Political Assassination in Medieval Verona: Azzo Da Correggio’s Manipulation of Mastino Della Scala
AZZO DA CORREGGIO. Of Parma. Marquis of Correggio. Lord of Parma, Berceto, Guardasone, Guastalla, Colorno, Brescello. Of the Correggio branch of Guardasone. Patrician of Parma. Brother of Simone da Correggio and Guido da Correggio.
Born: 1303 ca.
Death: 1362
| Year, Month | State, Comp. ventura | Opponent | Command | Area of Activity | Actions Undertaken and Other Salient Facts |
| 1318 | He obtains from Pope John XXII the provostship of Borgo San Donnino (Fidenza) and, later, also a canonry in Liège. | ||||
| 1321 | |||||
| Sept. | Emilia | He is chosen as an arbitrator, with his brothers, for a truce to be established between the municipality of Reggio Emilia and the Canossa family. | |||
| 1322 | |||||
| Sept. | Emilia | He is able to re-enter Parma. He is first hosted in the village of Santa Cristina by the innkeeper Tommasino Roncai and, subsequently, in the house of Alberto Meliaduse. | |||
| Nov. | Emilia | He secretly leaves Parma with all his family; he returns to Castelnuovo following the murder of his confidant Bernardo degli Azzoni. | |||
| 1325 | |||||
| Nov. | Emilia | In Parma; he takes lodging in the monastery of San Giovanni; he meets with the cardinal legate Bertrand du Pouget (Bertrando del Poggetto). He reconciles with the papal forces. | |||
| 1326 | |||||
| Church | Mantua | Emilia | He is placed in charge of the guard of Fidenza. | ||
| June | Emilia and Lombardy | He is stationed between Guastalla and Brescello; he prevents Passerino Bonacolsi from crossing the Po. When the adversary moves towards Torricella, Azzo da Correggio heads for Tagliata; he devastates the Mantua area; he seizes Luzzara, Reggiolo, Suzzara, San Benedetto Po, and Borgoforte. The papal legate grants these locations as a fief to him and his brothers. | |||
| 1327 | Emilia | Attacked by Bonacolsi, he retreats to Guastalla; eventually, he is forced to leave the locations in the Mantua area, which had already been granted to him by the papal forces, in the power of the legate Bertrand du Pouget (Bertrando del Poggetto). | |||
| 1328 | |||||
| Aug. | Empire | Church | Emilia | With Marsilio dei Rossi and Giberto da Fogliano, he breaks into Reggio Emilia, where the castle gate is opened for him from the inside; he attacks Governor Arnaldo Vacca in his palace, who is killed, while the Guelph partisans are forced to flee. The Roberti family, very powerful shortly before, are arrested with other nobles and imprisoned. | |
| Sept. | Verona | Padua | Veneto | He makes peace with Cangrande della Scala and helps him take possession of Padua. He accompanies him in his solemn entry into the city; he also follows him to Vicenza, where he enters with Marsilio dei Rossi. | |
| Nov. | Veneto | In Verona with Obizzo d’Este, Rizzardo da Camino, and Luigi Gonzaga for the celebrations organized for the recent Scaliger victories. | |||
| 1329 | |||||
| May | Church | Parma | Emilia | He devastates the Parma area. He captures Cavriago. | |
| June | Emilia | He attacks Berceto in vain; he raids its countryside as far as San Cassano, Certosa, Moile, Gazzano, Vicopo (Vico). The depredations continue undisturbed until the peace treaty is signed between the legate and the Rossi family. | |||
| July | Emilia | He grows closer to the Scaliger family and favors the Ghibelline faction. Upon the death of Cangrande della Scala, he rides to Verona with his brother Simone and there supports, with many horses and infantry, the claims of Alberto and Mastino della Scala. | |||
| Aug. | da Correggio | Church | Emilia | With Marsilio dei Rossi, he takes possession of Parma. | |
| Sept. | da Correggio | Parma | Emilia | He resumes hostilities with the Rossi family, who have become lords of Parma, when Rolando dei Rossi is treacherously imprisoned in Bologna by the papal legate, Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget (Bertrando del Poggetto). | |
| 1330 | |||||
| June-July | Emilia | He is stationed at Castelnuovo with 160 lances; with his brothers, he damages the Parma area: in Parma, some of his partisans are arrested and hanged. He returns to Castelnuovo, moves between Reggio Emilia and Rubiera, and reaches the Secchia river at Marzaglia where he is confronted by his adversaries. | |||
| 1331 | |||||
| Apr. | Emilia | With the support of John of Bohemia (Giovanni di Boemia), he re-enters Parma with his brothers. In the middle of the month, he publicly reconciles with Marsilio and Pietro dei Rossi in the cathedral square. | |||
| Nov. | Veneto | He is elected by Pope John XXII as coadjutor to the bishop of Verona, Niccolò di Villanuova, with the right to succeed him in office. | |||
| 1332 | |||||
| June | da Correggio | Church Empire | Emilia | With his brothers Simone and Guido da Correggio, he rebels against John of Bohemia (Giovanni di Boemia) and the papal forces; he sets fire to the fortress near Olmo and resumes hostilities against Parma. | |
| 1333 | |||||
| July | Emilia | With his relatives, he signs a truce with his adversaries. | |||
| 1334 | |||||
| Spring | Emilia | He breaks the truce on the pretext that the vicars of Parma (Rolando dei Rossi) and Cremona (Ponzino Ponzoni) have questioned the jurisdiction in the territories controlled by the da Correggio family. He moves to the Enza river. | |||
| 1335 | |||||
| Jan. | France | In Avignon, at the papal court; with Spinetta Malaspina, he accuses Rolando dei Rossi of having always supported Emperor Louis the Bavarian (Ludovico il Bavaro). | |||
| June | Verona | Emilia | He re-enters Parma in the retinue of Alberto della Scala. | ||
| July | Emilia | He is invested with Berceto and Guardasone. In Parma, he is first hosted in the convent of the Friars Minor and, later, at Porta Nuova near the church of San Tommaso. | |||
| 1336 | |||||
| Jan. | Veneto | In Verona; he publicly accuses Pietro, Rolando, and Marsilio dei Rossi of having attempted to take the life of Mastino della Scala. His adversaries are forced to flee Verona. He returns to Parma and persecutes the enemies of the Scaliger family. Azzo da Correggio has the episcopal palace in the city demolished; the resulting material is transported to Colorno where it will be used for the reconstruction of the local fortress. He is invested with the locality by Mastino della Scala. On the remains of the fortress, the ducal palace will be built in the early 1700s. | |||
| Verona | Florence Venice | In the service of the lord of Verona, Mastino della Scala, against the Florentines and Venetians. The adversary troops are commanded by Pietro dei Rossi. | |||
| 1337 | |||||
| Emilia | He settles in Parma. His residence is at Porta Nona. | ||||
| May-June | Tuscany | He goes to Lucca with 300 horses with the appointment of vicar for the della Scala family. Rolando dei Rossi moves against him at the head of the Florentine militias and the republic’s allies (2000 horses). | |||
| July | Tuscany | The adversaries lay waste to the Lucca area without being opposed by anyone. | |||
| Aug. | Emilia | He has some members of the Remesini family beheaded and imprisoned in Colorno on charges of treason. Their houses are razed, as are those of their alleged accomplices. | |||
| Veneto | In Venice with Spinetta Malaspina. He negotiates peace with Doge Francesco Dandolo. | ||||
| 1338 | |||||
| Aug. | Veneto | In Peschiera del Garda when Louis the Bavarian (Ludovico il Bavaro) returns the locality to the Scaliger family. With his slanders, Azzo da Correggio induces Mastino della Scala to personally kill, on suspicion of treason, Bartolomeo della Scala, who had become bishop of Verona two years earlier in his place. | |||
| Sept. | Veneto | With Spinetta Malaspina and Guidoriccio da Fogliano, he tries in vain to take possession of Montagnana by treaty. | |||
| Nov. | Veneto | Still with Malaspina and Ugolino Gonzaga, he is sent by Mastino della Scala to Venice to conclude peace negotiations. | |||
| 1339 | |||||
| France | He renounces his clerical attire; he goes to Avignon a second time to plead the cause of the lord of Verona before Pope Benedict XII and to defend himself against the accusations made by the Rossi family: on this occasion at the papal court he meets Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), of whom he becomes a close friend. | ||||
| Sept. | Emilia | Mastino and Alberto della Scala are recognized as vicars of Verona, Parma, and Vicenza in return for the payment of 5,000 florins a year and the maintenance of 200 horses and 300 infantry in the service of the Church: they are also absolved for the killing of Bartolomeo della Scala. For this outcome, Correggio is elected governor of Parma. | |||
| Emilia | He obtains the castle of Castrignano as a fief from the della Scala family and, after a short time, also Guardasone and Berceto. | ||||
| 1340 | |||||
| Feb. | Lombardy | He goes to Mantua and attends the wedding of Luigi, Corrado, and Ugolino Gonzaga. On the same occasion, he gives up the provostship of Fidenza to marry Tommasina, daughter of Luigi Gonzaga. | |||
| Emilia and France | He comes into conflict with the Scaliger family; he cultivates the project of taking Parma from their dominion. He reaches Avignon a second time; he complains about the behavior of his nephew Mastino who first, thanks to his previous intervention, had the papal interdict on his territories lifted, only to then renege on the pacts signed in his name by Correggio himself. | ||||
| 1341 | |||||
| Feb.-Apr. | France Lazio Campania | In February he leaves Avignon with his friend Petrarch. The two embark together in Marseille. In April he reaches Rome, where one of the two senators of the city, Orso dell’Anguillara, places the laurel wreath on Petrarch‘s head and gives the latter a diploma in which the poet transforms his surname from Petracchi or Petracco into the Latinate Petrarca. On the same occasion, the ambassador of the King of Naples places on the poet’s shoulders the cloak that the Angevin sovereign had given him, while Stephen Colonna the Elder (Stefano Colonna il Vecchio) proclaims him poet laureate. A little-known episode follows at the end of the month. Azzo da Correggio and Petrarch leave Rome to head for Pisa: during the journey, they are captured and immediately released by a group of bandits. Subsequently, Azzo da Correggio continues the journey alone towards Naples. Here, at the suggestion of his father-in-law Luigi Gonzaga, he meets with King Robert of Anjou (Roberto d’Angiò). He then comes to an understanding with the Florentines, who are eager to take possession of Lucca, and with the lord of Reggio Emilia, Filippino Gonzaga. Finally, he goes to Milan, meets with Luchino Visconti, and promises him the delivery of Parma after four years in exchange for his help in becoming lord of the city. Each year, the lordship of the city should correspond to a different da Correggio (Azzo, Guido, Giovanni, and Simone). | |||
| May | Correggio | Verona | Emilia | He obtains troops in support and with them prepares for Guardasone. With his brothers Guido and Simone, he makes Parma rebel against the Scaliger family. The podestà Bonetto da Malvicina, Pietro dal Verme, and Giberto da Fogliano move too late to prevent his movements. The adversaries attack his partisans who have taken up positions at Codiponte and there capture his brother Giovanni. Guido and Simone da Correggio, on the other hand, have time to prepare their men near the Porta di San Michele. Having arrived with his troops, Azzo da Correggio presses Bonetto da Malvicina and forces him to retreat to the square. He takes him prisoner following a fight in which many Veronese are killed; the Paduans, in the service of the Scaliger family, flee to Mantua with their captains. The latter will be handed over to the lord of Padua, Ubertino da Carrara, who will have them put in a cage where they will die of starvation. Since the day of victory coincides with the feast of Saint Bovo, the citizenry of Parma orders the construction of a church in honor of this saint (near San Sepolcro) and decrees that this day be considered a holiday every year. With the rise to power in Parma of Bernabò Visconti, the holiday will disappear from the calendar. The same day that Azzo da Correggio becomes lord of Parma, Petrarch arrives in the city and creates a composition in praise of his family. Subsequently, da Correggio attacks the castle of Guardasone with many infantry. | |
| 1342 | Milan Pisa | Florence | Tuscany | He sends 150 horses to the aid of the Pisans in their fight against the Florentines. | |
| 1343 | |||||
| Jan. | Parma | Ferrara | Emilia | He thwarts a treaty promoted to his detriment by Obizzo d’Este, which ended with a hasty retreat by Giberto di San Vitale, Vecchio dei Rossi, and Ugolino Lupo, who were supposed to support the conspirators. He uses the Great Company of Werner von Urslingen (Guarnieri di Urslingen) for a few days until the German condottiero changes sides under pressure from Brandaligi da Marano. | |
| 1344 | |||||
| Emilia | Upon the death of his brother Simone, he breaks all relations with his other brother Guido. | ||||
| Oct. | Emilia | With the mediation of Mastino della Scala, he approaches Obizzo d’Este to whom he cedes Parma for 60,000 or 70,000 florins. Giberto da Fogliano is introduced into the city at night with many infantry and cavalry. Guido da Correggio then flees Parma and shuts himself up in Brescello, Guastalla, and Correggio; Azzo, on the other hand, is followed by his other brother Giovanni and Cagnolo da Correggio. | |||
| Nov. | Emilia | In Modena with Giovanni and Cagnolo da Correggio to ratify the agreement for the sale of Parma to Obizzo d’Este. Present for the occasion in the city are the lord of Rimini Malatesta Malatesta (Guastafamiglia), the lord of Ravenna Ostasio da Polenta, the lord of Faenza Francesco Manfredi, Francesco d’Este, Cagnolo da Correggio, and Giberto da Fogliano. The city council accepts the new lordship. | |||
| Dec. | Ferrara | Mantua | Emilia | On the way back to Reggio Emilia, he escapes with Obizzo d’Este from the ambush set at Rivalta by Filippino Gonzaga for the Este family. | |
| 1345 | |||||
| Jan. | da Correggio | da Correggio | Emilia | His brother Guido seizes Caselnuovo. | |
| June | Verona | Mantua | Emilia | He serves with the Scaliger family against the Gonzaga family. He is wounded and defeated in the clash at Porta Bernone in Reggio Emilia. | |
| July | Emilia | He heads to Bologna with Ostasio da Polenta to convince Taddeo Pepoli not to leave the alliance with the Este family for one with the Visconti family. | |||
| Veneto | He lives at the Scaliger court. | ||||
| 1353 | |||||
| Nov. | Veneto | He accompanies Cangrande II della Scala to Legnago for his meeting with Aldobrandino d’Este: he arranges for Galeazzo dei Medici, Tebaldo Costabili, and Filippo Pagani, who had left Ferrara, to reconcile with the marquis. | |||
| 1354 | |||||
| Feb. | Della Scala | Verona | Veneto | He agrees with Frignano della Scala, the natural son of Mastino, to help him become lord of Verona and Vicenza. He is in charge of the guard of Verona when Cangrande II della Scala has to go to Bolzano to see the Margrave of Brandenburg: the (false) news spreads that the lord of the city has been killed in the street. Azzo da Correggio summons the commanders of the men-at-arms and sends them away from Verona to Peschiera del Garda for an alleged attack by Bernabò Visconti. Frignano della Scala gains power for a short time. Upon hearing the news that the Gonzaga family has entered Verona with 300 horses to support Frignano della Scala‘s cause, he rushes to Ferrara to report what happened. Conversely, the plot fails and Cangrande della Scala is in complete control of the situation: Azzo da Correggio is sentenced to death in absentia; his assets in Verona are confiscated. Cangrande has a gallows placed in front of his house, which will be renewed annually as long as the lord of Verona remains alive. His wife and two of his children are also captured, whom he can only ransom a few months later for a payment of 13,000 florins (or 25,000 florins according to some sources); 3 of his family members are hanged. | |
| Emilia | He takes refuge in Bologna. | ||||
| Dec. | Emilia | He leaves Bologna to go to Guardasone, whose inhabitants have rebelled against the Visconti family. | |||
| 1356 | |||||
| Apr. | Bologna | Milan | Emilia | In the service of the lord of Bologna, Giovanni Visconti da Oleggio. He rides to Guardasone and infests the Parma area. | |
| Oct. | Emilia | Under the orders of the imperial vicar Astorgio Markwald, he leaves Bologna and enters the Parma area with Dondaccio da Piacenza and Raimondo Lupo without finding any resistance; he stops at Castell’Arquato in the Piacenza area and continues towards Castel San Giovanni. He conquers Magenta and Casorate Primo, and sacks Castano Primo. | |||
| Nov. | Piedmont | He joins Francesco of Monferrato (700 barbutes); he tries to take possession of Vercelli by treaty. | |||
| Nov. | Piedmont | He joins Marquis Francesco of Monferrato (700 barbutes). He tries to enter Vercelli. | |||
| 1357 | |||||
| Jan. | With Otto of Brunswick (Ottone di Brunswick), he persuades Count Lando to fight for the anti-Visconti league with 1000 horses. He captures the castle of Novara and besieges Vercelli. | ||||
| Sept. | Emilia | He obtains from the lord of Milan, Bernabò Visconti, the restitution of all his assets in Parma, including the castle of Castrignano, held as a fief from the pope and owned by the episcopal curia of Parma. | |||
| 1358 | |||||
| Feb. | Monferrato | Milan | Piedmont | With Otto of Brunswick (Ottone di Brunswick), he hires Count Lando (100 barbutes) on behalf of Marquis John of Monferrato (Giovanni Monferrato). | |
| Emilia | He loses his dispute with the bishop of Parma, Ugolino dei Rossi, to whom the castle of Castrignano is assigned. | ||||
| Lombardy | He retires to Milan where he is well received by Bernabò Visconti. The castle of Castrignano and all his assets in the city of Parma are returned to him. | ||||
| 1362 | |||||
| Summer | Lombardy | He dies in Milan. He is buried in that city, as attested by the poet Moggio da Parma, his sons’ tutor, in a long poem composed in his honor and dedicated to their mutual friend Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). During the period when he is lord of Parma, he hosts the latter several times in the city and at the summer residence of Selvapiana (now a hamlet of Canossa). Petrarch dedicates to him the third edition of the “Canzoniere” (with the song: Quel ch’ha nostra natura in sé più degno) and some writings, including the treatise “De remediis utriusque fortunae“. |
Sources
-“Il maggior de’ briganti dell’età sua.” AFFO’
-“Civis honorabilis.” CHRONICON ESTENSE
-“Omnis generis proditione versatum, sceleroso aste ac nepharius.” MARZAGAIA
-“Non vi era chi fosse da lui amato al par di me: diceva ch’io ero il solo, che non già gli avessi mai dato occasione di noia e di dispiacere con alcun mio detto, o con alcuna mia azione; che aveva bensì avuta qualche leggiera contesa domestica colla sua moglie, donna per altro divina, e co’ suoi figlioli benché si dolci e ubbidienti; ma meco non aveva mai avuta giammai la menoma ombra di scontentezza.” In occasione della sua morte. PETRARCA
-“Chi trade sua città, sangue e signiore,/La divina giustizia dove ‘l manda?/Dietro per messer Azzo traditore/Que da Correggio ch’è di simil ràza.” Antonio di Ferrara, riportato da CIUCCIOVINO
-“Un modesto signorotto a cui arrise un effimero successo alla conquista di Parma.” FINZI
-“Il Correggio amò presentarsi come il liberatore di Parma dalla tirannide di Mastino della Scala. L’inizio della nuova signoria dovette apparire ai Parmigiani una vera liberazione. Giovanni da Cornazzano annotava nella sua “Cronaca”: i Correggio cominciarono di reggere non come Signori, ma come Padri, la città senza parzialità o gravezza alcuna, talché se avessero continuato tal Signoria e governo, senza dubbio sarebbero stati perseveranti, e per modo di dire eterni nel dominio; ma passato l’anno, mutarono Signoria e loro costumi.” Anche il Petrarca si unì agli altri per tessere le lodi del suo signore con una canzone nella quale, accanto a motivi contingenti ed encomiastici, preannuncia i temi ben più profondi delle lettere a Cola di Rienzo e della “Canzone all’Italia”…Avanti negli anni e talmente infermo da non potersi più reggere da solo, il Correggio poteva apparire al Petrarca, sempre benevolo e indulgente verso l’amico, la stessa personificazione dell’uomo colpito dalla buona e dalla cattiva sorte: questo volle significare la dedica a lui del “De remediis utriusque fortunae.”” MONTECCHI
-“Evolat Azo tuus, quondam quem solus amanti/ Corde reconsideras toto, quem totus amore/ Ambieras, solique tuo tua vota dicares.” Da un poema latino di Moggio dei Moggi diretto al Petrarca e riportato dall’AFFO’
-“Clauditur hic aevi sollers prudentia nostri,/ Et decus et virtus aurea Corrigiae/ Acro, jubar patriae, patriae spes optima quondam,/ Cujus in amplexu laeta quievit amans./ Magnus apostolico magno, cum Caesare magnus,/ Cujus in Ausonio surgant ad sydera mundo/ Splendida Corrigiae, splendida facta domi./ Orbe pererrato, tandem perductus asili/ Jam vice se comitum reddiderat gremio,/ Et maris et terrae totiens heu jurgia fati/ Vicerat, hic sola morte feritur humi.” Da un epitaffio di Moggio dei Moggi, riportato dall’AFFO’
“Istigatore di tanti mali e tristi situazioni.” AZARIO
-“Quando ormai avanti negli anni e talmente infermo da non potersi quasi più reggere da sol, Azzo appariva al Petrarca, sempre benevolo ed indulgente verso l’amico, la personificazione dell’uomo colpito dalla buona e dalla cattiva sorte: questo voleva significare la dedica a lui del “De remediis utriusque fortunae”. Anche se la vita del nostro era stata tumultuosa, tuttavia egli oggi non può certo essere presa come esempio dell’uomo saggio che sta saldo di fronte alle avversità della sorte idealizzata e fuorviante è l’immagine di Azzo che di appare da questa e da altre pagine non disinteressate del Petrarca.” www.museoilcorreggio.org>allegati>
Featured image: wikipedia
