Pandolfo Petrucci

Pandolfo Petrucci, copper engraving

Pandolfo Petrucci (* around 1452 ; † May 21, 1512 in San Quirico d'Orcia ), merchant, was considered a tyrant in the Republic of Siena , where he held a political office.

Life

Rise to tyrant of Siena (1487–1494)

Because of the civil war raging in Siena, he spent most of his youth in exile. When the so-called Monte de 'Nove overthrew the party regiment of Monte del Popolo on June 21, 1487 , he rose to rule alongside his brother Iacopo and the allied family of the Belanti. With regard to the fractions, it was true of the Siena of that time that the so-called Monti had come down as old groupings , but that the forces that essentially acted against each other gathered in Monte de 'Nove and Monte del Popolo .

Support of the enemies of Florence (from 1494)

Lorenzo il Magnifico , the leading politician of Florence , was allied with the Siena of Petrucci until 1492. Afterwards, his son Piero di Lorenzo de 'Medici continued the relationship until 1494 and also shared the common partisanship against Charles VIII of France , when he began his march to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. However, the presence of the French in Italy and their foreseeable southern march resulted in party unrest in Siena, over which the Petrucci had to surrender power in October 1494. The Medici were expelled from Florence a few days later.

When Charles VIII was forced to retreat northwards after the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples by the League of Venice in April 1495, he did not fail to reassert a people's government in Siena on June 13, 1495 and leave a governor. Nonetheless, this situation did not last, as the regiment in Siena collapsed with the return of French power and the Petrucci thus rose to their old position in the summer of 1495. In autumn of that year they were the hosts of Piero de 'Medici, who was also hoping to return, and on several occasions provided a kind of starting point for his encirclement of Florence. Alfonsina Orsini , the wife of the former tyrant of Florence, fled to them in the summer .

The fact that in March 1495 Montepulciano had rebelled against the rule of Florence and for Siena was a constant subject between the two city-republics, which had rivaled from ancient times. Geostrategically, the loss or control of the square raised questions about the safeguarding of Florence's rule over the Val di Chiana . Above all, however, Siena supported the Pisa rebellion against the rule of Florence, which dates back to November 1494 and had been unchecked since the turn of the year 1494/95 . Pandolfo Petrucci put the support in a row with the corresponding action of the Genoese and the Lucchese , so that a network of neighbors received the wounds of the usually overpowering Florence.

With a view to the family alliances of Siena, the Belanti had meanwhile gone from allies to enemies of the Petrucci. Likewise, Niccolò Borghese , an influential citizen and man of letters, had initially strengthened the family alliance with the Petrucci through the connection of his daughter Aurelia. This father-in-law of all people was soon the head of the opposing party.

The months up to September 1498, when the Republic of Venice wanted to send its allied mercenary leaders over the territory of Siena to support the rebellion of Pisa or to an operational attack on the southern Florentine area, marked the culmination point of the dispute : Pandolfo would be the enemy of the Florentines in principle willing to comply with the request of the Venetians. Since his father-in-law had opted for the Venetians, however, he feared an overthrow in view of any approaching military power. Therefore, Pandolfo was peaceful with the conclusion of an armistice on September 13, 1498 against the Florentines. In addition, Montepulciano was the subject, so the argument had to rest.

Tactic under French and papal threats (1499-1512)

When in 1498/99 Ludwig XII. of France threatened Ludovico Sforza's Milan , Pandolfo Petrucci was clearly part of the Sforzeschi . Accordingly, he was compromised over the alliance entanglements when the Duke of Milan fell: After the triumphant advance of the French in late summer 1499, Pandolfo of Lodovico fell away. However, he rejoined the Sforzeschi when the overthrown duke fought against the French from the end of January to the beginning of April 1500 after his return from Germany, hoping that the Duchy of Milan would be regained. Since the French won again, Pandolfo was, so to speak, on Ludwig XII's future hit list.

Since the Florentines, as loyal allies of the French, hoped to win their restitution issues, including the question of Montepulciano, the Sienese were once again on the defensive. Obeying the need, however, Pandolfo performed a few tricks to assert his power: The French treated the Florentines with disloyalty, as they believed to secure the passage across Tuscany for the purpose of a planned new train against Naples. The first climax was the debacle of a mercenary army of Swiss and Gascogners in early June 1500 off Pisa. Pandolfo Petrucci, however, took advantage of the tumultuous situation a few days later to secure his rule in Siena: The son of Niccolò Borghesi offered a last happy pretext by attacking and violating the Cancelliere di Guardia . Pandolfo was then able to drive the hostile party out of the city, which shortly before had hoped for foreign help. Niccolò Borghesi died.

In the following years, Pandolfo Petrucci was once again set up against the Florentines by having with Pope Alexander VI. Borgia and his son Cesare arranged. He was also close to the Medici, Vitellozzo Vitelli of Città di Castello , the Baglioni of Perugia and the Orsini within this Italian party .

Painting by Luca Signorelli, around 1510, probably P.Petrucci.

When the allies in the conspiracy of Magione opposed the Borgia in the autumn of 1502, Pandolfo had his secretary Antonio da Venafro represent himself in the group of conspirators: the conquests of the Borgia in the areas of the Church voted for distrust, insofar as the election of new victims meet the ranks of the allies too. Since Cesare Borgia, for his part , killed the leading heads with the so-called Inganno di Senigallia of December 31, 1502, the tyrant of Siena was threatened again: When Borgia approached in the first days of January 1503, the question arose whether the Sienese were Pandolfo Petrucci abandonment and sacrifice or not. The end was mildly, when on January 30th he went into exile in Lucca together with Gianpaolo Baglioni, who had been overthrown in Perugia . Pandolfo returned without any difficulties at the end of March.

Pandolfo Petrucci was brilliant as the party ruler in threatening situations, insofar as he withdrew behind the opinion of the people that had to be obtained if he wanted to evade a decision or did not have the necessary security. Therefore, in individual situations, he could hope, despite his leadership, that in case of doubt he would only be perceived as one of the many heads of Siena. In addition, the Nove formed an association of party people, which secured the return from the spring of 1503.

When the French were defeated by Ferdinand the Catholic's military power between summer 1502 and summer 1503, despite their victory in the war for Naples in summer 1501 , Pandolfo remembered the Spanish party. The attempt, after the death of Alexander VI. At the beginning of September 1503, with a hastily dispatched war force to seize control of the orphaned Piombino , this failed due to the hasty intervention of the Florentines. The former successfully protected the return of Iacopo IV. Appiani , while the latter aimed to regain his rule in the course of the movements that accompanied the fall of the Borgia.

In the period after the Franco-Spanish armistice in Lyon in the spring of 1504, Petrucci stood continuously at the side of the Spaniards and their Viceroy of Naples, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Aguilar . With a view to the Florentines, he had an encounter in this alliance when, in the summer of 1505, Niccolò Machiavelli visited Siena as a negotiator. Pandolfo had tried to exploit the sympathies of the Spaniards regarding protection of the Pisans and the hostility of the Orsini, Vitelli and Baglioni in order to paint an exaggerated threat scenario towards the Florentines. This ruse held out the prospect of an alliance between Siena and Florence as a reward and fixed her eye on the possible renunciation of the Florentines on the question of Montepulciano. However, the maneuver was exposed.

When in 1510 Pope Julius II pushed for the unification of the Italians against the French and put the church at the head of the new war, Pandolfo Petrucci's Siena was papal. Since the pontiff aimed to win over the Florentines as well, Pandolfo agreed to the restitution of Montepulciano in the summer of 1511. A nephew of Petrucci received a cardinal's hat in return .

The tyrant of Siena did not live to see the end of the Holy League's War of 1511 . He died on May 21, 1512 and left the rule to his son Borghese , who, however, only four years later at the instigation of Leo X to Raffaele Petrucci had to give. He found his final resting place in the family grave in the Basilica dell'Osservanza .

literature

• Sergio Bertelli (Ed.): Niccolò Machiavelli. Legazioni e commissarie. 3 vol. Ongoing, Milan 1964, p. 889ff. (= Machiavelli's third legation to Siena from July 1505).
• Maurizio Gattoni Da Camogli: Pandolfo Petrucci e la politica estera della Repubblica di Siena (1487 - 1512) , Siena, Ed. Cantagalli, 1997.
• Emmanuella Lugnani Scarano (Ed.): Opere di Francesco Guicciardini. Storia d'Italia. Turin 1981, vol. 1.
• Andrea Matucci (Ed.): Piero di Marco Parenti. Storia fiorentina II (1492-1502). Florence 1994.

Web links

• Petrucci, Pandolfo in Enciclopedie on line at treccani.it