Carlo Visconti (died 2 January 1477) was an Italian, who was a member of the prominent Visconti family, and a government secretary in Milan's Council of Justice, he was executed for being the assassin of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Carlo Visconti (died 2 January 1477) was an Italian, who was a member of the prominent Visconti family, and a government secretary in Milan's Council of Justice, he was executed for being the assassin of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Visconti was a well-connected official in the Milanese court, and the Duke, although popular as a patron of the arts, was known to be rather ruthless in his rule and something of a womaniser. Visconti believed that the Duke had deflowered his sister, and some time in 1476 entered a conspiracy against the Duke with Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani and Gerolamo Olgiati, two other Milanese officials.
On 26 December 1476, the three conspirators met at the church of Santo Stefano Maggiore, the site where the assassination was to take place. It was also the Saint's day for Santo Stefano, a day chosen especially for this purpose. After praying for the saint's protection, the three waited, along with several supporters and the regular congregation, for the Duke's arrival.
The Duke arrived at the church with a customary procession. When it reached the part of the church where the assassins were, Lampugnani struck the first blow, soon joined by Visconti, Olgiati and a servant of Lampugnani's, all of whom were armed and wearing hidden armour. The Duke died during the attack and everyone - assassins included, quickly fled the church except for Lampugnani who was struck down.
The next day, however, Franzone, the servant of Lampugnani was caught and gave up the identities of the other conspirators. Visconti was caught on 29 December, given up by a frightened relative, and was publicly executed on 2 January 1477 along with Franzone and Olgiati. The bodies of these three men were torn from groin to neck and affixed to the gates of Milan as a warning to others; the heads separated and displayed on lances on the city's belltower.
Francesco I Sforza was an Italian condottiero who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan, ruling as its (fourth) duke from 1450 until his death. In the 1420s, he participated in the War of L'Aquila and in the 1430s fought for the Papal States and Milan against Venice. Once war between Milan and Venice ended in 1441 under mediation by Sforza, he successfully invaded southern Italy alongside René of Anjou, pretender to the throne of Naples, and after that returned to Milan. He was instrumental in the Treaty of Lodi (1454) which ensured peace in the Italian realms for a time by ensuring a strategic balance of power. He died in 1466 and was succeeded as duke by his son, Galeazzo Maria Sforza. While Sforza was recognized as duke of Milan, his son Ludovico would be the first to have formal investiture under the Holy Roman Empire by Maximilian I in 1494.
The House of Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century, Sforza rule ending in Milan with the death of the last member of the family's main branch in 1535.
The Visconti of Milan are a noble Italian family. They rose to power in Milan during the Middle Ages where they ruled from 1277 to 1447, initially as Lords then as Dukes, and several collateral branches still exist. The effective founder of the Visconti Lordship of Milan was the Archbishop Ottone, who wrested control of the city from the rival Della Torre family in 1277.
Galeazzo Maria Sforza was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476. He was notorious for being lustful, cruel, and tyrannical.
Bernabò or Barnabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman who was Lord of Milan. Along with his brothers Matteo and Galeazzo II, he inherited the lordship of Milan from his uncle Giovanni. Later in 1355, he and Galeazzo II were rumoured to have murdered their brother Matteo since he endangered the regime. When Galeazzo II died, he shared Milan's lordship with his nephew Gian Galeazzo. Bernabò was a ruthless despot toward his subjects and did not hesitate to face emperors and popes, including Pope Urban V. The conflict with the Church caused him several excommunications. On 6 May 1385, his nephew Gian Galeazzo deposed him. Imprisoned in his castle, Trezzo sull'Adda, he died a few months later, presumably from poisoning.
The Golden Ambrosian Republic was a short-lived republic founded in Milan by members of the University of Pavia with popular support, during the first phase of the Milanese War of Succession. With the aid of Francesco Sforza they held out against the forces of the Republic of Venice, but after a betrayal Sforza defected and captured Milan to become Duke himself, abolishing the Republic.
Gian Maria Visconti was the second Visconti Duke of Milan, the son of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and Caterina Visconti. He was known to be cruel and was eventually assassinated. He had no children.
Bianca Maria Visconti also known as Bianca Maria Sforza or Blanca Maria was Duchess of Milan from 1450 to 1468 by marriage to Francesco I Sforza. She was regent of Marche during the absence of her spouse in 1448. She served as Regent of the Duchy of Milan during the illness of her spouse in 1462, as well as in 1466, between the death of her spouse and until her son, the new Duke, who was absent, was able to return to Milan to assume power.
The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery and complex in Lombardy, Northern Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, 8 km (5.0 mi) north of Pavia. Built in 1396–1495, it was once located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan, of which today only scattered parts remain. It is one of the largest monasteries in Italy.
Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani was a member of the Milanese nobility and an assassin of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Gerolamo Olgiati was a government official in Milan and one of the assassins of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan, along with Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani and Carlo Visconti.
Franzone was a servant of the Lampugnani family of Milan, and a figure in the assassination of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Azzone Visconti was lord of Milan from 1329 until his death. After the death of his uncle, Marco Visconti, he was threatened with excommunication and had to submit to Pope John XXII. Azzone reconstituted his family's land holdings, taking numerous cities. He died in 1339.
Bonifacio Bembo, also called Bonfazio Bembo, or simply just Bembo, was a north Italian Renaissance artist born in Brescia in 1420. He was the son of Giovanni Bembo, an active painter during his time. As a painter, Bonifacio mainly worked in Cremona. He was patronized by the Sforza family and was commissioned to paint portraits of Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti. Scholars have credited him as the artist who produced a tarot card deck for the Visconti-Sforza families, now held in the Cary Collection of Playing Cards at Yale University. In the past century, art historians have begun to question the authenticity of his works, believing his only two secure works to be the portraits of Francesco and Bianca Maria Sforza. He is believed to have died sometime before 1482.
Anna Maria Sforza was Hereditary Princess of Ferrara as the first wife of Alfonso I d'Este, future Duke of Ferrara. She was the second legitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, and his second wife, Bona of Savoy.
Lucrezia Landriani was the mistress of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, and the mother of his renowned illegitimate daughter, Caterina Sforza, Lady of Imola, Countess of Forlì. Lucrezia had three other children by the Duke, and two by her husband.
Caterina Visconti was Duchess of Milan as the second spouse of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first Duke of Milan, and was the mother of two succeeding Dukes of Milan, Gian Maria and Filippo Maria Visconti. Caterina served as Regent of Milan from 1402 to 1404, during her elder son's minority, but due to Gian Maria's suspicion of her alleged treason, he had his mother arrested and imprisoned in the castle of Monza, where she was presumably poisoned in 1404.
Antonia Visconti was Countess of Württemberg.
Lampugnani's Conspiracy is an 1826 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian artist Francesco Hayez, now in the pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, which acquired it in 1907. It shows the conspiracy led by Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani, Girolamo Olgiati, Carlo Visconti and Cola Montano to overthrow the tyranny of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, killed on 26 December 1476 in Santo Stefano church in Milan.
Cola Montano, also known as Nicola Capponi, was an Italian writer and humanist scholar who helped incite the Congiura dei Lampugnani or Conspiracy of the Lampugnani that succeeded in murdering 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 hung from a window in the Bargello.