Baglioni

BAGLIONI. - A Perugian family that rose to power toward the end of the 14th century, particularly after Malatesta, upon the death of Braccio Fortebracci, had brought Perugia back under the dominion of the Church. It was BRACCIO B. who in the second half of the 15th century consolidated the family's greatness. After his death in 1479, his brother GUIDO in 1488 forced the rival Oddi family to leave Perugia; and Innocent VIII labored in vain to calm these partisan hatreds. In the massacre of 15 July 1500, in which Guido was killed together with Astorre his son and other members of the family by Grifonetto B. and Carlo Barciglia B., who had conspired with the opposing faction, GIAN PAOLO, son of Rodolfo, Guido's brother, managed to save himself; having defeated the Oddi and the other exiles in May 1501, he entered the service of Alexander VI and of the Valentino; then, maneuvering through the struggles of those first two decades, he succeeded in preserving his family's veiled lordship for some years; until, accused before Leo X of very grave crimes and suspected of participation in the conspiracy of the cardinals, he was summoned by him to Rome on 16 March 1520, confined in Castel Sant'Angelo and put to death on 2 June.

MALATESTA, son of Gian Paolo, in Jan. 1522, re-entered Perugia; on 15 Jan. 1530 he was made captain general of the Florentines in the struggle they waged against Clement VII. But when he saw resistance against the imperial troops to be futile, in Aug. he descended on terms which, accepted by Florence and by Clement VII, saved the city from ruin. Malatesta, who had taken good care of his own advantage, withdrew to Bettona, where he died on 24 Dec. 1531.

Pio Paschini