Soggetti a “ribalda fortuna”. Gli uomini dello stato estense nelle guerre dell’Italia quattrocentesca
The study of Medieval wars and warfare is not the most popular one in Italian historiography, at least in the academic community. This does not mean that scholars are not interested in military matters, but they prefer to look into the “social” sides of armies and wars.
Given the premise, which is by no means disparaging, we have the right starting point to evaluate Soggetti a ribalda fortuna. This book, which began as a work on the army of the lords of Ferrara in the 15th century, turned out to be on how wars affected the men who lived in the Estense territories, as the author herself writes. Unlike most of the major states in northern Italy, that is to say Venice, Milan and Mantua, scholars can rely on a great deal of account books for the lands ruled by the Este family. Such sources have been used by and large by historians of art and architecture, but unfortunately seem not to have attracted others’ attention.
If many Italian dynasties, such Sforza, Malatesta, Montefeltro, are well-known for their role as condottieri, the same cannot be said of the Estes. The strange thing is that several members of this ancient house took part in the wars of their time, notably Ercole I, who, despite not being the most successful condottiero, did much to appear as an accomplished warrior. In the 15th century Nicolò III, Borso and Ercole I experienced the world of war before becoming rulers, and the latter also led others’ troops while being a duke, but all of them had to give up their military career to give themselves up to diplomacy. The profession of the arms still had an important part: by employing men the d’Este family had chances to gain supporters or contract new links with leading families from its territories or from abroad.
But it is not the d’Este family the heart of this book: Guerra focuses her attention upon the men around the rulers, from secretaries, nobles and captains to the people. First come the real soldiers, provvisionati, infantrymen and me-at-arms. We can read how they were enlisted and paid, and which problems had to face during their service, for instance lack of money, which often forced them to flee, looking for a better pay. The reader can also follow the careers of some of them, who came not only from the territories under the House of Este, but also from more distant countries as France and Spain. A long chapter is devoted to the people, and this not only because of the author’s social interests, but because the sources, mainly correspondence between the rulers and their officials, provide an in-depth view of daily life in the 15th century. It is from these letters that we know how wars could affect the lives of the inhabitants under the Este rule. The officials living in contact with the people had to mediate between the subjects looking for help and the rulers, often incapable of succouring them under the war against Venice (1482-1484). On this conflict, the so-called “War of Ferrara”, the sources increase in number and make it possible to have a great deal of information available. We see the least heroic side of war, if there is any, made of skirmishes, pestilence, struggles between citizens and soldiers, flights.
If the above-mentioned subjects can be found in other books, perhaps the most original part of Guerra’s work is that concerning Paolo Antonio Trotti. Duke Ercole I’s secretary, and his own war experience. Trotti, a lawyer by education, followed his lord in his Tuscan campaign during the war following the Pazzi conspiracy 81478-1480), leaving a detailed and graphic account of what happened. Trotti’s point of view coincides with his master’s one, of course, but in some letters he expresses his own homesickness (“mai no sepi che fosse melenconia se non da poi che me partiti da Ferrara, p. 290 n. 127: “I had never known what melancholy could mean before I left Ferrara”) and his weakness (when he happened to mention Eleonora, Ercole I’ wife, he could not help weeping, even though, he writes, men are not supposed to cry). It is also noteworthy that Sigismondo, Ercole’s sibling and right-hand man, on whom the duke relied more than anybody except his wife, according to Trotti was not particularly longing for going to Tuscany and fighting, so he deferred his departure as long as he could, giving rise to his brother’s anger. Afterwards, when the time going to winter quarters came and Sigismondo wished to return to Ferrara, Ercole and Trotti secretly settled his stay in Tuscany without his knowledge: this casts a shadow on the so far sound and almost idyllic relation between the two brothers. A comparison of Trotti letters with the duke’s surviving ones on the Pazzi campaign[1] would have been of great interest to realize how much the secretary’s messages coincide with his lord’s and where they are different. Trotti was also deeply involved in the War of Ferrara, which threatened his native land. Here, being the duke a long time ill, Trotti himself had to deal with commanders, often reluctant to obey his orders, as were the common soldiers.
A detailed and throughout book, which exploits a great deal of sources, both primary and secondary, in order to show not Italian warfare in the 15th century, but how people reacted to wars in that period. A study like this, which pays attention to the military aspects of one of the secondary states of the Italian peninsula- a state which, despite the poor outcomes of its lords as warriors, can be a valuable observation post- was greatly needed and makes us hope that it will be followed by others.