- Francesco Foscari
Francesco Foscari (1373 –
November 1 1457 ) was doge ofVenice from 1423 to 1457, at the height of theItalian Renaissance .Foscari, of an ancient noble family, served the
Republic of Venice in numerous official capacities—as ambassador, president of the Forty, member of theCouncil of Ten , inquisitor, Procuratore di San Marco, "avvogadore di comun"—before he was elected in 1423 ["In proclaiming the new doge the customary formula which recognized the people's share in the appointment and asked for their approval - the last vestige of popular government - was finally dropped." ("Encyclopædia Britannica", 1911.)] to lead Venice in a long and protracted series of wars againstMilan , governed by theVisconti , who were attempting to dominate all ofItaly . [SeeWars in Lombardy .] Despite notable victories, the war was extremely costly to Venice and to her allyFlorence , and they were eventually overcome by the forces of Milan under the leadership ofFrancesco Sforza . Sforza soon made peace with Florence, however, leaving Venice adrift.In 1445, Foscari's only surviving son, Jacopo, was tried by the
Council of Ten on charges of bribery and corruption and exiled from the city. Two further trials, in 1450 and 1456, led to Jacopo's imprisonment on Crete and his eventual death there.News of Jacopo's death caused Foscari to withdraw from his government duties, and in October 1457 the Council of Ten forced him to resign. However, his death a week later provoked enough public outcry that he was given a state funeral. Foscari's life was the subject of a play "The Two Foscari" by
Lord Byron (1821) and an episode inSamuel Rogers ' long poem "Italy". The Byron play served as the basis for the libretto written byFrancesco Maria Piave forGiuseppe Verdi 's opera "I due Foscari ", which premiered onNovember 3 ,1844 inRome .ee also
*
Palazzo Foscari , built by Francesco Foscari on theGrand Canal .Notes
Further reading
Romano, Dennis, "The Likeness of Venice: A Life of Doge Francesco Foscari", Yale University Press, 2007, ISBN 0300112025 ISBN 978-0300112023
External links
* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Francesco_Foscari "Francesco Foscari", "Encyclopædia Britannica" 1911]
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