Maria Antonietta Visceglia, The Legacy of Ferdinand the Catholic and Its Relationship with the Papacy during the Youth of Charles V

The article looks at the relationship between the Papacy and Spain during the latter part of Ferdinand the Catholic’s reign and assesses how it was impacted by the dinastic change that occurred with Charles of Hapsburg’s ascension to throne. Important continuities are identified as well as extraordinary new developments like the protestant schism and the imperial election of Charles V, events that dramatized and reshaped this relationship. In this interplay between continuity and change the article focuses on the key and exceptional importance of territorial configurations of Italian peninsula.

Keywords: Papacy, Ferdinand the Catholic, Charles V, Italy.

Feng-Chuan Pan, Kangxi Emperor Viewed by the Kings’ Mathematicians: Focusing on the Travel Writings of Louis Lecomte and Joachim Bouvet

This paper investigates the images of Chinese Emperor described in the travel writings published by two of the mathematicians of the Sun King, focusing on the two books by Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730) and Louis Le Comte (1655-1728). Three main topics highlighted in the travel writings: (1) the idea and practices of monarchy (single ruling) in Chinese political system, (2) Kangxi’s reception of Western learning and (3) wondering between Kangxi and Louis XIV, looking forward to the promising conversion to Christianity of Chinese Empire. The author discovers that Emperor Kangxi was portrayed the exemplar image of an ideal philosopher king, eventually played an influential role in the process of secularization, viz. the political independent from the Catholic Church.

Keywords: Emperor Kangxi, Jesuits in China, Mathematicians of the King, Chinese Monarchy, Travel Writing.

Simone Senna, The Castle Bravo Effect. The Lucky Dragon Incident and Its Meaning

The Lucky Dragon incident (1954) is regarded as a crucial turning point in the rise of public opinion on nuclear issues. This essay focuses on the different reactions to the Bravo test, whose consequences highlighted the dangers of radioactive fallout. Negotiations between the US and Japan, activism of popular organizations and improved knowledge regarding nuclear contamination are key elements for deepening our understanding of this unpleasant, yet influential event of the Cold War.

Keywords: Nuclear Testing, Public Opinion, Radioactive Fallout, Cold War 1950s.

Nairi Mercadanti, The Genocide of the Armenians, a Hundred Years Later. 1915-2015

At the time of the centenary of the Armenian genocide, a series of significant scholarly books and articles appeared. This article reviews three of the books published during 2015. Comprendre le genocide des Arméniens. 1915 à nos jours, a text written by Raymond Kévorkian, Hamit Bozarslan and Vincent Duclert is the result of a joint work that gave birth to one of the first overview of some relevance on Armenian theme. Le genocide des arméniens. A siecle de recherche 1915-2015, edited by Annette Becker, demonstrates the extent reached by research in the field of scientific knowledge on the first genocide of the twentieth century. There view ends with the work of Mikaël Nichanian, Détruire les arméniens, which proposes a chronological analysis of events, including, as well as other volumes, new interpretations on the causes and consequences of the birth of Turkish nationalism and modernTurkey.

Keywords: Armenian Genocide, Ottoman Empire, Historiography, Genocide Studies, Memory.

Gilmo Arnaldi at the Sapienza University

Girolamo, or Gilmo, Arnaldi (1929 to 2016) was certainly one of the most important mediaevalists of his generation. It suffices to record that for almost twenty years (1982 to 2001) ha was president of the Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo. The Department of Storia. Culture. Religioni, as it then was, dedicated to him a day of study on the 16 December 2016. The aim of this was to reconstruct, through detailed research and personal memories, his activity over thirty years with the Faculty of Lettere e Filosofia of the Sapienza University. Some of the contributions presented on that day are now being published. As well as illustrating his importance as a teacher, reconstructed from his archives and the testimony of those who knew him as a professor, his work as President of the Commission for the history of the University of Rome was presented. Also illustrated was one at least of the major themes of research – the papacy of Gregory the Great – which for years nourished his teaching and academic dialogue with colleagues.

Keywords: Girolamo Arnaldi, University of Rome, Faculty of Lettere e Filosofia, Commission for the History of the University of Rome, Arnaldi’s archives, D.P. 382/1980.