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PICCININO, NICCOLO (1386-1444)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 579 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PICCININO, NICCOLO (1386-1444) , See also:Italian See also:condottiere, See also:born at See also:Perugia, was the son of a See also:butcher. He began his military career in the service of Braccio da Montone, who at that See also:time was waging See also:war against Perugia on his own See also:account, and at the See also:death of his See also:chief, shortly followed by that of the latter's son Oddo, Piccinino became See also:leader of Braccio's condotta. After serving for a See also:short See also:period under the Florentine See also:Republic, he went over to Filippo Maria See also:Visconti, See also:duke of See also:Milan (1425), in whose service together with Niccold Fortebraccio he fought in the See also:wars against the See also:league of See also:Pope See also:Eugenius IV., See also:Venice and See also:Florence. He defeated the papal forces at See also:Castel Bolognese (1434), but another papal See also:army under See also:Francesco See also:Sforza having defeated and killed Fortebraccio at Fiordimonte, Piccinino was See also:left in See also:sole command, and in a See also:series of See also:campaigns against Sforza he seized a number of cities in Romagna by treachery. In 1439 he again fought in See also:Lombardy with varying success against Sforza, who had now entered the Venetian service. Piccinino then induced the duke of Milan to send him to See also:Umbria, where he hoped, like so many other condottieri, to carve out a dominion for himself. He was defeated by Sforza at Anghiari (1440), but although a number of his men were taken prisoners they were at once liberated, as was usually done in wars waged by soldiers of See also:fortune. Again the war shifted to Lombardy, and Piccinino, having defeated and surrounded Sforza at Martinengo, demanded of the visconti the lordship of See also:Piacenza as the See also:price of Sforza's See also:capture. The duke by way of reply concluded a truce with Sforza; but the latter, who, while professing to defend the Papal States, had established his own See also:power in the See also:Marche, aroused the fears of the pope and the See also:king of See also:Naples, as well as of the viscenti, who gave the command of their See also:joint forces to Piccinino. Sforza was driven from the Marche, but defeated Piccinino at Montelauro, and while the latter was preparing for a desperate effort against Sforza he was suddenly recalled to Milan, his army was beaten in his See also:absence, and he died of grief and of his wounds in 1444. Short of stature, lame and in weak See also:health, he was brave to the point of foolhardiness, wonderfully resourceful, and never overwhelmed by defeat. He was cruel and treacherous, and had no aim beyond his own aggrandizement.

Piccinino left two sons, Jacopo and Francesco, both distinguished condottieri. A See also:

good account of Piccinino is contained in vol. iii. of E. Ricotti's Storia See also:delta compagnie di ventura (See also:Turin, 1845) ; G. B. See also:Poggio, Vita di N. Piccinino (Venice, 1572); see also the See also:general histories of the period.

End of Article: PICCININO, NICCOLO (1386-1444)

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