Biography

Cola di Rienzo was an Italian leader who organized a revolution with the aim of returning Rome to its former glory. He gathered a crowd to Capitoline Hill in 1347, assumed the role of dictator, and soon after took on the title of tribune. He conferred Roman citizenship to people in Italian towns and organized an election for a new Roman emperor the following year. His revolution was struck down by the noble families Orsini and Colonna. He was labelled as a heretic by the pope, absolved by the pope, and eventually returned to Italy as a senator. His leadership failed and he was killed by a mob. 

William Henry Seward visited the Baptistery of Constantine at St. John Lateran, which di Rienzo supposedly bathed in before he seized power. Seward writes about this on August 22, 1859.