Pippo Spano | |
---|---|
Born | 1369 Republic of Florence |
Died | December 1426 Lipova |
Buried | Székesfehérvár Basilica |
Noble family | Buondelmonti degli Scolari |
Occupation | Hungarian magnate, general; Italian condottiere. |
Filippo Buondelmonti degli Scolari (1369 – December 1426), known as Pippo Spano, [a] was an Italian magnate, general, strategist and confidant of King Sigismund of Hungary, born in the Republic of Florence. The personal friend of Sigismund and member of the Order of the Dragon, he was buried in the Székesfehérvár Basilica beside the Hungarian kings.
Filippo, the son of a destitute Florentine nobleman, was born at Tizzano, near Florence. He is first mentioned in Hungary around 1382, when he entered the service of Sigismund's treasurer and was awarded the castle in Simontornya (Simonsthurm).
Further services to the Crown, such as providing resources to fight the Ottomans, led to his appointment as administrator of all gold mines in the kingdom. Present in Bosnia, in the context of a Hungarian nobles' rebellion and King Tvrtko I of Bosnia's death (1391), Pippo managed to subdue the main leaders of the revolt.
He took part in the unfortunate anti-Ottoman final Crusade of September 1396 at Nicopolis in Bulgaria, and, unlike most on the Christian side, managed to flee after the defeat. He, the King, and a number of high dignitaries sailed a small boat up the Danube, all the way to Hungarian and Croatian lands.
He married Barbara, daughter and heir of Andrew of Ozora, in 1398.
During the new period of trouble with the claim to the throne of Charles II's son Ladislaus of Naples, Lo Scolari exposed acts of treason on the part of some noblemen. He was however forced to give in to most of their demands, as the King was taken prisoner in Visegrád Castle (1401).
After Sigismund reasserted control briefly, the nobles openly recognized Ladislaus as King. The forces of the Kingdom of Naples took Zadar in 1403, and Pippo had to retreat; the same year, he regained Veszprém and, in September, took Esztergom and again raided Bosnia - breaking up contacts between Sicilian and rebel armies and forcing the invaders to flee. He persuaded the rebels to seek Sigismund's pardon.
While in Vienna, Pippo was made Count of Temesvár (Timișoara). In this capacity, he initiated the building of the Hungarian border castle system to contain the Ottoman aggression; immediately, Pippo started confronting the Turks, but also moving against the Bosnian armies of Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić that had been besieging the town of Šibenik in Dalmatia, regaining parts of today's Croatia.
In 1408, Pippo became the Ban of Szörény and member of the prestigious Order of the Dragon; by that time, he had become wealthy and powerful. In 1410, Sigismund sent him to persuade Italian city-states to cut off their links with Naples: he traveled in great pomp to his native Florence, then to Ferrara (meeting Niccolò III d'Este). In August, he was received by Pisan Antipope John XXIII. In September, present in Venice, Pippo is said to have backed a conspiracy.
As part of the anti-Venetian campaign of 1411, Lo Scolari entered Friuli at the head of an army, conquered Aquileia and, in December, he took Udine and several fortresses in Romagna, then Vittorio Veneto - capturing a high official from the Barbarigo family. In January 1412, the renewed attack ensured Pippo a supply of high-ranking Venetian prisoners, whom he ordered mutilated to avenge a Hungarian killed by the enemy.
He suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Motta in August 1412 against the Venetian Republic under Carlo Malatesta. [2] Pippo intended to besiege Padua in January, but he could not maintain his army on the spot, and moved towards the Brenta, in Cartigliano and Marostica, leading an unsuccessful attack on Vicenza. Further failures provoked his retreat to Friuli, and then to Hungary, in February. This outcome made Venetian accounts imply a settlement with the Most Serene Republic, and even the mythical execution of Pippo as revenge by the Emperor King (he supposedly had molten gold poured down his throat).
Lo Scolari returned to Friuli in September, in order to aid Florence against Ladislaus' troops. At Lodi (in Lombardy), he attended the meeting between Sigismund and the ruler of the city, Giovanni da Vignate.
Pippo took part in the March 1414 initial proceedings of the Council of Constance, where the Emperor King charged him with guarding John XXIII - an assignment he did not fully accomplish, as the Antipope soon managed to flee. In 1415, the Count of Temesvár witnessed the rebel Jan Hus' execution in Konstanz.
He fought the Turks again in 1417 in Wallachia, in 1418 around Belgrade, and in 1419 in Bosnia (where he agreed to a five-year truce); the King Emperor awarded him Severin, Mehadia and Orşova. He was called to Bohemia, where he dealt with the Hussite insurrection from 1420 (see Battle of Vítkov Hill), being severely beaten by Jan Žižka at Havlíčkův Brod (see Battle of Německý Brod), in January 1422.
The rumor that Pippo had been killed in Bohemia led to an Ottoman attack in Wallachia against his ally Prince Dan II. Prompted by requests from Stefan Lazarević, he moved into Serbia and won a large-scale battle. In 1425 Scolari, Dan II and the Bulgarian prince Frujin Asen crossed the Danube and defeated the Ottomans near Vetren and captured Silistra. However, he suffered a stroke the next year and was carried to Lipova where he died. He was buried in Székesfehérvár, next to the tombs of the Hungarian kings, his funeral being attended by King Sigismund in person.
He was enumerated in South Slavic epic poetry, known as "Filip the Magyar (Hungarian)" (Serbian : Филип Мађарин, Bulgarian : Филип Маджарин).
Baldassarre Cossa was Pisan antipope as John XXIII (1410–1415) during the Western Schism. The Catholic Church today regards him as an antipope in opposition to Pope Gregory XII, whom it recognizes as the rightful successor of Saint Peter. John XXIII was also an opponent of Antipope Benedict XIII, who was recognized by the French clergy and monarchy as the legitimate Pontiff.
Mary, also known as Maria of Anjou, reigned as Queen of Hungary and Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. Mary's marriage to Sigismund of Luxembourg, a member of the imperial Luxembourg dynasty, was already decided before her first birthday. A delegation of Polish prelates and lords confirmed her right to succeed her father in Poland in 1379.
Sigismund of Luxembourg was Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1437. He was elected King of Germany in 1410, and was also King of Bohemia from 1419, as well as prince-elector of Brandenburg. As the husband of Mary, Queen of Hungary, he was also King of Hungary and Croatia from 1387. He was the last male member of the House of Luxembourg.
Stephen Dabiša was as a member of the Kotromanić dynasty who reigned as King of Bosnia from March 1391 until his death. Elected to succeed the first king, Tvrtko I, Dabiša at first maintained the integrity of the Kingdom of Bosnia. He successfully resisted Hungary, Naples, and even Ottoman Turks. The latter part of his reign, however, saw the ascent of magnates and considerable loss of Bosnia's territory and influence.
The King of Hungary was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 and used afterwards by all monarchs of Hungary.
The Order of the Dragon was a monarchical chivalric order only for selected higher aristocracy and monarchs, founded in 1408 by Sigismund of Luxembourg, who was then King of Hungary and Croatia and later also Holy Roman Emperor. It was fashioned after the military orders of the Crusades, requiring its initiates to defend the cross and fight the enemies of Christianity, particularly the Ottoman Empire.
Ladislaus the Magnanimous was King of Naples from 1386 until his death and an unsuccessful claimant to the kingdoms of Hungary and Croatia. Ladislaus was a skilled political and military leader, protector and controller of Pope Innocent VII; however, he earned a bad reputation concerning his personal life. He profited from disorder throughout Italy to greatly expand his kingdom and his power, appropriating much of the Papal States to his own use. He was the last male of the Capetian House of Anjou.
The Kingdom of Croatia entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, after a period of rule of kings from the Trpimirović and Svetoslavić dynasties and a succession crisis following the death of king Demetrius Zvonimir. With the coronation of King Coloman of Hungary as "King of Croatia and Dalmatia" in 1102 in Biograd, the realm passed to the Árpád dynasty until 1301, when the (male) line of the dynasty died out. Then, kings from the Capetian House of Anjou, who were also cognatic descendants of the Árpád kings, ruled the kingdoms. Later centuries were characterized by conflicts with the Mongols, who sacked Zagreb in 1242, competition with Venice for control over Dalmatian coastal cities, and internal warfare among Croatian nobility. Various individuals emerged during the period, such as Paul I Šubić of Bribir, who was representing the most powerful Croatian dynasty at the time, the Šubić noble family. These powerful individuals were on occasion able to de facto secure great deal of independence for their fiefdoms. The Ottoman incursion into Europe in the 16th century significantly reduced Croatian territories and left the country weak and divided. After the death of Louis II in 1526 during the Battle of Mohács and a brief period of dynastic dispute, both crowns passed to the Austrian House of Habsburg, and the realms became part of the Habsburg monarchy.
Ozora is a village in Tolna, Hungary. It has been notable since the Middle Ages, when Pipo of Ozora built a castle at this site by permission of Sigismund of Hungary in 1416. Artúr Görgei won an important victory in this area at the Battle of Ozora during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. In recent times, it has become famous for the psychedelic Ozora Festival, which has been held annually since 2004 on an estate in Ozora near the small village Dádpuszta.
Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić was a medieval Bosnian nobleman and magnate, Grand Duke of Bosnia, Knez of Donji Kraji, and Duke of Split. He was the most prominent member of the Hrvatinić noble family, and one of the major feudal lords in Kingdom of Bosnia. He was Grand Duke of Bosnia under three Bosnian kings: King Tvrtko I, King Stephen Dabiša and King Stephen Ostoja. In 1403, and after Tvrtko I's death, Ladislaus of Naples named him his deputy for Dalmatia, and bestowed him with a title Duke of Split, later Herzog of Split. He played a crucial role in the dynastic struggles between the Anjou and Luxembourg claimants to the Hungarian-Croatian throne at the end of the 14th century, as well as in the emergence of the Bosnian Kingdom as a regional power during the same period.
Stephen Tvrtko II, also known as Tvrtko Tvrtković, was a member of the House of Kotromanić who reigned as King of Bosnia from 1404 to 1409 and again from 1420 to his death.
Nicholas II Garai was a powerful Hungarian baron who served as the Palatine of Hungary from 1402 until 1433 and the ban of Macsó, Usora, Só, Slavonia, Croatia and Dalmatia. He also ruled over the Braničevo, Syrmia, Bačka, Banat and Baranya regions through vassals. Together with his close ally Stibor of Stiboricz, he remained one of the richest and most powerful nobles in Hungary for over 30 years. Nicholas II Garai also served as de facto ruler of Hungary next to King Sigismund. In 1416 Sigismund extended their armorial bearings showing the Order of the Dragon and the Order of the Scarf. He presented the patent to his brother-in-law. Nicholas II's first wife was Theodora of Serbia, daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia. In 1405, he married Anna of Cilli, sister of King Sigismund's second wife, Barbara of Cilli, thereby becoming brother-in-law of the King and Queen of Hungary. His granddaughter Anna was engaged to King Matthias Corvinus.
Nicholas I Garai was a most influential officeholder under King Louis I and Queen Mary of Hungary. He was ban of Macsó between 1359 and 1375, and palatine from 1375 until his death. He was also ispán or head of a number of counties over his lifetime.
The House of Hunyadi was one of the most powerful noble families in the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th century. A member of the family, Matthias Corvinus, was King of Hungary from 1458 until 1490, King of Bohemia from 1469 until 1490, and Duke of Austria from 1487 until 1490. His illegitimate son, John Corvinus, ruled the Duchy of Troppau from 1485 until 1501, and five further Silesian duchies, including Bytom, Głubczyce, Loslau, Racibórz, and Tost, from 1485 until 1490. The Hunyadi coat-of-arms depicted a raven with a golden ring in its beak.
The Battle of Motta was fought in late August 1412 when an invading army of Hungarians, Germans and Croats led by Pippo Spano and Voivode Miklós Marczali attacked the Venetian positions at Motta in Italy and suffered a heavy defeat.
The Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a basilica in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. From the year 1000 until 1527, it was the site of the coronation of the Hungarian monarch. After the Ottomans occupied the city in 1543, coronations of the Hungarian monarch moved elsewhere; the building was extensively damaged in a fire in 1601. It was replaced by the Cathedral Basilica of Székesfehérvár in 1777.
In the Late Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Hungary, a country in Central Europe, experienced a period of interregnum in the early 14th century. Royal power was restored under Charles I (1308–1342), a scion of the Capetian House of Anjou. Gold and silver mines opened in his reign produced about one third of the world's total production up until the 1490s. The kingdom reached the peak of its power under Louis the Great (1342–1382) who led military campaigns against Lithuania, southern Italy and other faraway territories.
Simon Szécsényi, was a Hungarian baron and military leader, who was a staunch supporter of King Sigismund of Luxembourg since the 1380s. Joining a magnate conspiracy in 1401, he played a key role in the arrest of the king, but later was pardoned and retained his political influence until his death.
The Hungarian–Ottoman War (1415–1419) was the fifth confrontation between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. The war ended indecisively. Despite initial defeat at Doboj, the Hungarian forces managed to defeat the Ottomans and repel their forces and the Turks strategically captured part of Bosnia where they organized a sanjak.
The War of the South Danube (1420–1432) was the sixth confrontation between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. The war was characterized by extensive destruction of the areas affected by hostilities.
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