Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio
Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio also Antongaleazzo I. Bentivoglio (* around 1385, † December 23, 1437 in Bologna ) was an Italian nobleman, condottiere and for a short time lord of Bologna.
origin
Anton Galeazzo I came from the Bentivoglio family , which, according to tradition, was derived from Enzio von Hohenstaufen , King of Sardinia (1239–1249 / 72), an illegitimate son of Emperor Friedrich II. Von Hohenstaufen , who was "knightly" during his twenty-three year old Imprisoned in the "Palazzo di Re Enzo" in Bologna, named after him, had a relationship with a girl from Bologna, from whom the progenitor of the Bentivoglio family is said to have sprung. It is said to have got its name from the words with which King Enzio used to greet his beloved: "amor mio, ben ti voglio" (My love, I love you)
However, the family probably comes from the town of the same name in the province of Bologna, Bentivoglio , whose castle the family later used as their preferred place of residence outside of Bologna. The family belonged to the patriciate of the city of Bologna, owned houses in the city and also lands in the area. Many of her relatives were members of the notaries' guild, who were considered noble.
The father of Anton Galeazzo I was Giovanni I Bentivoglio (* approx. 1358, † June 26, 1402 in Bologna), patrician of Bologna , who succeeded after an overthrow of the government for a short time - from March 14, 1401 to be made Lord of Bologna by June 28, 1402. He forfeited his rule, however, through a change in the foreign policy alliance from Milan to Florence, which led to a military defeat and subsequently to an uprising in Bologna, which his internal enemies used to overthrow and murder him.
Regarding Anton Galeazzo's mother, it is not clear whether he is a son from his father's first marriage to Elisabetta di Castel San Pietro or from his second marriage to Margherita Guidotti.
Life
Death of the father and end of the republic
The death of his father in 1402 meant not only the temporary end of the rule of the Bentivoglio family over Bologna, and thus the loss of the possibility for Anton Galeazzo to succeed him as Lord of Bologna, but also the - likewise temporary - end of the free Republic of Bologna, which had lasted barely a quarter of a century since 1376. With the overthrow of Giovanni I Bentivoglio, Bologna returned under the direct control of the Pope after a one-year interval under the dominance of the Visconti . Anton Galeazzo experienced the shameful end of his father at the age of seventeen, was threatened himself, but found acceptance and protection with the Bolgnese patrician family Malvezzi who brought him to safety in the castle Welfenstein (Castel Guelfo) in the province of Bozen (Bolzano) on Austrian territory.
The rule of his father, his heroic struggle and his murder by personal opponents in Bologna later glorified his image in the population, as he was no longer viewed as a tyrant, but as a champion of urban freedom against foreign papal rule. Anton Galeazzo benefited from this after his return, as his reputation and political influence in Bologna grew over the years.
Bologna as the papal residence city
In a remarkable turning point, after the overthrow of Giovanni I Bentivoglio, Bologna transformed itself from a center of civil liberty and the revolt against the church regime into a center of papal power.
The reason for this was not least a student named Baldassare Cossa, the son of the Count of Troia (in the Kingdom of Naples), who studied at the famous law faculty in Bologna. He then turned to military service, but later decided to pursue a career in the church. He was promoted to cardinal as a layman in 1402 and - after the murder of Giovanni I. Bentivoglio - the father of Anton Galeazzo - returned to his beloved Bologna as papal vicar in 1402, where he skillfully restricted civil liberties and the city again direct Government subjugated by the Church. At the instigation of Cardinal Cossa, a third Pope, Alexander V (Pietro Philargi of Candia) (1409–1410) was elected at the Council of Pisa in addition to the Roman Pope and that of Avignon . As an antipope, he resided mainly in Bologna and died on May 3, 1410 in the monastery of S. Maria dei Crociferi near Bologna. His successor was none other than the papal vicar of Bologna, Cardinal Baldassare Cossa, who was ordained a priest on May 24, 1410, was ordained bishop and crowned pope the next day. He took the name John XXIII. and chose the city of Bologna as his temporary residence. Not least because the traditional residence cities of the popes - Rome and Avignon - were occupied by other popes. Gregory XII then resided in Rome . (Angelo Correr) as Pope (1406–1415) and in Avignon Benedict XIII. (Pedro Martinez de Luna y Gotor) as antipope (1394–1423).
For the turbulent citizens of Bologna, who needed freedom, this was perhaps too much papal rule, as there was a popular uprising there in 1411 against the ecclesiastical regime. However, the revolt was put down by the city's patriciate - with the surprising assistance of Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio.
Here, too, there was a turning point, as the son of the rebel turned into a pillar of this very system against the church regiment. The contribution of Anton Galeazzo might even have been decisive, since Pope John XXIII. on November 16, 1412 transferred the very substantial income from the annual tax that the Jewish community had to pay annually to the city lords and also the taxes that had to be paid by other traders for their business in Bologna.
Meanwhile, Antongaleazzo continued his legal education at the University of Bologna , which he completed on April 3, 1414.
However, his attention at the time was not exclusively devoted to studies, but also to a young lady who was his lover. Since she was not only close to him, but also to his best friend, Gaspare Malvezzi, when she gave birth to a son in 1413, a dispute over fatherhood occurred. To find out among friends, they decided to throw the dice for the child. Anton Galeazzo won and since then has considered the boy, whom he named Annibale after Hannibal - the Carthaginian general and fighter against Roman supremacy - as his son and heir.
Relationship with the antipope John XXIII.
In order to clarify the dire situation of the church - at the same time three popes - King Sigismund (* 1368, † 1437) arranged for (anti-) Pope John XXIII to convene the Council of Constance (1414-1418). Thick legal issues had to be clarified there - in particular about the respective legitimacy of the three popes. John XXIII therefore needed the best lawyers to be able to assert themselves there. Anton Galeazzo was well known to the newly elected Pope from his time in Bologna and was valued as a lawyer, so was selected with Battista Canetoli as one of the legal scholars who John XXIII. 1414 accompanied on the way to the Council of Constance. On the way, the Pope's car overturned on the Arlberg Pass , which was interpreted as a bad omen. In Ulrich von Richental's chronicle there is a description of the incident, with some of his companions also being shown. It is possible that Anton Galeazzo was also shown.
Despite energetic legal support from Anton Galeazzo, Johannes XXIII succeeded. at the Council of Constance not, the removal of his competitors - Pope Gregory XII. and the antipope Benedict XIII. - to reach. Since a further election of the Pope was planned for the settlement, he fled secretly disguised as a squire to Schaffhausen in order to keep his office , but was caught on April 29, 1415 in Freiburg im Breisgau and taken by the imperial vicar Ludwig III. Elector of the Palatinate arrested and declared deposed by the council at the end of May.
Return of the republic
In response to this news, Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio remembered the ideas of freedom and, together with Battista Canetoli, hurried back to Bologna to once again proclaim a free republic on March 3, 1416, supported by his relatives such as the Malvezzi. The deposed antipope John XXIII. appointed Vicar of Bologna was chased from the Palazzo Commune, locked in the Palazzo Bentivoglio and then escorted out of the city. For four years Bologna was again a free civil republic.
Because of his leading role in the re-establishment of the republic, Anton Galeazzo was elected on March 3, 1416 not only to the city government, the "Sixteen", but also to head the government of the reformers.
This renewed apostasy from the church regiment was of course not without consequences, as soon afterwards a papal army under the command of the condottiere Andrea Fortebracci, called Braccio da Montone (* 1368, † 1424) was sent to Bologna to restore the papal regiment. Faced with the looming siege, the city decided to negotiate. Anton Galeazzo was sent out with a five-person delegation to negotiate with the commander of the papal army. It was essential that Anton Galeazzo was personally friends with Braccio da Montone, so he succeeded in negotiating that the republican city regiment was not eliminated, but tolerated. Probably with the formal recognition of papal sovereignty.
Professionally, Anton Galeazzo worked from 1418 to 1420 as a professor of law at the University of Bologna, where, as entries in the “Liber Secretus Juris Civilis” can be seen, lectures on civil law. In 1420 he was elected to the "Priore del Colegio dei Giuristi" (approximately: Dean of the Faculty of Law).
Lord of Bologna
Anton Galeazzo did not limit himself to his academic career, however, but tried to constantly expand his influence in the city government. He relied in particular on his colleague, Battista Canetoli. In 1420, however, there was a difference of opinion between the two, which degenerated into an open rivalry. Anton Galeazzo therefore decided to follow the example of his father and achieve sole rule in Bologna. He therefore gathered his friends and clients around him, strengthened himself through recalled exiles and stormed the seat of government, the Palazzo Commune, with armed men. Canetoli then rushed to the main square with his gunmen and tried to get the population to expel Anton Galeazzo from the Palazzo Commune by shouting “Viva el populo e li arti” (Long live the people and the guilds). A bloody scuffle ensued, but Anton Galeazzo and his friends remained victorious. Not least because his sister, Giovanna Bentivoglio, the wife of Gaspare Malvezzi, actively supported him by personally armed her people and sent them into battle to help her brother. This earned her a place of honor in the portrayal of famous women from Sabadino degli Arienti, who was himself one of their fighters.
Anton Galeazzo had thus achieved his goal: like his father, he was the sole master of Bologna. He used this position of power to banish his opponents - especially the Canetoli - from the city.
Renunciation of Bologna
However, his reign was to be short-lived. In the meantime, at the Council of Constance, the papacy had broken away from the triple schism through the election of Oddo Colonna from the house of Genazzano as Pope Martin V (1417–1431) in 1417 . He was energetic and determined to enforce the power of rule of the church and thus again to place Bologna directly under the control of the Holy See. When he heard of Anton Galeazzo's rise to power, he sent an embassy to Bologna demanding that the government subordinate the government directly to the Pope or risk interdict and siege.
Anton Galeazzo, the new Signor of Bologna, knew the fickleness of his fellow citizens and therefore knew that they would abandon him in the face of the existing threat, so he decided to negotiate. Thanks to the mediation of his friend Braccio da Montone, a compromise was reached. He renounced the rule in Bologna but received Castel Bolognese in the province of Ravenna between Imola and Faenza as a papal fief. In the summer of 1420 he withdrew with his family to the local castle, which had been built by the city of Bologna from 1389 as a military outpost against the enemy Faenza by Antonio di Vinzenzo. (Destroyed by Cesare Borgia in 1501 , later rebuilt, today largely in ruins)
After his departure from Bologna, a papal legate took over the government again while the expelled opponents of the Bentivoglio, such as the patrician family of the Canetoli, returned to the city.
However, this solution did not prove permanent. Anton Galeazzo made Castel Bolognese a meeting point for all those who were not satisfied with the papal regime and wanted to return to a free citizen's republic and offered protection and shelter to those banned from Bologna. After three years, there was an open confrontation between Anton Galeazzo and the papal legate.
25 years of exile in Florence
When trying to expand his domain to Imola, which was ruled by the Alidosi family, there was a skirmish with papal troops, in which Anton Galeazzo was defeated. His position was so weakened that he was forced to leave the rulership of Bologna and go into exile. In 1423 he ceded Castel Bolognese for a large sum of money and went to Florence , with which his father was already allied as Lord of Bologna.
As early as the spring of 1423, Rinaldo degli Albizzi visited him as emissary of the Republic of Florence and offered him protection and help, as well as mediation in reconciliation with the Pope. This was not entirely selfless, since Florence was exposed to the expansion efforts of the Duchy of Milan , and therefore had an interest in ensuring that Bologna did not fall into the hands of the Visconti . Bentivoglio's rule, reconciled with the Church, therefore appeared to be a guarantee of security for Florence.
Anton Galeazzo therefore moved to Florence and worked there - as did his younger brother Ercole I. Bentivoglio and later his son Annibale - as a condottier and gained experience that could be useful for a later attempt to return to Bologna. In Florence he enjoyed general popularity, where he succeeded in developing friendly relations with Cosimo de 'Medici , known as il Vecchio (the old man). This is shown in a letter he wrote to Cosimo on September 5, 1434, who at the time - at the instigation of the Albizzi, who had meanwhile taken power in Florence - was also in exile - in Venice . Shortly afterwards Cosimo returned from exile to Florence and began - after clarifying the internal situation (exile of the Albizzi) - to campaign for Bentivoglio's return to Bologna.
Return to Bologna
In Bologna the tide had meanwhile turned: The Canetoli family had for their part driven out the papal administration and made themselves the Lords of Bologna. This opened up a chance for Anton Galeazzo to return to Bologna. Somewhat surprising was that he did not act as a champion of a free city regiment, but as the Pope's agent. At the beginning of 1435 Anton Galeazzo stood with a small troop at the gates of Bologna and tried - on behalf of Eugene IV (Gabriele Condulmer) Pope (1431–1447) - to gain entry into the city in order to gain papal control restore the city. However, this attempt was unsuccessful.
A second attempt, this time with the full support of Cosimo Medici and Pope Eugene IV, was successful. After fifteen years in exile, Antongaleazzo was able to ride into the city with a large retinue on December 4, 1535 and take up quarters in his family's palace in Strá San Donato. The population welcomed him enthusiastically, made some rooms habitable in the abandoned Palazzo Bentivoglio in Strada San Donato, put a bed in it, provided him with food and surrounded his house to see him personally.
assassination
This late triumph did not last long, however.
The great popularity aroused the suspicion of the papal legate, Cardinal Daniele da Treviso, who was concerned about the sympathy shown to him by the people of Bologna and feared that he might lead another revolt against papal power. So he set a trap for him. On December 23rd, Anton Galeazzo took part in the Mass in the Palazzo Commune in the company of the Cardinal, exchanged a few friendly words with him and then said goodbye. As he was walking down the stairs to the inner courtyard, soldiers suddenly rushed out, threw him and his companions down and beheaded them on the spot.
The chronicler Fileno della Tuata summed up his obituary for Anton Galeazzo aptly: “parea alli preti che fosse troppo amato” (something like: the priests thought he was loved too much).
His tomb is on the outside of the Capella Bentivoglio (Bentivoglio Chapel) built between 1463 and 1468 by the architect Pagno di Lapo Portigiani da Fiesole in the church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna. It is an excellent example of the art of the sculptor Jacopo della Quercia from 1438, but was originally built for a different family of lawyers and was only acquired by Annibale Bentivoglio and rededicated for his father.
Marriages and offspring
Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio was married to Francesca Gozzadini
Children:
Out of wedlock:
- Annibale Bentivoglio († 1445) ∞ Donnina Visconti cl. 1441
Marital?
- Isabella Bentivoglio ∞ Romeo Pepoli
- Costanza Bentivoglio († 1483) ∞ Gerardo Bevilacqua cl. 1450
Individual evidence
- ^ Cecilia M. Ady: "I Bentivoglio" dall'Oglio editore. Translation of the original: “The Bentivoglio of Bologna”, Clarendon Press Oxford, without year
- ↑ Cecilia M. Ady: op. Cit. P. 21.
- ↑ Dallari: "I rotuli die lettori legisti e artisti dello Studio", Volume IV, p. 41 u. 42
- ↑ Cecilia M. Ady: op. Cit. Page 20, note 20.
- ^ Sabadino degli Arienti: "Gynevera delle clare donne"; in the Ricci Collection of Selected Literary Curiosities, Bologna 1888, p. 121
- ↑ Cecilia M. Ady op. Cit. P. 24
- ↑ Cecilia M. Ady op. Cit. P. 25
- ↑ Fulvio Pezzarossa: "Bentivoglio" p. 60
- ↑ Cecilia M. Ady op. Cit. P. 25
- ↑ Fileno della Tuata: "Cronaca della città di Bologna" p. 152
- ↑ Cecilia M. Ady: op. Cit. Family tree on page 301
literature
- Cecilia M. Ady: I Bentivoglio . dall'Oglio editore. (Italian translation of the original: “The Bentivoglio of Bologna: A study in Despotism”, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1937) without the year
- Fulvio Pezzarossa: Bentivoglio . In: Volker Reinhart (Ed.): The great families of Italy , Alfred Kröner Verlag Stuttgart, 1992 (Kröner's pocket edition, Bd. 485) ISBN 3-520-48501-X
- Rendina, Claudio (1998). I capitani di ventura . Rome: Newton Compton.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Antongaleazzo I. Bentivoglio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian nobleman, condottiere and for a short time lord of Bologna |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1385 |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 23, 1437 |
| Place of death | Bologna |