Boldrino da Panicale - condottiero

Fierce fighter murdered in act of treachery

Boldrino da Panicale grew up
in violent times in Italy

The soldier of fortune known as Boldrino da Panicale, one of the most feared yet respected of Italy’s many condottieri in the second half of the 14th century, was killed on this day in 1391 near the town of Macerata in what is now the Marche region.

He had been lured to a banquet, thought to have been staged at the Castello della Rancia, a castle about 13km (8 miles) west of Macerata, by Andrea Tomacelli, brother of Pope Boniface IX and Rector of the Duchy of Spoleto.

During an era when towns and neighbouring land changed hands regularly as rival leaders fought for territorial gains, Boldrino had been employed by Boniface IX to retake some captured parts of the Marche for the Papal States.

He handed back some of the papal territory but decided to keep other areas for himself, using the threat of violence to extract payments from local governors and hoping that he would be allowed to rule the area and be granted a marquisate.

Boniface IX had sent Tomacelli to bring peace to the region. While there was no love lost between him and Tomacelli, Boldrino accepted the invitation to the banquet, perhaps hoping that the occasion would be some sort of investiture, giving him the title he craved. Tomacelli had already agreed to impose a new tax on the area Boldrino controlled, essentially to enrich Boldrino himself.

But the occasion was not what Boldrino expected, far from it. During a break between courses, when washing his hands, he was attacked from behind and repeatedly stabbed, perhaps by Tomacelli himself, or somebody acting on his behalf. Some accounts say Boldrino was also beheaded.

Boldrino is thought to have been murdered
during a banquet at Castello della Rancia

Boldrino, originally named Giacomo Paneri, came from a lower middle class family in Panicale, a town in what is now Umbria, near Lago Trasimeno. The Panieri were said to be bakers, in the service of the Tarlati of Arezzo and the Casali of Cortona, two important and rich Ghibelline families.

He was born in around 1331, when fighting between rival factions in the area around Panicale was common. Boldrino was used to witnessing bloodshed from an early age. Nonetheless he looked set to have a life in farming until everything changed when his father, Ambrogio, was murdered. 

Determined to take revenge, Boldrino abandoned farming and embarked on a path of violence and warfare. He moved to Perugia to train at a military college. In 1351, he learned the names of his father’s killers, returned to Panicale, found where they lived and killed them both. 

Convicted in absentia for the crime by the municipal authorities in Panicale, he was forced to flee. He initially found refuge in the small church of Santa Maria La Querciolana, just outside the town, before encountering a  company of mercenaries who were looking for recruits, and deciding to join them. 

Quickly emerging as a highly-skilled condottiero both in combat and strategy, Boldrino’s prowess earned him a place in the company of the legendary Sir John Hawkwood, also known as Giovanni Acuto, an English mercenary who dominated Italian warfare at the time. 

Boldrino fought for many years
alongside Sir John Hawkwood

Boldrino fought in numerous battles, including the Battle of Cascina, where Hawkwood’s forces, representing Pisa, were outnumbered and defeated by an army defending Florence, but from which Hawkwood and Boldrino both escaped.

In 1376, after about 14 years of service alongside Hawkwood, Boldrino established himself as an independent leader, commanding his own forces and securing territories. 

He became Lord of Civitanova Marche, Arquata del Tronto, and other feudal holdings. His reputation as a ruthless yet effective commander grew, and he was frequently employed by powerful factions, including the Papal States under Pope Urban VI. His campaigns left devastation in their wake, particularly in Tuscany and the Marche region. He accumulated great wealth in the process.

His own soldiers became fiercely loyal to him, responding to his death by mounting a campaign of massacre against the people of Macerata, which ended following the intervention of mediators from Florence only when the body of Boldrino was returned to them, along with a sum of 12,000 florins as compensation.

His troops had the body embalmed and placed in an artistically made coffin, around which the troops swore never to disband. The company went on to fight successfully under the leadership of the Perugian condottiero, Biordo Michelotti.

Panicale is notable for its layout of streets in
concentric ovals leading to the main square

Travel tip:

Panicale, in Umbria, is a mostly medieval walled town. Located on the eastern slope of Monte Petrarvella, in the southeast of Valdichiana, it overlooks Lago di Trasimeno and is about 35km (22 miles)from Perugia. It is notable in that its streets form concentric ovals that lead to the main square, Piazza Umberto I, at the centre of which is the 15th century fountain, the Fontana Maggiore. For such a small town - it has fewer than 6,000 inhabitants - Panicale has some remarkable art including two works by Pietro Perugino, one a magnificent fresco, The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, in the church of San Sebastiano. The 18th century Teatro Cesare Caporali is one of the smallest in Umbria. Just off Piazza Umberto I, in a small square at the start of Via Paolo Corsetti, is a 13th century building which was the birthplace of Boldrino Paneri. It carries a plaque bearing words which translate to “Boldrino, very proud leader, always crowned by victory, generous to friends, ominous to enemies.”

Macerata's 16th century
Loggia dei Mercanti

Travel tip:

The city of Macerata, home to about 43,000 people, is situated in an inland area of Marche, about 48km (30 miles) south of Ancona and 30km (19 miles) from the coastal town of Civitanova Marche. Not a well-known tourist destination, its older part nonetheless has a charming hill town feel, with a maze of narrow cobblestone streets and one of Italy’s oldest universities, dating back to 1290. It is the setting each summer for a month-long opera festival at the atmospheric Arena Sferisterio, which has attracted some of the world’s biggest stars.  Other notable attractions are the Torre Civica, which offers panoramic views, and Piazza della Libertà, the heart of the historic centre, with its 16th century Loggia dei Mercanti, where travelling merchants once sold their wares. The Basilica della Misericordia and the church of Santa Maria della Porta are also worth visiting.

Also on this day: 

1603: The birth of painter Pietro Paolini

1678: The birth of painter, sculptor and architect Domenico Antonio Vaccaro

1751: The birth of Naples priest the Blessed Vincent Romano

1977: The death of film director Roberto Rossellini

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Poggio Bracciolini – scholar and humanist

Calligrapher who could read Latin changed the course of history

The linguist and scholar Poggio Bracciolini was
born in a village near Arezzo in Tuscany

Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, who rediscovered many forgotten Latin manuscripts including the only surviving work by the Roman poet and philosopher, Lucretius, died on this day in 1459 in Florence.

For his services to literature he was commemorated after his death with a statue by Donatello and a portrait by Antonio del Pollaiuolo.

Bracciolini was born in 1380 at Terranuova near Arezzo in Tuscany. In 1862 his home village was renamed Terranuova Bracciolini in his honour.

He studied Latin as a young boy under a friend of the poet, Petrarch, and his linguistic ability and talent for copying manuscripts neatly was soon noted by scholars in Florence.

He later studied notarial law and was received into the notaries guild in Florence at the age of 21.

After becoming secretary to the Bishop of Bari, Bracciolini was invited to join the Chancery of Apostolic Briefs in the Roman Curia of Pope Boniface IX.

Part of one of Cicero's Catiline Orations copied by Bracciolini
 in a style of writing that became the basis for Roman fonts

He was to spend the next 50 years serving seven popes, first as a writer of official documents and then working his way up to becoming a papal secretary.

Bracciolini was well thought of because of his excellent Latin, beautiful handwriting and the diplomatic work he was able to carry out with Florence.

He was never attracted to the ecclesiastical life and its potential riches and, despite his poor salary, remained a layman to the end of his life.

He invented the style of writing that, after generations of polishing by other scribes, served the new art of printing as the prototype for Roman fonts.

In 1415 while working for the Pope at a monastery in Cluny, Bracciolini brought to light two previously unknown orations of the Roman statesman Cicero.

At another monastery in 1416 he found the first complete text of Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria, three books and part of a fourth of Valerius Flaccus’s Argonautica and the commentaries of Asconius Pedianus on Cicero’s orations.

A statue said to be of Bracciolini in the Duomo
in Florence, attributed to Donatello

While visiting other monasteries in 1417 he discovered a number of Latin manuscripts, including De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things) by Lucretius.

It is believed he subsequently discovered seven other orations of Cicero in a monastery in Cologne.

He made copies of the works he found in his elegant script, some of which have survived.

Bracciolini also collected classical inscriptions and sculptures, with which he adorned the garden of the villa he eventually bought near Florence.

At the age of 56 he left his long-term mistress and married a girl of 17, who produced five sons and a daughter for him.

He spent his last years having intellectual arguments with Lorenzo Valla, an expert at philological analysis of ancient texts, and writing a history of Florence.

Bracciolini died in 1459 before he had put the final touches to this work and was buried at the Church of Santa Croce in Florence.

The 2011 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt, tells the story of Bracciolini’s discovery of the ancient manuscript written by Lucretius. Greenblatt analyses the poem’s subsequent influence on the Renaissance, the Reformation and modern science.

The facade of the beautiful Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence,
 where Bracciolini was buried in illustrious company

Travel tip:

The Basilica of Santa Croce, consecrated in 1442, is the main Franciscan church in Florence and the burial place among others of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, the poet Ugo Foscolo, the philosopher Giovanni Gentile and the composer Gioachino Rossini.  It houses works by some of the most illustrious names in the history of art, including Canova, Cimabue, Donatello, Giotto and Vasari.  The Basilica, with 16 chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, is the largest Franciscan church in the world and the present building dates back to the 13th century.

The village of Terranuova Bracciolini, near Arezzo, where
Bracciolini was born and which was renamed in 1862

Travel tip:

Terranuova Bracciolini is a town in the province of Arezzo in Tuscany, located about 35km (22 miles) southeast of Florence and about 25m (16 miles) northwest of Arezzo.  Originally called Castel Santa Maria, the town was part of Florence’s massive 14th-century project to build new areas to populate in the countryside. It was renamed after Poggio Bracciolini in 1862.  Terranuova Bracciolini still conserves its medieval walls and some perimeter towers.

More reading:

The politically astute poet who ruled an Italian state

The death of Hadrian

The artistic brilliance of Donatello

Also on this day:

1893: The birth of bodybuilder Angelo Siciliano, also known as Charles Atlas

1896: The birth of conductor Antonio Votto


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