Many have written that Scipione Fieschi was also involved in the condemnation of his brothers; but the documents above given prove the contrary. This youth was hardly eighteen years of age and was pursuing legal studies in Bologna according to the custom of Genoese noblemen. We find in the list of the doctors in law of 1390 the names of Doria, Spinola, Salvago, Imperiali, Dinegro, Grilli and Montaldi, and, as we have shown, the Fieschi were conspicuous in legal learning. From a very early period they had studied law in Bologna. The registers of illustrious pupils from 1260 to 1300 contains the names of several Fieschi who attended the lectures of the distinguished jurists of that school, chief of whom was Jacopo d’ Albenga. About 1348, Emanuel Fieschi, in order to facilitate the studies of his family in that city, founded there a perpetual college, and endowed it with a liberal income. His nephew Papiniano added largely to the endowment.
When Scipione heard of the events of Genoa, he removed to Valdetaro, and from this feud of his family wrote to the senate, on the 17th of January, as follows:—
“When I heard of the insurrection in my native city I was more dead than alive; and if the shedding of my blood or giving my life could repair the misfortune, your excellencies may be sure I would not shrink from the sacrifice. I have an intense sorrow of heart that one of my house should have attempted revolution, and especially a revolt against the authority of that prince who has always protected and benefited our family and to whom I hope always to be a good servant. Being most innocent in this conspiracy, I pray your excellencies to receive and hold me as a good son of the Republic. Such I am and hope always to remain, ever willing to expose my life to any peril for the public good. I pray you not to abandon me as a member of my brother’s family, to have compassion on my misfortune and not to permit that the fault of another shall prejudice me or bring me evil. With a heart disturbed and pained by these events beyond my power to describe, I kiss your hands and recommend myself to your clemency.”
We shall hereafter see how the senate was affected by his pathetic appeal, and how it accepted him as a son.
Doria, indefatigable in the pursuit of revenge, instituted search for the corpse of Gianluigi. Few believed he was dead, and Doria feared that he had escaped into France and was preparing to let loose a new tempest upon the government.
After four days of search, the corpse was found by a diver named Pallino. Doria wished to vent his wrath and awe the people by suspending the body before the gates of the arsenal; but he did not dare to run the risk of a new popular outbreak. The body was therefore returned to its grave in the waves. Two months after Doria caused it to be fished up again, weighted with a mass of stones, carried out and launched into the deep sea.
The vacancy in the office of Doge, created by the resignation of Giovanni Battista di Fornari, was filled by the election of Bendetto Gentile. Fearing that the confederates of Fieschi might renew their insurrection and that it might break out in the very hall of the senate, the new Doge forbade the wearing of arms in the Ducal palace. At the same time he sent Ceva Doria as a legate to Cæsar in Germany (the brothers Luca and Giovanni Battista Grimaldi were already at that court for other business) to inform the emperor fully of the perils from which Genoa had escaped and to assure him of her constant devotion. Ceva Doria had secret instructions to ask the consent of Cæsar to the absorption of the Fieschi estates by the Republic. The request particularly regarded Varese, Roccatagliata and Montobbio, in the last of which Count Gerolamo was fortified. Ceva Doria was instructed to manage the matter with much dexterity. He was to represent that Varese and Roccatagliata belonged by ancient rights to the Republic and that Montobbio was a cause of incessant irritation and frequent danger to the city; that the Republic would be gratified if the emperor should wish to honour and reward his faithful servant Figueroa with some feud; that they had already occupied Roccatagliata, Varese and Calice and that Ferrante Gonzaga had protested, but that Domenico Doria, the commissioner of the Republic, had satisfied the imperial governor that the occupation was necessary to protect these feuds from the Lords of Lando. Ceva Doria was also instructed to devise a plan for securing the imperial approval to the confiscation of the castles of Torriglia and San Stefano.
When Prince Doria learned of these negotiations with the emperor, not wishing that the rich estates of his enemy should go into other hands than his own he sent Francesco Grimaldi to the emperor to oppose the wishes of the senate and to obtain the best of the Fieschi feuds for himself. He did in the end obtain the greater part of this property, as we shall hereafter show. Antonio Doria also prayed the Spanish monarch to permit him to occupy Santo Stefano, he having bought the Malaspina claims upon the feud. Antonio at the same time besought the senate to preserve strict secrecy in this negotiation lest the prince should be offended on hearing of the intrigue. Ceva Doria complained strongly of this disagreement between the envoy of the Republic and that of Andrea; particularly that Grimaldi preserved a surly and reserved manner and refused to communicate anything of importance to his colleague.
The emperor sent Don Rodrigo Mendozza to the senate to report his satisfaction at the escape of the Republic from such grave perils. He also sent letters to Andrea containing solemn assurances that he would repair the losses sustained by the prince. At the same time he ordered Don Ferrante Gonzaga to proceed to the punishment of the Fieschi without a moment’s delay. The crime for which the imperial governor was required to proceed against them was that, being vassals of the empire, they had assailed the emperor’s galleys and admirals. Gonzaga wrote to the senate and to Doria on the subject, but his proceedings did not have any result because Andrea and the senate had already decreed the utter extermination of the Fieschi. Cæsar did not, however, content himself with this, and, on the 27th of October, 1547, he proclaimed the Fieschi as rebels and divested them of all their feuds, which he gave to Andrea to be held for the children of Gianettino. The cession included Montobbio, Varese, Roccatagliata, Valdetaro, Pontremoli and Santo Stefano. This first decree did not take full effect, because the Republic had some of the castles in its power, especially Pontremoli where the inhabitants had anticipated Gonzaga and surrendered to Gasparo Di Fornari who occupied it for the Republic.