How a fifteenth-century condottiere balanced battlefield command with the patronage of letters
NICCOLÒ MARIA RANGONI. From Modena. Count of Castelcrescente and Borgofranco (Castelfranco Emilia). Lord of Spilamberto, Castelcrescente, Ravarino, Castelfranco Emilia, Cordignano. Count Palatine. Patrician of Modena.
Son of Guido I Rangoni; father of Guido II Rangoni, Ludovico Rangoni, Francesco Rangoni and Annibale Rangoni; brother-in-law of Pandolfo Malatesta, Galeotto Manfredi, Giovanni Gonzaga, Giberto Pio, Alessandro Bentivoglio, Annibale Bentivoglio and Ermes Bentivoglio.
Born: 1455
Death: 1500, October
| Year, Month | State, Comp. ventura | Opponent | Command | Area of Activity | Actions Undertaken and Other Salient Facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1468 | |||||
| Sept. | Emilia | He has a dispute with his paternal uncles Ugo and Venceslao over the enjoyment of fiefs granted to the family by the Este in the previous century (the counties of Castelcrescente (Castelcrescente Ravarino) and Borgofranco (Castelfranco Emilia)). He joins with his cousin Uguccione (200 lances and 500 infantry) and drives his relatives Ugo and Venceslao from Spilamberto, where the latter had settled; Borso d’Este intervenes. He must withdraw for the time being. The Duke of Ferrara intervenes on the question of possession of Spilamberto: three jurists are appointed to resolve the matter. The disputes are soon settled in his favor. | |||
| 1469 | |||||
| Jan. | Emilia | At Ferrara for the celebrations given by Duke Borso d’Este in honor of Emperor Frederick of Austria. He is noted on this occasion alongside his uncle Ugo. | |||
| 1470 | Bologna | ||||
| 1471 | Lazio | ||||
| 1473 | |||||
| Apr. | Emilia | At Bologna. He is ready to accompany Sigismondo d’Este, bound for Naples to receive Eleonora of Aragon (Eleonora d’Aragona), wife of the Duke of Ferrara Ercole d’Este. | |||
| 1476 | Emilia | He is invested with Spilamberto by the new Duke of Ferrara Ercole d’Este. | |||
| 1479 | |||||
| May | Bologna | Captain general of lances | Emilia | He assumes command of the men-at-arms of the lord of Bologna, his father-in-law Giovanni Bentivoglio, in place of Antonio Trotti. | |
| 1480 | |||||
| June | Emilia | At Bologna. During the celebrations organized to announce his forthcoming marriage to Bianca Bentivoglio, daughter of Giovanni, lord of the city, he commands the team (comprising 25 members) that wins the so-called “game of football” imported for the occasion from Florence. The tournament takes place in Piazza Maggiore. | |||
| 1481 | |||||
| Sept. | Emilia | At the end of the month his marriage is celebrated in Bologna: the ceremony takes place with great pomp in the presence of Cardinal Gabriele Rangoni, his half-brother, as the natural son of Guido I. He then goes to Ferrara with his wife; he returns to Modena, where he is joined by Ercole d’Este, with whom he attends a palio. | |||
| 1482 | |||||
| Jan. | Emilia | Winner of a joust held in Bologna. | |||
| Dec. | Bologna | Venice | Emilia | He must intervene at Modena with his relatives Gherardo and Ugo Rangoni because the inhabitants, following a famine, have plundered two boats laden with chestnuts, spelt, and other provisions destined for the Bolognese. Shortly afterward he fights the Venetians in the so-called War of Ferrara. He confronts Guido Torelli at Montecchio Emilia, who had seized the local castle by deception in order to attack the territory of Reggio Emilia and provide concrete support to the troops of the Serenissima engaged in the Bolognese against the forces of the Bentivoglio. | |
| 1483 | |||||
| Apr. | Emilia | He moves to Bondeno; there he suppresses some disorders caused by Modenese peasants, exasperated by the prevailing famine and by the measures taken against them by Gherardo Rangoni. | |||
| May | Emilia | He leaves Bologna; he intervenes with the Duke of Ferrara at Modena, torn apart by the feud that had arisen between the Rangoni of Guelph allegiance (led by Gaspare) and those belonging, on the contrary, to the Ghibelline faction led by Gherardo. The continuous clashes cause on one side the demolition of the palace of the Ronchi and, on the other, various destruction to the residence of the Cortesi. His mediation succeeds also through the intervention of the podestà, with the closing of the city gates to prevent armed peasants aligned with the two factions from entering. | |||
| 1484 | |||||
| July–Aug. | Lombardy | He supports Giovanni Bentivoglio and Ludovico Sforza in the Bresciano with his men-at-arms in order to confront the Venetians there. In August the Peace of Bagnolo follows. | |||
| 1487 | |||||
| Jan. | Emilia | He takes part, again in Bologna, in a joust organized on the occasion of the wedding of Annibale Bentivoglio with Lucrezia d’Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara. | |||
| 1488 | |||||
| Apr. | Bologna | Church | Romagna | Following the assassination of Girolamo Riario in Forlì, he is sent to the city with Giberto Pio to support the cause of the widow, Caterina Sforza, at the head of eight squadrons of men-at-arms, 2,000 infantry and 200 light cavalry. He leaves Castel San Pietro Terme, enters Forlì, where he is joined by the Sforza condottiere Galeazzo da San Severino, who in turn leads fourteen squadrons of lances and 400 infantry, and by Galeotto della Mirandola. With these troops he forces the conspirators to flee and confronts the papal forces. | |
| June | Bologna | Florence | Romagna | He accompanies Giovanni Bentivoglio to Faenza; he assists him in his attempt to seize the city following the murder of Galeotto Manfredi by his wife Francesca Bentivoglio, daughter of the lord of Bologna. After a tumult in which the ducal condottiere Giampietro Bergamino is killed, Niccolò Maria Rangoni takes refuge in the fortress with Carlo degli Ingrati. Forced to surrender, he is soon released along with Bentivoglio, who had also been captured on the same occasion. | |
| 1489 | |||||
| Sept. | Emilia | Together with Giberto Pio he organizes a grand joust in Bologna. | |||
| 1490 | |||||
| Feb. | Lombardy | At Mantua for the wedding of Marquis Francesco Gonzaga with Isabella d’Este. | |||
| Summer | Emilia | In the Apennines at Belpoggio with his father-in-law Giovanni Bentivoglio. | |||
| Oct.–Nov. | Emilia | He takes part in Bologna in a joust held for the feast of San Petronio: he shares command with his father-in-law of a team distinguished by blue livery, while the opposing side, led by Giberto Pio and Annibale Bentivoglio, fights dressed in green. During the same days he once again supports his father-in-law in suppressing the conspiracy hatched by the Malvezzi. The plot is uncovered through an informer; the scheme is foiled, the captured Malvezzi are immediately hanged, and their dwellings are acquired by the Rangoni and the Bentivoglio. The bond with his father-in-law grows ever stronger. | |||
| 1492 | |||||
| Nov. | Emilia | He takes possession, near the Palazzo Bentivoglio, of the Ca’ Granda di San Sigismondo, formerly the property of Pirro Malvezzi. He moves there with his wife and eleven children, eight of whom are male. | |||
| 1493 | |||||
| Apr. | Milan | Emilia | He attends with two squadrons of men-at-arms and two of broken lances the review of troops, when Giovanni Bentivoglio is appointed by the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza as captain general of the ducal militias beyond the Po. | ||
| 1494 | |||||
| Jan. | Emilia and Lombardy | At Corticella for the inauguration of the navigable canal on the Reno linking that locality to the regional capital. During the same month he escorts Laura Bentivoglio to Mantua, where she is to marry Giovanni Gonzaga. | |||
| Sept. | Emilia | He is tasked with surveillance, through nightly patrols, of the territory continuously crossed by French and Aragonese soldiers fighting one another. | |||
| 1496 | |||||
| Dec. | Liguria | Following the peace negotiations between the French and the states of the league opposed to them (Milan, Venice), Ercole d’Este entrusts him with the guard of the Castelletto di Genova. | |||
| 1497 | |||||
| Nov. | Liguria | As stipulated by the agreements, he hands over the Castelletto to the ducal and Venetian representatives represented by Giovanni da Groppello: the latter had remained in Genoa for two years with some infantry billeted in the monastery of San Francesco. | |||
| 1498 | |||||
| Oct. | Due to his friendship with Piero de’ Medici, the Duke of Milan removes him from his possessions; Giovanni Bentivoglio also bars him from attending council meetings whenever matters concerning Florence and Venice are under discussion. | ||||
| Nov. | Emilia | He enters into negotiations with the Venetians to obtain a condotta from them. | |||
| 1499 | |||||
| Jan. | Emilia | Under pressure from the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza, he is forced into confinement in Bologna together with Ugo da San Severino. | |||
| 1500 | |||||
| July | Bologna | Emilia | With the victory of the Venetians and French over the Sforza forces, he is recalled to service by his father-in-law Giovanni Bentivoglio. He pressures the Serenissima to allow Alessandro Bentivoglio, who in the recent war had fought for the Duke of Milan, to retain his possessions in the Cremonese. | ||
| Oct. | Bologna | Church | 100 lances | Emilia | He enters the defense of Bologna in response to the threats brought against the city by Cesare Borgia. He dies at night, at the end of the month, in that city. He is buried in Modena in the church of San Francesco alongside his father Guido I. The Portuguese Ermico Cajado dedicates an epigram to him. He is portrayed in the Pala Rangoni, “Madonna with Child among Saints and the Donors Niccolò Maria Rangoni and his wife Bianca Bentivoglio.” |
Sources
-“Fidelissimo nostro.” SANUDO
-“Era..huomo di somma integrità et valoroso.” GHIRARDACCI
-“El quale era uno omo da ben e de gran conseio.” CORPUS CHRONIC. BONOMIENSIUM
-“Possente d’arme e di consiglio, e illustre per dote di magnificenza..Per seguito di huomini e per fatti chiarissimo nella guerra..Fu,..notabile huomo..Nel maneggiar l’armi diede gran nome a questa città (Modena).” SANSOVINO
-“Benché egli fosse uomo di guerra, il veggiamo ciò non ostante, lodato come splendido protettore de’ dotti e de’ poeti singolarmente.” TIRABOSCHI
-“Non peritus vobis fautores, carmina, desunt:/ Supplice Rangoni fundite corde preces./ Nam fovet ingenia, et vatum miratur acumen,/ Et multum vobis numinis esse putat./ Sunt etiam dulces coelestia pignora nati,/ Quales crediderim vix genuisse Jovem./ Inter quos Guido fratrum pulcherrimus hansit/ E nostro vates flumine factus aquas./ Ite igitur, placidi nec Principis ora timete:/ Continget vestra nulla repulsa preci.” Dedica del Cajardo, riportata dal TIRABOSCHI
-“Qualis item Nicolaus Rango Palatinus Comes, et Bonomiensium copiarum dux sapientissimus, a quibus ut ab humanissimis principibus nemo unquam tristis abscendit.” Da un sermone di Urceo Cordo raccolto dal TIRABOSCHI
-“Fu costui uomo di grande integrità ed esperienza..Gli uomini dotti de’ suoi tempi, e particolarmente i poeti, fecero nelle loro opere frequentemente elogio di lui, essendo stato sempre in sua vita loro amico e protettore.” LITTA
-“Zentiluomo e dabene, honorevole, bon, utile a la cità de Modena e per tuto dove l’andava.” DE’ BIANCHI
-“Uomo universalmente amato e rispettato.” ADY
-“Cavaliere molto bellicoso e grandemente amato.” VEDRIANI
-“Amico e protettore munifico di letterati e di scienziati.” ARGEGNI
-“Una lettera del cardinale Pietro Dovizi detto il Bibbiena (col quale stando al Sanuto, il Rangoni ebeb intensi rapporti epistolari) ne segnala la morte il 26 ottobre 1500, definendolo “homo molto devoto di la signoria nostra”, cioé della repubblica di Venezia. Scompariva con lui un tipo aristocratico del Rinascimento italiano, a suo modo fedele alle amicizie e a uno stile di vita cavalleresco e brillante, ma non privo di attitudini militari.” ANDENNA (Dizionario Biografico ddegli Italiani)
Featured image: wikipedia
