Gian Giacomo Caroldo ( – 3 June 1538/9) was a

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

official, diplomat and historian. Caroldo's background is completely unknown. Later Venetian genealogists recorded that the Caroldi came to Venice from Milan in 1323. Gian Giacomo was born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

around 1480. Of his family and private life very little is known. He had a brother, Costantino, who also worked in the chancery. He took care of his sister Maria, widow of a cloth merchant, and in 1515 asked the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for support for her children. Caroldo trained as a notary and took a job in the

chancery Chancery may refer to: Offices and administration * Chancery (diplomacy), the principal office that houses a diplomatic mission or an embassy * Chancery (medieval office), responsible for the production of official documents * Chancery (Scotlan ...

in 1496. In a document he wrote on 15 September 1511, he records how he had been part of diplomatic missions to England, Spain, the Ottoman Empire and various states in Italy. He was the secretary of Ambassador Andrea Gritti during the negotiations that ended the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1499–1503. A report he wrote on this mission, dated 30 September 1503, was included by Marino Sanudo the Younger in his ''Diarii''. Caroldo was kept busy during the War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516).

Pietro Bembo Pietro Bembo, ( la, Petrus Bembus; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the It ...

credits him with first alerting the Venetian government to the anti-Venetian league when he was ducal secretary in Milan in 1508. Following the Venetian defeat by the League at the

Battle of Agnadello The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà, was one of the most significant battles of the War of the League of Cambrai and one of the major battles of the Italian Wars. Background On 15 April 1509, a French army under the command of Louis ...

in 1509, the Senate sent him to Bologna to negotiate with Cardinal

Francesco Alidosi Francesco Alidosi (145524 May 1511) was an Italian cardinal and condottiero ''Condottieri'' (; singular ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational arm ...

for the pope's withdrawal from the League. In June 1509, Caroldo was arrested by Pope Julius II. He spent the next year in prison. Between August 1511 and January 1513, he was the Venetian representative in the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city sin ...

. In 1517, he was sent to France. He returned to Milan in the company of the French governor, the Viscount of Lautrec, in June 1517. He twice asked to be relieved from his post 1518, but the Council of Ten preferred on both occasions to increase his compensation instead. He remained at Milan until May 1520. He never held another diplomatic post, although he occasionally met with foreign ambassadors in Venice. Between 1520 and 1532, Caroldo wrote his ''Historia Veneta'' (Venetian History) in vernacular

. It is a history of Venice from its foundation down to 1382. For the years down to 1280, Caroldo relies mainly on Andrea Dandolo's Latin ''Chronica per extensum descripta''. For the rest of the ''Historia'', he used the Venetian archives. This is the most valuable part of the work. Caroldo made at least two redactions of the ''Historia'', and incomplete autograph manuscripts survive of each. There is also a third redaction. Caroldo died on 3 June 1538 or 1539.

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Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control 15th-century births 1530s deaths Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to France 16th-century Venetian historians 16th-century male writers Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Duchy of Milan