Graf Jakob Hannibal I. von Hohenems, Conte di Gallarate

• https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Hannibal_von_Ems_zu_Hohenems

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BIOGRAPHY Son of Wolf Dietrich von Hohenems and Chiara de' Medici, a sister of Pope Pius IV, Jacob Hannibal was born on 13 May 1530. On 27 April 1560 in Vienna he was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire.

On 6 January 1565 in Rome he married his first cousin Ortensia Borromeo, daughter of Giberto Borromeo, conte di Arona, and his second wife Taddea dal Verme. Ortensia was the sister of Carlo Borromeo, cardinal of Milan, the future saint. She and Jacob had seven children of whom Kaspar would have progeny. On 19 April 1578 in Madrid Jacob Hannibal was made a Spanish count di Gallarate.

Jacob Hannibal was a leader of mercenaries fighting in the armies of Charles V and Philip II. He was appointed commander of the Vatican forces by his uncle Pope Pius IV. He was then appointed papal legate in Spain.

From 1567 Jacob Hannibal lived at Schloss Hohenems. This castle is in the middle of the Vorarlberg district in Austria, on the shores of Lake Constance and at the foot of the 700 metres high Schlossberg (castle rock). The Renaissance castle, known as the 'Hall', stands at the foot of the castle rock, on whose top are to be found the scanty remains of the original castle of the Hohenems family. The building was erected and brought to near completion by the architect Martino Longo between 1562 and 1567 and then six years later, under Jacob Hannibal, extended and completed. Castle and domain were held by the family until their male line died out in 1759. The feudal lands belonging to Hohenems and Lustenau passed to Austria, but the allodial estate remained with the female heirs.

Jacob Hannibal assembled an important collection of art and other valuable objects at Hohenems, including two manuscripts of the _Nibelungenlied_ ('Song of the Nibelungs') a heroic poem written during the early 13th century. The manuscripts were discovered in the archives at Hohenems in 1755 and are now in Munich and Donaueschingen respectively. Jacob Hannibal died at Hohenems on 27 December 1587.