In the fourteenth century, Italy's famed cities- the proud communes who had humbled the Hohenstaufen Kaisers- fell victim to the insidious, inevitable erosion of traditional institutions, and succumbed to the rule of tyrants. The Papacy had fled to Avignon and Imperial Germany collapsed into interregnum. The last of the Hohenstaufens fell to the headsman's axe in Naples' central square, and his haughty Sicilian kingdom became the prize contested by Spanish Aragon and French Provence. The Pope's absence in Avignon left Central Italy leaderless; Rome festered in ignonimity, and the communes, left to their own devices, succumbed one after another to ambitious princes. Amidst the shifting kaleidoscope of familial and regional rivalries, the streets of northern cities became battlegrounds, even as the cities vied amongst each other for dominance over their hinterlands. In the great city of Milan, the vestigial Guelf-Ghibelline feud between Pope and Emperor evolved, overlaying on existing local rivalries. It was here, in the thirteenth century, that the greatest of the Ghibelline dynasties seized power, assuming the mantle of protector and patron for the burgeoning mercantile and industrial interests in the city.
Well situated in the fertile Po Valley, mediate between Po and Alps, the Adda and the Ticino, Milan grew into a natural entrepot between east and west, north and south, Italy and Germany, the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic; as Italy was situated in the center of Europe, Milan was the beating heart of northern Italy, and she prospered, gold and steel flowing like blood through veins of stone, mud, brick, and wood. Her legacy was imperious indeed- Mediolanum was Diocletian's capital, Milan was the center of St Ambrose, rival to St Peter's pontifical authority; Milan had birthed the Lombard League and led it to victory, reviving from the ashes of Barbarossa's fury to see his dynasty destroyed. She was a city of cloth and iron, bankers and blacksmiths; but her wealth was sapped by infighting, the old Guelf-Ghibelline feuds diverting the city's energies in internecine squabbling. The free men of the city sought a protector, and in the process gained a master- first the Della Torre, then the Visconti.
Archbishop Ottone Visconti of Milan is properly considered the founder of both the Visconti dynasty and of Lombard despotism. He (temporarily) banished the Della Torre and asserted lapsed powers vested in the bishops, securing his son Matteo the Great as the Captain General of the People and Imperial Vicar of Italy. Matteo, exiled for a decade by the Della Torre, returned and destroyed them, cementing his rule as Milan's Grand Signore; his power was that of a Caesar- an urban dictator, rather than a feudal prince. By 1349 the Milanese assembly had granted his descendants hereditary right to Lordship over the city, abandoning the pretense of elective government.
Like other grand signorias, the Visconti nominally ruled on behalf of the German emperors. Vacant and distant, their presence nevertheless cast a fundamental uncertainty over the state's legitimacy, and the Visconti habitually poached every title and office they could get their hands on. The true source of their power, however, was always the tacit support of the “borghesia”- the urban middle classes. Matteo and his descendants offered peace and stability, with which to enjoy tidy profits; territorial expansion brought new economic opportunities and markets, food imports, and the grudging respect of rural aristocrats who might otherwise prey on the city's commerce. Thus the Visconti state seemed, to modern observers, as much a corporation as an empire- mercantilist and expansionist, always resting on the pillars of internal peace, domestic security, and foreign prestige and profit.
Neighboring cities and aristocrats were compelled to submit, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes through coercion. Bloody infighting left bitter feuds, and many exiles were prepared to sell their city to a foreign army if it gave them the chance for revenge. Internally, the feuding communes often welcomed a foreign power able to enforce peace with an even hand. As great foreign kingdoms coalesced the city states found themselves at a further disadvantage in international affairs, an especially harmful scenario for wealthy merchants. Thus the decline of the commune accelerated, building momentum behind Milanese expansion, and a self-fulfilling sensibility among Padanian intellectuals of the necessity for a great prince, who could unify the feuding city states and reconstitute Italy as a functional political entity. In the fourteenth century, Lombard bishops already wrote that, “nisi habueriunt regem unum proprium et naturalem dominum qui non sit barbare nationis et regnum eius continuet naturalis posteritas sucesivas.” Lombardy was a shadow kingdom, and needed a native king.
Such sentiments were not restricted to Lombardy. In 1347 the quixotic Cola Di Rienzo seized control of the city of Rome, ruling for four months as the Tribune of the People; he vaingloriously sought the restoration of Rome as a new Caput Mundi, capital of a reconstituted Italy, and summoned representatives from the northern cities to create an assembly. Rienzo's tenure did not last particularly long; he was ousted by the Roman nobility, but the Pope's long absence and the Western Schism had crippled the Papacy, and seen Rome herself decline to her worst nadir since the fall of the Western Empire. In Rome, as in the north, lack of a clear central authority crippled the city and created a vacuum waiting to be filled, but there was as yet no prince in the peninsula capable of asserting authority over Rome itself.
In the Papacy's absence, Giovanni Visconti had transformed Milan into the hegemon of northern Italy. He subjugated Genoa, exploiting the latter's defeat at the hands of Venice, and purchased Bologna from its local prince, defying the Popes who nominally ruled the Romagna. His two nephews Galeazzo and Bernabo were married to the Count of Savoy's sister and a daughter of the Veronese Della Scala, securing ties to his two neighbors; upon his death in 1354 the two partitioned his estates. Galeazzo Visconti inherited the western third. Genoa was lost to Milan in the chaos following Giovanni's demise, and the papacy reasserted some nominal control over Bologna. Galeazzo thus found himself preoccupied with securing Visconti influence in Piedmont. He began by conquering Pavia, capital of the old Lombard kingdom, finally subduing the city in 1359 after a valiant but doomed resistance by its citizens; thereafter it became his capital. Milanese expansion triggered numerous coalitions- the Pope and Florence allied to check Bernabo's advances on Bologna, and Galeazzo's own brother in law Amadeus VI of Savoy went to war over Montferrat. In 1373 the Emperor revoked their Vicariate, and a Papal army entered Lombardy, triggering revolts in Parma, Piacenza, Bergamo and the Valtellina. Yet the coalition could not strike the killing blow- Savoy accepted a treaty securing Montferrat and renewed their alliance, the Pope signed a truce, and the rebel cities were subdued over the next three years. Galeazzo Visconti died peacefully on August 4th 1378, and was succeeded by his son Gian Galeazzo, the Count of Vertus by right of marriage.
Born to Galeazzo Visconti and Blanche of Savoy in Milan on September 28th 1351, Gian Galeazzo Visconti grew to be a tall, well built and handsome prince, with the famous red hair of his dynasty. From a young age he was distinguished by his intellect and studious nature, imbibing the early stirrings of Renassance culture in the opulent Castello of Pavia. He was married to Isabella of France, who his father purchased for a sum of 600,000 francs; the marriage was fruitful, with one daughter and three sons surviving the marriage. Gian Galeazzo was born on March 4th 1366, Azzone in 1368, Valentina on 1371 and Carlo on September 11th 1372; Carlo's mother Isabella barely survived the birth, and Gian Galeazzo named him Carlo Maria in honor of the Virgin Mary as thanks for the survival of spouse and son.[1]
Gian Galeazzo took to the field of battle for the first and only time in 1373; he and his army were put to flight, but the following year the prince secured a peace with the Savoy; from the beginning, the prince was more inclined to the pen than the sword. In 1375 his gout ridden father appointed the twenty three year old prince the castellan of Novara and other eastern cities, giving him the opportunity to experience governance and defense of frontier cities. In 1378, as his father was dying, Gian Galeazzo Visconti demonstrated for the first time his skill as an unscrupulous and ambitious prince. His brother in law, the weak and arbitrary marquis of Montferrat, appealed to him in subduing the city of Asti, occupied opportunistically by a German mercenary during the recent upheavals. Gian Galeazzo entered into the city in February, persuaded the wayward condotierri to name him governor, and assumed de facto control. Montferrat appealed vainly to other powers in and outside of Italy, but Gian Galeazzo had, without violence or rancor, conquered the city bloodlessly, and would not be evicted from his prize. This was how Gian Galeazzo preferred to conquer- as a fait accompli, in the guise of an ally, and with the way well prepared in advance through careful diplomacy and intrigue.
For three years the lord of Pavia plotted and schemed carefully against his uncle and nominal suzerain Bernabo, betraying no outward sign of his intentions; he meekly submitted to betroth his sons Gian Galeazzo and Azzone to Caterina and Maddalena Visconti. The scheduled marriage of his son Gian Galeazzo to Caterina offered the opportunity to seize Bernabo and three of his sons, Carlo, Marco and Radolfo; we are told that Gian Galeazzo, who was well known to keep a large retinue for fear of assassins, sought the bridegroom's company in prayer outside Milan, and Bernabo, in his arrogance, placed himself into his nephew's power.[2] Bernabo himself died in Lombard custody, and Urban IV of Rome agreed to sell a dispensation and annul the betrothal, on grounds of Bernabo's tyranny and the incestuous nature of the marriage; that the Pope feared Gian Galeazzo might abandon Rome for Avignon if he excommunicated him, and received rich gifts and tributes from the duke, certainly also played a role in his rapproachment with the new Visconti patriarch. Gian Galeazzo organized a “Processus,” or trial of Bernabo, shrouding his usurpation on the pretext that Bernabo had failed to lift the imperial deprivation of 1372; the document additionally listed the many grievances of both Gian Galeazzo and the citizens of Milan. Milan itself welcomed the lord of Pavia- for he had amassed a reputation as a wise and beneficent prince, and Bernabo's treasury enabled him to shower his new subjects with tax relief and festivals. Gian Galeazzo, characteristically, conquered Milan at the behest of her adoring populace, after years of meticulous plotting and maneuvering; this was a pattern that would repeat throughout his reign.
Reclusive and scholarly, the Count was charming and fluently eloquent. Although adroit in the rare instances of state pageantry, he was more typically encountered in intimate settings, where he could personally lavish his wit and charm on a wavering ally or wary ambassador. Filippo della Molza recounted that “When the lord Count saw me, he rose to his feet and came forward to meet me, and seized my hand and made me sit down, whether I would or no.” On a later encounter Molza met the Count reading the Bible during the evening. At other times the Count would be seen scurrying through the courtyard of his palace, offering barely a nod to passing courtiers as he scurried about, thoroughly lost in thought and preoccupied with the affairs of state. Often the lord would go hunting, moving informally without his court and deliberately keeping his location uncertain; Sienese envoys would in 1392 take an informal audience in a glen during an interval in the hunting, the lord patiently listening to their appeals before rising and giving his answer. Gian Galeazzo was a prince of the Renaissance, but his court was not solely occupied with artists, scholars and other hangers on- it was the nexus of a growing network of soldiers, diplomats, envoys, clerks and administrators; for the Renaissance Prince did not merely patronize art and learning, but wielded his energies and ambitions in service to the state, and in this manner too Gian Galeazzo Visconti was a true prince of the Renaissance.
The Visconti ruled over a diverse patchwork of cities, estates, and territories. Milan- a bustling industrial metropolis of over 100,000 souls- and other great cities had to be balanced against the fertile banks of the Po, the entrenched feudal estates of Piedmont and the rugged and independent-minded communes along the Alps. Union between Pavia and Milan required a general reform and unification of the administration, and while previous Visconti had refrained from needlessly antagonizing regional particularism Gian Galeazzo was determined by necessity of circumstance and his own nature towards a more centralized and bureaucratic form of government. His forced usurpation of Bernabo opened a dangerous door towards autonomy- the regional lords and the urban Communes agitating for renewed independence from central government. Gian Galeazzo acted decisively against these efforts- he passed a string of laws prohibiting public ownership of arms, mass gatherings, and unlicensed fortifications, and cracked down on unlicensed guilds and associations; these triggered riots in Pavia, which were quickly and ruthlessly suppressed. Gian Galeazzo had won over the respectable merchant elites, positioning himself as a guarantor of public order against the mob. Gian Galeazzo did not overturn the general development of Italian government, instead repurposing and refining it; the communes had by the 14th century largely fallen into the same pattern of Signorial despotism. Unrest and instability led city after city to elevate a prince, vesting him with authority to maintain public order, intervene against feuds, enforce impartial justice, support commerce and industry, and promote agricultural development. Milan's government was exceptional principally for the extent of its territorial dominions; like many lords, Gian Galeazzo turned to the Holy Roman Empire, claiming authority as Imperial Vicar of Italy; he also turned to the French, asserting a parallel and at time contradictory concept of hegemony. Just as French nationalist scholars proclaimed their king to be “emperor in his own kingdom” the Visconti proclaimed that a state- whether republican or royal- held full sovereignty, and was entitled to treat with all foreign powers as a full equal. Unwilling to fully break with the Emperors, yet also paying lip service to their authority, the Visconti jealously hoarded every possible form of legitimacy as a pre-emptive defense against any foreign or domestic rivals; in every city that the Visconti conquered- including Milan- they first orchestrated an election by which the “people” of the city ceded sovereignty to the Visconti. In theory this principle- like that of the Imperial Viciariate- opened the possibility that the dynasty could be overthrown from below; in practice Milan's arms overawed the public, and Gian Galeazzo was able, during his lifetime, to use compromise and coercion to maintain order. The person of the Prince was endowed special authority, like the kings of France; they believed themselves embody absolute justice and authority, and their agents were expected to maintain the same impartiality. Already Bernabo had comported himself in the manner of a king; Gian Galeazzo continued and expanded his power as supreme lord of Lombardy. The communal governments were repurposed, with judicial authority resting on centrally appointed Podestas. Local councils maintained administrative autonomy at least temporarily, but Gian Galeazzo eroded the financial and political privileges of both the rural nobility and the urban burghers. By 1382 he had abolished the customary fixed sum and assumed direct control over Pavia's finances. He was not able to immediately extend this throughout Lombardy, nor abolish traditional prohibitions on non-citizens owning property within city limits.
Administrative oversight obliged him to reform the government and create state organs. He created two new councils- a Secret or Privy Council which managed foreign affairs, and a Judicial Council; all envoys, foreign and domestic, were obliged to present themselves before the councils in Pavia. A special branch of the council, the “Camera”, addressed taxation and finance, under the Master of the Entries; a “Maestri della entrate ordinarie” in Milan and a “Maestri della entrate stradinarie” in Pavia, handling respectively financial policy and ordinary taxation and extraordinary taxation and emergency finances. Ordinary taxation was restricted to imposts- customs duties and various taxes-in-kind for goods such as wine or salt; in times of emergency the state could levy direct taxes on property, which were scaled based on an “Estimo” or an assessment of the citizens' wealth and means. All of these reforms served Gian Galeazzo's rational mind, clearly directed towards the expansion of his dominion over Lombardy.
Gian Galeazzo's usurpation triggered a diplomatic crisis with several foreign courts. Bernabo had sired fifteen children and married them across Europe. He had married his son Carlo Visconti to Beatrice, daughter of John II, count of Armagnac, and his daughters Taddea and Catarina to the Bavarian Dukes Stephen III and Frederick of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Landshut, respectively.[3] The former's daughter Isabella had married Charles VI of France in 1385, at the machinations of Duke Philip of Burgundy, who hoped to build a Franco-German alliance to resolve the Schism and advance his interests in the Low Countries. The match dismayed Gian Galeazzo, who had offered his own daughter Valentina as a bride, but he could not overcome the influence of the Duke of Burgundy.[4] Nevertheless, at his wife's urging, Gian Galeazzo agreed to marry his eldest son Gian Galeazzo II to the Princess of Anjou, who unfortunately died in 1383 at the age of thirteen; Gian Galeazzo was then betrothed to Sophia of Bavaria, daughter of Duke John of Bavaria Ingolstadt. John, alone among his brothers, had not taken one of Bernabo's daughters; reluctant to support their costly expeditions into Milan or Stephen's extravagant court, and in 1391 re-partitioned the duchy after the death of their brother Frederick without male issue.
In addition to his children by Princess of France, Gian Galeazzo had two known paramours and several bastards. Agnese Mantegazza of Milan was bestowed a castle, and many rich gifts. A record in 1390 lists gifts to Lady Lusotta mistress of the lord Count of Virtus” and two bastards, Antonio and Daniele. A third bastard, Agnese's bastard Gabriele Maria Visconti, benefited from Gian Galeazzo's affection towards his mother, but it was his daughter Valentina who was dearest to the Count, and would form the cornerstone of his foreign dynastic policy. Coming of age in the ebullient and resplendent court at Pavia, Valentina, graceful and elegant, loved all things beautiful. Like her father she patronized art, sculpture and the scholarly pursuits; Pavia was not only the old capital of Lombard Italy, but also seat of a famous university, and the count transformed it into one of the preeminent institutions in Europe. Valentina herself was sacrificed on the altar of state- as all princesses were in that era. She was engaged to the feckless emperor Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia; and upon her departure for Germany, her father shut himself away in Pavia, refusing even to speak of her lest he lose himself to his tears.[4] The fruits of the marriage were made immediately apparent: his new son in law formally bestowed upon him the title of Duke of Milan, transforming the Visconti into hereditary imperial nobility.
To secure his regime and pacify the western frontier, he sought rapprochement with Amadeus of Savoy. Within days of Bernabo's deposition, the Count received a rich gift of warhorses from Bernabo's stable; Amadeus, Gian Galeazzo's cousin, had his own security concerns- the hostility of Saluzzo, his ambitions against Provence in the Arelat, his entanglement in French politics- and readily sought an accord. In November 1381 he and Gian Galeazzo met and signed, in person, a treaty of friendship in Alessandria; four days later he accepted Gian Galeazzo's arbitration of a dispute with the Marquis of Montferrat. Like his father Gian Galeazzo decided to outsource Piedmont to his son and heir; in 1383, the seventeen year old Gian Galeazzo II was named governor of Piedmont after his marriage ceremony to the seven year old Sophia of Bavaria. John sought to reconcile himself to the new lord of Milan and additionally pursue an alliance against the Austrians and possibly his wayward brothers- it was agreed that the couple would receive Bavarian claims on Tirol “below the Brenner Pass” as well as the town of Deggendorf in Bavaria; the dowry, although welcome, was less valuable to the Visconti than the prestige of a quasi-imperial bride, to further secure the approval of Germany's nobility.
The Duke of Milan, having consolidated his position, was inclined to push his borders outward. Gian Galeazzo had four main compass points guiding his ambitions- Genoa, Bologna, the mouth of the Po and the Alpine passes- the natural frontiers of Lombardy. In 1384 his attentions were turned east, embroiling him in the feud of the Della Scala of Verona and the Carrara of Padua. Carrara was an older ally of Milan, and the Della Scala had- alone among the powers of Italy- granted asylum to a son of Bernabo Visconti; the lord of Milan was naturally aggrieved. Yet war with Verona risked a confrontation with Venice. This was not in and of itself an insurmountable obstacle for the duke, but he did maneuver to neutralize the Venetians before acting against them. Entering into Friuli as a herald of peace, he orchestrated an alliance of the lesser lords of Ferrara and Mantua, thus stealing a march on Venice and forestalling their influence over these principalities. He then concluded an alliance with Carrara, promising him Vicenza in a general war against the Scalinger, but simultaneously opened talks with both Venice and Verona, keeping his options open as war loomed; a Venetian admiral entered his service in 1385, serving as an intermediary, and it was given to understood in Venice that Visconti support for Carrara extended only against the Veronese, and that he was amicably disposed towards the Republic's own interests in the region. In Germany Albert of Tirol was bribed into closing the Brenner Pass; after the outbreak of war between Carrara and Della Scala in 1386 the Milanese alliance invaded Verona. Gian Galeazzo finally presented terms to the Veronese after Carrara annihilated their army outside Padua, demanding the lands around Lake Garda, which the Veronese in their desperation were prepared to grant. He had no real claim to these lands, which had been the dowry of his uncle's wife, but his objective was rather grander; so secretive were his plans that even his sons advised him to accept the Veronese offer, mediated by the Venetians in order to restrain the duke's ambitions. Gian Galeazzo was in contact with the Veronese dissidents within the city; emperor Wenceslaus turned a blind eye towards his father in law's actions, having reinstated the Visconti as Imperial Vicars of Italy. Gian Galeazzo's armies grew from the castoffs of his enemies, as he outbid the condotierri, and Della Scala's beaten army disintegrated, his soldiers deserting en masse. A Veronese army along the Garda turned about, declaring itself for Milan, and marched on Verona, where the citizens rose in revolt and threw open the gates to the Lombards. The Visconti standard was planted above the citadel, and the city dedicated itself to Gian Galeazzo, whom they awaited as a liberator.
Verona's capture led to a direct intercession by the other powers of Italy, still hoping to restrain Gian Galeazzo, but Carrara- unlike the lord of Milan- showed no restraint or tact in victory. Only now was he made aware of the nature of his ally; ignoring both the promises of autonomy granted to Verona, and the antebellum promise of Vicenza to the Paduan despot, Gian Galeazzo unilaterally annexed the entire della Scala state; Carrara, who viewed Venice as his principal enemy, grudgingly came to terms with Milan's treachery, and pressed for concessions in Friuli as compensation. This caused a collapse of peace negotiations by irritating Venice; the Venetians subsequently resolved to destroy the Carrarese, entering into a new alliance with Milan to partition the Paduan state between the two of them. Carrara, like the della Scala, suddenly found himself alone and friendless, as all the lords of Northern Italy bowed before the union of Lion and Serpent; in vain he attempted to lure the Austrians into Italy with the promise of restoring Belluno and Feltre to them. Milan occupied Padua in the same manner as Verona- after its lord fled, and the city opened its gates, the Lombards entered unopposed and orchestrated a communal election whereby the citizens “nominated” Gian Galeazzo to rule them. He received the submission of Bellun and Feltre in a similar fashion, and Venice occupied Treviso in accordance with the alliance.[6]
In the span of less than a year Gian Galeazzo had become a Duke, the Imperial Vicar of Italy, and the father in law of his nominal sovereign; he had advanced his eastern frontier to the Adriatic, secured the allegiance of Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino, entered into a coalition with Venice, and made himself the hegemon of all Padania. Venice was his ally, the Doge of Genoa his friend, the king of France his wife's cousin, the king of Germany his daughter's husband; he had the anxious ear of the Avignon Pope Clement and the friendship of the Roman pope Urban. Florence watched all of this with alarm, certain that if left unchecked this new and dangerous prince, erudite and empathetic, was soon to be the ruler of all of Italy.
[1]Here is the PoD: Gian Galeazzo's wife Isabella died in childbirth along with her son Carlo, and his other two sons died prematurely due to disease. Their survival places him in a much stronger dynastic position, and will greatly expand his options diplomatically and strategically.
[2]This is similar to how Bernabo was seized by Gian Galeazzo historically; he lured Bernabo into a church in the guise of a pilgrim, and then seized him with his guards.
[3]These marriages are historical.
[4]Isabella's survival is significant, because she is the daughter of King John of France. Gian Galeazzo was somewhat more rash in his youth, and TTL would probably be arrogant enough to seek to make his daughter Queen of France immediately after his coup.
[5]The behavior is the same as Valentina's historic marriage to Louis of Orleans, but given Isabella's survival the match with Louis is less likely; the Imperial match suits Gian Galeazzo's purposes better, though as we will see it will have its own consequences for Milan.
[6]The key divergences, so far, are that Gian Galeazzo seized power four years ahead of time, and also seized another of Bernabo's sons; he also has avoided the scandal of his proposed with Princess Maria of Sicily, thus his ambition is less tempered. As a result of this, and being more secure, he intervened sooner against the Veronese; the general course of the war is the same as it was historically- albeit roughly four years sooner- including the betrayal and partition of the Carrara, since Carrara was unlikely to alter his behavior.
Well situated in the fertile Po Valley, mediate between Po and Alps, the Adda and the Ticino, Milan grew into a natural entrepot between east and west, north and south, Italy and Germany, the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic; as Italy was situated in the center of Europe, Milan was the beating heart of northern Italy, and she prospered, gold and steel flowing like blood through veins of stone, mud, brick, and wood. Her legacy was imperious indeed- Mediolanum was Diocletian's capital, Milan was the center of St Ambrose, rival to St Peter's pontifical authority; Milan had birthed the Lombard League and led it to victory, reviving from the ashes of Barbarossa's fury to see his dynasty destroyed. She was a city of cloth and iron, bankers and blacksmiths; but her wealth was sapped by infighting, the old Guelf-Ghibelline feuds diverting the city's energies in internecine squabbling. The free men of the city sought a protector, and in the process gained a master- first the Della Torre, then the Visconti.
Archbishop Ottone Visconti of Milan is properly considered the founder of both the Visconti dynasty and of Lombard despotism. He (temporarily) banished the Della Torre and asserted lapsed powers vested in the bishops, securing his son Matteo the Great as the Captain General of the People and Imperial Vicar of Italy. Matteo, exiled for a decade by the Della Torre, returned and destroyed them, cementing his rule as Milan's Grand Signore; his power was that of a Caesar- an urban dictator, rather than a feudal prince. By 1349 the Milanese assembly had granted his descendants hereditary right to Lordship over the city, abandoning the pretense of elective government.
Like other grand signorias, the Visconti nominally ruled on behalf of the German emperors. Vacant and distant, their presence nevertheless cast a fundamental uncertainty over the state's legitimacy, and the Visconti habitually poached every title and office they could get their hands on. The true source of their power, however, was always the tacit support of the “borghesia”- the urban middle classes. Matteo and his descendants offered peace and stability, with which to enjoy tidy profits; territorial expansion brought new economic opportunities and markets, food imports, and the grudging respect of rural aristocrats who might otherwise prey on the city's commerce. Thus the Visconti state seemed, to modern observers, as much a corporation as an empire- mercantilist and expansionist, always resting on the pillars of internal peace, domestic security, and foreign prestige and profit.
Neighboring cities and aristocrats were compelled to submit, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes through coercion. Bloody infighting left bitter feuds, and many exiles were prepared to sell their city to a foreign army if it gave them the chance for revenge. Internally, the feuding communes often welcomed a foreign power able to enforce peace with an even hand. As great foreign kingdoms coalesced the city states found themselves at a further disadvantage in international affairs, an especially harmful scenario for wealthy merchants. Thus the decline of the commune accelerated, building momentum behind Milanese expansion, and a self-fulfilling sensibility among Padanian intellectuals of the necessity for a great prince, who could unify the feuding city states and reconstitute Italy as a functional political entity. In the fourteenth century, Lombard bishops already wrote that, “nisi habueriunt regem unum proprium et naturalem dominum qui non sit barbare nationis et regnum eius continuet naturalis posteritas sucesivas.” Lombardy was a shadow kingdom, and needed a native king.
Such sentiments were not restricted to Lombardy. In 1347 the quixotic Cola Di Rienzo seized control of the city of Rome, ruling for four months as the Tribune of the People; he vaingloriously sought the restoration of Rome as a new Caput Mundi, capital of a reconstituted Italy, and summoned representatives from the northern cities to create an assembly. Rienzo's tenure did not last particularly long; he was ousted by the Roman nobility, but the Pope's long absence and the Western Schism had crippled the Papacy, and seen Rome herself decline to her worst nadir since the fall of the Western Empire. In Rome, as in the north, lack of a clear central authority crippled the city and created a vacuum waiting to be filled, but there was as yet no prince in the peninsula capable of asserting authority over Rome itself.
In the Papacy's absence, Giovanni Visconti had transformed Milan into the hegemon of northern Italy. He subjugated Genoa, exploiting the latter's defeat at the hands of Venice, and purchased Bologna from its local prince, defying the Popes who nominally ruled the Romagna. His two nephews Galeazzo and Bernabo were married to the Count of Savoy's sister and a daughter of the Veronese Della Scala, securing ties to his two neighbors; upon his death in 1354 the two partitioned his estates. Galeazzo Visconti inherited the western third. Genoa was lost to Milan in the chaos following Giovanni's demise, and the papacy reasserted some nominal control over Bologna. Galeazzo thus found himself preoccupied with securing Visconti influence in Piedmont. He began by conquering Pavia, capital of the old Lombard kingdom, finally subduing the city in 1359 after a valiant but doomed resistance by its citizens; thereafter it became his capital. Milanese expansion triggered numerous coalitions- the Pope and Florence allied to check Bernabo's advances on Bologna, and Galeazzo's own brother in law Amadeus VI of Savoy went to war over Montferrat. In 1373 the Emperor revoked their Vicariate, and a Papal army entered Lombardy, triggering revolts in Parma, Piacenza, Bergamo and the Valtellina. Yet the coalition could not strike the killing blow- Savoy accepted a treaty securing Montferrat and renewed their alliance, the Pope signed a truce, and the rebel cities were subdued over the next three years. Galeazzo Visconti died peacefully on August 4th 1378, and was succeeded by his son Gian Galeazzo, the Count of Vertus by right of marriage.
Born to Galeazzo Visconti and Blanche of Savoy in Milan on September 28th 1351, Gian Galeazzo Visconti grew to be a tall, well built and handsome prince, with the famous red hair of his dynasty. From a young age he was distinguished by his intellect and studious nature, imbibing the early stirrings of Renassance culture in the opulent Castello of Pavia. He was married to Isabella of France, who his father purchased for a sum of 600,000 francs; the marriage was fruitful, with one daughter and three sons surviving the marriage. Gian Galeazzo was born on March 4th 1366, Azzone in 1368, Valentina on 1371 and Carlo on September 11th 1372; Carlo's mother Isabella barely survived the birth, and Gian Galeazzo named him Carlo Maria in honor of the Virgin Mary as thanks for the survival of spouse and son.[1]
Gian Galeazzo took to the field of battle for the first and only time in 1373; he and his army were put to flight, but the following year the prince secured a peace with the Savoy; from the beginning, the prince was more inclined to the pen than the sword. In 1375 his gout ridden father appointed the twenty three year old prince the castellan of Novara and other eastern cities, giving him the opportunity to experience governance and defense of frontier cities. In 1378, as his father was dying, Gian Galeazzo Visconti demonstrated for the first time his skill as an unscrupulous and ambitious prince. His brother in law, the weak and arbitrary marquis of Montferrat, appealed to him in subduing the city of Asti, occupied opportunistically by a German mercenary during the recent upheavals. Gian Galeazzo entered into the city in February, persuaded the wayward condotierri to name him governor, and assumed de facto control. Montferrat appealed vainly to other powers in and outside of Italy, but Gian Galeazzo had, without violence or rancor, conquered the city bloodlessly, and would not be evicted from his prize. This was how Gian Galeazzo preferred to conquer- as a fait accompli, in the guise of an ally, and with the way well prepared in advance through careful diplomacy and intrigue.
For three years the lord of Pavia plotted and schemed carefully against his uncle and nominal suzerain Bernabo, betraying no outward sign of his intentions; he meekly submitted to betroth his sons Gian Galeazzo and Azzone to Caterina and Maddalena Visconti. The scheduled marriage of his son Gian Galeazzo to Caterina offered the opportunity to seize Bernabo and three of his sons, Carlo, Marco and Radolfo; we are told that Gian Galeazzo, who was well known to keep a large retinue for fear of assassins, sought the bridegroom's company in prayer outside Milan, and Bernabo, in his arrogance, placed himself into his nephew's power.[2] Bernabo himself died in Lombard custody, and Urban IV of Rome agreed to sell a dispensation and annul the betrothal, on grounds of Bernabo's tyranny and the incestuous nature of the marriage; that the Pope feared Gian Galeazzo might abandon Rome for Avignon if he excommunicated him, and received rich gifts and tributes from the duke, certainly also played a role in his rapproachment with the new Visconti patriarch. Gian Galeazzo organized a “Processus,” or trial of Bernabo, shrouding his usurpation on the pretext that Bernabo had failed to lift the imperial deprivation of 1372; the document additionally listed the many grievances of both Gian Galeazzo and the citizens of Milan. Milan itself welcomed the lord of Pavia- for he had amassed a reputation as a wise and beneficent prince, and Bernabo's treasury enabled him to shower his new subjects with tax relief and festivals. Gian Galeazzo, characteristically, conquered Milan at the behest of her adoring populace, after years of meticulous plotting and maneuvering; this was a pattern that would repeat throughout his reign.
Reclusive and scholarly, the Count was charming and fluently eloquent. Although adroit in the rare instances of state pageantry, he was more typically encountered in intimate settings, where he could personally lavish his wit and charm on a wavering ally or wary ambassador. Filippo della Molza recounted that “When the lord Count saw me, he rose to his feet and came forward to meet me, and seized my hand and made me sit down, whether I would or no.” On a later encounter Molza met the Count reading the Bible during the evening. At other times the Count would be seen scurrying through the courtyard of his palace, offering barely a nod to passing courtiers as he scurried about, thoroughly lost in thought and preoccupied with the affairs of state. Often the lord would go hunting, moving informally without his court and deliberately keeping his location uncertain; Sienese envoys would in 1392 take an informal audience in a glen during an interval in the hunting, the lord patiently listening to their appeals before rising and giving his answer. Gian Galeazzo was a prince of the Renaissance, but his court was not solely occupied with artists, scholars and other hangers on- it was the nexus of a growing network of soldiers, diplomats, envoys, clerks and administrators; for the Renaissance Prince did not merely patronize art and learning, but wielded his energies and ambitions in service to the state, and in this manner too Gian Galeazzo Visconti was a true prince of the Renaissance.
The Visconti ruled over a diverse patchwork of cities, estates, and territories. Milan- a bustling industrial metropolis of over 100,000 souls- and other great cities had to be balanced against the fertile banks of the Po, the entrenched feudal estates of Piedmont and the rugged and independent-minded communes along the Alps. Union between Pavia and Milan required a general reform and unification of the administration, and while previous Visconti had refrained from needlessly antagonizing regional particularism Gian Galeazzo was determined by necessity of circumstance and his own nature towards a more centralized and bureaucratic form of government. His forced usurpation of Bernabo opened a dangerous door towards autonomy- the regional lords and the urban Communes agitating for renewed independence from central government. Gian Galeazzo acted decisively against these efforts- he passed a string of laws prohibiting public ownership of arms, mass gatherings, and unlicensed fortifications, and cracked down on unlicensed guilds and associations; these triggered riots in Pavia, which were quickly and ruthlessly suppressed. Gian Galeazzo had won over the respectable merchant elites, positioning himself as a guarantor of public order against the mob. Gian Galeazzo did not overturn the general development of Italian government, instead repurposing and refining it; the communes had by the 14th century largely fallen into the same pattern of Signorial despotism. Unrest and instability led city after city to elevate a prince, vesting him with authority to maintain public order, intervene against feuds, enforce impartial justice, support commerce and industry, and promote agricultural development. Milan's government was exceptional principally for the extent of its territorial dominions; like many lords, Gian Galeazzo turned to the Holy Roman Empire, claiming authority as Imperial Vicar of Italy; he also turned to the French, asserting a parallel and at time contradictory concept of hegemony. Just as French nationalist scholars proclaimed their king to be “emperor in his own kingdom” the Visconti proclaimed that a state- whether republican or royal- held full sovereignty, and was entitled to treat with all foreign powers as a full equal. Unwilling to fully break with the Emperors, yet also paying lip service to their authority, the Visconti jealously hoarded every possible form of legitimacy as a pre-emptive defense against any foreign or domestic rivals; in every city that the Visconti conquered- including Milan- they first orchestrated an election by which the “people” of the city ceded sovereignty to the Visconti. In theory this principle- like that of the Imperial Viciariate- opened the possibility that the dynasty could be overthrown from below; in practice Milan's arms overawed the public, and Gian Galeazzo was able, during his lifetime, to use compromise and coercion to maintain order. The person of the Prince was endowed special authority, like the kings of France; they believed themselves embody absolute justice and authority, and their agents were expected to maintain the same impartiality. Already Bernabo had comported himself in the manner of a king; Gian Galeazzo continued and expanded his power as supreme lord of Lombardy. The communal governments were repurposed, with judicial authority resting on centrally appointed Podestas. Local councils maintained administrative autonomy at least temporarily, but Gian Galeazzo eroded the financial and political privileges of both the rural nobility and the urban burghers. By 1382 he had abolished the customary fixed sum and assumed direct control over Pavia's finances. He was not able to immediately extend this throughout Lombardy, nor abolish traditional prohibitions on non-citizens owning property within city limits.
Administrative oversight obliged him to reform the government and create state organs. He created two new councils- a Secret or Privy Council which managed foreign affairs, and a Judicial Council; all envoys, foreign and domestic, were obliged to present themselves before the councils in Pavia. A special branch of the council, the “Camera”, addressed taxation and finance, under the Master of the Entries; a “Maestri della entrate ordinarie” in Milan and a “Maestri della entrate stradinarie” in Pavia, handling respectively financial policy and ordinary taxation and extraordinary taxation and emergency finances. Ordinary taxation was restricted to imposts- customs duties and various taxes-in-kind for goods such as wine or salt; in times of emergency the state could levy direct taxes on property, which were scaled based on an “Estimo” or an assessment of the citizens' wealth and means. All of these reforms served Gian Galeazzo's rational mind, clearly directed towards the expansion of his dominion over Lombardy.
Gian Galeazzo's usurpation triggered a diplomatic crisis with several foreign courts. Bernabo had sired fifteen children and married them across Europe. He had married his son Carlo Visconti to Beatrice, daughter of John II, count of Armagnac, and his daughters Taddea and Catarina to the Bavarian Dukes Stephen III and Frederick of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Landshut, respectively.[3] The former's daughter Isabella had married Charles VI of France in 1385, at the machinations of Duke Philip of Burgundy, who hoped to build a Franco-German alliance to resolve the Schism and advance his interests in the Low Countries. The match dismayed Gian Galeazzo, who had offered his own daughter Valentina as a bride, but he could not overcome the influence of the Duke of Burgundy.[4] Nevertheless, at his wife's urging, Gian Galeazzo agreed to marry his eldest son Gian Galeazzo II to the Princess of Anjou, who unfortunately died in 1383 at the age of thirteen; Gian Galeazzo was then betrothed to Sophia of Bavaria, daughter of Duke John of Bavaria Ingolstadt. John, alone among his brothers, had not taken one of Bernabo's daughters; reluctant to support their costly expeditions into Milan or Stephen's extravagant court, and in 1391 re-partitioned the duchy after the death of their brother Frederick without male issue.
In addition to his children by Princess of France, Gian Galeazzo had two known paramours and several bastards. Agnese Mantegazza of Milan was bestowed a castle, and many rich gifts. A record in 1390 lists gifts to Lady Lusotta mistress of the lord Count of Virtus” and two bastards, Antonio and Daniele. A third bastard, Agnese's bastard Gabriele Maria Visconti, benefited from Gian Galeazzo's affection towards his mother, but it was his daughter Valentina who was dearest to the Count, and would form the cornerstone of his foreign dynastic policy. Coming of age in the ebullient and resplendent court at Pavia, Valentina, graceful and elegant, loved all things beautiful. Like her father she patronized art, sculpture and the scholarly pursuits; Pavia was not only the old capital of Lombard Italy, but also seat of a famous university, and the count transformed it into one of the preeminent institutions in Europe. Valentina herself was sacrificed on the altar of state- as all princesses were in that era. She was engaged to the feckless emperor Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia; and upon her departure for Germany, her father shut himself away in Pavia, refusing even to speak of her lest he lose himself to his tears.[4] The fruits of the marriage were made immediately apparent: his new son in law formally bestowed upon him the title of Duke of Milan, transforming the Visconti into hereditary imperial nobility.
To secure his regime and pacify the western frontier, he sought rapprochement with Amadeus of Savoy. Within days of Bernabo's deposition, the Count received a rich gift of warhorses from Bernabo's stable; Amadeus, Gian Galeazzo's cousin, had his own security concerns- the hostility of Saluzzo, his ambitions against Provence in the Arelat, his entanglement in French politics- and readily sought an accord. In November 1381 he and Gian Galeazzo met and signed, in person, a treaty of friendship in Alessandria; four days later he accepted Gian Galeazzo's arbitration of a dispute with the Marquis of Montferrat. Like his father Gian Galeazzo decided to outsource Piedmont to his son and heir; in 1383, the seventeen year old Gian Galeazzo II was named governor of Piedmont after his marriage ceremony to the seven year old Sophia of Bavaria. John sought to reconcile himself to the new lord of Milan and additionally pursue an alliance against the Austrians and possibly his wayward brothers- it was agreed that the couple would receive Bavarian claims on Tirol “below the Brenner Pass” as well as the town of Deggendorf in Bavaria; the dowry, although welcome, was less valuable to the Visconti than the prestige of a quasi-imperial bride, to further secure the approval of Germany's nobility.
The Duke of Milan, having consolidated his position, was inclined to push his borders outward. Gian Galeazzo had four main compass points guiding his ambitions- Genoa, Bologna, the mouth of the Po and the Alpine passes- the natural frontiers of Lombardy. In 1384 his attentions were turned east, embroiling him in the feud of the Della Scala of Verona and the Carrara of Padua. Carrara was an older ally of Milan, and the Della Scala had- alone among the powers of Italy- granted asylum to a son of Bernabo Visconti; the lord of Milan was naturally aggrieved. Yet war with Verona risked a confrontation with Venice. This was not in and of itself an insurmountable obstacle for the duke, but he did maneuver to neutralize the Venetians before acting against them. Entering into Friuli as a herald of peace, he orchestrated an alliance of the lesser lords of Ferrara and Mantua, thus stealing a march on Venice and forestalling their influence over these principalities. He then concluded an alliance with Carrara, promising him Vicenza in a general war against the Scalinger, but simultaneously opened talks with both Venice and Verona, keeping his options open as war loomed; a Venetian admiral entered his service in 1385, serving as an intermediary, and it was given to understood in Venice that Visconti support for Carrara extended only against the Veronese, and that he was amicably disposed towards the Republic's own interests in the region. In Germany Albert of Tirol was bribed into closing the Brenner Pass; after the outbreak of war between Carrara and Della Scala in 1386 the Milanese alliance invaded Verona. Gian Galeazzo finally presented terms to the Veronese after Carrara annihilated their army outside Padua, demanding the lands around Lake Garda, which the Veronese in their desperation were prepared to grant. He had no real claim to these lands, which had been the dowry of his uncle's wife, but his objective was rather grander; so secretive were his plans that even his sons advised him to accept the Veronese offer, mediated by the Venetians in order to restrain the duke's ambitions. Gian Galeazzo was in contact with the Veronese dissidents within the city; emperor Wenceslaus turned a blind eye towards his father in law's actions, having reinstated the Visconti as Imperial Vicars of Italy. Gian Galeazzo's armies grew from the castoffs of his enemies, as he outbid the condotierri, and Della Scala's beaten army disintegrated, his soldiers deserting en masse. A Veronese army along the Garda turned about, declaring itself for Milan, and marched on Verona, where the citizens rose in revolt and threw open the gates to the Lombards. The Visconti standard was planted above the citadel, and the city dedicated itself to Gian Galeazzo, whom they awaited as a liberator.
Verona's capture led to a direct intercession by the other powers of Italy, still hoping to restrain Gian Galeazzo, but Carrara- unlike the lord of Milan- showed no restraint or tact in victory. Only now was he made aware of the nature of his ally; ignoring both the promises of autonomy granted to Verona, and the antebellum promise of Vicenza to the Paduan despot, Gian Galeazzo unilaterally annexed the entire della Scala state; Carrara, who viewed Venice as his principal enemy, grudgingly came to terms with Milan's treachery, and pressed for concessions in Friuli as compensation. This caused a collapse of peace negotiations by irritating Venice; the Venetians subsequently resolved to destroy the Carrarese, entering into a new alliance with Milan to partition the Paduan state between the two of them. Carrara, like the della Scala, suddenly found himself alone and friendless, as all the lords of Northern Italy bowed before the union of Lion and Serpent; in vain he attempted to lure the Austrians into Italy with the promise of restoring Belluno and Feltre to them. Milan occupied Padua in the same manner as Verona- after its lord fled, and the city opened its gates, the Lombards entered unopposed and orchestrated a communal election whereby the citizens “nominated” Gian Galeazzo to rule them. He received the submission of Bellun and Feltre in a similar fashion, and Venice occupied Treviso in accordance with the alliance.[6]
In the span of less than a year Gian Galeazzo had become a Duke, the Imperial Vicar of Italy, and the father in law of his nominal sovereign; he had advanced his eastern frontier to the Adriatic, secured the allegiance of Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino, entered into a coalition with Venice, and made himself the hegemon of all Padania. Venice was his ally, the Doge of Genoa his friend, the king of France his wife's cousin, the king of Germany his daughter's husband; he had the anxious ear of the Avignon Pope Clement and the friendship of the Roman pope Urban. Florence watched all of this with alarm, certain that if left unchecked this new and dangerous prince, erudite and empathetic, was soon to be the ruler of all of Italy.
[1]Here is the PoD: Gian Galeazzo's wife Isabella died in childbirth along with her son Carlo, and his other two sons died prematurely due to disease. Their survival places him in a much stronger dynastic position, and will greatly expand his options diplomatically and strategically.
[2]This is similar to how Bernabo was seized by Gian Galeazzo historically; he lured Bernabo into a church in the guise of a pilgrim, and then seized him with his guards.
[3]These marriages are historical.
[4]Isabella's survival is significant, because she is the daughter of King John of France. Gian Galeazzo was somewhat more rash in his youth, and TTL would probably be arrogant enough to seek to make his daughter Queen of France immediately after his coup.
[5]The behavior is the same as Valentina's historic marriage to Louis of Orleans, but given Isabella's survival the match with Louis is less likely; the Imperial match suits Gian Galeazzo's purposes better, though as we will see it will have its own consequences for Milan.
[6]The key divergences, so far, are that Gian Galeazzo seized power four years ahead of time, and also seized another of Bernabo's sons; he also has avoided the scandal of his proposed with Princess Maria of Sicily, thus his ambition is less tempered. As a result of this, and being more secure, he intervened sooner against the Veronese; the general course of the war is the same as it was historically- albeit roughly four years sooner- including the betrayal and partition of the Carrara, since Carrara was unlikely to alter his behavior.
, Emperor, King, and Prince of Rome, also King of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, and titular King of Jerusalem and Latin Emperor, m. Queen Joanna of Naples
