Church and State
Ruling over a land as fractious as Italy took more than mere strength. To control Italy meant control of the cities, and it was to that end that Gian Galeazzo devoted the latter part of his reign.
In the wake of the imperial twilight the Italian cities had thrown off the rule of prince and bishop alike, establishing urban communes in the 12th century. These communes were far from peaceful, however- urban politics, in Italy as elsewhere, were notoriously violent, as competing factions in the cities waged a war of literal cloaks and daggers, as the citizens jealously guarded their wealth against each other and against foreigners who might seek to destroy their liberties. Of all the major Italian cities only Venice was largely free of this internecine strife, and that Most Serene Republic was very much the exception which proved the rule.
The famous Two Towers of Bologna, home to competing Patrician families of the 12th century
By the end of the thirteenth century the communes had largely given way to the rule of the Signoria- powerful oligarchs who amassed despotic power over their cities through wealth, cunning, or sheer military might. Northern Italy had never quite cast off its classical heritage, and the Feudal world order was less entrenched there than across the Alps; bloodline and hereditary succession were of far less significance, and the urban mob was a powerful political actor, able to make or unmake the unwary tyrant with their wrath. This was in many ways a twin-edged sword; it allowed ambitious and capable men- such as the Visconti and the Malatesta- to rise to prominence, ascending from mere condottieri captains or lesser magnates to the rulers of great cities, but it also meant that power was innately unstable, depending upon the vagaries of fortune and the skill and ambition of the men with the ambition of princes. Many of these lords turned to the Emperor or the Pope as fonts of legitimacy, receiving formal investiture as imperial vassals, as in the case of the newly minted Duke of Milan, but if the Visconti were to rule beyond Lombardy they could not trust the Emperor to help them.
In the wake of his accession Gian Galeazzo had lavished his wealth on Milan. The famous gothic Cathedral of Milan began its construction concurrently with the duke's accession in 1386 and would become a physical symbol of Gian Galeazzo's legacy, under the orders of the Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo, who was coincidentally Gian Galeazzo's cousin. The church quickly became a source of civi pride, which the shrewd duke capitalized on by collecting donations from the citizens to ameliorate the substantial costs. In 1389, the duke hired the French engineer Nicolas de Banventure, exploiting exclusive use of the Candolgia quuarry and tax exemptions to proceed rapidly. Although the duke would not live to see its completion in 1429 the edifice remains emblematic of Visconti grandeur.
Less imposing than the Duomo, but no less monumental, was the Milanese state itself. In matters of administration Gian Galeazzo excelled, and the probity of his bureaucracy proved decisive in ensuring the survival of the Visconti dominion in the tumultuous years to come. With all of the Po under his control he could muster considerable resources to economic development- as demonstrated by a failed attempt to divert the Mincio from Mantua and the Brenta from Padua during his final campaigns to unite the north. In peacetime these engineering feats were put to use improving the Po valley, reducing flooding and easing commerce across the Padanian basin. Newly subjugated cities were treated gently, and taxed lightly, so long as they remained peaceful, loyal and cooperative. The cities which submitted peacefully were occasionally allowed a measure of self-governance, but for the most part the Visconti regime relied upon the podestas, appointed magistrates tasked with governing the cities on the duke's behalf. By and large this was not only tolerated but welcomed- as foreigners, the Milanese were able to pose as neutral arbiters between the rival families and factions, and the overwhelming power and wealth available to Milan meant that dissidents were quickly forced into line.
Cities were obligated to pay a tithe to the regime, and maintain their walls and the roads in their vicinity. They were additionally required to adopt the Milanese law code and standards for weights and measures set by the ducal court, and to fall in line in regards to tariffs, coinage, and foreign affairs. For the most part, however, the cities were left to their day to day governance unmolested, as much by necessity as any strategy of the duke. However sophisticated the Italian bureaucracy was by the standards of its peers, it remained constrained by the realities of early modern government. Nevertheless the pacification of the Po valley seems to have engendered economic prosperity, which the Visconti regime quickly took credit for, justifiably or otherwise; certainly, later commenters wrote nostalgically of the reign of "The Grand Duke" as an era of peace and growth, where merchants could walk unarmed from Turin to Venice and back without fear of assault.
In Romagna, the House of Malatesta profited handsomely as Milanese clients. Gian Galeazzo, mindful of the significance of the region, formally invested the condottieri Carlo I Malatesta with the title Warden of the March of Ancona, although the city of Ancona itself was as yet independent of the Milanese regime. In the same year Gian Galeazzo sold the city of Padua to Venice, in exchange for a sum of 500,000 ducats, a further annual tribute of 5000 ducats, and the use of the Venetian navy against Naples.
The Pope of Rome did not look fondly upon Visconti ambitions. Visconti had seized control of the Romagna and Ancona in the name of the antipope Benedict XIII, from whom he had formally received investiture as part and parcel of his pro-Anjou alliance. Pope Innocent VII of Rome was predictably unenthused by this action, but Gian Galeazzo had extracted essentially the same concession from him in October 1404 after dispatching an army to put down a riot by Ghibellines in the city following his accession to the throne of St Peter. The soldiers remained ensconced in Viterbo, ostensibly to guard the Pope but in reality to serve as his minder.[2]
This action immedately attracted the ire of Ladislaus of Naples, who had dispatched his own force to accomplish a similar objective. Ladislaus' army menaced Rome for a time, before withdrawing under threat of excommunication, but nevertheless extracted from the beleaguered Innocent a pledge that he would not compromise with the Avignon Pope if they insisted on maintaining the Anjou claim to his throne, as well as extending secular control over the Neapolitan church. News of the betrothal between the Anjou and the Visconti prompted a more dramatic response, and Ladislaus, who had his own designs on papal territory, decided to act preemptively against the northern alliance.
Pope Innocent VII had by this time chosen his nephew Ludovico Migliorati, a condottieri recently discharged from Visconti's service, as the captain of the Papal armies, a bout of nepotism which would cost the Pontiff dearly. Migliorati was wholly cruel and rapacious in temperament- indeed, his supposed “influence” on the young Gian Maria is believed to have motivated his father to foist the man off on the Roman pontiff- and quickly alienated the Roman oligarchy by ambushing eleven of his opponents in the streets upon their departure from a Papal audience, having them murdered and then tossing their bodies from the hospital of Santo Spirito into the Roman streets. These and other offenses provoked another revolt, which quickly overwhelmed the Papal guards and the bewildered Milanese garrison and drove them from the city. In the chaos of the flight Pope Innocent himself was killed by a stray projectile hurled by the crowd, and his corpse fallen upon and torn asunder by the furious Roman mob.[3]
This was the opportunity Ladislaus was waiting for. Barely was Innocent's body cold than he immediately marched north at the head of a sizeable army. Ladislaus did not merely desire concessions but the outright annexation of Papal territory, and to that end convened a Conclave to elevate his own candidate to the Papacy.
At this time Milan had an army in the Romagna under the command of Marquis Carlo, presently besieging Ancona with the aid of a Venetian navy. Proceedings in Rome scuppered these plans, and the army promptly lifted the siege and moved south to intercept the Neapolitans. Ladislaus had expected this, however, and dealt the Romagnans a stinging defeat at the Battle of Viterbo.
News of Ladislaus' advance provoked the venerable duke to action. Although literally wedded to the Anjou alliance, Gian Galeazzo was as yet laggardly in offering immediate support, as he did not intend to waste time, men or gold in a southern campaign until he was assured of a royal crown for himself. He had, however, used his French connections to annex the Republic of Genoa, a client of Paris, ostensibly in preparation for the Neapolitan campaign but in reality meant to secure the great city for himself. Now that Ladislaus was occupying Rome, however, Gian Galeazzo reacted decisively, dispatching envoys to Anjou to orchestrate their invasion of Naples.
[1]The Duomo OTL languished for two centuries due to the instability in Lombardy following Gian Galeazzo's death. TTL, with the survival of Visconti fortunes the Duomo is completed far earlier
[2]Ladislaus of Naples put down this revolt OTL. TTL, Visconti- being acutely in tune with papal politics- is quicker on the draw.
[3] this is all OTL up until Innocent's death, which is a divergence.