Ferdinand of Aragon and the importance of print

Between 1485 and 1487 several barons and important, powerful men in the court of Ferdinand of Aragon were involved in a rebellion against him. The conspiracy was led by the Count of Sarno, Francesco Coppola, the king’s secretary, Antonello Petrucci, and his sons, Pirro del Balzo, prince of Altamura, and the entire Sanseverino family. What appeared to be, at least in the beginning, a mere divergence of opinion and resentment from the barons of the realm against the anti-feudal policies of Ferdinand of Aragon soon became a conflict on a much larger scale, with the rebel barons gaining popularity and convincing others to their cause and ultimately plotting to capture the king and involving Pope Innocent VIII. The king for his part called upon Lodovico il Moro and Florence for help, thus escalating the conflict to a stage that involved almost the entire Italian peninsula and even further, because Matteo Corvino also became involved. After a series of false truces and negotiations carried out by all involved parties on a multitude of levels, the failure of the Duke of Lorraine—the legitimate heir to the Angevins’ claim to the throne of Naples and the person upon whom the aspirations of the barons and the pope rested—to show up led ultimately to a peace between Ferdinand of Aragon and the pope. This left the rebels barons alone to face ire and punishment. Under the false promise of a pardon and under the guise of carrying out the promised marriage between one of the king’s nieces, Maria Piccolomini, and the son and heir of the Count of Sarno, one of the main protagonists of the conspiracy, Ferdinand was able to bring the barons to Naples and arrest most of those who had plotted against him.