Jump to content

Alfonso II of Naples

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is anold revisionof this page, as edited byDe la Marck(talk|contribs)at07:15, 5 November 2015(→‎Biography:Ambiguity).The present address (URL) is apermanent linkto this revision, which may differ significantly from thecurrent revision.

Alfonso II
Medal of Alfonso as Duke of Calabria byAdriano Fiorentino,1481
King of Naples
Reign25 January 1494 –18 December 1495
PredecessorFerdinand I
SuccessorFerdinand II
Born4 November 1448
Naples
Died18 December 1495(1495-12-18)(aged 47)
Messina
Burial
Messina Cathedral
SpouseIppolita Maria Sforza
IssueFerdinand II, King of Naples
Isabella, Duchess of Milan
Sancha of Aragon
Alfonso
HouseHouse of Trastámara
FatherFerdinand I of Naples
MotherIsabella of Clermont
ReligionRoman Catholicism
Arms of Alfonso II, King of Naples, KG

Alfonso II(4 November 1448 – 18 December 1495), also calledAlfonso of Aragon,wasKing of Naplesfrom 25 January 1494 to 22 February 1495 with the title King of Naples andJerusalem.AsDuke of Calabriahe was a patron of Renaissance poets and builders during his tenure as the heir to the throne of Naples.

Biography

Born at Naples, Alfonso was the eldest child ofFerdinand I of Naplesby his first wife,Isabella of Clermont.She was the daughter ofTristan,Count ofCopertinoandCaterina Del Balzo Orsini.Alfonso was the cousin ofFerdinand II of Aragon,king ofAragonand the first (co-)ruler of a unifiedSpain.His teacher was the humanistGiovanni Pontano,whoseDe splendoredescribes the proper virtues and manner of life becoming to a prince.

When his mother Isabella of Clermont died (1465), he succeeded to her feudal claims, which included theBrienne claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In 1463, when Alfonso was fifteen, his great-uncleGiovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini,Prince of Taranto,died, and he obtained some lands from the inheritance. Alfonso had shown himself a skilled and determined soldier, helping his father in the suppression of the Conjure of the Barons (1485) and in the defence of the Kingdom's territory against thePapalclaims.

As acondottiero,he fought in the most important wars of the age, such the war following thePazzi Conspiracy(1478–1480) and theWar of Ferrara(1482–1484).

Alfonso's reign was destined to be short. When his father died, the kingdom's finances were exhausted and the invasion of KingCharles VIII of Francewas imminent; Charles (instigated byLodovico Sforza,who wished to stir up trouble to allow him to seize power inMilan) had decided to reassert theAngevinclaim to Naples and the accompanying title ofKing of Jerusalem.

Charles invaded Italy in September, 1494. Alfonso managed to regain the support of PopeAlexander VI,who invited Charles to devote his effort against the Turks instead. Alfonso received the official Papal coronation asRex Siciliaeon May 8, 1494 fromJuan de Borja Lanzol de Romaní, el mayor,previously thepapal legateto Alfonso II.

However, the King of France did not relent; by early 1495 Charles was approachingNaples,after having defeated Florence and the Neapolitan fleet under Alfonso's brother,Frederick of CalabriaatPorto Venere.Alfonso, terrified by a series of portents, as well as unusual dreams (perhaps attributable to memories of his victims), abdicated in favour of his son,Ferdinandor Ferrandino, and fled, entering a Sicilian monastery. He died inMessinalater that year.

Renaissance culture

As Crown Prince, Alfonso had participated in the brilliant Renaissance culture that surrounded his father's court. His lasting contribution to European culture was the example set at his villas ofLa Duchescaand especiallyPoggio Realejust outside Naples, which so captivatedCharles VIII of Franceduring his brief sojourn at Naples during February–June 1495, that he was inspired to emulation of the "earthly paradise" he encountered.[1]

Poggio Reale,whichVasarisaid was designed byGiuliano da Maianoand which was laid out in the 1480s, has utterly disappeared and no extensive description has survived. Decades later, Vasari reported, "At Poggio Reale [Giuliano da Maiano] laid out the architecture of that palazzo, always considered a most beautiful thing; and to fresco it he brought therePietro del Donzello,a Florentine, andPolitohis brother who was considered in that time a good master, who painted the whole palazzo, inside and out, with the history of the said king. "[2]There are no archives to connect Giuliano or his brother Benedetto with the project; for documentation only a section and plan, reproduced with apologies for its inaccuracy, bySebastiano Serlio.Serlio's reproduction seems to show an idealized plan,[3]identical on all four sides, ranged around a court with a double arcading.

It is clear that the Aragonese court at Naples introduced the Moorish garden traditions ofValencia,with its shaded avenues and baths, sophisticated hydraulics that powered splendid waterworks,[4]formal tanks, fishponds and fountains, as a luxurious and secluded setting for court life, and combined them with Roman features: Alfonso's Poggio Reale was built around three sides of an arcaded courtyard with tiers of seating round a sunken centre that could be flooded for water spectacles; on the fourth side it opened onto a garden that framed a spectacular view of Vesuvius.

It was all unlike anything experienced by the French king, who retreated from Italy, loaded with tapestries and works of art, and filled with building and gardening ambitions.

Ancestry

Marriages and children

Like his father, Alfonso married twice. His first wife wasIppolita Maria Sforza,whom he married on 10 October 1465 inMilan.His mistress, by whom he also had children, wasTrogia Gazzela.

He had three children with Ippolita:

  • KingFerdinand II of Naples(26 August 1469 – October 1496), marriedJoanna of Naples
  • Isabella of Aragon,Duchess of Bari and Princess of Bari (2 October 1470 – 11 February 1524), married her first cousinGian Galeazzo Sforza,Duke of Milan, by whom she had issue, includingBona Sforza(13 February 1495 – 7 November 1558) Queen consort of KingSigismund Iof Poland, who in her turn had six children.
  • Piero of Rossano, Prince of Rossano (31 March 1472 – 17 February 1491), Lieutenant General of Apulia, died of an infection following leg surgery.[5]

and two with Trogia:

In popular culture

Alfonso II of Naples is portrayed byAugustus Prewin theShowtimeseriesThe Borgias,although he is portrayed as much younger and flamboyant than his historical counterpart was in the 1490s. Sancha of Aragon is portrayed as his half-sister rather than his daughter. InDa Vinci's Demonshe is played byKieran Bewand is depicted as a sadistic warlord, bitterly jealous ofLorenzo the Magnificent.

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAlphonse II of Naples.
  1. ^Charles' letter to his brother-in-law, Pierre de Bourbon, noted in William Howard Adams,The French Garden 1500-18001979, p 10.
  2. ^"A Poggio Reale ordinò l'architettura di quel palazzo, tenuta sempre cosa bellissima; et a dipignerlo vi condusse Piero del Donzello fiorentino e Polito suo fratello che in quel tempo era tenuto buon maestro, il quale dipinse tutto il palazzo di dentro e di fuori con storie di detto re." (Giorgio Vasari, Le vie de' più eccelenti architetti, piiori...).
  3. ^Suggestions that its design was sketched by Alfonso's friendLorenzo de' Medici,whose own villa at Poggio a Caiano it somewhat resembled, are tenuous.
  4. ^The first description of a surprise jet of water as a practical joke, a garden feature with a long career, was remarked on at Poggio Reale.
  5. ^Charles Cawley,Medieval Lands,Sicily/Naples, Counts and Kings

References

  • Hersey, George L. (1969).Alfonso II and the Artistic Renewal of Naples.New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Alfonso's ancestry
  • Brief description of Poggio Reale
Alfonso II of Naples
Born:4 November 1448Died:18 December 1495
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Naples
1494–1495 		Succeeded by

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alfonso_II_of_Naples&oldid=689152289"