The Book of the Prick, though 16th century and Italian, may provide some context and an example of pornographic satirical works:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WZ_k ... q=&f=false

Academies such as those of the Bugiale or Intrannati (as discussed in the preface of the above book) may be used as exemplars of similar academies / societies that can be found from the 16th century on in many places such as England and in France. I have suggested elsewhere that the Belgium pattern, which places the fool at 22 and replaces the Pope with Bacchus and Popesse with Spanish Captain, is the product of members of such a society of Dutch artists that were based in Rome.

Giovan Francesco da San Severino for his part changed sides and fought with the French already in September 1499 and later - after Milan was taken - was engaged to attack Naples, which ended with the flight of the king of Naples and Giovan Francesco da San Severino's entry in the city (for France) in August 1501.
Giovan Francesco da San Severino himself died a month later ... etc.

The Captain is sometimes depicted without a mask. When a mask is used, it is usually flesh-hued with a large nose and a moustache that is either straight and bristly or turned up at the corners. Sometimes older versions are shown wearing a pair of glasses; although used to compensate for his poor vision, Capitano will insist that it is so the brilliant or fierce glint in his handsome eyes will not outshine the sun.

He is dressed in his military uniform, which is multi-colored and covered in shiny buttons, but often shown patched and looking very worn. In one famous scenario, the Captain makes up a lie regarding the reason for his lack of an undershirt by claiming that it got that way because "I used to be an exceedingly fierce and violent man, and when I was made angry the hair which covers my body in goodly quantity stood on end and so riddled my shirt with holes that you would have taken it for a sieve." The real reason is that he has been too poor to afford one. Sometimes he wears it with a helmet or a bicorne or tricorne hat with a huge plume. Spanish characters often wear an exaggerated large neck-ruff.

He also wears his trademark sword at all times, though it is exclusively for show. If he were to ever work up enough nerve to draw it, it is usually too long to draw easily or too heavy or wobbly to wield properly. Even if he cut somebody with it, he would faint at the very sight of the blood.

When frightened, he often screams in a high and womanly falsetto, or else faints.
[edit] Noms de Guerres

Il Capitano usually has a properly showy name for himself, preferably several lines long with many made-up titles and lists of relations following it.

Some names are fierce-sounding, like: Escobombardon ("Fired Out of a Cannon"), Rodomonte ("Crashes Into a Mountain"), Sangre y Fuego (Spanish > "Blood and Fire"), Spaccamonti ("Mountain Burster"), Spezzaferro (Italian > either "Iron-Splinter" or "Broken Sword"), or Terremoto ("Earthquake"). Some names are ironic, like: Bella-Vista ("Beautiful View", a vain but ugly man) or Fracasso (Italian > "Skirmish" or "Big Noise"). Some are dismissive, like: Cerimonia ("Ceremony", all proper manners and rigid, slavish devotion to pointless details), Coccodrillo (Italian >"Crocodile", because he preys on others), Fanfarone ("Trumpeter" or "Loudmouth"), Giangurgulo ("John the Glutton"), Grillo ("Grasshopper", because he is small and 'hops' sides), Mala-Gamba ("Bad Leg"), Meo-Squasquara ("Little Shit"), Papirotonda ("Round Letter", a complaint signed by munitnous soldiers or sailors in a circle around the main text so the ringleaders or originators cannot be discerned), Taglia-Cantoni ("Small-Sized"), and Zerbino (Italian > "Doormat"). He is also prone to awarding himself ridiculous titles like Capitano Spavento della Vall'Inferna (Italian > "Captain Fear, (Lord) of Hell's Valley"), Salvador de los Virgenes Burraches (Spanish > "Savior of Drunken Virgins"), or Sieur de Fracassco et Brise-tout (French > "Lord of 'Knock it down' and 'Break everything'").

Huck wrote:Modern Italian gives "demolish" or "destroying" for "fracassare".
Florio's Italian-English wordbook of 1611 didn't give this word.
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio/209small.html