Fieschi

Fieschi, COUNT GIOVANNI LUIGI DE', a member of one of the most illustrious houses of Genoa, was born about the year 1523. In addition to the lustre of ancestral fame, his name has attained a tragic historical celebrity in connection with a remarkable conspiracy of which he was the chief. Andrea Doria, the famous admiral, sprung from a race hereditarily at feud with that of Fieschi, having expelled the forces of Francis I. from the state, had restored the republican form of government, but at the same time, by his vigorous administration, effectually held in check the ambition of the nobles. Count Fieschi organised a plot for the overthrow of Doria (who was supported by the Emperor Charles V.) and the establishment of an oligarchic form of government. Instigated by the approval of France and Rome, Fieschi speedily enrolled a formidable array of accomplices, his three brothers among the foremost. Three galleys, under the pretext of an expedition against the Turks, were fully equipped and filled with mercenaries; and, all being in readiness, the attempt was fixed for the 2d of January 1547. Doria, in spite of repeated warnings, refused to ascribe treacherous or subversive designs to Fieschi. Complete success seemed at first to crown the conspirators; the gates of the city were forced, the fleet captured, Gianettino assassinated, Doria in flight. Fieschi had but to appear and dictate, but he was nowhere to be found. In stepping from one galley to the other in the darkness of night he had stumbled, and, falling overboard, been borne down by his ponderous armour, and miserably drowned in the harbour, or, according to some, stifled in the slime. The scheme ended here, and Doria returned. See DORIA and GENOA; and the monographs of Brea (1863) and Celesia (1864).