welfare of our city... I go full of hope, praying to God to give me grace to perform what every citizen should at all times be ready to perform for his country. The exile of the Medici lasted until 1512, after which the "senior" branch of

9983-525: The case of a Milanese courier that was shot to death in 1575 by order of Florentine ruler Francesco I de' Medici after being suspected of carrying the disease. Intercity traffic would be blocked as a quarantine measure, and therefore the lack of or late arrival of news from a certain city or area allowed governments to plan responses in advance. Distribution of the avvisi began with the sources of information, often anonymous. Reporters had networks of contacts filtering information from legislative bodies such as

10132-443: The city of Orléans to the siege, led Catherine de' Medici to mediate a truce, resulting in the Edict of Amboise on 19 March 1563. The Edict of Amboise was generally regarded as unsatisfactory by all concerned, and the Guise faction was particularly opposed to what they saw as dangerous concessions to heretics . The crown tried to re-unite the two factions in its efforts to re-capture Le Havre , which had been occupied by

10281-439: The conferences for Tuscany's future. On 25 October 1723, six days before his death, Grand Duke Cosimo disseminated a final proclamation commanding that Tuscany stay independent: Anna Maria Luisa would succeed uninhibited to Tuscany after Gian Gastone, and the grand duke reserved the right to choose his successor. However, these portions of his proclamation were completely ignored, and he died a few days later. Gian Gastone despised

10430-407: The conflict escalated, the Crown revoked the Edict under pressure from the Guise faction. The major engagements of the war occurred at Rouen , Dreux , and Orléans . At the Siege of Rouen (May–October 1562), the crown regained the city, but Antoine of Navarre died of his wounds. In the Battle of Dreux (December 1562), Condé was captured by the crown, and the constable Montmorency

10579-450: The consolidation of news sources, and vice versa through a similar process. The German zeitungen were also somewhat different in content to the avvisi, usually a third shorter and would mention much fewer people. In addition, zeitungen would usually report four or five items, whereas the number of items and detail in avvisi would vary based on proximity to the events. Zeitungen would also cover military aspects of conflicts in more detail than

10728-444: The consultation of many merchants when information was vague. German translations of avvisi show attempts by translators to reduce the amount of subjective analysis in their sources through such methods. False avvisi were still useful, however, to understand propaganda campaigns by other states, possible trends in public opinion, or international reception of one's own government and so were still analyzed. For example, Roman coverage of

10877-474: The conversion to Calvinism of large sections of the nobility. Historians estimate that by the outbreak of war in 1562, there were around two million French Calvinists, including more than half of the nobility, backed by 1,200–1,250 churches. This constituted a substantial threat to the monarchy. The death of Henry II in July 1559 created a political vacuum and an internal struggle for power between rival factions, which

11026-481: The death of Gian Gastone de' Medici . The Medici produced four popes of the Catholic Church— Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), Pope Pius IV (1559–1565) and Pope Leo XI (1605)—and two queens of France— Catherine de' Medici (1547–1559) and Marie de' Medici (1600–1610). The Medici's grand duchy witnessed degrees of economic growth under the early grand dukes, but was bankrupt by

11175-501: The death of Giuliano and an injured Lorenzo. The conspiracy involved the Pazzi and Salviati families, both rival banking families seeking to end the influence of the Medici, as well as the priest presiding over the church services, the Archbishop of Pisa , and even Pope Sixtus IV to a degree. The conspirators approached Sixtus IV in the hopes of gaining his approval, as he and the Medici had

11324-409: The delivery of avvisi to other realms quickly became a political tool that paralyzed government functionaries, while the sharing of rare avvisi was used to strengthen alliances. The news sheets became highly useful in warfare, such as in the management of logistics or predicting the progress of conflict. Such was their importance that while preparing to lay siege to Calais , a Tuscan commander wrote to

11473-515: The dignity Royal Highness for the Grand Duke and his family in 1691, despite the fact that they had no claim to any kingdom. Cosimo frequently paid the Holy Roman Emperor, his nominal feudal overlord, exorbitant dues, and he sent munitions to the emperor during the Battle of Vienna . The Medici lacked male heirs, and by 1705, the grand ducal treasury was virtually bankrupt. In comparison to

11622-560: The door of his bedchamber. Having been severely criticised for his initial tolerance, he was now encouraged to punish those responsible. On 21 February 1535, a number of those implicated in the Affair were executed in front of Notre-Dame de Paris , an event attended by Francis and members of the Ottoman embassy to France . The fight against heresy intensified in the 1540s, forcing Protestants to worship in secret. In October 1545, Francis ordered

11771-548: The electress for engineering his catastrophic marriage to Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg ; while she abhorred her brother's liberal policies, he repealed all of his father's anti-Semitic statutes. Gian Gastone revelled in upsetting her. On 25 October 1731, a Spanish detachment occupied Florence on behalf of Don Carlos, who disembarked in Tuscany in December of the same year. The Ruspanti , Gian Gastone's decrepit entourage, loathed

11920-480: The electress, and she them. Duchess Violante of Bavaria , Gian Gastone's sister-in-law, tried to withdraw the grand duke from the sphere of influence of the Ruspanti by organising banquets. His conduct at the banquets was less than regal; he often vomited repeatedly into his napkin, belched, and regaled those present with socially inappropriate jokes. Following a sprained ankle in 1731, he remained confined to his bed for

12069-518: The enemy's newsletters is for the government to have its own avviso. Avvisi and zeitungen remain an important aspect of European society in the transitionary period during the introduction of the printing press. The regular publishing schedule and public reading of these news sheets display a complex and active intellectual and cultural life in European courts and major cities through which the novel printing technology could rapidly spread and be adopted. Furthermore, they show that modern newspapers were not

12218-475: The family—those descended from Cosimo the Elder—were able to rule until the assassination of Alessandro de' Medici , first Duke of Florence , in 1537. This century-long rule was interrupted only on two occasions (between 1494–1512 and 1527–1530), when anti-Medici factions took control of Florence. Following the assassination of Duke Alessandro, power passed to the "junior" Medici branch—those descended from Lorenzo

12367-436: The first non-Habsburg marriage candidate since Alessandro, Christina of Lorraine , a granddaughter of Catherine de' Medici. The Spanish reaction was to construct a citadel on their portion of the island of Elba. To strengthen the new Franco-Tuscan alliance, he married his niece, Marie, to Henry IV of France . Henry explicitly stated that he would defend Tuscany from Spanish aggression, but later reneged, after which Ferdinando

12516-464: The first time to a wide audience. Cheap pamphlets and broadsides allowed theological and religious ideas to be disseminated at an unprecedented pace. In 1519, John Froben published a collection of works by Martin Luther and noted in his correspondence that 600 copies were being shipped to France and Spain and sold in Paris . In 1521, a group of reformers including Jacques Lefèvre and Guillaume Briçonnet , recently appointed bishop of Meaux , formed

12665-586: The following divisions, periodisations and locations: Both Kohn (2013) and Clodfelter (2017) followed the same counting and periodisation and noted that " War of the Three Henrys " was another name for the Eighth War of Religion, with Kohn adding "Lovers' War" as another name for the Seventh War. In her Michel de Montaigne biography (2014), Elizabeth Guild concurred with this chronology as well, except for dating

12814-582: The following year he was assassinated by a resentful cousin, Lorenzino de' Medici . The deaths of Alessandro and Ippolito enabled the Medici's "junior" branch to lead Florence. Another outstanding figure of the 16th-century Medici family was Cosimo I, who rose from relatively modest beginnings in the Mugello to attain supremacy over the whole of Tuscany . Against the opposition of Catherine de' Medici , Pope Paul III and their allies, he prevailed in various battles to conquer Florence's hated rival Siena and found

12963-459: The future Pope Clement VII . Lorenzo's son Piero II took over as the head of Florence after Lorenzo's death. The Medici were expelled from Florence from 1494 to 1512 after Piero acceded to all of the demands of invader Charles VIII of France . In the dangerous circumstances in which our city is placed, the time for deliberation is past. Action must be taken... I have decided, with your approval, to sail for Naples immediately, believing that as I am

13112-537: The government attempted to quell escalating disorder in the provinces by passing the Edict of Saint-Germain , which allowed Protestants to worship in public outside towns and in private inside them. On 1 March, Guise family retainers attacked a Calvinist service in Champagne , leading to what became known as the massacre of Vassy . This seemed to confirm Huguenot fears that the Guisards had no intention of compromising and

13261-504: The growth of true faith. The Italian revival of classical learning appealed to Francis I (1494-1547), who set up royal professorships in Paris to better understand ancient literature. However, this did not extend to religion, especially after the 1516 Concordat of Bologna when Pope Leo X increased royal control of the Gallican church , allowing Francis to nominate French clergy and levy taxes on church property. Unlike Germany,

13410-399: The heavy defeat as well as commissioning false positive reports — an early version of propaganda . Therefore, the constant arrival of fresh avvisi was needed to dispel false rumors or observations of older ones, such as warnings of enemy sieges that did not happen. In response to unreliable reports, methods to compare and verify news were developed, such as overlapping coverage by sources and

13559-476: The king's sister. Albret was hesitant, worried it might lead to the abjuration of her son, and it took until March 1572 for the contract to be signed. Coligny , who had a price on his head during the third civil war, was restored to favour through the peace, and received lavishly at court in August 1571. He firmly believed that France should invade the Spanish Netherlands to unify the Catholics and Huguenots behind

13708-489: The king. Charles, however, was unwilling to provide more than covert support to this project, not wanting open war with Spain. The council was unanimous in rejecting Coligny's policy and he left court, not finding it welcoming. In August, the wedding was finally held, and all the most powerful Huguenot aristocracy had entered Paris for the occasion. A few days after the wedding, Coligny was shot on his way home from council. The outraged Huguenot nobility demanded justice which

13857-464: The kingdom between 1564 and 1566, designed to reinstate crown authority. During this time, Jeanne d'Albret met and held talks with Catherine at Mâcon and Nérac. Reports of iconoclasm in Flanders led Charles IX to lend support to the Catholics there; French Huguenots feared a Catholic re-mobilisation against them. Philip II of Spain 's reinforcement of the strategic corridor from Italy north along

14006-577: The late 14th century, the leading family of Florence was the House of Albizzi . In 1293, the Ordinances of Justice were enacted; effectively, they became the constitution of the Republic of Florence throughout the Italian Renaissance. The city's numerous luxurious palazzi were becoming surrounded by townhouses built by the prospering merchant class. The main challengers to the Albizzi family were

14155-467: The latter policy would last until 1685, when Henry's grandson Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes . Along with "French Wars of Religion" and "Huguenot Wars", the wars have also been variously described as the "Eight Wars of Religion", or simply the "Wars of Religion" (only within France). The exact number of wars and their respective dates are subject to continued debate by historians: some assert that

14304-486: The management of so "restive and independent a city" as Florence. When Lorenzo died in 1492, however, his son Piero proved quite incapable of responding successfully to challenges caused by the French invasion of Italy in 1492 , and within two years, he and his supporters were forced into exile and replaced with a republican government. Piero de' Medici (1416–1469), Cosimo's son, was only in power for five years (1464–1469). He

14453-535: The name is uncertain. Medici is the plural of medico , meaning "medical doctor". The dynasty began with the founding of the Medici Bank in Florence in 1397. For most of the 13th century, the leading banking centre in Italy was Siena . But in 1298, one of the leading banking families of Europe, the Bonsignoris , went bankrupt, and the city of Siena lost its status as the banking centre of Italy to Florence. Until

14602-528: The nine year old Charles IX . With the state financially exhausted by the Italian Wars, Catherine had to preserve the independence of the monarchy from a range of competing factions led by powerful nobles, each of whom controlled what were essentially private armies. To offset the Guise or "Guisard", she agreed a deal in which Antoine of Navarre renounced any claim to the regency in return for Condé's release and

14751-462: The nobility. Such was the partisan (and sometimes scandalous) comments on public affairs that they became censored by the Pope and several copyists were imprisoned or executed. Venetian avvisi, however, were more conservative in their coverage of such events and more preoccupied with commercial matters. This is not to say that there was no public criticism of public figures in Venice, but rather they often took other forms such as in satire performed during

14900-626: The peak of (preserved) production in the 1590s, with an almost six-fold increase in the number of zeitungen in the information distribution records of the Fugger banking family ( Fuggerzeitungen ) between 1578 and 1595. The content and character of the avvisi differed between cities, especially between Rome and Venice. Roman avvisi contained ecclesiastical, political, and criminal intrigue, taking advantage of opposing factions willing to divulge state secrets or official gossip for their own benefit. These were then read by church and government officials as well as

15049-453: The person against whom the activities of our enemies are chiefly directed, I may, perhaps, by delivering myself into their hands, be the means of restoring peace to our fellow-citizens. As I have had more honour and responsibility among you than any private citizen has had in our day, I am more bound than any other person to serve our country, even at the risk of my life. With this intention I now go. Perhaps God wills that this war, which began in

15198-616: The politically and legally-inclined avvisi. Government and church officials realized the powerful tools of communication the avvisi represented and Venice began publishing its own (named foglie di notizie , or news sheets) sometime around 1563. These were published on Sundays under the authority of the Venetian government and while originally intended for its ambassadors abroad, they were often read aloud in public spaces of Venice. Governments would also have public servants hired in charge of compiling and collecting avvisi from abroad. Interfering with

15347-420: The population of Florence at the dawn of the 17th century was a mere 75,000, far smaller than the other capitals of Italy (i.e., Rome, Milan, Venice, Palermo, and Naples). Francesco and Ferdinando, due to lax distinction between Medici and Tuscan state property, are thought to have been wealthier than their ancestor, Cosimo de' Medici, the founder of the dynasty. The Grand Duke alone had the prerogative to exploit

15496-436: The position of Lieutenant-General of France. Catherine had several options for dealing with "heresy", including continuing Henry's II's failed policy of eradication, an approach backed by Catholic ultras such as François de Tournon , or converting the monarchy to Calvinism, as preferred by de Bèze. A middle path between these two extremes was allowing both religions to be openly practised in France at least temporarily, or

15645-401: The power of the Guise by abducting the young king. Their plans were discovered before being carried out and hundreds of suspected plotters executed, including du Barry. The Guise suspected Condé of involvement in the plot, and he was arrested and sentenced to death before being freed in the political chaos that followed the sudden death of Francis II, adding to the tensions of the period. In

15794-530: The prior year. Since this was clearly unacceptable to Condé and his followers, Catherine bypassed the Estates and enacted conciliatory measures such as the Edict of 19 April 1561 and the Edict of July . This recognised Catholicism as the state religion but confirmed previous measures reducing penalties for "heresy". The Estates then approved the Colloquy of Poissy , which began its session on 8 September 1561, with

15943-532: The property of 'heretics' seizable by the crown. From his base in Geneva, Calvin provided leadership and organisational structures for the Reformed Church of France . Calvinism proved attractive to people from across the social hierarchy and occupational divides and was highly regionalised, with no coherent pattern of geographical spread. Despite persecution, their numbers and power increased markedly, driven by

16092-635: The punishment of Waldensians based in the south-eastern village of Mérindol . A long-standing Proto-Protestantism tradition dating back to the 13th century, the Waldensians had recently affiliated with the Reformed church and became increasingly militant in their activities. In what became known as the Massacre of Mérindol , Provençal troops killed numerous residents and destroyed another 22 to 28 nearby villages, while hundreds of men were forced to become Galley slaves . Francis I died on 31 March 1547 and

16241-458: The recording of private and public events, the relatively high literacy and education of the aristocracy that produced and consumed print, and the participation in European political and commercial correspondence networks by Venetians as a necessity of trade. In fact, Venice's print industry was so large that its 150 presses by the end of the 16th century more than double its closest rival (Paris), and accounted for between one seventh and one eighth of

16390-653: The religious debate until the Affair of the Placards in October 1534, when Protestant radicals put up posters in Paris and other provincial towns that rejected the Catholic doctrine of the " Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist ". This allowed Protestantism to be clearly defined as heresy, while Francis was furious at the breach of security which had allowed one of the posters to be placed on

16539-589: The rest of his life. The bed, often smelling of faeces , was occasionally cleaned by Violante. In 1736, following the War of the Polish Succession , Don Carlos was disbarred from Tuscany, and Francis III of Lorraine was made heir in his stead. In January 1737, the Spanish troops withdrew from Tuscany, and were replaced by Austrians. Gian Gastone died on 9 July 1737, surrounded by prelates and his sister. Anna Maria Luisa

16688-469: The second war and its main military engagement, the Battle of Saint-Denis , where the crown's commander-in-chief and lieutenant general, the 74-year-old Anne de Montmorency, died. The war was brief, ending in another truce, the Peace of Longjumeau (March 1568), which was a reiteration of the Peace of Amboise of 1563 and once again granted significant religious freedoms and privileges to Protestants. News of

16837-575: The son of Emperor Charles V's arch-enemy, King Francis I of France —the future King Henry II . This led to the transfer of Medici blood, through Catherine's daughters, to the royal family of Spain through Elisabeth of Valois , and the House of Lorraine through Claude of Valois . In 1534, following a lengthy illness, Pope Clement VII died—and with him the stability of the Medici's "senior" branch. In 1535, Ippolito Cardinal de' Medici died under mysterious circumstances. In 1536, Alessandro de' Medici married Charles V's daughter, Margaret of Austria; however,

16986-734: The stake in the Piazza della Signoria, the same location as his bonfire. In addition to commissions for art and architecture, the Medici were prolific collectors and today their acquisitions form the core of the Uffizi museum in Florence. In architecture, the Medici were responsible for some notable features of Florence, including the Uffizi Gallery , the Boboli Gardens , the Belvedere , the Medici Chapel and

17135-461: The state's mineral and salt resources, and the fortunes of the Medici were directly tied to the Tuscan economy. Ferdinando, although no longer a cardinal, exercised much influence at successive conclaves. In 1605, Ferdinando succeeded in getting his candidate, Alessandro de' Medici, elected Pope Leo XI . He died the same month, but his successor, Pope Paul V , was also pro-Medici. Ferdinando's pro-papal foreign policy, however, had drawbacks. Tuscany

17284-536: The tenets behind Lutheranism first appeared in Luther's lectures, which in turn contained many of the ideas expressed in the works of Lefèvre. Other members of the Circle included Marguerite de Navarre , sister of Francis I and mother of Jeanne d'Albret , as well as Guillaume Farel , who was exiled to Geneva in 1530 due to his reformist views and persuaded John Calvin to join him there. Both men were banished from Geneva in 1538 for opposing what they viewed as government interference with religious affairs; although

17433-476: The territories of the Austrian crown. The line of the Princes of Ottajano , an extant branch of the House of Medici who were eligible to inherit the grand duchy of Tuscany when the last male of the senior branch died in 1737, could have carried on as Medici sovereigns but for the intervention of Europe's major powers, which allocated the sovereignty of Florence elsewhere. As a consequence, the grand duchy expired and

17582-528: The territory became a secundogeniture of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty. The first grand duke of the new dynasty, Francis I, was a great-great-great-grandson of Francesco I de' Medici, thus he continued the Medicean Dynasty on the throne of Tuscany through the female line. The Habsburgs were deposed in favor of the House of Bourbon-Parma in 1801 (themselves deposed in 1807), but were later restored at

17731-489: The time of Cosimo III de' Medici (r. 1670–1723). The Medicis' wealth and influence was initially derived from the textile trade guided by the wool guild of Florence, the Arte della Lana . Like other families ruling in Italian signorie , the Medici dominated their city's government, were able to bring Florence under their family's power, and created an environment in which art and humanism flourished. The Italian Renaissance

17880-447: The time of his death, the population of the grand duchy was 730,594; the streets were lined with grass and the buildings on the verge of collapse in Pisa . Ferdinando's marriage to Vittoria della Rovere produced two children: Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Francesco Maria de' Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro . Upon Vittoria's death in 1694, her allodial possessions,

18029-656: The truce reached Toulouse in April, but such was the antagonism between the two sides that 6,000 Catholics continued their siege of Puylaurens , a notorious Protestant stronghold in the Lauragais , for another week. In reaction to the Peace, Catholic confraternities and leagues sprang up across the country in defiance of the law throughout the summer of 1568. Huguenot leaders such as Condé and Coligny fled court in fear for their lives, many of their followers were murdered, and in September,

18178-546: The turn to violence as a response of the peasant class. The murder of the baron of Château de Fumel  [ fr ] by a Protestant mob in 1561 is often cited as an example. Recent analyses, on the other hand, have turned the focus on religious explanations. Denis Crouzet fingers the fiery eschatological preaching of the Franciscan Thomas Illyricus , who toured the region in the 1510s and 1520s. Stuart Carroll, however, argues for politicization: "the violence

18327-619: The two fell out over the nature of the Eucharist , Calvin's return to Geneva in 1541 allowed him to forge the doctrine of Calvinism . A key driver behind the Reform movement was corruption among the clergy which Luther and others attacked and sought to change. Such criticisms were not new but the printing press allowed them to be widely shared, such as the Heptameron by Marguerite, a collection of stories about clerical immorality. Another complaint

18476-554: The type of news and the writer. Payment for them also varied in form, initially only being offered per-unit and in secret, but eventually evolving into the possibility of regular, standardized subscriptions. The range of information presented within avvisi was very broad, including countries within Europe but also developments in the New World and the East Indies . The Mediceo del Principato ,

18625-407: The unquestioned leaders. The Medici family was connected to most other elite families of the time through marriages of convenience , partnerships, or employment, so the family had a central position in the social network : several families had systematic access to the rest of the elite families only through the Medici, perhaps similar to banking relationships. Some examples of these families include

18774-491: The wealth of the family through his creation of the Medici Bank, and became one of the richest men in the city of Florence. Although he never held any political office, he gained strong popular support for the family through his support for the introduction of a proportional system of taxation . Giovanni's son Cosimo the Elder , Pater Patriae (father of the country), took over in 1434 as gran maestro (the unofficial head of

18923-407: The year for sharing news to the duke of Ferrara . After this newswriters and couriers were much more careful in their trade, but still continued producing and selling avvisi. A popular Venetian reporter, Paolo Sarpi , was a minority in his time for holding the belief that the spread of information could not be stopped so censorship was a waste of resources. Sarpi believed that the only way to combat

19072-406: Was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of Tuscany , and prospered gradually in trade until it was able to fund the Medici Bank . This bank was the largest in Europe in

19221-616: Was an artist in his own right and an author of poetry and song; his support of the arts and letters is seen as a high point in Medici patronage. After Lorenzo's death the puritanical Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola rose to prominence, warning Florentines against excessive luxury. Under Savonarola's fanatical leadership many great works were "voluntarily" destroyed in the Bonfire of the Vanities (February 7, 1497). The following year, on 23 May 1498, Savonarola and two young supporters were burned at

19370-499: Was analogous to Christina's, and together they aligned Tuscany with the papacy , re-doubled the Tuscan clergy, and allowed the heresy trial of Galileo Galilei to occur. Upon the death of the last Duke of Urbino (Francesco Maria II), instead of claiming the duchy for Ferdinando, who was married to the Duke of Urbino's granddaughter and heiress, Vittoria della Rovere , they permitted it to be annexed by Pope Urban VIII . In 1626, they banned any Tuscan subject from being educated outside

19519-495: Was called "Piero the Gouty" because of the gout that pained his foot and led to his death. Unlike his father, Piero had little interest in the arts. Due to his illness, he mostly stayed at home bedridden, and therefore did little to further the Medici control of Florence while in power. As such, Medici rule stagnated until the next generation, when Piero's son Lorenzo took over. Lorenzo de' Medici (1449–1492), called "the Magnificent",

19668-505: Was captured by those opposing the crown. In February 1563, at the Siege of Orléans, Francis, Duke of Guise , was shot and killed by the Huguenot Jean de Poltrot de Méré . As he was killed outside of direct combat, the Guise considered this an assassination on the orders of the duke's enemy, Admiral Coligny . The popular unrest caused by the assassination, coupled with the resistance by

19817-521: Was directly caused by politicized factions and was not the result of a spontaneous intercommunal eruption." Although the Huguenots had begun mobilising for war before the Vassy massacre , many claimed that the massacre confirmed claims that they could not rely on the Edict of Saint Germain . In response, a group of nobles led by Condé proclaimed their intention of "liberating" the king from "evil" councillors and seized Orléans on 2 April 1562. This example

19966-540: Was dominated by a rapid succession of political crises—many long in the making—that resulted in the sack of Rome by the armies of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1527 and rise of the Salviati, Altoviti and Strozzi as the leading bankers of the Roman Curia . From the time of Clement's election as pope in 1523 until the sack of Rome, Florence was governed by the young Ippolito de' Medici (future cardinal and vice-chancellor of

20115-506: Was elected and Cosimo returned. The Medici became the city's leading family, a position they would hold for the next three centuries. Florence remained a republic until 1537, traditionally marking the end of the High Renaissance in Florence, but the instruments of republican government were firmly under the control of the Medici and their allies, save during intervals after 1494 and 1527. Cosimo and Lorenzo rarely held official posts but were

20264-425: Was forced to marry his heir, Cosimo, to Maria Maddalena of Austria to assuage Spain (where Maria Maddalena's sister Margaret was the incumbent Queen consort). Ferdinando also sponsored a Tuscan expedition to the New World with the intention of establishing a Tuscan colony, an enterprise that brought no result for permanent colonial acquisitions. Despite all of these incentives for economic growth and prosperity,

20413-800: Was inspired by the Medici along with other families of Italy, such as the Visconti and Sforza in Milan , the Este in Ferrara , the Borgia and Della Rovere in Rome , and the Gonzaga in Mantua . The Medici Bank, from when it was created in 1397 to its fall in 1494, was one of the most prosperous and respected institutions in Europe, and the Medici family was considered the wealthiest in Europe for

20562-571: Was likely influenced in the matter by Sir Francis Walsingham . The Catholics were commanded by the Duke d'Anjou  – later King Henry III – and assisted by troops from Spain, the Papal States , and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . The Protestant army laid siege to several cities in the Poitou and Saintonge regions (to protect La Rochelle ), and then Angoulême and Cognac . At

20711-418: Was more capable of leading and ruling a city, but he neglected the family banking business, which led to its ultimate ruin. To ensure the continuance of his family's success, Lorenzo planned his children's future careers for them. He groomed the headstrong Piero II to follow as his successor in civil leadership; Giovanni (future Pope Leo X ) was placed in the church at an early age; and his daughter Maddalena

20860-516: Was offered a nominal regency by the Prince de Craon until the new grand duke could peregrinate to Tuscany, but declined. Upon her brother's death, she received all the House of Medici's allodial possessions. Anna Maria Luisa signed the Patto di Famiglia ("family pact") on 31 October 1737. In collaboration with the Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke Francis of Lorraine, she willed all the personal property of

21009-665: Was overrun with religious orders, not all of whom were obliged to pay taxes. Ferdinando died in 1609, leaving an affluent realm; his inaction in international affairs, however, would have long-reaching consequences down the line. In France, Marie de' Medici was acting as regent for her son, Louis XIII . Louis repudiated her pro-Habsburg policy in 1617. She lived the rest of her life deprived of any political influence. Ferdinando's successor, Cosimo II , reigned for less than 12 years. He married Maria Maddalena of Austria, with whom he had his eight children, including Margherita de' Medici , Ferdinando II de' Medici , and an Anna de' Medici . He

21158-474: Was proclaimed King Henry IV of France and issued the Edict of Nantes , which granted substantial rights and freedoms to the Huguenots. However, Catholics continued to disapprove of Protestants and of Henry, and his assassination in 1610 triggered a fresh round of Huguenot rebellions in the 1620s. Tensions between the two religions had been building since the 1530s, exacerbating existing regional divisions. The death of Henry II of France in July 1559 initiated

21307-507: Was provided with a sumptuous dowry to make a politically advantageous marriage to a son of Pope Innocent VIII that cemented the alliance between the Medici and the Roman branches of the Cybo and Altoviti families. The Pazzi conspiracy of 1478 was an attempt to depose the Medici family by killing Lorenzo with his younger brother Giuliano during Easter services; the assassination attempt ended with

21456-752: Was quickly followed by Protestant groups around France, who seized and garrisoned Angers , Blois and Tours along the Loire and assaulted Valence in the Rhône River . After capturing Lyon on 30 April, the attackers first sacked, then demolished all Catholic institutions in the city. Hoping to turn Toulouse over to Condé, local Huguenots seized the Hôtel de ville but met resistance from angry Catholic mobs which resulted in street battles and over 3,000 deaths, mostly Huguenots. On 12 April 1562, there were massacres of Huguenots at Sens, as well as at Tours in July. As

21605-400: Was succeeded by his son Henry II , who continued the religious repression pursued by his father in the last years of his reign. His policies were even more severe since he sincerely believed all Protestants were heretics; on 27 June 1551, the Edict of Châteaubriant sharply curtailed their right to worship. Prohibitions were placed upon the distribution of 'heretical' literature, with

21754-457: Was the reduction of Salvation to a business scheme based on the sale of Indulgences , which added to general unrest and increased the popularity of works such as Farel's translation of the Lord's Prayer, The True and Perfect Prayer . This focused on Sola fide , or the idea salvation was a free gift from God, emphasised the importance of understanding in prayer and criticised the clergy for hampering

21903-514: Was the wide distribution of avvisi in Italy compared to the other areas in Europe that when Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was sent one by his representative in Valladolid to share with Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma , he remarked that the newsletter was "of some importance, being so rare both the news from your parts, and the insights into such affairs”. Early attempts at censorship were made by both Pope Pius V and

22052-534: Was thought to be under imperial suzerainty . Upon the death of his first son, Cosimo contemplated restoring the Florentine republic, either upon Anna Maria Luisa's death, or on his own, if he predeceased her. The restoration of the republic would entail resigning Siena to the Holy Roman Empire, but, regardless, it was vehemently endorsed by his government. Europe largely ignored Cosimo's plan. Only Great Britain and

22201-539: Was widespread within the French commercial class, the rapid growth of Calvinism was driven by the nobility. It is believed to have started when Condé passed through Geneva while returning home from a military campaign and heard a Calvinist sermon. Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, converted to Calvinism in 1560, possibly due to the influence of Theodore de Beze . Along with Condé and her husband Antoine of Navarre , she and their son Henry of Navarre became Huguenot leaders. The crown continued efforts to remain neutral in

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