Duchy of Milan

Ducato di Milano
Ducatus Mediolani
Duchy of Milan

← (1395) ← (1447) 1395-1796 (1796- 1797) →
Location of the Duchy of Milan (1494)
Capital	Milan
Main language	Western and Italian Lombard
Religion	Catholic Church
Government	Principality
Duke of Milan
• 1395–1402	Gian Galeazzo Visconti
• 1792–1796	Francis I of Austria
History
• Foundation	1395
• Ambrosian Republic	1447-1450
• Domain Sforza	1450-1499, 1512-1515, 1521-1535
• French Domain	1499-1512, 1515-1521
• Spanish Domain	1535-1706
• Austrian Domain	1706-1796
• Dissolution	1796
Currency	Milanese Shield

The Duchy of Milan, also called the Milaneseate or State of Milan, was the main power in the north of the peninsula during the Middle Ages italic.

The duchy was created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan. When the Visconti dynasty came to an end in 1447, Milan was declared a Republic, despite the claims of the duke of Orleans, the legitimate heir. Orleans was unable to take possession of the inheritance from him, but the Republic was short lived. The adventurer Francesco Sforza, married to the bastard daughter of the last Visconti, took Milan in 1450 and proclaimed himself duke.

History

The Visconti: founders of the duchy

The domains of the Visconti in the 14th century

The fate of Milan was intertwined from the XIII century with that of the House of Visconti, which took up politics again of territorial expansion inherited from the Ambrosian commune. One of the first Viscontean rulers at the head of the Lombard city was Otto Visconti (r. 1277-1278, 1282-1285), elected Archbishop of Milan in 1262 and who defeated the Della Torre family at the Battle of Desio in 1277. In In the first half of the following century, his grandsons and great-grandsons came to rule in Milan—Matthew (r. 1287-1298), Galeazzo I (r. 1322-1327), Azzone (r. 1329-1339), Archbishop Giovanni (r. 1339-1354—and expanded the area of influence of the Visconti in the surrounding regions.This same policy of expansion and consolidation was followed in the second half of the century by their successors, the brothers Mateo II (r. 1354-1355), Galeazzo II (r. 1354-1378) and Bernabò (r. 1354-1385).After a period marked by tensions between the various members of the powerful family, Gian Galeazzo (r. 1378-1402), Bernabò's nephew, arrived to power in 1385 with a coup d'état and, little by little, unified the vast family domains spread across northern Italy.

It is said that the territories subject to his rule gave Gian Galeazzo in one year, in addition to the ordinary income of 1,200,000 gold florins, another 800,000 in extraordinary subsidies.

The Viscontean duchy (1395-1447)

The Duchy of Milan and the Visconti domains (marked in bright green) at the beginning of the 15th century, in the peak of its power, under the Duke Gian Galeazzo

The duchy was officially established on May 11, 1395, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti, already Vicario Imperiale and Dominus Generalis, obtained the title of Duke of Milan through a diploma signed in Prague by Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, King of Romans and of Bohemia (1378-1400). The appointment was ratified and celebrated in Milan on September 5, 1395. Gian Galeazzo Visconti obtained the patent to insert the viscontean biscione (snake) with the imperial eagle on the new ducal flag.

The imperial diploma of 1395, which established that the new duchy extended only to the city of Milan and its contado, was followed by a second document dated October 13, 1396 with which they extended the ducal powers to all the domains of the Visconti, and where the most significant centers of the duchy are mentioned: Alessandria, Asti, Avenza (Carrara), Bassano del Grappa, Belluno, Bergamo, Bobbio, Borgo San Donnino (Fidenza), Bormio, Brescia, Crema, Cremona, Como, Feltre, Lodi, Novara, Novi Ligure, Parma, Piacenza, Pontremoli, Reggio nell'Emilia, Riva del Garda, Rocca d'Arazzo, Sarzana, Soncino, Tortona, Vercelli, Verona, Vicenza. In addition, legitimate male primogeniture was adopted for dynastic succession and the County of Pavia, appanage of the heir to the throne, was created. In 1397, another imperial diploma established the County of Angera among the Visconti fiefs (25 January 1397).. False, on the other hand, would be another imperial diploma, signed by Wenceslaus of Luxembourg himself in Prague on March 30, 1397, with which the king of the Romans would have proclaimed Gian Galeazzo also Dux Lombardiae.

On the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1402), the very young son Giovanni Maria could not maintain his father's conquests and the duchy suffered a rapid disintegration starting from Poschiavo which, after two years of revolt, in 1408 passed to the Caddean League, while the pope had already seized Assisi, Perugia and Bologna with the Peace of Caledio on August 25, 1403, and the Tuscan republics had once again become independent, just as the Venetian cities had ceded and the Langhe and Reggio Emilia had passed to the Este.

In 1412 Giovanni Maria was assassinated in Milan by conspirators terrified by his frequent murderous manias. He was succeeded to the throne by his younger brother Filippo Maria, who, after regaining control of a large part of the duchy, resumed the expansionist policy followed by Gian Galeazzo and came into conflict with the Republic of Venice. The war, declared in 1426, lasted several years and ended with the Peace of Ferrara (1428), in which Filippo Maria Visconti ceded the cities and territories of Brescia and Bergamo to the Serenissima, annulling Vercelli's gift to the Savoys to protect themselves from a conflict on two fronts. The duke's frustration at this glaring strategic error spilled over to his ill-fated wife, Marie of Savoy.

When Juana II of Anjou died without heirs (1435), the crown of the kingdom of Naples was disputed between the Angevins and the Aragonese. Filippo Maria Visconti formed a league with Venice and Florence and sided with the Angevins; Later, in one of his frequent changes of alignment, he passed with the Aragonese but was defeated by the former allies, led by the mercenary condottiero Francisco Sforza. In 1441 Filippo Maria signed the Peace of Cremona, with which he ceded other lands to the Republic of Venice and gave his natural daughter Bianca Maria in marriage to Francesco Sforza, who brought Cremona and his cash, except for Castelleone and Pizzighettone, a stronghold that was exchanged with Pontremoli in Lunigiana.

The Golden Ambrosian Republic (1447-1450)

On the death of Filippo Maria, the last of the Visconti (August 1447), the so-called Aurea Repubblica Ambrosiana was established, a form of republican government established by a group of Milanese nobles. The Republic entrusted the defense against Venice to Francesco Sforza (r. 1450-1466) who, endowed with considerable strategic gifts, took advantage of the crisis of the republic to be named Duke of Milan (March 25, 1450).

The first Sforzesco duchy (1450-1499)

The Visconteo castle of Pavia

Venice had not given up its desire to expand in Lombardy and so it allied with Alfonso V of Aragon, King of Naples, and Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg (1440-1493) against Francesco Sforza and his allies. The fall of Constantinople, conquered by the Turks, however, endangered the structure of the Venetian possessions in the Aegean Sea and after 4 years of war the Peace of Lodi was signed (April 1454). With that document Francesco Sforza and Alfonso V of Aragon were recognized respectively as Duke of Milan and King of Naples, the Republic of Venice extended its domains to the Adda River and the Santissima Lega Italica against the Turks was concluded.

The political balance achieved with the Peace of Lodi lasted until the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent (April 8, 1492) and the descent of Charles VIII in Italy (1494), except for a few incursions Swiss that led to the Peace of Lucerne.

Galeazzo Maria (r. 1466-1476), son of Francisco Sforza, was assassinated in a conspiracy by his government considered by many to be tyrannical. His son, Gian Galeazzo Sforza (r. 1476-1494), barely seven years old, ruled under his mother Bona of Savoy's regency, until his uncle Ludovico the Moor usurped the throne of the duchy. Ludovico the Moor (r. 1494-1499), son of Francesco Sforza, managed to obtain the guardianship of his nephew Gian Galeazzo and confine him in the visconteo castle of Pavia, where in 1494 he died under such mysterious circumstances that not a few suspicions fell on himself. The Moor.

For this reason, relations between Ludovico and Fernando de Aragón deteriorated: in fact, Gian Galeazzo had married a niece of the King of Naples, who took the role of legitimate heir. Ludovico el Moro responded by encouraging King Charles VIII of France to claim the kingdom of Naples, since until 1442 the Neapolitan throne had belonged to the French house of the Angevins. In 1494 Charles VIII landed in Italy and crossed the entire peninsula at the head of an army that conquered Naples on February 22, 1495, upsetting the balance between the different Italian states in what was the first of the Italian wars (1494-1559).

That same year, 1495, Charles VIII undertook a compromised retreat harassed by the army of a League, that of Venice, made up of the Republic of Venice, the Papal States, the Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan, which had meanwhile decided to change its alliances.

The French Conquest (1499-1512)

Cristoforo Solari, tomb of Ludovico il Moro and Beatrice d'Este, Certosa di Pavia.

In 1498 the son of the Duke of Orléans became King of France as Louis XII and sought to enforce the same claims his father made to Milan: one of his ancestors, Luigi di Turenna, had in fact married Valentina Visconti, daughter of Duke Gian Galeazzo, in 1389, whose marriage contract established that, in the event of the extinction of the Visconti dynasty, the title of Duke of Milan would pass to Valentina's descendants. Louis XII, who had already accompanied his cousin Charles VIII in the campaign of 1494-1495, claiming to be the legitimate heir of the Visconti, invaded the Milanese state in 1499, expelling Ludovico the Moor. The former ruler Sforza tried in vain to oppose the transalpine troops, and also asked the Emperor for help, but he only managed to recapture the capital and some other lands for a short time. Defeated and taken prisoner at Novara in 1500, he was deported to France, to the castle of Loches, where he died on May 27, 1508.

This French rule lasted until 1512, when Swiss forces led by Mateo Schinner restored Ludovico's son Massimiliano to the throne. In 1515 the French, under Francis I of France, won the Battle of Marignano, capturing Massimiliano and retaking the duchy. They were again expelled in 1521, and this time the imperial forces crowned Massimiliano's brother, Francis II Sforza.

The second sforzesco duchy (1512-1515)

Louis XII remained Duke of Milan until 1512, when Swiss forces led by Mateo Schinner restored Ludovico's son Massimiliano (r.1512-1515) to the throne. Between 1512 and 1515 the Swiss cantons de facto controlled the duchy.

The Second French Duchy (1515-1521)

Under the reign of Francis I of Valois, the French Crown succeeded in reestablishing its sovereignty over the Duchy of Milan. In 1515, after the bloody battle of Marignano, which saw the defeat of the Swiss army, the French sovereign deposed Maximilian and installed himself on the ducal throne. Despite the defeat, the Swiss managed to keep the territories along the road that from the Pass of San Gotardo leads to the gates of Como (current Canton of Ticino). The Treaty of Noyon of 1516 confirmed the possession of the Duchy of Milan to the French. Francis of Valois ruled the duchy until 1521, when Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, elevated Maximilian's young brother, Francis II Sforza, to the throne of the duchy.

The third sforzesco duchy (1521-1535)

The Battle of Pavia of 1525

Following the decisive Spanish victory over France at the Battle of Pavia on February 24, 1525, the imperial forces of Charles V dominated Italy, Francesco II Sforza joined the League of Cognac against the Emperor: along with him, the Republic of Venice, the Florentine Republic, Pope Clement VII and the Kingdom of France. This led to the rapid expulsion of Francis from Milan by imperial forces, although he maintained some control over some cities and strongholds of the duchy.

He ended up recovering Milan by the treaty of Barcelona in 1529 in which the emperor recognized the power of the Sforza in Milan and returned the Papal States to the pope. He undertook to procure the reinstatement of the pontiff of Ravenna and Cervia, through Venice, which he obtained. The Pope recognized the possession of Modena and Reggio to Alfonso I of Este, Duke of Ferrara, an ally of Carlos. Finally the key promise of the emperor was the commitment to restore the Medici in Florence by force of arms, in the person of Alexander de Medici (Siege of Florence and battle of Gavinana).

Thanks to the Republic of Venice which yielded in exchange for the withdrawal of Milan's imperial claims on the entire Apulian coast (Brindisi, Monopoli, Gallipoli, Polignano, Lecce, Bari and Trani), and also for the fact that that Charles V did not want to confront the Venetians, "because if he had not yielded, he could not have made peace with the Venetians and it would have been an 'immortal war in Italy'", and he knew that he did not have the means to to win it, because the Venetians were too anxious that Milan should not get a hand in overseas, since they considered it "fit to occupy it nor then proportioned to be able to maintain it". Francis II Sforza died without heirs in 1535, opening a new question for the succession to the throne. In this period, to be precise in 1532, Francesco II requested and obtained from Pope Clement VII the erection of Vigevano, a city to which his family was always deeply attached, as the capital of Vigevanasco, after having obtained the title of city and bishopric. in 1530 in the same way.

The Spanish Period (1559-1707)

When Francesco died without heirs in 1535, a struggle broke out between Francis I of France and King Charles I of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) over his succession. After several wars, the Emperor annexed the duchy, investing his son Felipe with it by means of an imperial diploma signed in Brussels on October 11, 1540 and made public in 1554. Felipe's possession of the duchy was finally recognized by the king. Henry II of France in 1559, with the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. The duchy, which lost all forms of independence, was reduced to a regional state that was subject to foreign domination for the rest of its history. The Duchy of Milan remained under the control of the Spanish Habsburg monarchy for nearly 150 more years, until the War of the Spanish Succession at the turn of the 18th century. . After the death of King Carlos II, who did not leave any descendants, in 1700 a succession dispute arose between Philip of Anjou and Archduke Carlos of Austria. All the possessions of the Spanish Crown were in conflict, and that included the Duchy of Milan.

Austrian rule (1714-1797)

Northern Italy in 1796

On September 26, 1706, Austrian troops took the city of Milan and on April 10, 1707, Cremona, passing the dukedom into the hands of the Archduke of Austria. The Spanish crown, which remained in the hands of Felipe V, definitively lost control over the Duchy of Milan. The domination of the Austrian Habsburgs was legally confirmed in the Treaty of Utrecht and was further ratified by the Treaty of Baden in 1714 and Vienna in 1725. With the Treaty of Baden, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession, the Duchy of Milan was ceded to the Austrian House of Habsburg. In the course of the 18th century the area of the duchy —despite the merger in 1745 with the duchy of Mantua, which without Although it had a strong autonomy with respect to Milan, it was further reduced, reaching an area even smaller than the current region of Lombardy: in fact, Bergamo, Brescia and Crema (Republic of Venice), Valtellina (Three Leagues), Pontremoli and Zeri (sold to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1650), Lomellina (Duchy of Savoy from 1706) and Oltrepò Pavese (Kingdom of Sardinia from 1748).

The government of the Habsburgs in Austria was characterized by important administrative reforms, which the rulers of the Austrian family —inspired by the principles of so-called enlightened absolutism— also introduced in their Lombard territories: for example, the reorganization of the cadastre, the abolition of church censorship, the development of the silk industry.

The end of the dukedom

Following Napoleon Bonaparte's victorious campaign in northern Italy in 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars the duchy, entrusted to an interim governing council, was ceded to the French Republic by the Habsburgs with the Treaty of Campoformio in 1797. But already in 1796 the French had instituted on the territories of the Duchy of Milan the vassal state of the Transpadana Republic, which in 1797 merged with the Cispadana Republic to form the Cisalpine Republic, of which Milan became the capital. After Napoleon's defeat, based on the decisions made by the Congress of Vienna on June 9, 1815, the Duchy of Milan was not restored but became part of the Lombard-Venetian Kingdom, dependent on the Austrian Empire. It was soon again the target of Italian nationalism, being conquered by the kingdom of Sardinia during the wars that led to the unification of Italy.

List of rulers of the Duchy of Milan

The following is a list of the rulers of Milan from the s. XIII until 1859 when Milan and the rest of Lombardy were incorporated into the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.