Giampaolo Baglioni
Giampaolo Baglioni
was born in Perugia around 1470. Following the family tradition, he became a
"condottiere", or a solder of fortune, and since 1493 he was for several
years at the service of the Florentines. When the government of Perugia was
seized by Girolamo della Penna and Carlo Baglioni, Giampaolo went to Vitellozzo
Vitelli who was at Marciano, not far from Perugia, and with the help of Vitellozo
was able to put together a group of soldiers and regained Perugia. In 1500 he
was at the service of Pope Alexander VI, and helped the Pope's son, Cesare Borgia,
the Duke Valentino, in the fight against the Colonnas. He was then offered the
position of Captain General of the Siena troops, but Giampaolo refused. He also
refused an offer from Florence, and went to work with Cesare Borgia at the assault
of Faenza. Later, in 1501, he participated with the Valentino in the expedition
against Piombino. Giampaolo was then called by Piero de' Medici and Pandolfo
Petrucci to take part in their attempts against Florence. But after Duke Valentino's
occupation of Urbino, Giampaolo realized that the ambitious plans of the Pope's
son would one day be fatal also to Perugia. He returned home and tried to organize
the resistance of the lords of central Italy whose territories were menaced
by Cesare Borgia.
It was Giampaolo who organized the Diet of La Magione, and on November 9, 1502,
he presided over that meeting. It seemed that a definite plan had been reached
with all the participantsthe Baglionis, Cardinal Giambattista Orsini,
Francesco Orsini Duke of Gravina, Paolo Orsini, Ermes Bentivoglio, Oliverotto
da Fermo, Antonio Giordano da Venafro for Pandolfo Petrucci, Prince of Siena,
and Ottaviano Fregoso for Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. However,
at the end of November a new meeting was held in Chianciano, and the Orsinis,
Bentivoglio and Petrucci were for a plan of compromise with Cesare Borgia. Giampaolo
and Vitellozzo Vitelli tried in vain to change their mind. Giampaolo anticipated
and escaped Cesare Borgia's deception and slaughter of Sinigallia on December
31, 1502, although he had to leave Perugia. He went to Florence, but was able
to return to Perugia in 1503, after Pope Alexander's death. Under the new Pope,
Julius II, Giampaolo seeked the protection of Guidubaldo da Montefeltro, and
thus he obtained from the Pope to keep his territories and to live in Perugia.
At the death of Julius II in 1513, the new elected pope, Leo X, was a de' Medici.
In 1516 Giampaolo became Lorenzo de' Medici's counselor in the war against Urbino.
The war was proceeding slower than expected, and Giampaolo was accused of plotting
with Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. There was a preoccupation
that an understanding between Giampaolo and the Duke of Urbino would create
an unfavorable situation for Lorenzo de' Medici, who pressed the Pope on this
point. As a consequence Pope Leo X decided to eliminate the lord of Perugia.
So he called Giampaolo to Rome several times. Finally in March 1520 Giampaolo
went to Rome to see the Pope, but was never allowed to see His Holiness. He
was instead imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo, and a couple of months later,
on the night of June 11, 1520, was decapitated