samedi 30 mars 2013

La maison de Savoie


Casa Savoia è una dinastia reale europea attestata sin dalla fine del X secolo nel territorio del Regno di Borgogna, dove venne infeudata della Contea di Savoia, eretta in Ducato nel XV secolo. Nello stesso secolo, estintasi la linea legittima dei Lusignano, ottenne la Corona titolare dei regni crociati di Cipro, Gerusalemme e Armenia, con il conseguente aumento di prestigio presso le corti europee. Inizialmente dinastia minore appartenente alla sfera di influenza della monarchia francese, nel XVI secolo circa spostò i suoi interessi territoriali ed economici dalle regioni alpine verso la penisola italiana (come testimoniato dallo spostamento della capitale del ducato da Chambéry a Torino nel 1563).

Agli inizi del XVIII secolo, a conclusione della guerra di successione spagnola, ottenne l'effettiva dignità regia, dapprima sul Regno di Sicilia (1713) e barattato in seguito con quello di Sardegna (1720).

Nel XIX secolo si pose a capo del moviment...Afficher la suite
La maison de Savoie est une dynastie royale européenne attestée depuis la fin du Xe siècle sur le territoire du Royaume de Bourgogne et fut défaisait du comté de Savoie, construit dans le duché au XVe siècle. Dans le même siècle, la ligne légitime de Lusignan disparue, a gagné le propriétaire de la Couronne des royaumes croisés de Chypre, de Jérusalem et d'Arménie, avec l'augmentation conséquente de prestige dans les cours d'Europe. Au départ, une dynastie mineure appartenant à la sphère d'influence de la monarchie française au XVIe siècle sur les intérêts territoriaux décalés et bon marchés dans les régions alpines vers la péninsule italienne (comme en témoigne le déménagement de la capitale du Duché de Chambéry à Turin en 1563).

Au début du XVIIIe siècle, à l'issue de la guerre de la succession d'Espagne, a été la réelle dignité Directeur, premier sur le Royaume de Sicile (1713) et vendue par la suite avec celle de Sardaigne (1720).

Au XIXe siècle a été responsable du mouvement de l'unification nationale italienne, qui a conduit à la proclamation du Royaume d'Italie le 17 mars 1861. À compter de cette date, depuis quatre-vingts ans, jusqu'au changement institutionnel en juin 1946 avec l'exil, l'histoire de la maison se confond avec celle de l'Italie.

En outre, Amédée de Savoie-Aoste était de 1870 à 1873 roi d'Espagne sous le nom d'Amédée ier d'Espagne.

En conséquence au régime totalitaire de Mussolini, la dynastie fut officiellement avec Vittorio Emanuele III les couronnes d'Éthiopie (1936) et l'Albanie (1939) en Union personnelle et en 1941, avec le duc Prince Aimone, duc d'Aoste, la Couronne de la Croatie. Les titres de ce dernier ont été perdus en 1945, cependant, à cause de la défaite dans la seconde guerre mondiale. (Traduit par Bing)

THE ICENI of BRITAIN

THE ICENI of BRITAIN
When Claudius invaded Britain, in 43, the Iceni offered no opposition, and voluntarily accepted Roman domination. Presumably as a reward, they were granted the status of a ‘client kingdom’. Though subject to Rome, the government of a client kingdom was handed to a, pro-Roman, native ruler. The Romans avoided the expense of garrisoning the territory; the ‘client king’ (or, indeed, queen) kept the peace, and was assured wealth and Roman backing against rivals. The contract was between Rome and the individual, so when the king died, the agreement died with him. The names of three British client rulers are known (there may well have been others), these are: Queen Cartimandua, of the Brigantes, ruling most of (what is now) northern England; King Togidubnus, south of the middle Thames; and King Prasutagus, of the Iceni, in East Anglia. Prasutagus' wife was called Boudica.
In the year 60, Prasutagus died. Governor Gaius Suetonius Paullinus was campaigning in, a stronghold of British resistance to Rome, the island of Mona (Anglesey). Tacitus:
“While he was thus occupied, the sudden revolt of the province was announced to Suetonius.
The Icenian king Prasutagus, celebrated for his long prosperity, had named the emperor his heir, together with his two daughters; an act of deference which he thought would place his kingdom and household beyond the risk of injury. The result was contrary – so much so that his kingdom was pillaged by centurions, his household by slaves; as though they had been prizes of war. As a beginning, his wife Boudicca was subjected to the lash and his daughters violated: all the chief men of the Icenians were stripped of their family estates, and the relatives of the king were treated as slaves. Impelled by this outrage and the dread of worse to come – for they had now been reduced to the status of a province – they flew to arms, and incited to rebellion the Trinovantes and others, who, not yet broken by servitude, had entered into a secret and treasonable compact to resume their independence.”
‘Annals’ Book XIV Chapters 30–31
Dio Cassius:
“An excuse for the war was found in the confiscation of the sums of money that Claudius had given to the foremost Britons; for these sums, as Decianus Catus, the procurator [finance official] of the island, maintained, were to be paid back. This was one reason for the uprising; another was found in the fact that Seneca, in the hope of receiving a good rate of interest, had lent to the islanders 40,000,000 sesterces that they did not want, and had afterwards called in this loan all at once and had resorted to severe measures in exacting it. But the person who was chiefly instrumental in rousing the natives and persuading them to fight the Romans, the person who was thought worthy to be their leader and who directed the conduct of the entire war, was Boudouica, a Briton woman of the royal family and possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women. This woman assembled her army, to the number of some 120,000, and then ascended a tribunal which had been constructed of earth in the Roman fashion. In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of divers colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch. This was her invariable attire.”
Dio Cassius (Xiphilinus) ‘Romaika’ Epitome of Book LXII Chapter 2
At this point in his narrative, Dio puts a lengthy rallying speech into Boudica's mouth.
“Having finished an appeal to her people of this general tenor, Boudouica led her army against the Romans; for these chanced to be without a leader, inasmuch as Paulinus, their commander, had gone on an expedition to Mona, an island near Britain.”
Dio Cassius (Xiphilinus) ‘Romaika’ Epitome of Book LXII Chapter 7
The first target of Boudica's army was the ‘colonia’ – colony of legionary veterans (established, probably in 49, by, the then governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula) – at Camulodunum (Colchester, Essex). Tacitus:
“The bitterest animosity was felt against the veterans; who, fresh from their settlement in the colonia of Camulodunum, were acting as though they had received a free gift of the entire country, driving the natives from their homes, ejecting them from their lands – they styled them “captives” and “slaves” – and abetted in their fury by the troops, with their similar mode of life and their hopes of equal indulgence. More than this, the temple raised to the deified Claudius continually met the view, like the citadel of an eternal tyranny; while the priests, chosen for its service, were bound under the pretext of religion to pour out their fortunes like water. Nor did there seem any great difficulty in the demolition of a colonia unprotected by fortifications – a point too little regarded by our commanders, whose thoughts had run more on the agreeable than on the useful.
Meanwhile, for no apparent reason, the statue of Victory at Camulodunum fell, with its back turned as if in retreat from the enemy. Women, converted into maniacs by excitement, cried that destruction was at hand and that alien cries had been heard in the invaders' senate-house: the theatre had rung with shrieks, and in the estuary of the Thames had been seen a vision of the ruined colonia. Again, that the Ocean had appeared blood-red and that the ebbing tide had left behind it what looked to be human corpses, were indications read by the Britons with hope and by the veterans with corresponding alarm. However, as Suetonius was far away, they applied for help to the procurator Catus Decianus. He sent not more than two hundred men, without their proper weapons: in addition, there was a small body of troops in the town. Relying on the protection of the temple, and hampered also by covert adherents of the rebellion who interfered with their plans, they neither secured their position by fosse or rampart nor took steps, by removing the women and the aged, to leave only able-bodied men in the place. They were as carelessly guarded as if the world was at peace, when they were enveloped by a great barbarian host. All else was pillaged or fired in the first onrush: only the temple, in which the troops had massed themselves, stood a two days' siege, and was then carried by storm. Turning to meet Petilius Cerialis, commander of the Ninth Legion, who was arriving to the rescue, the victorious Britons routed the legion and slaughtered the infantry to a man: Cerialis with the cavalry escaped to the camp, and found shelter behind its fortifications. Unnerved by the disaster and the hatred of the province which his rapacity had goaded into war, the procurator Catus crossed to Gaul.
Suetonius, on the other hand, with remarkable firmness, marched straight through the midst of the enemy upon Londinium [London]; which, though not distinguished by the title of colonia, was none the less a busy centre, chiefly through its crowd of merchants and stores. Once there, he felt some doubt whether to choose it as a base of operations; but, on considering the fewness of his troops and the sufficiently severe lesson which had been read to the rashness of Petilius, he determined to save the country as a whole at the cost of one town. The laments and tears of the inhabitants, as they implored his protection, found him inflexible: he gave the signal for departure, and embodied in the column those capable of accompanying the march: all who had been detained by the disabilities of sex, by the lassitude of age, or by local attachment, fell into the hands of the enemy. A similar catastrophe was reserved for the municipium of Verulamium [St.Albans, Hertfordshire]; as the natives, with their delight in plunder and their distaste for exertion, left the forts and garrison-posts on one side, and made for the point which offered the richest material for the pillager and was unsafe for a defending force. It is established that close upon seventy thousand Roman citizens and allies fell in the places mentioned. For the enemy neither took captive nor sold into captivity; there was none of the other commerce of war; he was hasty with slaughter and the gibbet, with arson and the cross, as though his day of reckoning must come, but only after he had snatched his revenge in the interval.”
Tacitus ‘Annals’ Book XIV Chapters 31–33
“Those who were taken captive by the Britons were subjected to every known form of outrage. The worst and most bestial atrocity committed by their captors was the following. They hung up naked the noblest and most distinguished women and then cut off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths, in order to make the victims appear to be eating them; afterwards they impaled the women on sharp skewers run lengthwise through the entire body. All this they did to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and wanton behaviour, not only in all their other sacred places, but particularly in the grove of Andate. This was their name for Victory, and they regarded her with most exceptional reverence.
... [Paullinus] was not willing to risk a conflict with the barbarians immediately, as he feared their numbers and their desperation, but was inclined to postpone battle to a more convenient season. But as he grew short of food and the barbarians pressed relentlessly upon him, he was compelled, contrary to his judgment, to engage them.”
Dio Cassius (Xiphilinus) ‘Romaika’ Epitome of Book LXII Chapters 7–8
“Suetonius had already the Fourteenth Legion, with a detachment of the Twentieth and auxiliaries from the nearest stations, altogether some ten thousand armed men, when he prepared to abandon delay and contest a pitched battle. He chose a position approached by a narrow defile and secured in the rear by a wood, first satisfying himself that there was no trace of an enemy except in his front, and that the plain there was devoid of cover and allowed no suspicion of an ambuscade. The legionaries were posted in serried ranks, the light-armed troops on either side, and the cavalry massed on the extreme wings. The British forces, on the other hand, disposed in bands of foot and horse were moving jubilantly in every direction. They were in unprecedented numbers, and confidence ran so high that they brought even their wives to witness the victory and installed them in waggons, which they had stationed just over the extreme fringe of the plain.”
Tacitus ‘Annals’ Book XIV Chapter 34
“Boudouica, at the head of an army of about 230,000 men, rode in a chariot herself and assigned the others to their several stations. Paulinus could not extend his line the whole length of hers, for, even if the men had been drawn up only one deep, they would not have reached far enough, so inferior were they in numbers; nor, on the other hand, did he dare join battle in a single compact force, for fear of being surrounded and cut to pieces. He therefore separated his army into three divisions, in order to fight at several points at one and the same time, and he made each of the divisions so strong that it could not easily be broken through.”
Dio Cassius (Xiphilinus) ‘Romaika’ Epitome of Book LXII Chapter 8
“Boudicca, mounted in a chariot with her daughters before her, rode up to clan after clan and delivered her protest:– “It was customary, she knew, with Britons to fight under female captaincy; but now she was avenging, not, as a queen of glorious ancestry, her ravished realm and power, but, as a woman of the people, her liberty lost, her body tortured by the lash, the tarnished honour of her daughters. Roman cupidity had progressed so far that not their very persons, not age itself, nor maidenhood, were left unpolluted. Yet Heaven was on the side of their just revenge: one legion, which ventured battle, had perished; the rest were skulking in their camps, or looking around them for a way of escape. They would never face even the din and roar of those many thousands, far less their onslaught and their swords! – If they considered in their own hearts the forces under arms and the motives of the war, on that field they must conquer or fall. Such was the settled purpose of a woman – the men might live and be slaves!”
Even Suetonius, in this critical moment, broke silence. In spite of his reliance on the courage of the men, he still blended exhortations and entreaty:– “They must treat with contempt the noise and empty menaces of the barbarians: in the ranks opposite, more women than soldiers meet the eye. Unwarlike and unarmed, they would break immediately, when, taught by so many defeats, they recognized once more the steel and the valour of their conquerors. Even in a number of legions, it was but a few men who decided the fate of battles; and it would be an additional glory that they, a handful of troops, were gathering the laurels of an entire army. Only, keeping their order close, and, when their javelins were discharged, employing shield-boss and sword, let them steadily pile up the dead and forget the thought of plunder: once the victory was gained, all would be their own.” Such was the ardour following the general's words – with such alacrity had his seasoned troops, with the long experience of battle, prepared themselves in a moment to hurl the pilum [javelin] – that Suetonius, without a doubt of the issue, gave the signal to engage.
At first, the legionaries stood motionless, keeping to the defile as a natural protection: then, when the closer advance of the enemy had enabled them to exhaust their missiles with certitude of aim, they dashed forward in a wedge-like formation. The auxiliaries charged in the same style; and the cavalry, with lances extended, broke a way through any parties of resolute men whom they encountered.”
Tacitus ‘Annals’ Book XIV Chapters 35-37
“... the armies approached each other, the barbarians with much shouting mingled with menacing battle-songs, but the Romans silently and in order until they came within a javelin's throw of the enemy. Then, while their foes were still advancing against them at a walk, the Romans rushed forward at a signal and charged them at full speed, and when the clash came, easily broke through the opposing ranks; but, as they were surrounded by the great numbers of the enemy, they had to be fighting everywhere at once. Their struggle took many forms. Light-armed troops exchanged missiles with light-armed, heavy-armed were opposed to heavy-armed, cavalry clashed with cavalry, and against the chariots of the barbarians the Roman archers contended. The barbarians would assail the Romans with a rush of their chariots, knocking them helter-skelter, but, since they fought without breastplates, would themselves be repulsed by the arrows. Horseman would overthrow foot-soldier and foot-soldier strike down horseman; a group of Romans, forming in close order, would advance to meet the chariots, and others would be scattered by them; a band of Britons would come to close quarters with the archers and rout them, while others were content to dodge their shafts at a distance; and all this was going on not at one spot only, but in all three divisions at once. They contended for a long time, both parties being animated by the same zeal and daring. But finally, late in the day, the Romans prevailed ...”
Dio Cassius (Xiphilinus) ‘Romaika’ Epitome of Book LXII Chapter 12
“The remainder [of the Britons] took to flight, although escape was difficult, as the cordon of waggons had blocked the outlets. The troops gave no quarter even to the women: the baggage animals themselves had been speared and added to the pile of bodies. The glory won in the course of the day was remarkable, and equal to that of our older victories: for, by some accounts, little less than eighty thousand Britons fell, at a cost of some four hundred Romans killed and a not much greater number of wounded. Boudicca ended her days by poison; while Poenius Postumus, camp-prefect of the Second Legion, informed of the exploits of the men of the Fourteenth and Twentieth, and conscious that he had cheated his own corps of a share in the honours and had violated the rules of the service by ignoring the orders of his commander, ran his sword through his body.”
Tacitus ‘Annals’ Book XIV Chapter 37
“Nevertheless, not a few [Britons] made their escape and were preparing to fight again. In the meantime, however, Boudouica fell sick and died. The Britons mourned her deeply and gave her a costly burial; but, feeling that now at last they were really defeated, they scattered to their homes. So much for affairs in Britain.”
Dio Cassius (Xiphilinus) ‘Romaika’ Epitome of Book LXII Chapter 12
“Had not Paulinus on hearing of the outbreak in the province rendered prompt succour, Britain would have been lost. By one successful engagement, he brought it back to its former obedience, though many, troubled by the conscious guilt of rebellion and by particular dread of the legate, still clung to their arms.”
Tacitus ‘Agricola’ Chapter 16
“The whole army was now concentrated and kept under canvas, with a view to finishing what was left of the campaign. Its strength was increased by Caesar [i.e. Emperor Nero], who sent over from Germany two thousand legionaries, eight cohorts of auxiliaries, and a thousand cavalry. Their advent allowed the gaps in the Ninth Legion to be filled with regular troops; the allied foot and horse were stationed in new winter quarters; and the tribes which had shown themselves dubious or disaffected were harried with fire and sword. Nothing, however, pressed so hard as famine on an enemy who, careless about the sowing of his crops, had diverted all ages of the population to military purposes, while marking out our supplies for his own property. In addition, the fierce-tempered clans inclined the more slowly to peace because Julius Classicianus, who had been sent in succession to Catus and was not on good terms with Suetonius, was hampering the public welfare by his private animosities, and had circulated a report that it would be well to wait for a new legate [i.e. governor]; who, lacking the bitterness of an enemy and the arrogance of a conqueror, would show consideration to those who surrendered. At the same time, he reported to Rome that no cessation of fighting need be expected until the supersession of Suetonius, the failures of whom he referred to his own perversity, his successes to the kindness of fortune.
Accordingly Polyclitus, one of the [imperial] freedmen, was sent to inspect the state of Britain, Nero cherishing high hopes that, through his influence, not only might a reconciliation be effected between the legate and the procurator, but the rebellious temper of the natives be brought to acquiesce in peace. Polyclitus, in fact, whose immense train had been an incubus to Italy and Gaul, did not fail, when once he had crossed the seas, to render his march a terror even to Roman soldiers. To the enemy, on the other hand, he was a subject of derision: with them, the fire of freedom was not yet quenched; they had still to make acquaintance with the power of freedmen; and they wondered that a general and an army who had accounted for such a war should obey a troop of slaves. None the less, everything was reported to the emperor in a more favourable light. Suetonius was retained at the head of affairs; but, when later on he lost a few ships on the beach, and the crews with them, he was ordered, under pretence that the war was still in being, to transfer his army to Petronius Turpilianus, who by now had laid down his consulate. The new-comer abstained from provoking the enemy, was not challenged himself, and conferred on this spiritless inaction the honourable name of peace.”
Tacitus ‘Annals’ Book XIV Chapters 38–39

13 octobre 1307

13 octobre 1307
Au matin du vendredi 13 octobre 1307, tous les Templiers de France, soit plusieurs milliers au total, sont arrêtés sur ordre du roi Philippe IV le Bel (le petit-fils de Saint Louis).
Cet acte de violence arbitraire met fin à un ordre original de moines-soldats, vieux de près de deux siècles, qui s'est illustré en Terre sainte et s'est acquis puissance et richesse, s'attirant ainsi la jalousie des féodaux et la convoitise des souverains.
L'ordre du Temple est né en Terre sainte, en 1119, après la première croisade, à l'initiative du chevalier champenois Hugues de Payns qui voulait protéger les pèlerins se rendant à Jérusalem. Il est officialisé par le concile de Troyes, neuf ans plus tard, à l'initiative de Saint Bernard de Clairvaux.
Le prestige des moines-chevaliers au manteau blanc frappé d'une croix rouge est immense pendant les deux siècles que durent les croisades... malgré la trahison du grand maître Gérard de Ridefort à la bataille de Hattîn, en 1187.
La huitième et dernière croisade s'achève par la mort tragique du roi Saint Louis devant Tunis en 1270.
Dès lors, les dernières possessions franques de Terre sainte tombent définitivement entre les mains des musulmans.
Ceux-ci s'emparent de Saint-Jean-d'Acre le 28 mai 1291 malgré la résistance héroïque des Templiers autour du grand maître Guillaume de Beaujeu.
Les Templiers se replient en Europe
Au début du XIIIe siècle, l'ordre du Temple, chassé de Palestine, n'en dispose pas moins encore d'une force militaire impressionnante de quinze mille hommes, bien plus que n'aurait pu en lever n'importe quel roi de la chrétienté. Mais, de soldats, les Templiers se sont reconvertis en usuriers et ont complètement perdu de vue la reconquête des Lieux saints.
C'est que de considérables donations ont rendu l'ordre immensément riche et l'ont transformé en l'une des principales institutions financières occidentales... et la seule qui soit sûre. Il gère ainsi, en véritable banquier, les biens de l'Église et ceux des rois d'Occident (Philippe le Bel, Jean sans Terre, Henri III, Jaime Ier d'Aragon...).
Ses commanderies qui abritent les moines-soldats, avec aussi une vocation caritative, couvrent l'ensemble de l'Europe médiévale d'une véritable toile d'araignée. On peut voir au sud d'Angoulême, à Cressac, une chapelle rescapée de l'une de ces commanderies et ornée de peintures murales qui évoquent les croisades.
L'opinion européenne commence à s'interroger sur la légitimité du Temple. Le roi Philippe le Bel lui-même a souvenance que les Templiers ont refusé de contribuer à la rançon de Saint Louis lorsqu'il a été fait prisonnier au cours de la septième croisade.
Suivant une idée déjà ancienne, évoquée par Saint Louis et les papes Grégoire X, Nicolas IV et Boniface VIII, Philippe le Bel souhaite la fusion de l'ordre du Temple avec celui, concurrent, des Hospitaliers afin de constituer une force suffisante pour préparer une nouvelle croisade à laquelle le roi de France et le pape Clément V sont très attachés.
L'affaire est mise à l'ordre du jour de plusieurs conciles et l'on élabore même un projet dans lequel Louis de Navarre aurait été grand maître du nouvel ordre. Son dramatique échec résulte de l'opposition obstinée du grand maître Jacques de Molay ainsi que de l'agressivité du ministre du roi, Guillaume de Nogaret.
Le drame
Tous les Templiers de France sont finalement arrêtés par les sénéchaux et les baillis du royaume au terme d'une opération de police conduite dans le secret absolu par Guillaume de Nogaret. Ils sont interrogés sous la torture par les commissaires royaux avant d'être remis aux inquisiteurs dominicains.
Parmi les 140 Templiers de Paris, 54 sont brûlés après avoir avoué pratiquer la sodomie ou commis des crimes extravagants comme de cracher sur la croix ou de pratiquer des «baisers impudiques». L'opinion publique et le roi lui-même y voient la confirmation de leurs terribles soupçons sur l'impiété des Templiers et leur connivence avec les forces du Mal.
Le roi obtient du pape Clément V la suppression de l'ordre, au concile de Vienne, en 1312. Elle est officialisée le 3 avril 1312 par la bulle «Vox in excelso», bien qu'il soit tout à fait exceptionnel qu'un ordre religieux soit purement et simplement dissous.
Le 3 mai 1312, le pape affecte le trésor des Templiers à l'ordre concurrent des Hospitaliers, à l'exception de la part ibérique qui revient aux ordres militaires locaux. Le roi de France et ses conseillers plaident en faveur de cette solution, respectueuse de la volonté des nombreux bienfaiteurs du Temple.
En 1313, sur la base de documents comptables, l'ordre de l'Hôpital restitue 200.000 livres au trésor royal pour solde de tout compte. Le successeur de Philippe, Louis X, réclamera toutefois un supplément, estimant que son père a été floué. L'affaire est close en 1317, quand le nouveau roi Philippe V reçoit 50.000 livres supplémentaires.
Avec l'affaire du Temple, la monarchie capétienne montre qu'elle entend suivre son intérêt politique et ne plus se comporter en vassale de l'Église.
La malédiction du grand maître
Au terme d'un procès inique, le grand maître des Templiers, Jacques de Molay, est lui-même brûlé vif à la pointe de l'île de la Cité le 19 mars 1314. Une plaque rappelle le triste sort de cet homme qui ne sut pas réformer son ordre quand il en était temps.
Une légende reprise par Maurice Druon dans son célèbre roman-fleuve Les rois maudits veut qu'à l'instant de succomber dans les flammes, Jacques de Molay ait lancé une malédiction à l'adresse du roi et du pape, les invitant à le rejoindre dans la mort avant la fin de l'année. Or, c'est pourtant ainsi que les choses vont se passer.
Jean Brillet