Giacomo Maria Brignole

Giacomo Maria Brignole (born December 10, 1724 in Genoa , † December 21, 1801 in Florence ) was the last doge of the Republic of Genoa from 1796 to 1797 .

Life

Giacomo Maria Brignole was born to Francesco Maria Brignole and Lavinia Spinola. After initially working as a trader, he was a member of the Small Council of the Republic of Genoa from 1761 to 1779. At a meeting in February 1765, Brignole criticized the poor administration of the judiciary and the lack of sense of duty of the rulers, which he saw as the main causes of the political weakness of the republic. In 1768 he spoke out in favor of ceding the island of Corsica to France, following the line of his father-in-law Marcello Durazzo , who was the Doge of Genoa at the time.

After he was appointed procurator of the republic in 1770, Giacomo Maria Brignole belonged to the court martial between 1775 and 1776. On March 4, 1779 he was elected Doge of Genoa for the first time, receiving 198 of 321 votes. At the beginning of his term in office he had to fight a smallpox epidemic and pirate attacks, the latter he was able to contain with the support of his brother-in-law Gerolamo Durazzo. After the end of his tenure in March 1781 he worked in the judiciary, from 1788 to 1796 he was President of the State Inquisition. In 1790, Brignole introduced stricter censorship as such, causing displeasure, especially among sympathizers of the French Revolution .

On November 17, 1796, supported by the conservative nobility, he was re-elected Doge. Critics viewed him as unsuitable for the office due to his age and poor health. Despite his conservative attitude, Brignole tried to maintain the neutrality of the Republic of Genoa in the First Coalition War . Shortly afterwards, the future French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte succeeded in occupying Genoa. On June 14, 1797, the Republic of Genoa ended, which became a subsidiary of France as the Ligurian Republic . Giacomo Maria Brignole initially headed a provisional government as president before resigning all political offices in 1798 for reasons of age and health. Like many anti Bonapartist nobles, he then retired to Tuscany and died in 1801 in the monastery of San Paolino in Florence.

literature

• Maristella Ciappina:  BRIGNOLE, Giacomo Maria. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 14:  Branchi-Buffetti. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1972.

predecessor	Office	successor
Giuseppe Maria Doria Giuseppe Lomellini	Doge of Genoa 1796–1797 1779–1781	End of the Republic of Genoa Marco Antonio Gentile