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By Root 1478 0

death of the short-lived Medici pope Leo XI, simmering rivalry between the French and Spanish factions broke out into open street warfare. Soon there was a full-blown riot, with fighting spilling over from the Piazza della Trinità into the Via dei Condotti. The bargello of Rome, the city’s principal law enforcement officer, tried to restore order with his troops. But he was met, with equal force, by Giovan Francesco Tomassoni, caporione of the Campo Marzio district, his brothers Ranuccio and Alessandro, and their own ragtag militia. The ensuing argument revolved around jurisdiction over prisoners. The bargello wanted to take a number of men into custody, whereas the Tomassoni demanded that the men be handed over to them, for reasons that are not clear: they were either allies, whom the pro-Spanish Tomassoni intended to set free, or they were enemies, sought for the darker purposes of retribution.

The three Tomassoni brothers ended up in court over the incident. The outcome is unknown, but the testimony given by two eyewitnesses paints a vivid picture of the upheavals in Rome. The first to be called was Lieutenant Antonio Crepella, an officer under the command of the bargello who had been assigned to patrol duties on the day in question:

Sir, I was with the bargello of Rome, who was leading the entire constabulary, and we were walking slowly around Rome. When we were in Piazza Trinità we saw a large crowd of people towards Via de’ Condotti, who were quarrelling and had their swords out. So we hurried there and the people, when they saw us, ran off in all directions. Chasing after them, we caught seven or eight. We then led them off as prisoners towards Tor di Nona by order of the bargello … and when we were in the Piazza of Cardinal Borghese [Piazza S. Eustachio, in front of the Palazzo Borghese] the caporione of Campo Marzio, Captain Francesco Tommasoni da Terni, appeared in front of us, along with his brother Ranuccio, and another brother whose name I don’t know, but who is older than them, with a great crowd of people who were all from the militia, which Francesco captains.

He and his brothers were all three armed with swords, daggers and prohibited pistols. Some of the militiamen were armed with arquebuses, some with halberds, and some with other weapons. Their captain Francesco said to me, ‘Hey! What prisoners are these?’ I told him they were prisoners who had been fighting in Piazza della Trinità, where there had been people hurt, and someone may have been killed. He replied that I should stop, and that he wanted the prisoners himself, and that I should hand them over to him, because they were taken in his rione, and that he wanted to know what was going on, because it was up to him to account for these things. I replied: ‘Captain Francesco. Don’t get in my way. Let me go, and talk with Captain Girolamo, who is on his way. Don’t make [trouble]. These prisoners fought with us, and we can’t hand them over to you. Let us take them to prison, then go and talk to the Governor, and get satisfaction.

The said Captain Francesco answered me: ‘I want you to leave them with us,’ and put his hand to the pistol he was carrying, and his brothers also took their pistols, saying, ‘Leave them here! Leave them here, or we’ll cut you all into pieces, you fucking pricks!’ and their militiamen shouted, ‘To arms! To arms! Beat the drum!’ One of them pointed his halberd at my chest, saying: ‘Get away from here! What are you doing here? Get out of here!’ Finally, having surrounded us, the said Francesco, his brothers and the militiamen took the prisoners away from the sbirri and led them away themselves. Then they let us go, and I came straight here to the office to give my account.

The next, unnamed witness, another officer under the command of the bargello, was asked to identify the participants. He could only indicate Francesco and his brothers. His account differs little from that of the lieutenant, until he comes to the aftermath of the event:

And while we were waiting [at the ‘office’ where they had gone to report the incident]