Giovanni Maria Vitelleschi (died 1 or 2 April 1440) was an Italian cardinal and condottiere.

Biography

Vitelleschi was born in Corneto (modern Tarquinia, then part of the Papal States

Papal States

The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...

), some kilometers north to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. He received a military education, which he refined as apostolic protonotary under Pope Martin V. The fighting bishop of Recanati

Recanati

Recanati is a town and comune in the Province of Macerata, Marche region of Italy. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th century, was famous for its international fair...

 from 1431, and afterwards made a cardinal, he was commander of the papal armies

Gonfalonier of the Church

The Gonfalonier of the Church or Papal Gonfalonier was a military and political office of the Papal States. Originating from the use of the Papal banner during combat, the office later became largely ceremonial and political...

 of Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...

 when the Colonna faction at Rome, infuriated by the reversal of their fortunes when Eugene succeeded Martin V (a member of the Colonna), backed an insurrection that raised a temporary republic at Rome and forced Eugene into exile at Florence in May 1434. The city was restored to obedience by Giovanni Vitelleschi in the following October, in a display of freocious cruelty. Vitelleschi abrogated all Roman rights and had the Roman senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 declare him tertius pater patriae

Pater Patriae

Pater Patriae , also seen as Parens Patriae, is a Latin honorific meaning "Father of the Country," or more literally, "Father of the Fatherland".- Roman history :...

 post Romulum ("the third Father of his Country since Romulus

Romulus

- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...

"). He commanded the papal troops against René of Anjou, who claimed the throne of Naples. In 1439 he was sent by the Pope to expel the rebel Corrado IV Trinci from Foligno

Foligno

Foligno is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system...

, which he besieged and captured. The nobleman was beheaded and the city restored to Papal authority.

Vitelleschi had received his military training as a youth in the banda of Tartaglia and refined his education under the tutelage of Pope Martin V

Pope Martin V

Pope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...

, who made him apostolic pronotary. His success at putting down the republicans at Rome earned him the purely honorary title Patriarch of Aquileia

Patriarch of Aquileia

The Patriarch of Aquileia was an office in the Roman Catholic Church. During the Middle Ages the Patriarchate of Aquileia was a temporal state in Northern Italy. The Patriarchate of Aquileia as a church office was suppressed in 1752....

 and the more immediate one of archbishop of Florence. He was made a cardinal on 9 August 1437 and was called the "Cardinal of Florence" where, according to Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...

, he was regarded with deep distrust:

He was bold and cunning; and, having obtained great influence, was appointed to command all the forces of the church, and conduct all the enterprises of the pontiff, whether in Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

, Romagna

Romagna

Romagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...

, the kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

, or in Rome. Hence he acquired so much power over the pontiff, and the papal troops, that the former was afraid of commanding him, and the latter obeyed no one else

Florence's spies kept a close watch over the mails and soon intercepted letters from the Patriarch to Niccolò Piccinino

Niccolò Piccinino

Niccolò Piccinino was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:He was born at Perugia, was the son of a butcher.He began his military career in the service of Braccio da Montone, who at that time was waging war against Perugia on his own account, and at the death of his chief, shortly followed by that of...

, who was currently ravaging Tuscany with his warband. The correspondence was in cipher and full of circumlocutions but was interpreted as dangerous to the Pope himself. Eugene IV determined to incarcerate the Patriarch. The manner in which he was caught at Castel Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant'Angelo

The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family...

 in Rome by its castellan, Antonio Rido of Padua, is recounted by Machiavelli

The patriarch, having determined to go into Tuscany, prepared to leave Rome on the following day, and ordered the castellan to be upon the drawbridge of the fortress in the morning, for he wished to speak with him as he passed. Antonio perceived this to be the favorable moment, informed his people what they were to do, and awaited the arrival of the patriarch upon the bridge, which adjoined the building, and might for the purpose of security be raised or lowered as occasion required. The appointed time found him punctual; and Antonio, having drawn him, as if for the convenience of conversation, on to the bridge, gave a signal to his men, who immediately raised it, and in a moment the cardinal, from being a commander of armies, found himself a prisoner of the castellan. The patriarch's followers at first began to use threats, but being informed of the pope's directions they were appeased. The castellan comforting him with kind words, he replied, that "the great do not make each other prisoners to let them go again; and that those whom it is proper to take, it is not well to set free." He shortly afterward died in prison.

Vitelleschi died in 1440 and succeeded by Ludovico Trevisan. The Vitelleschi clan retained considerable weight in Central Italy. Vitelleschi's nephew, Bartolomeo Vitelleschi (died 13 December 1463), bishop of Corneto and Montefiascone, was made a cardinal 6 April 1444. Giovanni Vitelleschi commissioned Filippo Lippi

Filippo Lippi

Fra' Filippo Lippi , also called Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Italian Quattrocento .-Biography and works:...

 to paint the famous Madonna and Child Enthroned

Madonna and Child Enthroned (Fra Lippo Lippi)

The Madonna and Child Enthroned is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi. It is housed in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica of Palazzo Barberini, Rome....

(now in Palazzo Barberini

Palazzo Barberini

Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome, facing the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi and is home to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.-History:...

, Rome) for his palace in Tarquinia.

External links

• The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
• Macchiavelli, History of Florence: chapters xxxv and xxxvi