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284 Italy: Urbino same Giosia filled the people with great anxiety by joining with a large band of brigands and occupying, close to the city, a certain castle which is well defended by its natural position. This did not end well for him. For Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, the legate of that territory, laid siege to the place and, after capturing the citadel, arrested Giosia and sent him to Rome in chains.821 61 ITALY: URBINO 255. IN URBINO, Oddantonio, the people’s duke and son of a most noble mother from the Colonna family, was killed in a popular uprising after running wild in his lust for noble matrons and setting no limit to his wanton behavior.822 The promoter of his wickedness and corruptor of his youth was the apostolic protonotary Manfredo Pio of Carpi, a man of noble origin but evil nature, who had assaulted numerous married women and virgins and through all manner of crimes attained the pinnacle of vice. He paid the price for his inexhaustible lust by being killed on the same night as his protégé. His corpse was carried into the marketplace, and his genitals were sliced off and stuffed between his teeth. Before marrying a wife from the Colonnas, Oddantonio’s father, Guidantonio,823 was worried about how to perpetuate his family’s power, since he lacked male offspring. He therefore pretended that he had made a concubine pregnant and ordered the son of his relation , the illustrious general Bernardo della Carda, who happened just to have been born, to be passed off as his own and raised under 821. Rodrigo Borgia captured Giosia in 1457. 822. Oddantonio da Montefeltro (1427–44) was the son of Caterina Colonna, the niece of Pope Martin V; he became duke of Urbino in 1433. Only sixteen years of age at accession, he was surrounded by courtiers who failed to restrain his cruelty. Oddantonio and two of his associates were murdered on July 23, 1444; see Cecil Clough, “Montefeltro Family,” in Grendler, ER, vol. 4: 174–76. 823. Duke Guidantonio da Montefeltro (r. 1404–43). Italy: Rimini 285 the name of Federico.824 But when he entered into marriage and had a legitimate son, he transferred his attention to him and enlisted Federico, though still a boy, in the army, where he remained until manhood. Then, when Oddantonio died, Federico was summoned by the people and made lord of Urbino.825 He was a distinguished man, superbly trained in the military arts, who never lacked judgment in the conduct of war or courage in facing dangers , and who was as famous for his loyalty as he was for his deeds. This became most evident during the war in the Marches, when he steadfastly helped and supported Francesco Sforza, who had taken refuge with him, having been all but abandoned by the winds of fortune. He certainly did not deserve to lose his right eye in a jousting tournament.826 62 ITALY: RIMINI 256. IN RIMINI, a city of Emilia, Sigismondo Malatesta, a man notorious for his crimes, held power.827 After uniting in marriage with Francesco Sforza’s daughter, he supported Francesco’s side in the war in the Marches for some time, then served under the church. He campaigned in the north against the Venetians and in 824. Federico da Montefeltro (1422–82) was raised as the son of Bernardo, but later acknowledged by Guidantonio as his natural son. 825. Federico became lord of Urbino in 1444 and was named duke in 1474. He was one of the most successful and sought after condottieri of quattrocento Italy. For more on him, see DBI, vol. 45. 826. The tournament was hosted by the new duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, in 1450. 827. Sigismondo Malatesta (1417–68), the illegitimate son of Pandolfo Malatesta of Fano, became lord of Rimini in 1432 on his uncle Carlo’s death and married Polissena Sforza in 1441. He served Francesco Sforza and Pope Eugenius IV as condottiere. Pius’s Commentaries are filled with colorful descriptions of Sigismondo’s many crimes, for which Aeneas, as pope, took the unusual step of condemning his soul to hell while the man still lived (see Meserve and Simonetta, vol. 1: 326–31; Gragg and Gabel, vol. 2: 167–70; vol. 3: 374–76; 380). ...

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