The Guelph and Ghibelline dimension in Roman factions in the fifteenth century was highlighted some years ago by Christine Shaw in her treatment of the more general topic of relations between Roman barons and Renaissance popes.2 Today, Shawâs studies are still considered very innovative in light of historiansâ renewed interest in factions and their re-assessment of factions as a crucial category in the political competition of the early modern age. This paper will not go into the question of whether the terms âGuelphâ and âGhibellineâ may be applied satisfactorily to the case of Rome.3 Certainly, the terms were part of the lexicon used by the sources of the period, even though the language describing factions was extremely varied, drawing on a vocabulary of passions. Terms like partegiani, inimici capitali, inimici coperti, sviscerati amici, devotione or setta, and briga recur perhaps more frequently than do âGuelphâ and âGhibelline,â which during the modern age took on increasingly negative connotations with no ideological overtones. In the 1520s, âGhibellineâ and âImperialâ were, however, used interchangeably.
In Rome, conflict among factions in the decades straddling the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries revolved around the complex relations between the Orsini and the Colonna, the two most illustrious baronial lineages, because of their deep roots within the city, the prestige that came with being ex-papal families, the extent of their feudal possessions both in the Papal States and in the
1 Papal Wars, Factions, Feuds (1480â1492)
After the events of the Great Schism, the return of the Papal See to Rome coincided with the reconstruction (also in a doctrinal sense) of a strong idea of the papacy, one that was dense with sacred meaning and that renewed links with the imperial heritage of Rome, while also re-asserting the authority of the Vicar of Christ above that of the Ecumenical Council. At the same time, in light of the fact that the fifteenth-century popes had become âRomanâ again, they strove with every means to reinforce the temporal Papal States. This latter objective meant establishing control over Rome and the surrounding countryside, and the cities mainly situated along two axesâsouthwards to Naples and north towards Romagna. In reality, papal capacity to assert itself as a pivotal component in the Italian political system was held back by the popesâ incoherent military policy, which saw them engaging not so much in the struggle against the Turk, but as actors in the Italian conflicts, also known as the Papal Wars.4
Sixtus iv (1471â1484), the Franciscan Francesco della Rovere, a churchman whose modest family hailed from Liguria, was endowed with an impressive theological culture. He pursued the construction of a curial machine and a
In theory at least, two marriages contracted in 1472, one joining Girolamo Riario, the son of the popeâs sister Bianca, with Caterina Sforza; the other, Leonardo della Rovere with Giovanna dâAragona, the illegitimate daughter of King Ferdinand, should have served to raise the Holy Seeâs status as a balancing power in international relations. However, nepotism influenced papal relations with the leading Italian states, which were affected by conflicts within the papal family. Showing equal favour to his familyâs two branches, the pope bestowed the cardinalâs hat on both Pietro Riario, Girolamoâs brother, and on Giuliano della Rovere, Leonardoâs cousin. Pietroâs premature death (1474), followed by that of Leonardo della Rovere a year later, left Girolamo Riario (who in 1473 had become lord of Imola, an important city in Romagna with a long Ghibelline tradition) and Giuliano della Rovere as the most influential nephews, but they were inexorably at odds with each other. The rivalry between Girolamo Riario and Giuliano della Rovere, far from being resolved through family politics, became another variable in Roman factional conflicts, conflicts that were also caught up in the complicated vicissitudes of Italian politics during the closing decades of the fifteenth century. Girolamo Riario fomented the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici (26 April 1478) with the complicity of Ferdinand of Aragon, and, with the intention of enlarging his own territorial domains in the direction of both Romagna and Naples, he supported Venetian designs on Ferrara and the Adriatic ports while fanning the flames of Orsini hatred for the Colonna. The Colonna di Genazzano had been given the feudal estate of Albe by Ferdinand, who had taken it away from the Orsini.6 Albe was part of an important complex of territories in Abruzzo that Napoleone and Roberto Orsini (Bracciano) had acquired by fighting for the House of Aragon in the wars that followed the death of Alphonse the Magnanimous (1458). While the Orsiniâs powerful Neapolitan branches (the princes of Taranto and Salerno), by aligning themselves with the Angevins, headed down a path of
The wound inflicted upon the Orsini by Ferdinand, who had wished to reward the Colonnaâs military support in the war with Florence, produced immediate after-effects in Rome, unleashing a series of clashes between the two factions. Christine Shaw has argued that âthe party allegiances of the Roman baronial families were very firmly fixedâ,8 in the sense that the Orsini, Conti and Anguillara were Guelph, while the Colonna, Caetani and Savelli were Ghibelline. Yet while belonging to one or the other camp constituted a mark of identity, this identity did not necessarily apply to every individual or branch of a lineage. Family disputes motivated alliances, perhaps temporary, with an enemy, and the brief respites of peace between flare-ups sometimes led to marriages between members of rival lineages. This even happened between the Colonna and Orsini9 themselves, and happened repeatedly between the Savelli and the Orsini. Factional identities allowed for a certain degree of flexibility, which meant that they could bend to suit motivations driving individuals or groups. But what made events especially difficult to predict in the case of the Orsini-Colonna conflict was the fact that in Rome these two factions represented an extremely broad swath of families of various ranks and extractions, ranging from the municipal nobility to the Popolari. The transversal nature of the factions enabled alliances that, while implying a hierarchical respect for the lead family, interwove the interests and passions of many actors.
The enmity between the Orsini and Colonna intersected with the opposition between the Santacroce and the della Valle and between the Crescenzi and the Margani. The opening shot of Roman factional strife in the 1480s was the assassination of Pietro Margani on 15 September 1480 by Prospero Santacroce, who had recently returned from exile. Margani, a member of a minor family of the Roman nobility engaged in agriculture, stock raising, trade and construction, was related to the della Valle. The latter were the intended targets of Santacroce, who was seeking to avenge the death of his cousin Francesco, murdered
The noble status of the della Valle was more firmly established. Designated nobiles viri at the beginning of the fifteenth century, in 1433 the emperor Sigismund had conferred on the della Valle the title of comes. The familyâs social ascent had received a further boost in the mid- fifteenth century, mostly from Paolo, papal archiater and Conservatore of Rome during the reign of Oddone Colonna (Martin v), and the husband of Sabella Savelli; and from Nicola, the papal treasurer in Perugia and clerk of the apostolic Chamber who enlarged the familyâs patrimony through numerous acquisitions.12 In the next generation Lelio was a consistorial advocate, Pietro auditor of the Rota and bishop of Ascoli, and Filippo archiater of Sixtus iv. The della Valleâs close relations with the Colonna did not prevent Callixtus iii from employing Lelio as a mediator in the conflict that broke out between the Orsini and Colonna in 1455 (later settled).13
It is not known precisely what the state of relations was between the della Valle and the Santacroce in the mid-fifteenth century. It was at this time that a double marriage took place joining Livia di Lelio della Valle with Prospero Santacroce, and Prosperoâs sister, who was also named Livia, with Francesco della Valle, but these kinships did not prevent the above-mentioned violence. We do know for certain that, in spite of the peace brokered by the pope between Pietro Marganiâs son and the Santacroce, the feud continued on over the next few years.14 It later gradually spread to the Orsini and Colonna and became entangled with Italian political events and with the rift within the papal
Recently, Giorgio Chittolini has written on the practice of private war (bellum particulare as opposed to bellum publicum), comparing Germany, where the Fehden were numerous in a context in which the supreme authorityâimperialâwas elected, with Italy, which was also politically fragmented.17 Within the extremely diverse political situation in Italy the most fitting comparison with imperial Germany is the ecclesiastical state, which was also governed by an elected sovereign and in which the periods of interregna (the Vacant See) were more dramatic than in the imperial Diets. The feuds of 1482â1484, lasting until the year of Sixtus ivâs death, must be re-interpreted in light of the contemporary wars on the Italian peninsula and in the context of the approaching Vacant See.
In 1482, after the death of Geronimo Colonna, Pope Sixtus iv punished Giorgio Santacroce and his brother by demolishing their residences in Piazza Giudea in the centre of Rome: âto instil terror both in his family and in all those who were their followersâ.18 At the same time, it was clear that in the war between the Kingdom of Naples and the papacy, the Colonna were fighting on the side of the pro-Aragonese coalition (Ferrara, Milan, Florence,
The presence of a Colonna with the name di Palestrina at the side of the Orsini should come as no surprise. The studies of Andreas Rehberg have shown how Oddone Colonnaâs ascent to the papacy led to âa colossal displacement of power between these two different linesâ.21 The line of Palestrina, which was older and had long predominated, was displaced politically and territorially by the branch to which the pope belongedâthe pope assembled on behalf of his family an imposing network of clients composed of families rooted in the cityâs political and economic life (Astalli, Capranica, Porcari, Mattei, Leni and more). For Prospero however, a member of the dominant line, the motivations for allying with the Orsini were personal, connected to his status as a younger son or perhaps to financial issues. But his was a temporary choice. Prospero quickly reconciled with the other members of the Genazzano branch: âhaving become the popeâs enemy, he proceeded to betray himâ.22
The period after the death of Eugenius iv was one of the moments of greatest tension between the Colonna and papal power. The popeâs wrath reverberated
Inside Rome, the epilogue to the long feud appears to have arrived on 30 May 1484 with an attack launched against the Colonna residence in the popeâs name by soldiers of Girolamo Riario and partisans of the Orsini, the Crescenzi, the Santacroce and the Conti. The protonotarius was captured and, according to Infessura, subjected to ritual humiliation: he was stripped naked and forced to shout âLong live the House of Orsiniâ.25 Later on 29 June he was beheaded and his remains publicly exposed in the church of Santa Maria di Traspontina. The Colonna houses were looted along with the homes of the
The results of the long feud of 1480â1484 were reversed by the expected but feared death of the pope on 12 August: the looting of the Vacant See, as has repeatedly been shown, was full of ritual and symbolic meaning, and represented a continuation of the factional war of the previous two years. The Colonna returned to Rome on 17 August âwith all their soldiers and followersâ,30 while the Ghibelline cities of Umbria and Abruzzo rose in rebellion. Girolamo Riario was besieging the Colonna fief of Paliano when he was forced to fall back to Rome in order to defend his possessions and his men, and he was captured at the Milvian Bridge. In this climate of violence, the election of Cardinal Giambattista Cybo (Innocent viii) to the papacy evened the score between Cardinal della Rovere and Girolamo Riario and between the Colonna and the Orsini.31
The peace imposed by the new pope was a brief one. Cardinal della Rovere was a âpassionate friendâ32 of the newly elected pope and the Colonna. In
In the two cases I have examined, the mechanisms of factional conflict resemble each other. In both, private enmities, sustained by a desire for vengeance for violent deeds long past, competition for the control of resources and appropriation of fiefs in a period when territorial possessions were relatively fluid, and struggle for domination in the Urbs, all fed into the logic of the conflicts. This logic manifested itself in the plundering of herds and crops, looting, fires, the destruction of houses and homicides. The popes did not appear to
Finally, factions, whose members included a cross-section of barons, representatives of municipalities and cardinals, played an undeniable role in the mechanisms of the papal monarchy. Factions were a part of the political system. The violence which resulted from the Vacant See was not a rare episode of disorder generated by a vacuum of power, but rather a show of strength played out beyond the confines of a game being played inside the Sacred College.
2 Roman Factions in the First European Conflicts over Italy (1492â1513)
In a celebrated passage of The Prince (xi), Niccolò Macchiavelli, in discussing the state of the papacy in his time, identified an epochal shift away from the scenario in which Italian potentates exploited Roman factions in order to weaken the papacy, to the later situation that began with the reign of Alexander vi, who used the factions to aggrandize his own House rather than the Church. Julius ii (Giuliano della Rovere), whose ambitions for a larger and more secure temporal papal state would, in Machiavelliâs view, enhance the grandeur of the Church, inherited a situation from Alexander vi in which the Orsini and Colonna factions were weakened, if not altogether tamed. Neither of these popes appointed any members of the Roman nobility to the cardinalship: according to Machiavelli, the factions were fuelled by the ambition of prelates, multiplying episodes of strife and tumult within the city.35 If, as scholars have suggested, this section of The Prince (Chapters iâxi) was written in 1513, then Machiavelliâs analysis reflected the climate that was ushered in with the papacy of Leo x, who was elected in March of that year, and with the military victories of the Holy League over the French.
But when the Franco-Spanish agreement was followed by war, the Colonna di Genazzano-Paliano chose to throw their lot and that of their family in with the young Spanish monarchy rather than with what appeared to be Europeâs leading power, France. Later the Colonna family narrative would represent this decision as having been consistent with their Ghibelline past. But, in fact, during an age of sudden and unforeseeable political changes, it was a decision taken by soldiers, mediated by personal relations with the most celebrated condottiero of the age, the Gran Capitano, and susceptible to occasional second thoughts and backtracking, as occurred in the years 1511â1512 and in 1517, when Marco Antonio Colonna entered the service of Francis i. Ultimately, however, their decision proved to be successful and irreversible. These tumultuous events marked a turning point in the history of Roman factions. The Borgia offensive, aimed at reshaping the territorial profile of central Italy, ended by bringing the two rival sides closer together. In 1503, many of the Orsini, with the exception of Giangiordano, sided with the Colonna in support of Spain.40 A new truce was sanctioned around the time of the Treaty of Blois
Julius iiâs policies engendered a very different situation. Once he was pope, Cardinal della Rovere, the former âpassionate friendâ of the Colonna and enemy of the Orsini, did not hesitate to weave close marriage alliances with both families. In 1505, his sisterâs son, Niccolò Franciotti, married Laura Orsini, the daughter of Giulia Farnese; the popeâs daughter, Felicia, for whom a marriage had initially been planned with Marco Antonio Colonna, was given as wife to Giangiordano Orsini, Gentile Virgilioâs son and widower of Maria Cecilia dâAragon (1506). But in the same year, Marco Antonio Colonna married Lucrezia Gara, the daughter of the popeâs beloved sister Luchina from her second marriage. So Julius launched upon a policy of forging marriage alliances between the papal family and the two great baronial lineages, a policy which Wolfgang Reinhard has identified as significant in the long process of integrating the papal and ancient baronial families.42
These marriage alliances did not imply any new cardinals for the two sides, contrary to usual practice. Generous in appointing his own relatives, without delegating power, Julius ii created no cardinals from among the Roman baronial families, even after the deaths of Cardinals Giovan Battista Orsini (1503) and Giovanni Colonna (1508). Thus, the Roman factions found themselves deprived of representation in a key decision-making body (notwithstanding the popeâs autocratic tendencies), the Sacred College. But the picture of an early papal victory over the factions is misleading. Curial sources and papal propaganda depict the wars the pope waged against Venice for Bologna in order to recover the state of Romagna, and the wars against Ferrara and against France, as aimed at re-establishing law and order by providing an opportunity to perform special rites of pacification within the cities the pope crossed to reach Emilia-Romagna, or as Italian wars waged against the âbarbariansâ.43
In the dual war that Julius ii waged both militarily and canonically against France (after Franceâs convocation of the schismatic conciliabulum of Pisa 16 May 1511), the power of the Colonna grew thanks to the role played by Fabrizio, who served the Spanish as condottiero, and because of the close relationship the lineage was able to establish with the Spanish ambassador Jéronimo de Vich (who arrived in Rome in 1507). Among the many misunderstanding the king of Spain had with the pope (still his formal ally) was that the Colonna were his direct contact in the city.
The events of August 1511 must be seen against this backdrop of Julius iiâs isolation, because of which his critical illness failed to lead to the usual turmoil in expectation of the Vacant See, but rather gave rise to an entirely new situation. A coalition reflecting the moods and passions of life in the city was formed whose aims were not overtly anti-papal. The eminent baronial lineages included in the coalition were the Colonna, led by Fabrizio (also participating was Pompeo, the bishop of Rieti, the real protagonist of the events); the Orsini, headed by Giulio, who pledged their âmembers and followersâ; and the Savelli, the Conti and the deputies of the Popolo Romano. Contemporaries described this pax of 1511 as a reaction against papal âtyrannyâ (Francesco Guicciardini), as a protest by the baronial families who had been deprived of a cardinalate because of the âenvyâ of the pope (Paolo Giovio), and as a defence of the romanitas and prerogatives of the Commune (Marco Antonio Altieri). The pax was sanctioned by a solemn oath, and demonstrated that the factions could unite in an institutional context that also included the governing council of Rome because they were strong and conscious of their own
3 The Origins of the Imperial Party: 1525â1530
The archive of the della Valle-del Bufalo preserves the extraordinary correspondence of members of the della Valle family spanning the period 1409â1829. This correspondence allows us to obtain an inside view of how the alliances of a family located on the middle rungs of the power hierarchy converged with the clientele of the Colonna, with whom the family was intimately linked, and how through the Colonna, they became part of even wider power networks. The della Valleâs subordination to the Colonna clearly shows in the formulae used in the letters, especially towards the more eminent members of the Colonna. Agnese di Montefeltro, who managed the Colonna patrimony and family relations during Fabrizioâs frequent absences on military campaigns,
The social profile of some members of the della Valle can help us to understand how the bond between this family and the urban governing class was strengthened. Andrea della Valleâs cousins Bernardino and Bernardo deâ Cavalieri (di Masciolo and Lucrezia della Valle) were his trusted associates. Bernardino was provveditore of the Roman walls and counsellor of the conservatori; Bernardo was canon of Santa Maria Maggiore and bishop of Sulmona.54 After the death of Bernardino (1513), who was married to Lucrezia Altieri, Marco Antonioâs sister, the post of counsellor of the conservatori went to Bartolomeo della Valle, Andreaâs brother and a subcontractor of the Roman customs office. A further marriage alliance was contracted (1518) between the della Valle and the de Cavalieri, involving the marriage of Lelio ii to Marzia, Bernardinoâs daughter. No less interesting were the della Valleâs ties of kinship
We still need to reconstruct the complex process by which this web of relations, deeply rooted in the city and in the Roman hinterland, came into contact, through the Colonna, with the wider network in Italy and abroad that became the imperial party. We must also remember that the decade that began with the death of Ferdinand the Catholic (1516) and the Medici papacy was one of great uncertainty for all the players on the international stage of the day. Complications following the succession of Charles of Habsburg, which created difficulties for Spanish diplomacy in Rome,57 Charles vâs own doubts about whether to pursue a policy of opposition to France as Ferdinand of Aragon and Maximilian of Hapsburg had done, or follow his Flemish ministers Jean de Sauvage and Guillaume de Croy, Lord of Chièvres in trying to reconcile with the French monarchy, and the about-turns of the Medici popes, all meant that before the military victory of Pavia, the imperial party had acquired no precise physiognomy. As late as 1520, Cardinal Pompeo Colonna, believing himself lightly regarded by the emperor who had not designated him as protector of Spain and had let him know that he preferred Cardinal Medici, was wondering whether he should not serve âanother Lordâ. It was only in the following year that Charles declared reassuringly that âwe are very satisfied with cardinal Colonna and the others of the Colonna faction and they will know this from all that will be offered to themâ.58 By 1521 many things looked different: at the Diet of Worms (1521) where Chièvres died, the problem of Lutheranism exploded in all its dramatic force, while Francis I had attacked Milan in April of
It is not my aim here to retrace the familiar events leading up to the sack of Rome. I would, however, like to take another look at the della Valle correspondence and see how these events were experienced by the people who lived through them. The attack on the Vatican Palace launched on 20 September 1526 by Pompeo Colonna and his partisans (with the agreement of Hugo de Moncada) was a threatening retaliation against the popeâs membership in
What was the consequence of these events in the reconstruction of power groupings within the city of Rome? For the Colonna, the consolidation that came with Pompeoâs appointment as lieutenant-general in the Kingdom of Naples and Ascanioâs as governor of Abruzzo, made up for the difficulties that no doubt beset their relationship with the city, highlighted in Marcello
I use the following abbreviations: asv: Archivio Segreto Vaticano; asr: Archivio di Stato di Roma; ris: Ludovico Antonio Muratori, ed., Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, new edition revised, expanded and corrected under the direction of Giosuè Carducci and Vittorio Fiorini (Città di Castello, 1900-); dbi, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Enciclopedia Treccani (Roma, 1960-).
Christine Shaw, âThe Roman Barons and the Guelf and Ghibelline Factions in the Papal Statesâ, in Marco Gentile, ed., Guelfi e Ghibellini nellâItalia del Rinascimento (Roma, 2005), 475â94; idem, The Political Role of the Orsini Family from Sixtus iv to Clement vii. Barons and Factions in the Papal States (Roma 2007), 100â102; idem, âThe Roman Barons and the Popesâ, in Marco Gentile and Pierre Savy, eds., Noblesse et Ãtats princiers en Italie et en France auXVIesiècle (Roma, 2009), 101â24.
Franca Allegrezza, Organizzazione del potere e dinamiche familiari. Gli Orsini dal Duecento agli inizi del Quattrocento (Roma, 1998), 193; Serena Ferente, Gli ultimi guelfi Linguaggi e identità politiche in Italia nella seconda metà del Quattrocento (Roma, 2013), 17.
David S. Chambers, Popes, Cardinals and War. The Military Church in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe (London, 2006).
On the formation of the curial bureaucracy, Peter Partner, The Popeâs Men. The Papal Civil Service in the Renaissance (Oxford, 1990). On the Porcari conspiracy, see Anna Modigliani, Congiurare allâantica. Stefano Porcari, Niccolò v, Roma 1453 (Roma, 2013).
Alessandro Serio, Una gloriosa sconfitta. I Colonna tra papato e impero nella prima età moderna (1431â1530) (Roma, 2008), 27.
Iacopo Gherardi da Volterra, Il diario romano dal vii settembre 1479 al xii agosto 1484, E. Carusi, ed., in ris, t. XXIII/3 (Città di Castello, 1904), 24â25.
Shaw, The Political Role, 99.
Ibidem, 100â02. On the Orsini, see Mori, LâArchivio Orsini.
Anna Modigliani, âMargani, Pietroâ, dbi, 70 (2008), ad vocem. Gherardi da Volterra described Pietro Margani as ârelated through marriage to the della Valle and belonging to the same factionâ: Vallensium affinem et eorum sectam sequentem (Il diario, 44).
On Andrea, see Anna Esposito Aliano, âFamiglia, mercanzia e libri nel testamento di Andrea Santacroce (1471)â, in Arnold Esch, ed., Aspetti della vita economica e culturale a Roma nel Quattrocento (Roma, 1981), 197â220. In 1470 Prospero was consul of the cloth merchantsâ guild.
asv, Archivio delle Valle del Bufalo, b.55, fasc.20 (Acquisti fatti da domini della casa della Valle).
asv, Archivio delle Valle del Bufalo, b.34, fasc.1.
asr, Archivio Santacroce, 1236 ii, fol. 43.
One of the greatest chroniclers of the age, Iacopo Gherardi was secretary to Cardinal Jacopo Ammannati and later secret chamberlain to Sixtus iv (Stefano Calonaci, âGherardi, Jacopoâ, dbi, 53 (2000), ad vocem). Stefano Infessura was scriba senatus of the city and one of the Colonnaâs men (Arnold Esch, âInfessura Stefanoâ, dbi, 62 (2004), ad vocem). Antonio de Vascho was caporione of the rione Regola, later vice-treasurer to Sixtus iv and treasurer to Innocent viii, on the side of the Orsini. Sigismondo dei Conti was domestic secretary to Julius ii (Roberto Ricciardi, dbi, 28 (1983), ad vocem).
Stefano Infessura, Diario della città di Roma, Oreste Tommasini, ed. (Roma, 1890), 87; Gherardi da Volterra, Il diario romano, 93â94; Sigismondo dei Conti da Foligno, Le storie deâ suoi tempi dal 1475 al 1510, (Roma, 1883), t. I, 134â37.
Giorgio Chittolini, âPrivate Wars at the End of the Middle Ages: Notes on Italy and Germany in the 15th Centuryâ, in Yoshihisa Hattori, ed., Political Order and Forms of Communication in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Rome, 2014), 109â32.
Gherardi da Volterra, Il diario romano, 94: ad terrorem tam illius familiae quam omnium eiusdem gentis sequentium.
Ibidem, 99; Antonio de Vascho, Il Diario della città di Roma dallâanno 1480 allâanno 1492, Giuseppe Chiesa, ed., risXXIII/3, 88.
Caterina Colonna had married Guidantonio da Montefeltro during the pontificate of Martin v.
Andreas Rehberg, âEtsi prudens paterfamiliasâ¦pro pace suorum sapienter providet. Le ripercussioni del nepotismo di Martino v a Roma e nel Lazioâ, in Maria Chiabò et al., eds., Alle origini della nuova Roma Martino v (1417â1431) (Roma, 1992), 225â82 (241). On the Palestrina branch: asv, Armadio xlix, 46, Varia de Columna Familia, fol. 12râ22r.
Vascho, Diari, 498.
Ibid., 501.
Infessura, Diario, 110.
Ibid., 116. Vascho, on the other hand, reports that Virginio Orsini saved Lorenzo Colonna from the wrath of Girolamo Riario (Diario, 509).
Gherardi da Volterra, Il diario romano, 133: quod ea familia obstinate nimium et contumaciter Columnensium partes contra pontificem sectabatur; Sigismondo dei Conti da Foligno, Le storie, i, 189â94; Paolo Cherubini, âTra violenza e crimine di stato: la morte di Lorenzo di Oddone Colonnaâ, in Massimo Miglio et al., eds., Un pontificato ed una città . Sisto iv (1471â1484) (Città del Vaticano, 1986), 355â80.
Infessura, Diario, 138.
Ibid., 120, 129.
Ibid., 129.
Vascho, Diario, 514.
On the Vacant See of Sixtus iv, see ibidem, 155â70. See also Laurie Nussdorfer, âThe Vacant See: Ritual and Protest in Early Modern Romeâ, The Sixteenth Century Journal 18 (1987), 173â89; Maria Antonietta Visceglia, Morte e elezione del papa. Norme, riti, conflitti. Lâetà moderna (Roma, 2013), 65. On the conclave of 1484, ibidem., 314â17.
Vascho, Diario, 521: âsviscerato amicoâ.
Infessura, Diario, 189; Sigismondo dei Conti da Foligno, Le storie, i, 237â42.
Vanna Arrighi, Clarice Orsini, dbi, 79 (2013), 633â36; Eadem, Alfonsina Orsini, ivi., 615â17; Infessura, Diario, 222â23.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. by W.K. Marriott (Chicago, 1990), 16â17.
Marco Pellegrini, âA Turning-Point in the History of the Factional System in the Sacred College. The Power of Pope and Cardinals in the Age of Alexander viâ, in Maria Antonietta Visceglia and Gianvittorio Signorotto, eds., Court and Politics in Papal Rome 1492â1700 (Cambridge, 2002), 8â30. On diplomacy in Rome during the wars of Italy, see Catherine Fletcher, Diplomacy in Renaissance Rome. The Rise of the Resident Ambassador (Cambridge, 2015).
Sigismondo dei Conti da Foligno, Le storie, ii, 65â66. On the complex relations between Cardinal Ascanio and the Colonna in 1494, see Marco Pellegrini, Ascanio Maria Sforza. La parabola politica di un cardinale principe del Rinascimento (Roma, 2002), vol. ii, 534â44.
In 1498 the âprivateâ war fought between the Orsini and Colonna for the area around Tagliacozzo ended with the peace of Tivoli (Shaw, The Political Role, 108â109). On relations between Alexander vi and the Orsini and Colonna, see Franca Allegrezza, âAlessandro vi e le famiglie romane di antica nobiltà : gli Orsini, in Maria Chiabò et al., eds., Roma di fronte allâEuropa al tempo di Alessandro vi, i (Roma, 2001), 330â44; Andreas Reheberg, âAlessandro vi e i Colonna: motivazioni e strategie nel conflitto tra papa Borgia e il baronato romanoâ, ibidem, 345â86; Serio, Una gloriosa sconfitta, 119â43. On papal relations with Naples during the Aragonese dynastic crisis, see Maria Antonietta Visceglia, âNapoli e la politica internazionale del papato tra la congiura dei baroni e il regno di Ferdinando il Cattolicoâ, in Giuseppe Galasso and Carlos José Hernando Sánchez, eds., El reino de Nápoles y la MonarquÃa de España entre agregación y conquista (1485â1535) (Madrid, 2004), 453â83.
According to contemporaries, the popeâs decision to âtogliere lo stato a Casa Orsinaâ was already irreversible in 1502 but dissimulated by the accord of Imola(Sebastiano di Branca Tedallini, Diario romano dal 3 maggio 1485 al 6 giugno 1524, Paolo Piccolomini, ed., ris, XXIII/3, 300â01).
Ibid., 308.
Ivan Cloulas, Giulio ii (Roma, 1993), 125.
Wolfgang Reinhard, âPapal Power and Family Strategy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuriesâ, in Ronald G. Asch and Adolf M. Birke, eds., Princes, Patronage, and the Nobility: The Court at the Beginning of the Modern Age, c.1450â1650 (London, 1991), 229â356 (339).
Maria Antonietta Visceglia, âGuerra e riti di pacificazione: le spedizioni di Giulio ii a Bologna nelle pagine del cerimoniere del papa (1506â1512)â, in Gian Mario Anselmi and Angela de Benedictis, eds., Città in guerra. Esperienze e riflessioni nel primo â500. Bologna nelle âguerre dâItaliaâ (Bologna, 2008), 85â117. On the topic of peace in Julius iiâs propaganda, see Massimo Rospocher, Il papa guerriero. Giulio ii nello spazio pubblico europeo (Bologna, 2015), 86â111. On the practices of pacification, see Paolo Broggio and Maria Pia Paoli, Stringere la pace. Teorie e pratiche della conciliazione nellâEuropa moderna sec. xvâxviii secolo (Roma, 2011).
Serio, Una gloriosa sconfitta, 162.
Ivan Cloulas, Giulio ii, 171â72; Christine Shaw, Iulius ii: The Warrior Pope (Oxford, 1993), see Chapters v and viii. On factional conflict in Rieti (Ghibelline), Spoleto (Guelph) and other towns in Umbria, see Eadem, âThe Roman Barons and the Guelf and Ghibelline Factions in the Papal Statesâ, in Marco Gentile, ed., Guelfi e ghibellini nellâItalia del Rinascimento (Roma, 2005), 475â93.
I refer the reader to Serio, Una gloriosa sconfitta, 163â98, who reports the views of Guicciardini, Giovio and Altieri. See also Clara Gennaro, âLa pax romana del 1511â, Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria 90 (1967), 17â60.
For a reinterpretation of this event cf. Dante Bolognesi, ed., 1512 La battaglia di Ravenna, LâItalia, lâEuropa (Ravenna, 2014).
Kate J.P. Lowe, Church and Politics in Renaissance Italy: The Life and Career of Cardinal Francesco Soderini (1453â1524) (Cambridge, 1993).
asv, Archivio Della Valle-Del Bufalo, b.34, fasc.13, fol. 92r, Agnese di Montefeltro to Lelio della Valle, Castelmareri, 12 October; ibidem, fasc.14, fol.104r, Castelmareri, 10 November.
asv, Archivio Della Valle-Del Bufalo, b.34, fasc.20, fol. 212r.
Ibidem, fasc.14, fol. 101r, Sciarra Colonna to Fabrizio della Valle, Castello, 12 July 1512.
Ibidem, b.35, fasc.1, fol. 8r, Sciarra Colonna to Fabrizio della Valle, Torre, 14 October 1530.
Ibidem, fol. 10r., Torre, 29 November 1530).
Bernardino was âprocurator and administratorâ to Andrea, bishop of Crotone: ibidem, b.55, fasc.31 (May 22, 1506); together with Bernardo he looked after Andrea della Valleâs interests in Mileto: ibidem, b.34, fasc.3, fol. 49rv, fol. 50r; ibidem, fasc.6, fol. 62â64 and upon his cousinâs orders he arranged for the dispatch of some goods to Cardinal Cesarini: ibidem, fasc.4, fol. 54r.
In 1470 Laura della Valle married Marco di Simone deâ Tebaldi, the âperpetual chancellor of Romeâ. Her dowry was 1000 florins (ibidem, b.55, fasc.20, betrothal dated 9 December 1470).
Ibidem, b.34, fasc.23, fol. 272r (Silvia deâ Pontani to Giovanni Battista deâ Pontani, 28 April 1529); fol. 274r (Silvia deâ Pontani to Giovanni Battista deâ Pontani, 23 June 1529); fol. 276r (Silvia deâ Pontani to Giovanni Battista deâ Pontani, 8 July 1529).
Manuel Rivero RodrÃguez, âCrisis sucesoria en la Corona de Aragónâ, in José MartÃnez Millán, ed., La corte de Carlos v (Madrid, 2000), 150â66; Alessandro Serio, âModi, tempi, uomini della presenza hispana a Roma tra la fine del Quattrocento e il primo Cinquecento (1492â1527)â, in Francesca Cantù and Maria Antonietta Visceglia, eds., LâItalia di Carlo v: Guerra, religione e politica nel primo Cinquecento (Roma, 2003), 433â75.
I have taken the quotes from the correspondence of the ambassador in Rome, Juan Manuel with Charles v, cit. in Serio, âModi, tempiâ, 465.
Carlos Hernando Sánchez considers 1522 to be a crucial year for the formation of the imperial party in Italy: âNobleza y diplomacia en la Italia de Carlos v: el duque de Sessa embajador en Romaâ, in Juan Luis Castellano and Francisco Sánchez-Montes González, eds., Carlos v EuropeÃsmo y Universalidad, vol. 3: Los escenarios del Imperio (Madrid, 2001), 205â97.
Adriano Prosperi, âCarlo v e i papi del suo tempoâ, Archivio storico per le province napoletane 119 (2001), 239â47.
After the sack of Rome, Camillo is thought to have permanently entered the service of the Venetians. On Camillo, Giampiero Brunelli, dbi 79 (2013), ad vocem.
On the popeâs isolation, see I Ricordi di Marcello Alberini, in Domenico Orano, ed., Il sacco di Roma nel 1527, i (Roma, 1901), 224â26; the datary Giberti also wrote that the pope: âsperava che almeno li Gentilhuomini Romani chi per la disonestà della casa [Colonna], chi per amore e lâhonore di sua Santità e della Sede Apostolica, chi per interesse della Patria, e suo proprio si muovesse a pigliar lâarmi et diffenderla, li mancò, et non fu mai huomo che si movesseâ (âhoped that at least the gentleman Romani either because of the dishonesty of the House [Colonna] or out of love and for honour of the His Holiness and the Apostolic See or in the interest of the fatherland and their own interests, would be moved to take arms and defend him, but there was notâthere wasnât a single man who made a moveâ), asv, Fondo Pio, 53, from datary to Sanga and Gambara, fol. 12vâ24r (fol. 13r), 20 September 1526. Giberti continued, showing an awareness of the political logic of conflict: â[lâimperatore] non harà da insuperbirsi tanto [â¦] per vedere che così come il cognato ha perso lâUngheria, il fratello perderà ancora lâAustria et poi comincierà a toccar la Sicilia et Regno di Napoli et altri stati suoiâ (ibidem, fol. 18r). (â[the emperor] should not become so proud [â¦] seeing that just as his brother-in-law has lost Hungary, his brother will yet lose Austria and then it will be the turn of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples and his other statesâ).
This was the expression used by Marcello Alberini (I Ricordi, 265). On the sentence against Pompeo see asv, Armadio xlix, 46, fol. 388râ425r.
"Et al reverendissimo non dirrete una parola sopra de ciò de questo châio ve scrivo, che me rimetto alli commandamenti de Sua Signoria [Pompeo Colonna] como mio patroneâ (Lelio to Fabrizio della Valle, Avezzano, November 8, 1526, in Pierpaolo Piergentili and Gianni Venditti, eds., Scorribande, lanzichenecchi e soldati ai tempi del sacco di Roma. Papato e Colonna in un inedito epistolario dallâArchivio Della Valle-Del Bufalo (Roma, 2009), 136â37).
Casanova, âLa riorganizzazione del potere urbano: le fazioni e le famiglieâ, in 1512 La battaglia di Ravenna, 255â73.
asr, Archivio Santacroce, H 222, fol. 157vâ158r.
Ibid., fol.156vâ157r.
Alberini, I Ricordi, 256â57, 278â83.
Pere Molas Ribalta, Familia i polÃtica al segle xvi catalá (Barcelona, 1990).
Massimo Firpo, âIl sacco di Roma del 1527 tra profezia, propaganda politica e riforma religiosaâ, in Dal sacco di Roma allâInquisizione. Studi su Juan de Valdés e la Riforma italiana (Alessandria, 1998), 7â60.
Stefania Pastore, âUna Spagna anti-papale. Gli anni italiani di Diego Hurtado de Mendozaâ, Roma moderna e contemporaneaxv (2007), 63â94; Elena Bonora, Aspettando lâimperatore. Principi italiani tra il papa e Carlo v (Torino, 2014).