Guarco, Antonio

Antonio was the eldest son of Nicolo Guarco , who was a doge from 1378 to 1383, and his wife Lino Onza.

His name was first mentioned in chronicles in 1383 , when, together with other members of the Guarco family, he was forced to flee from Genoa to the Marquis of Finale after his father was removed from the doge. Guraco were able to return to Genoa after being elected the same year by the Doge of Leonardo Montaldo . On this occasion, Ludovico Guarca, brother of Nicolo, proposed to conclude a bark between Antonio and daughter Montaldo to reconcile the two families.

Guarco did not stay long in the city: in June 1384, the Doge Leonardo Montaldo died of the plague, and Guarco’s historical enemy, Antoniotto Adorno , took his place. The family was again forced to flee to the Marquis of Finale, but he betrayed Nicolo and gave him to Adorno, who imprisoned him in the castle of Lerici, where he died. Antonio, having lost his father, along with his uncle engaged in trade in the eastern colonies of the republic, in Rhodes and Cyprus.

In June 1392, the new Doge Antonio Montaldo invited Guarko to return to Genoa, where Antonio Guarko took the place of one of the Doge’s closest associates. But already at the beginning of 1394 the conspiracy of Adorno’s supporters and the popular uprisings provoked by him led to the fall of the Doge Montaldo and the subsequent appointment of the “national doge” Nicolo Zoagli .

Doge Zoagli, amid popular discontent, suspected Guarko of intrigue and imprisoned Antonio for several days, but after consulting with the Council ordered him to be released. However, Antonio did not forgive the doge of accusations and entered into a conspiracy with the families of Montaldo, Campofregoso, supporters of the Archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal Carlo III Fieschi and even Antoniotto Adorno. As a result, Zoagli was forced to flee Genoa on August 17, 1394 , and the winners gathered at the Doge's Palace for the election of his successor. Not reaching an agreement, the two main contenders, Antonio Guarco and Pietro Campofregoso , decided to play the doge post in the dice game, and luck was on the side of the first.

Such an “election” of the Doge was recognized by shame by historians and chroniclers of that time, but was later confirmed by the decision of the Council of Elders: Doge Antonio Guarko was declared the 20th in the history of the Republic.

Board

The strange and unusual election procedure for the new doge inevitably led, only two days later, to the fact that disgruntled citizens began to gather in public places to decide what to do in this situation. Guarco's opponents - Fregoso - began to gather the right forces to overthrow the Doge. The political situation in the city was even more confused by the return of Antoniotto Adorno, who entered Genoa on August 22 , hoping to return to power. His mercenaries entered the armed struggle with the Doge Guarco soldiers and the people of the Montaldo family. Adorno entered into a secret agreement with Fregoso and the betraying Doge Antonio Montaldo and went with the army to the Doge's Palace. Guarco, feeling betrayed on all fronts, on August 30 launched an attack on Adorno’s people, led by about 2,000 soldiers. The attack was unsuccessful, and Guarco was forced to barricade himself at the Doge's Palace.

After the overthrow

Adorno proclaimed himself the Doge of Genoa, for the fourth time, but Guarko still managed to escape and find refuge in Savona. The townspeople convinced him to rebel against the Genoese power and call for help from the French and Milanese. On February 28, 1395, an agreement was signed in Lerma Castle on the creation of the anti-Adorno league. The Genoese besieged Lerma’s castle that summer, but in the end, under pressure from the French, Guarco and Adorno reconciled, and Antonio was forced to abandon his claim to power.

In October 1396, Adorno recognized the suzerainty of the French king and became its governor. In February 1397, the reconciled Antonio Guarco and Antonio Montaldo moved their forces against Adorno to the castle of Ronco Scrivia, where they found fierce resistance from the militias of the Spinola and Fieschi families. The troops of Guarco and Montaldo were forced to retreat.

In March 1397 , after replacing Adorno with the French king as Count of Saint Paul, Guarco came to a truce with the former governor and received the administration of Gavi Castle and the forgiveness of his actions against Genoa and the French crown. However, very soon, Guarko came into conflict with the French governor and, together with Antonio Montaldo, was sent to the valleys in July 1398 with the task of pacifying the population, dissatisfied with French rule. In Genoa, suspicions about a possible conspiracy drawn up by Guarco and Montaldo were soon born, these suspicions intensified when both did not agree to return to the capital. Out of fear of unrest, Governor Pierre Fresnel fled to Savona, and then to Asti , leaving Genoa without power, tormented by factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines and the plague, which, among others, led to the death of Antonio Montaldo and his sworn enemy Antoniotto Adorno.

Riots in the city continued until July 28, 1398 , when both sides reached a ceasefire, and only with the appointment of a new governor, Collier de Codville, did the situation return to normal. Despite the truce, clashes between supporters of Guarco, Montaldo and Adorno continued in the city, and the governor’s inability to restore order led to the election of Battista Boccanegra (the son-in-law of Guarco after his marriage to Benedetta Boccanegra) as the ruler of the city. The popular elections were not recognized by the king of France, and Collier de Codville, who fled to Savona, was ordered to regain control of Genoa. The growing discontent of the population led March 21, 1400 to the resignation of the popular governor of Boccanegra, despite the efforts of Antonio Guarco. His place was taken by the Battista de Franchi Lusardo, chosen by the people on March 26 , but he was not officially recognized as the king of France. Initially, Antonio Guarko found a seat at the court as a senior adviser until the French regained control of the city.

Recent years

In an anti-aristocratic atmosphere, in 1401, Guarco left Genoa and went to the Genoese colony of Cyprus to the court of King Janus Lusignan . Here he received the post of mayor of Famagusta and organized raids along the coast of Syria, which provoked a heated protest from the Venetian Republic and the Egyptian Sultan . His fleet plundered Alexandria , responding to Egyptian oppression of Genoese trade. A new confrontation in the East, triggered by the actions of Guarko, prompted the Senate of Genoa to immediately send an armed expedition to pacify Guarko. Betrayed even by the king of Cyprus, Guarco did not wait for an armed conflict with the Genoese soldiers and hastily left the island to return to Italy.

Arriving in Pavia in 1404 at the court of Gian-Galeazzo Visconti , he did not hesitate to undertake the organization of a possible uprising against French rule. However, on February 28, 1405, people hired by the French governor of the city, Jean II le Mengrom, caught Guarko while walking through the streets of the city and hit him with poisoned daggers. March 16, not recovering from wounds Guarko died.

• Sergio Buonadonna, Mario Mercenaro, Rosso doge. I dogi della Repubblica di Genova dal 1339 al 1797, Genova, De Ferrari Editori, 2007.

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