Mercurino Arborio di Gattinara

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marchese Mercurino Arborio di Gattinara (born June 10, 1465 probably at Arborio Castle , Gattinara near Vercelli in Piedmont ; † June 5, 1530 in Innsbruck ) was an Italian lawyer and statesman and great chancellor of Emperor Charles V.

origin

Gattinara came from an impoverished lower aristocratic family. He was married to Andreotta Avocado since 1490. After studying law at the University of Turin , he first worked as a lawyer in Savoy .

Career

He began his political career as legal advisor to Duke Philibert II of Savoy (1480–1504). His second wife was Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), the only legitimate daughter of the later Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg and godmother of the later Emperor Karl V. Gattinara, who became her legal advisor and went with her after the death of her husband Netherlands . He took particular care of her widow's estate , the County of Bresse . There he also became President of the Court of Justice in 1508 in Dole , the then seat of the Parliament of the Free County of Burgundy . In between he was again in the service of Margarethe, who had meanwhile become governor of the Netherlands, and Maximilian I appointed him as ambassador to the Spanish and French courts. Among other things, he participated in the Treaty of Cambrai in 1508.

In 1511 he was defeated in a long-running dispute with the nobility of Franche-Comté and had to give up his offices there. When Karl's adviser Wilhelm Chièvres von Croy died, Gattinara rose to become the king's most influential advisor. In 1518 he became "Grand Chancellor of all countries and kingdoms".

As a supporter of the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam , he was an idealist but pursued realistic strategies. Gattinara led Charles V from his dynastic roots in Burgundy and the secular political theory prevailing in Spain at the time to a Christian-humanistic conception of the empire. His idea of ​​the “universal monarchy” was in direct contrast to the then emerging nation-state theories.

In his function as Chancellor, he urged Charles V to establish a dynastic empire with the ultimate goal of global rule ( "Dominium Mundi" ). Gattinara advocated a Christian imperialism based on a united Christianity with the aim of bringing the Protestants , the Turks and the unbelievers in the New World to the Roman Catholic Church . His theory sought the balance between the individual Christian nations and the requirements for building a world empire. The basis of his actions was more connected to medieval approaches than to the modern era that was just beginning . In numerous memoranda, he repeatedly submitted his views to Charles V and the other decision-makers in the government.

Gattinara's program seemed to be the only one that was available to satisfy Charles V's strongly developed sense of rule and also to ideologically fill the empire in his sense. It was largely thanks to Gattinara that the Spanish empire reached its maximum extent under Charles V, even if there were also the first signs of decay. That was especially true internally. It was not possible to structurally align the different parts of Charles V's rule, nor to raise the economic resources required for the program. Ultimately, the excessive policy led to national bankruptcy.

In 1529 Gattinara was elevated to cardinal priesthood and was assigned the titular church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina . He wrote an autobiography.

Fonts

  • Carlo Bornate (Ed.): Historia vite et gestorum per dominum magnum Cancellarium Mercurino Arborio di Gattinara . In: Miscellanea di storia italiana. 3. Ser. Vol. 17, 1915, pp. 231-585. [Autobiography of Mercurino Arborio di Gattinara]

literature

  • Giampiero Brunelli:  GATTINARA, Mercurino Arborio marchese di. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 52:  Gambacorta – Gelasio II. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1999.
  • John M. Headley: The emperor and his chancellor. A study of the imperial chancellery under Gattinara. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1983, ISBN 0-521-24444-7 .
  • Alfred Kohler : Charles V 1500–1558. A biography. Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-45359-7 , especially p. 120f.
  • Ilse Kodek: The Grand Chancellor Emperor Charles V takes stock. Mercurino Gattinara’s autobiography translated from Latin (= history in the epoch of Charles V, vol. 4). Aschendorff, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-402-06573-8 .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ John Lynch: Monarquía e imperio: El Reinado de Carlos V . El Pais, Madrid 2007, ISBN 978-84-9815-756-7 , p. 145.
personal data
SURNAME Gattinara, Mercurino Arborio di
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gattinara, Mercurino Arborio marchese di
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian lawyer and statesman
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1465
PLACE OF BIRTH Gattinara near Vercelli , Piedmont
DATE OF DEATH June 5, 1530
Place of death innsbruck