[CHAPTER XI.]
THE CASTLE OF MONTOBBIO.
Count Gerolamo declines propositions of the governments—Intrigues of the imperial party and revolutionary tendencies of the populace—The Republic is induced by Andrea Doria to assault Montobbio—The count’s preparations for defence—Verrina and Assereto assigned to the command of the works—Andrea induces the government to decline negotiations with Fieschi—Agostino Spinola closely invests the castle—Mutiny of the mercenaries of the count—He offers to surrender the castle on condition of security for the lives and property of the beseiged—Opposition of Doria to this stipulation—The treason of his mercenaries compels Fieschi to surrender—Doria, notwithstanding the entreaties of the government, treats the defeated Fieschi with great cruelty—Punishment of the Count of Verrina and other accomplices—Raffaele Sacco and his letters—The castle of Montobbio razed to the foundations.
The castle of Montobbio was a beautiful and strong fortification, situated ten miles from Genoa, occupying the brow of a mountain, and looking down on a deep valley closed round with spurs of the Apennines. The Beriana papers assert that it once belonged to an Obizzo di Montobbio who sold it, in 1232, to Ansaldo Di Mari. We find no record of the transfer to the Fieschi family. The torrent of Scrivia on the south, and the wooded heights encircling it on every side, render the position naturally impregnable. The rough crests afford no convenient positions for placing batteries so as to enfilade the redoubts or batter the walls. In fact, it often held large armies in check.
Gianluigi had greatly increased its power of resistance by employing in his works the science of fortifications which was just then invented. The use of bastions with angles dates from that period. Giuliano da San Gallo employed them in the fortress of Pisa and Andrea Bergauni at Nice. The count repaired the curtains and the walls, increasing the width to fifteen feet, sloped their sides and constructed new bastions. Portions of the walls which had been damaged by time were repaired, and new videttes and towers were erected on the flanks. The residence of the Count was situated on a mass of wall which commanded the whole rock and was protected against both internal and external assault.
The senate saw at once that the obstinacy of the count rendered their task a very difficult one; and as the place was deemed impregnable to assault they set about plans for obtaining it by other means. They first sent Paolo Pansa to Montobbio to offer Gerolamo fifty thousand gold crowns of the sun to surrender the castle; but Fieschi, naturally distrustful of men who had already violated their solemn pledges of amnesty, refused to negotiate, replying to Pansa that he held Montobbio in the name of the king of France and would defend it to the last extremity.
The news of the Fieschi movement had alarmed all the friends of the Spanish power. They anticipated that the rebellion would aid France to diffuse general discontent in Italy, and their fears were strengthened by the connection of the conspiracy with French intrigues and movements. When therefore Fieschi declared that he would hold Montobbio for France, his enemies did not for a moment doubt that the French king would accept a castle so conveniently placed for kindling revolutionary fires in Genoa. There was therefore a general concert of action among the adherents of the empire to crush out the spark which otherwise might wrap all Italy in flames. Cosimo collected his forces in Pisa and put them under the command of Vitelli. He also ordered the immediate return of Stefano Colonna from Rome, put him at the head of the Ducal cavalry, and prepared to risk his own person in the imperial cause. Gonzaga sent a large force to the frontiers of Bobbio under the command of Ludovico Vistarino. Even the cardinal of Trento sent to Gonzaga to enquire on what point he should precipitate six thousand men whom he had collected to aid in crushing the Fieschi. Cæsar ordered Andrea to invest Montobbio without a moment’s delay, offering to furnish the men and money for the siege and empowered the admiral to cede Montobbio, Cariseto and Varese to the Republic.
The French were not the only enemies before whom Spain trembled. The adherents of Fieschi in Genoa, threatened a new outbreak. A rumour ran that Gianluigi was not dead, but had gone to Provence to collect men and arms, and the fable found such support in the popular affection for him that it required a long time to dissipate the delusion. The plebeians were expecting him to come to their deliverance and were on the alert to second his first assault on the common enemy. Indeed, one night a cry was raised for the Adorni (the name was synonymous with popular liberty) and the people rushed to arms to the great fright of the Dorias. The prince knew the popular faith in Gianluigi and had lacked the courage to gibbet his body, according to the custom with traitors, lest it should raise a popular tempest. Bonfadio, though the instrument of the Doria faction, admits this to have been Doria’s motive for refraining from putting this seal of treason on his enemy. The same historian tells us that there was a constant peril of a new rising, and that to prevent it the city guards were increased and eight citizens appointed to suggest to the senate the most effectual means of quieting the people and such additional laws as would meet the exigencies of the occasion.
Andrea, stimulated by the messages of the emperor and by his desire to avenge the blood of Gianettino through the extermination of the Fieschi, made incessant appeals to the government for the Storming of Montobbio. The senate yielded to these solicitations and also empowered Andrea (this we learn from many documents) to undertake the operation at his own charge and in the name of the emperor. Agostino Spinola was ordered to mass his troops and closely invest the castle. This soldier and scholar had followed the imperial fortunes since 1536 when Barnaba Visconti, Bagone and Fregoso attempted to revolutionize Genoa. After the expulsion of the French, he held a considerable corps of infantry against Novi where Origa Gambaro, widow of Pietro Fregosi, a woman of intrepid character, maintained the war with the aid of French troops. The valour of Spinola overcame all obstacles. He opposed courage to courage, treachery to treachery; and having allied himself with the Cavanna faction in Novi, he defeated and destroyed the French army and their leader Belforte, and thus restored Novi and Ovada to the Republic.