Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola

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Carmagnola , actually Francesco Bussone (* around 1385 in Carmagnola in the Margraviate of Saluzzo , † May 5, 1432 in Venice ( executed )) was an Italian condottiere of the 15th century .

Life

Carmagnola was born the son of a farmer and initially served as a mercenary under Facino Cane de Casale , lord of Alessandria and regent of Milan . After his death (1412) he joined Canes with all his troops to Filippo Maria Visconti , now Duke of Milan, and fought under him from 1414-1415. Through his courage and skill he quickly gained Visconti's trust and was able to work his way up to becoming a general of Milan.

In the Lombardy Carmagnola fought from 1416 to 1417 successfully, submitted in 1421 Genoa and defeated the Swiss in 1422 in the Battle of Arbedo . For this Visconti appointed him Count of Castelnuovo and gave him his illegitimate daughter Antonia as his wife.

Soon, however, Carmagnola was slandered by his opponents at the Duke and reset by him, so that Carmagnola fled to Venice and there in 1425 under the Doge Francesco Foscari came to the head of the land power of the Republic of Venice . In addition, he commanded the troops of the ally Florence . He conquered the forts of Brescia in 1426 and defeated the Milanese troops under Carlo Malatesta and Niccolò Piccinino on October 12, 1427 at the Battle of Maclodio . In the peace of 1428 he received Brescia, Bergamo and part of the area of Cremona for Venice. Visconti had to surrender his confiscated goods and his family, who had previously been held captive.

When the war broke out again in 1431, Carmagnola was not so successful and caused the defeat of the Venetian fleet on the Po . Therefore the Venetian Republic, suspected of treason in favor of Milan, had him lured to Venice and arrested. He was summoned before the Council of Ten, sentenced to death by torture after extorting confessions of treason and publicly beheaded in Venice on May 5, 1432 . However, an actual guilt on his part could never be proven.

The tragic end of Carmagnola has been treated by poets, above all by Alessandro Manzoni in his tragedy Il Conte di Carmagnola (1820).

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