Gian Giacomo Caroldo

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Gian Giacomo Caroldo (* before 1480 in Venice ; † June 3, 1539 ) was a member of the Venetian chancellery and a diplomat who wrote the history of Venice from its beginnings to 1382.

life and work

Notary, office in the Doge's Palace, diplomat (from 1496)

Caroldo, born in Venice, first became a notary, but entered the office in the Doge's Palace in 1496 - at that time you had to be at least 16 years old . He traveled several times on diplomatic missions, including to England , the Iberian Peninsula and Constantinople . His report ( relazione ) of September 30, 1503 has been handed down from the latter trip , from which it emerges that he was in the service of Andrea Gritti as secretary , who in turn led peace negotiations with Sultan Bayezid II . During the war with the League of Cambrai , he served on trips to Milan and in 1517 at the French royal court.

Secretary of the Council of X and the Senate

In 1518 he returned and received the post of secretary of the Council of Ten (Consiglio dei Dieci). In 1507 he became a notary at the Senate with an annual salary of 50 ducats , in 1508 he was secretary to the Doge . In this capacity he reported on December 22nd, 1508 the Pregadi of the peace agreement between Maximilian and the King of France, who wanted to march on Italy, while he reported on the League of Cambrai with a letter to Zaccaria Contarini of December 30th. He therefore advised the fortification of Cremona .

Expulsion from Milan, negotiations and imprisonment in the Papal States (1510–1511)

On March 9, 1509, he received orders from the French king to leave Milan; on March 18, he reported on his mission in Venice. To keep the Pope out of the League he went to see Cardinal Francesco Alidosi of Pavia, the papal legate, but the Pope gave Venice a month to return to papal obedience. Otherwise the interdict threatened . After the battle of Agnadello he received the order from the Senate to go to Alidosi in Bologna .

But as a complete surprise, Pope Julius II. The whole administrative and military personnel in the Venice previously occupied territories of the Papal States arrest, including Caroldo. He fell ill, but remained in custody until June 1510. In 1511 he was back in Venice after negotiating the return of the papal territories to the end.

Diplomatic-Military Services, Milan (1512–1520)

He was then to travel to the army of the Lega Veneto-Romana in Ravenna to financially support the army fighting the French. On August 7, he was supposed to travel to Milan, where he was still on September 29, 1512. On July 20, 1513, Caroldo's salary was increased by 12 ducats. In October 1515 he accompanied the Venetian speakers on a special mission to Milan with the French king; Caroldo wrote his will on September 5th , which has been preserved. It was edited by Vittorio Lazzarini in 1922 . From Milan he sent two letters to his brother Costantino, who had followed him in the office of “scrivania di sopraconsoli”; He kept the Signoria up to date by letter, for example on March 26, 1517 about the economic situation in France, which forbade the import of gold cloth and silk to the detriment of Lucca and Florence . In June Caroldo returned to Milan from France, following the Vicomte de Lautrec , in whose service he was at the behest of the Signoria. In November 1517 he informed them about the events in Bergamo , in February 1518 he informed them of the intention of Emperor Maximilian to provide the Pope with 4,000 men.

In September 1518 he asked for permission to return to Venice, as he was exhausted from the many obligations in the diplomatic service. The Senate refused but sent him a gift of 150 ducats . In October his salary was increased by a further 25 ducats, giving him 110 ducats a year. In 1519 Caroldo reported on the first conflicts between Charles and Franz I over the succession of Maximilian, who died in January. At the end of April he received instructions from the Senate to prepare the militias in Veneto for the fight against the Swiss, who were apparently going to side with Spain. On August 31, Caroldo's salary was increased by a further 8 ducats, in September Alvise Marin was nominated as his successor in Milan, who arrived there in May 1520. But on July 1, 1520, Caroldo complained that he had not been able to present his report in Venice. From this point on he did his job no longer on diplomatic trips, but in the Doge's Palace.

Return to Venice (1520), head of the office

In 1523 he received a salary of 165 ducats. On September 25, 1528 he reported a secret meeting with the French ambassador. Caroldo was meanwhile head of the Venetian office.

From his private life we ​​only know that he supported his brother Costantino, as well as his sister Maria, meanwhile widow of a cloth merchant, and her children, whom he recommended to the Senate in a supplik in 1515.

History venete (until 1532)

His main work, completed by 1532 at the latest, is the Historie venete dal principio della città fino all'anno 1382 . This work was later divided into ten books. This lasted until the death of Doge Andrea Contarini (1382). He had started his opus around 1520.

swell

Caroldo's testament was edited by Vittorio Lazzarini : Il testamento del cronista Gian Giacomo Caroldo: per un'edizione della sua cronaca , in: Scritti storici in onore di Giovanni Monticolo , Padua 1922, pp. 283–288. His relazione after working as ambassador in Milan can be found in Eugenio Alberi (ed.): Le relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti , Vol. V, Florence 1858, pp. 298-330.

For the meaning of the chronicle see:

  • Freddy Thiriet : Les chroniques vénitiennes de la Marcienne et leur importance pour l'histoire de la Romanie , in: Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire LXVI (1954) 266-272.
  • Raymond-Joseph Loenertz : Jean V Paléologue à Venise (1370-1371) , in: Revue dés études byzantines XIV (1958) 217–232.
  • Julian Chrysostomides : John V Palaelogus in Venice (1370-1371), and the Chronicle of Caroldo: a re-interpretation , in: Orientalia Christiana Periodica XXXI (1965) 76-84.
  • Julian Chrysostomides: Studies on the Chronicle of Caroldo with special Reference to the History from 1370 to 1377 , in: Orientalia Christiana Periodica XXXV (1969) 123-182.
  • Antonio Carile : La cronachistica veneziana (secc. XIII-XVI), di fronte alla spartizione della Romania nel 1204 , Florence 1969, p. 158 f.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ In the diaries of Marin Sanuto , Venice 1879–1902, vol. 5, coll. 449–468.
  2. ^ Vittorio Lazzarini edited: Il testamento del cronista Gian Giacomo Caroldo: per un'edizione della sua cronaca , in: Scritti storici in onore di Giovanni Monticolo , Padua 1922, pp. 283–288.
  3. ^ Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna : Delle Inscrizioni Veneziane , Vol. IV, Venice 1834, p. 9.
personal data
SURNAME Caroldo, Gian Giacomo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Venetian diplomat and chronicler
DATE OF BIRTH before 1480
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 1539
Place of death Venice