Gian Giacomo Medici
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Gian Giacomo Medici or Jacopo de' Medici (25 January 1498 – 8 November 1555) was an Italian condottiero who became a noted Spanish general, Duke of Marignano and Marquess of Musso and Lecco in Lombardy.
Biography
[edit]Gian Giacomo Medici was the elder brother of Giovanni Angelo Medici, who was later to be elected Pope as Pius IV, and the maternal uncle of Saint Charles Borromeo.[1] They were scions of an impoverished, though Patrician, family of Milan not connected with the Medici of Florence, in spite of the Medici heraldic palle appearing in the contemporary engraving (illustration): thus the nickname Il Medeghino, the "little Medici".
Gian Giacomo was the eldest of fourteen children of Bernardino Medici (? - 1519) and wife (1496) Clelia or Cecilia Serbelloni.[2] His siblings included Gian Battista Medici (1500 - 1545), Agosto Medici (Milan, 22 October 1501 - Frascarolo, 19 October 1570), 2nd Marquess of Marignano, married in May 1549 to Barbara del Majno, daughter of Giuseppe del Majno and wife ... Stampa, and had issue, Chiara Medici (1507 - aft. July 1559), married in 1529 to Wolfgang Dietrich von Hohenems (c. 1507 - 10 March 1538), and had issue, Gabriele Medici (1509 - 1531), buried at the Mausoleo Mediceo at the Duomo of Milan, and Margherita Medici (1510 - c. 1547), married in 1529 as his first wife to Giberto Borromeo (Milan, 11 November 1511 - Milan, 27 July 1558), Count of Arona, and had issue, including Saint Charles Borromeo.
Bernardino Medici was from a family not related to the de' Medici of Florence, but of Lombard origin. The Lombard Medici family was of humble conditions and the proud Florentine de' Medici family declared that there was no relationship between the two families, at least until Giovanni Angelo Medici became Pope Pius IV... Bernardino had settled in Milan and earned his living by collecting taxes. He had two very enterprising sons: one, the Major Gian Giacomo Medici, known as Medeghino, became a talented soldier of fortune and, after a brilliant military career and the command of the imperial troops that conquered the city of Siena, he was appointed by the Emperor Charles V himself 1st Marquess of Marignano.
Gian Giacomo was banished from Milan after a daring murder of revenge in broad daylight. He fled to Lake Como where he gathered about him a band of brigands answerable to none but him. He threw in his lot as bodyguard to the future Duke of Milan, Francesco II Sforza, who had been reinstated in Milan by Emperor Charles V. The Medeghino gained a reputation for unscrupulous violence in the Sforza pay; in partial recompense, he was made Marquis of Marignano on 28 March 1528 (by Imperial patent and confirmed by Francesco Sforza II, Duke of Milan), and also Marquis of Musso and Lecco.
That he fled to Lake Como was no coincidence. For, he was born in Valsolda which is a part of the community of Porlezza. Evidence can be found that Marquis Giacomo di Medici was born in Valsolda and even had a residence in the community of Porlezza. In the main church of Cima, which belongs to the community of Porlezza, an inconspicuous relief shows the lion of San Marco, a symbol of the alliance between Gian Giacomo de Medici and the former Republic of Venice. It was put there in honour of his achievements. A description of the relief can be found on a plaque alongside.
It is likely that Gian Giacomo even had a residence in Cima, on the same spot where now stands a hotel, probably not called by chance Parco San Marco.[3]
Il Medeghino became a famous condottiere, or soldier of fortune, who fought in the pay of Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg and elsewhere in Italy (the "War of Siena"), in the Wars of Religion in France and in the Low Countries. The great engineer Agostino Ramelli trained with Gian Giacomo, who instructed him in mathematics and architecture.[4]
In 1543 he purchased the ancient fortified castle of Frascarolo, near present-day Induno Olona, in the Valceresio, which he converted into a sumptuous villa.[5] In the summer of 1545 he married as her second husband Marzia Orsini, who died in 1548, daughter of Ludovico Orsini, Count of Pitigliano (1475 - 27 January 1534), and wife Giulia Conti. He was made a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1555, also the year of his death. Il Medeghino is buried at the Mausoleo Mediceo in the Duomo of Milan.
Since his only son, Camillo Medici (died after 1586), was illegitimate, albeit made a Knight of the Order of Malta, Gian Giacomo's honours passed to his brother Agosto (1501–1570).
References
[edit]- ^ "John, Eric. The Popes, Hawthorne Books, New York". Archived from the original on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ^ "Loughlin, James. "Pope Pius IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 4 Sept. 2014".
- ^ Parco-san-marco.com Archived 2010-12-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Provincia.va.it
- ^ Valceresio.net Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
External links
[edit]- Medici di Marignano:[permanent dead link] genealogical notes
