Nicola Spinelli (lawyer)

Nicola Spinelli's coat of arms

Nicola Spinelli (* 1325 in Naples , † 1406 in Padua ) was a lawyer and politician in the service of Queen Joan I of Naples and Popes Urban V and Gregory XI. He was representative of the Kingdom of Naples at the papal court, keeper of the seal of the Kingdom of Naples, Count of Gioia , Seneschal of Provence (1370-1376), captain of the papal armies, Seneschal of Piedmont , then Grand Chancellor of the Kingdom of Naples. After loyally serving his sovereign and the Popes of Avignon during the Great Schism , of which he was partly the initiator, he had to flee to Milan to the Visconti , where he tried in the last years of his life to realize his political ideal , namely the Papal States to secularize.

Life

Start of a career

Nicola Spinelli was a son of Giovanni Spinelli de Giovinazzo , advisor to King Robert of Naples . He studied law and received a doctorate. Destined for a career in the Church, he became a canon of the Cathedral of Naples and abbot of Santa Maria Assunta dei Pignatelli in Naples, Santa Maria in Fabriano , Sant'Andrea in Mortara , San Pancrazio in Nocera and Sant'Andrea in Marigliano .

When his brother Matteo died (1339) and the eldest son of the family, Gualtiero, had no children from his marriage to Roberta di Sangro, he was given permission to quit church service and get married. He married Maria Fontanella, mistress of Toritto , and taught law at the universities of Naples , Bologna and Padua , then entered the service of the city republic of Bologna, which allowed him to embark on a diplomatic career. In September 1355 he was sent as ambassador to the cardinal legate Gil Álvarez Carillo de Albornoz .

In 1355, as a widower, he married Simona della Marra, daughter of Nicola I, Lord of Barletta , and Alfrana Capitignano. In 1362 he was called to Florence and received from the Signoria with a message to Pope Innocent VI. sent to call for papal intervention to end disputes with the Republic of Pisa .

Pope Urban V.

On March 4, 1363 , Pope Urban V. excommunicated Bernabò Visconti , the leader of the Ghibellines , and preached the crusade against him. On April 6, the Milanese ruler's troops were defeated in Solaro, while his illegitimate son Ambrogio was captured. On April 17, 1363, the Pope, informed of this victory against the Visconti, announced his intention to return to Rome and sent Nicola Spinelli, who had become envoy of the Kingdom of Naples to the papal court, as ambassador to the Italian states to attend his To express peace intentions. With this goal in mind, on May 1, he commissioned Cardinal Gil Álvarez Carillo de Albornoz with preliminary talks on a contract.

Urban V. had already ordered the restoration of the papal gardens and the restoration of St. Peter's Basilica during the armistice signed with the Visconti . His decision was confirmed on July 20, 1366 when he received Gómez Albornoz, who had been sent by his uncle, the Cardinal, and Queen Johanna. He had come to report on the political situation in Italy, in which Nicola Spinelli was working on national and international levels to form a league against the Visconti. The league stood in mid-September 1366. The Pope then announced his immediate return to Rome.

After the death of Nicola d'Alife, keeper of the seals of the Kingdom of Naples, Queen Joan, on the advice of the Pope, transferred this office to Nicola Spinelli in December 1366, who became lord of Roccaguglielma , Toritto, San Giovanni, Tricarico Celo and Pescosolido .

At the beginning of June 1367 Urban V arrived in Orvieto , where he was greeted by Nicola Orsini, Count of Nola and Rector of the city, who accompanied Nicola Spinelli, who officially represented Queen Joan as the keeper of the seal of Naples.

Still in the company of Nicola Spinelli and Nicola Orsini, Urban V. moved into Rome on October 16th. This included Niccolò II. D'Este, Margrave of Ferrara, who opened the entry at the head of a thousand horsemen.

Then, on March 17, 1368, it was Queen Joan's turn to visit the Pope in Rome. And on Lætare , the fourth Sunday of Lent, while Nicola Spinelli was knighted by Peter I , King of Cyprus, Urban V bestowed the Golden Rose on Queen Joan , an award that was the first time ever a woman was given. In order to secure the loyalty that Nicola owed the king of Cyprus under feudal law, the ruler of Naples granted him the county of Gioia . Which in turn made possible the marriage of Giovanni de Bracciano from a younger second of Orsini , Roman senator, Lord of Nerola , Marcellino , Vicovaro , Pacentro , Montemaggiore, Montelibretti , Scandriglia and Selci , to Bartolomea Spinelli, daughter Nicolas, in 1368 .

When Emperor Charles IV moved towards Rome with his entire entourage, the city of Florence, feeling threatened, hurriedly sent Giovanni Malatacca da Reggio, one of Queen Joan's best captains, to its defense. At the end of December 1368 the Queen sent her advisors Nicola Spinelli and the logothet Napoleone Orsini to the Pope to negotiate with the Emperor on behalf of Florence. An agreement was reached between the parties in February 1369, and Florence got away with a heavy fine on Charles IV. Urban V. received him in the summer residence in mid-October and accepted Karl's request to crown his wife empress. On October 21, the Emperor and Pope met for the coronation ceremony in Rome. It took place on November 1st. Then the emperor had a new armistice negotiated with the Visconti until the beginning of May 1370.

But the papal stay in Rome was to be short-lived. The Pope, tired of the constant battles between lords and potentates, between Guelphs and Ghibellines, made the public decision to return to Avignon. On June 26, 1370, he informed the Romans of his departure in a bull from Montefiascone . Queen Joan immediately instructed Nicola Spinelli to prepare for the papal return. On August 1, she appointed him her representative at the court in Aix-en-Provence and Seneschal of Provence, where he retained the office of the Neapolitan Grand Chancellor.

One of his first papal decisions was to end the border war that was going on between the Provencal forces and those of the Dauphiné , allied with the Bretons of Olivier du Guesclin . In return, Urban V. decreed an armistice, which was signed on December 19, 1370 by Nicola Spinelli, Seneschal of Provence, and Amiel des Baux, Seneschal of Beaucaire. The “Longue Route” of the Bretons left the region. On the day the armistice was signed, the Pope, plagued by a stone disease, died in Avignon.

Pope Gregory XI.

The new Pope Gregory XI, determined to return to Rome for good, publicly announced his intention during the consistory of May 13, 1372. To this end, he had to militarily defeat the Visconti family, lords of Milan and leaders of the Ghibellines. He started a league that was made up of Amadeus VI. von Savoyen , Otto von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen as patron of the Margraviate of Montferrat , and his nephew Raimond de Turenne as Capitaneus in servicio Ecclesie Romane . But in this war Amadeus VI. the tendency to appropriate Queen Joan's fiefs in Piedmont rather than to concern himself with papal interests. To put an end to the confiscations, on January 7, 1373, the Pope instructed his brother Nicolas Roger de Beaufort to request the return, and the following day the Queen of Naples instructed Nicola Spinelli, whom she appointed Seneschal of Piedmont, to carry out Recapture of Borgo San Dalmazzo and Cuneo . This then happened on February 14, 1373.

Despite the victory in the Battle of Montichiari (1373), the troops of the League did not move. To make the defeat of the Milanese complete, Gregory XI reorganized. June 20, 1373 took over his command and appointed Spinelli as commissioner ad promovendum negocia was partium Lombardiæ . When the Seneschal and Captain General of Piedmont gave the papal trust on July 17, 1373, he showed a rare humanity when he exempted the residents of Cuneo from the fouage (one tax per household) for five years "so that they would not lose their lives if they stay in place ".

Then, on August 2nd, he went on the offensive, together with the troops of Brunswick, the Bishop of Vercelli and some Savoy lancers. This army conquered Centallo , but failed at Cherasco . Despite some other resounding successes, the war of Gregory XI was a success. failed against the Visconti in the end. The Pope preferred to recall his troops. As Gregory XI. recalled Raimond de Turenne and his captains in Avignon in December 1373 , replaced Nicola Spinelli, Seneschal of Provence and Piedmont, Guy de Pesteils with Franceschino Bolleris, lord of Roccasparvera and castellan of Demonte .

The powers of Nicolas Spinellis as Seneschal of Provence for Queen Johanna, were important since on January 28, 1374 Guillaume III. Roger de Beaufort , although the Pope's brother, had to obtain Spinelli's approval to become the guardian of his granddaughter Alix des Baux . The document was issued in Avignon.

The by Gregory XI. Desired return to Rome was a long journey, as the Pope left Avignon on September 13, 1376, but only reached Rome on January 13, 1377. If the exultation of the Roman people was real, it was not elsewhere. In April 1377, Raimond de Turenne organized an expedition against Viterbo and Bolsena , two of the cities that rebelled against the Pope. It was a bitter failure. Francesco di Vico, the prefect of Rome, warned of the coming of the papal troops, ambushed and captured Raimond de Turenne with twenty knights, all relatives of the Pope or of cardinals. Gregory XI, who was already in Anagni , immediately informed Pierre d'Estaing , Cardinal Bishop of Ostia , and Nicola Spinelli, Grand Chancellor of Naples, with great concern . The two letters date from August 24th and 25th, 1377.

Occidental schism

The imminent death of Gregory XI. led to a conclave in Rome. Bartolomeo Prignano, Archbishop of Bari and from Naples , was elected under pressure from the population , and was therefore immediately supported by Queen Johanna and Nicola Spinelli. Urban VI. appointed Spinelli on April 18, 1378, shortly after his election, to a member of his secret cabinet. But the new Pope was very authoritarian and made himself unpopular with the cardinals. Even his Neapolitan followers had to endure his paranoia.

One of the reasons for Spinelli's withdrawal from Urban VI. was an insult that he received at a reception when he was leading a Neapolitan delegation with Otto von Braunschweig: the Pope had his majordomo change the place of the plenipotentiary and downgraded him in the hierarchy of ambassadors. Other historians explain that the Neapolitan delegation, who expressed their pride in a kingdom pope, received only hurtful words. The shocked Spinelli was then the first to speak out in favor of a new pontiff .

On September 20, 1378, on his initiative, a new conclave met in Fondi , which Clement VII elected. Nicola Spinelli is therefore seen as one of the main actors whose actions led to the Western Schism . (see also Jean de la Grange )

In October 1378, on the basis of his legal knowledge, he announced in a circular that the Council of Rome was null and void, which granted his wife Simona and eight other ladies the privilege of the monastery of Santa Chiara in Naples and all others by means of a certificate dated December 2, 1378 To be allowed to enter the Neapolitan convent four times a year, with the only restriction not to spend the night there. The angry Pope in Rome protested and declared that he was ready to cede Naples, whose sovereign had chosen the Avignon obedience . From November he preached the crusade against Queen Joan and her Chancellor and appealed to the Hungarian Anjou to depose the sworn in the Kingdom of Naples and in the county of Provence.

In 1381 Spinelli, who had been held responsible for the queen's behavior, was robbed of all fiefs by Charles of Durazzo and thrown into the dungeons of the Castell dell'Ovo in Naples. After his release he found asylum in Padua, where he resumed his work as a law professor.

He was later called to Milan, where Gian Galeazzo Visconti placed him under his protection. The two men had known each other since the marriage of Violante Visconti and Secondotto, Margrave of Montferrat in 1377. He became adviser to the Duke of Milan, enfeoffed with Boffalora sopra Ticino and in 1392 commissioned to negotiate peace with the Guelph League, which was initialed in Genoa . In 1394 he went to France to Louis de Valois, duc d'Orléans : In the last years of his life, Spinelli tried to realize his political and religious ideal of a secularization of the papal state under the scepter of the Duke of Orléans.

Works

Lectura super tribus libris Codicis , 1491

The better known of his printed works are:

• Lectura super tribus libris Codicis ( la ), in-fol .. edition, Cristoforo Cani, Pavia 1491.
• Lectura super Institutionibus imperialibus , Turin, 1518, in-fol.
• Additiones seu glossæ ad Constitutiones et Capitula regni neapolilani , Naples, 1551, in-fol.
• Lectura in aliquot tilulos primæ partis Infortiati , in Œuvres de Bariole , Venice, 1605, in-fol.
• Quod doctores et medici non teneantur ad collectas , no year.

literature

• Abbé Vincent Mignot, Histoire de Jeanne Première, reine de Naples, comtesse de Piémont, de Provence et de Forcalquier , Librairie Le Clerc, La Haye et Paris, 1764.
• R. Michel, La défense d'Avignon sous Urbain V et Grégoire XI , Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, Volume 30, 1910 ( online )
• Emile-G. Léonard, Histoire de Jeanne Ire, reine de Naples, comtesse de Provence (1343-1382), Mémoires et documents historiques publiés par ordre du prince Louis II de Monaco, Volume III, Le règne de Louis de Tarente , Monaco et Paris, 1937.
• Guillaume Mollat , Les papes d'Avignon ( 1305-1378 ) , Limoges, 1949
• Emile-G. Léonard, Les Angevins de Naples , Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1954
• Bernard Guillemain, La cour pontificale d'Avignon, (1309-1376). Étude d'une société , Paris. 1962
• Archives municipales de Marseille, Marseille et ses rois de Naples, La diagonale angevine 1265-1382 , Edisud, Aix-en-Provence, 1988 ( ISBN 2-85744-354-4 )
• Régis Veydarier, Raymond de Turenne, la deuxième maison d'Anjou et de Provence: étude d'une rébellion nobiliaire à la fin du Moyen Âge , Dissertation University of Montreal , 1994.
• Dominique Paladilhe, La rein Jeanne, comtesse de Provence , Éd. Perrin, Paris, 1997 ( ISBN 2-262-00699-7 )
• Jean Favier , Les papes d'Avignon , Ed. Fayard, Paris 2006
• Jean-Pierre Saltarelli, La campagne d'Italie de Raymond de Turenne (1372-1373) , Bulletin de la Société scientifique, historique et archéologique de la Corrèze, volume 130, 2008.

Web links

• G. Romano Niccolô Spinelli da Giovinazzo, diplomatico del sec. XIV , Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, Année 1904, Volume 65, pp. 199–201 ( online )
• La Madone de la Miséricorde in the church of Santa Lucia d'Atella with a portrait of Nicola Spinelli ( online )

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} genmarenostrum, Les Spinelli de Giovinazzo ( online )
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Joseph François Michaud , Louis Gabriel Michaud , Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne , T. XLIII, Éd. LG Michaud, Paris 1825
3. ^ Romano, p. 199
4. ^ Saltarelli, p. 87.
5. ↑ Saltarelli, pp. 88–91.
6. ^ Saltarelli, p. 95.
7. ^ Saltarelli, p. 96.
8. ^ Saltarelli, p. 101.
9. ^ Saltarelli, p. 102.
10. ↑ ^{a b c d} Romano p. 200
11. ↑ ^{a b} Saltarelli, p. 103.
12. ^ Saltarelli, p. 104.
13. ↑ Saltarelli, p. 106 with reference to the Archivio di stato di Torino , inv. 20, liv. 2 Cuneo, mazzo 6, fasc. 14 Demonte, p. 74.
14. ↑ Régis Veydarier, p. 99.
15. ↑ Régis Veydarier, S. 116th
16. ↑ Guillaume Mollat , Lettres secrètes et curiales du pape Grégoire XI intéressant les autres pays que la France , Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, 1962-1965.
17. ↑ Vincent Flachaire, Clément VII - antipape d'Avignon de 1370 à 1378 ( online )
18. ^ Jean Favier, p. 560.
19. ^ Jean Favier, p. 595.
20. ↑ Website of Boffalora sopra Ticino, section Storia ( Memento of the original of March 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
21. ↑ Spinelli wrote this consultation as a professor in Bologna on the occasion of a question that had arisen in the Duchy of Savoy. This is followed by a statement from two other lawyers