Filippo Buondelmonti “Pippo” degli Scolari

In memoriam

Filippo Buondelmonti degli Scolari (1369 – Dec 1426), known as Pippo Spano, was an Italian magnate, general, strategist and confidant of King Sigismund of Hungary, born in the Republic of Florence. The personal friend of Sigismund and member of the Order of the Dragon, he was buried in the Székesfehérvár Basilica beside the Hungarian Kings. Filippo, the son of a destitute Florentine nobleman, was born at Tizzano, near Florence. He is first mentioned in Hungary around 1382, when he entered the service of Sigismund's treasurer and was awarded the castle in Simontornya (Simonsthurm). Further services to the Crown, such as providing resources to fight the Ottomans, led to his appointment as administrator of all gold mines in the kingdom. Present in Bosnia, in the context of a Hungarian nobles' rebellion and King Tvrtko I of Bosnia's death (1391), Pippo managed to subdue the main leaders of the revolt. He took part in the unfortunate anti-Ottoman final Crusade of September 1396 at Nicopolis in Bulgaria, and, unlike most on the Christian side, managed to flee after the defeat. He, the King, and a number of high dignitaries sailed a small boat up the Danube, all the way to Hungarian and Croatian lands. Pippo married Barbara, daughter and heir of Andrew of Ozora, in 1398.

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