Galeazzo II Visconti

In July 1340, Galeazzo, together with his brothers Matteo and Bernabo, participated in a conspiracy against his uncles Luchino and Giovanni , who ruled Milan. The conspiracy failed, and Lukino expelled the conspiratorial brothers from Milan. In 1343, Galeazzo accompanied Count Gennegau on trips to Jerusalem and Flanders . After the death of Lukino in 1349, Archbishop Giovanni Visconti, who became the sole ruler of Milan, allowed his nephews to return and made them his heirs.

In 1350, Galeazzo married Bianca of Savoy , daughter of Aimon the Peaceful , Count of Savoy. After the death of Giovanni in 1354, his possessions were divided between the three Visconti brothers, Galeazzo received Pavia , Como , Novara , Vercelli , Asti , Alba , Tortona , Alessandria and Vigevano . In 1355, after the death of his brother, Matteo Galeazzo inherited the western part of Lombardy , and Bernabo - the eastern one.

In 1360, Galeazzo, with the active participation of his brother-in-law Amadeus VI of Savoy, married his son Gian Galeazzo to Isabella Valois , daughter of the French King John II the Good . In 1361, Galeazzo, together with Emperor Charles IV, founded the University of Pavia, the following years becoming the main educational institution in the possession of Visconti. In 1362, Galeazzo, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, moved his yard to Pavia, in the last years of his life he practically moved away from state affairs, transferring the actual power to his son Gian Galeazzo.

In 1372, after the death of Margrave of Montferrat John II , Galeazzo entered the battle with the Count of Savoy for control of the city of Asti. This confrontation led to a conflict with Savoy's ally, Pope Gregory XI , who excommunicated both Visconti brothers from the church (Bernabo had previously had conflicts with the papal throne for the encroachment on Bologna ). From 1375 to 1378, Milan fought against the papal state in a coalition with Florence and Siena in the war of eight saints .

After the death of his father in 1378, Gian Galeazzo inherited his possessions, and in 1385 became the sole ruler of Lombardy, overthrowing his uncle Bernabo, later he became the first Duke of Milan .

• Jane Black. Absolutism in Renaissance Milan: Plenitude of Power under the Visconti and the Sforza 1329-1535. - Oxford University Press, 2009 .-- 300 p. - ISBN 978-0199565290 .

• Storia di Milano. I Visconti (Italian)