The Fortunes and Betrayals of Bartolomeo delle Vittorie
Bartolomeo Smeducci (Bartolomeo da San Severino, Bartolomeo delle Vittorie), from San Severino Marche.
Lord of San Severino Marche, Potenza Picena (Montesanto), Staffolo, Apiro, Civitella del Tronto, Poggio San Vicino (Ficano), Domo, Carpignano, Castelletta, and Rotorscio. Son of Smeduccio Salimbeni, uncle of Onofrio Smeducci, nephew of Villanuccio da Villafranca, and father-in-law of Rodolfo da Varano. Founder of the Cingoli branch, known as Cima della Scala.
Death: 1408, June
| Year, Month | State, Comp. ventura | Opponent | Command | Area of Activity | Actions Undertaken and Other Salient Facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1367/1370 | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeducci is mentioned repeatedly by the Annales Camaldulenses in relation to the Abbey of Val di Castro (abbazia di Val di Castro) for numerous land sale transactions. | |||
| 1370 | |||||
| Mar. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio, together with his father Smeduccio, obtains from the Papal State (Stato della Chiesa) reconfirmation of the vicarship of San Severino Marche for ten years. | |||
| 1371 | Papal State (Stato della Chiesa) | Milan (Milano) | Emilia | Bartolomeo Smeduccio serves Pope Gregory XI (Gregorio XI) against the Visconti who threaten Bologna; for his merits, the papal legate reduces the census of his vicarship. | |
| 1375 | |||||
| Dec. | Florentine Republic (Firenze) | Papal State | 30 lances, 60 infantry, 10 crossbowmen | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio is led by the Florentines with 30 lances, 60 infantry and 10 crossbowmen; he instigates a rebellion in Cingoli, captures its castle and helps appoint the Cima as lords; after his victory, he pursues the ecclesiastical militias and forces them to withdraw from the territory; in retaliation, the pope deprives him of Apiro and other lands, which are annexed to the contado of Fabriano. |
| 1376 | |||||
| Feb. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio officially joins the Florentine League against the Papal State in the War of the Eight Saints. | |||
| July | Tuscany | Bartolomeo Smeduccio, forced by papal troops to abandon San Severino Marche, relocates to Florence with his family and his company of men-at-arms; in mid-July his personal enemy Rodolfo da Varano assumes command of the Florentine forces, prompting Smeduccio to leave the city immediately. | |||
| Oct.–Dec. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio besieges Gómez García in Ascoli Piceno and requests assistance from Perugia to counter the Breton company; upon the city’s surrender in mid-December, the Florentines knight him and grant him citizenship. | |||
| 1377 | |||||
| Spring | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio contributes 300 ducats to the company of Giovanni Acuto (John Hawkwood) against the papal forces; in May the people of Perugia send an ambassador to the Marches to seek an agreement between Smeduccio and the lord of Camerino, Rodolfo da Varano. | |||
| Sept. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio defeats Rodolfo da Varano, now in the opposing camp, first near Tolentino and then at Matelica; he achieves principal merit in the second engagement alongside Francesco di Matelica, with both commanders leading the infantry’s right flank; after the battle he joins Rinaldo da Monteverde and Lucio Lando (Lutz von Landau), pursues the adversaries and captures Montegiorgio, Serra San Quirico and Sant’Elpidio a Mare, which he sacks. | |||
| Oct. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio defeats Rodolfo da Varano for the third time. | |||
| 1378 | |||||
| ………………. | Marche | At the end of the War of the Eight Saints, Bartolomeo Smeduccio reconciles with the papal forces and recovers Apiro and the other lands previously confiscated from him. | |||
| Aug. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio forms a kinship with Rinaldo da Monteverde when one of his daughters marries a son of the lord of Fermo; at the same time, a daughter of his nephew Onofrio marries another son of the same Monteverde. | |||
| Oct. | Tuscany | Bartolomeo Smeduccio travels to Florence seeking a condotta when the Ciompi Revolt erupts; he departs hastily for Pisa, where some of his retainers are imprisoned for several days; he then forms an alliance with the people of Perugia and commits to deliver a silk banner to the city for the feast of Sant’Ambrogio. | |||
| 1379 | |||||
| Jan. | Marche | Pope Urban VI grants Bartolomeo Smeduccio the vicarship of the Abbey of Val di Castro (abbazia di Val di Castro). | |||
| Feb. | Marche | Antipope Clement VII attempts in vain to draw Bartolomeo Smeduccio to his cause. Pope Urban VI delegates ecclesiastics to absolve Smeduccio and his nephews Onofrio and Pietro from past censures and confirms Smeduccio’s vicarship of San Severino Marche for ten years, including Apiro, Domo, Ficano and Rotorscio; he also adds the castles of Carpignano, Montesanto (Potenza Picena), Castelletta and Staffolo, occupied by the condottiero in the recent conflict. Shortly thereafter, Smeduccio returns Staffolo to the Cima and receives Montadamo from the people of Ascoli Piceno, later selling that castle to them in 1383 for 1,000 florins. | |||
| ………………. | Papal State (Stato della Chiesa) | Antipope (Antipapa) | Umbria | Bartolomeo Smeduccio seizes the fortress of Bevagna and is appointed its guardian. | |
| 1380 | |||||
| Mar. | Marche | The commune of Fermo sends three citizens as envoys to Bartolomeo Smeduccio, urging him to assist in recovering its port and to grant a loan to the commune. | |||
| ………………. | Papal State (Stato della Chiesa) | Ascoli Piceno | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio occupies the fortress of Ascoli Piceno. | |
| Nov. | Bartolomeo Smeduccio requests the people of Perugia to pay the wages due to him. | ||||
| 1381 | |||||
| Feb. | San Severino Marche | Exiles (Fuoriusciti) | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio, with assistance from Rodolfo da Varano and his nephew Onofrio, captures his nephew Pietro, who had plundered territory near San Severino Marche with his sons; he orders the beheading of several followers of Pietro. In the same days, Pope Urban VI requests his support to confront the militias of Antipope Clement VII. | |
| July | Durazzo | Naples (Napoli) | Campania | Bartolomeo Smeduccio fights on behalf of Charles of Durazzo against the troops of Queen Joanna I of Naples (Giovanna I d’Angiò) and takes part in the Battle of Porta Capuana. | |
| 1383 | |||||
| July | Naples (Napoli) | Angevin forces (Angiò) | Abruzzi | Charles of Durazzo appoints Bartolomeo Smeduccio viceroy of the Abruzzi; Smeduccio besieges L’Aquila with 1,000 horse and numerous infantry, encamping at Preturo four miles from the city. He is attacked at night in Coppito by Rinaldo Orsini, who leads 150 horse and the city garrison, and is captured with many of his captains, suffering significant losses; he and numerous of his men, including the abbot of Montereale, are taken into the city. The plunder is claimed by the new count of Montorio, Giovanpaolo dei Camponeschi. Smeduccio is released shortly thereafter. | |
| 1384 | |||||
| Apr. | Naples (Napoli) | Angevin forces (Angiò) | |||
| Nov. | Apulia | Bartolomeo Smeduccio enters Barletta. | |||
| 1385 | |||||
| Oct. | Florentine Republic (Firenze) | Mercenary companies | Captain-General (capitano generale) | The Florentine Republic appoints Bartolomeo Smeduccio as captain-general of the league promoted by the Florentines (314 lances), Bolognese (250 lances), Sienese (138), Perugians (123), Pisans (120 lances and 150 crossbowmen) and Lucchesi (30 lances), with the objective of destroying the mercenary companies infesting Italy. | |
| 1386 | |||||
| Feb. | The Republic reconfirms his appointment; Bartolomeo Smeduccio defeats the companies of Carlo Visconti and Antonio della Scala in several minor engagements. | ||||
| Summer | Tuscany and Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio departs Florence and arrives in Bologna; he then proceeds without delay to his possessions to resolve a dispute between his son Smeduccio and his nephews Onofrio and Roberto, who with the assistance of Boldrino da Panicale have seized the lordship of San Severino Marche. | |||
| 1387 | |||||
| Mar. | House of Anjou (Angiò) | Naples, Papal State | Puglia | Bartolomeo Smeduccio fights in Puglia on behalf of Louis I of Anjou (Luigi d’Angiò) against the forces of Charles of Durazzo. | |
| ……………… | Exiles (Fuoriusciti) | San Severino Marche | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio attempts to recover the lordship of San Severino Marche and approaches the city; Boldrino da Panicale exits to meet him, but Smeduccio defeats Boldrino, inflicting a loss of 100 men; Smeduccio then enters San Severino Marche as lord of the city. | |
| 1388 | |||||
| Jan. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio is betrayed by his most faithful friend, bribed by his nephew Onofrio, who admits Onofrio and Boldrino da Panicale into San Severino Marche; alerted by the betrayal, Smeduccio captures Antonio da San Severino, the son of Onofrio, and Smeduccio and Giovanni Smeduccio, the sons of Roberto, imprisoning them in the fortresses of Truschia and Bisaccia near Gagliole; Onofrio and Roberto Smeduccio escape capture and succeed in inciting the populace; Smeduccio defends himself for a time before surrendering, and is imprisoned in one of the fortresses with his son Smeduccio, while his natural sons Biagio and Marcuccio and two grandsons of Smeduccio are confined in the castle of Isola. | |||
| Apr. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio is released in April under pressure from the Florentines, Pope Urban VI, the Ottoni, the Cima, the Chiavelli and Boldrino da Panicale; he reconciles at Matelica with his kinsmen but is forced to reside there and renounce all claims to San Severino Marche; in compensation of 2,000 florins he sells to his nephews all his houses and lands in the territory of San Severino Marche—including the palace and fortress of Civitella (near Serravalle in Chienti), and the fortresses of Truschia and Bisaccia—and numerous other possessions; Boldrino da Panicale attempts to spare him further losses by a fictitious purchase of Ficano (Poggio San Vicino) and Apiro for 10,000 florins, but Smeduccio repudiates the agreement and refuses to cede those localities; Guido Chiavelli, Guido di Matelica and Pagnone Cima, all allies of Boldrino, are present at the transaction with nephew Onofrio in Matelica. | |||
| 1390 | |||||
| Feb. | Exiles (Fuoriusciti) | San Severino Marche | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio renews the conflict with his kinsmen; he assaults San Severino Marche without success, recovering only Apiro; a Perugian intervention leads to a new agreement. | |
| 1391 | |||||
| Feb. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio travels to Macerata and takes part in a banquet organized by the papal legate to the Marches, Andrea Tomacelli, during which Boldrino da Panicale is killed; immediately afterward, Smeduccio seizes Ficano without encountering any resistance. | |||
| ……………….. | Abruzzi | Bartolomeo Smeduccio takes refuge in the Abruzzi and seizes Civitella del Tronto. | |||
| 1393 | |||||
| Mar. | Marche | Bartolomeo Smeduccio is included in the general pacification agreement of the Marches, which opposes Andrea Tomacelli with Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, Recanati, Montecchio (Treia) and Osimo against Ancona, Fermo and Gentile da Varano; the agreement also includes Onofrio Smeduccio. | |||
| 1408 | |||||
| May–June | Antipope Clement VII | Naples (Napoli) | Abruzzi | Bartolomeo Smeduccio marries Pier Lorenza Chiavelli, daughter of Alberghettino, lord of Fabriano, and Fresca Manfredi. In May–June the inhabitants of Civitella del Tronto rebel against him; he locks himself in the castle, which is besieged by the Viceroy of Naples and the inhabitants of Ascoli Piceno, and dies in combat when the fortress falls to his adversaries. |
Sources
-“Costui fu così fortunato in guerra che per la frequenza de’ vittoriosi suoi fatti meritossi il titolo di Bartolomeo della Vittoria.” TIRIBILLI-GIULIANI
-“Il quale era tenuto il più valente uomo di tutta la Marca.” MINERBETTI
-“Vir prudens rei bellicae expertus.” BRACCIOLINI
-“Altro bravo guerriero che si rese assaissimo segnalato. Fu generale dei fiorentini e di altre illustri città dell’Italia, e pel valore che dimostrava non meno che per la fortuna che lo accompagnava era detto Bartolomeo delle Vittorie per antonomasia.” COLUCCI
-“Il quale era tenuto il più valente uomo di tutta la Marca.” CIUCCIOVINO
Featured image: Iscrizioni medievali perdute torre del castello di Carpignano, Raoul Paciaroni
