THE PATRIOT SAMPIERO.
Sampiero was born in Bastelica, a spot lying above Ajaccio, in one
of the wildest regions of the Corsican mountains, not of an ancient
family, but of unknown parents. Guglielmo, grandson of Vinciguerra, has
been named as his father; others say he was of the family of the Porri.
Like other Corsican youths, Sampiero had betaken himself to the
Continent, and foreign service, at an early age. We find him in the
service of the Cardinal Hippolyto de Medici, among the Black Bands at
Florence; and he was still young when the world was already talking
of his bold deeds, noble disposition, and great force of character.
He was the sword and shield of the Medici in their struggle with the
Pazzi. Thirsting for action and a wider field, he left his position
of Condottiere with these princes, and entered the army of Francis I.
of France. The king made him colonel of a Corsican regiment which he
had formed. Bayard became his friend, and Charles of Bourbon honoured
his impetuous bravery and military skill. "On a day of battle," said
Bourbon, "the Corsican colonel is worth ten thousand men." Sampiero
distinguished himself on many fields and before many fortresses, and
his reputation was equally great with friend and foe.
Entirely devoted to the interests of his master, who was now
prosecuting the war with Spain, he had still ear and eye for his
native island, from which voices reached him now and then that moved
him deeply. He came to Corsica in the year 1547, to take a wife from
among his own countrywomen. He chose a daughter of one of the oldest
houses beyond the mountains--the house of Ornano. Though he was himself
without ancestry, Sampiero's fame and well-known manly worth were a
patent of nobility which Francesco Ornano could not despise; and he
gave him the hand of his only daughter, the beautiful Vannina, the
heiress of Ornano.
No sooner did the governor of the Genoese Bank learn the presence of
Sampiero--in whom he foreboded an implacable foe--within the bounds
of his authority, than, in defiance of all justice, he had him seized
and thrown into prison. Francesco Ornano, fearing for his son-in-law's
life, hastened to Genoa to the French ambassador. The latter instantly
demanded Sampiero's liberation. The demand was complied with; but the
insult done him was now for Sampiero another and a personal spur to
give relief in action to his long-cherished hatred of Genoa, and ardent
wish to free his native country.
The posture of continental affairs, the war between France and Charles
V., soon gave him opportunity.
Henry II., husband of Catherine de Medici, deeply involved in Italian
politics, in active war with the Emperor, and in alliance with the
Turks, who were on the point of sending a fleet into the Western
Mediterranean, agreed to the proposal of an enterprise against Corsica.
A double end seemed attainable by this: for first, in threatening
Corsica, Genoa was menaced; and secondly, as the Republic, since
Andreas Doria had freed her from the French yoke, had become the
close ally of Charles V., carrying the war into Corsica was carrying
it on against the Emperor himself. And besides, the island offered an
excellent position in the Mediterranean, and a basis for the operations
of the combined French and Turkish fleets. Marshal Thermes, therefore,
at that time in Italy, and besieging Siena, received orders to prepare
for the conquest of Corsica.
He held a council of war in Castiglione. Sampiero was overjoyed at the
turn affairs had taken; all his wishes were centred in the liberation
of his country. He represented to Thermes the necessary and important
consequences of the undertaking, and it was forthwith set on foot.
Its success could not be doubted. The French only needed to land,
and the Corsican people would that moment rise in arms. The hatred
of the rule of the Genoese merchants had reached, since the fall of
Renuccio, the utmost pitch of intensity; and it had its ground not
merely in the ineradicable passion of the people for liberty, but in
the actual state of affairs in the island. For, as soon as the Bank
saw its power secured, it began to rule despotically. The Corsicans
had been stripped of all their political rights: they had lost their
Syndicate, the Dodici, their old communal magistracies; justice was
venal, murder permitted--at least the murderer was protected in Genoa,
and furnished with letters-patent for his personal safety. The horrors
of the Vendetta, therefore, of the implacable revenge that insists
on blood for blood, took root firm and fast. All writers on Corsican
history are unanimous, that the demoralization of the courts of justice
was the deepest wound which the Bank of Genoa inflicted on Corsica.
Sampiero had sent a Corsican, named Altobello de Gentili, into the
island, to ascertain the state of the popular feeling; his letters, and
the hope of his coming kindled the wildest joy; the people trembled
with eagerness for the arrival of the fleet. Thermes, and Admiral
Paulin, whose squadron had effected a junction with the Turkish fleet
at Elba, now sailed for Corsica in August 1553. The brave Pietro
Strozzi and his company was with them, though not long; Sampiero, the
hope of the Corsicans, was with them; Johann Ornano, Rafael Gentili,
Altobello, and other exiles, all burning for revenge, and impatient to
drench their swords in Genoese blood.
They landed on the Renella near Bastia. Scarcely had Sampiero shown
himself on the city walls, which the invaders ascended by means
of scaling ladders, when the people threw open the gates. Bastia
surrendered. Without delay they proceeded to reduce the other strong
towns, and the interior. Paulin anchored before Calvi, the Turk Dragut
before Bonifazio, Thermes marched on San Fiorenzo, Sampiero on Corte,
the most important of the inland fortresses. Here too he had no sooner
shown himself than the gates were opened. The Genoese fled in every
direction, the cause of liberty was triumphant throughout the island;
only Ajaccio, Bonifazio, and Calvi, trusting to the natural strength
of their situation, still held out. Neither Paulin from the sea, nor
Sampiero from the land, could make any impression on Calvi. The siege
was raised, and Sampiero hastened to Ajaccio. The Genoese under Lamba
Doria prepared for an obstinate defence, but the people opened the
gates to their deliverer. The houses of the Genoese were plundered;
yet, even here, in the case of their country's enemies, the Corsicans
showed how sacred in their eyes were the natural laws of generosity and
hospitality; many Genoese, fleeing to the villages for an asylum, found
shelter with their foes. Francesco Ornano took Lamba Doria into his own
house.