Vito, Baron of Dornberg or Vid von Dornberg (; ) (?.1529 – 5 April 1591) was born in Görz, Holy Roman Empire, the last son of Erasmo of Dornberg and Beatrice Loser, a south Tyrolean woman. He had five siblings, two brothers and three sisters. He was County Captain of Gorizia (sheriff) and a diplomat at the Austrian service.
Family Origin The Dornbergs, of Bavarian origin, were in the service of the Count of Gorizia as early as the 13th century, receiving in return for their services a fief on the Vipava Valley which they named after the family, Dornberg, now Dornberk in Slovenia. Between 1300 and 1400 some Dornbergs held the administrative office of county Captain in Gorizia. In 1547 the family added to its possession the village of San Floriano del Collio – Števerjan and Dorneck Castle,, and on 19 April 1578 the family was ennobled by Rudolf II.
Early life At the beginning of 1500, both Vito's father and uncle were in the Habsburg service, during the war against the Venetians. Vito's uncle, Leonard, died in 1508 defending the Gorizia Castle, while his father Erasmus, led the Imperial vanguards, entering Udine and in 1514, Erasmus of Dornberg had been the County Lieutenant before the war, a position he was to regain after the war. Vito was born at Gorizia Castle in 1529, inside the still existing Dornberg house, now the seat of WW1 Museum; the day after his birth his father Erasmus died. With the loss of Erasmus the family soon entered into a bad finance situation, as the Dornberg's had to make payment in advance to support the administration of the county, awaiting the Habsburg rulers to paid them back; however the Habsburg were notorious for being bad creditors. Therefore, the young twenty-six-year old widow faced terrible times after the death of her husband, but she stood upon her dignity and repaid her husband debts even using her personal funds, giving also the adequate education, in accordance with their social status, to her children. Maximilian and Franz were sent to Ljubljana to attend the Carniolan school, while Vito, received his education at home under the supervision of a priest. In 1541 he was studying in Trento, completing his education in Verona. In 1545 he admitted at the University of Padua, where his eldest brother, Maximilian had also matriculated failing the graduation. Vito was generally a good student and became fluent in many languages, beside his native Italian, German, Latin, Spanish and Slovenian, although it is not clear, if he had a full command of German.
Career in Habsburg service By the 1540s the family wealth and prestige had been almost restored, with the help and protection of County Captain, Francesco Vito della Torre, and with a good marriage policy. On 12 January 1540 Ferdinand I (10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) Holy Roman Emperor granted to Erasmus’ descendants the same noble statues of the main family lineage. Vito's eldest sister, Ann, married her cousin Francis of Dornberg, the eldest member of the main family branch, therefore reuniting the family cadet branch with the main branch. The other brothers and sisters had good marriages too. Vito's marriage was directly arranged by Francesco della Torre wife's, Bianca Simonetta, who married Vito in 1551, to her niece Rachel Malvasia, a young widow, allaying Vito to the Malvasia of Bologna and Simonetta of Milan families. Before his marriage Vito underwent the usual training that all nobles wishing to enter in the Habsburg service had to complete. In 1550 he was at service of Bernard of Ortemburg, a relative of Gabriel of Salamanca – Ortenburg an advisor of Charles V and his brother Ferdinand. With Ortenburg, Vito, attended the Imperial diet of Augusta where Charles V, delivered his decisions over his own succession.
In 1551 he went to Fiume non Rijeka in Croatia, where all the Inner Austrian provinces met to decide the strategy over a common defense plan to face the Turkish invasion. In July 1551 he was nominated by Francesco della Torre, deputy County Captain, a choice backed up by Ferdinand, who also nominated him, Royal Advisor . In 1553 Francesco della Torre had left the captaincy vacant, having been nominated, High Butler or Obersthofmeister, at Archduke Ferdinand service. Vito at 24, was Lieutenant General in charge of the Gorizia County, and war commissar of Friuli, an office he would held for almost 15 years. During this time he was the real ruler of the County as Francesco della Torre was serving the Archduke. His de facto ruling power was not affected even when George, Francesco della Torre son's, was appointed County Captain Vicar in 1536. His brothers Maximilian and Franz also held public offices. Franz often filled in, during Vito absences, especially in the last part of the 1550s, when Vito was the tenant of the County Land Register or Urbario. Maximilian helped his brother and gained experience and in 1560, thanks to his high competences in Law practicing, he was selected to be a member of the board called to reform the General Provincial States assembly, and was also as a diplomatic envoy to Venice.
By the end 1550s the Dornberg family had grown more powerful than ever, causing jealousy among their fellow citizens. The rumors of a possible Dornberg embezzlement arrived in Vienna, and a secret investigation was ordered. Vito emerged quite clean from the enquiry, also thanks to Francesco della Torre help, and the Emperor Ferdinand assigned him an annual pension of one-hundred Florins, subsequently doubled. However, in 1564 Vito had to face new accusations as the Archduke Charles II Francis of Austria, had succeeded his father in the Inner Austria government. This time Vito personally rushed to Graz, the new Inner Austria Provincial Capital seat, to prove his innocence, and returned to Gorizia, completely cleared from the accusations, and with a new appointment as a member of the Aulic Council (one of the two supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire). In 1558 the City of Gorizia came again under the threat of a Turkish attack and Vito supervised the construction of a new bulwark around the castle.
On 28 September 1563, in Pressburg, present day Bratislava in the Slovak Republic, Ferdinand I, made Vito a Knight of the Golden Spur of the Holy Roman Empire (equites aurati Sancti Romani Imperii). In 1565 Beatrice Loser, Vito's mother, died, and the family was deeply touched by the event. To honour her memory a pamphlet was dedicated, containing verses in both Italian and Latin. The manuscript was lately printed in Brescia in 1568, and included a sonnet composed by Torquato Tasso. The death of Beatrice Loser was also a chance to enhance the power and wealth of the family as her personal belongings were added to the family fortune, and their coat-of-arm, an aloe plant in a golden pot, could be enriched with a “ Red-Lion with a yoke in the hand, part of the noble and old family of the Lords of the Yoke of Tyrol County. The bestowal was granted on 26 April 1567 by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria at Innsbruck. The same year the city of Gorizia received the visit of the Archduke Charles, and improvement works, including paving the present Victory Square at the time known as Travnik, were started. However, one of the biggest tasks the County administrators had to accomplish, was the funding for the defense against the Turkish raids.
In 1557 – 1558 Vito of Dornberg advised the central Government to impose a tribute on the vine selling to raise money. The new tax, of four Carantas on every Ornas (about 66 liters), become soon unpopular because most of the burden fell on the lower classes, as the tax applied directly on the quantity, and not on the quality, of the vines. Dornberg always maintained a firm stance on the tax he had devised, and when possibly minor riots were expected, he advised some “Hangings” to quell the rebellion and restore order. As a son of his times, Vito always maintained a certain degree of hostility toward the lower classes, whom he accused to be tax evaders. To be fair to him, it must be remembered that he used the same zeal with his social class members. In fact in 1572, he wrote a report to the Archduke, in which he stated that “… the County territory is little, and all the nobles are related and willing to help each other’s… Even tax collectors do not care to pay the debts they have with the government … “ in 1561 Vito proposed drastic measures against Ecclesiastic benefits, who did not fulfill their payments of Government taxes, but the project was meant to fail due to the Church influence in politics and its staunch opposition. However, he did not give up, and in 1565, the church and confraternity managers, were forced to submit to the let the County inspectors their registry records. In some cases the controls were carried out with the force.
By the 1560s the wind of Lutheran reformation arrived in Gorizia through the nearby County of Carniola. Primož Trubar, the Slovenian Protestant reformer, was expelled from the city, but the seed of the reformation was now planted, and few eminent persons in Gorizia were fascinated by Reformation idea, among them, the Vicar County Captain, Georg della Torre, Annibale d’Eck, Lorenzo Lanthieri, and Vito's brother in law, Francesco of Dornberg with his son, Erasmus. Vito remained a good Catholic anyway although, he kept his firm stance in imposing taxes on the catholic institutions. His loyalty to the church was never questioned even when he had to deal with the quarrel between the Archduke Charles, and the Aquileia Patriarch, when owing to an agreement, the old Friuli religious centre, was annexed in the inner Austria territories, causing the Serenissima enragement, who could not tolerate the loss of such territories in favor of the old Austrian enemy. The clash between Austria and Venice seemed to be inevitable and in November 1565, Jacopo Maracco, the vicar of Patriarch Giovanni Grimani, called for a synod to settle the quarrel. Vito of Dornberg and the Bishop of Trieste, Andrea Rapicio, were sent at the council as Emperor envoys; their involvement managed to avoid the dangerous break, without renouncing to the royal prerogative. After the synod, Vito of Dornberg was nominated special envoy to the Roman Curia, to deal with issue. In January 1566, he was in Rome, and assisted to the coronation of Pope Pius V, with the Imperial Ambassador, Prospero d’Arco. However his mission did not solve completely the issue, and therefore the archdeaconry of Gorizia was to be instituted only in 1574. During his staying in Rome Vito, had time to make friendship with influent people, above all with, the powerful Imperial Ambassador, Prospero d’Arco.
Ambassador to Venice