Costanza Piccolomini d'Aragona

Coat of arms of the Piccolomini d'Aragona

Costanza Piccolomini d'Aragona (* 1553 in Naples ; † 1610 there ) was an Italian noblewoman.

Live and act

Piccolomini d'Aragona was born in Naples in 1553 as the daughter of Innico, the fourth Duke of Amalfi, and Silvia Piccolomini. The mother came from the Piccolomini of Siena .

She was the only daughter and therefore the only heir of this respected family, owner of a huge feudal estate in the Kingdom of Naples, which is between the provinces of the Principality of Citra ( Amalfi , Ravello , Scala , Minori , Maiori , Tramonti , Conca, Furore ) and Abruzzo Ultra ( Celano , Capestrano , Piscina, Venere, Cucullo , Soja, Biscagni, S. Sebastiano, Ornecchi, Sperone and Collelungo ) extended. On her mother's side, she received several rural properties between Siena and Rome , which the Piccolomini families and Savelli owned. In 1566, after the death of her father, she had to legally defend her inheritance against the Barony Scafati. This was the first of many cases to receive confirmation of the right of inheritance of the female lineage from Philip II .

Although she was asked to marry by the grand dukes, the will of the family, combined with the endogamy policy typical of the Piccolomini consorteria , forced her to marry her cousin Alessandro Piccolomini of Aragon, the Marquis of Illiceto. The marriage to her cousin, which took place in 1571 with a special papal dispensation, ensured that the feudal title would not be lost. As a dowry, she brought with her a capital of 40,000 ducats, which, according to ancient Neapolitan custom, was assigned to the bridegroom, while she retained full availability of her feudal property with the right to transfer it to legitimate children or, in the absence of them, to the paternal line to pass on.

The marriage did not go well because of numerous infidelity cases of her husband and especially because there were no children. At his own request to the Roman Rota , Cardinal Giacomo Savelli approved the dissolution of the marriage on May 2, 1585 on behalf of Pope Sixtus V and authorized Costanza to get back her dowry and some feudal rights. Costanza then retired to the Santa Maria della Sapienza Monastery in Naples, from where she actively took care of the management of her significant legacy. In order to prevent diversification, she handed over the county of Celano and other fiefdoms of Abruzzo to her uncle Giovanni Piccolomini in 1582 . However, he died shortly afterwards and she authorized the sale of the County of Celano to the sister of Pope Camilla Peretti, but could not stop the end of the rule of the family in Marsica due to the lack of other direct heirs. The title and the Duchy of Amalfi remained, if only for a short time, in the possession of the Piccolomini of Aragon. Just to protect this fiefdom, Costanza attempted a reconciliation with her husband and returned to Amalfi until she received the final judgment on the annulment of the marriage in 1595. Alessandro received the title of Duke of Amalfi and an annual pension of 2,400 ducats.

Santa Maria alla Sapienza, whose monastery Costanza Piccolomini d'Aragona entered

On May 25 of the following year, Costanza made her solemn vows in the Neapolitan monastery of La Sapienza. Here, protected by a network of female solidarity, she led a life in comfort and with numerous privileges. As an exception to the laws on seclusion and the vow of monastic poverty, she brought numerous personal items to the monastery, including books, silver furniture, jewelry and some pieces from the nativity scene collection from the Castle of Celano, which she and her mother had collected in previous years had. She also gave the monastery the papers on the administration of the fiefs and the family archive, which has since been kept in the monastery along with other documents. The rest of her mother's inheritance and especially the books, some of which were from the library of the two Piccolomini popes Pius II and Pius III. date, remained at their mother's disposal, Silvia, and were accommodated by her between the Piccolomini palace and the monastery of San Silvestro in Rome and the feudal residences of the Neapolitan branch of the family.

After taking the vows, Costanza ordered, also to fulfill some of his mother's legacies, that the money from the sale of the County of Celano should be used for ecclesiastical institutions between Naples, Rome and Siena. Costanza left a huge sum to the Neapolitan nuns of S. Maria della Sapienza to use for the construction and renovation of the monastery. She was particularly generous with the Theatine Order . She gave them the Roman Piccolomini Palace of Pius III. with its precious interiors and commissioned them to build the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle , adjacent to the palace. Their Neapolitan counterparts, San Paolo Maggiore and the Santi Apostoli , also received generous bequests and monetary income. In this way she made sure that a large number of religious celebrated at least one mass per day for them and their ancestors and, above all, that the name of the Piccolomini d'Aragona, whose feudal legacy dissolved before their eyes due to the lack of direct descendants, in memory remained.

Her ex-husband, Alessandro Piccolomini of Aragon, wasted his wealth and income. He died in almost poor conditions in 1617 and was buried in the family chapel in the church of Monteoliveto . The duchy was greatly impoverished by the Spanish King Philip III. from Spain , to Prince Ottavio Piccolomini from the line of the Lords of Sticciano .

Costanza Piccolomini d'Aragona died in Naples in 1610 in the La Sapienza monastery.

literature

• Elisa Novi Chavarria: Piccolomini, Costanza . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . tape 83 . Treccani, 2015 (Italian, treccani.it ).
• Elisa Novi Chavarria: Monache e Gentildonne . Un labile confine Poteri politici e identità religious nei monasteri napoletani seoli XVI-XVII. Franco Angeli, Milan 2004, p. 106-108 (Italian, google.at ).

Web links

• Piccolomini ( it ) genmarenostrum.com.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Vittorio Spreti: Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana . tape V . Forni 1935, p. 329 (Italian).
2. ↑ Sant'Andrea della Valle, Rome ( it )
3. ^ Spreti - Volume V, p. 330