25-581: Galeazzo Maria Sforza (24 January 1444 – 26 December 1476) was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476. He was notorious for being lustful, cruel, and tyrannical. He was born to Francesco Sforza , a popular condottiero and ally of Cosimo de' Medici who would gain the Duchy of Milan in 1450, and Bianca Maria Visconti . He married into the Gonzaga family ; on the death of his first wife Dorotea Gonzaga , he married Bona of Savoy . Cruel and vengeful, he
50-519: A false name. The false identity was necessary as he had to pass by the territories of the family's enemy, the Duke of Savoy , who made an unsuccessful attempt on Sforza's life. He entered Milan on 20 March 1466, and was acclaimed by the populace. In his first years, Sforza and his mother ruled jointly, but he later ousted her from Milan . Sforza was famous as a patron of music. Under his direction, financial backing and encouragement, his chapel grew into one of
75-467: Is recognized as the leader of the conspiracy. His motives were based primarily on a land dispute, in which Sforza had failed to intervene in a matter which saw the Lampugnani family lose considerable properties. Visconti and Olgiati also bore the duke enmity—Olgiati was a Republican idealist, whereas Visconti believed Sforza to have taken his sister's virginity. After carefully studying Sforza's movements,
100-638: The Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza . While not present at the murder, Cola Montano was captured by the Lorenzo de' Medici government of Tuscany, and hanged from a window in the Bargello . Nicola Capponi was born in Gaggio Montano near Bologna . By 1462, he had been named professor of Latin for the public school of Milan. Among his students was Pietro Grassi . But it is also reputed that Cola taught Latin to much of
125-470: The Duke. Some have pointed that he had a wish to revert Milan to a republic and replicate the Ancient Roman precedents of tyrannicide . Cola, by nature, appears to have been prone to bicker. He apparently had twice been jailed, one for writing satires about another Sforza tutor and the other time accused of raping a young woman. He is said to have been physically assaulted or publicly whipped by Galeazzo for
150-698: The French or the collateral branches of Sforza. In 1540, the Duchy was secretly given as a gift to Charles V's son Philip, Prince of Asturias . This was made official at the abdication of Charles V in 1555. In 1556, Philip became Philip II of Spain and Milan entered in personal union with the Spanish Crown . In September 1700, Charles became ill; by 28 September he was no longer able to eat and Portocarrero persuaded him to alter his Will in favour of Louis XIV's grandson, Philip of Anjou . When Charles died on 1 November 1700,
175-575: The Imperial and Papal forces; he was outmatched by Prospero Colonna , however, and by late November had been forced out of Milan and had retreated to a ring of towns around the Adda River . For the third time and last time, the Sforza were restored to power. In 1535, after the death of the heirless Francesco II Sforza, Emperor Charles V annexed the Duchy as a vacant imperial state in order to avoid other claims by
200-618: The Milanese aristocracy, including the future Duke Galeazzo himself. Cola was active in sponsoring printers of various Latin classics, but appeared to have fleeting collaborations with the businesses. After the murder of the Duke, one of the conspirators, Girolamo Olgiati , rapidly fingered his teacher Cola as fostering the murder. Cola had not been present in Milan at the time but was in Tuscany. Many reasons have been postulated for Cola's impetus to murder
225-473: The body upside-down outside Lampugnani's house. The beheaded corpse was cut down the next day and, in an act of symbolism, the "sinning" right hand was removed, burnt, and put on display. Despite the initial public reaction, the government brought swift justice, soon encouraged by the public as well. The conspirators had given little thought to the repercussions of their crime, and were apprehended within days. Visconti and Olgiati were soon found and executed, as
250-420: The conspirators made their move on the day after Christmas , 1476, feast day of Saint Stephen , patron saint of Santo Stefano , the church where the deed was to be committed. Supported by about thirty friends, the three men waited in the church for the duke to arrive for mass. When Galeazzo Sforza arrived, Lampugnani knelt before him; after some words were exchanged, Lampugnani rose suddenly and stabbed Sforza in
275-761: The famous words, "Mors acerba, fama perpetua, stabit vetus memoria facti" (Death is bitter, but glory is eternal, the memory of my deed will endure). Similar elements indicate that this assassination was likely influential in the Pazzi conspiracy , a subsequent attempt to dethrone the Medici family in Florence and to replace them with Girolamo Riario . Galeazzo and his second wife, Bona of Savoy had: With his mistress Lucrezia Landriani , he had several illegitimate children: By his mistress Lucia Marliani Other children by unknown women, including List of dukes of Milan Milan
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#1732872524656300-430: The groin and breast. Olgiati and Visconti soon joined in, as did a servant of Lampugnani's. Sforza was dead within a matter of seconds. All the assassins quickly escaped in the ensuing mayhem save for Lampugnani, who became entangled in some of the church's cloth and was killed by a guard. His body soon fell into the hands of a mob, which dragged the corpse through the streets, slashing and beating at it; finally, they hung
325-457: The main line of Visconti went extinct. Benefited by political chaos, a cabal of wealthy citizens, academics and clerics declared the Duchy dissolved and proclaimed the oligarchical Golden Ambrosian Republic . The republic was never recognized and the neighboring states of Venice and Savoy tried to expand their fiefdoms in Lombardy, as well as France . Taking advantage of the state's weakness and
350-533: The most famous and historically significant musical ensembles in Europe. Composers from the north, especially the Franco-Flemish composers from the present-day Low Countries , came to sing in his chapel and write masses , motets and secular music for him. Some of the figures associated with the Sforza chapel include Alexander Agricola , Johannes Martini , Loyset Compère , and Gaspar van Weerbeke . However, most of
375-616: The only Duke of Milan, entering the city on 6 October 1499. Ludovico Sforza was captured on February 1500, dying in prison in 1508. His son Massimiliano became the Sforza claimant to the Milanese Throne, which he finally re-gained in January 1513, six months after the Swiss army's entrance in Milan. After their defeat in the Battle of Marignano in 1515, the Swiss retired from Milan and Massimiliano
400-525: The resurgent Guelph-Ghibelline conflict, the commander-in-chief of the Milanese forces, Francesco I Sforza , defected from Milan to Venice in 1448, and two years later, after several side switches and cunning strategies, Sforza entered the city during Annunciation . He was then declared the new Duke of Milan by the City Council, using as a claim his marriage with Bianca Maria Visconti , illegitimate daughter of Filippo Maria. In 1494, Ludovico Sforza usurped
425-558: The security of Austria's southern border. Since that moment, Milan was a permanent possession of the Austrian branch of the Habsburg dynasty. Cola Montano Cola Montano , also known as Nicola Capponi , ( c. 1440 – 13 March 1482) was an Italian writer and humanist scholar who helped incite the Congiura dei Lampugnani or Conspiracy of the Lampugnani that succeeded in murdering
450-424: The singers at the Sforza chapel fled after Sforza's murder and took positions elsewhere; as a result, there was soon a rise in musical standards in other cities such as Ferrara . There were three principal assassins involved in Sforza's death: Carlo Visconti , Gerolamo Olgiati , and Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani , all fairly high-ranking officials at the Milanese court. Lampugnani, descended from Milanese nobility,
475-669: The throne of Milan, after probably poisoning his nephew Gian Galeazzo. After the threats of the Venetians, Ludovico solicited French king Charles VIII to descend into Italy, starting the First Italian War . After Ludovico's betrayal and alliance with the League of Venice in 1495, the French were defeated in the Battle of Fornovo and were unable to expand in Italy. Charles VIII's top general and cousin, Louis II, Duke of Orléans (future Louis XII),
500-612: The throne was offered to Philip, who was proclaimed King of Spain on 16 November 1700. This was accepted by Britain and the Dutch Republic , among others. Disputes over division of territories and commercial rights led to the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701. After the Treaty of Rastatt of 1714, Emperor Charles VI officially gained the Duchy of Milan, a possession considered vital to
525-536: Was "a man who did great follies and dishonest things not to write". Galeazzo Maria Sforza was born in Fermo , near the family's castle of Girifalco. He was the first son of Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti . At the death of his father on 8 March 1466, Sforza was in France heading a military expedition to help King Louis XI against Charles I of Burgundy . Called back home by his mother, Sforza returned to Italy under
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#1732872524656550-584: Was humiliated and due to his personal hate toward Ludovico Sforza, started to claim the Duchy of Milan for himself, quoting his paternal descendance from Valentina Visconti and Gian Galeazzo's last will. After Louis XII's ascension to the French Throne in 1499, he started the Second Italian War to conquer Milan and Naples. With French armies near Pavia, Ludovico and his loyalists left Milan on 17 September 1499 to flee toward Germany. This left Louis XII as
575-470: Was imprisoned by the returning French troops. He waived his rights to Milan for the sum of 30,000 ducats and continued to live in France. By November 1521, the French situation had deteriorated considerably. Emperor Charles V , Henry VIII of England , and Pope Leo X signed an alliance against Francis on 28 November. Odet de Foix, Viscount of Lautrec , the French governor of Milan , was tasked with resisting
600-521: Was ruled by dukes from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna . In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti was titled Duke of Milan by King Wenceslaus , who sold the title under the payment of circa 100,000 florins . Since that moment, all the following rulers of Milan were styled as dukes. After the death of Filippo Maria in 1447,
625-472: Was the servant of Lampugnani who had participated in the slaying. The executions took place in a public ceremony that culminated in the display of their corpses as a warning to others. Evidence from the conspirators' confessions indicated that the assassins had been encouraged by the humanist Cola Montano , who had left Milan some months before, and who bore malice against the duke for a public whipping some years before. While being tortured, Olgiati also uttered
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