Andrea Doria | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Andrea Doria,c. 1520, bySebastiano del Piombo | |
| Born | 30 November 1466 |
| Died | 25 November 1560(1560-11-25) (aged 93) |
| Allegiance |  Duchy of Urbino Papal States Republic of Genoa Kingdom of France Kingdom of Spain Holy Roman Empire |
| Battles / wars |
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| Signature |  |
Andrea Doria,Prince of Melfi[1] (Italian:[anˈdrɛːaˈdɔːrja];Ligurian:Drîa Döia[ˈdɾiːaˈdɔːja]; 30 November 1466 – 25 November 1560) was anItalianstatesman,condottiero andadmiral, who played a key role in theRepublic of Genoa during his lifetime.[2]
Doria was considered the foremost naval leader inEurope at his time.[3] From 1528, he served asHoly Roman Emperor Charles V's grand admiral in theMediterranean,[4] as well as his main shipbuilder along withÁlvaro de Bazán the Elder,[5] while also acting as aprivateer with the ships he owned in order to increase his own wealth.[6] Although he had mixed success against the eminent threat of theOttoman admirals, his fleet helped secure the imperial naval lines between Spain and Italy.[7] He also played a role in the development ofamphibious warfare by the Spanish and Italian navies.[8]
As a citizen of Genoa, Doria used his relationship with Charles V to both protect the republic's independence and exercise a predominant influence in its councils.[7] He refused official charges, accepting only the title ofFather of the Fatherland, and instead ruled the republic as an economic and military player.[9] Under his reforms, theDoge's office was reduced to two years instead of being elected for life, while plebeians were declared ineligible, and the appointment was entrusted to the members of the great and the little councils. His constitutional reforms would last until the end of the republic in 1797.[10]
His posterior historical reputation became influenced by the lens of hisVenetian rivals, which accused him of unstrategic and duplicitous conduct in battle.[11] Even then, several ships in the next centuries were named in his honour, the most famous being the Italian passenger linerSS Andrea Doria, launched in 1951, which sank following a collision in 1956.
Doria was born atOneglia from the ancient Genoese family the Doria di Oneglia, a branch of the nobleDoria family, who played a major role in the history of the Republic since the 12th century. His parents were related: Ceva Doria, co-lord of Oneglia, and Caracosa Doria, of theDoria di Dolceacqua branch.[12] Orphaned at an early age, he became asoldier of fortune, serving first in the papal guard and then under various Italian princes.[13] He soon gained enough renown forGonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the age's premier general, to tempt him to join him.[14]
In 1503, he fought inCorsica in the service of theGenoese Navy, at that time underFrenchvassalage. However, after theBattle of Ravenna of 1512, he turned against the Francophile government of Genoa represented byGian Fregoso.[15] At age 46, despite having no previous naval experience, Doria was appointed admiral and took upon him reorganizing the existent Genoese fleet. A French invasion of Genoa forced him and his fleet to escape toLa Spezia. With the French defeat inNovara the following year, Doria returned and conquered the local French garrison in Briglia, expelled them from Genoa and helpedOttaviano Fregoso to become the new Doge.[16]
Doria also scoured theMediterranean in command of the Genoese fleet, waging war on theTurks and theBarbary pirates. When a fleet led by the brothersAruj andHayreddin Barbarossa, coming from a failed siege of the Spanish port ofBéjaïa, captured a Genoese ship in 1512, Doria attacked the brothers' base inLa Goulette with twelve galleys, sacking the place and destroying the ships in port.[17][18] In the meanwhile, however, Genoa was recaptured by the French, as a new change of tide inMarignano forced Fregoso to pledge Genoa to KingFrancis I of France in 1515. Doria focused in his actions against Muslims, defeated another Turk fleet led by Caid Ali or Cadolin in atPianosa in 1519, capturing his ships for his own fleet.[14]
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In 1522, during theItalian War between France and theempire of Charles V,King of Spain andHoly Roman Emperor, Genoa was conquered and sacked by imperial troops under the command ofProspero Colonna andFernando d'Ávalos, forcing Doria to escape with the fleet again. Taking refuge inMonaco, he helped the French defend Marseille, but the war came to an abrupt end when Francis I was captured by the imperial army inPavia. Doria prepared a plan to try to rescue him, but Francis ordered him to refrain.[19]
Doria then clashed with Francis' regent,Anne de Montmorency, and abandoned French service, forming a naval mercenary fleet. In June 1526, at the head of thirteen ships, he crossed paths again with Hayreddin Barbarossa in the coast ofCivitavecchia, defeating the Turk and capturing fifteen of his sixteen vessels, with Barbarossa managing to escape in his flagship alone.[20]
However, Doria ended up siding with France again whenPope Clement VII formed theLeague of Cognac to opposeCharles V, for which Doria was hired to command their armada whileGiovanni delle Bande Nere did the same in their land army. Doria defeated a bigger Spanish fleet inCorsica and planned to conquer Genoa, still under imperial rule, but it was never carried on. With Giovanni's death in action and thesack of Rome by mutinied imperial troops, the situation worsened for the League of Cognac, who depended on Doria more than ever.[21]
In 1528, the League's armada, under the command of Doria and his nephew,Filippino Doria, crushed a Spanish fleet on 28 April 1528 at theBattle of Capo d'Orso, capturing the enemy commandersAlfonso d'Avalos and Ascanio Colonna. However, Andrea became dissatisfied with his treatment at the hands of Francis, who was mean about payment and replaced Doria for the French admiral Antoine de La Rochefoucauld. Meanwhile, d'Avalos capitalized on the chance to try convince Doria to switch sides, with Doria refusing to hand d'Avalos and Colonna to Francis as the king asked.[22] Charles V and Doria exchanged letters, and although Francis found about it and attempted to compensate the Genoese, the latter deserted the French for the emperor on June 1528.[23][24]
Without Doria's fleet, the League collapsed. The Genoese lifted thesiege of Naples, chasing La Rochefoucauld untilProvence and capturing four of his ships.[25] In September, Doria and his forces drove the French out of Genoa and were triumphantly received by the city.[26] Charles appointed him grand admiral, prince ofMelfi and Marquis ofTursi in reward for his services. He found Doria an invaluable ally in the wars with Francis I, and through him extended his domination over the whole of Italy. He continued to serve the emperor in various wars, in which he was generally successful and always active.[13]
Doria reformed the constitution in an aristocratic sense, eliminating the factions that had plagued the republic in the past centuries, and constituted a new oligarchic form of government composed of the city’s principal aristocratic families,[13] creating 28Alberghi or "clans". The 28 Alberghi that formed this new ruling class included theCybo,Doria,Fieschi,Giustiniani,Grimaldi,Imperiale,Pallavicino, andSpinola families.[27][28]
He refused offers to take the lordship of Genoa and even thedogeship, but accepted the position of "perpetualcensor", and exercised predominant influence in the councils of the republic until his death.[13] The title "censor" in this context was modelled on its meaning in theRoman Republic,i.e., a highly respected senior public official (seeRoman censor), rather than its modern meaning having to do withcensorship. He was given two palaces, many privileges, and the title ofLiberator et Pater Patriae (Liberator and Father of His Country).[13] He established himself in his newly-renovated villa in Fassolo, aRenaissance masterpiece known asVilla del Principe, in an area just outside the now demolished Porta di San Tomaso, where he resided until his death.[29]
To protect the restored republic from future foreign attacks, Doria sponsored the construction of a new city wall, which was built in the third decade of the sixteenth century, on a design by the military engineer Giovanni Maria Olgiati. This new city wall actually followed the path of the previous 14th-century walls but replaced the old square-plan towers and walls with new curtain-shaped curtain walls and triangular bastions.[30]
Actions against the Ottomans and Barbary pirates occupied again much of Doria's time.[31] In 1529, Spanish captain Rodrigo de Portundo was defeated byAydın Reis, lieutenant ofHayreddin Barbarossa. Finding out Barbarossa hadCádiz on his sights, Doria launched anattack on Cherchell, where Barbarossa was planning to supply his fleet. The raid went awry by the inexperience of Doria's freshly recruited troops, many of them French,[32] who disbanded to sack the place and were abandoned to their luck, possibly by Barbarossa being near,[17][33] but the operation succeeded in capturing a large part of the corsair's fleet in port and thwarting the campaign against Cádiz.[34][35]
In summer 1532, in response to the Turk invasion ofHungary in April, Andrea attacked the Ottoman positions in theAegean Sea with a Spanish-Genoese fleet of 48 galleys and 35 vessels.[36] He headed toMorea,capturingCoron by way of a novel system of cannons and ladders in his masts to assault the coastal bulwark. Doria followed by taking and sackingPatras, destroying fortresses around theGulf of Corinth. Doria returned to Genoa with booty of 60.000ducats, having helped to force the Ottomans abort a possible conquest of Hungary.[37]
The Ottomans attempted to recover Coron the following year with a 110-ship armada captained byLütfi Pasha. Doria gathered 27 galleys and 30 ships inMessina and lifted thesiege.[38] Doria forced Lufti to withdraw despite having a much smaller fleet, outmaneuvering the Turks with his galleys despite absence of wind having becalmed his other ships, and losing only three galleys in the battle.[39][17] The relief of Coron would be called byEdmond Jurien de La Gravière one of the most skillful naval operations of the 16th century.[39]
Barbarossa, now turned into grand admiral of the Ottoman Empire, launched his own offensive fromConstantinople with 80 galleys and French support, sacking around Naples and Sicily. In 1535, Charles V called for theconquest of Tunis, which Barbarossa had justconquered and made his base. The fleet, with Doria sharing main command withBazán the Elder, succeeded in taking Tunis and capturing Barbarossa's entire 42-ship fleet, although the corsair managed to escape.[40][41] Doria followed Barbarosa toBona, which the Genoese stormed, but Barbarossa had fled and taken refuge inAlgiers. Charles intended to continue the campaign taking Algiers next, but the weather impeded it.[42]
After the death ofFrancesco I Sforza in 1535, Charles V and Francis I clashed again for the succession of theDuchy of Milan. Doria was vital for the emperor to secure the friendship of theMédicis ofFlorence, favoring the ascension ofCosimo I.[43] Doria and Bazán the Elder captured cities along theFrench Riviera, although stopping inMarseille.[44] Shortly after, Babarossa attacked and sacked theBalearic Islands with 27 galleasses he gathered in Algiers, leading Doria to give him chase unsuccessfully with 30 galleys, with orders of Charles V to bring the Turk privateer dead or alive.[45] In a shocking move, Francis allied with the Ottomans in 1536, installing Barbarossa with a Franco-Turk fleet in Marseille, although the defenses built by Doria dissuaded them from trying to take Genoa.
In April 1537, Barbarossa appeared in front of Italy with 170 ships, but he had come to negotiate, and through a Spanish prisoner he proposed the emperor a possible desertion of the Ottoman Empire, citing his enmity with Lütfi and the political turmoil after the killing ofPargalı Ibrahim Pasha. Nothing came from it.[46]
In July, due to the outbreak of theOttoman–Venetian War, Doria sailed off at the head of 28 galleys fromMessina. Doria retreated to Messina, where being unable to confront directly the 320-ship Ottoman armada, he was forced to hear how Barbarossa sackedApulia and the Ottomans boasted they might be able to choose their own Pope some day.[47] Doria harassed the Ottoman captured a fleet of 10 Ottoman supply ships, after which he defeated Ali Celebi and his 12 galleys in theBattle of Antipaxos.[48] After the battle, he managed to involve the Venetians with the war, leading to the Ottomans to depart Apulia and start thesiege of the Venetian colony ofCorfu. After finally gathering 100 ships, Doria marched to relieve it, but the Ottomans had lifted it themselves.[46]
In February 1538, Pope Paul III called for peace among the Christians and the formation of aHoly League (comprising thePapal States, Spain, theHoly Roman Empire, theRepublic of Venice, and theMaltese Knights) against the Turks. Although Francis did not join, the Italian War came to its end with theTruce of Nice, and he accepted to break his alliance with the Ottomans.
In 1538, being given command of the Holy League, Doria sailed off with 80 Venetian galleys, 36 from the Vatican States, 30 from Spain, as well as 50 naus, with the goal to seek the encounter with Barbarossa's fleet and defeat him. He tracked Barbarossa and his lieutenants, which includedSinan,Salah and Dragut orTurgut Reis, to the strait ofCorinth, where he blockaded them. However, the Christian fleet was routed in unclear circumstances in the subsequentBattle of Preveza in September 1538.[49] Venetian sources, which became the mainstream account, accused Doria of lack of initiative, which might have obeyed to Spain and Genoa being unwilling to commit themselves in defense of the politically distant Venice, not any less to the fact that Doria owned many of the ships employed.[50] Imperial sources instead had Doria disobeyed by the Venetians out of political rivalry in a critical moment, forcing him to forfeit the battle.[51]
This victory secured Turkish dominance over the eastern Mediterranean for the next 33 years, until theBattle of Lepanto in 1571.[citation needed] To compensate the defeat, they captured Castelnuovo, but Charles and Venice argued about who would keep the place, causing the practical disbandment of the Holy League. The garrison, initially conceived as thebeachhead of an invasion of the Ottoman Balkans, was besieged and defeated by Barbarossa in the notoriousSiege of Castelnuovo, although with enormous cost for the Turks.
In 1540, his nephew Giannettino Doria obtained a big victory in theBattle of Girolata, capturing Dragut, the most eminent Turkish captain other than Babarossa. Andrea had him as agalley slave in his flagship during four years.[52] Meanwhile, Andrea conquered multiple remaining Ottoman strongholds in Africa, includingMonastir,Sousse andHammamet. Around this time, an usual partner to Doria,Bernardino de Mendoza, achieved another victory over Ottoman privateers in theBattle of Alborán.[53]
Andrea, Giannettino and Mendoza were recruited by Charles V in 1541 to launch anexpedition to Algiers, a new attempt to capture Barbarossa. Doria tried to warn the emperor of the terrible timing of the move, as it was autumn and the Mediterranean weather was dangerous, but he was not heeded, and the Genoese reluctantly accepted to participate anyways.[54][55] The result was a fiasco, as a storm disintegrated he imperial fleet, although the Dorias managed to secure the retreat of a large part of the fleet, taking a large effort to reorganize the other Genoese captains.[56]
In 1542, the now allied French and Ottomans sackedNice, being chased away by Doria, who captured four ships. In May, Hayreddin Barbarossa attackedReggio with 110 galleys, linking with the French fleet in Marseille, where command was shared withFrancis of Bourbon. Again, Barbarossa and Bourbon conquered andsacked Nice, except by its citadel, and retreated with the arrival of Doria, who disembarked a land army led byAlfonso d'Avalos in Villefranche. Nice was recovered, while the Franco-Turk fleet moved toAntibes.[57] Meanwhile, Bazán the Elder destroyed the French Atlantic fleet inMuros Bay, where his sonÁlvaro de Bazán was present.[58]
To great outrage of Christendom, in 1544 Doria freed Dragut in exchange for a rich rescue of 3,000 ducats paid by Barbarossa, who had also threatened with blockading Genoa.[59] Doria was probably trying to gain the Ottomans' sympathy in the case one of his own relatives was captured, although he eventually repented his decision due to Dragut's many future successes.[60] The Genoese then advised d'Avalos not to look for a direct battle against the French, but due to the bad state of their relationship, d'Avalos rebuked him and did it nonetheless, being defeated inCeresole. Doria helped impeding the French from capitalizing on the chance, attacking the French positions in the coast.[57]
After thePeace of Crépy between Francis and Charles in 1544, Doria hoped to end his days in quiet. However, his great wealth and power, as well as the arrogance of his nephew and heir Giannettino Doria, had made him many enemies, and in 1547 theFieschi conspiracy to dislodge his family from power took place. Giannettino was killed, but the conspirators were defeated, and Doria showed great vindictiveness in punishing them, seizing many of theirfiefs for himself. He was also implicated in the murder ofPier Luigi Farnese,duke of Parma andPiacenza, who had helped Fieschi.[13]
Other conspiracies followed, of which the most important was that ofGiulio Cybo (1548), but all failed. Although Doria was ambitious and harsh, he was a patriot and successfully opposed Emperor Charles's repeated attempts to have a citadel built in Genoa and garrisoned by Spaniards; neither blandishments nor threats could win him over to the scheme.[13]
Nor did age lessen his energy, for in 1550, aged 84, he again put to sea to confront the Muslim armadas, as although Barbarossa had retired in 1545, Dragut and the Barbary pirates continued being a threat. Doria and Mendozacaptured Mahdia, which Dragut had recently conquered as his headquarters. In the citadel they captured Hesar, a nephew to Dragut himself.[61] Doria reinforced the garrison the next year, after which he found and chased Turgut and his 20 galleys toDjerba, blockading the privateer with few ships in an inlet. Dragut still escaped, digging a channel and dragging his ships overland to it.[62] Disgruntled, Doria sacked Djerba.[59]
In 1552, a 100-galleyOttoman fleet under the command of Dragut ambushed 40 Spanish and Genoese transport galleys commanded by Doria in thePonza, although Doria managed to escape losing only seven of them.[63] The war between France and the Empire having broken out once more, the FrenchinvadedCorsica, then administered by the GenoeseBank of Saint George. Doria was again summoned, and he spent two years (1553–1555) on the island fighting the French with varying fortune.[13]
He returned to Genoa for good in 1555, now with Charles' successorPhilip II. Being very old and infirm, Doria gave over the command of the galleys to his great-nephewGiovanni Andrea Doria, the son of Giannettino Doria, who conducted an expedition againstTripoli, but proved even more unsuccessful than his great-uncle had been atAlgiers, barely escaping with his life after losing theBattle of Djerba against the Turkish fleet ofPiyale Pasha and Dragut. Andrea Doria left his estates to Giovanni Andrea. The family ofDoria-Pamphili-Landi is descended from Giovanni Andrea Doria and bears his title ofPrince of Melfi.[13]
HistorianHenry Kamen regarded Doria as the most distinguished admiral of his time,[64] an opinion echoed by others.[65][66] Military historianSpencer C. Tucker considered him the best Christian admiral of his time, with successes in both land and sea.[3] According toStanley Lane-Poole, "no name struck such terror into the hearts of the Turks."[6] Doria played a role in the evolvingamphibious warfare in the 16th century, based in direct assaults with the help of marine infantry and artillery.[67] In Genoa, his role at bringing the city both independence and fortune within the Habsburg sphere of power won him widespread popularity.[68]
He was rivaled by his enemy Barbarossa, whose relationship with Hamilton Currey described as, "with them the ebb and flow of conquest and defeat alternated... great as was the one, it cannot be said that he was greater than the other".[14] It has been speculated the two maintained secret agreements to let each other escape, as Barbarossa was in usual negotiations with Charles V to potentially desert to imperial service.[46]
Doria's reputation suffered with the fiasco of Preveza.[11] Spanish-Imperial sources accused the Venetians of betraying Doria, while the Venetians accused Doria of sabotaging the battle, with the latter version becoming predominant in historiography due to its quickness and vigor. This colored Doria as a strong admiral, but also indecisive in his tactics and adverse to risk the fleets he owned, echoed by even Spanish chroniclers likePrudencio de Sandoval.[11] Despite this, he retained the favor of Charles V and Philip II to his death.[7]
Several ships were named in his honour since.
A paintedsheepskin forThe Magnificent and Excellent Andrea Doria hangs atThe Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island, US.[citation needed]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Doria-Pamphilii-Landi".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 428. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Villari, Luigi (1911). "Doria, Andrea". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 425.
Media related toAndrea Doria at Wikimedia Commons
