Monday, 30 June 2025

1669) Fernando d'Ávalos

Fernando Francesco d'Ávalos d'Aquino, 5th Marquess of Pescara (also known as Ferrante, 1489 – 1525). Italian (Neapolitan) military leader and nobleman of Spanish (Aragonese) origin. He was an important captain in the service of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire during the Italian Wars.
In the Battle of Ravenna in 1512, he was taken prisoner by the French but was released at the conclusion of the War of the League of Cambrai, after which he became a chief commander of the Habsburg armies of Charles V in Italy during the Habsburg-Valois Wars. He was instrumental to the victories over the French at Bicocca and Pavia thanks to his ordered usage of arquebusiers.
At the age of six the boy was betrothed to Vittoria Colonna, daughter of the general Fabrizio Colonna, and the marriage was celebrated in 1509 on the island of Ischia.
After the death of Fernando in Milan from the wounds that he had sustained at the Battle of Pavia, Colonna dedicated herself to writing poetry and became one of the most popular poets of 16th-century Italy. 

Portrait by unknown artist

 

Sunday, 29 June 2025

1668) Arnulf of Orléans

Arnulf of Orléans, also known as Arnulfus Rufus (French: Arnoul le Roux). Grammarian and poet of Latin, active as a teacher in Orléans in the late twelfth century in the monastery of Saint-Euverte.
In Arnulf's time, Orléans was a centre of classical learning in France. He taught the classics in the ancient grammatical style, as opposed to the new "logical" style. In his commentaries on Ovid (Metamorphoses, Fasti, Ars amatoria) and Lucan, which circulated widely, he is sharply critical of his predecessors. Arnulf is the likely author of the elegiac comedy Lidia and possibly also of Miles gloriosus.
He had a famous rivalry with Matthew of Vendôme. Arnulf and Matthew's dispute seems to have involved insulting each other's poetry. Arnulf was not reticent to insult rivals, labelling one commentary as designed for "those who have been fooled by Fulco". Likewise, he vaunted his own skills by facetiously deriving his name from the expression ardua nulla fugiens (flying from no difficulty). Matthew came out the worst and relocated to Vendôme in 1175. He was, however, successful in damaging Arnulf's reputation with his writings.

- " In his [Matthew of Vendôme's] Ars poetica, the name Rufinus and the Latin word rufus (redhead) are used throughout to insult Arnulf... He says that Arnulf proves the proverb right: redheads are cheats who cannot be trusted." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf_of_Orl%C3%A9ans_(12th_century)

Friday, 27 June 2025

1667) Stéphane Audran

Stéphane Audran (born Colette Suzanne Jeannine Dacheville; 1932 – 2018). French film actress.
She was known for her performances in the films of her husband Claude Chabrol, including Les Biches (1968) and Le Boucher (1970), Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), and Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast (1987). The role she was mostly associated with was that of the haughty bourgeois woman.

- "Avec ses yeux bleus perçants, ses cheveux roux toujours parfaitement coiffés et un rouge à lèvre omniprésent... [With her piercing blue eyes, her red hair always perfectly styled and an ever-present red lipstick...]" https://www.komitid.fr/2018/03/28/stephane-audran-mort-chabrol-biches/