Editing Giulio Alberoni (section)

==Early years==
He was born near [[Piacenza]] on May 21, 1664,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vesnitch |first=Mil R. |date=1913 |title=Cardinal Alberoni: An Italian Precursor of Pacifism and International Arbitration |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/abs/cardinal-alberoni-an-italian-precursor-of-pacifism-and-international-arbitration/C8BE8F362AD6D669678BAE839CFC60E4 |journal=American Journal of International Law |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=51–82 |doi=10.2307/2186963 |jstor=2186963 |issn=0002-9300}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-12 |title=Giulio Alberoni {{!}} Italian Statesman, Cardinal, Diplomat {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giulio-Alberoni |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> probably at the village of [[Fiorenzuola d'Arda]] in the [[Duchy of Parma]].

His father, who was a gardener, died when Alberoni was only ten years old.<ref name=Chambers>"Alberoni, Giulio''[[Chambers's Encyclopædia]]''. London: [[George Newnes Ltd|George Newnes]], 1961, Vol. 1, p. 223.</ref><ref name="MW">{{cite book |last1=Walsh |first1=Michael |title=The Cardinals: Thirteen Centuries of the Men Behind the Papal Throne |date=2011 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |isbn=9780802829412}}</ref> He himself became first connected with the church in the humble position of a [[Bell-ringer|bellringer]] and [[verger]] in the [[Duomo di Piacenza|Duomo of Piacenza]];{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} he was twenty-one when the judge Ignazio Gardini, of [[Ravenna]], was banished, and he followed Gardini to Ravenna, where he met the vice-legate [[Giorgio Barni]], who was made [[bishop of Piacenza]] in 1688 and appointed Alberoni chamberlain of his household. Alberoni took priest's orders, having been ordained in the Cathedral of Parma, and afterwards accompanied the nephew of the Bishop of Parma to Rome but returned to Parma two years later to be a canon of the cathedral chapter.<ref name="MW" />

During the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], Alberoni laid the foundation of his political success by the services he rendered to [[Louis Joseph de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme|Louis-Joseph, duc de Vendôme]], commander of the French forces in Italy, to whom the [[Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma|duke of Parma]] had sent him.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} When the French forces were recalled in 1706, he accompanied the duke to Paris, where he was favourably received by [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}