THE NOBLES AND THE PLEBEIANS.
Intrigues of Figuerroa and the nobility--The law of Garibetto--New
efforts of Spain to give Genoa the character of a Duchy--The firmness
of the senate and Andrea foils the scheme of Don Filippo--The
reception of the Spaniards by Doria and by the people--Sad story of a
daughter of the Calvi--Don Bernardino Mendozza and his relations with
Prince Doria--Baneful influence of the Spanish occupation.
CHARLES V. had long cherished the design of rendering the entire
Peninsula subject to his authority. He was master of the Sicilies and
the Milanese and controlled Tuscany through the servility of Cosimo;
and if he were able to complete the conquest of Genoa, it would be easy
to expel the French army from Piedmont where Henry II. was preparing to
renew the war in Italy. It is true that the emperor through the senate
and Doria actually directed Genoese affairs; but dependence on the will
and favour of individuals did not seem to Charles either a dignified or
durable means of power. The conspiracy of Fieschi had been crushed; but
it had left discontents behind it and a new outbreak was possible at
every hour. Besides, Charles thirsted to be complete master of a city
which was in his view, and in fact, the connecting link between the
kingdoms of Spain and his Lombard provinces.
Figuerroa, knowing the wishes of his master, opened his views to the
old nobles who were his intimates and drew them over to his wishes.
He terrified them by setting forth the prospect of new conspiracies
and the popular affection for Gianluigi which was still strong in
the city. He told them that Andrea was too decrepit to combat these
approaching perils and that prudence counselled adequate provisions
to suppress revolt. Figuerroa found in the minds of the old nobles,
morbidly sensitive to the least breath of popular commotion, complacent
acquiescence, and he induced some of the faction of San Luca to address
a petition to the emperor in Germany, in which they exaggerated the
Fieschi movement, showed the uncertain faith of many of the Italian
princes and the danger of general revolt and concluded by requesting
that the security of Genoa be provided for by a Spanish garrison and a
more stable form of government.
The emperor answered the appeal by sending Nicolò Perenoto, lord of
Granveille and imperial councillor, with some engineers, to construct
a fortress on the hill of Pietra Minuta as a rein on the Genoese
populace. This fortification garrisoned by a strong Spanish force would
have secured the imperial power and stifled all attempts at revolution.
But Andrea, who wished to rule Genoa himself, vehemently opposed the
erection of a fortress to be occupied by imperial troops. The prince
desired to be the sole imperial representative in Genoa and to keep the
Spanish crown in a state of dependence upon his loyalty. He therefore
resisted the innovation with all his power, and boldly told Granveille
that he must lay aside the project. When the imperial minister informed
him of the petition sent by the Genoese nobility to the emperor, the
old man called to him the persons chiefly concerned in that business,
reproached them spiritedly for the weakness they had shown in falling
into an imperial trap, and induced them to recant their approval of
this scheme of national humiliation.
But Granveille still hoped to win Doria’s consent to the wishes of the
emperor, and he frequently sent his engineers to Pietra Minuta for the
purpose of defining the position of the new citadel. The people saw
these surveys, and they one day broke into tumult, rushed to the place
and would have killed Granveille and his engineers if the senate had
not forseen the danger and stationed troops so as to prevent access
to the hill. The emperor was now convinced that he could only carry
out his plans by an open war both with Andrea and the people; and he
therefore wrote to the prince that he would renounce a project which
seemed so distasteful to his admiral.
Doria on his side pledged himself to reform the government and give
it such a direction as to put it out of the power of a few persons to
reëstablish the popular constitution. He accordingly instituted the
provision called _Garibetto_ which entirely excluded popular families
from political power and gave rise to many civil disorders and finally
to intestine war. It completed the alienation of the masses from
the nobility and destroyed the vital force of the Republic. But the
plebeians, the more they were depressed, burned the more for liberty.
The spirit of revolution sometimes slumbered but was never entirely
extinguished. The opposition of Doria and the threatening attitude of
the populace deterred the Spaniards and the greater part of the old
nobles from carrying out their scheme of building a fortress to overawe
the people. But though Charles bent to the will of our people in that
project, he secured through the prince a more oligarchic form of
government and removed the new nobles from power. This success and the
increasing subservience of Doria inspired Charles with new hope that he
might get Genoa entirely in his power as a first step to the complete
control of the Peninsula. He renewed his efforts with more shrewdness
and contrived a scheme for taking the populace by surprise and lulling
to sleep the vigilance of the old admiral.
A conference was held in Piacenza by the Duke of Alba, Gonzaga, an
envoy of Cosimo, and Tomaso de’ Marini a Genoese knight. It was agreed
that when Doria had sailed to Spain, to escort the Archduke Maximilian,
Gonzaga should enter the city with a large body of imperial troops and
Cosimo should support the movement with some regiments of infantry. The
pretext for this military concentration was afforded by the fact that
the Prince Don Phillip, called into Germany by his father, would return
with Doria to Genoa and Cosimo and Gonzaga would go thither to pay him
homage.
Having made these arrangements, the Duke of Alba sailed with Doria for
Spain (July, 1548) in order to prepare other parts of the conspiracy.
But the Genoese fortunately received information of the plot. The Pope,
who, since the death of his son, distrusted the emperor more than
ever, having heard of the conference in Piacenza, instructed Carlo
Orsino, governor of Piacenza, to ascertain what had been done by the
conspirators. Orsino laboured so well that he penetrated the mystery.
Some incautious words of Gonzaga put him on the scent of the movement
and enabled him to inform the Pope of the nature of the emperor’s
plans. Paul communicated this intelligence to Leonardo Strata, a
Genoese noble living in Rome, and Strata immediately wrote to the
senate. The scheme was so bold and unexpected that the senators were
at first disposed to distrust the report. But their doubts were soon
removed. Gonzaga soon after sent a messenger to notify the government
that Don Phillip would soon arrive in Genoa, and to ask quarters in the
city for two thousand cavalry and as many arquebusiers. At the same
time, Cosimo wrote asking permission to pay homage to the prince in
Genoa and to bring as an escort, to protect him against the plots of
Genoese exiles, two regiments of cavalry and two of infantry. Andrea
also wrote from Rosas (October 19th, 1548) a letter to the Doge, which,
as an eloquent proof of his servility to Spain, we give entire:--
“I send with this galley Don Michele de Velasco and with him three
quarter-masters whom His Highness the prince desires to have forwarded
in advance of himself, for reasons which you will more fully learn
from his ambassador, Figuerroa. Their mission as you will learn is to
prepare lodgings for this court. It seems expedient for me to write
you these few words, as a citizen, praying you to give me pleasure by
issuing orders that these quarter-masters be allowed to accompany Don
Michele, and assigning them without delay all the lodgings which may be
necessary.
“Receive them with such marks of esteem as you are accustomed to give
when the honour of princes and the glory of the city are concerned, in
order that His Majesty and this Illustrious Prince, his son, may know
that, not only in this, but in matters of much greater moment, you
are delighted to render him service. For, besides the general repute
which your excellencies will gain by such a course of conduct, the
favour of His Majesty and His Highness will be much greater towards
you, and their love for the Republic will be increased so that they
will the more cheerfully aid her in the hour of need, as hitherto. Your
Excellencies should remember that we have no other light or support
but the great goodness of His Majesty which permits us to live within
his kingdoms without any sense of subjection, and that for this reason
alone the whole city ought to do spontaneously whatever is required
in these circumstances, and all the more that in these matters which
require small sacrifices we shall gain large favour and induce His
Majesty to grant us privileges of greater importance. I know well that
our citizens will interpose obstacles as they are accustomed to do
in such emergencies; but your Excellencies, knowing the convenience
and importance of the matter, will strive to remove all difficulties,
compel all to preserve order and obedience and punish whoever makes
opposition in such a way as to render them a warning and example to
all the rest. I have nothing more to add on this subject; for I am
sure that you, as wise men, will carefully reflect on the duty we owe
the emperor, and voluntarily and cheerfully give those orders that
are required; the more that the stay of the prince will be only for a
few days, and small as the favour will be, His Majesty will reckon it
a great one and always remember your good will and that of the city
towards Himself. His Highness will also be gratified for your prompt
good service and all his suite will leave you greatly pleased by your
hospitality. M. Domenico Doria, the bearer of this letter, will speak
more fully of this concernment to your Excellencies, to whom I commend
me with affectionate solicitude.”
These simultaneous requests removed the doubts of the senators. They
showed an admirable firmness in refusing quarters for the soldiers of
Gonzaga and Medici. Gonzaga renewed his request and the senate replied
that if he appeared at the gates with more than twenty horses he would
find them shut in his face. He came with three hundred infantry and two
companies of cavalry, but he was obliged to quarter himself outside
of the walls, in Sestri. Cosimo, seeing the firmness of the senate,
relinquished the design of coming. But no one dared resist Doria, and
his Spaniards were received in the city.
While these events were transpiring Don Phillip sailed out of Spain
with a fleet of fifty-eight galleys, of which nineteen belonged to
Prince Doria and six to Antonio Doria, two to the prince of Monaco
and two to Visconte Cicala. There were forty other vessels of which
six were Genoese. Don Phillip took passage on board the admiral’s
galley, a vessel wonderful for her size, construction and equipment.
The designs of the embellishments were made by Pierino del Vaga, and
executed by Carota and Tasso, Florentine artists. The standards were
painted by Vaga. The gilding, the satins and the rich brocades rendered
the vessel a marvel of beauty. The young prince, astonished by this
magnificence, was prodigal of honours and marks of affection to Andrea,
hoping to captivate the old man and secure his coöperation in the plot
against the Republic. As they neared our coasts, Phillip inquired of
the admiral where he would be quartered in Genoa. The admiral responded
that he hoped to have that honour for his palace in Fassiolo, where the
emperor had been his guest. The young Prince showed dissatisfaction at
the response and rejoined that he wished to reside in the Ducal palace.
“That,” replied Andrea “Is not in my power. Your Highness may ask it
of the senate, though I am of opinion that those who live there will
not willingly evacuate it.” These frank words enraged Phillip, and his
wrath was yet more inflamed immediately after by letters of Gonzaga
which reported that their plan could not be put into execution. The
young prince broke out into angry imprecations; but his preceptor,
the Duke of Alba conjured him to conceal his displeasure lest the
suspicions of the Genoese should be increased, and Phillip constrained
himself to a complacent reception of the messengers of the Republic.
He landed at Savona and was entertained by Benedetta Spinola, a
beautiful and courteous widow. After a brief stay he proceeded to
Genoa. The princess Peretta received him in the Doria palace with the
highest honour. The Doge and the senators, the Genoese cardinals Doria
and Cybo, Lord Bishop Matera, envoy of the Pope, and the ministers of
other nations went to pay him homage.
We shall not dwell on the sumptuous reception of Phillip by the
nobility, or the splendour which Doria displayed with his open court
and princely banquets for the Spanish barons. The luxury of the
decorations, the richness of the furniture, the splendour of the
carpets and service of every kind and the wealth sunk in the banquets
of that palace were then the marvel of Italy. Don Phillip and his suite
were filled with admiration by the magnificence of their reception.
The Genoese populace did not participate in these festivities.
They could ill brook these servile attentions towards those who
were conspiring, not merely to deprive them of political power,
but to take away the independence of the Republic; and, looking on
with ill-concealed rage, they were more than once on the brink of
revolution. On the 3rd of December at midnight, the people rose at the
cry of “_Ammazza, Ammazza_”--kill them, kill them--and rushed to attack
fifty of the _Bisogni_ who were in a tavern of the mole; and they would
have despatched the Spaniards, if Colonel Spinola had not arrived on
the ground with a strong body of infantry in time to quell the tumult.
But the rage of the populace continued. Don Phillip had requested the
city police to arrest a certain Don Antonio d’Arze, a Spaniard guilty
of homicide. After the arrest, he sent eighty Spanish arquebusiers to
conduct the criminal from the prison on board a galley. Near the Ducal
palace, this body of Spaniards met the city guard. The _Bisogni_ had
their matches lit, and the guard, believing that the imperial troops
came to assault the palace, prepared to make a desperate resistance,
and in fact drove the Spaniards back by force. Many of the latter were
wounded and some lost their lives. In a twinkling, the rumour ran that
the Spaniards had attacked the Ducal palace; the people collected in
crowds and would have put the Spaniards to the edge of the sword if the
Doge and two governors of the palace had not mingled in the crowd and
soothed the irritation. Prince Doria himself was carried in a palanquin
through the most populous quarters, and besought the people to lay
aside their hostile intentions. The populace was held in subjection by
force and supplications; but the Spaniards lost no time in returning on
board their ships, and Don Phillip departed dissimulating his animosity
against the city.
We must here speak of an incident which occurred while Don Phillip was
the guest of the city; though Bandello places it some years earlier.
In one of the many descents of the Turkish corsair upon the Riviera,
they had captured a Genoese girl about ten years of age, belonging,
says the chronicle, to the illustrious family of the Calvi. Being of
remarkable beauty she was sold by the pirates at a high price to a
merchant who carried her into Spain. Here she grew more beautiful with
years and inspired a son of the Duke of Alba with an ardent passion
which he found means to satisfy. When Don Phillip came into Italy,
the young man was obliged to accompany the cortège; but not wishing
to leave the young woman, he took her on board one of the vessels and
brought her to Genoa. Annina had never forgotten her parents and her
native city; and as soon as she landed, she induced her pages by rich
presents to find her lodgings on the piazza Maruffi, near the palace
of Stefano Fieschi and in the residence of the Calvi. Annina entered
her father’s house with joy, and, seizing a moment when her lover was
occupied with Don Phillip, she dismissed her domestics and revealed
herself to her parents. The embracings, the tears, the transports of
tenderness, cannot be described. But the noble girl broke off these
demonstrations of affection. “It is time that I think of my liberation.
Though loaded with ornaments, I have been hitherto only a slave, and
I owe it to my dignity and my blood to atone in the shadow of the
altar for my dishonourable though forced manner of life. Take me to
a convent before my master learns that I belong to you, and put me
in a cell where none may ever hear my name pronounced.” Her parents
approved her choice and at once sent her to a monastery near the city,
where she was received under another name. She had scarcely departed
when the knight came to find his mistress, and, inquiring for her,
he read in the silence of the pages that she had fled. He was at
the first moment about to wreak his anger on these servants; but he
restrained himself and demanded of the Calvi the restoration of the
girl. An angry contention arose which raised a tumult in that part of
the city. In a few moments the piazza was full of men of both nations.
Among the first to enter the house of Calvi to succour the Genoese was
Giovanni Lavagna, allied by blood to the Fieschi. He was one of the
most reckless warriors of his time. Encountering the Spanish knight at
the head of the staircase surrounded by armed men and threatening the
bystanders, he demanded the cause of his discourteous manners. Alba
replied:--
“It does not concern thee, white moor and traitor that thou art!”
Lavagna was not accustomed to receive abuse with patience, and he
angrily retorted:--
“Moorish Jew, thou liest in the throat!” and drawing his sword, threw
himself upon the Spaniard. The fight was of brief duration. Despite
the assistance of his companions, the knight was pierced to the heart.
The Spaniards descended into the piazza and came to blows with the
populace, who killed some and put the others to flight. Lavagna
fearing the vengeance of Phillip took refuge in the province of
Piacenza.
Don Phillip did not relinquish the hope of reducing Genoa to the
condition of a province, and he was encouraged by Gonzaga, Figuerroa
and the Duke of Alba. The plan of the new fortress was again taken up.
The partisans of Spain reasoned that the popular hostility to Spain
constantly threatened the city with revolution and that so stubborn a
people needed a strong rein. It was reasonable enough they said that
Doria, when he was in the full vigour of life, should have opposed the
erection of the citadel, but now when he was old and infirm almost to
decrepitude he ought no longer to resist the will of Cæsar.
Charles sent to Genoa a certain Sigismondi Fransino with instructions
to confer with Doria and Centurione and endeavour to gain their
consent to the fortification. Some engineers also came secretly, for
the purpose of selecting the most convenient site. They renounced the
plan of fortifying Pietra Minuta and recommended that the fortress of
Castelletto should be restored. Doria hearing of this new plan and
wishing to finish once for all with these projects for the humiliation
of Genoa, sent Adamo Centurione into Flanders to confer with Cæsar
and convince him that there was imminent peril of losing the Republic
altogether unless these schemes were renounced. Charles made the most
formal pledges that he would put a stop to the intrigue and never again
raise the question. The advice of Don Bernardino Mendozza probably
had more weight with Charles than the remonstrances of Centurione.
Mendozza was a man of infinite cunning and dexterity in politics. He
pointed out to his sovereign the excessive devotion of the Genoese to
the acquisition of wealth, and advised him to employ every artifice to
get their money into the imperial treasury in the form of loans secured
upon lands, privileges, feuds and jurisdictions in Sicily, Naples and
Spain. “Thus,” said the adroit politician, “you will bind the Genoese
to the fortunes of your kingdom by a voluntary chain; since when their
riches are in your hands they will be naturally inclined to increase
and maintain your power. This hold upon their affections will be worth
more than any fortress.”
This shrewd advice was followed; every inducement was held out to
the wealthy nobles to place their money in the hands of the emperor,
with such securities and guarantees as would infallibly induce other
citizens to follow the example and bind themselves with their fortunes
to Spain. By this expedient Charles seemed to leave the Genoese their
independence, but he really made them tributary to his crown, Phillip
II. pursued this policy with even greater assiduity and it became
hereditary in the Spanish princes. It was in fact for two centuries the
political science by which the court of Spain regulated the affairs
of Italy; and the people found themselves insensibly bound, without
their own action, to the interests and policy of that crown. It must be
said that some give a different version of the affair of the citadel.
Writers of weight tell us that, even in this, Doria was subservient to
Charles; but we cannot believe it possible. His steadfast resistance
to that scheme is more consistent with the greatness and fame of the
illustrious admiral; and, though he was a vehement partisan of the
imperial cause, he could not have wished to become, like Cosimo, its
slave. When the Medici gave up to imperial troops the fortresses of
Florence and Leghorn, he found himself in the hands of a master, and
never digested the retort of Venice, who refused to treat with him
“because he was, in his own house, the servant of another man.”
We think the truth to be that when Doria saw the unanimity of the
people in opposing the erection of a citadel, he wisely resolved to
support his fellow-citizens, and the people are entitled to the chief
praise for the failure of that scheme. They were not yet corrupted by
the servility of the nobility, and might have renewed the examples of
their ancient valour and prevented the foreign power from striking root
in the Republic. They lost no opportunity of manifesting their profound
dislike of Spain, as Doge Lercaro himself testifies. When Charles gave
to Cosimo the government of Piombino, then in the hands of the Appiani,
the Genoese rose up in arms and demanded of the senate that galleys be
despatched to Elba to expel the Florentines and Spaniards. This time,
too, it was Doria who held back the arms of the people.
It is easy to see that the new ties between Genoa and Spain were the
principal occasion of our decline. Doria, by breaking the French
alliance and persecuting the men of Barbary (instead of courting their
alliance after the example of Venice) hastened our fall. Our commerce
gradually declined. French and Barbary fleets roved over our seas and
destroyed our marine. The city was put to great straits, and longed
in vain for the only remedy for its maladies, the alliance of France
to open up the commerce of the East. Fieschi, who had courted these
benefits, was remembered the more sadly as disasters multiplied upon
the Republic.
The government comprehended that some important and energetic
measures must be taken to restore our fortunes; and, after mature
reflection, the senate resolved to attempt the recovery of our Eastern
trade. The only remnant of our extensive possessions in the Levant
was the island of Scio, which was still held by the family of the
Giustiniani. In 1558, Giovanni Di Franchi and Nicolò Grillo were sent
to Constantinople, with eight vessels bearing costly presents for the
Sultan and his principal ministers, to ask a renewal of trade and
treaties of amity and commerce such as the Porte maintained with the
Venitians.
The Porte was disposed to accept our trade and friendship, but the
king of France raised objections which destroyed the hopes of Genoa.
He showed the Porte that the Genoese were the fast allies of Spain,
and could not remain neutral between Spaniards and Turks; that all the
maritime enterprises of Charles to the damage of the Turks had been
conducted with Genoese fleets; that Doria the greatest of the enemies
of Turkey and the admiral of Spain, lived in Genoa and ruled it at
his caprice; that, in fine, the Porte could not safely listen to the
proposals of the Genoese unless they declared themselves enemies of
Spain. These arguments changed the purpose of Soliman, and he sent the
Ligurian ambassadors home without giving them audience. The Republic
lost hope of reacquiring that commerce with the East which had once
enabled it to triumph over Pisa and Venice.
Such were the consequences of our fatal bondage to the empire. The
people, guided by infallible instincts, showed in this matter more
wisdom than their rulers. If we had shaken off the imperial embraces,
we might have obtained from the Turks all those privileges which
the Venitians had acquired a few years before; nor should we have
had rivals to contest our gains. The French were falling into civil
commotions which turned their attention from commercial enterprises.
The English seldom showed themselves in our seas. The Dutch had not yet
thrown off the yoke at which they were fretting, and the Venitians soon
after, becoming as inimical as the Spaniards to the Turkish power, were
excluded from Eastern markets. The Levant, still rich in silk fabrics,
might have been a fountain of vast wealth for Genoese merchants.