OR, GENOA IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. BY EMANUELE CELESIA. TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN, BY DAVID H. WHEELER. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON & MARSTON, MILTON HOUSE, 59, LUDGATE HILL. 1866. [ The Right of Translation is Reserved. ] It is perhaps matter for just surprise that English literature has been so little enriched during the last quarter of a century by archivic researches in Italy. While these studies have greatly modified the views of Italian historians, it may be safely said that, with

Our interest in this error might be less if it were dead; but it lives and embarasses the Italians of our own day. We have just been gravely informed by a French statesmen [1] that Rome does not belong to Italy, but to the whole catholic world; and the statement is a key not only to current Italian difficulties but also to the failure of the nation to keep pace with the rest of Europe in the sixteenth century. Then, more than now, other nations conceived themselves to have a mission to preserve

The character of the Count of Lavagna has been depicted in similar colours by servile writers skilful in inventing calumnies. Catiline and Fieschi had the same ambition and a common aim. The former, in his familiar letters to Lentulus which were published in the Senate, declared that no venal ambition led him to make war. He said that his estates were security for his debts and that the liberality and wealth of Orestilla and his daughter would provide for any deficiency. He averred, he was impel

Some tell us that in ages which have no authentic history the ancient Libarna was here, and that the name was afterwards corrupted into Lavagna; but our modern geographers do not accept the opinion. It is certain that Lavagna became the seat of a count of that name, who, about the year one thousand of our era, ruled over the contiguous districts of Sestri, Zoagli, Rapallo, Varese, and a great part of Chiavari. From this epoch, for many centuries, the history of the whole region was absorbed in t

At the death of Maximilian of Austria, the electors conferred the empire on Charles V. of Spain, who was already master of the Two Sicilies. The power of Charles threatened the independence of Rome, and Leo formed a league with France, in the audacious hope of expelling the Spaniard from Italy. But he betrayed his ally for a dukedom in the kingdom, conferred on his bastard son Alexander de’ Medici. A war broke out, and the Papal and Imperial troops, led by Prospero Colonna and Marquis Pescara, h

In the midst of Paolo’s generous designs, Louis XII., to whom the Geonese nobility had opened the doors of their country, descended upon him with a formidable army. Genoa was converted into a field of battle; every plebeian became a soldier, and the valour of the citizens checked the impetuous advance of the French battalions. But the patriots were overcome by numbers and discipline; Paolo di Novi was betrayed and butchered; the people were reduced to slavery. Rodolfo di Lanoia, to whom Louis co

When he was eighteen years of age he took charge of his patrimony, which the prudence of his mother and the address of his guardian, Paolo Pansa, had so much improved that it is said to have yielded two hundred thousand crowns of rent. On the fourth of June, 1535, Charles V. confirmed his title to the domains of his ancestors, and continued in him the titles of Vicar-general in Italy, Prince of the empire, Count of the sacred palace, and imperial councillor. Perhaps it was on that occasion that

Donato Gianotti, the successor of Machiavelli, as secretary of the Florentine Republic, wrote a wonderful address to Paul III., in which he urged that Genoa should be redeemed from the hands of the Dorias and Spaniards, and the republic and principalities bound in alliance with France, as necessary measures for the defence of national liberty. The object of this discourse, so rich in political wisdom, was to warn the Italians of the danger of neglecting their own interests. “They cannot,” he say

It was not then a reproach, says Segni, [37] that a Pope had illegitimate children and sought by every means to confer upon them wealth and dignities; on the contrary, the Pontiff who aspired to temporal grandeur was in repute as a man of prudence and sagacity. Paul III. intrigued for a long time with the emperor to acquire the duchy of Milan for Pierluigi, though he well knew that Charles, in occupying Lombardy, had protested that he did not wish to hold it for his own advantage but for that of

Having won the favour of the rich and distinguished popular families, he cultivated the love of the plebeians. In this, his pleasant and familiar manner secured him great success. He treated them as his equals, and, the true Alcibiades of his time, he adapted himself to their personal characteristics and prejudices. Chronicles tell us that he watched from his towers to see if the chimneys of the poorer classes smoked regularly at the hour for preparing food, and sent provisions whenever this tok

Other propositions were then made. Among these the most prominent was that of awaiting the period for electing a new Doge, that is the fourth of the following January. The entire nobility would then be assembled in the government palace, and a single blow would sever the knot. The plan seemed every way feasible and Gianluigi was disposed to follow it; but it was abandoned because it was found Gianettino would be absent and escape the vengeance of Fieschi. It was at length resolved to make a bold

Captain Lercaro, who, according to rumour, had accepted a commission to assassinate Fieschi, knew well that his own life and that of his masters’ depended upon a successful resistance, and he exerted himself with such spirit and prowess that he several times repulsed the assailants with serious loss. But Gerolamo and Ottobuono returned to the assault with undiminished courage, and Calcagno came to their succour with reinforcements. The conflict now became too unequal. Many of the soldiers of the

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

The French were not the only enemies before whom Spain trembled. The adherents of Fieschi in Genoa, threatened a new outbreak. A rumour ran that Gianluigi was not dead, but had gone to Provence to collect men and arms, and the fable found such support in the popular affection for him that it required a long time to dissipate the delusion. The plebeians were expecting him to come to their deliverance and were on the alert to second his first assault on the common enemy. Indeed, one night a cry wa

The cities of Parma and Piacenza, having been detached from the duchy of Milan and put into the hands of the Holy See, were ceded by Paul III. to his natural son Pier Luigi Farnese who had been legitimated in 1501 by Julius II. To secure his son in this new duchy, the Pope supported Charles in the German war and in his expedition to Tunis, where, aided by Doria the emperor restored the inhuman Muley-Hassan to the throne which he mounted by the assassination of his twenty-two brothers. The allian

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

The Neapolitans were a few years later silent witnesses of fierce religious persecution. The inquisition employed such zeal, that to mention Montalto alone, two thousand persons were butchered and nearly an equal number condemned to death in eleven days. Tradition says that the executioner cut them down in the streets, like so many goats. While, through the assistance of Doria, the Spanish power took firm root in Italy and crushed the spirit of popular liberty, (I hope that none will believe my

Siena expelled Don Diego Urtado di Mendozza with his Spanish garrison and established a free government; but the emperor at once despatched the Marquis of Marignano to punish the rebellion, and France sent Pietro Strozzi to make a diversion in favour of the city. On the 16th of June, 1554, the Duke of Florence wrote to the government of Genoa:— “Your Excellencies will have learned that Pietro Strozzi, with about four thousand infantry and three hundred horse, is advancing to unite with the troop

Casoni erred, therefore, in stating that he was executed in 1582, as also Tuano who fixes it in 1560, in which he is followed by Konning and Bayle. Nor less inaccurate are Pagano Paganini, Cesare Caporale, Chevalier Marini, Scipione Ammirato and Crescimbeni who tell us that he died by fire, since his body was only burned after death. We know that the Biblioteca Civica of Genoa contains some rhymes of an ascetic character which are usually attributed to Bonfadio, at the end of which a marginal no

The people were little pleased that they were now totally excluded from that office, to which formerly they alone were eligible, while the plebeians [53] fretted at the insolence of the patricians and Spanish gentlemen among us. There were new conspiracies. The spies of the emperor learned that a Fra Clemente of the order of St. Francis had brought back from France some schemes for a revolution and Suarez communicated the information to the Senate. The friar was arrested at Ceva and, having been