Pippo Spano
Pippo Spano, a Florentine by birth who served the king of Hungary, was said by his Venetian enemies to have died in a horrifying way. According to their tale, the Emperor King took revenge by having molten gold poured down his throat. The story was a myth, and it did not happen. Yet it tells us that Pippo's name carried weight far beyond Hungary. His full name was Filippo Buondelmonti degli Scolari, and in Italy he was often called Lo Scolari. Why would storytellers invent such an end for one man? And what took a Florentine across the Danube, the Balkans, northern Italy and Bohemia? The answers begin with a single, lasting loyalty.
Tizzano, near Florence, is where Filippo Buondelmonti degli Scolari was born in 1369. His father was a nobleman, but a destitute one. Hungarian sources first mention Filippo around 1382, when he entered the service of King Sigismund's treasurer. His reward was a castle at Simontornya, a place also known as Simonsthurm.
Supplying resources for the war against the Ottomans brought him still more favor. The Crown answered by making him administrator of all the gold mines in the kingdom.
In 1398 he married Barbara, who was the daughter and heir of Andrew of Ozora.
By 1408 he held the title of Ban of Szörény and sat among the members of the prestigious Order of the Dragon. He had become both wealthy and powerful. Sigismund also counted him as a personal friend, and that friendship would send him across Europe.
King Tvrtko I of Bosnia died in 1391, and a rebellion of Hungarian nobles broke out around the same time. Pippo was in Bosnia during these events. He managed to bring the main leaders of the revolt under control.
A harder test came from Ladislaus, the son of Charles II, who ruled at Naples and claimed the Hungarian throne. Pippo uncovered treason among some noblemen. Yet he had to give in to most of their demands, because in 1401 the king himself was a prisoner in Visegrád Castle.
Sigismund regained control for a short time. Then the nobles openly recognized Ladislaus as king. In 1403 the forces of the Kingdom of Naples took Zadar, and Pippo had to pull back.
That same year he recovered Veszprém. Esztergom fell to him in September. He also raided Bosnia again, which cut the contacts between the Sicilian and rebel armies and sent the invaders running. Pippo then persuaded the rebels to seek Sigismund's pardon.
His reward came in Vienna, where Sigismund gave him a title tied to the southern border.
September 1396 brought the last great Crusade against the Ottomans, and it ended in defeat at Nicopolis in Bulgaria. Pippo, unlike most men on the Christian side, escaped. He, the king and a number of high dignitaries sailed a small boat up the Danube until they reached Hungarian and Croatian lands.
In Vienna, years later, he was made Count of Temesvár, the town now called Timișoara. In that role he began building a system of border castles to contain Ottoman aggression. He started confronting the Turks at once.
The Bosnian armies of Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić were besieging the town of Šibenik in Dalmatia. Pippo moved against them and won back parts of what is now Croatia.
The Turks drew him back to the border in 1417, when he fought them in Wallachia. In 1418 he campaigned around Belgrade. In 1419 he fought in Bosnia, where he agreed to a five-year truce. The king rewarded him with Severin, Mehadia and Orşova.
In 1410 Sigismund sent Pippo to persuade the Italian city-states to cut their links with Naples. He traveled in great pomp to Florence, his native city, and then to Ferrara, where he met Niccolò III d'Este. In August the Pisan Antipope John XXIII received him. In September he was in Venice, where he is said to have backed a conspiracy.
Diplomacy gave way to war in 1411. Pippo entered Friuli at the head of an army and conquered Aquileia. In December he took Udine and several fortresses in Romagna. Vittorio Veneto fell next, and he captured a high official from the Barbarigo family there.
A renewed attack in January 1412 gave Pippo a supply of high-ranking Venetian prisoners. He ordered them mutilated, to avenge a Hungarian whom the enemy had killed.
The reckoning came in August 1412 at the Battle of Motta. Carlo Malatesta led the Venetian Republic to a victory that cost Pippo dearly. The following January he meant to besiege Padua, but he could not keep his army in place. He moved toward the Brenta, to Cartigliano and Marostica, and attacked Vicenza without success. More failures drove him back to Friuli, and in February to Hungary.
In September he returned to Friuli to help Florence against the troops of Ladislaus. At Lodi in Lombardy he then attended a meeting between Sigismund and the city's ruler, Giovanni da Vignate.
March 1414 saw the opening proceedings of the Council of Constance, and Pippo took part. Sigismund gave him the job of guarding the Antipope John XXIII. He did not fully succeed, because the Antipope soon managed to escape.
In 1415 the Count of Temesvár stood among the witnesses at Konstanz when the rebel Jan Hus was executed.
Bohemia called him from 1420, when the Hussite insurrection needed answering. That conflict included the Battle of Vítkov Hill. In January 1422 Jan Žižka beat him severely at Havlíčkův Brod, a battle also known as Německý Brod.
A rumor that he had died there would soon reach the Danube.
The rumor of Pippo's death in Bohemia tempted the Ottomans into an attack on Wallachia, where Prince Dan II was his ally. Stefan Lazarević then sent requests for help. Pippo moved into Serbia and won a large-scale battle.
In 1425 he joined Dan II and the Bulgarian prince Frujin Asen in crossing the Danube. Near Vetren they defeated the Ottomans, and they captured Silistra.
A pitched battle near Golubac in 1426 gave Pippo another victory over the Turks. Afterward he suffered a stroke. He was carried to Lipova, where he died in December 1426.
Székesfehérvár received his body, and he was laid next to the tombs of the Hungarian kings. King Sigismund attended the funeral in person.
Serbian epic poetry names him among its figures as Filip the Magyar, which means Filip the Hungarian.
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Common questions
Who was Pippo Spano?
Pippo Spano was Filippo Buondelmonti degli Scolari, born in 1369 near Florence. He became a general, strategist and friend of King Sigismund of Hungary, and he died in December 1426.
What office did Pippo hold in Hungary?
He was administrator of all the kingdom's gold mines, Count of Temesvár, and Ban of Szörény. He also belonged to the Order of the Dragon.
Did Pippo really die by molten gold?
No. The molten gold execution was a myth in Venetian accounts. Pippo suffered a stroke after his victory near Golubac in 1426 and died at Lipova.
Where was Pippo buried?
He was buried at Székesfehérvár next to the tombs of the Hungarian kings. Sigismund attended the funeral in person.
Which battles did Pippo lose?
He suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Motta in August 1412 against the Venetian Republic under Carlo Malatesta. He was also severely beaten by Jan Žižka at Havlíčkův Brod in January 1422.
How is Pippo remembered in Serbia?
Serbian epic poetry names him Filip the Magyar, meaning Filip the Hungarian.
All sources
6 references cited across the entry
- 1BookBuildings of Europe: Renaissance EuropeHans Weigert — The Macmillan Company — 1961
- 2BookThe Papal State under Martin VPeter Partner — 1958
- 3JournalVita Di Messer Filippo Scolari Cittadino Fiorentino Per Sopranome Chiamato SpanoJacopo Di Messer Poggio — 1843
- 4BookVita Di Filippo Scolari, Volgarmente Chiamato Pippo SpanoDomenico Mellini — Sermartelli — 1570
- 5BookVita del capitano Filippo Scolari ... chiamato Pippo Spano conte di Temesvar ... riveduta et accresciuta dal autore. - Firenze, Sermartelli 1606Domenico Mellini — Nella Stamperia del Sermartelli — 1606
- 6BookPippo Spano: un eroe antiturco antesignano del RinascimentoGizella Nemeth et al. — Edizioni della Laguna — 2006