Astorre Baglioni: A Poet and Soldier Defending Famagusta Against the Ottoman Empire
Astorre II Baglioni of Perugia.
Lord of Spello and Bastia Umbra. Son of Gentile Baglioni, brother of Adriano Baglioni, uncle of Federico Baglioni, and nephew of Alessandro Vitelli.
Born: 1526, March
Death: 1571, August
| Year/Month | State/Comp. ventura | Opponent | Conduct | Activity area | Actions taken and other salient facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ….. | His godparents are Cardinal of Cortona Giulio Passerini, Cardinals Della Valle and Santiquattro, as well as the Bishop of Verona Gio. Matteo Gisberti. Upon his father’s death, ordered by Orazio Baglioni, family friends save him from revenge by first taking him to Camerino, then to Tagliacozzo with Ascanio Colonna. With Orazio Baglioni’s death at the siege of Naples, he is finally taken to Città di Castello to his uncle Alessandro Vitelli, who educates him in the art of warfare. | ||||
| 1538 | At the court of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. | ||||
| 1540 | |||||
| Apr. | Umbria | Refuses the proposal of the Perugians to command the city troops against the pontifical forces in the so-called Salt War. | |||
| ….. | Empire | Ottoman Empire | 300 infantry | Hungary | Alongside Alessandro Vitelli in Pest against the Turks. |
| ….. | Church | Lazio | Returning to Italy with Cardinal Farnese, he is put in charge of guarding Castel Sant’Angelo during a period of absence of Pope Paul III from Rome. The pontiff returns to him some castles in the Perugia area. | ||
| 1545 | |||||
| Sept. | Emilia | In Piacenza, at the entrance of Duke Pier Luigi Farnese into the city. | |||
| 1546 | |||||
| Summer | Church | Protestants | Germany | With Alessandro Vitelli, Cesare da Napoli, Giambattista Castaldo, and Pirro Colonna, he opposes the Landgrave of Hesse at Ulm. He is sent on reconnaissance with Cesare da Napoli and 25 horsemen to inspect enemy positions. Confronted by 150 German cavalry in ambush, he manages to save himself by entering a nearby forest. He distinguishes himself by his character; offended by an imperial captain, he doesn’t hesitate to draw his sword and wound him in the neck in front of Cardinal Farnese. | |
| Oct. | Germany | He is present at the battle of Donauworth. He is praised for his conduct shown in this encounter. | |||
| ….. | Emilia | Returns to Italy with Cardinal Farnese: he stays only a short time in Piacenza at the court of Pier Luigi Farnese due to disagreements he has with some nobles of the city. | |||
| 1549 | |||||
| Mar. | Lazio | He is in Rome commanding a large company of infantry on the occasion of the naumachia offered by the French cardinals to the inhabitants for the birth of the Duke of Orleans. | |||
| 1550 | |||||
| Apr. | Church | Ottoman Empire | 300 infantry | Lazio | He embarks as a volunteer on a frigate in Civitavecchia; follows the papal fleet of Carlo Sforza on the African coasts in order to fight the corsair Dragut. |
| May | Campania and Tunisia | In Naples. At the end of the month, he assaults Monastir. He defeats the infantry who came out of the castle, pursues them and enters the fortress with them. | |||
| June-July | Tunisia | Takes part with Giordano Orsini in the siege of Aphrodisium (Mahdia), defended by Hisar Rais, Dragut’s nephew. During operations, he saves Orsini’s life when suddenly attacked by some Berbers: he camps with the knights of the Order of Jerusalem, among whom de la Seingle stands out. | |||
| Sept. | Tunisia | He is present at the general attack on the walls of Mahdia at the head of 300 papal soldiers. | |||
| Dec. | Umbria | In Perugia. | |||
| 1551 | |||||
| ….. | France | Empire Church | Emilia | Supports Duke Ottavio Farnese in the defense of Parma. | |
| July | Emilia | At the fall of Colorno, he heads towards Fontanellato with his brother Adriano and Giulio d’Ascoli. He falls into an ambush set by the companies of Ferrante Gonzaga and the Count of Caiazzo; captured after suffering some losses, he is taken to San Secondo Parmense. | |||
| ….. | Church | France | Emilia | He is freed on the promise of no longer fighting for the Farnese. He passes into the service of the papal forces and fights against the French. At the siege of Mirandola. He is seriously wounded by an arquebus shot in an attempt to intercept a convoy of supplies directed to the enemy camp. He is taken to Padua to be treated. | |
| 1556 | |||||
| ….. | Church | Empire | Lazio | In the pay of Pope Paul IV against the imperials. | |
| ….. | Venice | Ottoman Empire | Governor General | Greece | He is given command of 1000 infantry and is sent to Corfu. |
| 1558 | Veneto | Returns to Italy. Supervises the defenses of Padua. | |||
| 1559 | Pope Pius IV returns to Astorre Baglioni and his brother Adriano the lordship of Spello and Bastia Umbra. | ||||
| 1561 | Veneto | With Girolamo da Martinengo, Giulio Savorgnano, and Agostino da Clusone, he receives from Sforza Pallavicini the mandate to determine and oversee a general plan of fortification works for the Venetian states. | |||
| 1566 | Veneto and Friuli | He is replaced in his position as governor of Verona by Paolo Orsini. He now has the task of strengthening the defenses of Udine and all of Friuli. | |||
| 1568 | Lombardy | Guarding the fortress of Bergamo with 100 infantry. |
| 1569 | |||||
| Jan. | Venice | Ottoman Empire | Cyprus | Leaves Venice carrying 5000 ducats to spend on strengthening the island’s fortifications. He is elected governor of Nicosia. | |
| Feb. | His wife Ginevra Salviati offers to pay on behalf of the Venetians the salary of 2000 infantry destined to fight the Turks. | ||||
| 1570 | |||||
| Apr. | Governor General | Veneto and Cyprus | He is appointed Governor General of Cyprus upon the death of Girolamo da Martinengo. He embarks again in Venice and reaches the island at the end of the month. He has command of 5600 infantry. | ||
| May | Cyprus | In Nicosia; he immediately proceeds to inspect the island’s defenses. His first acts are aimed at improving Nicosia’s defensive works. He goes even further: by his order, the sopracomiti Niccolò Donà and Francesco Tron, whose galleys are based in Famagusta, carry out a raid on the port of Tripoli in Syria, capturing a ship loaded with soap, oil, and raisins. The two Venetians depart undisturbed after cannonading the port warehouses. War is declared on the Serenissima by the Turks. His position, which subordinates him to civil authority, initially prevents him from having a more active presence in safeguarding the island’s coasts (culpably left undefended by local authorities), allowing the fleet of Pialì Pascia to land undisturbed. | |||
| June | Cyprus | He arranges the fortifications of Cerines and those of Famagusta, of which he is elected governor, with the collaboration of the city’s rector Marcantonio Bragadin. He tries to do the same in Nicosia, where reinforcement works are progressing slowly. | |||
| July | Cyprus | When he learns of the Turkish landing at Saline, near Nicosia, he leaves Famagusta and heads there with 300 mounted arquebusiers, 150 stradiots, and various captains; according to plans, he is to meet there with the collateral Count of Rocas, who left Nicosia with 200 stradiots and 100 mounted arquebusiers, and with Knight Randakis coming from Paphos with the rest of the light cavalry. The Italian and Greek captains, who had quarreled in the previous days because Count Rocas refuses to take orders from Baglioni, waste precious hours searching for each other without meeting. At nightfall, everyone decides to give up; each returns to lock themselves up with their men in their starting base. The very modern fortifications of Famagusta, designed by Sammicheli, allow for withstanding a long siege: the walls, about five kilometers long, are reinforced with bastions, towers, and embankments and are surmounted by forts called “cavalieri” that dominate the surrounding sea and countryside. Moreover, the city is surrounded by a deep moat. Astorre Baglioni further strengthens the city’s defenses, provisions the fortresses, has water wells poisoned, plants cut down, unharvested crops burned, all nearby houses leveled, unusable ships in the port disarmed, and restores strict discipline. At the end of the month, he leaves Famagusta with several horses and surprises 500 Turkish cavalry; he again assaults the enemy with 600 Italian infantry, 600 Greeks, and 200 cavalry, kills 300 men, and burns a camp. | |||
| Aug. | Cyprus | He carries out frequent sorties with the cavalry; however, he does not achieve the purpose of alleviating Ottoman pressure around Nicosia. In mid-month, he leaves the city at dawn with 400 Italian infantry, 300 Greek soldiers, and all the horses to surprise an enemy corps camped at the San Giorgio hamlet (200 Turks killed against 8 Venetians). | |||
| Sept. | Cyprus | Nicosia falls and Famagusta is invested by Lala Mustafa Pasha, who places his lodgings at the Pomodano hamlet, 3 miles from the city. After the conquest of Nicosia, Mustafa Pasha writes two letters to Marcantonio Bragadin and Astorre Baglioni announcing the fall of the locality and the death of all defenders: in exchange for surrender, he offers to spare their lives. In Famagusta, some argue that it’s a trick and that Nicosia couldn’t have fallen in such a short time. Soon a peasant arrives in Famagusta with a tin basin containing the head of Niccolò Dandolo. From this moment on, the Ottomans will conduct twenty-six assaults on the city. Baglioni begins by repelling a good number of horses; at the end of the month, he makes a new sortie with 2000 men who are supported by cavalry. | |||
| Nov. | Cyprus | He engages in numerous skirmishes with cavalry and arquebusiers. | |||
| Dec. | Cyprus | He has other clashes to recover some caves near Famagusta; he goes out with many sappers to build a trench towards Limassol and transport its earth to the capital to strengthen the city bastions. He always organizes numerous ambushes: he guarantees a prize of 2 ducats for every Turk killed and one of 5, personally offered by Baglioni, for anyone who overtakes an opponent with a lance. One day he takes off his fur coat and puts it on the shoulders of an Albanian who made a nice lance strike. |
| 1571 | |||||
| Jan. | Cyprus | Mustafa Pasha temporarily postpones siege operations until the following spring when the reopening of sea routes allows him to receive supplies and reinforcements. Baglioni has at his disposal for the defense of Famagusta 90 pieces of artillery, 6000 infantry (2000 Italians and 4000 Greeks) and 200 horses. The Ottoman captain general, meanwhile, does not give up negotiating to obtain the surrender of the Venetians in a less bloody way. Baglioni and Marcantonio Bragadin take advantage of this situation to gain time: they have permission to send one of the two galleys docked in the port to Venice to inform the competent authorities of the proposals received. In early November, the galley “Donata”, under the command of Niccolò Donà, sails from Famagusta undisturbed by Pialì Pasha’s 7 galleys in search of help. In mid-January, 4 transport ships escorted by 13 galleys under the orders of Marco Querini depart from Candia. The Venetian sends the transport ships ahead as bait. 7 Turkish galleys leave the port to intercept them. The adversaries realize the trap in time and take shelter under a fort built for this purpose. Mustafa Pasha brings a large number of arquebusiers and some pieces of artillery to the beach. Marco Querini bombards the Turkish galleys and during the day sinks 3 of them. At night, the transport ships unload provisions, ammunition and troops (1700 Italian infantry and 150 horses), 6252 ducats to pay the garrison’s wages, 46 pieces of artillery, including 6 cannons and 4 culverins, 1400 barrels of gunpowder, as well as 800 barrels of wine, a genre the city lacks. | |||
| Feb. | Cyprus | At the departure of the Venetian fleet, he makes the enemy believe that the city has been emptied of defenders. The Turks approach and are taken in enfilade by arquebusiers and bombardiers. They must also suffer a cavalry charge (2500 dead). | |||
| Mar.-Apr. | Cyprus | A first general assault is conducted in mid-month: at this point the Ottoman army has one hundred and thirteen pieces of artillery, 3000 horses, 193,000 infantry and 40,000 sappers. Astorre Baglioni has a mine placed under the Monte degli Ebrei which causes numerous deaths near the trenches, has the nearby wells poisoned and fills all the ground from the walls to 300 paces with caltrops (boards with 4 nails). In Famagusta, he transfers his lodging to the bastion of Santa Nappa, from where he fine-tunes the artillery fire. In ten days of fighting, at least 30,000 Turks, between soldiers and sappers, remain on the ground. 5370 people are made to leave Famagusta because they are considered “useless mouths”. | |||
| June | Cyprus | He repels six waves of a second general assault, carried out in five hours, after the adversaries have set fire to a powerful mine in front of the arsenal’s half-moon. He tries to repair the damage; at the end of the month, the Turks detonate another mine in front of the ravelin. The subsequent assault is also repelled. | |||
| July | Cyprus | The Turks conduct a third general assault on the ravelin, the tower of Santa Nappa, that of Andruzzi, the Curtain and the tower of the arsenal. Baglioni has his men abandon the ravelin: Luigi da Martinengo detonates a mine in which 100 Venetians and 1500 Turks are killed. The condottiere joins with the Italian, Albanian and Greek infantry and repels the adversaries once again. In mid-month, Mustafa Pasha has a large trench built and orders the fourth attack. Baglioni makes a sortie with Martinengo, after which he detonates a mine in the left flank of the ravelin in which 700 Turks remain buried under the rubble. A few days later, there is a new Ottoman assault, preceded by the explosion of 5 mines around the flanks of the Limassol cavalier and another under the square of the arsenal’s half-moon. The Venetians suffer heavy losses; the attackers are repelled; the civilian population puts pressure for the men of the Serenissima to ask for surrender due to lack of provisions and because water is also starting to run short. Baglioni is contacted by a renegade bearing a message from the opposing captain; he rejects the proposal, apparently favorable, which provides for surrender with the honors of war. The next day Mustafa Pasha launches the fifth general assault which is equally repelled. Only 500 Italian infantry remain for the defense of Famagusta, many of whom are wounded: all, in any case, are tired from the tension and the work they undergo and weak from the lack of food. On the last day of the month, the Cypriot nobles force the Venetians to ask for surrender. | |||
| Aug. | Cyprus | Mustafa Pasha declares himself willing to negotiate; two hostages are sent to him in the person of Matteo Colti and Francesco Calergi, replaced by Ercole da Martinengo. The negotiations conclude quickly: in exchange for surrender, some ships are made available to the defenders to transport the Italian infantry to Candia with arms and baggage after receiving the honors of war. The Greek and Albanian soldiers are left free to follow the Venetians or to remain in Cyprus; the civilian population, finally, would not have received harassment. The resistance lasted 157 days, seven-eighths of the garrison were killed; 163,000 projectiles were fired by the Ottoman side alone, of which 120,000 iron balls and 43,000 stone balls; among the Turks there are 50,000/80,000 dead out of the 250,000 men, including 40,000 sappers and 7,000 horses, who took part in the operations. Baglioni, escorted by 300 men, hands over the keys of the city together with Marcantonio Bragadin, Luigi da Martinengo and other captains. The Venetians are made to enter Mustafa Pasha’s tent unarmed; he initially receives them with courtesy, then, at Bragadin’s proud responses, artfully demands the return of some Muslim prisoners captured by Marco Querini (led, moreover, as slaves to Candia). He is answered that no prisoner in Venetian hands has been put to death. Mustafa Pasha then forcefully asks that a captain of the Serenissima remain in Cyprus as a guarantee of the return of the ships that would have to transport the soldiers to Candia. Baglioni replies that this clause is not provided for in the peace treaty signed between the parties. Mustafa Pasha becomes angry and orders the arrest of all those present; the fate of the Turkish prisoners comes back into discussion and it’s the end. Mustafa Pasha feels particularly insulted by Bragadin; he considers a bloody revenge indispensable especially on the body and image of the Venetian official. Those present at the meeting are immediately all chained; they are taken out of the pavilion where they are beheaded. Baglioni is also beheaded despite his protests for the non-respect of the terms of the capitulation; his head is stuck on a pike. The Venetian escort soldiers share the fate of their captains; even some Cypriots who were bringing food to the Ottoman camp are involved in the massacre. Only a few Greeks in Marcantonio Bragadin’s retinue are spared, a gesture wanted by Mustafa Pasha to ingratiate himself with the new subjects. At the moment, Bragadin’s ears are cut off; the Venetian soldiers waiting to embark are all killed; the Greeks are spared but many have to helplessly watch the rape of wives and children. Those on board the ships are all reduced to slavery. The following day Mustafa Pasha enters Famagusta, has the heads of the executed Venetians displayed in the main square for three days and has thirty others hanged in the city. Marcantonio Bragadin’s fate is the most tragic. Together with other Christians, he is forced to collect the rubble of the collapsed walls and to carry sacks of earth on his shoulders from the cavalier of the Limassol gate to the arsenal, on the opposite side of the southern walls. Fatigued, he is subjected to mockery and violence while the winners instigate him to convert to Islam. In mid-month the Venetian, exhausted from the infection derived from the amputation of his ears, is taken to the port and hoisted on the main yardarm of a galley so that everyone can see him to cover him with insults. After an hour he is brought back to land, dragged to the main square of Famagusta and tied to a column. He is again asked to convert to Islam; in response, he begins to pray aloud. Then two executioners begin to flay him alive, first tearing the skin from his head, then doing the same with his back and arms. At the moment when the executioners reach the navel, Bragadin shouts an invocation to God and dies. The executioners lay the lifeless body on the ground and finish their task. The body is then quartered and the various pieces are displayed in various points of the city. The Venetian’s skin is treated, stuffed, dressed in the crimson robe of the Venetian dignitary and carried around on the back of an ox, preceded by a Turk holding a parasol. The simulacrum of Marcantonio Bragadin, finally, is hoisted to the yardarm of a galley and made to parade along the entire coast of Cyprus before being taken to Constantinople along with the booty. Baglioni enjoys the esteem of Torquato Tasso; he leaves a “Opinion on the fortification of Friuli” and a letter, written from Cyprus to his wife Ginevra Salviati, on family government and children’s education. Matteo Spinello dedicates his compositions to him; Gabriele Chiabrera composes a song to remember his death. Ludovico Sensi and the Paduan Bernardino Tomitano write his biographies. He is portrayed, armed with his wife, by Orazio Fiacco. Another portrait is found in the civic museum of Verona, work of the Veronese painter Orlando Fiano. |
Sources
-“Audace, eroico, ma pensoso e previdente, amato dalle sue schiere.” ARGEGNI
-“Condottiero di molta et onorata fama.” QUARTI
-“E’ nella famiglia Baglioni l’angelo Gabriele che succede a non pochi Luciferi. Religioso di buona fede, rispettoso alle autorità superiori, verecondo verso le donne, i vecchi e gl’infelici, egli s’inteneriva piangendo su le sventure altrui come una femminetta; e nondimeno era un folgore di guerra; e per candore e modestia fu tale un contrapposto di sua famiglia e del secolo.” BONAZZI
-“Grandissimo capitan di guerra.” FOGLIETTA
-“Dimostrò segni di huomo eccellente.” SANSOVINO
-“Grande huomo di guerra.” ROSEO
-“Caeterisque immortali virtute ducibus, sese universo jam mari late potiri arbitrarentur.” G. ROSSI
-“Fu Astorre di religione e pietà cristiana sommamente ornato, come quegli che, piamente allevato, con molta riverenza ai precetti di Santa Chiesa si sforzava di dar salda ed intima esecuzione. Non v’ebbe uomo che praticando seco non lo giudicasse di candore e d’innocenza d’animo grandemete dotato.. In tutti gli atti della sua vita mostrò la sua fortezza e valore, e di pari con la sagacità e con la prudenza dei buoni consigli. Perciocché nell’alloggiare i suoi soldati, nel marciare e far alto, nel combattere e ritirarsi, e finalmente in tutte le fazioni, quando tra pedoni e quando tra cavalieri abbattendosi, dava chiaro indizio a ciascuno d’accorto e d’ardito capitano, sempre avendo innanzi a gli occhi, quasi due poli, il tempo e il luogo; il vantaggio dei quali solea dire che era il padrino delle vittorie. Nelle correrie usava più diligenza nel riconoscere i luoghi e le qualità del paese, che avidità di guastare e bruciare gli alberghi de’ paesani…Il freddo e il caldo, il vento e la nebbia, il fango e la polvere, ed ogni altro incommodo soffriva con molta pazienza; siccome, scevro delle comuni passioni, solo sprezzar potesse le offese ordinarie della natura. Tanta era la prontezza del suo militar ingegno, che in ogni impresa ove egli s’adoprò, diede di sé e del valor proprio illustre paragone. Contuttociò fu così vigilante e paziente delle fatiche.. che vestito di panni e talora guernito d’armi cessava di dormire, e l’ozio dir solea acerbo nemico della gloria e del militar onore. Egli adunque con sì fatto nome d’uomo prode e valoroso, e specialmente pieno di clemenza e d’umanità, fu appresso de’ soldati tanto grazioso ed amabile tenuto, che non stimando i manifesti pericoli, tutto ciò volentieri operavano che comandato lor fosse.” TOMITANO
-“Vir gnarus militiae, et quem nec hostium fama terruiset, nec ei, si obsequium et vires ad resistendum habuisset, regendi animus aut artes deerant.” A.M. GRAZIANI
-“Baglioni riuniva ai talenti militari una singulare valentia e molto gusto per le lettere, e fu uno dei migliori poeti del suo tempo.” PAOLINI
-“Egli è stato diligente e felicissimo nel verificarla ed effettuarla (il motto della sua impresa), avendo continuamente partoriti frutti del suo valore e della sua gloria notabilissimi, e di tanto più perpetua e lunga vita o duratione, quanto più è degno l’huomo che l’elefante, nel quale egli con la solita vaghezza e consuetudine dell’imprese, si rappresenta.” RUSCELLI
-“Capitano valoroso e arrischiato a tutte le fattini perigliose..Capitano chiarissimo per le gloriose fattioni e per l’acquisita intelligenza di guerra.” SARACENI
-“Spero, nè forse io spero,/ Per gran desire vaneggiando in vano,/ Che dopo gran girar del tempo alato,/ Suono di fama altero/ Dall’odioso obblio vorrà lontano/ nell’altrui mente il fier Baglione armato;/ E fra quegli erupi, onde repente in stato/ Cadde Cipri di gemiti e di pianti,/ I barbari nepoti/ Ne i secoli remoti/ Del gran nemico ammireranno i vanti,/ Che per lunga stagion fatte canute/ Spande l’ali più forte alma virtute.” CHIABRERA
-“La miseranda fine dei difensori di Famagosta commosse tutta la cristianità: tra i mille componimenti poetici dedicati all’ episodio, merita di essere ricordata la canzone che compose il Chiabrera in morte del Baglioni.” DE CARO
-“L’unico militare di gran nome (alla difesa di Cipro).” BARBERO
-“E’ anche un apprezzato letterato.” E. e G.N. PITTALIS
-“Uno dei più famosi condottieri dell’epoca.” MONELLO
-“Esperto condottiero e architetto militare.” PANCIERA
SPECIFIC BIOGRAPHIES
-B. Tomitano. Della vita e dei fasti di Astorre Baglioni.
Featured image: wikipedia
