Alfonso de Aragón, II de Napoles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_II_of_Naples

Alfonso II of Naples (4 November 1448 – 18 December 1495), also called Alfonso II d'Aragon, though he was King of Naples only from January 25, 1494 to 1495—with the title King of Naples and Jerusalem—was a patron of Renaissance poets and builders during his long tenure as the heir to the throne of Naples, with the title Duke of Calabria.

Born at Naples, Alfonso was the oldest child of Ferdinand I of Naples and his first wife, Isabella of Taranto, the daughter of Tristan, Count of Copertino and Caterina Orsini. He was the cousin of Ferdinand II of Aragon, king of Aragon and the first (co-)ruler of a unified Spain. His teacher was the humanist Giovanni Pontano, whose De splendore describes 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 the Brienne claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In 1463, when Alfonso was fifteen, his great-uncle Giovanni 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 the Papal claims.

As a condottiero, he fought in the most important wars of the age, such the war following the Pazzi Conspiracy (1478-1480) and the War 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 King Charles VIII of France was imminent; Charles (instigated by Lodovico Sforza, who wished to stir up trouble to allow him to seize power in Milan) had decided to reassert the Angevin claim to Naples and the accompanying title of King of Jerusalem.

Charles invaded Italy in September, 1494. Alfonso managed to gain back the support of Pope Alexander VI, who invited Charles to devote his effort against the Turks instead. Alfonso received the official Papal coronation as Rex Siciliae on May 8, 1494 from Juan de Borja Lanzol de Romaní, el mayor, previously the papal legate to Alfonso II.

However, the King of France did not relent, and by early 1495 was approaching Naples, after having defeated Florence and Neapolitan fleet under Alfonso's brother, Frederick of Calabria at Porto 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, Ferdinand or Ferrantino, and fled, entering a Sicilian monastery. He died in Messina later 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 of La Duchesca and especially Poggio Reale just outside Naples, which so captivated Charles VIII of France during his brief sojourn at Naples during February-June 1495, that he was inspired to emulation of the "earthly paradise" he encountered[1] Poggio Reale, which Vasari said was designed by Giuliano da Maiano and 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 there Piero del Donzello, a Florentine, and Polito his 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, by Sebastiano Serlio seems to show an idealized plan,[3] identical on all four sides, ranged round a court with a double arcading. It is clear that the Aragonese court at Naples introduced the Moorish garden traditions of Andalusia, 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.

He had three children with Hippolyta:

King Ferdinand II of Naples (born 26 August 1469)

Isabella of Naples, Duchess of Bari (born 2 October 1470)

Piero of Rossano, Prince de Rossano (born 31 March 1472)

and two with Troggia:

Sancha of Aragon (born 1478 in Gaeta)

Alfonso of Aragon, Prince of Salerno (born 1481, in Naples)

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Alfonso II of Naples

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfonso II of Naples (November 4, 1448 – December 18, 1495), also called Alfonso II d'Aragon, though he was King of Naples only from January 25, 1494 to 1495—with the title King of Naples and Jerusalem—was a patron of Renaissance poets and builders during his long tenure as the heir to the throne of Naples, with the title duca di Calabria.

Biography

Born at Naples, Alfonso was the oldest child of Ferdinand I of Naples and his first wife, Isabel de Clermont, the daughter of Tristan, Count of Copertino and Caterina Orsini. He was the cousin of Ferdinand II of Aragon, king of Aragon and the first (co-)ruler of a unified Spain. His teacher was the humanist Giovanni Pontano, whose De splendore describes 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 the Brienne claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In 1463, when Alfonso was fifteen, his great-uncle Giovanni 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 the Papal claims.

As a condottiero, he fought in the most important wars of the age, such the war following the Pazzi Conspiracy (1478-1480) and the War 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 King Charles VIII of France was imminent; Charles (instigated by Lodovico Sforza, who wished to stir up trouble to allow him to seize power in Milan) had decided to reassert the Angevin claim to Naples and the accompanying title of King of Jerusalem.

Charles invaded Italy in September, 1494. Alfonso managed to gain back the support of Pope Alexander VI, who invited Charles to devote his effort against the Turks instead. Alfonso received the official Papal coronation as Rex Siciliae on May 8, 1494 from Juan de Borja Lanzol de Romaní, el mayor, previously the papal legate to Alfonso II.

However, the King of France did not relent, and by early 1495 was approaching Naples, after having defeated Florence and Neapolitan fleet under Alfonso's brother, Frederick of Calabria at Porto 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, Ferdinand or Ferrantino, and fled, entering a Sicilian monastery. He died in Messina later that year.

[edit]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 of La Duchesca and especially Poggio Reale just outside Naples, which so captivated Charles VIII of France during his brief sojourn at Naples during February-June 1495, that he was inspired to emulation of the "earthly paradise" he encountered[1] Poggio Reale, which Vasari said was designed by Giuliano da Maiano and 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 there Piero del Donzello, a Florentine, and Polito his 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, by Sebastiano Serlio seems to show an idealized plan,[3] identical on all four sides, ranged round a court with a double arcading. It is clear that the Aragonese court at Naples introduced the Moorish garden traditions of Andalusia, 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.

Marriages and children

Like his father, Alfonso married twice. His first wife was Ippolita Maria Sforza, whom he married on October 10, 1465, in Milan. His second wife was Trogia Gazzela.

He had three children with Hippolyta:

King Ferdinand II of Naples (born 26 August 1469)

Isabella of Naples, Duchess of Bari (born 2 October 1470)

Piero of Rossano, Prince de Rossano (born 31 March 1472)

and two with Troggia:

Sancha of Aragon (born 1478 in Gaeta)

Alfonso of Aragon, Prince of Salerno (born 1481, in Naples)

[edit]Notes

^ Charles' letter to his brother-in-law, Pierre de Bourbon, noted in William Howard Adams, The French Garden 1500-1800 1979, p 10.

^ "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...).

^ Suggestions that its design was sketched by Alfonso's friend Lorenzo de' Medici, whose own villa at Poggio a Caiano it somewhat resembled, are tenuous.

^ 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.

[edit]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

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_II_of_Naples

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I. Ferdinánd nápolyi király és Chiaromontei Izabella elsőszülött gyermeke. Apja halála után Itáliára rendkívül veszélyes nemzetközi helyzetben vette át a kormányrudat. A fiú utódait eltemető I. Renátusz nápolyi király halála (1480) után az unoköccse, a francia király, XI. Lajos az Anjou-ház örököseként bejelentette igényét a nápolyi trónra, de ez az igény csak formális maradt, semmi változás nem történt a Nápolyi Királyságra nézve, és I. Ferdinánd is erős kézzel kormányozta országát, és minden belső vagy külső támadást levert. 1483-ban XI. Lajos meghalt, és kiskorú fia, VIII. Károly foglalta el a trónt, aki örökölte apjának a nápolyi trónra vonatkozó igényét, de a gyermek király szintén nem jelentett katonai fenyegetést Itáliára nézve. Végül a nagykorúvá vált francia király az I. Ferdinánd nápolyi király halálával keletkező politikai űrt és bizonytalanságot, valamint a fiának, az új királynak a népszerűtlenségét kihasználva törekedett Nápoly elfoglalására. I. Ferdinánd 1494. január 25-én halt meg Nápolyban, és fiát azonnal királlyá kiáltották ki. II. Alfonz a pápát igyekezett rögtön az uralmának elismerésére megnyerni, és ő azonnal megfizette az apja által megtagadott hűbéri adót VI. Sándornak, és megtette az előkészületeket a koronázására. 1494. május 7-én VI. Sándor pápa természetes fiához, Geoffredo Borgiához adta feleségül a természetes lányát, Sanciát, és megtette őket Squillace hercegeinek. Másnap, 1494. május 8-án Nápolyban fényes pompa közepette koronáztatta magát királlyá, hogy ezzel elleplezze és elfelejtesse a közelgő veszélyt. VIII. Károly azonban szeptemberben seregével átkelt az Alpokon, és betört Itáliába. Milánóban II. Alfonz veje, II. János Galeazzo Sforza, lányának, Aragóniai Izabellának a férje uralkodott, aki Sforza Bianka Mária német-római császárnénak, I. Miksa újdonsült feleségének volt a bátyja. A franciák bevonulása után viszont váratlanul meghalt az uralkodó herceg, és kiskorú fia mellőzésével a nagybátyja, a franciáknak behódoló Ludovico il Moro herceg foglalta el a trónt, aki II. Alfonz elhunyt feleségének, Sforza Hippolita milánói hercegnőnek volt az öccse. A 25 éves herceg hirtelen halálát nagybátyjának tulajdonították, akiről azt állították, hogy megmérgeztette az unokaöccsét, hogy elfoglalja a helyét uralkodóként. Ez jelentősen megkönnyítette a francia előrenyomulást, és ez volt a kulcsa, előszobája a franciák későbbi nápolyi sikerének. II. Alfonz már korábban intézkedett a francia invázió megakadályozására, de ezek mind hatástalanok voltak, és Itália uralkodói nem tudtak ellenállni a francia előrenyomulásnak. Rómából a pápa elmenekült, mielőtt bevonult volna VIII. Károly, így a francia király 1494 karácsonyát Rómában töltötte, és csak az újévben folytatta útját a Nápolyi Királyság felé. A francia seregek nagyobb ellenállás nélkül betörtek II. Alfonz királyságába, és sikeresen haladtak Nápoly felé. A közeledő francia hadsereg hírére II. Alfonz egy évnyi uralkodás után 1495. január 25-én uralkodásának egyéves évfordulóján lemondott a fia, Ferdinánd javára a trónról, aki II. Ferdinánd néven lett az új nápolyi király, és aki apjánál sokkal népszerűbb volt. Alfonz előbb Ischia szigetére menekült, majd a másik Szicíliai Királyságba utazott, ahol Messinában telepedett le, és Mazzara kolostorát választotta lakhelyül. Még megérte a franciák kiűzését, és fia uralmának visszaállítását. Messinában érte a halál 1495. november 19-én vagy december 18-án. A nápolyi Szent Anna templomban helyezték végső nyugalomra.