Piero Strozzi
Encyclopedia
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
military leader. He was a member of the rich Florentine
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
family of the Strozzi
Strozzi
Strozzi is the name of an ancient and noble Florentine family. Palla Strozzi played an important part in the public life of Florence, and founded the first public library in Florence in the monastery of Santa Trinita...
.
Biography
Piero Strozzi was the son of Filippo Strozzi the YoungerFilippo Strozzi the Younger
thumb|250px|A view of [[Palazzo Strozzi]] in Florence.Filippo Strozzi the Younger was an Italian condottiero and banker, the most famous member of the Florentine Strozzi family in the Renaissance.-Biography:...
and Clarice de' Medici
Clarice de' Medici
Clarice de' Medici was the daughter of Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and Alfonsina Orsini.Born in Florence, she was the granddaughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, niece of Pope Leo X and sister to Lorenzo II de' Medici...
.
Although in 1539 he married another Medici, Laudomia di Pierfrancesco, he was a fierce opponent of the main line of that family. He fought in the army led by his father and other Florentine exile from France to oust the Medici from Florence, but, after their defeat at the Battle of Montemurlo, Piero fled to France at the court of Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....
.
He was in French service during the Italian War of 1542
Italian War of 1542
The Italian War of 1542–46 was a conflict late in the Italian Wars, pitting Francis I of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Henry VIII of England. The course of the war saw extensive fighting in Italy, France, and the Low Countries, as well as...
. Having raised an army of Italian mercenaries, he was confronted by the Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
-Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
forces at the Battle of Serravalle
Battle of Serravalle (1544)
The Battle of Serravalle took place on June 2–4, 1544, at Serravalle, in the Apennine Mountains, San Marino, between the Spanish-Imperial army commanded by Don Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis del Vasto, and a force of freshly raised Italian mercenaries in French service, led by Pietro Strozzi, member of...
, where he was defeated. In 1548 he was in Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
supporting Mary of Guise
Mary of Guise
Mary of Guise was a queen consort of Scotland as the second spouse of King James V. She was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and served as regent of Scotland in her daughter's name from 1554 to 1560...
of behalf of Henry II of France, during the war of the Rough Wooing. There he designed fortifications against the English at Leith
Siege of Leith
The Siege of Leith ended a twelve year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Scotland. The French troops arrived by invitation in 1548 and left in 1560 after the English arrived to assist in removing them from Scotland...
and Haddington. As he was shot in the thigh by an arquebus
Arquebus
The arquebus , or "hook tube", is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. The word was originally modeled on the German hakenbüchse; this produced haquebute...
at Haddington, Strozzi supervised the works at Leith from a chair carried by four workmen. Strozzi also designed works at Dunbar Castle
Dunbar Castle
Dunbar Castle is the remnants of one of the most mighty fortresses in Scotland, situated over the harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian.-Early history:...
with the assistance of Migiliorino Ubaldini
Migiliorino Ubaldini
Migiliorino Ubaldini was an Italian military engineer working in Scotland.-Scottish assignment:During the war with England known as the Rough Wooing, on 5 February 1548 Regent Arran appointed Migiliorino Ubaldini as supreme commander of all Scottish forces by land and sea. Ubaldini had been sent...
.
In 1551 he successfully defended Mirandola
Siege of Mirandola (1551)
The siege of Mirandola took part in 1551, carried on by Pope Julius III against the city, which had allied with France during the last of the Italian Wars....
against the papal troops. He was named marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
in 1554.
Later he fought in the defence of the Republic of Siena
Republic of Siena
The Republic of Siena , was a state originating from the city of Siena in Tuscany, Central Italy.It existed for over four hundreds years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555, when was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown...
against Cosimo de' Medici
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Cosimo I de' Medici was Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1574, reigning as the first Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569.-Biography:...
, leading a French army. He obtained a pyrrhic victory
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
at Pontedera
Pontedera
Pontedera is an Italian industrial town in Tuscany, Italy, in the administrative province of Pisa. It is the headquarters of the Piaggio company, which in the 1930s was a major aircraft manufacturer and which now manufactures motor vehicles such as the Vespa and the Ape...
on 11 June 1554, but his army could not receive help from the ships of his brother Leone
Leone Strozzi
Leone Strozzi was an Italian condottiero belonging to the famous Strozzi family of Florence.-Biography:He was the son of Filippo Strozzi the Younger and Clarice de' Medici, and brother to Piero, Roberto and Lorenzo Strozzi.After his father's defeat in the Battle of Montemurlo, Strozzi fled with...
(who had been killed by an arquebus
Arquebus
The arquebus , or "hook tube", is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. The word was originally modeled on the German hakenbüchse; this produced haquebute...
shot near Castiglione della Pescaia
Castiglione della Pescaia
Castiglione della Pescaia is an ancient seaside town in the province of Grosseto , Italy. The modern city grew around a medieval fortress and a large fishery, from which it got its designation...
) and he was forced to retreat to Pistoia
Pistoia
Pistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...
. On 2 August his defeat at the Battle of Marciano
Battle of Marciano
The Battle of Marciano occurred in the countryside of Marciano della Chiana, near Arezzo, Tuscany, on August 2, 1554, during the Italian War of 1551...
meant the end of the Senese independence.
In 1556 he was appointed as superintendent of the Papal
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...
army and lord of Épernay
Épernay
Épernay is a commune in the Marne department in northern France. Épernay is located some 130 km north-east of Paris on the main line of the Eastern railway to Strasbourg...
. In 1557 the participated in the siege of Thionville, near Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
. He died there the following year.
He is generally credited as the inventor of the dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
military speciality (arquebusiers à cheval or horse arquibusiers).
His son Filippo was also a military commander, as was his brother Leone Strozzi
Leone Strozzi
Leone Strozzi was an Italian condottiero belonging to the famous Strozzi family of Florence.-Biography:He was the son of Filippo Strozzi the Younger and Clarice de' Medici, and brother to Piero, Roberto and Lorenzo Strozzi.After his father's defeat in the Battle of Montemurlo, Strozzi fled with...
, a Knight of Malta
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
, known as the Prior of Capua.
Recommended reading
- Oman, CharlesCharles OmanSir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering...
. A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. London: Methuen & Co., 1937.