Tiburzio di Maso

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Tiburzio di Maso was a leader of a short‑lived, rebellious group in Rome in 1460. With his brother Valeriano, he tried to throw off papal rule and restore the old Roman Republic, in what would be the last populist movement in the States of the Church. The uprising happened during a larger fight in Italy, where Naples’ king Ferrante faced rival claimants and Pope Pius II leaned toward Ferrante. With the Pope away from Rome, two bands of young troublemakers fought for control of the city.

Tiburzio’s gang rose after a dispute over freeing a kidnapped young woman. They announced they would “throw off the yoke of the priests” and fought their way from the Pantheon to the Palazzo Capranica, using strongholds as they tried to gain power. They were accused of helping the mercenary Jacopo Piccinino, who was threatening Rome by supporting Rome’s opponents.

Pope Pius II left Siena and moved toward Rome, gathering forces and arriving in October to cries of relief from the people. In mid‑October Tiburzio tried to rescue a captured ally and urged Romans to rise up, but he and several companions were captured as they tried to flee toward Palombara. On the scaffold he said he had planned with Ghibelline barons and Piccinino to overthrow the papal government, encouraged by a fortune teller’s predictions. He was hanged on the Campidoglio on October 31, 1460.

In 1461, eleven other members of his gang were hanged in Rome. On July 10, Jacopo Savelli, the last real rival, begged Pius II for mercy and was spared.