Ranuccio Farnese il Vecchio

Ranuccio Farnese called il Vecchio (* 1390 ; † 1460 ) was an Italian condottiere and feudal lord . He was lord of Montalto , Latera , Farnese , Ischia , Valentano and Cellere , from April 1419 senator in Rome and count of Piansano .

Ranuccio is considered to be the founder of the wealth and social position of the Farnese family .

Life

In 1408 Ranuccio's father, Piero Farnese, became captain general of the city of Siena and achieved that his son was appointed his deputy. In 1416 Ranuccio himself was appointed captain general of Siena, and he succeeded in a short time in defeating the Orsini , who were enemies with Siena .

In 1419 Pope Martin V took him into his service and appointed him Roman senator. At that time he married Agnese Monaldeschi della Cervara, the daughter of a patrician from Orvieto . In 1422 he received half of Tessenano, a settlement near Viterbo with the only obligation to deliver 10 pounds of white wax a year to the papal Camerlengo . Even under Pope Eugene IV , Farnese served as a soldier in the Pope's pay.

Farnese commanded 600 horsemen and 100 foot soldiers, and since payment was irregular and the arrears in the papal treasury were increasing, he soon became the Pope's greatest creditor . Ranuccio took advantage of this situation by demanding and receiving castles, fortifications and neighboring lands as security. With these new resources he was able to increase the number of his mercenaries and to sell his services more and more expensive.

From 1431, the year in which he was finally given control of the territory of Valentano and Latera, he was able to "steal" further privileges from the Pope. So he got all rights to the place Marta on Lake Bolsena for 5 years with the option that this area should also become his property if the papal debts had not been paid by then. In the same way he came into the possession of Montalto in 1434, in 1435 he received half of Canino , Gradoli and Badia del Ponte , as well as Montalto for himself and his heirs up to the third generation and finally in 1437 the castles of Castano and Capodimonte .

In 1434 received the Golden Rose from the Pope for his services .

When Nicholas V ascended the papal throne, who was more of a scholar, patron and energetic builder than warlord, the curia's involvement in armed conflicts with neighboring states subsided and it was decided to part with the condottieri. The papal treasury paid its debts to Farnese with 9,000 florins and with the final rights over Montalto.

Ranuccio Farnese died in July 1460 and was buried on Isola Bisentina in Lake Bolsena in the family grave that he had had Isai da Pisa built a year earlier.

progeny

Ranuccio and Agnese Monaldeschi had 12 children:

• Gabriele Francesco (1421 / 1422-1475). He was lord of Ischia, Cellere, Canino, Gradoli, Marta, Isola Bisentina etc. and general of the army of the Republic of Siena (1450). From 1442 he was married to Isabella Orsini, daughter of Aldobrandino Orsini, Count of Pitigliano and Nola. His descendants were Caterina, Ranuccio, Paolo and Agnese .
• Angelo (1432 / 1433-1463). He was Capitano in the service of the Pope and married Constanza (1430-1475), daughter of Galeotto Roberto Malatesta, Count of Rimini.
• Pier Luigi Senior (1435–1487), called Pier Luigi I Farnese. He was lord of Capodimonte, Musignano, Valentano, Gradoli, Piansano, Canino and Abbazia al Ponte and also papal vicar of Canino (1466). He married Giovannella Caetani in Ischia in 1464 and had six children, including Angelo Farnese, Bartolomeo Farnese (Lord of Latera, Montalto and Farnese, and captain of the army of the Republic of Siena), Giulia Farnese and Pope Paul III.
• Pietro, Capitano in the service of the city of Orvieto
• Caterina, probably died in childhood
• Violante, probably died in childhood
• Agnese, 1443 marriage to Paolo Savelli, lord of Rignano
• Lucrezia (1430–1487), 1445 marriage to Francesco dell'Anguillara, Count of Anguillara Sabazia , Lord of Vetralla , Giove and Viano
• Eugenia, married in 1455 to Stefanello Colonna , lord of Palestrina , Castelnuovo , San Cesareo and Genazzano
• Pentasilea, marriage to Costantino di Ruggiero Contranieri, patrician from Perugia
• Francesca, marriage to Gentile Monaldeschi della Cervara, Count of Castiglione , patrician from Orvieto
• Giulia, 1511 Terziare of the Franciscan Order

Individual evidence

1. ^ Giuseppe Moscatelli: Paolo III Farnese, un papa casa e chiesa. Al servizio della stirpe. P. 2. [1]

literature

• Edoardo del Vecchio, Edoardo: I Farnese. Istituto di Studi Romani Editore 1972.

See also: Ranuccio I. Farnese (1569–1622)