How a minor nobleman’s violent ambition carved a bloody path through Emilia
Pietro Buso Scotti (Pietro Maria Scotti), known as Buso. From Vigoleno. A Ghibelline. Count of Vigoleno and of Carpaneto Piacentino.
Death: 1521, September
| Year, Month | State, Comp. ventura | Opponent | Command | Area of Activity | Actions Undertaken and Other Salient Facts |
| 1498 | Spain | France | He is noted as a squire to Prospero Colonna. | ||
| … | Emilia | In Piacenza, he lives in a palace near the church of San Simeone. He is soon forced to leave the city due to the disturbances he caused. | |||
| … | He disappears from city life for many years. There is talk of a voyage of his to the Americas. | ||||
| 1514 | |||||
| Jan.-Mar. | Ghibellines | Guelphs | Lazio and Emilia | From Rome, he returns to Piacenza. He finds himself in considerable financial difficulty due to heavy expenses he has had to bear; he is also annoyed because the contract for city duties was leased by the Apostolic Camera to a company headed by Lazzaro Malvicini and Niccolò Scotti for the sum of 25,000 scudi. He fights a duel with the French captain Lacroix: Pietro Buso Scotti in his shirtsleeves and his rival wearing armor. He emerges as the winner. He arms a hundred troublemakers, including his brother Guglielmo, and enters Piacenza, with whom he attacks the houses of his rivals to plunder them. In the action, numerous Guelphs are killed; the latter, in turn, take up arms; several clashes arise in the city near the church of San Simeone and in the vicinity of San Donnino. In mid-February, the papal governor Tommaso Campeggi has the gates closed and the guard posts reinforced. The Guelphs strengthen their positions on the towers of Sant’Antonio, San Francesco, Santa Brigida, Sant’Eufemia, and on the Landi terrace, from where they fire on the Ghibelline homes with light cannons. The latter concentrate their forces near the Landi houses, the cathedral towers, and the church of San Pietro in Foro. The fighting lasts for several days until, at Campeggi‘s suggestion, both the Guelphs and the Ghibellines (including Scotti) leave Piacenza through two different gates. The conflict moves to the countryside. Attacked by Guelph militias led by Troilo dei Rossi and Federico Gonzaga da Bozzolo, he takes refuge in Carpaneto Piacentino. At the beginning of March, a peace between the factions is ratified, which Scotti does not join. He joins with other malcontents; at the head of 1000 men gathered at Rivalta, he makes a new attempt against Piacenza with Jacopo dal Verme. He forces open the Porta di San Lazzaro, scales the walls, and seizes the watchtowers. He calls the Sforza condottiero Ludovico Vistarini from Lodi. Soon, other supporters of the Ghibelline cause, such as Giovanni and Pier Bernardino Anguissola, enter Piacenza. The action ends with no result, and after a few days, Scotti is forced to abandon the location. | |
| Summer | Emilia | With the protection of Galeazzo and Antonio Maria Pallavicini, he harasses his brother-in-law Gisello Malaspina, who fights for the opposing side, in his territories; he steals a shipment of wheat destined for Piacenza and damages an aqueduct belonging to a church. | |||
| … | Milan | France | Emilia | He enters the service of the Sforzas against the French; he continues his devastations in the Piacenza area with fires in villages and the killing of soldiers and inhabitants. He bursts into Gragnano. The town is sacked, livestock killed, and crops destroyed. | |
| 1515 | |||||
| Feb. | Emilia | He seizes the castles of Predovera, Macerata, and Statto, which belong to his brother-in-law Ludovico Caracciolo. His raids in the Nure Valley follow, particularly in Gossolengo. | |||
| Mar.-May | Emilia | At the head of 3000 followers, among whom are many men sent to him by the Landi and Anguissola families, he takes the castle of Viustino from Bertolino Nicelli, which surrenders after a few artillery shots: the booty is rich, consisting of considerable quantities of wheat, wine, hay, and livestock. He frees the fortress of Groppo from the siege laid by the Guelphs and forces Nicelli to flee after inflicting new heavy losses on him. He achieves the same results again in the Nure Valley (conquest of Ronco); he occupies the castle of Ferriere, which he hands over to Antonio Maria Pallavicini. | |||
| June | Emilia and Tuscany | A papal brief ends the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Pietro Buso Scotti reconciles with Jacopo Anguissola, whose houses he had previously looted. He is exiled to Florence. | |||
| Aug. | Emilia | He is permitted to return to the Piacenza area despite the resistance from the papal lieutenant of Piacenza, Goro Gheri, who considers him an instrument of the Pallavicini. He sells Vigoleno to Gian Marco Pollastrelli for the sum of 4000 imperial lire. | |||
| 1518 | |||||
| Oct. | Emilia | His assets are confiscated by the French. | |||
| 1519 | |||||
| Apr. | Emilia | He is sentenced to death in absentia, for rebellion, by the French. | |||
| Sept. | Exiles | France | Emilia | Jacques de Sainte-Colombe and the captain of the artillery Jean Pommereul attack him in the fortress of Predovera, in Val di Prino, where he shelters about forty bandits: it is captured, and the French hang the 18 men found there. Pietro Buso Scotti escapes capture because he had coincidentally left the previous night for personal reasons. The castle is ordered to be demolished by Lautrec. | |
| 1520 | He connects with groups of exiles in Germany led by Girolamo Morone. | ||||
| 1521 | |||||
| June | Milan | France Venice | Emilia | He serves the Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza. He is in Motella and Verolanuova to gather infantry; after delivering money to the troops, he moves to Reggio Emilia. | |
| July | Emilia | Prospero Colonna sends him to Piacenza with other exiles; here, with 200 light cavalry and 300 infantry, he holds off the adversaries. He seizes the Nure Valley and cuts the supply lines to the capital. The French rally his factional opponents, such as Paride and Cesare Scotti. With the Anguissola family, he arranges a deal with Tameo da Treviso, constable of the Porta di San Raimondo of Piacenza. At night, on the night of Saint John, his task is to lower the drawbridge to grant him open access to the city. The plot is discovered by Cesare Scotti; Tameo da Treviso flees; Pietro Buso Scotti, arriving at the agreed time, is also forced to retreat. He takes refuge in the castle of Statto, where he is besieged by Girolamo da Trivulzio and Jacques de Sante-Colombe. He escapes at night to take shelter in the castle of Vigoleno. He continues to patrol the roads of the Piacenza area. In mid-July, at Alseno, he intercepts 2 wagons transporting money from Parma to Piacenza (with an escort of 80 soldiers) for the pay of the French garrison of Piacenza. Almost all the infantry of the escort are killed. | |||
| Aug. | Emilia | At the beginning of the month, he attacks Piacenza again at the Porta di San Raimondo; it is set on fire: some of his men scale the city walls; they are repelled by the inhabitants. He is suddenly besieged in the castle of Statto by Girolamo da Trivulzio and Cesare Scotti: he emerges for a sortie in which he loses 20 men. He flees into the mountains. In the action, he is wounded in a knee (or an arm) by a shot from a light firearm, for which he must be transported by stretcher to Reggio Emilia. He meets with Prospero Colonna. Not yet recovered, he reaches the camp on the Enza river with Bartolomeo da Villachiara and Marcantonio della Motella. He devastates the Parma area; he captures the castles of Vigoleno, Diolo, and Tavazzano; he obtains Fiorenzuola d’Arda and Borgo San Donnino (Fidenza); he besieges the castle of Agazzano, belonging to Gaspare Scotti, defended by 500 French infantry. He attacks Castel San Giovanni with Ettore Visconti. | |||
| Sept. | Emilia | Agazzano surrenders to the Sforza forces without resistance. Pietro Buso Scotti divides the spoils (money and jewels) among his men: Ettore Visconti also arrives and, although he did not participate in the action, feels cheated of his share. The argument escalates. Visconti orders his company of landsknechts to attack his rival. Scotti is killed by an arquebus shot. Visconti orders his soldiers to cut off his head with a sword stroke: his body is thrown into the refuse in the castle moat. He marries a Malaspina and Camilla Scotti. |
Sources
-“Era di animo vivacissimo, di capriccio volubile; il riposo gli parea morte. Nel mezo della calma sospirava le tempeste, armando il cuore per suscitar col tempo nuove contese, e nuove turbolenze.” DE’ CRESCENZI
-“Se aderisse a la fazion gebellina, facendosi capo de’ banditi, el qual è assai temuto; pur el non ha credito con quelli viveno bene, ma solum con tristi. Ad ogni modo, l’è apto a far mutinazione.” ALBERI
-“Uomo sanguinario, capo di parte.” LITTA
-“Questo personaggio, (che con le sue imprese anima dal 1514 fino alla sua morte.. nel settembre 1521) le cronache piacentine, presenta aspetti molto interessanti sotto il profilo delle fazioni. Figlio di un connubio guelfo-ghibellino, un guelfo (per nascita e anche per parte di madre, figlia del capo della parte Rossa parmense) con una figlia di Pallavicino Pallavicini (capo parte ghibellino, a sua volta figlio di Rolando il Magnifico e di una Scotti guelfa), Pietro Maria portava il nome di uno dei nonni, Pietro Maria (dei) Rossi. La sua genealogia rimandava dunque a due capi aristocratici, un ghibellino e un guelfo, entrambi giunti in diversi periodi della loro vita ai ferri corti col principe (il duca di Milano del momento)..Questo marcato primato (parte guelfa, il cui capo è Niccolò Scotti) fu all’origine del cambiamento di partito di Buso…Il Buso era diventato (con la protezione degli zii ghibellini Pallavicini di Busseto) capo di bande di 3000-4000 uomini che riunivano esponenti del ghibellinismo piacentino, ed erano in grado di minacciare seriamente la città e di spadroneggiare nel contado; poi fuoriuscito a Mantova, dove si annidavano i ghibellini lombardi, capo di bande in grado di conferire con un generale ghibellino di tutt’altra regione come Prospero Colonna; per finire poi ammazzato in un conflitto tra banditi per il bottino.” ARCANGELI
-“Pietro Buso, huomo inquietissimo, e nemico della pace, e del riposo, (con) un gran seguito d’huomini scelerati, e di malvagia vita.” LOCATI
-“La salma del feroce conte Buso ancora oggi riposa sepolta nel fossato del vecchio e fatiscente maniero di Agazzano; anziani contadini del posto raccontano che nelle notti estive, quelle di luna piena d’agosto, egli sotto spoglia di fantasma tenta di abbandonare l’orribile fossato per raggiungere Piacenza, agognata meta di tutte le sue tribolazioni, ma quella del ghibellino, rammenta la gente, fu un’anima nera e quindi condannata a non veder realizzato il proprio sogno, nemmeno da spettro.” Er. MARIANI
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