Bernabo Visconti

In July 1340, Bernabo, together with his brothers Matteo and Galeazzo, participated in a conspiracy against his uncles Luchino and Giovanni , who ruled Milan. The conspiracy failed, and Lukino expelled the conspiratorial brothers from Milan. 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, Bernabo married Beatrice Regina della Sculla, daughter of Mastino II della Scala , ruler of Verona . This marriage created a political and cultural alliance between the two cities.

In 1354, Giovanni Visconti died, and power in Milan was divided between three brothers. Bernabo received the eastern possessions of Visconti ( Brescia , Bergamo , Cremona and Crema ), bordering Verona. In 1355, after the death of Matteo (rumored to be poisoned by his brothers), Galeazzo inherited the western part of Lombardy , and Bernabo - the eastern.

In 1356, Bernabo began to conflict with Emperor Charles IV . Against Milan, the emperor sent his governor Marquard von Rodek, who was defeated and captured. In 1360, Pope Innocent VI excommunicated Bernabo from the church, and Charles IV issued a decree condemning him.

In 1361, the Visconti army suffered a serious defeat at San Ruffillo from the papal army under the command of Condotier Galeotto I Malatesta . However, this defeat did not stop Bernabo from starting a war next year with the Gonzaga clan who ruled Mantua .

In 1362, with the mediation of the French King John II, Good Bernabeau made peace with the new Pope Urban V , but a year later the Milanese ruler was again excommunicated for refusing to give the papal Bologna and come to the pope in Avignon . In 1364, Bernabo again reconciled with his dad, retiring from disputed territories and paying large compensation.

Bernabo continued his aggressive attempts to expand his territory in the late 1360s - early 1370s. He fought several times with the Gonzaga clan and acquired the city of Reggio Emilia from them in 1371.

After that, he waged a war against the house of Este , who ruled Modena and Ferrara , which led him to another conflict with the papal throne. In 1372, Pope Gregory XI excommunicated both Visconti brothers from the church (Galeazzo at that time also tried to expand the territory in a dispute with Count of Savoy , an ally of the pope).

From 1375 to 1378, Milan fought against the papal state in a coalition with Florence and Siena in the war of eight saints .

In 1378, Bernabo sided with the Venetian Republic against the Genoese in the Chioggi war . However, his troops in September 1379 were defeated at Val Bisagno.

In 1385, Bernabo was overthrown by his nephew Gian Galeazzo and imprisoned in the castle of Trezzo , where he was poisoned in December of the same year.

Bernabo Visconti and Beatrice Regina della Sculla had sixteen children:

1. Taddea (c. 1351 - September 28, 1381) - the first wife of the Duke of Bavaria, Stephen III , mother of the French Queen Isabella of Bavaria .
2. Viridis (1352 - until March 11, 1414) - wife of the Duke of Austria, Leopold III .
3. Marco (November 1353 - January 1382) - was married to Elizabeth of Bavaria.
4. Lodovico (September 1358 - March 7, 1404) - Senior Parma , was married to his cousin Violanta Visconti , daughter of Galeazzo II .
5. Rodolfo (1358 - January 1389) - Senior of Parma from 1364 to 1385.
6. Carlo (September 1359 - August 1403) - the lord of Parma in 1364, was married to Beatrice d'Armagnac, daughter of Count Jean II d'Armagnac .
7. Anthony (1360 - March 26, 1405) - wife of Count Württemberg Eberhard III .
8. Katerina Visconti (c. 1361 - October 17, 1404) is the second wife of her cousin Gianalezzo Visconti , the first duke of Milan, mother of the dukes Gian Maria Visconti and Filippo Maria Visconti .
9. Agnes (c. 1362-1391) - the wife of the lord Mantua Francesco I Gonzaga , was executed for adultery.
10. Maddalena (August 12, 1367 - July 17, 1404) - wife of the Duke of Bavaria Friedrich , mother of the Duke Henry XVI .
11. Valentine (1360 - September 1393) - wife of King of Cyprus Peter II .
12. Angelosa (died after 1397).
13. Lucia (1372 - April 14, 1424) - wife of Edmund Holland , 4th Earl of Kent.
14. Elizabeth (1374 - February 2, 1432) - wife of the Duke of Bavaria Ernst , mother of Duke Albrecht III .
15. Eloise (died October 12, 1439) is the wife of the King of Cyprus Janus .
16. Gianmastino (March 1377 - June 19, 1405) - Senior Bergamo, was married to Cleof della Scala.

• 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. Bernabò Visconti (Italian)
• MILAN Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Date of treatment March 2, 2012.