The 19-Year-Long Revenge Of A Prince
We believe that in the Middle Ages life was beautiful, there were beautiful noblewomen everywhere accompanied by their equally noble knights. But history tells us different things about them.
Noble lords of the past had a life that was anything but easy: they did everything they could to accumulate more titles, and then they also had to fight to not lose that treasure.
In the Biella region, there is a witness of terrible events that happened in the area: the palace of the princes of Masserano.
Masserano today is little more than a village that still preserves interesting examples of medieval architecture and culture. Among them are unique and original stucco, original coffered ceilings, and curious decorations.
The owners of this palace in the 16th century were the Fieschi family, who had the last male descendant. To maintain titles and properties after his death, he adopted a lord from an equally noble family. This lord was Filiberto Ferrero Fieschi, famous among other things for his cruelty and bad behavior towards other people.
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In Masserano there was a mint and as you can see Filiberto had also minted coins with his profile. Too bad that the coins also came out defective, they weighed less than they should, that is, the prince simply stole the material. He saved, okay.
Charles II of Savoy knew this fact, and the prince had to be punished for this offense to the sovereign (perhaps he had to pay a fine — I don't know). Captain Giovanni Francesco Pecchio was chosen to bring him the news.
The prince considered this a public outrage (give a look at this book) and harbored a grudge against the captain. Time passed and one day the captain was touring the surrounding area on his duties. He left one village and did not arrive at another.
They started looking for him and found his bloody clothes and horse in the middle of the road between the villages. It was quite clear that the captain had been attacked and after a while, they announced that he had died.
Years passed. There was a war between the Spanish and the French. Then one day the victorious French came to one of the castles nearby, which belonged to Fieschi.
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No one had lived in this castle for a long time, but of course, it had to be checked. The Frenchmen who entered there heard pitiful cries and crying. They went down to the cellars and found there an almost naked man in a terrible state. It was Captain Pecchio stolen by the prince and put in a cell, where food and water were brought to him from time to time, just so he wouldn’t die.
And he spent 19 years there!
I found an interesting picture by Bernardino Lanino dated 1558 “Lamentation over the Dead Christ” where they say the client is the captain himself (right) with his face still affected by the suffering he endured.
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