Fieschi (noble family)

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Family coat of arms

The Fieschi (pronounced: Fieski, Latin: Flisci, Italian plural on -i , while individual members of the family were often referred to as Fiesco in the singular ) were one of the four leading noble families of the Republic of Genoa and are among the most important families of the Italian nobility . They provided two popes, 62 cardinals and Saint Catherine of Genoa .

history

Chiavari and Lavagna

The Fieschi descend from the Counts of Lavagna , who had already been installed by the Carolingians , but after their extinction had to submit to the bishops of Genoa . Nevertheless, the Fieschi managed to obtain legal and political independence from the Republic of Genoa in Lavagna until 1198, even if the commune itself increasingly emancipated itself from its city lords in the 12th century . Cogorno , located on the hills above Lavagna, also belonged to the legacy of the Counts of Lavagna, but was ceded to the Republic of Genoa in 1203, while the coastal town of Chiavari , which was only separated from Lavagna by the River Entella , was subject to the Republic of Genoa as early as the 12th century. However, it was brought under their control by the Fieschi, together with the Malaspina , around 1270 until Genoa managed to recapture it in 1332; In 1393 the Fieschi were able to annex Chiavari again, if only for a short time. Also Torriglia came of the 13th century, the Fieschi, who held the castle until 1547 middle. The republic under the leadership of the Doria family remained the main opponent of the Fieschi and there were numerous disputes.

The churches of Santuario di Nostra Signora del Ponte (13th century) in Lavagna as well as San Giovanni Battista (1181) and San Francesco in Chiavari (1229–34) were founded by clergymen of the Fieschi family.

Pope Innocent IV. Sinibaldo de Fieschi (around 1195–1254)
Pope Hadrian V. Ottobono Fieschi (around 1215–1276)

Obizzo Fieschi was bishop of Parma at the beginning of the 13th century ; his nephew Sinibaldo de Fieschi (around 1195–1254) became a canon in the cathedral chapter in 1226, rose the following year to head of the papal chancellery in Rome and cardinal, and in 1243 was elected Pope Innocent IV . In 1244 Innocent IV had the Basilica di San Salvatore dei Fieschi built in Cogorno . He came into opposition to the Roman-German Emperor and the Neapolitan-Sicilian King Friedrich II and fled in 1244 via Genoa to Lyon, from where he called for a crusade against Friedrich. This then had the castle of Fieschi in Lavagna and the basilica in Cogorno destroyed, whereupon the Pope excommunicated him . After Frederick's death in 1250, Innocent IV continued the fight against his sons Conrad IV and Manfred , returned to Rome in 1253 and died the following year.

His nephew Ottobono Fieschi (around 1205–1276), who had become papal chaplain in 1243 and cardinal in 1252, contributed as legate of Clement IV. 1266/67 to the end of a civil war in England. He had the basilica in Cogorno and the adjacent Palazzo Fieschi (today "Centro Culturale Museo dei Fieschi" ) rebuilt. In 1276 he was elected Pope as Hadrian V , but died after 38 days.

  • Pope coat of arms of the Fieschi

  • Fieschi Basilica in Cogorno

  • Palazzo Fieschi in Cogorno

  • San Giovanni Battista in Chiavari

When the Fieschi themselves became one of the four leading families in Genoa in the 14th century (alongside the Doria , Grimaldi and Spinola ), they withdrew more and more from the leadership role in Lavagna. As an old noble house, however, they relied more on inherited land holdings than on commercial transactions, as most of the patrician families did. In the clashes between emperors and popes (party names: Guelphs versus Ghibellines ) in the late Middle Ages, they sided with the papal Guelf, together with the Grimaldi and against the imperial party of Doria and Spinola. Taking sides did not prevent her from giving one of her daughters, Eleonora Fieschi , Bernabò Doria, son of Branca Doria, to wife. Isabella Fieschi's marriage in 1331 to the Signor of Milan, Luchino Visconti , who was even more Ghibelline than Doria, ended tragically when she poisoned her husband in 1349. With U. a. Luca Fieschi (1270–1336) and Giovanni Fieschi († 1384) provided the family with other cardinals during this period and between 1343 and 1437, with the exception of six years, the bishops of Vercelli .

The Fieschi built and lived in numerous palaces in Genoa. The powerful families of Genoa had created zones of influence (insulae) in the old town ; that of the Fieschi was in the districts of Sarzano and Serravalle; They also contributed to the development of the Portoria and San Vincenzo districts, and they also had palaces on the hill of Carignano , which is connected to the city center by Via Fieschi . Their house churches were the church of Santo Stefano in Genoa , consecrated in 1217, and the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata in Carignano, built in 1336 by a bequest from Cardinal Luca Fieschi . There is also a magnificent Renaissance family palace on Via Lata.

Since 1253 they were lords of Savignone , where, in addition to the castle ruins, there is a Villa Fieschi from 1565, which was owned by the family until 1856 (today a hotel), as well as an estate that still belongs to female descendants. At the same time as Savignone they also acquired Crocefieschi , where a palace from the 16th / 17th centuries is located. Century is located. The two places formed a large fief complex that remained imperial until 1797 . Also in the 13th century, they acquired the neighboring Casella , where a Fieschi palace from 1691 is located.

Nicolò Fieschi (approx. 1230-1310), Count of Lavagna and Torriglia and nephew of Pope Innocent IV , built up a large lordship on the Ligurian Levant with a center in La Spezia , which also included Portovenere , until the Genoese subordinated him Oberto Doria was deposed in 1276.

In 1394, Bishop Lodovico Fieschi von Vercelli obtained from the Pope that his brother Antonio Fieschi received the places Masserano and Crevacuore in Piedmont as a fief; the towns remained, together with Romagnano Sesia , until their extinction in 1833 as a quasi-independent principality owned by the Ferrero-Fieschi line. In 1495 the Fieschi also acquired Santo Stefano d'Aveto from the Malaspina . The daughter of Giacomo Fieschi from Genoa, who briefly served as viceroy of Naples, Katharina Fieschi Adorno (1447–1510) ran a hospital and became an important mystic; In 1737 she was canonized as Catherine of Genoa .

Giovanni Luigi de Fieschi (1441–1508) fought against the Milanese Sforza and pursued a pro-French policy. With his conspiracy in 1547 against the Genoese admiral and ruler Andrea Doria , which was secretly supported by the Pope and France, but in which Giovanni drowned due to an accident (processed in Friedrich Schiller's tragedy The Fiesco Conspiracy to Genoa of 1783) the family lost a large part of their possessions to the Doria, while in Carignano the Sauli family expanded. Montoggio Castle was destroyed and Giovanni Luigi's brother Girolamo was beheaded.

From then on the Fieschi only played a subordinate role. In the 16th century they built the Palazzo Fieschi-Crosa in Genoa and in the 17th century the Palazzo Sinibaldo Fieschi, both of which belonged to the family until the 18th century. The last remaining lords of the Fieschi remained Savignone (since 1685 supplemented by the Castello di Senarega near Valbrevenna ) and Crocefieschi. The former fell through the heiress Carlotta Fieschi in the 18th century to the Crosa di Vergagni family, who still own the estate in Savignone and the Palazzo Fieschi Crosa in Genoa. The Genoese Fieschi died out in the 19th century with Maria Maddalena Fieschi, whose only daughter, Marinetta Negri di Sanfront Fieschi, married Count Alessandro Thellung di Courtelary.

Fieschi possessions

Known family members

Grave of St. Catherine of Genoa , Santissima Annunziata di Portoria (Genoa)

Web links

Commons : Fieschi  - collection of images, videos and audio files