Jacopo II da Carrara

Tomb of Jacopo II da Carrara
in Church of the Eremitani Jacopo II da Carrara (or Giacomo II) (died 1350), of the

Carraresi The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405. Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, F ...

family, was the ''

capitano del popolo Captain of the People ( it, Capitano del popolo, Lombard: ''Capitani del Popol'') was an administrative title used in Italy during the Middle Ages, established essentially to balance the power and authority of the noble families of the Italian ci ...

'' of

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

from 1345 until his death. Though he assumed power through forged documents and political murder, he was a patron of art and literature. He succeeded in bringing

Francesco Petrarca Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...

to Padua for a time, and his own son, Francesco I, was an artisan. Jacopo also introduced the '' carrarino'' as the currency of Padua. In May 1345 Jacopo murdered the incumbent prince, Marsiglietto Papafava. He in turn was assassinated in 1350. At his death he was still illiterate, a fact he much regretted, as Petrus Paulus Vergerius wrote in a letter to his grandson Ubertino. His younger brother Jacopino succeeded him as ''capitano'', to be succeeded in turn by Francesco. In 1351 Petrarca wrote a eulogy for the deceased Jacopo, Andriolo de Santi was commissioned to carve his sepulchre, and

Guariento di Arpo Guariento di Arpo (13101370), sometimes incorrectly referred to as Guerriero, was a 14th-century painter whose career was centered in Padua. The painter is buried in the church of San Bernardino, Padua. Guariento's major commissions in Padua i ...

began work on a

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

of the coronation of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

to adorn his tomb in the church of Sant' Agostino (it was moved, following bombing during the Second World War, to the Church of the Eremitani). 1350 deaths Lords of Padua 14th-century Italian nobility Assassinated Italian people Year of birth unknown Da Carrara family {{italy-noble-stub