Medici soldier who fathered Cosimo I de' Medici
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| Giovanni dalle Bande Nere: a portrait by an unknown artist |
The condottieri were professional soldiers, mercenaries who
hired themselves out to lead the armies of the Italian city-states and the
Papacy in the frequent wars that ensued from the Middle Ages through to the
Renaissance.
Giovanni spent the greater part of his military career in
the service of Pope Leo X, the Medici pope. Indeed, he was a Medici himself,
albeit from a then secondary branch of the family. Baptised Ludovico, he was
the son of Giovanni de’ Medici, also known as Il Popolano and a great-nephew of
Cosimo the Elder, the founder of the dynasty.
It was his mother, Caterina Sforza, the powerful daughter of
the Duke of Milan, who renamed him Giovanni in memory of his father, her fourth
husband, who died when the boy was just five months old. He became Giovanni
dalle Bande Nere much later, in 1521, when he added black stripes to his military
insignia in a show of mourning for Pope Leo X.
His upbringing brought out the worst aspects of his
character, which was deeply influenced by his mother’s fiery nature. The family
moved to Florence after his father’s death and after Caterina herself passed
away in 1509, his care was placed in the hands of Iacopo Salviati and Lucrezia
de’ Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
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| Giovanni's wife, Maria Salviati: a portrait by Jacopo Pontormo, in the Uffizi Gallery |
Giovanni was no easy child to look after. At the age of 12,
a rebellious and bored schoolboy, he murdered another boy of the same age and
for a while was banished from the city.
It was Salviati who found him a way to channel his
aggression to a profitable purpose, using his influence after the Medicis
returned to power in 1512 following an 18-year exile to get him work as commander
of a cavalry company of mercenaries fighting for Leo X during the Battle of
Urbino (1516-17).
In 1517, Giovanni married Maria, Salviati's
daughter. Their son Cosimo, born on June 15, would go on to be Cosimo I de’
Medici, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, under whose rule Florence enjoyed
considerable prosperity and military power.
Giovanni continued to serve Leo X and in 1521 took
part in the war to oust the French from the Duchy of Milan, gaining praise for
his skirmishing tactics in securing a victory for the combined forces of Leo X
and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V at Vaprio d’Adda.
His loyalties could be bought, however. Following the death
of Leo X, and chronically in debt, he agreed to fight for the French, only to
be on the losing side at the Battle of Bicocca in 1522.
Subsequently he fought for the Sforza family and then for another
Medici pope, Clement VII, who agreed to pay off all his debts.
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| Bronzino's portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici |
It was while he was in the service of Clement VII, who was
part of the League of Cognac, which united France, the Duchy of Milan, Venice,
Florence and the pope against Charles V, that Giovanni died.
During a battle in November 1526 to hold back the advance of
Imperial forces into Lombardy, he was struck in the right leg by a cannon ball.
His leg was amputated, but he died, probably of gangrene, four days later.
Buried initially in Mantua, his body was eventually returned
to Florence in 1685 to be entombed in the Chapel of the Princes in the Basilica
of San Lorenzo. It was exhumed in 2012 to preserve the remains, which had been
submerged during the Florence floods of 1966.
Soon after his death, mobile cannons became much more common
on the battlefield and the armoured cavalry companies that the condottieri
tended to lead became almost obsolete very quickly, hence Dalle Bande Nere
tends to be called the last of the condottieri.
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| Bandinelli's statue of Giovanne dalle Bande Nere dominates Piazza San Lorenzo |
Travel tip:
Piazza San Lorenzo in Florence is notable for the statue of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo I in
honour of his father and created by the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli, who placed
Giovanni not on a horse but on a chair, holding what has been suggested is a
broken lance. The statue was to have rested on a pedestal inside the Basilica
of San Lorenzo but Cosimo I changed his mind and had the statue installed in the
Palazzo Vecchio, in the Sala dell'Udienza.
However, the enormous marble pedestal on which Bandinelli wanted it to
rest, decorated with a relief meant to depict the condottieri’s clemency towards his
prisoners, proved too big and Cosimo changed his plans again, placing it in Piazza
San Lorenzo. In another statue, under the portico of the Uffizi Gallery, Giovanni is standing and holding a sword.
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| Piazza Saffi is the main square in the centre of Forlì |
Travel tip:
Forlì, a city of almost 120,000 inhabitants in the wealthy
Emilia-Romagna region, has been the site of a settlement since the Romans were
there in around 188BC. Forlì today has
several buildings of architectural, artistic and historical significance. At the
heart of the city is Piazza Aurelio Saffi, named after the politician Aurelio
Saffi, an important figure in the pro-republican faction during the
Risorgimento. The Piazza Saffi also includes the 12th century Abbey of San
Mercuriale.
More reading:
More reading:
Bartolomeo Colleoni - the benevolent condottiero
How Federico da Montefeltro channelled profits of war into love of art
The grand designs of Cosimo I de' Medici
Also on this day:
How Federico da Montefeltro channelled profits of war into love of art
The grand designs of Cosimo I de' Medici
Also on this day:
1622: The birth of mathematician and scientist Vincenzo Viviani
1801: The birth of political philosopher and patriot Vincenzo Gioberti
(Picture credits: statue by Sailko via Wikimedia Commons)
1801: The birth of political philosopher and patriot Vincenzo Gioberti
(Picture credits: statue by Sailko via Wikimedia Commons)
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