Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FIESCO (DE' FIESCIII), GIOVANNI LUIGI...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 329 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

FIESCO (DE' FIESCIII), GIOVANNI See also:LUIGI (c. 1523–1547) , See also:count of See also:Lavagna, was descended from one of the greatest families of See also:Liguria, first mentioned in the loth See also:century. Among his ancestors were two popes (See also:Innocent IV. and See also:Adrian V.), many cardinals, a See also:king of See also:Sicily, three See also:saints, and many generals and admirals of See also:Genoa and other states. Sinibaldo Fiesco, his See also:father, had been a See also:close friend of See also:Andrea See also:Doria (q.v.), and had rendered many important services to the Genoese See also:republic. On his See also:death in 1532 Giovanni found himself at the See also:age of nine the See also:head of the See also:family and possessor of immense estates. He See also:grew up to be a handsome, intelligent youth, of attractive See also:manners and very ambitious. He married Eleonora Cibd; marchioness of See also:Massa, in 1540, a woman of See also:great beauty and family See also:influence. There were many reasons which inspired his hatred of the Doria family; the almost See also:absolute See also:power wielded by the aged See also:admiral and the insolence of his See also:nephew and See also:heir Giannettino Doria, the See also:commander of the galleys, were galling to him as to many other Genoese, and it is said that Giannettino was the See also:lover of Fiesco's wife. Moreover, the Fiesco belonged to the See also:French or popular party, while the Doria were aristocrats and Imperialists. When Fiesco determined to conspire against Doria he found See also:friends in many quarters. See also:Pope See also:Paul III. was the first to encourage him, while both See also:Pier Luigi See also:Farnese, See also:duke of See also:Parma, and See also:Francis I. of See also:France gave him much assistance and promised him many advantages. Among his associates in Genoa were his See also:brothers See also:Girolamo and Ottobuono, Verrina and R.

Sacco. A number of armed men from the Fiesco fiefs were secretly brought to Genoa, and it was agreed that on the end of See also:

January 1547, during the See also:interregnum before the See also:election of the new See also:doge, the galleys in the See also:port should be seized and the See also:city See also:gates held. The first See also:part of the See also:programme was easily carried out, and Giannettino Doria, aroused by the tumult, rushed down to the port and was killed, but Andrea escaped from the city in See also:time. The conspirators attempted to gain See also:possession of the See also:government, but unfortunately for them Giovanni Luigi, while See also:crossing a See also:plank from the See also:quay to one of the galleys, See also:fell into the See also:water and was drowned. The See also:news spread consternation among the Fiesco See also:faction, and Girolamo Fiesco found few adherents. They came to terms with the See also:senate and were granted a See also:general See also:amnesty. Doria returned to Genoa on the 4th thirsting for revenge, and in spite of the amnesty he confiscated the Fiesco estates; Girolamo had shut himself up, with Verrina and Sacco and other conspirators, in his See also:castle of Montobbia, which the Genoese at Doria's instigation besieged and captured. Girolamo Fiesco and Verrina were tried, tortured and executed; all their estates were seized, some of which, including Torriglia, Doria obtained for himself. Ottobuono Fiesco, who had escaped, was captured eight years after-wards and put to death by Doria's orders. There are many accounts of the See also:conspiracy, of which perhaps the best is contained in E. See also:Petit's See also:Andre Doria (See also:Paris, 1887), chs. xi. and xii., where all the See also:chief authorities are quoted; see also Calligari, La Congiura del Fiesco (See also:Venice 1892), and Gavazzo, Nuovi documenti See also:sulla congiura del See also:conte Fiesco (Genoa, 1886) ; E. Bernabo-Brea, in his Sulla congiura di Giovanni Luigi See also:Fieschi, publishes many important documents, while L.

Capelloni's Congiura del Fiesco, edited by Olivieri, and A..Mascardi's Congiura del conte Giovanni Luigi de' Fieschi (See also:

Antwerp, 1629) may be commended among the earlier See also:works. The Fiesco conspiracy has been the subject of many poems and dramas, of which the most famous is that by See also:Schiller. See also under DORIA, ANDREA; FARNESE. (L.

End of Article: FIESCO (DE' FIESCIII), GIOVANNI LUIGI (c. 1523–1547)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FIESCHI, GIUSEPPE MARCO (1790-1836) 		[next]
FIESOLE (anc. Faesulae, q.v.)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries