Prospero Colonna (Condottiere)
Prospero Colonna (* 1452 in Lanuvio south of Rome ; † December 30, 1523 in Milan ), also called Prosper Colonna , was an Italian condottiere in the service of the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation during the Italian Wars .
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He was born as a member of the venerable noble family of Colonna in Civita Lavinia, now Lanuvio, near Velletri in Lazio in 1452.
He experienced his first battle as a troop leader in 1484, when he defended his family's castle in Paliano against the rivals of the Orsini and Riario . After he had gained further war experience, Prospero placed himself in the service of the cardinal and later Pope Julius II, Giuliano della Rovere , who was at the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome by Pope Alexander VI. was held captive. After his liberation, he was soon imprisoned again because he had made a pact with Charles VIII of France, who had invaded Italy. Prospero fought for a while for Charles VIII and after his victory against the Pope in 1495 moved into Rome, accompanied by his cousin Fabrizio Colonna.
During the brief French rule over the Kingdom of Naples , Prospero received the Duchy of Traetto and the County of Forlì . When the German Emperor Maximilian I moved across the Alps to northern Italy, however, Prospero helped King Ferdinand II of Naples to drive the French viceroy out again.
With the renewed incursion of the French under Louis XII. The Neapolitan King Frederick IV fled to the island of Ischia , while Fabrizio and Prospero Colonna organized the defense of the kingdom. After their defeat, they were trapped in Castel Nuovo near Naples and at the same time by Pope Alexander VI. excommunicated who confiscated their castles in Lazio. After their liberation, the two cousins entered the service of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Spanish viceroy of Naples, to drive the French out of Italy. Prospero Colonna played a significant role in the Spanish victory in the Battle of Cerignola in 1503, which finally secured the Spanish access to Naples. After the death of Alexander VI. he also got back his possessions in Latium. In the following Italian wars, the victory at Vicenza and the invasion of the Swiss in Piedmont were his work. Captured by the French in 1515, he was released with 350 pounds of gold, then commanded the entire army of the Allies and wrested Italy from the French. He defeated the new French army under Odet de Lautrec in the battle of Bicocca on April 27, 1522 and ended the campaign by taking Cremona and Genoa . Colonna died on December 30, 1523. Italy honored him with the surname Paganorum defensor et italicae gentis pater .
Prospero was able to add Fondi , Itri , Sperlonga , Ceccano and Sonnino to his lands and thus became one of the great feudal lords in southern Italy. He married Covella Sanseverino, who gave him a son, Vespasiano.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Colonna, Prospero |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Colonna, Prosper |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian condottiere |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1452 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Civita Lavinia near Velletri |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 30, 1523 |
| Place of death | Milan |