Filippo Maria Visconti

He was the second son of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and his second wife, Caterina Visconti . Since 1402 he was the nominal ruler of Pavia . After his brother Gian Maria Visconti was killed in 1412, he became the next Duke of Milan after him.

Filippo Maria married Beatrice, the widow of Condotier Facino Cana , who supported Gian Maria. This marriage brought Filippo Maria as a dowry the title of Cana, his soldier and his fortune in half a million florins . When Beatrice began to be too much interested in public affairs - Filippo Maria accused her of adultery and in 1418 he beheaded in the castle of Binasco .

Filippo Maria Visconti was a cruel and paranoid ruler, very sensitive to his ugliness (consequences of birth trauma). Hiring such powerful confectioners as Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola , Niccolo Piccinino and Francesco Sforza , he tried to win back the Lombard part of his father's possessions.

After the death of the ruler of Forlì, Giorgio Ordelaffi Filippo, Maria Visconti, under the pretext of protecting the interests of his heir, Tebaldo Ordelaffi, tried to take possession of the territories in Romagna (1423), which caused a war with Florence , which could not but challenge his ambitions.

Venice , prompted by Francesco Bussone, intervened on the side of Florence (1425), and the war spread to all of Lombardy . In March 1426, Francesco Bussone managed to cause a riot in Brescia , which he himself had won five years before for Visconti. After a long campaign, Venice managed to conquer Brescia. Filippo Maria sought in vain for help from the emperor, and in the end he had to agree to peace under the auspices of Pope Martin V , which was beneficial for Venice. At the first opportunity, Filippo Maria again resumed hostilities, which led to even greater defeats and forced to sign a peace treaty in 1427 on even worse conditions.

In 1428, Filippo Maria Visconti married a second time - to Mary (1411-1469), daughter of the Duke of Savoy, Amadeus VIII , a potential ally. Thanks to the support of Visconti Amadeus in 1439-1449 was the antipope Felix V.

Filippo Maria Visconti died in 1447. He was the last male member of the Visconti clan. The Ambrosian Republic lasted a short time after his death in Milan, but in 1449, Francesco Sforza , who was married to Filippo Maria's daughter - Bianca Maria Visconti - restored the duchy and became the first duke of the Sforza dynasty.