Gian Gabriele I (1501–1548) was the last Marquis of Saluzzo,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He ruled the

marquisate A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman w ...

from 1537 to his deposition in 1548. The marquisate of Saluzzo was annexed to France the following year. Gabriele marchese di Saluzzo

Life

Gian Gabriele was born 26 September 1501 in

Saluzzo Saluzzo (; pms, Salusse ) is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are fo ...

and died 29 July 1548 in

Pinerolo Pinerolo (; pms, Pinareul ; french: Pignerol; oc, Pineròl) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary b ...

. Gabriele was the fourth and youngest son of

Ludovico II of Saluzzo Ludovico II del Vasto (23 March 1438 in Saluzzo – 27 January 1504) was marquess of Saluzzo from 1475 until his death. Before his accession as marquis he held the title of Count of Carmagnola. Biography Ludovico was the son of Ludovico I ...

and Margaret of Foix-Candale. Because it was unlikely that he would rule Saluzzo, he embarked on a career in the church, becoming abbot of Staffarda Abbey. But when two of his brothers had died and with Giovanni Ludovico in exile, he was recalled to rule the marquisate of Saluzzo in 1537. This couldn't have been at a worse time. The marquisate had been a battleground during the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

and a succession war between the pro-Habsburg Giovanni Ludovico and the pro-French Francesco. This left the marquisate utterly ruined and completely dependent on the King of France. Gabriele couldn't turn the tide and he was deposed by an uprising on 23 February 1548. Representatives of the Saluzzo municipalities gathered to discuss the future of the nation and decided to request the annexation to France. In 1549, King

Henry II of France Henry II (french: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Duchess Claude of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder bro ...

formally annexed Saluzzo to France. By then, Gabriele had already died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saluzzo, Gian Gabriele of 1501 births 1548 deaths 16th-century Italian nobility Gian Gabriele Gian Gabriele Italian abbots 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests