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. Marco became the Doge of Venice shortly after his fellow Templar, Carlo Grimaldi, poisoned Doge Giovanni Mocenigo on 14 September 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 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
After Marco's death, he met with the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze and leader of the Venetian Thieves' Guild Antonio de Magianis in the Palazzo della Seta, which had once belonged to Agostino's cousin Emilio. As at the time he was still only the Doge-elect, Agostino informed the two that his Templar cousin, Silvio Barbarigo had taken over the Arsenal Shipyard with at least 200 mercenaries at his command. He explained this threatened his appointment to become Doge, and helped them devise a plan to assassinate Silvio. After he said he wouldn't ally himself with the Borgia like his brother and cousins did, he left.[1]
After the Assassins succeeded in killing Silvio and freeing the Castello district, Agostino was successfully inaugurated as Doge. Agostino then 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