Ludovico di Giovanni de' Medici | |
|---|---|
%2c_attributed_to_Carlo_Portelli_-_Minneapolis_Institute_of_Arts.jpg) Portrait of Giovanni by Carlo Portelli | |
| Born | 6 April 1498 Forlì,Papal States |
| Died | 30 November 1526(1526-11-30) (aged 28) (DOW) Mantua,Duchy of Mantua |
| Noble family | Medici |
| Spouse | Maria Salviati |
| Issue | Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany |
| Father | Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano |
| Mother | Caterina Sforza |
Ludovico de' Medici, also known asGiovanni delle Bande Nere (6 April 1498 – 30 November 1526) was an Italiancondottiero. He is known for leading theBlack Bands and serving valiantly in military combat under his third cousins,Pope Leo X andPope Clement VII, in theWar of Urbino and theWar of the League of Cognac, respectively.
Giovanni was born in the Northern Italian town ofForlì toGiovanni de' Medici il Popolano andCaterina Sforza,[1] one of the most famous women of theItalian Renaissance.
From an early age, Giovanni demonstrated great interest and ability in physical activity, especially the martial arts of the age, such as horse riding and sword fighting. He committed his first murder at the age of 12,[2] and was twice banished from the city ofFlorence for his unruly behaviour, including involvement in the rape of a sixteen-year-old boy, Giovanni being about thirteen at the time.[3] He had a son,Cosimo (1519–1574), who went on to become the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Giovanni became acondottiero, or mercenary military captain, in the employ ofPope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) and on 5 March 1516 ledthe war againstFrancesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. He thenceforth formed a company of his own, mounted on light horses and specializing in fast but devastating skirmishing tactics and ambushes. In 1520 he defeated several rebel barons in theMarche.
With the outbreak of theItalian War of 1521–1526, Leo X allied withEmperor Charles V against KingFrancis I of France to regain Milan,Parma andPiacenza, so Giovanni was called in under the command ofProspero Colonna. They defeated the French atVaprio d'Adda in November. As a symbol of mourning for the death of Pope Leo X on 1 December 1521, Giovanni added black stripes to his insignia, whence comes his nickname, Giovanni delle Bande Nere (or Giovanni of the Black Bands).
In 1522, he changed sides and joined the French, but was defeated by Colonna during thebattle of Bicocca. In August 1523 he was hired by theImperial army, and in January 1524 he defeated the French and the Swiss atCaprino Bergamasco.
In the same year another Medici, Giulio di Giuliano, became Pope and took the name ofClement VII. The new Pope paid all of Giovanni's debt, but in exchange ordered him to switch to the French side of the ongoing conflict. He did not take part in thebattle of Pavia, but was soon severely wounded in a skirmish and later had to move toVenice to recuperate from his wounds.
In 1526, theWar of the League of Cognac broke out. The League's captain general,Francesco Maria I della Rovere, abandoned Milan in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Imperial army led byGeorg von Frundsberg. Giovanni was able to defeat theLandsknechts rearguard, at the confluence of theMincio with thePo River.
On the evening of 25 November he was hit by a shot from afalconet in a battle nearGovernolo.[4] According to a contemporary account[5] by Luigi Guicciardini, the ball shattered his right leg above the knee[4] and he had to be carried to San Nicolò Po, nearBagnolo San Vito, where no doctor could be found. He was taken toAloisio Gonzaga's palace, marquis ofCastel Goffredo, inMantua, where the surgeon Abramo, who had cared for him two years earlier, amputated his leg. To perform the operation Abramo asked for 10 men to hold down the strickencondottiero.
Pietro Aretino, an eyewitness to the event, recalled in a letter to Francesco Albizi:
'Not even twenty' Giovanni said smiling 'could hold me', and he took a candle in his hand, so that he could make light onto himself, I ran away, and shutting my ears I heard only two voices, and then calling, and when I reached him he told me: 'I am healed', and turning all around he greatly rejoiced.
Despite the surgery, Giovanni de' Medici died five days later, supposedly ofsepsis, on 30 November 1526.
Giovanni's body was exhumed in 2012 along with that of his wife to preserve the remains, which were damaged in the1966 flood of the Arno River, and to ascertain the cause of his death.[4] Preliminary investigation revealed that his leg was amputated below the knee. No damage was found to the thigh, where the shot supposedly hit. Thetibia andfibula, the bones of the lower leg, were found sawed off from the amputation. There was no damage to thefemur.[6] It is now thought that de' Medici may have died ofgangrene.[7]
Giovanni's premature deathmetaphorically signalled the end of the age of thecondottieri, as their mode of fighting (which emphasized armoured knights on horseback) was rendered practically obsolete by the introduction of pike-armed infantry. He is therefore known as the last of the great Italiancondottieri. His lasting reputation has been kept alive in part thanks toPietro Aretino, the Renaissance author, satirist, playwright and "scourge of the princes", who was Giovanni's close friend and accompanied him on some of his exploits.
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