Federico Luigi, Conte Menabrea
Encyclopedia
Federico Luigi, 1º Conte Menabrea, 1st Marquis of Valdora (September 4, 1809 – May 24, 1896) was an Italian
general, statesman
and mathematician.
, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia
.
He was educated at the University of Turin
, where he qualified as an engineer and became a doctor of mathematics
. As an officer of engineers he replaced Cavour
in 1831 at the fortress of Bard
. He then became professor of mechanics and construction at the military academy and at the university of Turin. Among his notable publications: Sketch of the Analytical Engine
Invented by Charles Babbage
, Esq. with notes by translator Ada Lovelace
(1842), which described many aspects of computer architecture
and programming. King Charles Albert
sent him in 1848 on diplomatic missions to secure the adhesion of Modena
and Parma
to Sardinia
. He entered the Piedmontese parliament, and was attached successively to the Ministries of War and Foreign Affairs.
He belonged to the right centre, and until the events of 1859
he believed in the possibility of a compromise between the Vatican
and the state. He was major-general and commanderin-chief of the engineers in the Lombard
campaign of 1859. He superintended the siege works against Peschiera, was present at Palestro
and Solferino
, and repaired the fortifications of some of the northern fortresses. In 1860 he became lieutenant-general and conducted the siege of Gaeta
. He was appointed senator and received the title of count.
Entering the Ricasoli
cabinet of 1861 as minister for the navy, he held the portfolio of public works until 1864 in the succeeding Farini
and Minghetti
cabinets. After the war of 1866, he was chosen as Italian plenipotentiary
for the negotiation of the Treaty of Prague and for the transfer of Venetia to Italy. In October 1867, he succeeded Rattazzi
in the premiership, and was called upon to deal with the difficult situation created by Garibaldi
's invasion of the Papal States
and by the catastrophe of Mentana
.
Menabrea disavowed Garibaldi and instituted judicial proceedings against him; but in negotiations with the French government he protested against the retention of the temporal power by the pope and insisted on the Italian right of interference in Rome. He was in the secret of the direct negotiations between Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon III in June 1869, and refused to entertain the idea of a French alliance unless Italy were allowed to occupy the Papal States, and, on occasion, Rome itself. On the eve of the assembly of the Oecumenical Council at Rome Menabrea reserved to the Italian government its right in respect of any measures directed against Italian institutions.
He withdrew from seminary students in 1860 the exemption from military service which they had hitherto enjoyed. Throughout his term of office he was supported by the finance minister Count Cambray Digny, who forced through parliament the grist tax proposed by Quintino Sella
, though in an altered form from the earlier proposal. After a series of changes in the cabinet, and many crises, Menabrea resigned in December 1869 on the election of a new chamber in which he did not command a majority. He was made marquis of Valdora in 1875. His successor in the premiership, Giovanni Lanza
, in order to remove him from his influential position as aide-de-camp
to the king, sent him to London as ambassador, where he remained until in 1882 he replaced General Cialdini
at the Paris Embassy. Ten years later he withdrew from public life, and died at Saint Capin on 24 May 1896.
----
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
general, statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
and mathematician.
Biography
Menabrea was born at ChambéryChambéry
Chambéry is a city in the department of Savoie, located in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It is the capital of the department and has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V of Savoy made the city his seat of power.-Geography:Chambéry...
, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
.
He was educated at the University of Turin
University of Turin
The University of Turin is a university in the city of Turin in the Piedmont region of north-western Italy...
, where he qualified as an engineer and became a doctor of mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. As an officer of engineers he replaced Cavour
Cavour
-Places:Italy* Cavour, Piedmont in Italy* Cavour in ItalyUnited States* Cavour, South Dakota, United States* Cavour, Wisconsin, United States-Other:* Italian aircraft carrier Cavour* the Italian dreadnought Conte di Cavour...
in 1831 at the fortress of Bard
Fort Bard
Fort Bard is a fortified complex built in the 19th century by the House of Savoy on a rocky prominence above Bard, a town and comune in the Aosta Valley region of northwestern Italy....
. He then became professor of mechanics and construction at the military academy and at the university of Turin. Among his notable publications: Sketch of the Analytical Engine
Analytical engine
The Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, a design for a mechanical calculator...
Invented by Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
, Esq. with notes by translator Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine...
(1842), which described many aspects of computer architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
and programming. King Charles Albert
Charles Albert of Sardinia
Charles Albert was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence...
sent him in 1848 on diplomatic missions to secure the adhesion of Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
and Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
to Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
. He entered the Piedmontese parliament, and was attached successively to the Ministries of War and Foreign Affairs.
He belonged to the right centre, and until the events of 1859
Second Italian War of Independence
The Second War of Italian Independence, Franco-Austrian War, Austro-Sardinian War, or Austro-Piedmontese War , was fought by Napoleon III of France and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia against the Austrian Empire in 1859...
he believed in the possibility of a compromise between the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
and the state. He was major-general and commanderin-chief of the engineers in the Lombard
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
campaign of 1859. He superintended the siege works against Peschiera, was present at Palestro
Battle of Palestro
The Battle of Palestro was fought on 30/31 May 1859 between the Austrian Empire and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and France. The Franco-Piedmontese forces were victorious...
and Solferino
Battle of Solferino
The Battle of Solferino, , was fought on June 24, 1859 and resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II against the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Joseph I; it was the last major battle in world...
, and repaired the fortifications of some of the northern fortresses. In 1860 he became lieutenant-general and conducted the siege of Gaeta
Siege of Gaeta (1860)
The Siege of Gaeta was the concluding event of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It started on November 5, 1860 and ended February 13, 1861, and took place in Gaeta, in today's Southern Lazio .-Background:...
. He was appointed senator and received the title of count.
Entering the Ricasoli
Bettino Ricasoli
Bettino Ricàsoli, 1.º Barone Ricàsoli, 1.º Conte di Brolio was an Italian statesman.-Biography:...
cabinet of 1861 as minister for the navy, he held the portfolio of public works until 1864 in the succeeding Farini
Luigi Carlo Farini
Luigi Carlo Farini was an Italian statesman and historian.-Biography:Farini was born at Russi, in what is now the province of Ravenna....
and Minghetti
Marco Minghetti
Marco Minghetti was an Italian economist and statesman.-Biography:Minghetti was born at Bologna, then part of the Papal States....
cabinets. After the war of 1866, he was chosen as Italian plenipotentiary
Plenipotentiary
The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...
for the negotiation of the Treaty of Prague and for the transfer of Venetia to Italy. In October 1867, he succeeded Rattazzi
Urbano Rattazzi
Urbano Pio Francesco Rattazzi was an Italian statesman.-Biography:He was born in Alessandria . He studied law at Turin, and in 1838 began his practice, which met with marked success at the capital and Casale. In 1848, Rattazzi was sent to the Sardinian chamber of deputies in Turin as...
in the premiership, and was called upon to deal with the difficult situation created by Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
's invasion of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
and by the catastrophe of Mentana
Battle of Mentana
The Battle of Mentana was fought on November 3, 1867 between French-Papal troops and the Italian volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who were attempting to capture Rome, then the main centre of the peninsula still outside of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy....
.
Menabrea disavowed Garibaldi and instituted judicial proceedings against him; but in negotiations with the French government he protested against the retention of the temporal power by the pope and insisted on the Italian right of interference in Rome. He was in the secret of the direct negotiations between Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon III in June 1869, and refused to entertain the idea of a French alliance unless Italy were allowed to occupy the Papal States, and, on occasion, Rome itself. On the eve of the assembly of the Oecumenical Council at Rome Menabrea reserved to the Italian government its right in respect of any measures directed against Italian institutions.
He withdrew from seminary students in 1860 the exemption from military service which they had hitherto enjoyed. Throughout his term of office he was supported by the finance minister Count Cambray Digny, who forced through parliament the grist tax proposed by Quintino Sella
Quintino Sella
Quintino Sella was an Italian statesman and financier.-Biography:Sella was born at Sella di Mosso, in the Province of Biella....
, though in an altered form from the earlier proposal. After a series of changes in the cabinet, and many crises, Menabrea resigned in December 1869 on the election of a new chamber in which he did not command a majority. He was made marquis of Valdora in 1875. His successor in the premiership, Giovanni Lanza
Giovanni Lanza
Domenico Giovanni Giuseppe Maria Lanza was an Italian politician and the tenth Prime Minister from 1869 to 1873.Lanza was born in the Piedmontese city of Casale Monferrato...
, in order to remove him from his influential position as aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to the king, sent him to London as ambassador, where he remained until in 1882 he replaced General Cialdini
Enrico Cialdini
Enrico Cialdini, Duca di Gaeta was an Italian soldier, politician and diplomat.-Biography:He was born at Castelvetro, in the province of Modena. In 1831 he took part in the insurrection at Modena, fleeing afterwards to Paris, whence he proceeded to Spain to fight against the Carlists...
at the Paris Embassy. Ten years later he withdrew from public life, and died at Saint Capin on 24 May 1896.
Publications
- Sketch of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage, Esq. with notes by trans. Ada LovelaceAda LovelaceAugusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine...
, in Scientific MemoirsScientific MemoirsScientific Memoirs, Selected from the Transactions of Foreign Academies of science and Learned Societies and from Foreign Journals was a series of books edited and published by Richard Taylor in London between 1837 and 1852....
, Vol 3 (1842)
----