*** Welcome to piglix ***

Gentile Virginio Orsini


Gentile Virginio Orsini (c. 1434 – 8 January 1497) was an Italian condottiero and vassal of the papal throne and the Kingdom of Naples, mainly remembered as the powerful head of the Orsini family during its feud with Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). Though best known as Lord of Bracciano, during his lifetime he bore many titles, among which Count of Tagliacozzo, Vicovaro and Anguillara, Lord of Cerveteri, Knight of the Order of Emellino (1463), Constable of the Kingdom of Naples and Gonfalonier of the Roman Church. The aforesaid feuds were all confiscated in favor of the Colonna or the Borgia family during Virginio's conflict with Naples and the Pope.

Gentile Virginio was the son of Napoleone II and Francesca Orsini. On the death of his uncle Carlo (1485), he obtained the reins of his prominent house, at the time an enemy to the King of Naples and an ally of the pontiff. Pope Sixtus IV appointed him general of his forces, which Virginio led to a victory over the Neapolitan army at the Battle of Campo Morto (1482). Almighty due to pontifical benefices, Virginio took advantage of the disorder which followed Sixtus’s death (1484) in order to exterminate the Roman house of Colonna, something he didn’t manage completely due to the Sacred College’s restoring the order. During the reign of Innocent VIII (1484–1492), the Orsini family reached the peak of its power and held significant influence over the Roman Curia through Virginio's cousin, Cardinal Giambattista Orsini of Monterotondo. The ascension of Alexander VI to the papal throne (August 1492) changed the status quo in the Roman politics.


...
Wikipedia

...