Ghedi Castle
The Ghedi Castle, which initially consisted of a wall built around the primitive settlement of Ghedi, was built in the early medieval age although the exact date of its construction is unknown. It was also remodeled several times over the centuries, partly because of the numerous sieges it suffered and the new war armaments implemented by rival armies.
History
The formation of the fortified village
In the absence of historical documents that can report the dating of a first building, and the development of the primitive walled enclosure, its construction is conventionally circumscribed around the twelfth-thirteenth century: in fact, it was in this period that the town of Ghedi, recognized as a Communitas, and therefore no longer as a small group of individuals, began to assume importance in the chessboard of the Brescian territory. The juridical, economic-administrative, and political organization of the town became increasingly consolidated, so much so that, from the work of the Ghedi archivist Angelo Maria Franchi, the Annals, several purchases of houses, land, water rights, and large plots of arable fields are noted. Since, therefore, the town of Ghedi was in full growth, a clash between the newborn municipality and the influential abbey of Leno, about the management of some state-owned lands, was configured as inevitable; the querelle was finally amicably resolved in 1366 also thanks to the mediating activity of the nobleman from Brescia Giovanni Chizzola.Parallel to this rise of the medieval village, the city walls certainly had to grow in importance as well: it can certainly be said that the castle in 1319 had been armed and tested for quite some time. It was precisely its active function as a fortress and its strategically favorable position that attracted the attention of the city of Brescia, which, in a move to consolidate its influence in the territory, sought to subdue the city of Ghedi as well. The smaller rural municipalities, after all, ensured the mother cities a supply of labor for the construction of city buildings, the completion of public works, the collection of taxes and fees, as well as the supply of men-at-arms for their armies. No surprise, then, that in 1302 a small armed contingent, offered by Ghedi, helped the Brescian capital quell some revolts in the Camonica Valley, just as, if in 1310, a handful of soldiers were made available to resist the of Emperor Arrigo VII.
Despite Ghedi's subordinate relationship to the city acts of rebellion certainly did not lack: in 1306 the lord-bishop of Brescia imposed on the commune the payment of a fine of ten thousand pounds, being guilty of having offered shelter to and his subordinates; it was perhaps because of the failure to pay the large fine that in 1307 the Brescians attacked the Ghedi castle, which in the meantime had turned to the city of Cremona in search of protection, and whose troops had barricaded themselves in the military structure. Nevertheless, their defeat came in short order, and the Brescian capital imposed an even harsher fine, this time of twenty thousand Brescian liras. Brescia's desire to keep Ghedi under its dominion is thus evident, and, if for the other rural municipalities of the Bassa Bresciana the reasons were purely economic and territorial, the Ghedese constitutes precisely a case apart: given the presence of the castle, which constituted a potential outpost for Brescian troops, Ghedi was configured as a particularly desirable town. This is evidenced by an episode from 1319 narrated by Abbot Zamboni, who reports thus:
Also reported by Zamboni in his work, in January 1320, there was another episode of retaliation against the Mother City, Brescia, which was nevertheless determined not to lose its hegemony over the Ghedese municipality:
The development of the castle
The city walls, in its first very modest construction, during the 14th century must surely have been quite different and much more similar to a real castle surrounded by mighty walls; the moats, already certainly existing in the early 14th century, were later enlarged and made more obstructive to passage: throughout the century, as already pointed out, the municipality of Ghedi had the opportunity to develop and grow in prestige both economically and militarily, and also from a purely demographic point of view. Thus arose the first settlements outside the walls, and with them also the traditional four villages, the so-called “quadre,” of which today only the name is remembered:- Bassina, located south of the castle;
- Borgo Gazzolo, also called Contrada Palazzo, which reached as far as the western moat of the castle;
- Borgonuovo, so called perhaps because it arose last in the northern part of the walls;
- Malborgo or via di Montechiaro, which extended to the east. As already pointed out, the municipality of Ghedi was involved, during the 14th century, in numerous bloody clashes between the ranks of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, then the Visconti and the Scaligeri, respectively; precisely because of these wars that took place over a short period, the castle and its walls suffered several sieges and were thus destroyed several times. One of the many events is again reported by Abbot Zamboni:
A history of wars
In 1438, however, the walls must not have been ready at all when the Visconti troops, in the pay of Niccolò Piccinino, imposed themselves on the Venetian troops of Gattamelata, reflexively conquering Ghedi as well; the town would return to Venetian hands a short time later, in 1440, thanks to the then captain general of the Republic, the condottiere Francesco Sforza. Because of the extensive damage the castle suffered, on June 16, 1438, Ghedi was granted 200 imperial liras per year for four years and exemptions for another four years from the contribution for the fortresses of Bresciano, having to provide for its castle.”: It was indeed in the interest of the Serenissima to protect the city of Ghedi and its delicate position as an important outpost and crucial junction in the chessboard of the Lombard territory.
It was precisely under the Venetian republic that Ghedi took on a role of extreme importance in the war events of the time, partly because of an ever-increasing Venetian commitment to protecting its western front threatened especially by the Duchy of Milan: in fact, an episode narrated by the Brescian historian is memorable, namely the siege waged against Ghedi between June 29 and July 6, 1453, in the so-called Battle of Ghedi; Francesco Sforza himself, who had become Duke of Milan, had formed an alliance with the Marquis of Mantua and aimed to expand his possessions, in line with the previous Visconti policy. The castle was therefore besieged and attacked at a weak point, a bastia, and thereafter the bombards were lined up: the walls were continually hit by powerful shells, a total of 295, for a total of five days; the Ghedese finally asked for a day's truce to meditate on what to do. They therefore surrendered only on the condition that their lives were saved and their property remained intact. Cristoforo da Soldo's account of this event is therefore an important source to refer to:
It was thus thanks to these new munitions works that the castle probably took on the definitive appearance of a real fortress, also by the Ghedesi's desire to make it as imposing and substantial as possible. It was precisely the inhabitants of the village, in 1463, who requested a tax exemption of duties from the Serenissim to enhance the defensive capacity of the structure; the following year, the municipality purchased land from the Contrade Piazza and Gazzolo to widen the castle's ditch and road. Although the military building during the 15th century was improved and made more hostile to siege, this was of little use during the ruinous military campaign of the War of Ferrara, fought between the Serenissima and the League formed by Ludovico il Moro, Lorenzo de' Medici, the papalists of Pope Sixtus IV and Ferdinand of Aragon, all of whom intervened in defense of the Ercole I d'Este. The chronicler Jacopo Melga reports in his chronicles this clash, which certainly shook the entire Brescian territory, especially for the vehemence and impetus of the attack conducted. The Duke of Calabria Alfonso of Aragon, on August 21, 1483:
Melga himself missed no opportunity to praise the valor of the Ghedes and to return to the gory nature of the event, reporting that:
The village of Ghedese thus enjoyed under Venetian rule a leading role in both territorial expansion and defensive policy: over the years Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, and also Sforza Pallavicino, as well as Niccolò Orsini, count of Pitigliano and Nola, passed through it, and even established his residence there, Palazzo Orsini, beginning with his appointment as captain general of the Serenissima in 1495. Since he was granted large fiefs in the lands of Asola, Malpaga, Montirone, and Leno, Orsini held the annual exhibitions of his troops mainly in the Ghedi area: wanting to demonstrate the order and good state of the soldiers, he held an exhibition there as early as June 31, 1496; in 1503, for example, they were held in Soresina, Martinengo, Lovadino Ravenna, and Mestre, as reported by Marin Sanudo in his Diaries.
However, the Venetian defeat at the Battle of Agnadello in 1509 downsized the ambitions the commune had up to that point: the events of the League of Cambrai led in fact to the definitive decline of the Ghedi castle, until then a crucial junction in the military dynamics of the Serenissima; an event that describes the descending parabola of both the city of Ghedi and the Republic, is narrated in the Storia d'Italia by Guicciardini, the death of Bartolomeo d'Alviano within the walls of the village:
Again, in 1529 the Lansquenets descended into Italy and besieged the fortified village as well, which in vain put up a futile resistance in itself: the castle was in fact sacked and set on fire.