Background
Doria was born on 30 November 1466 at Oneglia from the ancient Genoese family.
Doria was born on 30 November 1466 at Oneglia from the ancient Genoese family.
Andrea Doria's ancestors had been political leaders in Genoa as far back as 1134.
Doria made a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem in 1495, which was a somewhat rare feat at the time, for it involved an arduous and even perilous trek. As he entered adulthood, he became a mercenary, or soldier-for-hire. Through his thirties and forties, Doria accumulated much of his wealth by battling corsairs, or pirate ships, along the coast of North Africa, and fighting Turks; both were standard ways by which Genoese nobles earned distinction.
These men were known as condottieres, or commanders-for-hire, and sailed the Mediterranean in manned galleys.
In 1519 Doria won a decisive victory over a Turkish force at Pianosa, which further enhanced his reputation.
Back home, however, trouble brewed, and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V seized Genoa in 1522.
Francis I gave Doria command of the French fleet on the Mediterranean, and with it Doria scored a decisive victory at Marseilles in 1524.
Doria again led a French incursion, and helped retake Genoa from the Holy Roman Empire. Because of France's new policies governing Genoa, Doria became discontented with Francis I, andswitched allegiances.
In the service of Charles V, he recaptured Genoa for the Empire in September of 1528, and reentered the city greeted by cheering masses of his fellow Genoese. Doria was now the de facto ruler of the Republic of Genoa, and held the tittle of Grand Admiral of the fleet of the Holy Roman Empire, which Charles V bestowed upon him because of his services to the Empire.
He was also granted the princedom of Melfi.
His position allowed him the exclusive rights to supply both Charles V and Spain's Philip II with ships, which tied Doria to sailing fortunes then being made across the Atlantic Ocean.
First, he imposed laws that rid the city of its fractious political rivalries, and instituted an oligarchic form of government that returned political power to the aristocrats.
Under the terms of a constitution that went into effect under Doria (and lasted until 1797), Genoa was ruled by its four main families, granted a certain number of commoners noble status every year, and was headed by a doge with little actual power.
Genoa's political decisions were instead made in two council chambers, the Maggiore Consiglio and the Minore Consiglio.
The latter elected the city officials, the doge, and appointed its financial and legal ministers.
Supervising this structure were five syndics, of whom Doria was "perpetual prior. "
His rule, which began in 1528 and endured over thirty years, has been considered a virtual dictatorship; hints of political opposition were sometimes ruthlessly extinguished. Doria, now a wealthy, powerful, but older man, built a Palazzo del Principe for himself at Fassolo, situated just west of the city walls.
The structure was designed so that he could see every ship entering and departing Genoa's port.
Indeed, Doria did not rest on his laurels in his palace: he still led several naval battles against the Turks well into his sixtieth decade, including a victorious one at Tunis in 1535.
An investigation uncovered the culprit, and Doria extracted harsh retribution. At the age of 84 Doria was still sailing in anti-pirate expeditions on the Mediterranean.
When war broke out between France and Spain, Doria allied with the Spaniards and captured Corsica from the French.
Perhaps because of the looting of the city by Holy Roman Empire armies in 1522, the portrait of Doria that hangs in one of the city's museums, attributed to Jan Massys, is the first depiction of any of Genoa's rulers.
In the Mediterranean world of the late Middle Ages, Andrea Doria was both famous as an adventurer and feared as a ruler.
His seafaring skills made him one of the principal maritime commanders of his day, and his alliances with popes and a succession of kings helped make him rich. Perhaps because of the looting of the city by Holy Roman Empire armies in 1522, the portrait of Doria that hangs in one of the city's museums, is the first depiction of any of Genoa's rulers.
In the twentieth century, a luxury liner was named after him.
Unfortunately, the ship bearing his name collided with another ship off the coast of Massachusetts in 1956, resulting in the loss of 44 lives.
Doria was a man of indomitable energy and a great admiral.
If he appears unscrupulous and even treacherous he did but conform to the standards of 16th-century Italy. Although Doria was ambitious and harsh, he was a good patriot and successfully opposed the emperor Charles's repeated attempts to have a citadel built in Genoa and garrisoned by Spaniards, neither blandishments nor threats could win him over to the scheme.
Quotes from others about the person
"Doria's accomplishments illustrate some of the main themes of Genoese history" noted Steven A. Epstein in Genoa.
Andrea Doria assisted Domenico Doria, his uncle, in subduing an anti-Italian revolt on the island of Corsica in 1506.
Great wealth and power, as well as the arrogance of his nephew and heir Giannettino Doria, made him many enemies, and in 1547 the conspiracy to upset the power of his house took place.
He shared it with his wife, the Princess Peretta Uso di Mare.
Admiral
