FIENUS or FYENS, Thomas, an eminent physician, was born at Antwerp in 1567, and died in 1631. He studied medicine at Leyden and Bologna, and was in 1593 appointed to a medical chair at Louvain. He was president of the college of Breughel in that city when he died. Fienus wrote amongst other things, "De Viribus Imaginationis Tractatus," 1608; "De Cometa Anni," 1618; "De Vi Formatrice Foetûs Liber, in quo ostenditur animam rationalem infundi tertiâ die," 1620. The publication of the last engaged him in a controversy with a professor at Douay, called Louis du Gardin.—R. M., A.
FIESCHI, Counts of Lavagna, one of the most ancient among the feudal families of the Ligurian Apennines, who, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, vainly strove to maintain their privileges against the democracy of Genoa. The counts of Lavagna were the last to yield; and they preserved a certain amount of independence on their mountains, even when the republic obliged them to submit to its laws. They were among the most factious of their class, and their numerous retinue of followers made them formidable both in town and country. Their estates and strongholds covered the Riviera di Levante from Chiavari to Sarzana. In the time of Frederick I. (Barbarossa), and the Lombard League (twelfth century), they were among the Ghibelline lords, who countenanced the pretensions of the former in Italy, Afterwards, when one of their clan, Cardinal Sinibaldo, was raised to the pontifical dignity, and became famous under the name of Innocent IV. (1243-54), they gave their support to the papal interest against the Emperor Frederick II. Another member of the family was created pope in 1276, taking the name of Adrian V. Through their connection with the papacy, the Fieschi thus became the chiefs of the Guelf party in the Riviera. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they were the ringleaders of all the riots which disturbed the republic, first through the factions of the ancient nobility, headed by Fieschi and Grimaldi, on the one side; and by Doria and Spinola, on the other; then through the competition for power of the new mercantile aristocracy under Adorni and Fregosi. These continual feuds compelled the people of Genoa to seek peace and security in the protection of foreign masters; and thus it was that the republic was placed under the rule first of the kings of France, then of the dukes of Milan. It was during the dominion of the latter, towards the close of the fifteenth century, that Ibietto del Fiesco and his brother, Gian Luigi I., who had been banished from Genoa, attempted to return and to restore French influence; but they failed in the attempt, and Ibietto was made prisoner, whilst Gan Luigi, with his partisans, was routed by Gian Jacopo Triulzio in 1477. They were enabled, however, again to retire to their castles, where they continued to be powerful for a time. The influence of the Fieschi in Genoa was entirely extinguished under the sway of the famous Andrea Doria and his close alliance with Charles V. This Ghibelline restoration—headed by their old enemies, the Doria—and the great popularity acquired by Andrea, who preferred to be the first citizen of the republic rather than its tyrant, could not fail to provoke the pride, and excite the ambition of the counts of Lavagna. This will explain the origin of the conspiracy which we have now to relate. The chief representative of the family at that time was—
Gian Luigi II., who, young, handsome, and outwardly the mildest of men, appeared to have no other ambition than that of excelling amidst his noble friends in manly exercises and private luxury. His palaces both in town and country were seats of festive entertainments and liberal hospitality. He was compared to Alcibiades in the variety of his talents and the elasticity of his mind, as well as in his external gifts. But a deeper and fiercer nature lay dormant within, and some offence which he received from Giannettino Doria, the overbearing nephew of Andrea, called it forth into action. The mother of Fieschi, a proud and ambitious lady, was ever urging him on to retrieve the rank and honour of the house of Lavagna; and the fear entertained by the people of Genoa that Giannettino Doria would, at the death of his uncle, usurp the power, added a public pretext to the personal motives of Gian Luigi. Active accomplices—one Verina among others—joined in the plot. Pope Paul III., and his son Pier Luigi Farnese, secretly helped the conspirators, whilst France, on her side, was encouraging them. The arts and dissimulation of Gian Luigi were so great that the Doria had to the end no suspicion of the conspiracy, and they considered him a friend. An attempt to poison them at a banquet having failed, owing to their having been prevented from attending it, Gian Luigi summoned his friends on the evening of the 1st of January, 1547, at a secret meeting in his palace, and opened to them the plan of action. He had managed to introduce into the town some hundreds of men from his feudal states, and with these and all the discontented spirits in Genoa, they were to seize at once, on that very night, the gates of the town, the palace of Doria, and his ships in the harbour. For the accomplishment of the latter part of the enterprise, some galleys had been bought by Fiesco, and made to approach the entrance of the port. Having by an eloquent appeal roused the minds of the conspirators, he proceeded to act, and, in the first instance, with success. The gates were taken, the Doria palace was invaded, and Giannettino killed on the spot. Andrea had a very narrow escape, as he was old, and lying ill in his bed. Some faithful servants, however, succeeded in placing him out of the reach of danger. Genoa was nearly in the hands of Gian Luigi, when an unforeseen event cut short the undertaking. He had headed the nightly attack on the navy, and was already master of the whole fleet, when, "as he was going to step," says Muratori (Annali d'Italia), "on board the flag-ship, the plank that he was upon having given way, he fell into the sea, and unable through the weight of his armour to rise again, he there miserably perished." His absence first, then the suspicion of his death, spread doubt and consternation among his followers. When at daybreak the truth was ascertained, the rest of the leaders—among whom were the brothers of Gian Luigi, Ottobuono and Gerolamo—lost heart; whilst the opposite party, together with the majority of peaceful citizens, gathered strength. The conspirators abandoned their enterprise; the chiefs saved themselves by flight; and the Doria government was reinstated. An amnesty was granted to the relatives of Gian Luigi, but it was not carried out; for when they had retired to their castle of Montobbio, Doria obliged them to surrender, and many of them were put to death. The house of Lavagna then lost, and has never recovered, its historical individuality. Schiller has immortalized this episode of Genoese history in his tragedy of the conspiracy of Fiesco.—A. S., O.
FIESCHI, Joseph Marie, who acquired notoriety by his attempt to assassinate Louis Philippe, was a Corsican by birth. Having abandoned the occupation of a shepherd to enter the army, he accompanied his regiment to Naples in 1813; but finding that as a foreigner he could not hope for promotion in the service of Murat, he returned to his native island. When the attempt of Francischetti to restore the Bonapartean monarchy failed, Fieschi along with others fell into the bands of Ferdinand IV., and being given up as a French subject, subsequently regained his liberty. After being imprisoned for forgery and wandering about for some years in destitution and profligacy, he was attracted to Paris by the revolution of 1830, and there a plausible tale of sufferings in the cause of freedom procured for him a subaltern's commission in a company of veterans. His attempt on the king's life was made in the Boulevard du Temple, during a military procession, and the "infernal machine" which he employed was composed of twenty-four musket barrels loaded with ball. Louis Philippe escaped, but seventeen persons were killed and twenty-two wounded by the explosion. The assassin was caught, and executed with two of his accomplices, 19th February, 1836.—W. B.
FIESOLE, Fra Giovanni da, commonly called Fra Angelico, and also Il Beato Angelico, was born near the Castello di Vicchio in the Mugello in 1381. He is scarcely known by his own name of Giovanni Guido. He was taught painting by his elder brother, Fra Benedetto, who was an illuminator of MSS., and Fra Angelico commenced his career in the same branch of art. He joined the predicants at Fiesole in 1407; in 1409 he left Fiesole and settled in Cortona as a fresco painter, but in nine years returned to Fiesole, and dwelt there until he was invited to Florence in 1436 to decorate the new convent of St. Mark, then given to the predicants. In this convent are Fra Angelico's greatest works. In 1445 he was invited to Rome by Pope Eugenius IV., for whom he executed some works in the Vatican, where he also painted a chapel for that pope's successor, Nicholas V. He died in Rome in 1455, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. During his residence in Rome he commenced some extensive frescos for the chapel of San Brizio in the cathedral at Orvieto, but left them incomplete. They were finished long afterwards by Luca Signorelli, whose vigorous designs have made this one of the most celebrated
