A View of Casal, a very strong City and Castle in Italy, taken by the Duke of Savoy in Decemr. 1706.

Title

A View of Casal, a very strong City and Castle in Italy, taken by the Duke of Savoy in Decemr. 1706.

Description

Bird's eye view of the town of Casale Monferrato in the Piedmont region, Italy.

ca. 1708

Artist

Rapin de Thoyras (1661-1725)

Paul de Rapin de Thoyras ( 1661 – 1725), sieur of Thoyras (and therefore styled Thoyras de Rapin), was a French historian writing under English patronage. The son of Jacques de Rapin, an avocat at Castres (Tarn), he was educated at the Protestant Academy of Saumur, and in 1679 became an advocate, but soon afterwards joined the army. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and the death of his father led him to move to England; but, unable to find work there, he went on to the Netherlands where he enlisted in a company of French volunteers at Utrecht, commanded by his cousin, Daniel de Rapin. He accompanied William III to England in 1688, and during the Williamite war in Ireland he took part in the Siege of Carrickfergus and the Battle of the Boyne, and was wounded at the Siege of Limerick (1690). Soon afterwards he was promoted to captain; but in 1693 he resigned in order to become tutor to the Earl of Portland's son. After travelling with the boy, he settled with his family (he married Marie-Anne Testart in 1699) in Holland, first at the Hague, then,at Wesel, in 1707.

Historical Description

Casale Monferrato: The bishop of Asti, Sant'Evasio, named the small village Casale (after the Italian word for country house). The first written mention of the name dates back to 988. After Charlemagne donated the village to the Church of Vercelli, it regained its freedom under the rule of Frederick Barbarossa. In 1215 it was successively sacked by the troops of Vercelli, Alessandria and Milan, then rebuilt and fortified five years later. From 1305 it was dominated by the Palaiologi, and in 1474 the settlement obtained the status of town. As a result of the treaty concluded between France and Spain in 1559, within the framework of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, the town came under the rule of the Gonzaga family from Mantua, who made Casale a fortress. During the War of the Mantuan Succession (1629-1631), French troops entered Casale; Spanish troops besieged the town and the fortress in 1629 and 1630. In the War of the Spanish Succession, Duke Ferdinando Carlo of Gonzaga-Nevers sided with France; Emperor Joseph I then declared treason against the Empire, confiscated the part of the Duchy of Montferrat that remained with the House of Gonzaga, including Casale, in 1708, and transferred it to the House of Savoy in 1713.