Giovanni Vitelleschi


Giovanni Vitelleschi
Archbishop of Florence
Engraved portrait of Giovanni Vitelleschi by Tobias Stimmer
ChurchCatholic Church
ArchdioceseFlorence
Appointed12 October 1435
Term ended9 August 1437
PredecessorAmerigo Corsini
SuccessorLudovico Trevisan
Other posts
Orders
Created cardinal9 August 1437
by Pope Eugene IV
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
BornGiovanni Maria Vitelleschi
1396
Died2 April 1440(1440-04-02) (aged 43–44)
Coat of arms

Giovanni Maria Vitelleschi (1396 – 2 April 1440) was an Italian cardinal and condottiere.

In 1434, Vitelleschi was the commander of the papal armies of Pope Eugene IV when the Colonna faction at Rome backed an insurrection that raised a temporary republic at Rome and exiled Eugene. Vitelleschi managed to recapture the city and had the Roman Senate declare him tertius pater patriae post Romulum ("the third Father of his Country since Romulus"). He remained powerful for a few years, but his intercepted correspondence indicated that he was conspiring against Eugene. Eugene had his former commander arrested and incarcerated in the Castel Sant'Angelo.