Galeazzo II Visconti
Galeazzo II Visconti was a member of the Visconti dynasty and a ruler of Milan, Italy. His most notable military campaigns were against Pope Gregory XI, around 1367. These battles fought between the papacy and the Visconti family ultimately ended in a peace treaty. Politically active, he expanded the power of his family, where the Visconti first became hereditary rulers of Milan starting in 1349. He is remembered in conjunction with his patronage of intellectuals and writers, from his sponsorship of Petrarch to the founding of the University of Pavia in 1361. Galeazzo II Visconti, and his brother Bernabò, are credited with the institution of the Quaresima Torture Protocol, a vicious means of torture.
Visconti family
The founder of the Visconti house is a conflicted claim, though widespread credit goes to Galeazzo's ancestor, Ottone Visconti. Other notable figures in the Visconti family include Matteo I, Luchino I and Bernabò. Prior to his rule over Milan, Galeazzo II was briefly exiled by his uncle, Luchino. During his exile he stayed in Savoy before eventually being invited to return to Milan and share rule over the city with his relatives, Bernabò and Matteo II Visconti. Galeazzo's fame is outstripped by that of his son Gian Galeazzo; under Gian Galeazzo, the Visconti's status was elevated from mere rulers to dukes of Milan.Galeazzo II became co-ruler of Milan with his brothers Bernabò and Matteo II through a statute forged by the Milanese General Council. During his time as signore, Galeazzo II was focused on increasing the prestige and influence of the Visconti. He forged ties with Holy Roman emperor Charles IV, who granted him and his two brothers, the shared title of imperial vicar. Although Visconti military activities in North Italy allowed Galeazzo II to set up his base of operations in Pavia, it also drew him into conflict with the Papacy. His death on August 4, 1378, allowed his son Gian Galeazzo Visconti to expand the influence of the family as signore.
Galeazzo II Visconti's most notable military campaigns were against Pope Gregory XI, beginning roughly around 1367. A series of battles were fought between the papacy and members of the Visconti family, including Bernarbò and Galeazzo Visconti that ultimately ended in a peace treaty. However, this agreement would be revoked when Bernarbò's alliance with Florence, who had also held a longstanding struggle against the papacy, pulled the Visconti family back into battle during the War of Eight Saints in 1375. Another accomplishment of Galeazzo's was to claim Pavia in 1359, which helped him fund military expeditions. Pavia later became a principal residence of the Visconti family.
Despite his accomplishments, Galeazzo II Visconti's legacy has largely been coloured by a select few aspects of his life. He is largely remembered through the successes of his son, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who was able to wrest sole control of Milan from his uncle Bernabò Visconti after Galeazzo's death. Yet, there is obvious continuity between the power gained by Galeazzo II, and the power maintained, and even expanded upon by Gian Galeazzo, which can be attributed in part to the situation Galeazzo II left his son in.
On top of his political legacy, Galeazzo II is often remembered in conjunction with his patronage of intellectuals and writers, from his sponsorship of Petrarch to the founding of the University of Pavia. Finally, Galeazzo II is associated with a sinister legacy of brutal torture. This comes from his and his brother's introduction of the Querasima torture protocol at the beginning of their dual reign in Milan.
Family history and events
Galeazzo II Visconti was the son of Stefano Visconti and Valentina Doria. The House of Visconti held family ties to Pisa, Sardinia and Milan. Originally, the founding of the Milanese Visconti line was a particularly contested issue. Galeazzo's ancestors, Azzone and Ottone Visconti both held legitimate claims to be considered the founder of their house. However, it was under Ottone that the power of the Visconti house expanded before becoming the dynastic power they were later infamous for. Previously, the Visconti family had only enjoyed limited privileges within the city. As a result of his efforts, Ottone was recognized as the official founder of the Visconti house over Azzone.As the archbishop of Milan from 1277 to 1294, Ottone wrested control over Milan from its previous rulers before skillfully manoeuvring his nephew Matteo I Visconti into a position of power. Matteo il Magno ruled from 1294 to 1302 and then again from 1311 to 1322, preceding Galeazzo's rule. Matteo notably achieved control over Pavia, Vercelli, Novara and Como. Though he was temporarily ousted from power by a rebellion, Matteo later received the position of imperial vicar general during his second period of rule. Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV then eventually appointed Matteo as Lord of Milan, thirty years after he first obtained a position in the secular government. In this way, Matteo aided in establishing an enduring lordship over Milan; this moment in time significantly contributed to the hereditary quality of Visconti power. Yet regardless of his achievements, Matteo later died a condemned heretic.
Galeazzo I succeeded Matteo I from 1322 to 1327 and preceded Galeazzo II's rule in 1354 by 27 years. Before Galeazzo II became the ruler of Milan he was preceded by: Azzone, Luchino I, and Giovanni. Prior to his rule, Galeazzo was a fairly self-possessed individual. He had proven himself to be a capable diplomat and a lover of the arts. In particular, he was one of Petrarch's many patrons. Galeazzo also expressed a love for travelling: in 1343, he embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He briefly resided in Savoy for several years, where his uncle Luchino had exiled him in 1345. Following his exile and Luchino's death, Galeazzo returned to Milan in 1349 at the behest of his remaining uncle, Giovanni Visconti. His uncle also made him governor of Bologna. The following year, Galeazzo commissioned the Visconti Castle, otherwise known as Castello Visconteo located in Pavia. The castle became the main Pavian residence of the Visconti family. During the same year, another significant event occurred in his life on September 28. Perhaps partially reflective of his fondness for Savoy as formed during his years in exile, Galeazzo went on to marry Bianca of Savoy. She was the daughter of Count Aymon and the sister of Amadeus VI of Savoy. The marriage between the two consequently further cemented the alliance between Savoy and Milan. Together, the couple had two known children.
Almost immediately after getting married, the two had their first and most well-known child, a son by the name of Gian Galeazzo in 1351 who was married off to Isabelle, the daughter of King John II of France. Their only other known child was a daughter named Violante. She was born in 1354, the same year Galeazzo assumed shared rule over Milan with his two brothers, Matteo II and Bernabò. He married his daughter off to Lionel of Antwerp, son of Edward III of England, and gave a dowry of 200,000 gold florins.
Matteo was assassinated early on in their rule in 1355. Upon Matteo's death, Galeazzo obtained the western part of Lombardy, while Bernabò received the eastern one. In 1362 Galeazzo's own health worsened and he moved his court to Pavia, which he had reconquered two years earlier, and where he died in 1378. Though Galeazzo died of natural causes, the same cannot be said for his last remaining brother. Bernabò received a fate similar to Matteo's and was assassinated in 1385. Galeazzo's son, Gian Galeazzo succeeded his father and uncle's rule and went on to achieve fame greater than that of his sibling and father. Beginning his twenty-five-year rule in 1378, Gian Galeazzo eventually became the first official duke of Milan in 1395.
Political affairs
In his political life, Galeazzo II Visconti worked to expand the power of his family. The Visconti first became the hereditary rulers of Milan on May 31, 1349, when the General Council of Milan created a statute that the office of dominus generalis would be inherited by the legitimate male descendants of Matteo Visconti, who was the grandfather of Galeazzo II Visconti. One of Matteo Visconti's sons, Luchino Visconti, wanted his son Luchino Novello to succeed him as signore of Milan, but this proposal was rejected by Galeazzo II, Matteo II and Bernabò Visconti, who were the sons of Stefano Visconti. After the death of Giovanni Visconti, who was the brother of Galeazzo, Luchino and Stefano Visconti, the General Council of Milan created another statute which proclaimed that Galeazzo II, Matteo II and Bernabò Visconti were to govern Milan as co-rulers because they were the only male adult descendants of their grandfather Matteo Visconti. Other territories under Visconti jurisdiction were to be divided among them as well. Matteo II Visconti died five months after he and his two brothers obtained the title of imperial vicar from the Holy Roman Emperor and although the exact cause of his death was unknown, he left his brothers Galeazzo II and Bernabò as the two remaining co-rulers of Milan.During the reign of the three brothers, they wanted to increase their privileges and governing powers, so they decided to re-establish good relations with Holy Roman Empire so they could acquire the status of imperial vicars. On May 8, 1355, a diploma of a new vicariate for the three brothers was forged after Emperor Charles IV accepted a payment of 150000 florins from them. According to Jane Black, the imperial vicariate granted more privileges to the three brothers compared to the privileges that their predecessors had received. Most of the privileges the three brothers received from the vicariate were related to judicial processes such as the right to raise imperial taxes. The diploma also granted the Visconti brothers full control over communal laws and customs in their territory. The title of imperial vicar was also hereditary, meaning that the future lords of Milan would be granted the same rights that were granted to the Visconti brothers by Charles IV. Although Galeazzo II and Bernabò continued to refer to themselves as dominus generalis in their official documents, the two brothers eventually referred to themselves as imperial vicars as well to demonstrate their abundance of power to their subjects.
Prior to Galeazzo II Visconti's ascension to power, Milan was ruled by Giovanni Visconti, who brought Galeazzo II and Bernabò back from exile. Giovanni's military activities drew the ire of the Papacy during the late 1340s, which led to the Papacy writing a letter of complaint to Galeazzo II for the Visconti family's incursions in Faenza. Galeazzo II encountered more conflicts with the Papacy during his rule as signore due to his own policy of expanding Visconti influence with his brother Bernabò in North Italy. When the Visconti tried to re-establish their influence in Bologna, a conflict between the Visconti family and the Papacy occurred and this led to the excommunication of Bernabò for heresy. Furthermore, persuaded by the Papacy, Charles IV revoked the vicariate that he granted to the Visconti family in 1361, although he returned the title to them four years later on the condition that they remained loyal and obedient to the Holy Roman Empire and its emperor. Another war broke out in 1372 when Galeazzo II tried to retake the city of Asti, which was opposed by the Count of Savoy. Visconti military activity in the 1370s led to another conflict with the Papacy when Pope Gregory XI condemned both Bernabò and Galeazzo II Visconti as heretics as well as revoking their title as imperial vicar by the Holy Roman Emperor once more in 1372.
In the year 1359, the Galeazzo II Visconti conquered the city of Pavia, which became his base of operations. Those who were exiled from Pavia prior to the Visconti conquest were allowed to return and they were granted political amnesty. Although the two brothers had agreed on sharing authority in Milan, Galeazzo's absence from the city allowed his brother Bernabò to possess complete authority over the city. In 1361, Galeazzo II was also able to officially establish a university in Pavia due to a charter that was granted to him by Emperor Charles. Galeazzo II had also married off his son Gian Galeazzo to Isabella of Valois, who was the daughter of the King of France. Galeazzo II also helped his own son acquire political power through a marriage with the French princess Isabella of Valois, which granted his son the title Count of Vertus. On August 4, 1379, Galeazzo II Visconti died, leaving Bernabò as the last of the three co-ruling brothers of Milan. Bernabò would live until 1385 when he was thrown in jail due to a conspiracy hatched by Galeazzo II Visconti's son, Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Gian Galeazzo succeeded his father and became the signore of all the lands that were controlled by his father.