The Fall of Rinaldo da Monteverde in the Wars of Central Italy
A Ghibelline. Lord of Fermo, Sant’Elpidio Morico, Montefalcone Appennino, and Montegiorgio. Son-in-law of Luchino dal Verme.
Death: 1380, June
| Year, Month | State, Comp. ventura | Opponent | Command | Area of Activity | Actions Undertaken and Other Salient Facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1340/1372 | Milan | Marche and Lombardy | Upon the murder of his father Mercenario, lord of Fermo (February 1340), he takes refuge in Milan and enters the service of the Visconti. He takes part in all the wars of Lombardy in which he distinguishes himself for his valor. He is knighted. In 1365 he marries the daughter of Luchino Visconti, Villanella, called Luchina. | ||
| 1373 | Marche | Returns to the Marche and to Fermo, probably through the intervention of the lord of the city Giovanni Visconti da Oleggio. | |||
| 1375 | |||||
| Dec. | Fermo | Church | Marche | The so-called War of the Eight Saints is underway against the Papal States. Fermo rebels against the pontifical authorities at the instigation of the Florentines. The podestà Gregorio di Mirte is killed. Rinaldo da Monteverde takes advantage of the occasion to seize control of the city. | |
| 1376 | |||||
| Feb. | Marche | Ascoli Piceno rises up under the government of the Marquis of the March Gomez Garcia. The rebels are about to be defeated when Monteverde intervenes at the head of powerful forces of Germans and English. He is also assisted by 10,000 inhabitants of Fermo among foot soldiers and cavalry. Monteverde will seize the citadel in December after ten months of siege. | |||
| May | Marche | Takes part in the siege of Ripatransone under the orders of Tommaso Giacobuzzi: he is killed by his own soldiers. | |||
| June | Marche | Ravages the territory of Sant’Elpidio a Mare and takes numerous prisoners there. He is forced to withdraw the following day because he is followed reluctantly by his soldiers. | |||
| Sept. | Marche | Attacks Ripatransone under the orders of Tommaso di Giacobuccio Politi. A revolt, due to enmity between the various captains, shakes the ranks of the attacking army: some soldiers are killed and the return to Fermo is necessary. One morning, Rinaldo da Monteverde armed and escorted by a handful of soldiers has Andreotto and Cola Caluccini, Paolo Pucci and Vanni Mattei beheaded in the piazza of San Martino, guilty of being favorable to the pontifical cause. The captain of the people, the Aretine Giovanni Paganelli, is present at the execution. Monteverde is supported in his action by many nobles of the countryside among whom Ludovico da Mogliano and Boffo da Massa stand out. | |||
| Nov. Dec. | Marche | He is imprisoned in Fermo because suspected of wanting to overthrow the city government. In December his supporters manage to convince the population to take up arms, go to the palace and to the prisons to demand his release. He is acclaimed captain and gonfalonier of the people. Initially he maintains a low profile. After a new siege of Ripatransone he reacts to a supposed conspiracy against him, quickly making himself hated by the citizenry for his despotic and tyrannical government. He imprisons 30 or 40 citizens in his castle of Montefalcone Appennino, where they will all be killed. Finally, at the head of 10,000 men among cavalry and infantry, he moves to the aid of the inhabitants of Ascoli Piceno who have rebelled against the pontifical governor Gomez Albornoz. | |||
| 1377 | |||||
| Jan. | Marche | He is welcomed by the Florentines into the anti-pontifical league. | |||
| June | Marche | Attacks Sant’Elpidio a Mare and causes great damage there. His objective is to strike Geraldino da Sant’Elpidio, who years before killed a man in the service of his father. He repeats the attack uselessly: the inhabitants call to their aid the company of Bretons by whom Rinaldo da Monteverde is defeated in the plains of the Tenna. 300 men are captured from him. | |||
| Aug. | Marche | He is driven from Matelica, along with the lord of the city Francesco di Matelica (Francesco Ottoni), by the lord of Camerino Rodolfo da Varano. | |||
| Sept. | Marche | With Lucio Lando, Bartolomeo Smeducci and Francesco di Matelica he approaches Sant’Elpidio a Mare by night; he bribes or deceives the guards with some stratagem and bursts into the city which is horribly sacked without sparing the churches. The center is almost destroyed by flames; Rinaldo da Monteverde appropriates, among other things, a relic, the thorn from the crown of Jesus Christ, donated in 1275 by Philip the Bold to the blessed Clemente di Sant’Elpidio. The artifact is transported to Fermo to be placed in the church of Sant’Agostino. | |||
| Nov. | Marche | Takes Amandola from Rodolfo da Varano. Damages the countryside of Ripatransone; sustains a long war with the Anconetans called by the pontificals. He aims at Macerata with Lucio Lando at the head of 3,000 men: he camps outside the Porta del Mercato while Lando positions himself at that of San Salvatore (now Porta Romana). Guarding the city are Antonio di Guadambo and Bertrando Loctario with 300 Breton cavalry. After three days Rinaldo da Monteverde falls back on Fermo when Lando is repelled by the enemies; he subsequently turns against Montegiorgio, drives out Varano’s troops and pursues them to Fiastra and San Ginesio. He is driven back from this last locality. | |||
| 1378 | |||||
| ………. | Fermo | Ancona | Marche | Continues to confront the Anconetans to whose aid Pope Gregory XI has resorted. | |
| Mar. | Marche | Sant’Elpidio a Mare rebels against him; he besieges the locality and has two bastions built there. In the same period he sends some contingents of armed men to the aid of Manetto da Jesi, who makes numerous incursions in the Macerata, Fermo and Ancona areas. | |||
| May | Fermo | Comp. ventura | Marche | The company of the Ubaldini (500 cavalry) moves to the aid of Sant’Elpidio a Mare; one of the two bastions is conquered. 40 cavalry of Monteverde recover it and capture many men who are guarding it. Rinaldo da Monteverde has other opponents of his policy beheaded in Fermo. | |
| Summer | Monteverde | Camerino | Marche | ||
| Aug. | Marche | He becomes doubly related to the Smeducci of San Severino Marche: one son marries a daughter of Bartolomeo Smeducci and another son a daughter of Onofrio Smeducci. | |||
| 1379 | |||||
| May June | Receives a loan from the Venetian Giovanni Miani of 2,000 ducats which he promises to repay on simple request; in June he must ask for an extension because he is unable to comply with the counterpart’s requests. | ||||
| Aug. | Comp. ventura | Fermo | Marche and Abruzzi | At the end of the month Fermo rebels against his lordship. He initially seeks safety by taking refuge in the city fortress of Girifalco. Having left his men here under his surveillance, he goes to the Abruzzi in search of soldiers. He gathers 3,000 men with whom he returns to the Fermo area; repelled, he takes refuge in Montegiorgio with Giovanni degli Ubaldini and Corrado Lando at the head of 1,500 cavalry and as many infantry. The day of the revolt, feast of San Bartolomeo, will become a holiday in Fermo. | |
| Oct. | Marche | He positions himself under Fermo; he tries to aid from the Aso side the fortress of Girifalco where his wife Villanella dal Verme and his sons Mercenario and Luchino have shut themselves in. Following a skirmish with the Fermo militias captained by Giovanni Cambi di Santamaria in Campo, which took place near the Porta di San Giuliano, he is forced to withdraw. In the same period he is declared their adherent by the Perugians. | |||
| 1380 | |||||
| Feb. | Marche | The fortress of Girifalco comes into the power of Varano; Rinaldo da Monteverde’s family members reach him in Montegiorgio. At the end of the month Lucio and Corrado Lando arrive in that locality. | |||
| Mar. | Marche | Returns to ravage the Fermo area with Corrado and Lucio Lando. He sends 60 cavalry in reconnaissance toward Casaglia while another 300 are placed in ambush on the Tenna in the Pontigiana locality. The inhabitants pursue the former and fall into the ambush: six men are killed and another 60 are taken prisoner to Montegiorgio. | |||
| Apr. | Marche | Must leave Montegiorgio, which surrenders to the inhabitants of Fermo; the same day he also loses Monteverde. He takes refuge in Montefalcone Appennino, considered impregnable. He fortifies himself there. He is immediately besieged there. | |||
| May | Marche | The inhabitants of Fermo seize Montefalcone Appennino by treaty: Egidio da Monte Urano and a certain Bonaccorso let the adversaries enter the castle (in which Rinaldo da Monteverde’s wife, children and some supporters are also found) after it has been promised to each of the two a reward of 1,000 ducats each and a monthly provision for life of 5 ducats. | |||
| June | Marche | Rinaldo da Monteverde is led prisoner to Fermo through the Porta di San Giuliano; he is loaded on a donkey with his face turned toward the animal’s tail and a crown of thorns on his head. The same treatment is reserved for his wife Villanella dal Verme and his sons Mercenario and Luchino. Delivered to the priors, the men are all immediately beheaded in the piazza of San Martino; in the following days 24 of his followers are hanged on the walls. The wife is spared through the intervention of the Visconti. His head and those of his sons will be carved in stone on a column; in an inscription below will be reported the writings “I was a most wicked and cruel tyrant” for Rinaldo da Monteverde and “Only for doing evil to me and Luchina, dear children, you suffered discipline” for the sons. Only in 1418 will the infamous column be removed from the piazza. The episode of the siege of Macerata in November 1377 is remembered by Franco Sacchetti in “Trecento novelle”. |
Sources
-“Pessimus dominus.” DI NICCOLO’
-“Manomise ogni ordine di cose, e per lievi cagioni dannava a morte de’ cittadini, sospicando non tenessero dalla parte de lui.” DE MINICIS
-“Visse tiranneschiamente et fé morire molti huomini.” G. DA GUBBIO
-“Era el ditto miser Rainaldo nançe stado signore di Fermo e ‘l contado e chastelle, e scaççado da la Giexa, como multi altri signore, e puoe per la perda de la Giexa tornado como altri signor fenno; e voglando pegio che prima fare dixonesta tirannia, conçesse la fortuna che arivò in lo modo ditto: non fo mae mazore vendetta de quella.” G. DI M. PEDRINO
-“Crudelissimo tiranno e ribelle alla S. Sede.” COLUCCI
-Con Gentile da Mogliano e Giovanni Visconti da Oleggio “Celebri per lignaggio e per armi.” AMIANI
-“Crudelissimo tiranno.” TANURSI
-“Si era allontanato dalla regione (le Marche) subito dopo l’uccisione del padre nel 1340, aveva alle spalle una lunghissima carriera di condottiero al servizio dei Visconti, di cui era diventato un apprezzato capitano di guerra.” VIGUEUR
-“Nel 1376 si registrarono o primi successi militari del Monteverde nella guerra contro la Chiesa.. Qualche mese dopo Coluccio Salutati, in carica come cancelliere della Repubblica fiorentina, inviò una lettera gratulatoria al Monteverde, compiacendosi per l’esito dell’impresa (la conquista di Ascoli Piceno)..L’alleanza fra la Repubblica fiorentina e Monteverde si rinsaldò nel 1377: in una missiva del 1° gennaio Coluccio Salutati lo blandì con l’epiteto formulare di “magnificus miles” e “dilectissimus noster”.. Alla morte di Monteverde seguì una compiuta “damnatio memoriae”. Nelle due lettere inviate da Coluccio Salutati al Comune di Fermo nel corso del 1380, il cancelliere fiorentino si congratulò con i Fermani per aver abbattuto il tiranno, ormai caduto in disgrazia a Firenze dopo la fine della guerra degli Otto santi. A Fermo, nella piazza di S. Martino, nel febbraio 1381, vennero collocate le sculture in pietra delle teste del defunto tiranno e dei suoi figli, a perpetua e funesta memoria: un cartiglio posto sulla bocca di Rinaldo recitava: ” Tiranno fui pessimo et crudele; un altro, rivolto idealmente ai figli, recava l’iscrizione in rima: “Sol per mal fare, di me e di Luchina (la moglie Villanella, figlia di Luchino dal Verme)/ cari miei figli, pateste disciplina.. Lo statuto popolare di Fermo del 1383, promulgato dopo la restaurazione delle magistrature popolari, nel cassare tutte le disposizioni ordinate da Monteverde durante il suo regime, lo definì con gli appellativi di “secundus Nero” e “saevissimus tyrannus”; decretò inoltre che il giorno del 2 giugno, a memoria della sua esecuzione, venisse celebrato come festa pubblica e che s. Bartolomeo fosse annoverato fra i protettori della città per averla liberata dell’odiato tiranno.”PIRANI (Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Giovanni Treccani). “Solo nel 1418 ci sarà la rimozione della colonna dopo oltre tre decenni.” The Habitual Tourist
-“Era imposta a Fermo.. una tirannia sostenuta dal conferimento delle cariche del governo a suoi fidi seguaci. Rinaldo non esita di fronte all’eliminazione fisica degli avversari, scavando così un profondo solco tra sé e la popolazione di Fermo, colpita in molti membri delle famiglie illustri e stimate. Il signore applica al governo civile della città le stesse misure che si usano per amministrare una soldataglia, rissosa e violenta e dimostra la sua brutalità nelle punizioni… Quando, nel 1383 Fermo promulgherà il nuovo statuto, Rinaldo viene definito “secundus Nero” e “saevissimus tyrannus”: il giorno della sua esecuzione capitale diventa festività puibblica.” CIUCCIOVINO
Featured image: Wikipedia
