Biography

Caldora was born in Castel del Giudice

Castel del Giudice

Castel del Giudice is a comune in the Province of Isernia in the Italian region of Molise, located about 50 km northwest of Campobasso and about 30 km north of Isernia...

 (Abruzzo

Abruzzo

Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lying less than due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east...

 now in present day Molise

Molise

Molise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...

, then part of the Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

), into a feudatory family. He began his military career under Braccio da Montone

Braccio da Montone

frame|Braccio da Montone.Braccio da Montone , born Andrea Fortebracci, and also known as Braccio Fortebraccio, was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:...

, and, returned to his lands, expanded them by hiring mercenaries from the surrounding mountains. Called to the Neapolitan court by Queen Joan II of Anjou

Joan II of Naples

Joan II was Queen of Naples from 1414 to her death, upon which the senior Angevin line of Naples became extinct. As a mere formality, she used the title of Queen of Jerusalem, Sicily, and Hungary....

, he became a favourite of the powerful minister Sergianni Caracciolo.

He was the Feudal Lord of Bari, Vasto

Vasto

Vasto is a town and comune on the Adriatic coast of the Province of Chieti in southern Abruzzo, Italy. The population is now just over 40,000.-History:According to tradition, the town was founded by Diomedes, the Greek hero...

, Monteodorisio, Pacentro, Arce, Trivento, Palena, Anversa, Valva, Campo di Giove.

Jacopo was the son of Giovanni Antonio Caldora, and Rita Cantelmo, a noblewoman of the powerful Cantelmo Family

Duchy of Alvito

The Duchy of Alvito was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Naples, in southern Italy.-Rule of the Cantelmo:The Cantelmo family, of French origins, had arrived in Italy in the 13th century around the time the Angevins conquered Naples...

 of French origin. He had two brothers Raimondo and Restaino.

In the political turmoil of the period, Caldora later became a general of Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica , and Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416 and King of Naples from 1442 until his death...

 in his conquest of the Kingdom. When the Aragonese troops were left under siege in Naples, he changed sides again, winning the title of conestabile from Queen Joan, and serving as assistant to the Kingdom's commander-in-chief Muzio Attendolo Sforza. When the latter drowned before the Battle of L'Aquila in 1424, Caldora led the Angevine army to victory.

He subsequently continued to defend the Anjou cause after Alfonso's return. In 1431 he was sent to fight against the excommunicated Colonna in southern Lazio, but he was bribed by them and remained inactive. When his protector Sergianni Caracciolo died, and the marriage of his daughter to Francesco Sforza was annulled by Pope Martin V

Pope Martin V

Pope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...

, he returned to his lands.

He died during a siege at Colle Sannita

Colle Sannita

Colle Sannita is a comune in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 80 km northeast of Naples and about 25 km north of Benevento...

, near Benevento

Benevento

Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...

. He was buried by his family in a chapel of the Badia di S. Spirito (also known as Badia Morronese) near Sulmona

Sulmona

thumb|150px|Celestine V's hermitage and the remains of the Shrine of Hercules Curinus.thumb|150px|Palazzo SS. Annunziata and Museo Civicothumb|150px|Church of SS...

. This chapel and an elaborate sarcophagus was built by his mother for the family in 1412.

His son Antonio Caldora was also a successful condottiero who later sided with the Anjou

Anjou

Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...

 faction against Ferdinand of Aragon

Ferdinand of Aragon

Ferdinand of Aragon may refer to:* Ferdinand I of Aragon, also known as Ferdinand of Antequera * Ferdinand II of Aragon, who married Isabella of Castile to become king of Spain, * Ferdinand of Aragón, Duke of Calabria...

. This led to his defeat and the end of the Caldora dynasty at the Battle of Montorio

Montorio

Montorio may refer to:*Montorio al Vomano, a town in the province of Teramo, Italy*Montorio nei Frentani, a town in the province of Campobasso, Italy*Montorio Romano, a town in the province of Rome, Italy*Montorio, Burgos, a municipality in Spain...

on May 7, 1486.

Sources