Count Fieschi

Giovanni Luigi Fieschi (or Fiesco) (c. 1522 - January 2nd 1547, Genoa), count of Lavagna, was descended from one of the greatest families of Liguria, first mentioned in the 10th century. Among his ancestors were two popes (Innocent IV and Adrian V), many cardinals, a king of Sicily, three saints, and many generals and admirals of Genoa and other states. Events January 9 - Adrian Dedens becomes Pope Adrian VI. February 26 - Execution by hanging of Cuauhtémoc, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan under orders of conquistador Hernán Cortés. ... January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events January 16 - Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia. ... Location within Italy Flag of Genoa Christopher Columbus monument in Piazza Aquaverde Genoa (Italian Genova, Genoese Zena, French Gênes) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. ... Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Innocent IV, né Sinibaldo de Fieschi ( 1180/90 - December 7, 1254), pope from 1243 to 1254, belonged to one of the first families of Genoa, and, educated at Parma and Bologna, passed for one of the best canonists of his time. ... Adrian V (also known as Hadrian V), born Ottobuono de Fieschi ( 1205 - August 18, 1276), pope in 1276, was a Genoese who was created cardinal deacon of San Adriano by his uncle Innocent IV. He was sent to England in 1265 by Clement IV to mediate between King Henry III... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ...

Sinibaldo Fieschi, his father, had been a close friend of Andrea Doria, and had rendered many important services to the Genoese republic. On his death in 1532 Giovanni found himself at the age of nine the head of the family and possessor of immense estates. He grew up to be a handsome, intelligent youth, of attractive manners and very ambitious. He married Eleonora Cib, marchioness of Massa, in 1540, a woman of great beauty and family influence. There were many reasons which inspired his hatred of the Doria family; the almost absolute power wielded by the aged admiral and the insolence of his nephew and heir Giannettino Doria, the commander of the galleys, were galling to him as to many other Genoese, and it is said that Giannettino was the lover of Fieschis wife. Moreover, the Fieschi belonged to the French or popular party, while the Doria were aristocrats and Imperialists. For the ship of the same name, see SS Andrea Doria. ... The Republic of Genoa, in full the Most Serene Republic of Genoa (known as the Ligurian Republic from 1798 to 1805) was an independent state in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast from ca. ... Events May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ... Massa is a town in Italy. ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ...

When Fieschi determined to conspire against Doria he found friends in many quarters. Pope Paul III was the first to encourage him, while both Pier Luigi Farnese, duke of Parma, and Francis I of France gave him much assistance and promised him many advantages. Among his associates in Genoa were his brothers Girolamo and Ottobuono, Verrina and R. Sacco. A number of armed men from the Fieschi fiefs were secretly brought to Genoa, and it was agreed that on the 2nd of January 1547, during the interregnum before the election of the new doge, the galleys in the port should be seized and the city gates held. The first part of the 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 time. The conspirators attempted to gain possession of the government, but unfortunately for them Giovanni Luigi, while crossing a plank from the quay to one of the galleys, fell into the water and was drowned. The news spread consternation among the Fieschi faction, and Girolamo Fieschi found few adherents. They came to terms with the senate and were granted a general amnesty. Doria returned to Genoa on the 4th thirsting for revenge, and in spite of the amnesty he confiscated the Fieschi estates; Girolamo had shut himself up, with Verrina and Sacco and other conspirators, in his castle of Montobbia, which the Genoese at Dorias instigation besieged and captured. Girolamo Fieschi and Verrina were tried, tortured and executed; all their estates were seized, some of which, including Torriglia, Doria obtained for himself. Ottobuono Fieschi, who had escaped, was captured eight years afterwards and put to death by Dorias orders. Pope Paul III, (1543) portrait by Titian (Tiziano Vecelli), Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples Paul III, né Alessandro Farnese (February 29, 1468 - November 10, 1549) was pope from 1534 to 1549. ... Pier Luigi Farnese is also the name of Pier Luigi Farnese (b. ... Francis I (French: François Ier) (September 12, 1494 – July 31, 1547), called the Father and Restorer of Letters (French: le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres), was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. ... January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events January 16 - Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia. ...

There are many accounts of the conspiracy, of which perhaps the best is contained in E. Petits Andrea Doria (Paris, 1887), chs. xi. and xii., where all the chief authorities are quoted; see also Calligari, La Congiura del Fieschi (Venice 1892), and Gavazzo, Nuovi documenti sulla congiura del conte Fieschi (Genoa, 1886); E. Bernab-Brea, in his Sulla congiura di Giovanni Luigi Fieschi, publishes many important documents, while L. Capellonis Congiura del Fieschi, edited by Olivieri, and A. Mascardis Congiura del conte Giovanni Luigi de Fieschi (Antwerp, 1629) may be commended among the earlier works. The Fieschi conspiracy has been the subject of many poems and dramas, of which the most famous is that by Schiller. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (November 10, 1759 - May 9, 1805), usually known as Friedrich Schiller, was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. ...

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