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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Andrea Doria Biography Doria, Andrea, (c.1468-1560) A Genoese admiral. In the first half of his long career he fought in the service of various Italian princes. When Genoa was freed from French domination at the close of the reign of Louis XII, Doria, at the age of about 45 years, was appointed captain general of the galleys and cleared the northern Mediterranean of African pirates. During the first war between Francis I of France and Charles V, Doria commanded the French fleet, reënforced by his own galleys, and inflicted everywhere severe losses upon the enemy. After the defeat of Francis I near Pavia (1525) Doria accepted the command of the papal fleet, but upon the return of the King from captivity entered once more the French service, with the title of High Admiral of the Levant. He blockaded Genoa because it had espoused the cause of the Emperor, but, finding the independence of his country threatened by the French, Doria with his whole force went over to the Emperor and by so doing hastened the deliverance of Italy from French domination. In 1528 Doria entered Genoa without resistance, and, refusing the title of sovereign offered by the Emperor, established a new form of government, which remained in vigor up to the end of the republic. The grateful country decreed him the title of "Father of Peace." In 1532 Doria won a decisive victory over the Turks near Patras, and the conquest of Tunis (1535) was chiefly his work. He distinguished himself in the disastrous expedition of Charles V against Algiers in 1541. Disturbed in his last years by the conspiracy of Fiesco (q.v.), Doria took fierce revenge upon the conspirators for the death of his nephew Gianettino. He died without offspring at Genoa in the ninety-third year of his life. Consult Petit, André Doria (Paris, 1887), and Guerrazzi, Vita di Andrea Doria (Milan, 1874). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 188-189. |