Gian Galeazzo Visconti
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Gian Galeazzo Visconti (November 1351 – September 3, 1402), son of Galeazzo II Visconti and Bianca di Savoia, was the first Duke of Milan (1395)[1] and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He was the great founding patron of the Certosa di Pavia, completing at Pavia the palazzo begun by his father and furthering work on the Duomo of Milan.
Although most famous as Signore of Milan, Gian Galeazzo was born into the branch of the Visconti that possessed the signoria of the city of Pavia. In 1385 Gian Galeazzo gained control of Milan by overthrowing his uncle Bernabò through treacherous means.
His first marriage was to Isabelle de Valois, who brought him the title of comte de Vertus in Champagne, rendered in Italian as Conte di Virtù, the title by which he was known in his early career.[2]A devoted father to his daughter Valentina (wife of Louis, Duke of Orleans and mother of the famous poet, Charles of Orleans), Gian Galeazzo reacted to gossip about Valentina at the French Court by threatening to declare war on France.
Galeazzo's role as a statesman also took other forms. Soon after seizing Milan he took Verona, Vicenza, and Pavia, establishing himself as Signore of each, and soon controlled almost the entire valley of the Po. He used the bounty of these conquests to buy the title of Duke from Wenceslaus, King of the Romans in 1395 for the price of 100,000 florins. Gian Galeazzo had dreams of uniting all of northern Italy into one kingdom, and many of the lesser people of Italy, though not their lords, supported this ambition. The obstacles to his success included Bologna and especially Florence. In 1394 Gian Galeazzo launched assaults upon these cities. The warfare was extremely costly on both sides, but it was universally believed the Milanese would emerge victorious. In 1395 Bologna fell and the final siege of Florence began. The Florentine leaders, especially Coluccio Salutati worked successfully to rally the people of Florence, but the Florentines were being taxed hard by famine, disease, and poverty. Galeazzo won another victory over the Bolognese at the Battle of Casalecchio on June 26, 1402.
Galeazzo's dreams were to come to naught, however, as he succumbed to a fever at the castello of Melegnano in August 10, 1402. He died on September 3. The siege of Florence was lifted and soon his entire empire crumbled as infighting among his successors wracked Milan, partly through his division of his lands among both legitimate and illegitimate heirs.[3]
Gian Galeazzo was driven by a mania for glory. He spent 300.000 golden florins in attempting to turn from their courses the Mincio from Mantua and the Brenta from Padua, in order to render those cities helpless before the force of his arms. His library, housed in the grandest princely dwelling in Italy, was renowned, and his rich collection of reliquaries.
[edit] Notes
- ^ He was also Signore di Verona, Cremona, Bergamo, Brescia, Belluno, Pieve di Cadore, Feltre, Pavia, Novara, Como, Lodi, Vercelli, Alba, Asti, Pontremoli, Tortona, Alessandria, Valenza, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Vicenza, Vigevano, Borgo San Donnino and of the valli del Boite.
- ^ In Italian, virtù connoted lordly charisma and connoisseurship, characteristics that were highly prized.
- ^ To his son Giovanni Maria he assigned the title of Duke ofDuca di Milan, which included Como ,Lodi, Cremona, Begamo, Brescia, Reggio Emilia, Piacenza, Parma, and claims to Perugia and Siena. To Filippo Maria, conte di Pavia, he assigned in addition Vercelli, Novara, Alessandria, Tortona, Feltre, Verona, Vicenza, Bassano and the shores of Trento. To his illegitimate son figlio Gabriele Maria went Pisa and Crema.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Matteo II Visconti |
Lord of Milan Duke from 1395 1378–1402 |
Succeeded by Gian Maria Visconti |
