Giovanni II Bentivoglio

Portrait of Giovanni II Bentivoglio
by Ercole de 'Roberti , around 1480

Giovanni II Bentivoglio (born February 12, 1443 in Bologna , † February 15, 1508 in Milan ) was an Italian nobleman who ruled as sole ruler in Bologna from 1463 to 1506 . He did not have an official title, but was the "first citizen" in power. The Bentivoglio family ruled Bologna since 1443 and tried several times to restore the Signoria (government by a "strong man" = signore).

prehistory

Giovanni II was a son of Annibale I Bentivoglio , who was ruler of the city at the time. His mother was Donnina Visconti . He was still a child when his father was murdered by his rival Battista Canneschi in June 1445.

The successor of the deceased was Sante I , whose origin is unclear. Allegedly he was a son of Ercole Bentivoglio, a cousin of Annibale I. Sante was originally an apprentice of the wool makers guild of Florence and ruled Bologna from 1443. When Sante died in 1463, Giovanni II Bentivoglio made himself ruler of the city, which was actually a fiefdom of the church, led by a papal envoy. In 1464 he received the privilege of Pope Paul II to designate himself as permanent head of the Senate of Bologna.

Sante had married on March 8, 1454 Ginevra Sforza (1440-1507). After his death Giovanni married the young widow on May 2, 1464. Ginevra bore him 16 children, eleven of which survived childhood.

Machiavelli wrote of what happened :

“ When Mr. Hannibal Bentivogli, grandfather of the current Hannibal and Prince of Bologna, was murdered by the Canneschi, who had conspired against him, and no one remained behind than Mr. Johann, who was still in diapers, rose to this murder suddenly the people, and killed all Canneschi; which was an effect of the popular favor which the house of Bentivogli enjoyed at that time in Bologna: and this was so great that, since after Hannibal's death there was no one left, he was sent to rule the state, and it was still learned in Florence a scion of Bentivogli, who had hitherto been taken to be the son of a blacksmith, for whose sake the Bolognese went to Florence and transferred the government of their city to him, which was administered by him until Herr Johann was getting on came to rule by himself. "

- The Prince , chapter 19

Ruler of Bologna

In order to secure the support of the other powerful families in Italy, Giovanni fought personally as a condottiere (mercenary leader). In 1467 he was in the service of the cities of Florence, Naples and Milan against Bartolomeo Colleoni and in 1471 again in the service of Milan. However, he did not achieve significant military deeds until 1477 when he besieged the city of Faenza for the Sforza . In 1482 he helped Ercole d'Este against Pope Sixtus IV and Venice . Later he fought in minor conflicts for the Kingdom of Naples.

In 1488 his daughter Francesca killed her husband Galeotto Manfredi , ruler of Faenza. The city residents saw the act as an attempt to seize power and rebelled. When Giovanni reached the city to quell the rebellion, he was captured, but released after the intervention of Lorenzo de 'Medici . In the same year Giovanni Capitano became Generale (Commander in Chief) of the Milanese Army. It was a more formal title, as Giovanni left the duties of command to his sons. In 1488 he suppressed a conspiracy that the Malvezzi family had instigated against him. Almost all of the Malvezzis were hanged or banished. In 1501 the Marescotti family suffered the same fate.

Bentivoglio had long succeeded in resisting Cesare Borgia's attempts at power, but on October 7, 1506, Pope Julius II issued a bull that deposed and excommunicated Giovanni and placed the city under canon law. When the papal troops, supported by a contingent, the Louis XII. Sent by France to march against Bologna, Bentivoglio fled with his family. Julius II entered the city triumphantly on November 10th.

Giovanni initially went to Busseto , the seat of the Pallavicini family . An attempt by his sons Annibale II and Ermes to regain power in Bologna failed in 1507. The Bolognese subsequently rioted repeatedly against his possessions in the city and destroyed his palace.

Giovanni ended his days as a prisoner of Louis XII. in Milan. He died in 1508 in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan .

Legacy

Giovanni II Bentivoglio ruled strictly for almost half a century. He maintained a splendid court and beautified the city, in particular by developing its waterways. The misery of the poor, however, was in stark contrast to the splendor of the city and its festivals.

Among the projects he commissioned were the frescoes depicting the life of Saint Cecilia . The pictures were painted by artists who lived in the city at the time: Francesco Francia , Lorenzo Costa and Amico Aspertini . Lorenzo Costas The Madonna with the Bentivoglio Family was commissioned by Giovanni Bentivoglio to thank the family for avoiding an attempted massacre by the Malvezzis. Bentivoglio also commissioned the architect G. Nadi to build the magnificent Palazzo Bentivoglio , which began in 1498. The Bolognese architect Aristotele Fioravanti , who later settled in Russia , made the plans for the renovation of the facade of the Palazzo del Podestà . This work was not carried out until 1484-1494.

Trivia

Bentivoglio is said to have asked the astrologer Luca Gaurico about his fate. However, he was not satisfied with his prognosis, so he had him tortured and sent into exile.

literature

• Cecilia M. Ady: The Bentivoglio of Bologna: A Study in Despotism. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1937.
• Georgia Clarke: Magnificence and the City: Giovanni II Bentivoglio and Architecture in Fifteenth-Century Bologna. In: Renaissance Studies 13 (1999), pp. 397-411.
• Claudio Rendina: I capitani di ventura. Newton Compton, Rome 2004.