Andrea Doria

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Andrea Doria bigraphy, stories - Italian admiral

Andrea Doria : biography

30 November 1466 – 25 November 1560

Andrea Doria (or D’Oria) (30 November 1466 – 25 November 1560) was an Italian condottiero and admiral from Genoa.

Re-establishment of the Genoese Republic

Neptune, by Agnolo Bronzino]] Doria ordered his nephew Filippino, who was then blockading Naples in alliance with a French army, to withdraw; Doria then sailed for Genoa where, with the help of some leading citizens, he expelled the French and re-established the republic under imperial protection.

He reformed the constitution in an aristocratic sense, most of the nobility being Imperialists, and put an end to the factions which divided the city, by creating 28 Alberghi or "clans". The 28 Alberghi that formed this new ruling class included the Cybo, Doria, Fieschi, Giustiniani, Grimaldi, Imperiale, Pallavicino, and Spinola families.The Grimaldis of Monaco, Anne Edwards, HarperCollins, 1992, , ISBN 0-00-215195-2Genoa and the sea: policy and power in an early modern maritime republic, 1559–1684, Thomas Allison Kirk, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005., pg. 25 , ISBN 0-8018-8083-1

He refused offers to take the lordship of Genoa and even the dogeship, but accepted the position of "perpetual censor", and exercised predominant influence in the councils of the republic until his death. The title "censor" in this context was modeled on its meaning in the Roman Republic, i.e., a highly respected senior public official (see Roman censor), rather than its modern meaning having to do with censorship. He was given two palaces, many privileges, and the title of Liberator et Pater Patriae (Liberator and Father of His Country).

Wars between France and the Holy Roman Empire

In the meanwhile Genoa had been recaptured by the French, and in 1522 by the armies of the Holy Roman Emperor.

But Doria joined the French or popular faction and entered the service of King Francis I of France, who made him captain-general; in 1524 he relieved Marseille, which was besieged by the Imperialists, and later helped to place his native city once more under French domination.

Dissatisfied with his treatment at the hands of Francis, who was mean about payment, he resented the king’s behavior in connection with Savona, which he delayed handing back to the Genoese as he had promised.

Consequently, on the expiration of Doria’s contract he entered the service of Emperor Charles V (1528).

Ships

Several ships were named in honour of the Admiral:

  • Two United States Navy ships named USS Andrew Doria (1775 and 1908).
  • The battleship Andrea Doria, completed in 1891, which served in the late 19th and early 20th century, was stricken in 1911, and served as the floating battery GR104 during World War I before being scrapped in 1929.
  • The battleship Andrea Doria, completed in 1916, which served in both World War I and World War II and was stricken in 1956.
  • The passenger liner SS Andrea Doria, which was launched in 1951, had her maiden voyage in 1953 and sank in 1956.
  • The Italian missile cruiser Andrea Doria, built in 1964 and decommissioned in 1991.
  • The Italian Horizon-class frigate Andrea Doria, commissioned in 2007.

Doria as imperial admiral

As imperial admiral he commanded several expeditions against the Ottoman Empire, capturing Koroni and Patras, and co-operating with the emperor himself in the capture of Tunis (1535). Charles found him an invaluable ally in the wars with Francis I, and through him extended his domination over the whole of Italy.

In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (comprising the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, but Hayreddin Barbarossa defeated its combined fleet, commanded by Andrea Doria, at the Battle of Preveza in September 1538. This victory secured Turkish dominance over the Mediterranean for the next 33 years, until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.