The Da Varano Lords of Camerino As Condottiere Princes

THE DA VARANO LORDS OF CAMERINO AS CONDOTTIERE PRINCES John E. Law Swansea University In Italian historiography, mercenary soldiers were for long regarded as an alien presence, alien in a literal sense because so many of them were foreigners; German, Hungarian, Spanish, Greek, Albanian, French, Swiss, English and Scottish soldiers can all be found fi ghting in Italy. They were also seen as alien in a more fi gurative sense, as an unwelcome scourge that fed upon, exploited and weakened Italian society and the states of Italy, damaging the economy and exacerbating the political divisions of the Peninsula.1 However, in more recent years, historians like Daniel Waley, John Hale, Michael Mallett, Nadia Covini and William Caferro have addressed these issues and have re-assessed our perception of the mercenary soldier in late medieval and early renaissance Italy. For example, it is now generally agreed that even in the later fourteenth century, when the presence of foreign—non-Italian—mercenary soldiers in the Peninsula and their political and military infl uence was at its height, the majority of mercenaries were in fact Italian.2 Again it has been argued that that the long-running bias against mercenary troops in Italian historiography was in considerable measure a consequence of the hostile observations of a few eloquent, infl uential and prejudiced contemporary observers, most notably the Florentine Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527). More recent research has also argued that in late medieval and early renaissance Italy mercenary soldiers were better understood, were better managed and were more effective than was once thought to be the case an earlier ‘golden age’ of highly motivated, patriotic citizen militia armies is now perceived to have been in large measure a historical myth.3 Of course, it can be argued on the basis of the recent research of William Caferro that the attempt to ‘rehabilitate’ the mercenary soldier in Italy may have gone too far; the sufferings of the commune of Siena and its countryside at the hands of mercenary soldiers in the late fourteenth century and the career of the famous—or for some infamous—English mercenary Sir John Hawkwood (c. 1320–94), are a reminder that the views of 90 john e. law Machiavelli were not without foundation and that they were by no means his alone. Nevertheless, the aim of this collection of essays—to reassess the mercenary soldier in a wide chronological and geographical setting—is likely to enhance an understanding of his role and signifi - cance in the Italian context. At the same time, it is to be hoped that the focus of this contribution—on the role of the Da Varano lords of Camerino as mercenary captains, as condottieri—will make a useful contribution to the wider picture. Who were the Da Varano of Camerino? Camerino is in the Marche of Italy, and in the period dealt with here—the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance—it was a principal city in one of the provinces of the Papal States, and a city recognised as enjoying a strategic position.4 From the later thirteenth century, it was ruled by a local dynasty, the Da Varano, virtually without a break until 1539, when the family had died out in the main male line, and the Farnese pope—Paul III (1534–39)— assigned the lordship fi rst to his nephew Ottavio, and then brought the city under the direct rule of the Church in 1545.5 In general terms the Da Varano lordship was similar to those of other signorial dynasties in the Papal States which have been studied to a greater depth and are better known to the English-speaking world. Notable examples are the Malatesta of Rimini in the Romagna or the Montefeltro of Urbino, neighbours of the Da Varano in the Marche. Apart from their earnings as condottieri, the dynasty drew on the income from a changing ‘portfolio’ of private, allodial, lands and properties, most obviously concentrated in or near Camerino itself, but also located in other places under Da Varano control, as well as from rights and properties held further afi eld in other provinces of the Papal States, in Rome and in the Kingdom of Naples.6 They also drew on the revenues of the communes under their authority, not only in the diocese of Camerino itself but in such neighbouring dioceses as Fermo and Spoleto. The nature of that authority was also varied and changeable. The earliest Da Varano signore, Gentile (1259–1284), held the offi ces of podesta and captain of the people at various times, suggesting that his coming to power had received a degree of sanction and legitimacy from his subjects, as was frequently the case with signorial dynasties elsewhere in Italy in the period.7 However, it seems likely that such formal concessions to popular acceptance were quickly abandoned. Certainly in the records of the communal councils of Camerino—the Reformationes—that survive for 1404, the lord of the city, Rodolfo, is referred to as just that: as Camerino’s ‘Magnifi cus Dominus’, with the addition of no other title.8.

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