Otranto (Catholic Encyclopedia article)
Umberto Benigni · 1913
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Description
Otranto is an archdiocese and city of Lecce province in Apulia, southern Italy, set in fertile country once famed for its horses. An ancient Greek colony, it stood against Rome in the wars of Pyrrhus and Hannibal. As the nearest port to the Adriatic's eastern shore, it outranked Brindisi under the Roman emperors. It passed through Beneventan and Byzantine hands, and was among the last Apulian cities to yield to Robert Guiscard in 1068.
In 1480 Turks sacked the city, and 12,000 men are said to have died, among them Bishop Stephen Pendinelli, sawn to death, while later Turkish landings in 1537 were beaten off. Napoleon gave Otranto in fief to Fouche in 1810, after a French garrison lodged there from 1804. Its cathedral, built by Count Roger I in 1088, bears a mosaic floor of about 1163, and a Basilian house there grew into a place of study under Abbot Nicetas.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Umberto Benigni |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 1913 |
| COLLECTION | REFERENCE |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 2 KB |
| LICENSE | PUBLIC_DOMAIN |
| RIGHTS | PUBLIC DOMAIN |
| SOURCE | New Advent — Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) |