Marquisate of Incisa

The first certification of the castle of Incisa dates back to 27 December 984^[1]. The Marquisate of Incisa Scapaccino originated from Alberto del Vasto, descendant of an ancient feudal family, the Aleramics. Alberto was the son of Bonifacio di Incisa or the Major (child first born in his turn of Bonifacio del Vasto). Boniface of Incisa was disinherited by his father, who in his will (1125) remembers that the son would imprison him and handed over to his "mortal enemies". Bonifacio, then, moved to Puglia, where he helped Ruggero II of Sicily to suppress the revolt of Apulian feudal lords, was appointed Count of Gravina and disappeared after 1144. He had two sons: Alberto, Count of Gravina in 1157, and Manfredo, Lord of Policoro. Alberto reappeared in 1161 in Genoa, where he acquired Cerreto and other lands close to Incisa. Incisa was chosen as a seat for its strategic position. Engraved and other surrounding castles (Bergamasco, Carentino, Castelnuovo Belbo, Vaglio Serra, Betonia and Cerreto) were perhaps due to him as an inheritance from his maternal grandmother, the last heir of the Aleramic marquises of Sezzadio.

Alberto married the energetic Domicella d'Incisa, probably the daughter of Bernardo della Rocchetta, who would bring him to dowry the castles of Rocchetta Tanaro And Montaldo Scarampi. Alberto and Domicella had six sons (Alberto II, Guglielmo, Raimondo, Jacopo, Manfredo and Pagano) and three daughters (Domicella II, Berta and Margherita). Domicella and her daughter of the same name are mentioned in Carrot by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, among the ladies who contend for the primacy of beauty. Albert was ally of Barbarossa and had to fight with the Astigians who had occupied Montaldo in the middle of the century.

In 1188 Alberto died in a fight and his eldest son, Albert II, was seriously injured: Domicella found himself holding the marquisate. In 1189 Domicella risked to compromise its fortunes, capturing two Genoese ambassadors, Ansaldo Bofferio and Enrico Detesalve, directed at the courts of France and England, and asking for ransom, perhaps with the excuse that they had not paid the required toll. They took advantage of the Republic of Genoa and the Marquis of Monferrato (located to Genoa, where he also kept home), obtaining that Emperor Henry VI, confiscated the fiefdoms and transferred them to Bonifacio I of Monferrato. Domicella reacted energetically with a change in front. On December 3, 1190, he ceded to Asti Montaldo and Rocchetta, but was sub-infeuded. Two of his daughters, Domicella and Berta, were married in the Sirio family of Asti. Although the imperial ban was revoked only after a century and a half (1344), the Marquis of Monferrato had to give up his claims.

On the occasion of a patrimonial division (1203) the two minor sons, Manfredo and Pagano, obtained Rocchetta and Montaldo, beginning the branch of the Incisa de la Rocchetta. Incisa and the surrounding villages, however, were governed by the consortium of Alberto's other children and grandchildren.

Backed up with the Ghibelline, they were in great difficulty in the fourteenth century following the Angioine Wars in Piemonte. In 1305, therefore, they had to recognize the supremacy of the Marquis of Monferrato, who reconfirmed the independence of Incisa only in 1364.

Incisa's policy oscillated between supporting Monferrato or following Visconti's neighbors. The Marquis Petrino formed the alliance with Milan in 1428, obtaining some privileges and falling into war against Amedeo VIII of Savoy.

Later the Incisas remained allies of the Dukes of Milan against the League Italica and the Marquises of Monferrato. With the peace of Lodi in 1454, the Incisas were dissolved by the duty of fidelity that bind them to Monferrato and in 1466, instead, swore openly loyalty to the State of Milan.

If alliances and temporary dedications to the neighboring lords (not only the Monferrato and Visconti, but also the Savoy and the King of France) were indispensable for preserving spaces of autonomy, these relations also influenced the compactness of the family group. In the course of the 15th century, many antagonisms emerged within the brand-new family, mainly supported by the support of the Marquises of Monferrato and the Dukes of Milan.

Oddone, a gentleman with special charisma, prevailed in 1487 along with his brother Secondino and his cousin Alberto obtained from Marquis Bonifacio III of Monferrato the investment of the entire marquisate, excluding the other consorts and taking a fierce revenge against his cousins Ippolito and Pietro Maria.

Later Oddone became vassal of both the King of France and the Duke of Savoy to oppose his allies' relatives and supported in turn by the Marquis of Monferrato. Approaching Ludovico the Moro forced the consorts to yield their quotas and on September 11, 1497 he obtained from the emperor the sole lord of the marquisate, with the right of primogeniture.

The fall of Ludovico in the hands of the French in August 1500 led Oddone to support Duke Charles II of Savoy, an imperial vicar. In May 1513 he secretly agreed with these for the investment in Marquis of Monferrato, but was discovered by the then owner in Casale Monferrato, William IX: on 24 July 1514 he besieged Incisa, which fell without difficulty. Odo and his eldest son Badone were sentenced to death and executed Nice of the Paglia (today Nizza Monferrato).

William annexed the fief of the Incisas and forced the deceased Marchesi to recognize his vassals. But the Marquisate of Incisa was an imperial fief and William was accused for a loss of majesty in front of the imperial court.

After a long dispute with the emperor, skillfully managed by the monferrino orator Urbano da Serralunga, the affair settled in favor of William and the territory of Incisa was annexed to the domains of Monferrato with Caesarean order of 20 January 1518.

In January 1519, having died William in the previous October, there was an oath of loyalty of the subjects to Bonifacio IV of Monferrato, who did not hold the new feuds for a long time. He disappeared in 1530 and in 1533 the son of Oddone, Giangiacomo and his nephew Boarello, obtained to Milan that the greedy Marquisate returned to their hands. In 1536 Giangiacomo obtained the imperial investment, but was dismissed in 1545.

Rimase, therefore, the only heir of the marquisate his cousin Boarello II, son of Secondino: however, he will renounce on 27 November 1548 to his rights in exchange for the fiefs of Camerana and Gottasecca after a long quarrel before the senate of Milan with the Gonzaga, now become marquises of Monferrato, then dukes of the same from 1575. In 1589 the title of marquis of Incisa was ceded by the Gonzagas to the Peretti family of Montalto, whose most illustrious representative was Pope Sixtus V.^[2]

• Gioseffantonio Molinari, History of Incisa and its famous marquisate, vol. 1-2, Asti, 1810.
• G. Albenga, The Marchesato d'Incisa from the origins to 1514, Subalpine Deputation of homeland history, Miscellany of Italian history s. IV, vol. XI, Turin 1970
• M. Easter, The Marchesato d'Incisa from 1514 to the sunset of feudalism in modern age, Municipality of Incisa Scapaccino, 2000.