Rocco Guerrini (Latin - ''Rochus Quirinus''; German - ''Rochus, Graf zu Lynar''; 24 December 1525,

Marradi Marradi () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italy, Italian region Tuscany, located about northeast of Florence at the borders with the Emilia-Romagna region. Marradi borders the following municipalities: ...

- 22 December 1596,

Berlin-Spandau Spandau () is a locality (''Village, Ortsteil'') of Berlin, Germany's capital and largest city, in the homonymous Boroughs and neighborhoods of Berlin, borough (''Bezirk'') of Spandau. The historic city is situated, for the most part, on the west ...

) was an Italian military engineer, most notable for his work on the

Spandau Citadel The Spandau Citadel () is a fortress in Berlin, Germany, one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures of Europe. Built from 1559–94 atop a medieval fort on an island near the meeting of the Havel and the Spree, it was design ...

, which was completed in 1594. He used the title count of Linari (

) from 1571 onwards and founded the German line of the Linari family, known as the Lynar line. ''Lynar'' In: Heinrich August Pierer, Julius Löbe (ed.): ''Universal-Lexikon der Gegenwart und Vergangenheit''. 4. vol. t. 10, Altenburg, 1860 (p. 649)
zeno.org

Life

He came from a noble Florentine family which owned Linari castle in the

Lamone Lamone is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Lamone is first mentioned in 854 as ''Namonni''. In 1295 it was mentioned as ''Lamono''. A prehistoric stone bowl was discovered on San Zeno hi ...

valley. Aged ten he became a page at the court of

Alessandro de' Medici Alessandro de' Medici (22 July 1510 – 6 January 1537), nicknamed "il Moro" due to his dark complexion, Duke of Penne and the first Duke of the Florentine Republic (from 1532), was ruler of Florence from 1530 to his death in 1537. The first Me ...

and then from 1540 at the court of the French dauphin, the future

Henry II of France Henry II (; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was List of French monarchs#House of Valois-Angoulême (1515–1589), King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I of France, Francis I and Claude of France, Claude, Du ...

. He fought in the French army against Spain at the sieges of

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

and

Thionville Thionville (; ; ) is a city in the northeastern French Departments of France, department of Moselle (department), Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle (river), Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz. History Thionvi ...

and the Battle of Saint-Quentin. At Thionville in 1558 he was wounded in the face and lost an eye. In 1561 he took part in the construction of Metz Citadel. In 1567 he went to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

maréchal de camp ''Maréchal de camp'' (sometimes incorrectly translated as field marshal) was a general officer rank used by the French Army until 1848. The rank originated from the older rank of sergeant major general ( French: ''sergent-major général'') ...

to his friend

John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern John Casimir, Count Palatine of Simmern (German: ''Johann Casimir von Pfalz-Simmern'') (7 March 1543 – Brockhaus Geschichte Second Edition) was a German prince and a younger son of Frederick III, Elector Palatine. A firm Calvinist, he was a le ...

. In 1569 he was made commander in chief of all Augustus I, Elector of Saxony's fortresses and also improved the hydraulic engineering of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, seat of Augustus' court. In 1578 he entered the service of John George, prince of Prussia, succeeding the architect Francesco Chiaramella. On 30 July 1590 he was put in charge of building work at the fortress at Peitz, Carlo Denina: ''Rivoluzioni della Germania'', Florence, 1804, t. IV, p. 311. completed in 1595.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerrini, Rocco 1525 births 1596 deaths People from Marradi Expatriates in the Holy Roman Empire Italian military engineers Grand Duchy of Tuscany people