Agostino Barbarigo
Agostino Barbarigo (1420 - 20 September 1501) was the Doge of Venice from 1486 until his death in 1501.[1][2]
Biography
Early life
Agostino was born in Venice in 1420, the younger brother of Marco Barbarigo. Whereas Marco was extremely spoiled from birth, Agostino had to work his way up the social ladder.[1]
The Doge's brother
Marco had joined the Templar Order by 1476. The Templars were plotting to take over Venice and to do so, they schemed to have Doge Mocenigo killed. Fellow Templar Carlo Grimaldi poisoned the Doge and soon after, Marco was elected Doge in 1485. As the Templars' sworn enemies, the Assassins, were trying to break their grip on Venice, Marco never left the Palazzo Ducale for fear of death.[1]
Marco had to come out of his Palazzo in 1486 to celebrate Carnevale, however. The Assassins used this to their advantage, as the Assassin Ezio Auditore won a golden mask which allowed entry to Marco's private party. Agostino was also present at this party, where he conversed with a man wearing a carnevale outfit shortly before Marco's assassination, criticising his brother's governance of Venice, and dismissed the party as a gimmick, saying that he had "hid himself away in his palazzo while Venezia comes apart at the seams then expects a few expensive explosions will make the people forget their problems". He was still present at the party while Marco was assassinated by Ezio.[1]
Doge
Agostino succeeded his brother after his death and allied himself with Assassins. He helped them devise a plan to assassinate his Templar cousin, Silvio Barbarigo. After he said he wouldn't ally himself with the Borgia like his brother and cousins did, the Assassins left Venice in his care.[1]
Agostino helped to create a coalition against Charles VIII of France, after which he managed to gain territory on the mainland of Italy. He also entered a war with Turkey in 1499, which caused the loss of the Venetian navy and thus many of Venice's strongholds along the Orient.[1]
Death
Despite his promise to Ezio that he would not turn out as his brother had, by 1501, Agostino had been corrupted by the Borgia. Upon discovering this, the Assassins sent Agostino three threatening letters, each of which had been coated in small doses of poison by the Assassin Tessa Varzi. Soon afterwards, Agostino fell ill and died on 20th September 1501.[2]
After his death, he was charged with receiving bottles of wine as gifts and then reselling them tax free "beneath the staircase of the prisons," by Antonio Loredan, brother of the new doge. Agostino was also charged of extortion and nepotism.[1]
References