SAMPIERO CORSO
1498 - 1567

Sampiero Corso, or Sampieru Corsu, because the Corsicans love to put an "u" at the end of a word if it so happens to be masculine, anyways, this man was born in Bastelica, which is located just south of Ajaccio, Corsica.

And here you can find the beautiful island of Corsica on a map of Europe (look for the box "Gg").

Location of Corsica, Mediterranean

Therefore, the young Sampiero, or San Piero, or San Pero, was also known as Sampiero de Bastelica, or Sampiero Basterga, or similar spelling and combinations, depending on whoever wrote the name.

Sampiero Corso was a military man. He worked for Giovanni Medici, aka Giovanni des Bandes Noires, and for the Cardinal de Bellay, who was the ambassador of Francis I at Rome.

In the eyes of his compatriots, Sampiero Corso was the ticket to peace and prosperity on Corsica.
 

WHO WAS IN CHARGE AT THE TIME?
As king of France ruled:

Charles VIII (1483-1498)
Louis XII (1498-1515)
Francis I (1515-1547)
Henry II (1547-1559)
Francis II (1559-1560)
Charles IX (1560-1574)

Charles V was Holy Roman emperor (1519-1556).

France and the Holy Roman Empire were at war with each other from 1521-1544.

Admiral Andrea Doria, sinister reputation but good with kids, was kicking rear while sailing up and down the Mediterranean, first for the French team and then on Charles' payroll.

SAMPIERO CORSO - BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
1536 at Marseille and the Provence

1542 at Cuneo

1543 at Perpignan, where he saved the life of the dauphin Henri, the future Henri II, who gave him in return his necklace and medal

1543 at Landrecies

1544 at Cérisols

1544 at Vitry-le-François. Sampiero Corso becomes officially Colonel de l'infanterie corse au service de la France.

1545 Colonel Sampiero Corso takes leave, goes back to Corsica where he marries Vanina d'Ornano, also spelled Vannina d'Ornano (double n), the only daughter of Francesco d'Ornano. Old nobility. Good move. Or so he thought. Turned out the lady had to be strangled later on.

1554, February - Bastia and Saint Florent fall back to the French after a hard siege. Approx. 10,000 Genoese are dead. Merciless guerrilla warfare between the French and the Genoese.

1554, September 18 - Battle of Col di Tenda (Col de Tenda)

1556, February - Truce of Vaucelles. By intervention of Catherine de Medicis, Sampiero was allowed to return to his isle. He arrives September 1555, ready to rumble. The Corsicans demand union with the French crown.

1557, September at Vescovato - Incorporation of Corsica with the French crown. Speech of Orsini, "Your French king will protect you blah blah..."

1559, April 3 - Treaty of Cateau Cambresis (Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis) between France and Genoa. Among other territories, Henri II accepts the loss of Corsica. Long faces on the island.

By the end of the summer of '59 the French were gone and the Genoese were back with a fury and, to shake things up, they had the Corsicans pay double taxes. It was said that the Genoese were treating the Corsicans worse than the Turks their slaves, which was apparently a new all-time low.

Jacques de Casabianca and Marc D'ambiegna were elected to plead the Corsican cause to the French head of state but their appeal was without success.

In fact, the French crown received innumerable grievances from Corsicans. In retrospective, the Corsicans judged the brief French presence to have been rather humane and particularly sensitive and respectful of the Corsican traditions.

Meanwhile in France in July 1559...
Francis II followed his father Henry II to the throne because Henry ran into a lance during a tournament.

Sampiero's wife Vanina, when about 35 years old and for reasons not entirely transparent, prepared to defect to the Genoese. Sampiero learned about it, tracked the dame down and killed her plus two servants who were involved in the matter.

Sampiero threw a grand funeral for Vanina and that was that. It would seem not much distracted by this incident, Sampiero soon resumed his preparations to free Corsica from Genoese rule.

And a Corsican Vendetta knife looks like this

On June 12, 1564, Sampiero and a small expedition land at the Golf du Valinco. They set up headquarters at the Chateau d'Istria and rally their fellow citizens. Sampiero condemns in particular the "treason of Henry II".

The rebels win some battles, especially the Battle of Vescovato.

On January 17, 1567, Sampiero runs into an ambush and ends up dead.

The Corsican War was fought 1553-1569. It can be divided into two chapters:

the war from 1553-1559

and

the war from 1564-1569

This era leaves the Corsicans completely exhausted and the following 150 years, the period from 1569 until 1729, are also described as the Iron Century.