THE LAST ITALIAN MONARCHS

Linda Hansford

HOUSE OF SAVOY

The House of Savoy is a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region in the Alpine area between what is now France and Italy.  Over time, the House of Savoy expanded its territory and influence through prudent marriages and international diplomacy.  It led to the unification of Italy in 1861 which, before then, had comprised of smaller kingdoms and city states, and ruled the Kingdom of Italy until the time of its deposition in 1946.  From 1861 the Savoyard kings of Italy were:

Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III and finally Umberto II, known as the ‘May King’.

The Black Death and the Great Fire of London

Judith Cooper

Bubonic Plague or the Black Death as it was called is an infection that spread mostly to humans by infected fleas that travel on rodents (rats ,cats, mice etc.)  .The plague killed one and  a half million Europeans during the Middle Ages.