Milan
Filippo Maria Visconti enjoyed a great measure of success as leader of Milan, partly because he employed the best mercenary captains available, one of whom was Francesco Sforza, who eventually married the duke's daughter. When Filippo Maria died in 1447 without leaving any provision for the succession, a number of claimants appeared. The people of Milan proceeded to set up a republic and hired Sforza to defend it. Instead, he laid siege to the city and, in 1450, became its ruler, establishing a new dynasty. He was assisted by Florence, which, under the rule of Cosimo de' Medici, in this way reversed its long-standing anti-Milanese policy. Florence also helped Sforza in the ensuing war against Venice and Naples, and enabled him to hold on to his new state.
The Peace of Lodi of 1454, ending the conflict, became the basis of a league of all the Italian states, which maintained a precarious peace in Italy until 1494. Though there were conflicts during these forty years, they were all contained without foreign intervention on a large scale.
Sforza ruled Milan successfully until his death in 1466, maintaining good relations with Florence and with France. From France he secured control of Genoa. In Milan he was careful to have his position, which he had gained by force, validated by an assembly of the people. His son and successor, Galeazzo Maria, was less fortunate. Though in some ways a good ruler, he showed tendencies toward absolutism, combined with such qualities as cruelty and extravagance. Three conspirators, inflamed by their study of the classics with a love for republican liberty, murdered him in church in 1476. The late duke left behind him a seven-year-old son, Gian Galeazzo, who became duke, and several brothers, one of whom was the famous Ludovico the Moor (an epithet which had nothing to do with his complexion). Ludovico was clever enough to be able to take over the real power in the state and to become, in fact though not in name, the ruler of Milan. He established one of the most brilliant of Renaissance courts, with Leonardo da Vinci and the great architect Bramante as its chief ornaments. He encouraged the University of Pavia, founded a college where Greek was taught, and fostered the prosperity of Milan by irrigation works.
The Peace of Lodi of 1454, ending the conflict, became the basis of a league of all the Italian states, which maintained a precarious peace in Italy until 1494. Though there were conflicts during these forty years, they were all contained without foreign intervention on a large scale.
Sforza ruled Milan successfully until his death in 1466, maintaining good relations with Florence and with France. From France he secured control of Genoa. In Milan he was careful to have his position, which he had gained by force, validated by an assembly of the people. His son and successor, Galeazzo Maria, was less fortunate. Though in some ways a good ruler, he showed tendencies toward absolutism, combined with such qualities as cruelty and extravagance. Three conspirators, inflamed by their study of the classics with a love for republican liberty, murdered him in church in 1476. The late duke left behind him a seven-year-old son, Gian Galeazzo, who became duke, and several brothers, one of whom was the famous Ludovico the Moor (an epithet which had nothing to do with his complexion). Ludovico was clever enough to be able to take over the real power in the state and to become, in fact though not in name, the ruler of Milan. He established one of the most brilliant of Renaissance courts, with Leonardo da Vinci and the great architect Bramante as its chief ornaments. He encouraged the University of Pavia, founded a college where Greek was taught, and fostered the prosperity of Milan by irrigation works.