ALVIANO, BARTOLOMEO D'

ALVIANO, BARTOLOMEO d'. - Condottiere, born at Rocca d'Alviano, of the noble Liviani family, in 1455; died at Bergamo in 1515. He began his career in 1478 in the service of the Pope and the king of Naples against Lorenzo il Magnifico. He then joined the Orsini and fought for them in 1496 in the lands of the Church. In 1503 he fought with the Spaniards against the French and played a decisive part in the battle of the Garigliano, which marked the definitive defeat of Luigi XII in the kingdom. In 1507, together with Niccolò Orsini, count of Pitigliano, he entered the service of the Venetians, and remained there until his death. After the victorious campaign of 1508 against Massimiliano, king of Germany, which gave Venice the temporary conquest of Trieste, he began in 1509 the campaign against the League of Cambrai; but in the defeat at Agnadello he was taken prisoner. Released five years later, he resumed service with the rank of captain general of the Serenissima, and his hereditary possession of Pordenone in Friuli was confirmed to him. The defeat of the Swiss in the battle of Marignano (1515) is due to him.