Genoa in the 16th Century

Emanuele Celesia

• Publisher: Jovian Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781537805764
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Renaissance History
• Index: History

It would be difficult to find in the history of the sixteenth century a name more fiercely assailed than that of Gianluigi Fieschi. From Bonfadio down to the most recent historians, the Count of Lavagna has received the same treatment at the hands of our writers which the learned vulgar are accustomed to give to Catiline. This levity of judgment is a new proof that history is too high a pursuit for servile minds...

COMPROMISES AND PUNISHMENTS.

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GEROLAMO FIESCHI CONTINUES THE INSURRECTION in his own name.—Consultations at the Ducal palace and fighting at San Siro.—The news of the death of Gianluigi discourages the insurgents.—Paolo Panza carries to Gerolamo the decree of pardon.—Verrina and others set sail for France.—The African slaves escape with Doria’s galley.—Sack of Doria’s galleys.—Return of Andrea and his thirst for vengeance.—Decree of condemnation.—Scipione Fieschi and his petitions to the Senate.—Schemes and intrigues of Doria to get possession of the Fieschi estates.—Destruction of the palace in Vialata.—Traditions and legends.

When Verrina had secured possession of the arsenal he landed and marched to meet the count; but, learning that Gianluigi had entered the palace on the opposite side, he halted his men and awaited the orders of his master. He could find no trace of the count from the moment he had gone on board the Capitana, and after some delay he went to that vessel and finding her bridge broken began to suspect what had happened. His courage did not fail him. He immediately ordered the waters to be searched all around the galley, and having satisfied himself of the fate of his master would not allow the body to be taken up lest the sight of it should discourage his men. He left the arsenal in the charge of Tommaso Assereto and marched into the city, sending the diver who had found the body to report their great calamity to Gerolamo Fieschi. At the same time he requested an interview with Gerolamo in order to devise means to conduct their enterprise without the inspiration of its master spirit.

Gerolamo Fieschi, though full of audacity had not a hundreth part of his brother’s talents. Seeing that the death of Gianluigi had invested him with the headship of the family, he relied on the fidelity of his vassals and fellow-conspirators, and resolved to prosecute the revolution in his own name. But, overburdened by grief and weighty thoughts, he suffered Verrina’s messenger to depart without any adequate answer. This neglect lost him the powerful support of Verrina’s genius and threw the weight of the undertaking upon himself, a youth with no training or talent for so great an enterprise. He gathered about him a select body of militia and marched towards the Ducal palace, hoping to crown the conspiracy by a single blow.

As we have said some Senators were assembled in this palace; and among them was the historian Bonfadio in company with Giovanni Battista Grimaldi.

A consultation was held after the news of the failure at San Tommaso, and it was determined to cease offering armed resistance to the conspirators and to endeavour to restore peace by friendly negotiations. Some persons offered to be the bearers of a peaceful message to the count; these were Gerolamo Fieschi and Benedetto Fiesco-Canevari, both of the Savignone branch of the family; but leaving the Ducal palace they did not again return thither.

Cardinal Gerolamo Doria and senators G. B. Lercaro and Bernardo Interiano-Castagna were then commissioned to carry to the count a request in the name of the Republic to desist from his violent proceedings and make known the object of his movement. But the commissioners having walked a short distance outside of the chancel, seeing arms and crowds of people, were terrified and turned back. At the moment, the guard of the palace, not seeing the senators, fired on the crowd wounding some persons and killing Francesco Rizzo an honoured citizen. The senators regained the hall, and a new deputation was appointed consisting of Agostino Lomellini, Giovanni Imperiale-Baliano, Ansaldo Giustiniani and Ambrogio Spinola, citizens of the highest rank and reputation. This deputation went in search of the count; but near the church of San Siro, they found the streets thronged with insurgents, and a combat occurred between the guard acting as escort for the senators and the people. It was a confused nocturnal battle and the soldiers were repulsed and fell back with the deputation.

In that midnight skirmish, Lomellini, after barely escaping death, was taken prisoner and conducted to San Tommaso; but he had the good fortune to make his escape during the same night. The brave Giustiniani alone refused to yield or fly and demanded permission to pass on, as a peace messenger, to the quarters of Count Fieschi. He was led to the presence of Gerolamo and inquired for the Count of Lavagna. Gerolamo brusquely informed him that there was no longer any Count Fieschi but himself, and added that until the Ducal palace was delivered to his forces it would be a waste of words to make propositions. He would talk of peace after the surrender of the government into the hands of his partisans. With these words, Giustiniani was dismissed and the troops ordered to collect in the piazza of San Lorenzo and in front of the adjacent palace.

Giustiniani, justly inferred from Gerolamo’s incautious speech that the rumour of the death of Gianluigi had good foundation, and that the conspiracy, having lost its able leader, would be easily crushed under the management of a young man without reputation or the support of popular affection. He returned to the palace in haste, informed the senator that Gianluigi was dead, and encouraged them to a spirited resistance.

The government recovered its confidence, sent heralds to proclaim with the sound of the trumpet the death of Gianluigi and ordered the nobles to arm their servants and dependents. These last orders were unnecessary. So soon as the trumpeters announced the fate of the great leader, the multitudes of plebeians were seized with terror, the lines of the troops thinned rapidly and the squares and streets began to be deserted.

The artisans and mechanics, particularly, who were not attached to Gerolamo by the memory of kindness or by the affection of vassals had no longer a cause to maintain and they retired in despair to their homes. It was almost day break. The best and most liberty-loving citizens felt that the enterprise had fallen into the waves with Gianluigi, and fearing to be seen in arms when the day dawned and thus to expose themselves to the vengeance of the patricians, made haste to abandon the field of victory. Many others who had stood ready to throw themselves into the ranks of the victors now sought the security of their own houses. All seemed to accept the unhappy fate of Fieschi as the judgment of God against the revolution. Uncertainty, panic and fright filled all breasts. The vassals of the count stood fast from loyalty to their lord, and the soldiers who had deserted the standards of the Republic were firm from desperation. A few others heroic by nature, among them the strong armed and stout hearted Gerolamo d’Urbino, did not tremble or hesitate but resolved to meet every danger with steadfast courage.

The government learned all these things by means of messengers and spies who circulated among the insurgents, and it was proposed to attack the forces yet remaining under the standard of Gerolamo. However, the more prudent part—taking account of the limited number of their troops, the uncertainty of their fidelity, the ferocity of the conspirators in whom desperation would increase animosity and courage and that much blood must be shed in such a contest—thought it more wise to pursue a policy of compromise and conciliation.

It happened that just then Paolo Panza appeared before the senate to protest his entire innocence of any part in the conspiracy which had been planned and executed under his very eyes, and the fathers knowing his temperate and conciliatory spirit appointed him with Nicolò Doria as a commission to ask peace.

Panza was authorized to offer pardon to Gerolamo and all the other conspirators and insurgents on condition of their retiring from the city. The count was at first irresolute. He had not pushed his attack at once upon the palace and was now falling back and fortifying himself at the gate of the Archi. The authority of his preceptor finally prevailed over his ambition and animosity, and he promised to withdraw his men from the city. The act of pardon was written and subscribed by Ambrogio Senarega chancellor of the senate and ran as follow:—

“The illustrious Signoria and magnificent procurators of the most serene Republic of Genoa, considering that when sudden tumults occur in Republics nothing more conduces to the preservation of the state and the weal of the citizens than to destroy quickly both the causes and the means of such disorders, which grow more violent by being protracted; and Count Gio. Ludovico Fieschi having during the past night, when no one suspected his design, taken possession of two of the city gates as means for carrying on an insurrection against our authority; and this movement having created a tumult in our midst and many citizens having taken up arms in favour of the count to the great detriment of public order; and an attack having been made during this night upon the galleys of Prince Doria and most of the said galleys having been seized and disarmed and Signor Gianettino their captain killed; for these and many other persuasive and conclusive reasons believing it their duty to omit no means for restoring tranquility, and that the best way of making peace is to obtain possession of the gates without further bloodshed and to remove the insurgents outside the walls of the city; and being informed that these ends may be gained by granting a general pardon: Therefore in virtue of these our letters of grace, pardon and remission, granted under due form of ballot, the illustrious Signoria and magnificent procurators, supported by the will of a great part of the citizens who have come to this palace in the confusion of the night in order to aid in preserving the Republic, do herewith pardon free and absolve the said count Gerolamo Fieschi and all his brothers, together with every other citizen or inhabitant of this city or its jurisdiction and every foreigner of whatever rank quality or condition, for any and every crime, offence or license which they have committed in the rebellion raised this night by the said count, in taking the city gates, attacking the galleys and whatever else they have said or done with or without arms to give aid and comfort to this said plot, conspiracy or insurrection. And we declare that in whatever manner they may have been concerned in this conspiracy and whatever crimes, including high treason, they may have committed, none of them, either collectively or singly, shall be liable to question or trial, to confiscation of goods or personal harm. We intend that this pardon shall be universal and embrace every offence whatever, committed in executing the designs of the said Count Fieschi and we grant herewith the most complete pardon, remission and absolution.”

Count Gerolamo, trusting to the good faith of the Republic, spent a brief hour in Carignano and then set out with his followers for Montobbio, not wishing to depart from Italy lest the Dorias should assail his feuds. Ottobuono, Cornelio, Verrina, Sacco, Calcagno and other leaders of the conspiracy took a more prudent course and set sail on their galley for France. Mindful that a government rarely or never pardons treason, they removed themselves from its reach and took with them the prisoners they had captured at San Tommaso. When they arrived off the mouth of the Varo they set the captives at liberty; among them were Sebastiano Lercaro, Manfredi Centurione and Vincenzo Vaccari. By releasing these prisoners they deprived themselves of a guarranty which might have saved their lives at a later period. These conspirators were not the only persons who sailed from the port that morning.

The convicts and Turkish captives on board the Doria galleys had broken their chains and they resolved to avail themselves of the universal confusion to make their escape. The ships of Prince Doria, Antonio Doria and some other private persons were lying dismantled in the harbour. In the fury of the tumult the galleys of Andrea were plundered by the plebeians and by the slaves, and the latter collected with their booty on board the Capitana which had escaped the fury of the sack. There was a good reason for this exception.

This galley, formerly called the Temperanza, had been a Venitian vessel and the men of Barbary had captured her and four other triremes in 1539, near Corfu in the waters of Paxo, taking prisoner at the same time the Commandant Francesco Gritti.

Dragut Rais was so pleased with the sailing qualities and rich equipment of the Capitana that he made her his flag-ship. Gianettino Doria captured her in the engagement in which the corsair himself fell into our hands. On the night of the second of January the African prisoners to the number of three hundred or more threw themselves on board this galley, as a piece of their own property, and sailed out to sea. Though two galleons of Bernardino Mendozza, which were anchored in another part of the harbour and so escaped the pillage, were sent in chase at early dawn, the fugitives made good their flight and after a long voyage arrived safely in Algiers.

The Doria fleet suffered grave damages in that night pillage, the furniture and rigging being reduced to a mass of ruins. These disorders originated with the liberated slaves, and the bad example was followed by the convicts who afterwards carried confusion and alarm into the city. Many of the lowest class of the people penetrated into the foundries and shipyards of Doria, and what they could not carry away they threw into the sea. During the following days, the convicts were hunted out in every quarter of the city and taken back to their oars, and some of the equipments of the ships were recovered by the zealous efforts of Adamo Centurione whose pecuniary interests were united to those of Doria.

It is worth while to observe that the storm of this conspiracy broke over the ships of Andrea. The government issued a proclamation that whoever should have taken or should find anything belonging to the galleys of the prince, as arquebuses, pikes, halberds, visors, helmets, corselets, axes or any other arms or tool belonging to these vessels, should within three days consign them to the justices in the Riviera, or to the agents of Doria in Genoa, or deposit them in the churches of San Vito and Annunziata.

Our historians have neglected to describe one of the galleys of Doria which was a wonderful specimen of Genoese naval architecture. She was built by Doria in 1539 for the personal use of Charles V. in his expedition to Tunis, and surpassed all other galleys by fifteen palms in length and four palms in breadth. She bore three standards of crimson damask, each twenty-three palms in length and beautifully embroidered in gold. The one in the midst had in the centre a star with golden rays and appropriate inscriptions; that at the stern bore the figure of an angel and the one on the prow a shield, a helmet and a sword. Besides, there were three flags at the poop also of damask and thirty palms in length, and another banner of white damask was embroidered with chalices, pontifical keys and red crosses, with fitting inscriptions. There were two flags of red damask bearing the imperial columns and the device—plus ultra—invented by the Milanese Marliano, physician to Charles V. and an excellent mathematician. The vessel also had twenty-four other flags of yellow damask and appropriate devices. The saloon was adorned with beautiful arabesques in blue and gold, and the sides were tapestried with cloth of gold and silver, hung so as to represent pavillioned domes. The castle on the poop was covered with exquisite carvings and there were two carpets for the deck, one of scarlet cloth for daily use and another, for state occasions, of crimson velvet and brocade of gold. The crew wore satin jackets. The gun carriages, rigging and other furniture were all in the most perfect style and finish of the naval art of that period. The slaves and convicts ruined all these splendid equipments and furniture.

After this pillage, prisoners of war and other slaves were treated with greater severity. For, though up to this period the young men served at the oar, yet many of the Mamalukes, as the Barbary prisoners were called in Genoa, had some privileges from the government and their servitude was not of a strict and painful character. Some of them had the permission to engage in minute traffic within the city and had their markets in the piazza of the arsenal and the Piano of St. Andrea. There they shaved and trimmed the beards of the citizens, and none could equal them in this art. They traded in coffee, sugar, brandy, pipes, tobacco and game. They practised small frauds in their trade and some of them grew rich, while many were able to buy themselves out of bondage. These privileges were now taken away from them, and were not restored until many years after. In this way the rigours of slavery were increased among us, though the system was restricted to the “infidels” who were either bought in Egypt or captured in war. It is true that a law of the Republic forbade the buying and selling of slaves in the land of the Sultan; but this provision was evaded by shipping the captives to Caffa where the Grand Turk sent agents for the traffic. Our statutes by enacting grave penalties against slave-stealers, held slaves to be the absolute property of their masters; and in 1588 it was ruled that in a case of shipwreck the loss should be distributed pro rata counting all sorts of merchandise “including male and female slaves, horses and other animals.”

The government hastened to inform the emperor and Ferrante Gonzaga of the insurrection. The latter sent Cavalier Cicogna on a mission to the senate and he himself at the head of a strong force advanced to Voghera to watch the movements of the Fieschi at Montobbio. All the Italian princes friendly to the empire congratulated the Republic on its escape from the conspiracy. Cardinal Cibo, who sent as his messenger Ercole de Bucchi, the Duke of Florence, by his legate Jacopo de’ Medici, and the ten conservators of liberty of Siena, by M. Nicodemo, offered their services and assistance to the government in case of need.

We find also a letter of Giulio Cybo, Marquis of Massa, in which he declares that he has collected troops at Borghetto to march to the assistance of the Republic; but it became known afterwards that these troops had been massed to aid the Fieschi insurrection. They did not pertain alone to the Marquis of Massa, but also to Gasparo di Fosnuovo and other feudatories. We shall presently speak of the congratulations sent by the Pope and Pierluigi Farnese.

The government pledged itself to universal amnesty; we shall now see how it kept faith. Encouraged by the departure of the Fieschi, the senate despatched Benedetto Centurione and Domenico Doria to escort Andrea back to the city and to condole with him for the loss of Gianettino. This last was a piece of hypocrisy, for they secretly rejoiced over their deliverance from the rising tyrant. Andrea returned on the sixth of January and was received with regal pomp. We learn from old documents that the wrathful old man cloaked his vengeance under the mantle of patriotic zeal, and, assembling the fathers on the very day of his return, told them in well-rounded phrases that the amnesty, having been granted under the pressure of necessity and without the free choice of the senate, ought not to be observed. It was, he said, of bad example and precedent to treat with rebels; in a free country the voice of pity and affection ought to be unheeded and the rigour of the law steadfastly administered. It was needful, to save the Republic from the perils which still impended, to make terrible examples. The senate should make haste to prove to Cæsar its zeal by punishing the outrages perpetrated against ships under his flag; those only deserved pardon whose participation in the conspiracy had been forced or the effect of momentary passion. The Fieschi as enemies of the emperor and rebels against the Republic ought to be condemned to death and their goods confiscated. In no other way could the senate meet the wishes of Cæsar and prove their zeal for the public safety.

Those who did not agree with these sentiments of vengeance rather than justice did not dare to lift their voices against the will of Doria. The senate referred the question to a commission of jurists, who rather than incur the enmity of Doria, devoted themselves to find a justification for breach of faith and a decree of blood. They reported:—“The act of pardon is not binding because it was conceded in a rebellion with the sword at the thr...

Table of contents

• AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION
• THE COUNTS OF LAVAGNA.
• THE ITALIAN STATES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
• ANDREA DORIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF GENOA.
• GIANLUIGI FIESCHI.
• THE PLOTS OF FIESCHI.
• PAUL THIRD.
• PREPARATIONS.
• THE SUPPER IN VIALATA.
• THE NIGHT OF THE SECOND OF JANUARY.
• COMPROMISES AND PUNISHMENTS.
• THE CASTLE OF MONTOBBIO.
• PIER LUIGI FARNESE.
• THE NOBLES AND THE PLEBEIANS.
• PRINCE GIULIO CYBO.
• SIENA, THE FIESCHI AND SAMPIERO.
• JACOPO BONFADIO.
• THE SPANISH DOMINION IN LIGURIA.