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CARMAGNOLA, FRANCESCO BUSSONE, COUNT ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 354 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARMAGNOLA, See also:FRANCESCO BUSSONE, See also:COUNT OF (1390-1432) , See also:Italian soldier of See also:fortune, was See also:born at Carmagnola near' See also:Turin, and began his military career when twelve years old under Facino See also:Cane, a See also:condottiere then in the service of Gian Galeazzo See also:Visconti, See also:duke of See also:Milan. On the See also:death of the latter his duchy was divided among his captains, but his son and See also:heir, Filippo Maria, determined to reconquer it by force of arms. Facino Cane being dead, Visconti applied to Carmagnola, then in his thirtieth See also:year, and gave him command of the See also:army. That See also:general's success was astonishingly rapid, and soon the whole duchy was brought once more under Visconti's sway. But Filippo Maria, although he rewarded Carmagnola generously, feared that he might become a danger to himself, and instead of giving him further military commands made him See also:governor of See also:Genoa. Carmagnola See also:felt greatly aggrieved, and failing to obtain a See also:personal interview with the duke, threw up his See also:commission and offered his services to the Venetians (1425). He was well received in See also:Venice, for the See also:republic was beginning to fear the ambitions of the Visconti, and the new See also:doge, Francesco See also:Foscari, was anxious to join the Florentines and go to See also:war with Milan. Carmagnola himself represented the duke's forces as much less numerous than they were supposed to be, and said that the moment was an opportune one to attack him. These arguments, combined with the doge's warlike See also:temper, prevailed; Carmagncla was made See also:captain-general of St See also:Mark in 1426, and war was declared. But while the republic was desirous of rapid and conclusive operations, it was to the See also:interest of Carmagnola, as indeed to all other soldiers of fortune, to make the operations last as See also:long as possible, to avoid decisive operations, and to liberate all prisoners quickly. Consequently the See also:campaign dragged on interminably, some battles were won and others lost, truces and See also:peace See also:treaties were made only to be broken, and no definite result was achieved. Carmagnola's most important success was the See also:battle of Maclodio (1427), but he did not follow it up.

The republic, impatient of. his dilatoriness, raised his emoluments and promised him immense fiefs including the lordship of Milan, so as to increase his ardour, but in vain. At the same See also:

time Carmagnola was perpetually receiving messengers from Visconti, who offered him See also:great rewards if he would abandon the Venetians. The general trifled with his past as with his See also:present employers, believing in his foolish vanity that he held the See also:fate of both in his See also:hand. But the Venetians were dangerous masters to trifle with, and when they at last lost all See also:patience, the See also:Council of Ten determined to bring him to See also:justice. Summoned to Venice to discuss future operations on the 29th of See also:March 1432, he came without suspicion. On his arrival at the ducal See also:palace he was seized, imprisoned and brought to trial for See also:treason against the republic. Although the doge befriended him he was condemned to death and beheaded on the 5th of May. A See also:man of third-See also:rate ability, his great See also:mistake was that he failed to see that he could not do with a solvent and strong See also:government what he could with bankrupt tyrants without military resources, and that the astute Visconti meant to ruin him for his See also:abandonment.

End of Article: CARMAGNOLA, FRANCESCO BUSSONE, COUNT OF (1390-1432)

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