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 compelled the rival Oddi family to leave Perugia; and in vain did Innocent VIII endeavor to calm these factional hostilities. In the massacre of 15 July 1500, in which Guido was killed along with his son Astorre 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; after defeating the Oddi and the other exiles in May 1501, he entered the service of Alexander VI and the Valentino; then, skillfully maneuvering amid the struggles of those first two decades, he succeeded in preserving his family’s veiled lordship for several years; until, accused before Leo X of the gravest crimes and suspected of having participated in the cardinals’ conspiracy, he was summoned by him to Rome on 16 March 1520, confined in Castel Sant’Angelo, and put to death on 2 June.

MALATESTA, the son of Gian Paolo, returned to Perugia in January 1522; on 15 January 1530 he was made captain general of the Florentines in the struggle they waged against Clement VII. But when he saw that resistance against the imperial troops was useless, in August he descended

(Alinari photograph)
BAGLIONE, GIOVANNI - Christ Mocked.
Rome, Borghese Gallery.

BAGLIONI — The houses of the B. in the second tier of the fresco by B. Bonfigli in the Palazzo dei Priori (15th century), depicting the Siege of Perugia and the Discovery of the body of S. Ercolano — Perugia.

to terms which, accepted by Florence and Clement VII, saved the city from ruin. Malatesta, who had taken good care of his own interests, withdrew to Bettona, where he died on 24 December 1531.