COMPROMISES AND PUNISHMENTS.
Gerolamo Fieschi continues the insurrection in his own
name.--Consultations at the Ducal palace and fighting at
San Siro.--The news of the death of Gianluigi discourages
the insurgents.--Paolo Panza carries to Gerolamo the decree
of pardon.--Verrina and others set sail for France.--The
African slaves escape with Doria’s galley.--Sack of Doria’s
galleys.--Return of Andrea and his thirst for vengeance.--Decree
of condemnation.--Scipione Fieschi and his petitions to the
Senate.--Schemes and intrigues of Doria to get possession of the
Fieschi estates.--Destruction of the palace in Vialata.--Traditions
and legends.
WHEN Verrina had secured possession of the arsenal he landed and
marched to meet the count; but, learning that Gianluigi had entered
the palace on the opposite side, he halted his men and awaited the
orders of his master. He could find no trace of the count from the
moment he had gone on board the Capitana, and after some delay he went
to that vessel and finding her bridge broken began to suspect what
had happened. His courage did not fail him. He immediately ordered
the waters to be searched all around the galley, and having satisfied
himself of the fate of his master would not allow the body to be taken
up lest the sight of it should discourage his men. He left the arsenal
in the charge of Tommaso Assereto and marched into the city, sending
the diver who had found the body to report their great calamity to
Gerolamo Fieschi. At the same time he requested an interview with
Gerolamo in order to devise means to conduct their enterprise without
the inspiration of its master spirit.
Gerolamo Fieschi, though full of audacity had not a hundreth part of
his brother’s talents. Seeing that the death of Gianluigi had invested
him with the headship of the family, he relied on the fidelity of
his vassals and fellow-conspirators, and resolved to prosecute the
revolution in his own name. But, overburdened by grief and weighty
thoughts, he suffered Verrina’s messenger to depart without any
adequate answer. This neglect lost him the powerful support of
Verrina’s genius and threw the weight of the undertaking upon himself,
a youth with no training or talent for so great an enterprise. He
gathered about him a select body of militia and marched towards the
Ducal palace, hoping to crown the conspiracy by a single blow.
As we have said some Senators were assembled in this palace; and among
them was the historian Bonfadio in company with Giovanni Battista
Grimaldi.
A consultation was held after the news of the failure at San
Tommaso, and it was determined to cease offering armed resistance
to the conspirators and to endeavour to restore peace by friendly
negotiations. Some persons offered to be the bearers of a peaceful
message to the count; these were Gerolamo Fieschi and Benedetto
Fiesco-Canevari, both of the Savignone branch of the family; but
leaving the Ducal palace they did not again return thither.
Cardinal Gerolamo Doria and senators G. B. Lercaro and Bernardo
Interiano-Castagna were then commissioned to carry to the count
a request in the name of the Republic to desist from his violent
proceedings and make known the object of his movement. But the
commissioners having walked a short distance outside of the chancel,
seeing arms and crowds of people, were terrified and turned back. At
the moment, the guard of the palace, not seeing the senators, fired on
the crowd wounding some persons and killing Francesco Rizzo an honoured
citizen. The senators regained the hall, and a new deputation was
appointed consisting of Agostino Lomellini, Giovanni Imperiale-Baliano,
Ansaldo Giustiniani and Ambrogio Spinola, citizens of the highest
rank and reputation. This deputation went in search of the count; but
near the church of San Siro, they found the streets thronged with
insurgents, and a combat occurred between the guard acting as escort
for the senators and the people. It was a confused nocturnal battle and
the soldiers were repulsed and fell back with the deputation.
In that midnight skirmish, Lomellini, after barely escaping death,
was taken prisoner and conducted to San Tommaso; but he had the good
fortune to make his escape during the same night. The brave Giustiniani
alone refused to yield or fly and demanded permission to pass on, as a
peace messenger, to the quarters of Count Fieschi. He was led to the
presence of Gerolamo and inquired for the Count of Lavagna. Gerolamo
brusquely informed him that there was no longer any Count Fieschi but
himself, and added that until the Ducal palace was delivered to his
forces it would be a waste of words to make propositions. He would talk
of peace after the surrender of the government into the hands of his
partisans. With these words, Giustiniani was dismissed and the troops
ordered to collect in the piazza of San Lorenzo and in front of the
adjacent palace.
Giustiniani, justly inferred from Gerolamo’s incautious speech that
the rumour of the death of Gianluigi had good foundation, and that
the conspiracy, having lost its able leader, would be easily crushed
under the management of a young man without reputation or the support
of popular affection. He returned to the palace in haste, informed the
senator that Gianluigi was dead, and encouraged them to a spirited
resistance.
The government recovered its confidence, sent heralds to proclaim
with the sound of the trumpet the death of Gianluigi and ordered the
nobles to arm their servants and dependents. These last orders were
unnecessary. So soon as the trumpeters announced the fate of the great
leader, the multitudes of plebeians were seized with terror, the lines
of the troops thinned rapidly and the squares and streets began to be
deserted.
The artisans and mechanics, particularly, who were not attached to
Gerolamo by the memory of kindness or by the affection of vassals had
no longer a cause to maintain and they retired in despair to their
homes. It was almost day break. The best and most liberty-loving
citizens felt that the enterprise had fallen into the waves with
Gianluigi, and fearing to be seen in arms when the day dawned and thus
to expose themselves to the vengeance of the patricians, made haste
to abandon the field of victory. Many others who had stood ready to
throw themselves into the ranks of the victors now sought the security
of their own houses. All seemed to accept the unhappy fate of Fieschi
as the judgment of God against the revolution. Uncertainty, panic and
fright filled all breasts. The vassals of the count stood fast from
loyalty to their lord, and the soldiers who had deserted the standards
of the Republic were firm from desperation. A few others heroic
by nature, among them the strong armed and stout hearted Gerolamo
d’Urbino, did not tremble or hesitate but resolved to meet every danger
with steadfast courage.
The government learned all these things by means of messengers and
spies who circulated among the insurgents, and it was proposed to
attack the forces yet remaining under the standard of Gerolamo.
However, the more prudent part--taking account of the limited number of
their troops, the uncertainty of their fidelity, the ferocity of the
conspirators in whom desperation would increase animosity and courage
and that much blood must be shed in such a contest--thought it more
wise to pursue a policy of compromise and conciliation.
It happened that just then Paolo Panza appeared before the senate to
protest his entire innocence of any part in the conspiracy which had
been planned and executed under his very eyes, and the fathers knowing
his temperate and conciliatory spirit appointed him with Nicolò Doria
as a commission to ask peace.
Panza was authorized to offer pardon to Gerolamo and all the other
conspirators and insurgents on condition of their retiring from the
city. The count was at first irresolute. He had not pushed his attack
at once upon the palace and was now falling back and fortifying himself
at the gate of the Archi. The authority of his preceptor finally
prevailed over his ambition and animosity, and he promised to withdraw
his men from the city. The act of pardon was written and subscribed by
Ambrogio Senarega chancellor of the senate and ran as follow:--
“The illustrious Signoria and magnificent procurators of the most
serene Republic of Genoa, considering that when sudden tumults occur
in Republics nothing more conduces to the preservation of the state
and the weal of the citizens than to destroy quickly both the causes
and the means of such disorders, which grow more violent by being
protracted; and Count Gio. Ludovico Fieschi having during the past
night, when no one suspected his design, taken possession of two of
the city gates as means for carrying on an insurrection against our
authority; and this movement having created a tumult in our midst and
many citizens having taken up arms in favour of the count to the great
detriment of public order; and an attack having been made during this
night upon the galleys of Prince Doria and most of the said galleys
having been seized and disarmed and Signor Gianettino their captain
killed; for these and many other persuasive and conclusive reasons
believing it their duty to omit no means for restoring tranquility,
and that the best way of making peace is to obtain possession of the
gates without further bloodshed and to remove the insurgents outside
the walls of the city; and being informed that these ends may be gained
by granting a general pardon: Therefore in virtue of these our letters
of grace, pardon and remission, granted under due form of ballot, the
illustrious Signoria and magnificent procurators, supported by the
will of a great part of the citizens who have come to this palace in
the confusion of the night in order to aid in preserving the Republic,
do herewith pardon free and absolve the said count Gerolamo Fieschi
and all his brothers, together with every other citizen or inhabitant
of this city or its jurisdiction and every foreigner of whatever rank
quality or condition, for any and every crime, offence or license
which they have committed in the rebellion raised this night by the
said count, in taking the city gates, attacking the galleys and
whatever else they have said or done with or without arms to give
aid and comfort to this said plot, conspiracy or insurrection. And
we declare that in whatever manner they may have been concerned in
this conspiracy and whatever crimes, including high treason, they may
have committed, none of them, either collectively or singly, shall
be liable to question or trial, to confiscation of goods or personal
harm. We intend that this pardon shall be universal and embrace every
offence whatever, committed in executing the designs of the said Count
Fieschi and we grant herewith the most complete pardon, remission and
absolution.”
Count Gerolamo, trusting to the good faith of the Republic, spent
a brief hour in Carignano and then set out with his followers for
Montobbio, not wishing to depart from Italy lest the Dorias should
assail his feuds. Ottobuono, Cornelio, Verrina, Sacco, Calcagno and
other leaders of the conspiracy took a more prudent course and set sail
on their galley for France. Mindful that a government rarely or never
pardons treason, they removed themselves from its reach and took with
them the prisoners they had captured at San Tommaso. When they arrived
off the mouth of the Varo they set the captives at liberty; among them
were Sebastiano Lercaro, Manfredi Centurione and Vincenzo Vaccari. By
releasing these prisoners they deprived themselves of a guarranty which
might have saved their lives at a later period. These conspirators were
not the only persons who sailed from the port that morning.
The convicts and Turkish captives on board the Doria galleys had broken
their chains and they resolved to avail themselves of the universal
confusion to make their escape. The ships of Prince Doria, Antonio
Doria and some other private persons were lying dismantled in the
harbour. In the fury of the tumult the galleys of Andrea were plundered
by the plebeians and by the slaves, and the latter collected with their
booty on board the Capitana which had escaped the fury of the sack.
There was a good reason for this exception.
This galley, formerly called the Temperanza, had been a Venitian vessel
and the men of Barbary had captured her and four other triremes in
1539, near Corfu in the waters of Paxo, taking prisoner at the same
time the Commandant Francesco Gritti.
Dragut Rais was so pleased with the sailing qualities and rich
equipment of the Capitana that he made her his flag-ship. Gianettino
Doria captured her in the engagement in which the corsair himself fell
into our hands. On the night of the second of January the African
prisoners to the number of three hundred or more threw themselves on
board this galley, as a piece of their own property, and sailed out to
sea. Though two galleons of Bernardino Mendozza, which were anchored in
another part of the harbour and so escaped the pillage, were sent in
chase at early dawn, the fugitives made good their flight and after a
long voyage arrived safely in Algiers.
The Doria fleet suffered grave damages in that night pillage, the
furniture and rigging being reduced to a mass of ruins. These disorders
originated with the liberated slaves, and the bad example was followed
by the convicts who afterwards carried confusion and alarm into the
city. Many of the lowest class of the people penetrated into the
foundries and shipyards of Doria, and what they could not carry away
they threw into the sea. During the following days, the convicts were
hunted out in every quarter of the city and taken back to their oars,
and some of the equipments of the ships were recovered by the zealous
efforts of Adamo Centurione whose pecuniary interests were united to
those of Doria.
It is worth while to observe that the storm of this conspiracy broke
over the ships of Andrea. The government issued a proclamation that
whoever should have taken or should find anything belonging to the
galleys of the prince, as arquebuses, pikes, halberds, visors, helmets,
corselets, axes or any other arms or tool belonging to these vessels,
should within three days consign them to the justices in the Riviera,
or to the agents of Doria in Genoa, or deposit them in the churches of
San Vito and Annunziata.
Our historians have neglected to describe one of the galleys of Doria
which was a wonderful specimen of Genoese naval architecture. She
was built by Doria in 1539 for the personal use of Charles V. in his
expedition to Tunis, and surpassed all other galleys by fifteen palms
in length and four palms in breadth[47]. She bore three standards of
crimson damask, each twenty-three palms in length and beautifully
embroidered in gold. The one in the midst had in the centre a star
with golden rays and appropriate inscriptions; that at the stern bore
the figure of an angel and the one on the prow a shield, a helmet and
a sword. Besides, there were three flags at the poop also of damask
and thirty palms in length, and another banner of white damask was
embroidered with chalices, pontifical keys and red crosses, with
fitting inscriptions. There were two flags of red damask bearing the
imperial columns and the device--_plus ultra_--invented by the Milanese
Marliano, physician to Charles V. and an excellent mathematician.
The vessel also had twenty-four other flags of yellow damask and
appropriate devices. The saloon was adorned with beautiful arabesques
in blue and gold, and the sides were tapestried with cloth of gold and
silver, hung so as to represent pavillioned domes. The castle on the
poop was covered with exquisite carvings and there were two carpets for
the deck, one of scarlet cloth for daily use and another, for state
occasions, of crimson velvet and brocade of gold. The crew wore satin
jackets. The gun carriages, rigging and other furniture were all in
the most perfect style and finish of the naval art of that period. The
slaves and convicts ruined all these splendid equipments and furniture.
After this pillage, prisoners of war and other slaves were treated with
greater severity. For, though up to this period the young men served
at the oar, yet many of the Mamalukes, as the Barbary prisoners were
called in Genoa, had some privileges from the government and their
servitude was not of a strict and painful character. Some of them had
the permission to engage in minute traffic within the city and had
their markets in the piazza of the arsenal and the Piano of St. Andrea.
There they shaved and trimmed the beards of the citizens, and none
could equal them in this art. They traded in coffee, sugar, brandy,
pipes, tobacco and game. They practised small frauds in their trade
and some of them grew rich, while many were able to buy themselves
out of bondage. These privileges were now taken away from them, and
were not restored until many years after. In this way the rigours of
slavery were increased among us, though the system was restricted to
the “infidels” who were either bought in Egypt or captured in war.
It is true that a law of the Republic forbade the buying and selling
of slaves in the land of the Sultan; but this provision was evaded
by shipping the captives to Caffa where the Grand Turk sent agents
for the traffic. Our statutes by enacting grave penalties against
slave-stealers, held slaves to be the absolute property of their
masters; and in 1588 it was ruled that in a case of shipwreck the loss
should be distributed _pro rata_ counting all sorts of merchandise
“including male and female slaves, horses and other animals.”
The government hastened to inform the emperor and Ferrante Gonzaga of
the insurrection. The latter sent Cavalier Cicogna on a mission to the
senate and he himself at the head of a strong force advanced to Voghera
to watch the movements of the Fieschi at Montobbio. All the Italian
princes friendly to the empire congratulated the Republic on its escape
from the conspiracy. Cardinal Cibo, who sent as his messenger Ercole
de Bucchi, the Duke of Florence, by his legate Jacopo de’ Medici, and
the ten conservators of liberty of Siena, by M. Nicodemo, offered their
services and assistance to the government in case of need.
We find also a letter of Giulio Cybo, Marquis of Massa, in which he
declares that he has collected troops at Borghetto to march to the
assistance of the Republic; but it became known afterwards that these
troops had been massed to aid the Fieschi insurrection. They did not
pertain alone to the Marquis of Massa, but also to Gasparo di Fosnuovo
and other feudatories. We shall presently speak of the congratulations
sent by the Pope and Pierluigi Farnese.
The government pledged itself to universal amnesty; we shall now
see how it kept faith. Encouraged by the departure of the Fieschi,
the senate despatched Benedetto Centurione and Domenico Doria to
escort Andrea back to the city and to condole with him for the loss
of Gianettino. This last was a piece of hypocrisy, for they secretly
rejoiced over their deliverance from the rising tyrant. Andrea returned
on the sixth of January and was received with regal pomp. We learn from
old documents that the wrathful old man cloaked his vengeance under
the mantle of patriotic zeal, and, assembling the fathers on the very
day of his return, told them in well-rounded phrases that the amnesty,
having been granted under the pressure of necessity and without the
free choice of the senate, ought not to be observed. It was, he said,
of bad example and precedent to treat with rebels; in a free country
the voice of pity and affection ought to be unheeded and the rigour of
the law steadfastly administered. It was needful, to save the Republic
from the perils which still impended, to make terrible examples. The
senate should make haste to prove to Cæsar its zeal by punishing the
outrages perpetrated against ships under his flag; those only deserved
pardon whose participation in the conspiracy had been forced or the
effect of momentary passion. The Fieschi as enemies of the emperor and
rebels against the Republic ought to be condemned to death and their
goods confiscated. In no other way could the senate meet the wishes of
Cæsar and prove their zeal for the public safety.
Those who did not agree with these sentiments of vengeance rather
than justice did not dare to lift their voices against the will of
Doria. The senate referred the question to a commission of jurists,
who rather than incur the enmity of Doria, devoted themselves to
find a justification for breach of faith and a decree of blood. They
reported:--“The act of pardon is not binding because it was conceded
in a rebellion with the sword at the throat of the nation; and because
it was not granted in a regular session of the senate but by a number
of them casually met and having no power under the laws to make
decrees and issue amnesties.” They further declared that Doria as the
representative of Cæsar could proceed against the rebels, because
neither he nor his master had given any promise of pardon. This opinion
was chiefly invented by Bernardo Ottobuono who exhausted much subtle
argument to procure the condemnation of the Fieschi. His dialectic and
legal skill was at that time in great repute among the partisans of
Spain; now history stirs his forgotten pleadings, only to put a note
of infamy before his name. The senate, having heard the complacent
judgment of its legal advisers, took up the filthy burden and hastened
to be rid of it by condemning the Fieschi. It is a new proof that
Prince Doria possessed an absolute power over the Republic. But this
solicitude for vengeance has crowned his name with an eternal reproach.
The act of pardon was revoked; the Fieschi and the soldiers who had
deserted the standards of the senate, particularly Gerolamo d’Urbino,
were declared guilty of high treason. The decree of condemnation bore
the date of the 12th of February. We report it in full because, though
rather an act of wrath than of justice, it serves to acquit Gianluigi
of many crimes of which he was afterwards accused.
“The illustrious Doge and magnificent Governors and Procurators of the
most serene Republic of Genoa.
“Every state is governed by two things which are divine principles,
reward and punishment, the first encouraging the good to honest living
and love of country and the second withholding the bad from treason and
insurrection. If the reward of well-doing be taken away the motives
for patriotism cease to exist and if criminals are not punished the
ill-disposed are encouraged to continuance in disobedience when new
occasions are presented them. Iterated crimes are the most dangerous,
since they always increase in magnitude and peril, and small beginnings
of treason threaten the safety of Republics.
“On the night before the third of January in this present year,
Gianluigi Fieschi having secretly assembled armed men and concealed
them in his house, corrupted and enticed some soldiers in the pay of
the Republic, and with his brothers Gerolamo, Ottobuono and Cornelio
and other partners in his guilt, issued forth armed, assailed and
killed many of the guards, seized the gates of the city and cruelly
assassinated Gianettino, lieutenant of Prince Doria, Captain General of
the emperor on the seas; then, uttering seditious cries, they incited
the people to take up arms against the Republic, and induced some of
them to break into the arsenal where lay the unprotected galleys of the
said Prince Doria, the defender of Christianity, and to pillage the
said vessels and liberate their slaves and convicts.
“Not content with these crimes, the conspirators turned their arms
against the commissioners of the senate, and demanded that this Ducal
palace should be surrendered into their hands, threatening death to
such as should resist their will. Having been admonished to lay down
their arms and cease to disturb the public peace, they refused to
obey until they obtained grace and pardon for themselves and their
accomplices, which condition the senate accepted, believing it the
most speedy remedy for the disorders of the afflicted city, and the
best means of saving public liberty. The said conspirators then
departed from the city, not because of the pardon given by the senate,
but because Gianluigi Fieschi had perished in the sea, many of
their followers had deserted them and the troops of the Republic had
recovered one of the gates of the city.
“These facts show the heinousness of the crime attempted against the
state and what weighty evils were devised to its hurt, and furthermore
that the Republic is still in peril from the consequences of the
pardon extorted by force and without foundation in justice, equity or
religion. The authors of these acts of treason must not escape the
reward of their crimes.
“Therefore, we the illustrious Doge and magnificent governors of the
most serene Republic of Genoa, having taken our vote in due form of
law, do declare and condemn as traitors, rebels and enemies of the
state, the late Gianluigi Fieschi and his brothers Gerolamo, Ottobuono
and Cornelio, and we banish them perpetually from the dominions of
Genoa and confiscate all their property for the use of the state. We
further order that the Fieschi palace in Vialata be razed to the ground
and we give authority to the rectors of the city to destroy also all
other houses belonging to the Fieschi family, if they shall deem it of
public utility.
“We further declare and condemn as public enemies and traitors with the
same penalties Raffaello Sacco of Savona, doctor in law and auditor
of the said Gianluigi Fieschi, Vincenzo Calcagno, servant of Fieschi,
and Giacobo Conte, son of the late physician of that name (who was an
Hebrew) and captain of a galley of the said Gianluigi. We decree also
that the houses of the said persons be reduced to ruins.
“We further declare and condemn as rebels and enemies of the Republic
Giovanni Battista De Franchi--Verrina, Scipione dal Carretto of Savona,
Domenico Bacigalupo, Gerolamo Garaventa and Desiderio Cambialanza; and
we confiscate their goods and authorize the illustrious rectors to
destroy their houses if they shall believe such destruction for the
good of the Republic.
“We also confiscate the goods of Battista son of the late Pantaleo
Imperiale-Baliano, Geronimo, son of the late Vincenzo Usudimare, of
Gerolamo De Magiolo son of Martino, of Fiesco Botto and Lazzaro De
Caprile, and we banish each of them for fifty years. These persons are
ordered to depart forthwith from the city and the territories of the
Republic and to remain abroad under peril of death.
“We also declare rebels and banish the undernamed persons for the
periods following their names, varying according to the degree of
their guilt: Francesco Pinello of Gavi for eight years; Francesco
Curlo, Bernardo Celesia, Tommaso de Assereto called _Verze_, Gerolamo
Marrigliano, called _Garaventino_ and Gerolamo Fregoso, son of the
late Antonio, for fifty years each; Battista Giustiniano son of the
late Baldassaro, Paolo Geronimo Fieschi, Francesco Badaracchi and
Pantaleo Badaracchi called Tallone--brothers and butchers in Suziglia,
for ten years each; Gerolamo del Fiesco son of the late Gio. Giorgio
for ten years; Francesco Marrigliano, son of the late Biaggio, barber
in Bisagno, and Andrea di Savignone for five years each; Nicolò
of Valdetaro, Giovanni Battista Retiliaro and Benedetto Botto for
ten years each. All the said persons will be required to leave the
territories of the Republic within fifteen days and to remain beyond
the frontiers for the periods assigned them severally under peril of
death.
“Whereas the laws of the Republic forbid citizens to hold commerce with
banished persons under heavy penalties, to prevent any from incurring
these penalties through ignorance, we ordain that no citizen whatever
shall hold any intercourse or have any correspondence by messengers or
by letters with the said rebels and exiles, particularly that no one
shall go or send any message to Montobbio under the penalties contained
in the laws. And let every citizen be wary of his conduct, for they who
shall be guilty will be severely punished.”
Many have written that Scipione Fieschi was also involved in the
condemnation of his brothers; but the documents above given prove the
contrary. This youth was hardly eighteen years of age and was pursuing
legal studies in Bologna according to the custom of Genoese noblemen.
We find in the list of the doctors in law of 1390 the names of Doria,
Spinola, Salvago, Imperiali, Dinegro, Grilli and Montaldi, and, as we
have shown, the Fieschi were conspicuous in legal learning. From a
very early period they had studied law in Bologna. The registers of
illustrious pupils from 1260 to 1300 contains the names of several
Fieschi who attended the lectures of the distinguished jurists of
that school, chief of whom was Jacopo d’ Albenga. About 1348, Emanuel
Fieschi, in order to facilitate the studies of his family in that
city, founded there a perpetual college, and endowed it with a liberal
income. His nephew Papiniano added largely to the endowment.
When Scipione heard of the events of Genoa, he removed to Valdetaro,
and from this feud of his family wrote to the senate, on the 17th of
January, as follows:--
“When I heard of the insurrection in my native city I was more dead
than alive; and if the shedding of my blood or giving my life could
repair the misfortune, your excellencies may be sure I would not shrink
from the sacrifice. I have an intense sorrow of heart that one of my
house should have attempted revolution, and especially a revolt against
the authority of that prince who has always protected and benefited
our family and to whom I hope always to be a good servant. Being most
innocent in this conspiracy, I pray your excellencies to receive and
hold me as a good son of the Republic. Such I am and hope always to
remain, ever willing to expose my life to any peril for the public
good. I pray you not to abandon me as a member of my brother’s family,
to have compassion on my misfortune and not to permit that the fault of
another shall prejudice me or bring me evil. With a heart disturbed and
pained by these events beyond my power to describe, I kiss your hands
and recommend myself to your clemency.”
We shall hereafter see how the senate was affected by his pathetic
appeal, and how it accepted him as a son.
Doria, indefatigable in the pursuit of revenge, instituted search for
the corpse of Gianluigi. Few believed he was dead, and Doria feared
that he had escaped into France and was preparing to let loose a new
tempest upon the government.
After four days of search, the corpse was found by a diver named
Pallino. Doria wished to vent his wrath and awe the people by
suspending the body before the gates of the arsenal; but he did not
dare to run the risk of a new popular outbreak. The body was therefore
returned to its grave in the waves. Two months after Doria caused it
to be fished up again, weighted with a mass of stones, carried out and
launched into the deep sea.
The vacancy in the office of Doge, created by the resignation of
Giovanni Battista di Fornari, was filled by the election of Bendetto
Gentile. Fearing that the confederates of Fieschi might renew their
insurrection and that it might break out in the very hall of the
senate, the new Doge forbade the wearing of arms in the Ducal palace.
At the same time he sent Ceva Doria as a legate to Cæsar in Germany
(the brothers Luca and Giovanni Battista Grimaldi were already at
that court for other business) to inform the emperor fully of the
perils from which Genoa had escaped and to assure him of her constant
devotion. Ceva Doria had secret instructions to ask the consent of
Cæsar to the absorption of the Fieschi estates by the Republic. The
request particularly regarded Varese, Roccatagliata and Montobbio,
in the last of which Count Gerolamo was fortified. Ceva Doria was
instructed to manage the matter with much dexterity. He was to
represent that Varese and Roccatagliata belonged by ancient rights to
the Republic and that Montobbio was a cause of incessant irritation
and frequent danger to the city; that the Republic would be gratified
if the emperor should wish to honour and reward his faithful servant
Figueroa with some feud; that they had already occupied Roccatagliata,
Varese and Calice and that Ferrante Gonzaga had protested, but that
Domenico Doria, the commissioner of the Republic, had satisfied the
imperial governor that the occupation was necessary to protect these
feuds from the Lords of Lando. Ceva Doria was also instructed to devise
a plan for securing the imperial approval to the confiscation of the
castles of Torriglia and San Stefano.
When Prince Doria learned of these negotiations with the emperor, not
wishing that the rich estates of his enemy should go into other hands
than his own he sent Francesco Grimaldi to the emperor to oppose the
wishes of the senate and to obtain the best of the Fieschi feuds for
himself. He did in the end obtain the greater part of this property, as
we shall hereafter show. Antonio Doria also prayed the Spanish monarch
to permit him to occupy Santo Stefano, he having bought the Malaspina
claims upon the feud. Antonio at the same time besought the senate to
preserve strict secrecy in this negotiation lest the prince should be
offended on hearing of the intrigue. Ceva Doria complained strongly of
this disagreement between the envoy of the Republic and that of Andrea;
particularly that Grimaldi preserved a surly and reserved manner and
refused to communicate anything of importance to his colleague.
The emperor sent Don Rodrigo Mendozza to the senate to report his
satisfaction at the escape of the Republic from such grave perils. He
also sent letters to Andrea containing solemn assurances that he would
repair the losses sustained by the prince. At the same time he ordered
Don Ferrante Gonzaga to proceed to the punishment of the Fieschi
without a moment’s delay. The crime for which the imperial governor was
required to proceed against them was that, being vassals of the empire,
they had assailed the emperor’s galleys and admirals. Gonzaga wrote to
the senate and to Doria on the subject, but his proceedings did not
have any result because Andrea and the senate had already decreed the
utter extermination of the Fieschi. Cæsar did not, however, content
himself with this, and, on the 27th of October, 1547, he proclaimed
the Fieschi as rebels and divested them of all their feuds, which he
gave to Andrea to be held for the children of Gianettino. The cession
included Montobbio, Varese, Roccatagliata, Valdetaro, Pontremoli and
Santo Stefano. This first decree did not take full effect, because the
Republic had some of the castles in its power, especially Pontremoli
where the inhabitants had anticipated Gonzaga and surrendered to
Gasparo Di Fornari who occupied it for the Republic.
Doria was not content with obtaining the greater part of the Fieschi
feuds. He insisted upon the destruction of the sumptuous palace in
Vialata and it was razed to the foundations. The work of demolition
was conducted with such angry haste that a great part of the walls
fell into the gardens of Ambrogio Gazella and the Republic paid for
the removal of the rubbish. A slab of infamy was affixed to a wall
near the ruins bearing a decree that nothing should ever be built upon
the ground where a citizen had conspired against his country. The
inscription no longer exists. The tables now in Vialata refer to rights
of private property. Merciful time has cancelled the records of infamy
against Gianluigi, though he has preserved them against the names of
Vacchero, Raggio, Della Torre and Balbi.[48] The stone (as we find in a
decree of 1715) was torn down, not by order of the Doge but by unknown
hands, about 1712, perhaps by some of Gianluigi’s relatives.
Ancient tradition tells us that the marbles of the Fieschi palace
were employed to embellish that of the Spinola which was erected on
the ruins of the tower of the Luccoli. It is that edifice faced with
alternate black and white marbles which stands on the piazza Fontane
Morose. We know not whether the tradition be true, but it is certain
that the statues in the palace of Spinola pertain to the family of
its owners. The stones and marbles of Vialata were bought at auction
by one Antonio Roderio and were scattered. The sculptures and other
ornaments of the magnificent fountain which adorned the garden shared
the same fate. They were the work of Giovanni Maria di Pasalo who,
not having been entirely paid for his work by Fieschi, received some
compensation from the Republic. The government took possession of the
furniture and precious vessels which the palace contained not excepting
the silver service which according to a memoir of Count Gianluigi Mario
to the king of France (preserved in Beriana) was valued at one hundred
thousand crowns.
Nothing remains of the splendid residence of the counts but a narrow
subterranean passage whose architecture is of the fifteenth century.
The walls are brick and it is covered with slate. Time and damp have
nearly destroyed it. A branch of it once extended to the sea where
the battery of Cava was afterwards erected, but not a vestige of this
part now remains. The principal passage led to the valley of Bisagno,
outside the gate of the Archi, and served for a means of retreat from
the city in times of revolution. It is probable that this passage
furnished Gianluigi with the means of introducing into the city, a few
days before the insurrection, the armed men from his castles.
The imperial party were not content with the ruins of the Fieschi
palace, but wished to destroy all the monuments of the family’s
greatness. Two houses fronting the cathedral were appropriated for the
debts of Fieschi and thus escaped ruin. The very churches were not
spared. The arms surmounted by a cardinal’s hat which Lorenzo Fieschi
had placed in Santo Stefano in 1499 when Donato Benci, a Florentine
sculptor and architect, executed some works in that church, were now
removed. Throughout the Eastern Riviera, the Doria faction glutted
their vengeance upon the dwellings and castles of the Fieschi. In
Chiavari they publicly tore down and threw into the sea an inscription
which attributed the foundation of the church of St. Giovanni to
Bardone Fieschi.
Nor were the Dorias alone in hastening the destruction of the Fieschi
palace. The Sauli whose quarrel with the Fieschi we have mentioned, had
seen with envious eyes the erection of a palace in their neighbourhood
which outshone the splendour of their own, and they were ambitious
of being sole masters of the hill of Carignano. There were other
stimulants to vengeance. Popular legends tell us (and we count legends
more valuable than the breath which scatters them) that the Sauli
family attended divine service in the church of the Fieschi in Vialata.
One day Bendinelli Sauli, in a friendly manner asked the Fieschi to
delay the service a little in order that his people might be present.
The Fieschi responded:--“If you wish to hear mass at your pleasure,
build a church of your own.” Sauli remembered the discourteous speech
and, in 1481, bequeathed two hundred and fifty shares in the bank of
St. George to be left at interest for sixty years and then expended in
erecting a magnificent church and two hospitals in Carignano.
The descendants of Bendinello, stimulated by old and new antipathies,
were gratified witnesses of the destruction of the mansion of their
rivals, and near it they erected the church which commemorated the
bequest of their ancestor. As soon as the palace of the Fieschi was
destroyed, Galeazzo Alessi was called to Genoa and in 1552 he commenced
the church of Carignano. The superb basilica cost the Sauli a hundred
thousand gold crowns. It would be a perfect monument to their wealth
and public spirit, if the front were not disfigured by some statues of
inferior workmanship. They embellished their vengeance by a beautiful
christian charity which survives the antipathies out of which it grew.
Stefano Sauli, a descendant of Bendinello, bequeathed another large
legacy to construct the massive bridge which conducts to the church and
unites the two hills.
But public and private wrath did not fully attain their end. A
beautiful picture of Gianluigi and portraits of Verrina and Sacco
escaped the vandalism of their enemies. In the dark and narrow chapel
of the cathedral near the tomb of the Fieschi family, there is a
picture painted by Luca Cambiaso representing the protectors of Genoa,
St. John the Baptist, St. Lawrence and St. George. In the face of the
last saint you have the features of Gianluigi, and tradition tell us
that the others are Sacco and Verrina.
It did not occur to Andrea Doria, when he was destroying every trace of
his rival, that the love of friends would entrust the image of the dead
to the holy guardianship of the altar.