| Gian Galeazzo Visconti |
Article Index for Gian |
Website Links For Gian |
Information AboutGian Galeazzo Visconti |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GIAN GALEAZZO VISCONTI | |
| 1351 births | |
| visconti, giangaleazzo | |
| 1402 deaths | |
| people from pavia | |
| dukes of milan | |
| house of visconti | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
|
Gian Galeazzo Visconti ( 1351 – September 3 , 1402 ) was the first Duke of Milan and ruled the city for much of the early Renaissance . Born in Pavia , Galeazzo was a feared and hated tyrant of Milan from 1386 to 1402 . He was not the immediate heir to the title, but he overthrew his uncle Bernabo through treacherous means in 1385 to gain control of the Duchy and proceeded to rule it with an iron fist. The Duke developed new and innovative statecraft techniques including the "Lenten treatment", forty days of slow but continuous torture. A devoted father to his daughter Valentina (wife of Duke Louis 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 and soon controlled almost the entire Po river valley. He used the bounty of these conquests to buy the title of Duke from the Holy Roman Emperor for the price of 100,000 Florins. Galeazzo had dreams of uniting all of northern Italy into one empire, and many of the people of Italy supported this ambition. The many obstacles to his success were Bologna and especially Florence . In 1394 Gian Galeazzo launched assaults upon these cities. The warfare was extremely taxing 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 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. EXTERNAL LINKS
|