Giacomo Contarini (1456–1498)
Giacomo Contarini (1456–1498) was a Venetian patrician and diplomat.
Contarini was born in Venice in 1456. He was a scion of the Contarini and Gritti families, the son of Ambrogio di Nicolò Contarini and Andriana di Andrea Gritti. He studied philosophy and law. Girolamo Priuli praises him as a "most learned man". Marco Barbaro calls him a "writer", but none of his writings are known.[1]
Contarini was elected ambassador to Spain on 24 February 1496. On 8 June, he received a formal commission that included extending the republic's congratulations to King Manuel I of Portugal on his marriage to Isabella of Aragon. He arrived in Spain on 31 October.[1] According to Marino Sanuto the Younger, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella knighted him and presented him with a black and white "civet" (zibeta or gazela).[1][2] His main goal was to prevent Spain from reaching a peace agreement with France in the First Italian War. In this he was unsuccessful. Having fallen ill, he was authorized to leave Spain on 11 October 1497.[1] In November, Spain and France reached an agreement dividing Italy between themselves.[3]
Contarini returned to Venice on 9 June 1498 and died there a few months later, after making his report to the Venetian Senate. He was buried in Santo Stefano. His will, dated 1 June 1496, left everything to his brothers and sisters.[1]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Povolo 1983.
- ^ Beverley 1999, p. 91.
- ^ Garrisson 1995, p. 114.
Bibliography
[edit]- Beverley, Tessa (1999). Venetian Ambassadors, 1454–94: An Italian Elite (PDF) (PhD dissertation). University of Warwick.
- Garrisson, Janine (1995). A History of Sixteenth Century France, 1483–1598: Renaissance, Reformation and Rebellion. Macmillan.
- Povolo, Claudio (1983). "Contarini, Giacomo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 28: Conforto–Cordero (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.