Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia
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Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia | |
|---|---|
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| Dux of La Rossa | |
| In office 7-2 714 TT – 12-8 701 TT | |
| Preceded by | Eugenio Miglio di Padeno |
| Succeeded by | Marteno Giannone di Salino |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8-9 753 TT Tolia |
| Died | 12-8 701 TT Buglio |
| Spouse(s) | Marietta Barozzo di Tolia (née Marietta Cintone) |
| Children | Ignatius Barozzo di Tolia |
Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (8-9 753 TT – 12-8 701 TT) was a Dux of La Rossa, reining from 714 TT until his death in 701 TT. The period surrounding his rise to power was mostly defined by the peasants' rebellion in Morna that had broken out in 715 TT, and his response in violently quashing it. Famed for his hardheadedness and stubbornness, the patriarch of the Barozzo Family came to rule the island after he had threatened to stage a coup if his predecessor was not deposed at the following conclave. This had scared most of the Families' electors into backing him, granting him the mandate to his iron-fisted period of rulership.
Historically, his rule coincided with the invention of the printing press on the island, to which he responded by seizing the invention and declaring that only the Duxal rulership had the right to decide on its use. This declarative stance would survive long beyond his rule, as the invention would remain in governmental hands for centuries afterwards following the precedent that had been set. La Rossa continues to enforce moderately strict censorship laws that grant the government ultimate authority over the legality of all published material.
Early Life
Not much is known about the details of Niccolò Barozzo's early life, though it is understood that he underwent a strict and disciplined childhood on orders of his father. As it was widely understood his branch of the Barozzo Family was destined to heir the next patriarch, he would be instructed from birth on how to fulfill the role that would beset him after the death of the aging head of the family at the time. He was surrounded by tutors and military instructors from a young age, being afforded little luxury usually common among the nobles. The death of the Barozzo patriarch came earlier than expected, however, leaving the 14-year-old Niccolò to be passed over for the role due to his youth and lack of experience, instead moving the title to his older cousin, Lucio Barozzo. At the age of 19, Niccolò would, in a shared plot, kill the head of the Family, taking on his role. With the support of his uncle, primarily, and several highly-esteemed members of the family, a coup was performed by the usurping faction in the hope that Niccolò would act more favorably towards those who had helped him reach this position. Sensing that he was to be manipulated into acting according to his uncle's wishes, Niccolò would order him strung and beheaded.
By arranged marriage, he would marry Marietta Cintone, the daughter of a local merchant. Though the marriage was understood to be loveless, as Niccolò paid little attention to her, his wife would produce a child in 720 TT, Ignatius Barozzo di Tolia. Similarly to his mother, his son would not have a strong relationship with his father over the course of his lifetime, and was left to mostly be raised by Marietta. Despite efforts to afford him a similar tutoring as Niccolò had experienced during his youth, his son was mostly unreceptive to such instruction, leading to his father mostly ignoring him as he grew into adulthood. Ignatius would eventually come to write the political treatise Nobiles, funded mostly through the inheritance his father left him.
Dux
In 715 TT, a peasants' rebellion had risen in Morna, due to the harsh labor and taxes the Minestricis had imposed on them, leaving most far below subsistence level. The peasants' rebellion had taken over the local town, driving out the Familial noblemen and establishing a geographically secluded and independent township. Threatening to spread across the island, with unrest clamoring among the Buglian and Salinese farmers, tensions were high, and the ruling aristocracy had great worry over whether it would be able to quash the rebellion and weather its consequences, especially as food supplies were already low due to multiple years of severe drought. The cause of the rebellion, however, was widely attributed to the Dux at the time Eugenio Miglio di Padeno, who was seen as having ruled absentmindedly and allowing his political allies - the Miglios, the Minestricis, and the Buonestrottis - to largely get away with behavior that was thought as having been at the root of the crisis, as they took the opportunity to further extract from the now-rebelling servile caste.
Niccolò Barozzo would gather the opposing faction, who had little to gain from the tacit agreement, as they were largely on the losing side of it. Pressing an ultimatum to the Duxal coalition, he would threaten that he would amass a mercenary army that would depose the current Dux, and move towards smothering the rebellion without his approval, if he were not to be deposed at the next Duxal conclave. The gambit would pay off, as a secret ballot amongst 48 electors - eight from each family - would show a strong shift of tides. Enough had been scared by the prospect of another rebellion that Barozzo was handed a wide-sweeping mandate to take the reins and move towards crushing the revolt. He would do this with the very mercenary army he used to threaten the Families, and in a symbolic gesture, he ordered the surviving leaders of the rebellion to be gutted and splayed, both as a sign to the peasantry and to the Families that continued to believe he was bluffing. Indeed, by the Duxal Conclave in 712 TT, he was running unopposed, with only six dissenting electors refusing to write a name on their ballots. Following this, the Dux would claim insubordination, and ordered that next year's Conclave held an open ballot. For several elections, he would win without opposition.
Niccolò Barozzo was defined by his strongly traditionalist and authoritative period of rule, during which he centralized the power into the state and ruled with absolute power, imposing moralistic laws and banning various practices. His clearest example of this came following the invention of the printing press in 709 TT, which he responded to by ordering the machine and its designs be seized and only allowed for use by the Duxal government. Fearing that it would allow the mass spread of ideas that could lead to yet another revolt against the Families, the use of the invention was not to be allowed to anyone but the highest nobility, which was to decide how it was to be used. Though he had come to eventually appreciate the invention, he would never relinquish control of it, but would rather use it to spread text reaffirming the goodness of the aristocracy. Due to his extreme sense of frugality, he spent little money on festivals and celebrations, and even the books he printed were few in number. He would be widely despised at the time, though few records remain of this, likely as he had tried to ensure the silence of such discussion.
By 702 TT, Gualtiero Buonestrotti di Buglio, a rival of Barozzo, who was just as militant and almost as hardheaded, attempted to assemble a coalition to oust Barozzo from power following almost two octades of fearful deference to his rule. At the Duxal Conclave of that year, he would throw his name in as a standing candidate. Despite support from the Dux's rivals, however, he would not reach the required majority, leading Barozzo to win with a slim margin of victory. Despite fears of retribution, the Dux chose not to pursue revenge against those who voted against him, privately fearing that there were too many of them to properly discipline and make an example of. Ironically, this act would come to be his undoing, as the idea that the Dux was unwilling to defend his position began to spread among the same people who had spent years in fear of being executed for opposition. Niccolò Barozzo, aiming to save his dignity and reassert control, would travel to Buglio to challenge Gualtiero Buonestrotti to a duel to the death. According to legend, Buonestrotti would refuse, to which Barozzo would respond by charging at him with a sword, while he was defenseless. In his murderous rage, Barozzo would grab Buonestrotti and push him over a balcony, leading to both tripping over the fence, falling to their deaths. At the next Duxal Conclave, Marteno Giannone di Salino would be chosen as a replacement for both, meant to serve as a calm figure that would aim to bring peace back to increasingly bloody noble politics.
Electoral Conclaves
714 TT
| Candidate | Votes | Votes (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia | 31 | 64.6% | |
| Eugenio Miglio di Padeno (incumbent) | 17 | 35.4% | |
| Total Votes | 48 | 100% | |
712 TT
| Candidate | Votes | Votes (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (incumbent) | 42 | 87.5% | |
| Blank ballot | 6 | 12.5% | |
| Total Votes | 48 | 100% | |
710 TT
| Candidate | Votes | Votes (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (incumbent) | 48 | 100% | |
| Total Votes | 48 | 100% | |
708 TT
| Candidate | Votes | Votes (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (incumbent) | 48 | 100% | |
| Total Votes | 48 | 100% | |
706 TT
| Candidate | Votes | Votes (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (incumbent) | 48 | 100% | |
| Total Votes | 48 | 100% | |
704 TT
| Candidate | Votes | Votes (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (incumbent) | 48 | 100% | |
| Total Votes | 48 | 100% | |
702 TT
| Candidate | Votes | Votes (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (incumbent) | 25 | 52.1% | |
| Gualtiero Buonestrotti di Buglio | 23 | 47.9% | |
| Total Votes | 48 | 100% | |