Francesco I da Carrara (29 September 1325, in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

– 6 October 1393, in

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

), called il Vecchio, was Lord of Padua from 1350 to 1388. The son of the assassinated Giacomo II da Carrara, he succeeded him as lord of Padua by popular acclamation. In 1356 he was named imperial vicar by emperor Charles IV. In 1360 he obtained by

Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great (; ; ) or Louis the Hungarian (; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of ...

the cities of Feltre and

Belluno Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the Capital (political), capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region. W ...

with their territories, as well as

Valsugana The Valsugana (, ) or Sugana Valley is one of the most important valleys in the autonomous province of Trentino in Northern Italy. Leading into the Alps' foothills, an important main north-south Roman road, the Via Claudia Augusta, one of Europ ...

, which controlled the trades to

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

. In 1372-1373 he fought a fruitless war against his powerful neighbor, the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

. In 1375-1381 he sided with the

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in the

War of Chioggia The War of Chioggia () was a conflict fought by the Republic of Genoa against the Republic of Venice between 1378 and 1381, the conclusion of an open confrontation that had lasted for years and which had already included some occasional and limit ...

, after which he obtained by Leopold III of Austria the city of

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

. In 1385, he allied with the Visconti of Milan against the

Scaliger The House of Della Scala, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years. History ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

. In 1387 the Paduan troops, led by

John Hawkwood Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or ''condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it in ...

and his son Francesco Novello, defeated the Scaliger troops in the

Battle of Castagnaro The Battle of Castagnaro was fought on 11 March 1387 at Castagnaro (today's Veneto, northern Italy) between Verona and Padua. It is one of the most famous battles of the Italian condottieri age. The army of Verona was led by Giovanni Ordela ...

. The following year, however, Venice and Milan formed a coalition against Francesco, who was forced to abdicate in favour of his son and to go into exile in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. Later

Gian Galeazzo Visconti Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), was the first duke of Duchy of Milan, Milan (1395) and ruled that late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò V ...

transferred him first to

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

, and then to the Forni jail of

, where he died in 1393. Francesco was a patron of the arts. He favored the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

, where he called Ubaldo degli Ubaldi. He was also a friend of Francesco Petrarca, whom he donated an estate in Arquà. He married Fina Buzzaccarini and their daughter Cecilia of Carrara (d. 1435) married Wenceslaus I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg. His other daughter, Caterina, married the Croatian count Stephen II of Frankopan, lord of Krk: their only surviving daughter Elizabeth married Frederick II, Count of Celje. After the death of Francesco's grandson Marsilio, the offspring of those two marriages remained Francesco's only surviving legitimate male descendants. None of them is known to have claimed the Carraresi inheritance.

References

Sources

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External links

Biography at Rinascimento.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carraresi, Francesco 01 1325 births 1393 deaths Da Carrara family Lords of Padua People of the War of Chioggia