I
just returned from a road trip during which my husband and I visited
the lovely campus of Gonzaga University. My husband was surprised I
had never heard of this college before—apparently it is really big
in basketball—but I was surprised just now to be researching
happenings on August 16 and to see the Gonzaga name!
Today's
anniversary hasn't got much to do with the university! (But the
university was named for a member of the House of Gonzaga, so there
is a family connection.) Instead, today's anniversary has to do with
that all-too-common practice of people fighting other people for
power.
Mantua
is in Northern Italy, and it was invaded and ruled by a variety of
empires, including the Romans, Byzantines, Longobards, and Franks.
Finally, about a thousand years ago, it became a “free commune,”
and a ruler altered the course of a nearby river to form four lakes
that would surround and protect Mantua. (One of the four lakes has
since dried up.) Because of these surrounding lakes, Mantua is
sometimes called “the city of lakes,” and there are some canals
rather like the ones in Venice.
At
that point, instead of fighting off outsiders, the Mantuans fought
among each other to see who would rule. On this date in 1328, the
House of Gonzaga took over the throne and held it for almost 300
years.
The
good news is that the Gonzaga family helped Mantua become one of the
main artistic, cultural, and musical capitals in Europe during the
beginning of the Renaissance.
The
bad news is that some of the Gonzaga rulers were
despots—dictators—you know, the sort of leaders who rule “with
an iron fist.”
Check
out Mantua in this video. Notice that the Italian name for Mantua
is “Mantova.”
Also
on this date:
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