Pandolfo IV Malatesta, nicknamed
Pandolfaccio (Bad Pandulph) (July 1475 – June 1534) was an Italian condottiero and lord of
RiminiRimini is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, near the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...
and other cities in
RomagnaRomagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
. He was a member of the
House of MalatestaThe House of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as other lands and towns in Romagna.Malatesta da Verucchio The House of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as (in different periods) other lands and...
and a minor player in the
Italian WarsThe Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy in historical works, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western Europe as well as the...
.
He was the son of
Roberto MalatestaRoberto Malatesta was an Italian condottiero and lord of Rimini, a member of the House of Malatesta.-Biography:...
, at the death of whom (1482) he was created
captain generalCaptain General is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.-History:This term Captain General started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of commander in Chief of an army in the field, probably the first usage of the term General in military settings...
of the
Republic of VeniceThe Most Serene Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century AD until the year 1797...
. Four years later he was created knight by King
Alfonso II of NaplesAlfonso II of Naples , also called Alfonso II d'Aragon, though he was King of Naples only from January 25, 1494 to 1495—with the title King of Naples and Jerusalem—was a patron of Renaissance poets and builders during his long tenure as the heir to the throne of Naples, with the title...
.
In 1495, hired by the
VenetiaVenetia is a name used mostly in a historical context for the area of Northeast Italy, corresponding approximately to the present-day Italian administrative regions of the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia....
ns, he took part in the
Battle of FornovoThe Battle of Fornovo took place 30 km southwest of the city of Parma on 6 July 1495. The League of Venice was able to temporarily expel the French from the Italian Peninsula. It was the first major battle of the Italian Wars.-Antecedents:...
, and later besieged the French garrison
NovaraNovara is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With c. 103.602 inhabitants, it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin and it is the second urban area of the Region Piedmont with 190,000 inhabitants...
.
Pandolfo IV Malatesta, nicknamed
Pandolfaccio (Bad Pandulph) (July 1475 – June 1534) was an Italian condottiero and lord of
RiminiRimini is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, near the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...
and other cities in
RomagnaRomagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
. He was a member of the
House of MalatestaThe House of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as other lands and towns in Romagna.Malatesta da Verucchio The House of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as (in different periods) other lands and...
and a minor player in the
Italian WarsThe Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy in historical works, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western Europe as well as the...
.
He was the son of
Roberto MalatestaRoberto Malatesta was an Italian condottiero and lord of Rimini, a member of the House of Malatesta.-Biography:...
, at the death of whom (1482) he was created
captain generalCaptain General is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.-History:This term Captain General started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of commander in Chief of an army in the field, probably the first usage of the term General in military settings...
of the
Republic of VeniceThe Most Serene Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century AD until the year 1797...
. Four years later he was created knight by King
Alfonso II of NaplesAlfonso II of Naples , also called Alfonso II d'Aragon, though he was King of Naples only from January 25, 1494 to 1495—with the title King of Naples and Jerusalem—was a patron of Renaissance poets and builders during his long tenure as the heir to the throne of Naples, with the title...
.
In 1495, hired by the
VenetiaVenetia is a name used mostly in a historical context for the area of Northeast Italy, corresponding approximately to the present-day Italian administrative regions of the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia....
ns, he took part in the
Battle of FornovoThe Battle of Fornovo took place 30 km southwest of the city of Parma on 6 July 1495. The League of Venice was able to temporarily expel the French from the Italian Peninsula. It was the first major battle of the Italian Wars.-Antecedents:...
, and later besieged the French garrison
NovaraNovara is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With c. 103.602 inhabitants, it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin and it is the second urban area of the Region Piedmont with 190,000 inhabitants...
. Pandolfo's violence and murders gained him the hatred of his subjects: in 1497, a failed rape attempt on a young girl spurred a revolt in Rimini, which he could suppress only with Venetian intervention. He escaped another plot in 1498.
Two years later,
Cesare BorgiaCesare Borgia , Duke of Valentinois was a Spanish-Italian condottiero, lord and cardinal. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI and his long-term mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei, sibling to Lucrezia Borgia, Gioffre Borgia , Prince of Squillace, and Giovanni Borgia, duke of Gandia, and half-brother to...
invaded Pandolfo's territories and
Pope Alexander VIPope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his surname became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era...
, Cesare's father, excommunicated him. Abandoned by his susbjects, Pandolfo was compelled to give up Rimini for 2,900 ducats, living in Venice in the following years. After Alexander's death, he took advantage of Cesare's illness to attack Rimini in 1503, but without definitive success. In 1509, he took part in the
Battle of AgnadelloThe Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà, was the one of the more significant battles of the War of the League of Cambrai, and one of the major battles of the Italian Wars....
, and after the Venetian defeat he changed sides, submitting to the
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
. He later besieged
PaduaPadua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice , in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c...
, but was forced to return to his fief of
CittadellaCittadella is a medieval walled city founded in the thirteenth century which started life as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is 1461 m in circumference with a diameter of around 450 m. There are four gates which roughly correspond the points of the...
, which was officially given him in 1512. He later returned to Venice.
In 1522, Pandolfo, together with his son
SigismondoSigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta , popularly known as the Wolf of Rimini, was an Italian condottiero and nobleman, a member of the House of Malatesta and lord of Rimini, Fano, and Cesena from 1432...
, managed to regain briefly Rimini. In 1527, after the
Sack of RomeThe Sack of Rome on 5 May 1527 was a military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States...
and capture of
Pope Clement VIIPope Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...
, the two Malatestas entered again their ancestral city, but were soon ousted by Papal mercenaries.
He later lived in poverty at
FerraraFerrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara.It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces...
, under the protection of Duke Alfonso d'Este. Pandolfo died in 1534 in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
. He is buried in the church of
Santa Maria in TrastevereThe Basilica of Our Lady's in Trastevere is a titular minor basilica, one of the oldest churches in Rome, perhaps the first in which mass was openly celebrated. The basic floor plan and wall structure of the church date back to the 340s AD.- History :...
.
Sources