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June 6

June 6

June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining.

Events

- 1508 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year truce and cede several territories to Venice
- 1513 - Italian Wars: Battle of Novara. Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis de la Tremoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan. Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored.
- 1523 - Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union.
- 1654 - Christina, reigning queen of the Protestant nation Sweden, abdicates the throne and secretly converts to Catholicism. Charles X succeedes his abdicated cousin Queen Christina to the Swedish throne.
- 1683 - The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world's first university museum.
- 1752 - A devastating fire destroys one-third of Moscow, including 18,000 homes.
- 1809 - Sweden promulgates a new Constitution, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates after 20 years of Enlightened absolutism.
- 1813 - War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek - A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeat an American force three times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
- 1832 - The Barricades fall and the Student Uprisings of 1832 end.
- 1833 - U.S. President Andrew Jackson becomes the first President to ride a train.
- 1844 - The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in London.
- 1857 - Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden-Norway.
- 1859 - Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales (Queensland Day).
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Memphis - Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee, from the Confederates.
- 1882 - More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay are killed as a cyclone in the Arabian Sea pushes huge waves into the harbour.
- 1912 - Eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. Second largest volcanic eruption in historic time.
- 1925 - The Chrysler Corporation is founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.
- 1932 - The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States, at a rate of 1 cent per US gallon (26 ¢/L) sold.
- 1933 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey, United States.
- 1934 - New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Act of 1933 into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- 1944 - World War II: Battle of Normandy begins. Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
- 1946 - The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.
- 1950 - Turkey: The Adhan in Arabic is legalized.
- 1956 - David Marshall, Singapore's first Chief Minister, resigns.
- 1962 - The Beatles audition for EMI Records.
- 1964 - Under a temporary order, the rocket launches at Cuxhaven, Germany, are terminated, though they never resume.
- 1966 - James Meredith, civil rights activist, is shot while trying to march across Mississippi.
- 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy dies.
- 1971 - Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 launches.
- A midair collision between a Hughes Airwest Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near Duarte, California claims 50 lives.
- The Ed Sullivan Show goes off the air.
- 1972 - David Bowie releases the classic album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
- 1974 - A new Instrument of Government is promulgated making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy.
- 1981 - A passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India, jumps the tracks at a bridge crossing the Bagmati river. The government places the official death toll at 268 plus another 300 missing; however, it is generally believed that the actual figure is closer to 1,000 killed.
- 1982 - 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
- 1984 - The Indian Army attacks the Golden Temple in Amritsar in an effort to flush out terrorists, following an order from Indira Gandhi. Official casualities are 576 combatants killed and 335 wounded; independent observers estimate that thousands of unarmed Sikh civilians are also killed in the crossfire.
- 1985 - The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" is exhumed in Embu, Brazil; the remains found are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's "Angel of Death". Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979.
- 1990 - U.S. District court judge Jose Gonzales rules that the rap album As Nasty As They Wanna Be by the 2 Live Crew violates Florida's obscenity law; he declares that the predominant subject matter of the record is "directed to the 'dirty' thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind."
- 1991 - George and Barbara Loeb, members of the Church of the Creator, are arrested and charged with murder.
- Former Diff'rent Strokes child star Dana Plato is given a six-year suspended sentence for robbing a Las Vegas video store five weeks earlier.
- 1993 - Mongolia holds its first direct presidential elections.
- 1999 - At the Putim maximum security prison in Brazil, 345 prisoners run from the main gate in the largest jailbreak in Brazilian history, marking the 10th escape for the three-year-old facility. In the ensuing manhunt, two fugitives are killed and five innocent bystanders are accidentally jailed.
- 2002 - The United States House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee announces it is probing Martha Stewart's ImClone stock sales.
- A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 metres diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea. The resulting explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
- 2005 - United States Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana.

Births

1236 to 1899

- 1236 - Wen Tianxiang, Chinese prime minister (d. 1283)
- 1436 - Regiomontanus, German mathematician (d. 1476)
- 1502 - King John III of Portugal (d. 1557)
- 1519 - Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (d. 1603)
- 1542 - Richard Grenville, English soldier and explorer (d. 1591)
- 1553 - Bernardino Baldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1617)
- 1576 - Giovanni Diodati, Swiss protestant clergyman (d. 1649)
- 1580 - Godefroy Wendelin, Flemish astronomer (d. 1667)
- 1599 - Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter (d. 1660)
- 1606 - Pierre Corneille, French dramatist (d. 1684)
- 1622 - Claude-Jean Allouez, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (d.1857)
- 1714 - King Joseph I of Portugal (d. 1777)
- 1755 - Nathan Hale, American writer and patriot (d. 1776)
- 1756 - John Trumbull, American painter (d. 1843)
- 1799 - Alexander Pushkin Russian poet (d. 1837)
- 1810 - Friedrich Wilhelm Schneidewin, German classical scholar (d. 1856)
- 1829 - Shusaku Honinbo, Japanese Go player (d. 1862)
- 1850 - Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1918)
- 1857 - Aleksandr Lyapunov, Russian mathematician (d. 1918)
- 1862 - Henry John Newbolt, English author (d. 1938)
- 1868 - Robert Falcon Scott, English explorer (d. 1912)
- 1872 - Tsarina Alexandra of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1875 - Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1890 - Ted Lewis, American bandleader (d. 1971)
- 1898 - Ninette de Valois, Irish dancer (d. 2001)
- 1900 - Manfred Sakel, Polish psychiatrist (d. 1957)

1900 to 1999

- 1901 - Sukarno, first President of Indonesia (d. 1970)
- 1903 - Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Max August Zorn, German-born mathematician (d. 1993)
- 1907 - Bill Dickey, baseball player, coach, manager, and scout (d. 1993)
- 1916 - Henriette Roosenburg, Dutch journalist (d. 1972)
- 1918 - Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1924 - Jinyong, Chinese novelist
- 1926 - Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (d. 1998)
- 1929 - Sunil Dutt, Indian actor and politician
- 1933 - Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1934 - King Albert II of Belgium
- 1936 - Levi Stubbs, American musician (The Four Tops)
- 1939 - Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer
- 1939 - Gary U.S. Bonds, American musician
- 1940 - Larry Lujack, American disc jockey
- 1943 - Richard Smalley, Americah chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1944 - Phillip Allen Sharp, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1945 - David Dukes, American actor (d. 2000)
- 1947 - David Blunkett, English politician
- 1947 - Ada Kok, Dutch swimmer
- 1949 - Robert Englund, American actor
- 1954 - Harvey Fierstein, American actor
- 1954 - Cynthia Rylant, American author
- 1955 - Sandra Bernhard, American actress and comedian
- 1956 - Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player
- 1959 - Colin Quinn, American comedian
- 1960 - Gary Graham, American actor
- 1960 - Steve Vai, American musician
- 1961 - Tom Araya, Chilean musician (Slayer)
- 1963 - Wolfgang Drechsler, German social scientist
- 1966 - Murdoc Niccals, Bassist for the Gorillaz
- 1970 - Anthony Norris, American professional wrestler
- 1972 - Cristina Scabbia, Italian singer
- 1975 - Staci Keanan, American actress
- 1978 - Carl Barat, English singer and guitarist (The Libertines)
- 1978 - Judith Barsi, American actress (d. 1988)

Deaths

1393 to 1899

- 1393 - Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (b. 1359)
- 1480 - Vecchietta, Italian artist and architect
- 1548 - Juan de Castro, Portuguese explorer (b. 1500)
- 1563 - Ikeda Nagamasa, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1519)
- 1583 - Nakagawa Kiyohide, Japanese warlord (b. 1556)
- 1740 - Alexander Spotswood, British governor of Virginia Colony
- 1784 - Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, Dutch politician (b. 1741)
- 1799 - Patrick Henry, American revolutionary (b. 1736)
- 1813 - Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, French architect
- 1832 - Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher (b. 1748)
- 1840 - Marcellin Champagnat, French priest, Saint (b. 1789)
- 1843 - Friedrich Hölderlin, German poet, novelist, and dramatist (b. 1770)
- 1861 - Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1810)
- 1865 - William Quantrill, American Confederate raider (b. 1837)
- 1878 - Robert Stirling, Scottish inventor (b. 1790)
- 1881 - Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer (b. 1820)
- 1891 - Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1815)

1900 to 1999

- 1916 - Yuan Shikai, Chinese military official and politician (b. 1859)
- 1922 - Lillian Russell, American actress (b. 1861)
- 1941 - Louis Chevrolet, American automotive pioneer and race car driver (b. 1878)
- 1946 - Gerhart Hauptmann, German dramatist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 1961 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)
- 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy, United States Attorney General and Senator from New York (b. 1925)
- 1976 - J. Paul Getty, American industrialist (b. 1892)
- 1976 - Victor Varconi, Hungarian actor (b. 1891)
- 1979 - Jack Haley, American actor (b. 1898)
- 1981 - Carleton S. Coon, American anthropologist (b. 1904)
- 1984 - A. Bertram Chandler, Australian author (b. 1912)
- 1991 - Stan Getz, American musician and composer (b. 1927)
- 1996 - George Davis Snell, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
- 1999 - Anne Haddy, Australian actress (b. 1930)

2000 onwards

- 2004 - Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (b. 1941)
- 2005 - Anne Bancroft, American actress (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances

- Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) - Israel
- National holiday of Sweden
- Queensland Day
- South Korean Memorial Day
- Samantha Smith Day - Maine (first Monday of June)
- Teacher's Day - America
- National Yo-yo Day - America

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/6 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 5 - June 7 - May 6 - July 6 -- listing of all days ko:6월 6일 ms:6 Jun ja:6月6日 simple:June 6 th:6 มิถุนายน

June 6

June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining.

Events

Births

1236 to 1899

1900 to 1999

Deaths

1393 to 1899

1900 to 1999

2000 onwards

- 2004 - Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (b. 1941)
- 2005 - Anne Bancroft, American actress (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances

External links

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

). Maximilian holds his personal emblem, the pomegranate.]] Maximilian I of Habsburg (March 22, 1459 – January 12, 1519) was Holy Roman Emperor.

Life and reign in the Habsburg hereditary lands

Maximilian was born in Vienna as the son of the Emperor Frederick III and Eleanore of Portugal. He married (1477) the heiress of Burgundy, Mary, the only daughter of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Through this marriage, Maximilian obtained the Burgundian Netherlands and the Free County of Burgundy, though France took Burgundy proper. In 1490, he bought Tyrol and Further Austria from his cousin Sigismund, the last member of the Elder Tyrolean Line of the House of Habsburg. Upon the death of his father in 1493, he inherited the remaining Habsburg possesions and thus reunified all Habsburg territories. That same year Maximilian married Bianca Maria Sforza (d. 1510), the daughter of the Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan as he had been a widower since the death of his first wife in 1482. Maximilian was a keen supporter of the arts and sciences, and he surrounded himself with scholars such as Joachim Vadian and Andreas Stoberl (Stiborius), promoting them to important court posts.

Reign in the Holy Roman Empire

Elected King of the Romans in 1486 at the initiative of his father, he also stood at the head of the Holy Roman Empire upon his father's death in 1493. The following year brought French intervention in Italy, inaugurating the prolonged Italian Wars. He joined the Holy League to counter the French. The war only ended with a success of the Empire after his death. Holy League Maximilian is possibly best known for leading the 1495 Reichstag at Worms which concluded on the Reichsreform (Imperial Reform), reshaping much of the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 1499 Treaty of Basel, Maximilian was forced to acknowledge the de-facto independence of the Swiss confereracy from the Empire as a result of the Battle of Dornach. In 1508, Maximilian, with the assent of Pope, took the title of Elected Roman Emperor (Erwählter Römischer Kaiser), and thus ended the century-old custom that the Holy Roman Emperor had to be crowned by the pope.

Tu felix Austria nube

In order to reduce the growing pressures on the Empire brought about by treaties between the rulers of France, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, and Russia, as well as to secure Bohemia and Hungary for the Habsburgs, Maximilian I met with the Jagiellonian kings Ladislaus II of Hungary and Bohemia and Sigismund I of Poland at Vienna in 1515. The marriages arranged there brought Habsburg kingship over Hungary and Bohemia in 1526.

Death and legacy

Maximilian died in Wels, Upper Austria, and was succeeded as Emperor by his grandson Charles V, his son Philip the Handsome having died in 1506. Maximilian had appointed his daughter Margaret of Austria as the educator of his grandsons Charles and Ferdinand, and she fulfilled this task well.

Marriages

- Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) - married in Ghent on August 18, 1477
- Bianca Maria Sforza (1472-1510)- married 1493

Children

Venice

Venice (Italian: Venezia), the "city of canals", is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice, , population 271,663 (census estimate 2004-01-01). The city is included, with Padua (Padova), in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, population 1,600,000. The city stretches across numerous small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The Venetian Republic was a major sea power and a staging area for the Crusades, as well as a very important centre of commerce (especially the spice trade) and art in the Renaissance.

History

See also Veneti. Veneti] The city was founded as a result of the influx of refugees into the marshes of the Po estuary following the invasion of northern Italy by the Lombards in 568. In the mid-8th century, the Venetians resisted the empire-building efforts of Pepin III and remained subject to the Byzantine Empire, at least theoretically. As the community continued to develop and as Byzantine power waned, an increasingly anti-Eastern character emerged, leading to the growth of autonomy and eventual independence. Venice was a city state (an Italian thalassocracy or Repubblica Marinara, the other three being Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi). Its strategic position at head of the Adriatic made Venetian naval and commercial power almost invulnerable. In the 12th century the essentials for the power of Venice were laid: the Venetian Arsenal was under construction in 1104; Venice wrested control of the Brenner pass from Verona in 1178, opening a lifeline to silver from Germany; the last autocratic doge, Vitale Michiele, died in 1172. The Republic of Venice seized the eastern shores of the Adriatic before 1200, mostly for commercial reasons, because pirates based there were a menace to trade. The Doge already carried the titles of Duke of Dalmatia and Duke of Istria. Later mainland possessions, which extended across Lake Garda as far west as the Adda River, were known as "Terrafirma", and were acquired partly as a buffer against belligerent neighbors, partly to guarantee Alpine trade routes, and partly to ensure the supply of mainland wheat, on which the city depended. In building its maritime commercial empire, the Republic acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean, including Cyprus and Crete, and became a major power-broker in the Near East. By the standards of the time, Venice's stewardship of its mainland territories was relatively enlightened and the citizens of such towns as Bergamo, Brescia, and Verona rallied to the defence of Venetian sovereignty when it was threatened by invaders. Venice became an imperial power following the Fourth Crusade, which (with Venetian aid) seized Constantinople in 1204 and established the Latin Empire. Considerable plunder was brought back to Venice, including the Winged Lion of St. Mark, symbol of Venice. Only Venetian ships could efficiently transport the men, supplies, and (especially) war horses. Winged Lion of St. Mark The Venetian governmental structure was a mix of Byzantine and Islamic systems, but the social order was entirely feudal. Church and various private properties were tied to military service, though there was no knight tenure within the city itself. The Cavalieri di San Marco was the only order of chivalry ever instituted in Venice, and no citizen could accept or join a foreign order without the government’s consent. Venice remained a republic throughout its independent period and politics and the military were kept completely separate. War was regarded as a continuation of commerce by other means (hence, the city's early production of large numbers of mercenaries for service elsewhere). The chief executive was the Doge (duke), who, theoretically, held his elective office for life. In practice, a number of Doges were forced by pressure from their oligarchical peers to resign the office and retire into monastic seclusion when they were felt to have been discredited by perceived political failure. monastic Though the people of Venice generally remained orthodox Roman Catholics, the state of Venice was notable for its freedom from religious fanaticism and it enacted not a single execution for religious heresy during the Counter-Reformation. This apparent lack of zeal contributed to its frequently coming into conflict with the Papacy. Venice was threatened with the interdict on a number of occasions and twice suffered its imposition. The second, more famous, occasion was on April 27, 1509, by order of Pope Julius II (see League of Cambrai). Venetian ambassadors sent home still-extant secret reports of the politics and rumours of European courts, providing fascinating information to modern historians. League of Cambrai After 1070 years, the Republic lost its independence when Napoleon Bonaparte on May 12, 1797, conquered Venice during the First Coalition. The French conqueror brought to an end the most fascinating century of its history: It was during the "Settecento" that Venice became perhaps the most elegant and refined city in Europe, greatly influencing art, architecture, and literature. Napoleon was seen as something of a liberator by the city's Jewish population. He removed the gates of the Ghetto and ended the restrictions on when and where Jews could live and travel in the city. Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio on October 12 1797. The Austrians took control of the city on January 18, 1798. It was taken from Austria by the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805 and became part of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, but was returned to Austria following Napoleon's defeat in 1814. In 1866, along with the rest of Venetia, Venice became part of Italy. After 1797, the city fell into a serious decline, with many of the old palaces and other buildings abandoned and falling into disrepair, although the Lido became a popular beach resort in the late 19th century.

Naval and military affairs

By 1450, more than 3,000 Venetian merchant ships were in operation, and most of these could be converted when necessary into either warships or transports. The government required each merchant ship to carry a specified number of weapons (mostly crossbows and javelins) and armor; merchant passengers were also expected to be armed and to fight when necessary. A reserve of some 25 (later 100) war-galleys was maintained in the Arsenal. Galley slaves did not exist in medieval Venice, the oarsmen coming from the city itself or from its possessions, especially Dalmatia. Those from the city were chosen by lot from each parish, their families being supported by the remainder of the parish while the rowers were away. Debtors generally worked off their obligations rowing the galleys. Rowing skills were encouraged through races and regattas. regatta By 1303, crossbow practice had become compulsory in the city, with citizens training in groups. As weapons became more expensive and complex to operate, professional soldiers were assigned to help work merchant sailing ships and as rowers in galleys. The company of "Noble Bowmen" was recruited in the later 14th century from among the younger aristocracy and served aboard both war-galleys and armed merchantmen, with the privilege of sharing the captain's cabin. Though Venice was famous for its navy, its army was equally effective. In the 13th century, most Italian city states already were hiring mercenaries, but Venetian troops were still recruited from the lagoon, plus feudal levies from Dalmatia and Istria. In times of emergency, all males between seventeen and sixty years were registered and their weapons were surveyed, with those called to actually fight being organized into companies of twelve. The register of 1338 estimated that 30,000 Venetian men were capable of bearing arms; many of these were skilled crossbowmen. As in other Italian cities, aristocrats and other wealthy men were cavalrymen while the city's conscripts fought as infantry. Early in the 15th century, as new mainland territories were expanded, the first standing army was organized, consisting of condottieri on contract. In its alliance with Florence in 1426, Venice agreed to supply 8,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry in time of war, and 3,000 and 1,000 in peacetime. Later in that century, uniforms were adopted that featured red-and-white stripes, and a system of honors and pensions developed. Throughout the 15th century, Venetian land forces were almost always on the offensive and were regarded as the most effective in Italy, largely because of the tradition of all classes carrying arms in defense of the city and official encouragement of general military training. The command structure in the army was different from that in the fleet. By ancient law, no nobleman could command more than twenty-five men (to prevent against sedition by private armies), and while the position of Captain General was introduced in the mid-14th century, he still had to answer to a civilian panel of twenty "wise men". Not only was efficiency not degraded, this policy saved Venice from the military takeovers that other Italian city states so often experienced. A civilian commissioner (not unlike a commissar) accompanied each army to keep an eye on things, especially the mercenaries. The Venetian military tradition also was notably cautious; they were more interested in achieving success with a minimum expense of lives and money than in the pursuit of glory.

Transport

commissar Venice is famous for its canals. It is built on an archipelago of more than 100 islands in a shallow lagoon. In the old center, the canals serve the function of roads, and every form of transport is on water or on foot. In the 19th century a causeway to the mainland brought a railroad station to Venice, and an automobile causeway and parking lot was added in the 20th century. Beyond these land entrances at the northern edge of the city, transportation within the city remains, as it was in centuries past, entirely on water or on foot. Venice is Europe's largest carfree area, unique in Europe in remaining a sizable functioning city in the 21st century entirely without motorcars or trucks. 21st century The classical Venetian boat is the gondola, although it is now mostly used for tourists, or for weddings, funerals, or other ceremonies, due to its cost. Most Venetians now travel by motorised waterbuses ("vaporetti") which ply regular routes along the major canals and between the city's islands. The city also has many private boats. The only unmotorized gondolas still in common use by Venetians are the traghetti, foot passenger ferries crossing the Grand Canal at certain points without bridges. Venice is served by the newly rebuilt Marco Polo International Airport, or Aeroporto di Venezia Marco Polo, named in honor of its famous citizen. The airport is on the mainland and was rebuilt away from the coast so that visitors now need to get a bus to the pier, from which a water taxi or Aliliguna waterbus can be used.

Demographics

The city is much visited by tourists, of course; but of the permanent population 3.8 % are foreigners as well: from all around the world, and especially from Asia. Istat breaks down the population as:
- 96.2% Italian
- 0.4% Turkish
- 0.3% Moldavians
- 0.2% Ukrainian
- 0.2% Romanian Other populations include Bulgarian, Tunisian, Albanian, and Macedonian.

Places of note

Sestieri

The sestieri are the primary traditional divisions of Venice. The city is divided into the six districts of Cannaregio, San Polo, Dorsoduro (including the Giudecca), Santa Croce, San Marco and Castello (including San Pietro di Castello and Sant'Elena).

Sinking of Venice

The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wood piles (under water, in the absence of oxygen, wood does not decay) which penetrate alternating layers of clay and sand. Most of these piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on the piles, and buildings of brick or stone sit above these footings. The buildings are often threatened by flood tides pushing in from the Adriatic between autumn and early spring. Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city. This created an ever-deeper lagoon environment. During the 20th century, when many artesian wells were sunk into the periphery of the lagoon to draw water for local industry, Venice began to subside. It was realised that extraction of the aquifer was the cause. This sinking process has slowed markedly since artesian wells were banned in the 1960s. However, the city is still threatened by more frequent low-level floods (so-called Acqua alta, "high water") that creep to a height of several centimeters over its quays, regularly following certain tides. In many old houses the former staircases used by people to unload goods are now flooded, rendering the former ground floor uninhabitable. Thus, many Venetians resorted to moving up to the upper floors and continue with their lives. Some recent studies have suggested that the city is no longer sinking, but this is not yet certain; therefore, a state of alert has not been revoked. In May 2003, Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, inaugurated the MOSE project, which will lay a series of 79 inflatable pontoons across the sea bed at the three entrances to the lagoon. When tides are predicted to rise above 110 centimetres, the pontoons will be filled with air and block the incoming water from the Adriatic sea. This challenging engineering work is due to be completed by 2011.

Venice in culture, the arts, and fiction

In the 14th century, many young Venetian men began wearing tight-fitting multicolored hose, the designs on which indicated the Compagnie della Calza ("Trouser Club") to which they belonged. The Senate passed sumptuary laws, but these merely resulted in changes in fashion in order to circumvent the law. Dull garments were worn over colorful ones, which then were cut to show the hidden colors -- which resulted in the wide spread of men's "slashed" fashions in the 15th century. During the 16th century, Venice became one of the most important musical centers of Europe, with the development of the Venetian polychoral style under composers such as Adrian Willaert, who worked at San Marco. Venice was the early center of music printing; Ottaviano Petrucci began publishing music almost as soon as this technology was available, and his publishing enterprise helped to attract composers from all over Europe, especially from France and Flanders. By the end of the century, Venice was famous for the splendor of its music, as exemplified in the "colossal style" of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, which used multiple choruses and instrumental groups. Canvases (the now almost universal surface for painting) originated in Venice during the early renaissance. They were generally rough. A remarkable, and unflattering, portrait of Venetian politics appears in The Bravo, published in 1831 by American novelist James Fennimore Cooper. A bravo is an assassin under contract to the state, typically carrying out his assignments with a stilletto. Cooper's novel depicts Venice as a brutal dictatorship, governed through intrigue and murder, masked by the placid facade of the Repubblica Serenissima (serene republic). Other major works involving Venice include:
- William Shakespeare's Othello and The Merchant of Venice
- Friedrich Schiller's Der Geisterseher (The Ghost-Seer)
- Death in Venice, a 1912 novel by Thomas Mann
- Nicolas Roeg's 1973 film Don't Look Now, based on a story by Daphne du Maurier
- The Silent Gondoliers a fable told by

June 6

Events

Births

1236 to 1899

1900 to 1999

Deaths

1393 to 1899

1900 to 1999

2000 onwards

Holidays and observances

External links

June 6

Events

Births

1236 to 1899

1900 to 1999

Deaths

1393 to 1899

1900 to 1999

2000 onwards

Holidays and observances

External links

Leap year

Gregorian calendar

Which day is the leap day?

Julian calendar

Revised Julian Calendar

Chinese calendar

Hebrew calendar

Hindu Calendar

Iranian calendar

Long term leap year rules

Marriage proposal

Saint Patrick and the leap year

Birthdays

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Life and reign in the Habsburg hereditary lands

Reign in the Holy Roman Empire

Tu felix Austria nube

Death and legacy

Marriages

Children

Venice

History

Naval and military affairs

Transport

Demographics

Places of note

Sestieri

Piazzas and Campi of Venice

Palaces

Churches

Other buildings

Bridges and channels

Surroundings

Sinking of Venice

Venice in culture, the arts, and fiction