MARQUISATE OF MANTUA
Mantua is an island settlement which on the banks of River Mincio, which flows from Lake Garda to the Adriatic Sea. Caught between Milan and Venice, Mantuan rulers were able to keep independence not by having peaceful stances, but through desperate fight. Mantuan rulers and relatives are expected to behave as warlords that ally either on Milan or Venice, and eventually switch between alliances to keep their independence.
« Part of Lombardy was subject to the Duke Filippo, part to the Venetians; for all those who had held single states were set aside, except the House of Gonzaga, which ruled in Mantua».
Niccolò Machiavelli's History of Florence - Book I, Chapter VII.
HISTORY
Mantua became a free commune in early 12th century, and strenuously defended itself from the influence of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1198, Alberto Pitentino altered the course of River Mincio, creating what the Mantuans call "the four lakes" to reinforce the city's natural protection. Three of these lakes still remain today, and the fourth one ran through the centre of town.
From 1215, the city was ruled under the podesteria of the Guelph Rambertino Buvalelli. During the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, Pinamonte Bonacolsi took advantage of the chaotic situation to seize power of the podesteria in 1273. He was declared the Captain General of the People. The Bonacolsi family ruled Mantua for the next two generations.
On August 16, 1328, Ludovico Gonzaga, an official in Bonacolsi's podesteria, staged a public revolt in Mantua with his family and forced a coup d'état on the last Bonacolsi ruler, Rinaldo. Ludovico was duly elected Captain General of the People. The Gonzaga built new walls with five gates and renovated the city in the 14th century. However, the political situation did not settle until 22 September 1433, when Gianfrancesco Gonzaga obtained by Emperor Sigismund the right to bear the title of Marquis, thereby receiving an important legitimization to his rule.
TERRITORY
Rivers, rivers, rivers. The land of Mantua is bounded by them. To the west, the River Oglio provides the border with Cremona. To the south it is bounded by the River Po, on the other side of which are the territories of Ferrara, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma. To the east the River Mincio provides the border with Verona and Rovigo, and to the northwest lies Brescia.
The River Po is subject to flooding and much of the bank is raised by levees; the whole area is mainly constituted by marshland. There are reserves for nobles kept as hinting ground, and Mantua has a range of habitats including moraines, hills, plains, and the meandering riverbeds in the complex of lakes surrounding the city.
ECONOMY
AGRICULTURE
Mantuan landscape is primarily an agricultural one. The productivity of agriculture is enhanced by a well-developed use of dumping and the traditional abundance of water. It is largely flat and the soil is very fertile and is intensively irrigated, boosted by the construction of a wide net of irrigation canals. Beside the irrigated fields, mulberry plants are grown for their contribution to silk production, or sericulture. Cattle are also bred and cheese and other dairy products are manufactured, especially butter. Notable is also the Mantuan salami.
MANUFACTURE
IN 1430s Gianfrancesco Gonzaga founded and encouraged the first workshops for the manufacture of tapestries in Italy. This was an attempt to increase the textile manufacture sector, dominated by nearby powers, by selecting a niche in which textile workers could find a profit.
TRADE AND COMMERCE
As Mantua thrives on a river, it has a river port besides the city which ensure a steady flow of imported goods in the city. Trade relationship with Venice are especially important, as Mantua traditionally export a notable amount of cheap grain that is needed by the maritime republic. Moreover, the Gonzaga family bought large stocks of Venice’s public debt, and this proved useful in political negotiations.
POLITICS
As the city was not ruled anymore by political parties, it entered the complex politics of dynasties and marriages between them. In 1328 Ludovico I Gonzaga overthrew the Bonacolsi lordship over the city with the help of the Scaligeri of Verona, thereby aligning himself with the Ghibelline party, and his proclamation as Imperial Vicar of Emperor Louis IV. Strengthened his position. His son Feltrino, lord of Reggio until 1371, formed the cadet branch of the Gonzaga of Novellara after he was forced to sell Reggio to the Visconti. The other son, Francesco, married Agnese, daughter of Barnabò Visconti and sought to keep a policy of balance between the nearby powers of Milan and Venice. To protect his land from the increasing power of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Francesco had conveniently executed his wife Agnese under accusations of adultery, to switch his allegiance to Venice. In 1393, Francesco remarried to Margherita Malatesta, who carried in the Gonzaga family the hereditary illness of osteomalacia, or “soft-bones”, which appeared periodically in Mantua's rulers.
ARMY
Ludovico Gonzaga was a commander, fighting actively against Milan and other powers; since then, all Gonzaga had a military training, in which they were expected to take up the arms and fight. Eventually, cadet sons were encouraged to become Condottieri, exploiting, whenever possible, double political aims. Carlo Gonzaga, the younger son of the current ruler, Gianfrancesco, is a condottiero.
The Mantuan army is composed by two parts: a standing militia, serving as garrison force for the city and the surrounding castles, whose rights and duties are written down in the city’s Statutes, and a professional force, serving as retinue of the Marquis or his family, that served as an “export army”. Gonzaga family members are ready to serve with a notable strength of horsemen and support troops, being hired as condottieri by both Milan and Venice, and they are able to muster armies which you may not expect by a little state.
SOURCES
Roberto Brunelli, I Gonzaga. Quattro secoli per una dinastia, Tre Lune Editore, Mantova, 2010.
Selwyn Brinton, The Gonzaga - Lords of Mantua. Methuen & Co. LTD., London, 1927.
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[Modificato da Mylae 15/10/2018 11:51]
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È pericoloso porre in modo sbagliato questioni sostanzialmente giuste.
Indro Montanelli