THE NOBLES AND THE PLEBEIANS.

Intrigues of Figuerroa and the nobility—The law of Garibetto—New efforts of Spain to give Genoa the character of a Duchy—The firmness of the senate and Andrea foils the scheme of Don Filippo—The reception of the Spaniards by Doria and by the people—Sad story of a daughter of the Calvi—Don Bernardino Mendozza and his relations with Prince Doria—Baneful influence of the Spanish occupation.

Charles V. had long cherished the design of rendering the entire Peninsula subject to his authority. He was master of the Sicilies and the Milanese and controlled Tuscany through the servility of Cosimo; and if he were able to complete the conquest of Genoa, it would be easy to expel the French army from Piedmont where Henry II. was preparing to renew the war in Italy. It is true that the emperor through the senate and Doria actually directed Genoese affairs; but dependence on the will and favour of individuals did not seem to Charles either a dignified or durable means of power. The conspiracy of Fieschi had been crushed; but it had left discontents behind it and a new outbreak was possible at every hour. Besides, Charles thirsted to be complete master of a city which was in his view, and in fact, the connecting link between the kingdoms of Spain and his Lombard provinces.

Figuerroa, knowing the wishes of his master, opened his views to the old nobles who were his intimates and drew them over to his wishes. He terrified them by setting forth the prospect of new conspiracies and the popular affection for Gianluigi which was still strong in the city. He told them that Andrea was too decrepit to combat these approaching perils and that prudence counselled adequate provisions to suppress revolt. Figuerroa found in the minds of the old nobles, morbidly sensitive to the least breath of popular commotion, complacent acquiescence, and he induced some of the faction of San Luca to address a petition to the emperor in Germany, in which they exaggerated the Fieschi movement, showed the uncertain faith of many of the Italian princes and the danger of general revolt and concluded by requesting that the security of Genoa be provided for by a Spanish garrison and a more stable form of government.

The emperor answered the appeal by sending NicolÒ Perenoto, lord of Granveille and imperial councillor, with some engineers, to construct a fortress on the hill of Pietra Minuta as a rein on the Genoese populace. This fortification garrisoned by a strong Spanish force would have secured the imperial power and stifled all attempts at revolution. But Andrea, who wished to rule Genoa himself, vehemently opposed the erection of a fortress to be occupied by imperial troops. The prince desired to be the sole imperial representative in Genoa and to keep the Spanish crown in a state of dependence upon his loyalty. He therefore resisted the innovation with all his power, and boldly told Granveille that he must lay aside the project. When the imperial minister informed him of the petition sent by the Genoese nobility to the emperor, the old man called to him the persons chiefly concerned in that business, reproached them spiritedly for the weakness they had shown in falling into an imperial trap, and induced them to recant their approval of this scheme of national humiliation.

But Granveille still hoped to win Doria’s consent to the wishes of the emperor, and he frequently sent his engineers to Pietra Minuta for the purpose of defining the position of the new citadel. The people saw these surveys, and they one day broke into tumult, rushed to the place and would have killed Granveille and his engineers if the senate had not forseen the danger and stationed troops so as to prevent access to the hill. The emperor was now convinced that he could only carry out his plans by an open war both with Andrea and the people; and he therefore wrote to the prince that he would renounce a project which seemed so distasteful to his admiral.

Doria on his side pledged himself to reform the government and give it such a direction as to put it out of the power of a few persons to reËstablish the popular constitution. He accordingly instituted the provision called Garibetto which entirely excluded popular families from political power and gave rise to many civil disorders and finally to intestine war. It completed the alienation of the masses from the nobility and destroyed the vital force of the Republic. But the plebeians, the more they were depressed, burned the more for liberty. The spirit of revolution sometimes slumbered but was never entirely extinguished. The opposition of Doria and the threatening attitude of the populace deterred the Spaniards and the greater part of the old nobles from carrying out their scheme of building a fortress to overawe the people. But though Charles bent to the will of our people in that project, he secured through the prince a more oligarchic form of government and removed the new nobles from power. This success and the increasing subservience of Doria inspired Charles with new hope that he might get Genoa entirely in his power as a first step to the complete control of the Peninsula. He renewed his efforts with more shrewdness and contrived a scheme for taking the populace by surprise and lulling to sleep the vigilance of the old admiral.

A conference was held in Piacenza by the Duke of Alba, Gonzaga, an envoy of Cosimo, and Tomaso de’ Marini a Genoese knight. It was agreed that when Doria had sailed to Spain, to escort the Archduke Maximilian, Gonzaga should enter the city with a large body of imperial troops and Cosimo should support the movement with some regiments of infantry. The pretext for this military concentration was afforded by the fact that the Prince Don Phillip, called into Germany by his father, would return with Doria to Genoa and Cosimo and Gonzaga would go thither to pay him homage.

Having made these arrangements, the Duke of Alba sailed with Doria for Spain (July, 1548) in order to prepare other parts of the conspiracy. But the Genoese fortunately received information of the plot. The Pope, who, since the death of his son, distrusted the emperor more than ever, having heard of the conference in Piacenza, instructed Carlo Orsino, governor of Piacenza, to ascertain what had been done by the conspirators. Orsino laboured so well that he penetrated the mystery. Some incautious words of Gonzaga put him on the scent of the movement and enabled him to inform the Pope of the nature of the emperor’s plans. Paul communicated this intelligence to Leonardo Strata, a Genoese noble living in Rome, and Strata immediately wrote to the senate. The scheme was so bold and unexpected that the senators were at first disposed to distrust the report. But their doubts were soon removed. Gonzaga soon after sent a messenger to notify the government that Don Phillip would soon arrive in Genoa, and to ask quarters in the city for two thousand cavalry and as many arquebusiers. At the same time, Cosimo wrote asking permission to pay homage to the prince in Genoa and to bring as an escort, to protect him against the plots of Genoese exiles, two regiments of cavalry and two of infantry. Andrea also wrote from Rosas (October 19th, 1548) a letter to the Doge, which, as an eloquent proof of his servility to Spain, we give entire:—

“I send with this galley Don Michele de Velasco and with him three quarter-masters whom His Highness the prince desires to have forwarded in advance of himself, for reasons which you will more fully learn from his ambassador, Figuerroa. Their mission as you will learn is to prepare lodgings for this court. It seems expedient for me to write you these few words, as a citizen, praying you to give me pleasure by issuing orders that these quarter-masters be allowed to accompany Don Michele, and assigning them without delay all the lodgings which may be necessary.

“Receive them with such marks of esteem as you are accustomed to give when the honour of princes and the glory of the city are concerned, in order that His Majesty and this Illustrious Prince, his son, may know that, not only in this, but in matters of much greater moment, you are delighted to render him service. For, besides the general repute which your excellencies will gain by such a course of conduct, the favour of His Majesty and His Highness will be much greater towards you, and their love for the Republic will be increased so that they will the more cheerfully aid her in the hour of need, as hitherto. Your Excellencies should remember that we have no other light or support but the great goodness of His Majesty which permits us to live within his kingdoms without any sense of subjection, and that for this reason alone the whole city ought to do spontaneously whatever is required in these circumstances, and all the more that in these matters which require small sacrifices we shall gain large favour and induce His Majesty to grant us privileges of greater importance. I know well that our citizens will interpose obstacles as they are accustomed to do in such emergencies; but your Excellencies, knowing the convenience and importance of the matter, will strive to remove all difficulties, compel all to preserve order and obedience and punish whoever makes opposition in such a way as to render them a warning and example to all the rest. I have nothing more to add on this subject; for I am sure that you, as wise men, will carefully reflect on the duty we owe the emperor, and voluntarily and cheerfully give those orders that are required; the more that the stay of the prince will be only for a few days, and small as the favour will be, His Majesty will reckon it a great one and always remember your good will and that of the city towards Himself. His Highness will also be gratified for your prompt good service and all his suite will leave you greatly pleased by your hospitality. M. Domenico Doria, the bearer of this letter, will speak more fully of this concernment to your Excellencies, to whom I commend me with affectionate solicitude.”

These simultaneous requests removed the doubts of the senators. They showed an admirable firmness in refusing quarters for the soldiers of Gonzaga and Medici. Gonzaga renewed his request and the senate replied that if he appeared at the gates with more than twenty horses he would find them shut in his face. He came with three hundred infantry and two companies of cavalry, but he was obliged to quarter himself outside of the walls, in Sestri. Cosimo, seeing the firmness of the senate, relinquished the design of coming. But no one dared resist Doria, and his Spaniards were received in the city.

While these events were transpiring Don Phillip sailed out of Spain with a fleet of fifty-eight galleys, of which nineteen belonged to Prince Doria and six to Antonio Doria, two to the prince of Monaco and two to Visconte Cicala. There were forty other vessels of which six were Genoese. Don Phillip took passage on board the admiral’s galley, a vessel wonderful for her size, construction and equipment. The designs of the embellishments were made by Pierino del Vaga, and executed by Carota and Tasso, Florentine artists. The standards were painted by Vaga. The gilding, the satins and the rich brocades rendered the vessel a marvel of beauty. The young prince, astonished by this magnificence, was prodigal of honours and marks of affection to Andrea, hoping to captivate the old man and secure his coÖperation in the plot against the Republic. As they neared our coasts, Phillip inquired of the admiral where he would be quartered in Genoa. The admiral responded that he hoped to have that honour for his palace in Fassiolo, where the emperor had been his guest. The young Prince showed dissatisfaction at the response and rejoined that he wished to reside in the Ducal palace. “That,” replied Andrea “Is not in my power. Your Highness may ask it of the senate, though I am of opinion that those who live there will not willingly evacuate it.” These frank words enraged Phillip, and his wrath was yet more inflamed immediately after by letters of Gonzaga which reported that their plan could not be put into execution. The young prince broke out into angry imprecations; but his preceptor, the Duke of Alba conjured him to conceal his displeasure lest the suspicions of the Genoese should be increased, and Phillip constrained himself to a complacent reception of the messengers of the Republic.

He landed at Savona and was entertained by Benedetta Spinola, a beautiful and courteous widow. After a brief stay he proceeded to Genoa. The princess Peretta received him in the Doria palace with the highest honour. The Doge and the senators, the Genoese cardinals Doria and Cybo, Lord Bishop Matera, envoy of the Pope, and the ministers of other nations went to pay him homage.

We shall not dwell on the sumptuous reception of Phillip by the nobility, or the splendour which Doria displayed with his open court and princely banquets for the Spanish barons. The luxury of the decorations, the richness of the furniture, the splendour of the carpets and service of every kind and the wealth sunk in the banquets of that palace were then the marvel of Italy. Don Phillip and his suite were filled with admiration by the magnificence of their reception.

The Genoese populace did not participate in these festivities. They could ill brook these servile attentions towards those who were conspiring, not merely to deprive them of political power, but to take away the independence of the Republic; and, looking on with ill-concealed rage, they were more than once on the brink of revolution. On the 3rd of December at midnight, the people rose at the cry of “Ammazza, Ammazza”—kill them, kill them—and rushed to attack fifty of the Bisogni who were in a tavern of the mole; and they would have despatched the Spaniards, if Colonel Spinola had not arrived on the ground with a strong body of infantry in time to quell the tumult. But the rage of the populace continued. Don Phillip had requested the city police to arrest a certain Don Antonio d’Arze, a Spaniard guilty of homicide. After the arrest, he sent eighty Spanish arquebusiers to conduct the criminal from the prison on board a galley. Near the Ducal palace, this body of Spaniards met the city guard. The Bisogni had their matches lit, and the guard, believing that the imperial troops came to assault the palace, prepared to make a desperate resistance, and in fact drove the Spaniards back by force. Many of the latter were wounded and some lost their lives. In a twinkling, the rumour ran that the Spaniards had attacked the Ducal palace; the people collected in crowds and would have put the Spaniards to the edge of the sword if the Doge and two governors of the palace had not mingled in the crowd and soothed the irritation. Prince Doria himself was carried in a palanquin through the most populous quarters, and besought the people to lay aside their hostile intentions. The populace was held in subjection by force and supplications; but the Spaniards lost no time in returning on board their ships, and Don Phillip departed dissimulating his animosity against the city.

We must here speak of an incident which occurred while Don Phillip was the guest of the city; though Bandello places it some years earlier.

In one of the many descents of the Turkish corsair upon the Riviera, they had captured a Genoese girl about ten years of age, belonging, says the chronicle, to the illustrious family of the Calvi. Being of remarkable beauty she was sold by the pirates at a high price to a merchant who carried her into Spain. Here she grew more beautiful with years and inspired a son of the Duke of Alba with an ardent passion which he found means to satisfy. When Don Phillip came into Italy, the young man was obliged to accompany the cortÈge; but not wishing to leave the young woman, he took her on board one of the vessels and brought her to Genoa. Annina had never forgotten her parents and her native city; and as soon as she landed, she induced her pages by rich presents to find her lodgings on the piazza Maruffi, near the palace of Stefano Fieschi and in the residence of the Calvi. Annina entered her father’s house with joy, and, seizing a moment when her lover was occupied with Don Phillip, she dismissed her domestics and revealed herself to her parents. The embracings, the tears, the transports of tenderness, cannot be described. But the noble girl broke off these demonstrations of affection. “It is time that I think of my liberation. Though loaded with ornaments, I have been hitherto only a slave, and I owe it to my dignity and my blood to atone in the shadow of the altar for my dishonourable though forced manner of life. Take me to a convent before my master learns that I belong to you, and put me in a cell where none may ever hear my name pronounced.” Her parents approved her choice and at once sent her to a monastery near the city, where she was received under another name. She had scarcely departed when the knight came to find his mistress, and, inquiring for her, he read in the silence of the pages that she had fled. He was at the first moment about to wreak his anger on these servants; but he restrained himself and demanded of the Calvi the restoration of the girl. An angry contention arose which raised a tumult in that part of the city. In a few moments the piazza was full of men of both nations. Among the first to enter the house of Calvi to succour the Genoese was Giovanni Lavagna, allied by blood to the Fieschi. He was one of the most reckless warriors of his time. Encountering the Spanish knight at the head of the staircase surrounded by armed men and threatening the bystanders, he demanded the cause of his discourteous manners. Alba replied:—

“It does not concern thee, white moor and traitor that thou art!”

Lavagna was not accustomed to receive abuse with patience, and he angrily retorted:—

“Moorish Jew, thou liest in the throat!” and drawing his sword, threw himself upon the Spaniard. The fight was of brief duration. Despite the assistance of his companions, the knight was pierced to the heart. The Spaniards descended into the piazza and came to blows with the populace, who killed some and put the others to flight. Lavagna fearing the vengeance of Phillip took refuge in the province of Piacenza.

Don Phillip did not relinquish the hope of reducing Genoa to the condition of a province, and he was encouraged by Gonzaga, Figuerroa and the Duke of Alba. The plan of the new fortress was again taken up. The partisans of Spain reasoned that the popular hostility to Spain constantly threatened the city with revolution and that so stubborn a people needed a strong rein. It was reasonable enough they said that Doria, when he was in the full vigour of life, should have opposed the erection of the citadel, but now when he was old and infirm almost to decrepitude he ought no longer to resist the will of CÆsar.

Charles sent to Genoa a certain Sigismondi Fransino with instructions to confer with Doria and Centurione and endeavour to gain their consent to the fortification. Some engineers also came secretly, for the purpose of selecting the most convenient site. They renounced the plan of fortifying Pietra Minuta and recommended that the fortress of Castelletto should be restored. Doria hearing of this new plan and wishing to finish once for all with these projects for the humiliation of Genoa, sent Adamo Centurione into Flanders to confer with CÆsar and convince him that there was imminent peril of losing the Republic altogether unless these schemes were renounced. Charles made the most formal pledges that he would put a stop to the intrigue and never again raise the question. The advice of Don Bernardino Mendozza probably had more weight with Charles than the remonstrances of Centurione. Mendozza was a man of infinite cunning and dexterity in politics. He pointed out to his sovereign the excessive devotion of the Genoese to the acquisition of wealth, and advised him to employ every artifice to get their money into the imperial treasury in the form of loans secured upon lands, privileges, feuds and jurisdictions in Sicily, Naples and Spain. “Thus,” said the adroit politician, “you will bind the Genoese to the fortunes of your kingdom by a voluntary chain; since when their riches are in your hands they will be naturally inclined to increase and maintain your power. This hold upon their affections will be worth more than any fortress.”

This shrewd advice was followed; every inducement was held out to the wealthy nobles to place their money in the hands of the emperor, with such securities and guarantees as would infallibly induce other citizens to follow the example and bind themselves with their fortunes to Spain. By this expedient Charles seemed to leave the Genoese their independence, but he really made them tributary to his crown, Phillip II. pursued this policy with even greater assiduity and it became hereditary in the Spanish princes. It was in fact for two centuries the political science by which the court of Spain regulated the affairs of Italy; and the people found themselves insensibly bound, without their own action, to the interests and policy of that crown. It must be said that some give a different version of the affair of the citadel. Writers of weight tell us that, even in this, Doria was subservient to Charles; but we cannot believe it possible. His steadfast resistance to that scheme is more consistent with the greatness and fame of the illustrious admiral; and, though he was a vehement partisan of the imperial cause, he could not have wished to become, like Cosimo, its slave. When the Medici gave up to imperial troops the fortresses of Florence and Leghorn, he found himself in the hands of a master, and never digested the retort of Venice, who refused to treat with him “because he was, in his own house, the servant of another man.”

We think the truth to be that when Doria saw the unanimity of the people in opposing the erection of a citadel, he wisely resolved to support his fellow-citizens, and the people are entitled to the chief praise for the failure of that scheme. They were not yet corrupted by the servility of the nobility, and might have renewed the examples of their ancient valour and prevented the foreign power from striking root in the Republic. They lost no opportunity of manifesting their profound dislike of Spain, as Doge Lercaro himself testifies. When Charles gave to Cosimo the government of Piombino, then in the hands of the Appiani, the Genoese rose up in arms and demanded of the senate that galleys be despatched to Elba to expel the Florentines and Spaniards. This time, too, it was Doria who held back the arms of the people.

It is easy to see that the new ties between Genoa and Spain were the principal occasion of our decline. Doria, by breaking the French alliance and persecuting the men of Barbary (instead of courting their alliance after the example of Venice) hastened our fall. Our commerce gradually declined. French and Barbary fleets roved over our seas and destroyed our marine. The city was put to great straits, and longed in vain for the only remedy for its maladies, the alliance of France to open up the commerce of the East. Fieschi, who had courted these benefits, was remembered the more sadly as disasters multiplied upon the Republic.

The government comprehended that some important and energetic measures must be taken to restore our fortunes; and, after mature reflection, the senate resolved to attempt the recovery of our Eastern trade. The only remnant of our extensive possessions in the Levant was the island of Scio, which was still held by the family of the Giustiniani. In 1558, Giovanni Di Franchi and NicolÒ Grillo were sent to Constantinople, with eight vessels bearing costly presents for the Sultan and his principal ministers, to ask a renewal of trade and treaties of amity and commerce such as the Porte maintained with the Venitians.

The Porte was disposed to accept our trade and friendship, but the king of France raised objections which destroyed the hopes of Genoa. He showed the Porte that the Genoese were the fast allies of Spain, and could not remain neutral between Spaniards and Turks; that all the maritime enterprises of Charles to the damage of the Turks had been conducted with Genoese fleets; that Doria the greatest of the enemies of Turkey and the admiral of Spain, lived in Genoa and ruled it at his caprice; that, in fine, the Porte could not safely listen to the proposals of the Genoese unless they declared themselves enemies of Spain. These arguments changed the purpose of Soliman, and he sent the Ligurian ambassadors home without giving them audience. The Republic lost hope of reacquiring that commerce with the East which had once enabled it to triumph over Pisa and Venice.

Such were the consequences of our fatal bondage to the empire. The people, guided by infallible instincts, showed in this matter more wisdom than their rulers. If we had shaken off the imperial embraces, we might have obtained from the Turks all those privileges which the Venitians had acquired a few years before; nor should we have had rivals to contest our gains. The French were falling into civil commotions which turned their attention from commercial enterprises. The English seldom showed themselves in our seas. The Dutch had not yet thrown off the yoke at which they were fretting, and the Venitians soon after, becoming as inimical as the Spaniards to the Turkish power, were excluded from Eastern markets. The Levant, still rich in silk fabrics, might have been a fountain of vast wealth for Genoese merchants.