Cola Montano, also known as Nicola Capponi, ( – 13 March 1482) was an Italian writer and humanist scholar who helped incite the ''Congiura dei Lampugnani'' or ''Conspiracy of the Lampugnani'' that succeeded in murdering the Duke of Milan,

Galeazzo Maria Sforza Galeazzo Maria Sforza (24 January 1444 – 26 December 1476) was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476. He was born to Francesco Sforza, a popular condottiero and ally of Cosimo de' Medici who would gain the Duchy of Milan in 1450 ...

. While not present at the murder, Cola Montano was captured by the

Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...

government of Tuscany, and hanged from a window in the

Bargello The Bargello, also known as the or ("Palace of the People"), is a former public building and police headquarters, later a prison, in Florence, Italy. Mostly built in the 13th century, since 1865 it has housed the , a national art museum. It ...

Biography

Nicola Capponi was born in

Gaggio Montano Gaggio Montano ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna. Gaggio Montano borders the following municipalities: Cast ...

near

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. By 1462, he had been named professor of Latin for the public school of Milan. Among his students was Pietro Grassi. But it is also reputed that Cola taught Latin to much of the Milanese aristocracy, including the future Duke Galeazzo himself. Cola was active in sponsoring printers of various Latin classics, but appeared to have fleeting collaborations with the businesses. After the murder of the Duke, one of the conspirators,

Girolamo Olgiati Girolamo Olgiati (active c. 1567–1574) was an Italian engraver and printmaker active during the late Italian Renaissance , Renaissance, primarily based in Venice. He is best known for his detailed engravings, which often reproduced works by prom ...

, rapidly fingered his teacher Cola as fostering the murder. Cola had not been present in Milan at the time but was in Tuscany. Many reasons have been postulated for Cola's impetus to murder the Duke. Some have pointed that he had a wish to revert Milan to a republic and replicate the Ancient Roman precedents of

tyrannicide Tyrannicide is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good, and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects. Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in Classical Athens. Often, the term "tyrant ...

. Cola, by nature, appears to have been prone to bicker. He apparently had twice been jailed, one for writing satires about another Sforza tutor and the other time accused of raping a young woman. He is said to have been physically assaulted or publicly whipped by Galeazzo for the former infraction.

Note

*Translated in part from Italian Wikipedia entry.

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montano Cola 1482 deaths Year of birth unknown Italian humanists Executed Italian people People executed by Florence Assassins of heads of state 15th-century executions People from Milan