Auvergne (/oʊˈvɛərn(jə), oʊˈvɜːrn/; French: [ovɛʁɲ] ; Occitan: Auvèrnhe or Auvèrnha) is a cultural region in central France. It is now largely part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes administrative region.
Auvergne is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dissolved in 1790, and with the now-defunct administrative region of Auvergne, which existed from 1956 to 2015.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (French pronunciation: [ovɛʁɲ ʁonalp] ; AURA) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into effect on 1 January 2016, after the regional elections in December 2015.
The region covers an area of 69,711 km (26,916 sq mi), making it the third largest in metropolitan France; it had a population of 7,994,459 in 2018, second to Île-de-France. It consists of twelve departments and one collectivity with particular status (the Metropolis of Lyon) with Lyon as the prefecture.
Languedoc-Roussillon (French pronunciation: [lɑ̃ɡ(ə)dɔk ʁusijɔ̃] ; Occitan: Lengadòc-Rosselhon [ˌleŋɡɔˈðɔk ruseˈʎu]; Catalan: Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and bordered the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées towards the north, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean Sea towards the south. It was the southernmost region of mainland France.
A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation, as opposed to a table knife used when eating, as part of a set of cutlery. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives — notably a large chef's knife and a smaller serrated blade utility knife — there are also many specialized knives that are designed for specific tasks such as a tough cleaver, a small paring knife, and a bread knife. Kitchen knives can be made from several different materials, though the most common is a hardened steel blade with a wooden handle.
Historically, knives were made in "knife cities" that are noted for being the best at their production in that country with the pre-emininent, in Europe, being: Sheffield in Yorkshire, North of England; Thiers, Puy-de-Dôme in the Auvergne of France; Solingen in the Northern Rhineland of Germany; and Eskilstuna of Södermanland in Sweden. Each of these produced knives in a styles particular to the city, with Thiers especially being noted for the French point of Laguiole and steak knives. Whereas in Japan, there are many dispersed centres of kitchen knife production due to diversification that followed in wake of legislation restricting the production of sword-making. These are Tsubame-Sanjō in Niigata Prefecture, Seki in Gifu Prefecture, Sakai in Osaka Prefecture, Takefu-Echizen in Fukui Prefecture, and Tosa in Kōchi Prefecture amongst a number of others. Each area have their own style of knife, with Sakai in Osaka favouring the "sheep's foot" or drop point, in contrast to the square-tipped style of Edo, modern-day Tokyo.
The history of the Auvergne dates back to the early Middle Ages, when it was a historic province in south-central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne.
Benedetto Ghirlandaio (1458–1497) was an Italian (Florentine) painter. His brothers Davide Ghirlandaio (1452–1525) and Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494) were both painters, as was his nephew Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1483–1561). From 1486 until 1493 he was active in France, where survives his only extant signed painting, an altarpiece of the Nativity at Nôtre-Dame in Aigueperse (Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne). Benedetto died in Florence on 17 July 1497.
Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Nevertheless, Edward earned distinction as one of the most successful English commanders during the Hundred Years' War, being regarded by his English contemporaries as a model of chivalry and one of the greatest knights of his age. Edward was made Duke of Cornwall, the first English dukedom, in 1337. He was guardian of the kingdom in his father's absence in 1338, 1340, and 1342. He was created Prince of Wales in 1343 and knighted by his father at La Hougue in 1346.
In 1346, Prince Edward commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy, his father intentionally leaving him to win the battle. He took part in Edward III's 1349 Calais expedition. In 1355, he was appointed the king's lieutenant in Gascony and ordered to lead an army into Aquitaine on a chevauchée, during which he pillaged Avignonet and Castelnaudary, sacked Carcassonne, and plundered Narbonne. In 1356, on another chevauchée, he ravaged Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry but failed to take Bourges. The forces of King John II of France met Edward's armies near the city of Poitiers. After negotiations between the two sides broke down, the Anglo-Gascon forces under Edward routed the French army and captured King John at the Battle of Poitiers.