Galeazzo Maria Sforza


Galeazzo Maria Sforza was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476. 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, Duchess of Milan on her own right. Sforza was betrothed into the Gonzaga family; after the engagement with Dorotea Gonzaga was called off, he married Bona of Savoy.

Life

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, the sole heiress of the Duchy of Milan. 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 a false name 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 expelled her from Milan.

Patronage

Sforza was famous as a patron of music. Under his direction, financial backing and encouragement, his chapel grew into one of 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 included Alexander Agricola, Johannes Martini, Loyset Compère, and Gaspar van Weerbeke. However, most of the singers at the Sforza chapel fled after Sforza's murder and took positions elsewhere, which caused a rise of musical standards in other cities such as Ferrara.

Assassination

Three principal assassins were involved in Galeazzo 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, was 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 that Sforza had taken his sister's virginity.
After carefully studying Sforza's movements, the three conspirators made their move on the feast day of Saint Stephen, the patron saint of Santo Stefano where the assassination was to be committed. Supported by about thirty friends, they waited in the church for the duke to arrive for mass. When Galeazzo Sforza arrived, Lampugnani knelt before him; after some words were exchanged, he rose suddenly and stabbed Sforza in the groin and breast. Olgiati and Visconti soon joined in, as did a servant of Lampugnani's.
Sforza fell dead within a matter of seconds. All the assassins quickly escaped 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; they then hung the body upside-down outside Lampugnani's house. The beheaded corpse was cut down the next day and the "sinning" right hand was removed, burnt, and put on display in an act of symbolism.

Aftermath of assassination

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 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 the famous words, "Mors acerba, fama perpetua, stabit vetus memoria facti".

Issue

Galeazzo and his wife, Bona of Savoy had four children.
With his mistress Lucrezia Landriani, he had four illegitimate children.
By his mistress Lucia Marliani he had two sons.