[Part I]
White Revolution
Far from a unique support symbolized by the popular layers, Cola di Rienzo was going to take the necessary political support with the “popolo grasso et minuto” (cf. merchants and artists) to put a stop to the barons from the great families in power. The idea, or rather we would say today the slogan, was all found:restore the ‘good state’. Repeated over and over again, it flourished from the industrious strata to the upper strata. To do this, money was a necessity. Never mind ! the Urban Chamber will provide for this.
The plan was simple in appearance:the dues paid by the ports and the castles would make it possible to keep the frail skiff Rienzo afloat. But the Church, under the authority of the pope, had to – if not endorse – keep a certain neutrality towards this change of regime. The task remained difficult for Rienzo. He then knew how to put under his wing the representative of Pope Clement VII, the prelate Raimond, bishop of Orviento. The whole operation was kept secret and Raimond never informed the papacy of Avignon. Freed from the constraints of a restive Church, the Rubicond was once again to be crossed.
On May 20, 1347, in a perfect mastery of the communication of his time (cf. part I, habits and customs), Rienzo leaves the church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria wearing armor but without the helmet to be recognized among the crowd. He heads for the Capitol in Rome - with the Pope's vicar at his side - thus returning the support of the Church to the populace. Among them, and following his call to establish the “good state”, citizens of all persuasions flock to his side. Along the way, shouts rise in the procession to the Capitol. Abrupt but effective, the ragged elder obtains the keys to power without shedding a single drop of blood.
Rienzo's laws
Very quickly, rules and new laws were promulgated. As current affairs continued, he set up expeditious justice:informers without proof were condemned and the trials ended within 15 days. The enthusiasm raised allowed Rienzo to obtain the sacrosanct royal rights (right to mint coins, etc.) but also, in fact, a purely dictatorial seizure. If he prides himself on having obtained power without having put Rome to fire and blood, he is humbly content with the title of “rector”. Was his humility feigned? We will see that only a few months later, his confidence will turn into infatuation.
Assembled at Cornetto, the barons were amazed. One of these most eminent representatives, Stefano Colonna, returned to Rome to try to calm the situation. Imbued with his person and his long-standing privileges, he tried to show his superbness in Piazza San Marcello. Unimpressed, Rienzo rang the bells and the baron was literally assaulted. Believing to scare the new master of the place, he allowed – on the contrary – to activate his reforms. Under the still tangible threat of the barons, Rienzo brought the citizens together in a “parliament” to ratify his directives. They called him “tribune and liberator of the people”. A board was appointed to which he was theoretically accountable.
Stefano Colonna, once summoned, could not fail to notice the tribulations of the tribune and the excitement aroused around his person. He and other barons will have to take an oath to accept this state of affairs. Among others, Rainaldo Orsino and Francesco Savello, merchants and most citizens will follow this example. If Rienzo is not tender with those who allow themselves to defy the new rules in force, he also puts in place amnesty measures, in particular for Romans banished in the past. Playing on both counts, the establishment of a court of peace is concomitant with the generalization of the law of Talion (reciprocity of crime and punishment) and the prohibition to carry a weapon.
Flesh and bone
Quick was the climb to the top, to the point where everything seemed accessible to the new tribune. The pomp displayed was all the more perceptible:the heralds warned of the arrival of Rienzo, the one who – by his own will – rid the barons of Rome. Sparkling horsemen at the head of the procession, musicians with loud drums and town criers gathered; the clamor of the people in the street gave a striking echo. To do well, loose change was thrown into the common. In the center of the device, Rienzo announced himself triumphant on a tall horse. He wore rich, colorful garments of half velvet and squirrel (rare and prized fur). Walls of the city were knocked down to allow the impressive procession to pass.
His frugality quickly dissipated to make way for good food and sumptuous feasts gave way to him and his courtiers, who were often vile flatterers. If this behaved surprisingly, if not annoyed, some of those who had supported him, he was nonetheless quick to implement the long-promised reforms:privileges reserved for nobles were abolished and the princely households of the trampled barons.
A thorn in the side remained:Giovanni di Vico. The impetuous and cruel baron had kept a good foundation of his situation and of the surrounding population. After having organized a semblance of an army with the inhabitants of the city, Rienzo had to resolve to choose among his former enemies, the barons, in order to command the troops. And much later, when he could not find a baron at hand, a mercenary will act as a military “commander”. The siege of the city of Vetralla finally put an end to Baron di Vico's actions for the time being. His submission was a signal of alarm for the other recalcitrant gus:The lords of Alagna, Orvieto de Ceri, Monticelli, Vitorchiano, Porto and others recognized the suzerainty of Rome. Other towns in Campania eagerly followed suit.
Letters arrived from all over Italy to welcome the Roman revival, the Emperor of Germany Louis of Bavaria asked Rienzo to intercede on his behalf with Pope Clement VII, fearing that he would die without having made peace with the Church. John V Palaiologos of the Eastern Roman Empire maintained good relations with him. Treated as an equal among the sovereigns of his time, all the gates seemed to him acquired Yet Rienzo's victories also showed his limits:he did not have the assurance of a Medici and even less the diplomatic finesse of a Machiavelli… Tolle moras, semper nocuit differre paratis, would have said Lucan (1).
The Fall
Cola di Rienzo was versed in religion, both in his daily life and in political choices, so much so that one thought to see in his seizure of power a momentum, even a so-called mystical revolution in his approach. For this, he took great interest in having his directives ratified by Avignon. In return, the Church soberly designated Raimond and Rienzo “Rectores”, leaders of the people. But on August 15, the idyll split on the day of the Assumption which was, in Italy and especially in Rome, one of the main holidays celebrated during the year. Attending the ceremony, he praised kings and emperors and in self-centered ardor he compared himself to Jesus Christ.
The son of an innkeeper brought to the head of the Eternal City was going to know the pangs of a consecutive series of clumsiness. If his words had scandalized the monk fra Guilielmo, the ardor turned into lukewarmness among the Roman population. The Comte de Fondi struck the first blow by stubbornly refusing to pledge allegiance to the new master of the place. Although the organized revolt did not succeed, the tribune had the candor to restore the possessions (including the castles) to several barons who had helped them repel the attacks of the Count of Fondi. At the instigation of the Colonnas, the Orsinis, the Savellis and the Annibaldeschis organized themselves secretly together, forgetting for a moment their rivalries, to drive out Rienzo.
A new error occurred on September 15 when they were all invited by Rienzo to a banquet, it was then the old Stefano Colonna could not resist openly opposing him. Imprisoned one by one, Rienzo had the unique opportunity to get rid of them once and for all in this last act of authority. But he gave in. Shortly before the execution proclaimed for nine o'clock in the morning - and on the proposal the day before of citizens who had come in haste to implore his clemency - Rienzo thought fit to pardon the opponents at his feet, when the gibbet had been duly prepared. Under a new oath of fidelity, the latter remained bewildered by such a turn of events and, finally, returned to their respective castles.
The authority of Avignon, where the pope sat, also had to restrain Rienzo's ambition and now did everything to bring him down. What was the reason? Measures affecting certain prelates, confiscated honorary titles, military expeditions decided on with a punch, negotiation with King Louis and Queen Jeanne, the Emperor and especially the electors… it was too much for the cardinals. Thus, the tribune's support dwindled like snow in the sun, so that only Petrarch remained at the court of Clement VI not to challenge him.
Confined in his certainties, Rienzo could not or did not want to see the sling which would organize itself ferociously at his door. From October of the same year, revolts broke out everywhere. The Gaetani had taken up arms again, as had the Orsini, and Rienzo amassed a small army to go on the offensive too, in vain. After cruel exactions carried out on both sides, the papal legate, named Bertrand, stoked the fire against Rienzo. On November 9, uncertainties piled up:unable to overthrow his adversaries, the absent Florentine allies, food shortages, lack of food for his troops and armed bands unable to control the area around Rome.
Raising the siege of Marino, Rienzo returned dejected to Rome. However, on November 20, 1347, at the Porta Tiburtina, the tribune won a victory against the barons, and many of them succumbed, including a good part of the Colonna family. Girded with the tribunician crown, Rienzo paraded after an almost unexpected victory. However, three weeks after this brilliant success, Cola di Rienzo fled Rome. Having become paranoid and now overweight, the tribune had to face an indifferent population, not to mention the immense fees to be paid to voracious mercenaries. Like a podesta monopolized by the need to stay in power, he wanted to bring the Church together again with the election of thirty-nine councilors – on the advice of the bishop of Orvietto. It was a waste of time once again when, on December 10, he publicly apologized to Pope Clement VI. The break is total.
The end of the reign came in December:unable to summon the barons, who had become recalcitrant again, to appear before him, several of his men deserted. And faced with the pronounced absence of the people who no longer want to come forward to support him, Rienzo now loses all countenance. Fearing a palace revolution, he ends up descending the Capitol alone on horseback to beg hospitality from the Orsinis at Castel Sant'Angelo. His odyssey is not yet over, however.
[Part III:Rienzo's death and conclusion]
Sources and references
1) “Tolle moras, semper nocuit differre paratis, as Lucan would have said”:Drive out all the delays; it is always harmful to delay, when one is ready (Lucan, 1st century AD).
To go further on the subject:
– The impossible adventure of Cola di Rienzo – Rome, 1347, a popular revolution by Monique Jallet-Huant.
– Cola di Rienzo, history of Rome from 1342 to 1354 by Emmanuel Rodocanachi.