Gian Galeazzo Visconti, was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled that late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the founding patron of the Certosa di Pavia, completing the Visconti Castle at Pavia begun by his father and furthering work on the Duomo of Milan. He captured a large territory of northern Italy and the Po valley. He threatened war with France in relation to the transfer of Genoa to French control as well as issues with his beloved daughter Valentina. When he died of fever in the Castello of Melegnano, his children fought with each other and fragmented the territories that he had ruled.
The Republic of Florence, known officially as the Florentine Republic, was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany, Italy. The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in his successors' place. The republic was ruled by a council known as the Signoria of Florence. The signoria was chosen by the gonfaloniere, who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members.
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.
Muzio Attendolo Sforza was an Italian condottiero. Founder of the Sforza dynasty, he led a Bolognese-Florentine army at the Battle of Casalecchio.
The Duchy of Milan was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, it included twenty-six towns and the wide rural area of the middle Padan Plain east of the hills of Montferrat. During much of its existence, it was wedged between Savoy to the west, Republic of Venice to the east, the Swiss Confederacy to the north, and separated from the Mediterranean by Republic of Genoa to the south. The duchy was at its largest at the beginning of the 15th century, at which time it included almost all of what is now Lombardy and parts of what are now Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany, and Emilia-Romagna.
Braccio da Montone, born Andrea Fortebraccio, was an Italian condottiero.
The Bentivoglio family was an Italian noble family that became the de facto rulers of Bologna and responsible for giving the city its political autonomy during the Renaissance, although their rule did not survive a century.
Alberico da Barbiano was the first of the Italian condottieri. His master in military matters was the English mercenary John Hawkwood, known in Italy as Giovanni Acuto. Alberico's compagnia fought under the banner of Saint George, as the compagnia San Giorgio.
Astorre Manfredi was an Italian condottiero. He was the son of Giovanni Manfredi, who had been lord of Faenza and other castles in the area before the Papal reconquest. Astorre lived for a while in Pistoia after his father had lost his last possession in Romagna; three years after the latter's death, in 1375, he managed to recover Granarolo.
Pandolfo III Malatesta was an Italian condottiero and lord of Fano, a member of the famous House of Malatesta. He was the father of the infamous Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta and Blessed Roberto Malatesta.
Annibale I Bentivoglio was a member of the Bolognese Bentivoglio family and the absolute ruler of the Italian city of Bologna from 1443 until his death.
Andrea Malatesta was an Italian condottiero, a member of the Malatesta family of Romagna. He is also known as Malatesta da Cesena, a city he had inherited in 1385 from his father, Galeotto, together with Cervia and Bertinoro. In 1388 he was also recognized lord of Fossombrone.
Giovanni II Bentivoglio was an Italian nobleman who ruled as tyrant of Bologna from 1463 until 1506. He had no formal position, but held power as the city's "first citizen." The Bentivoglio family ruled over Bologna from 1443, and repeatedly attempted to consolidate their hold of the Signoria of the city.
Jacopo Dal Verme was an Italian condottiero.
Giovanni da Barbiano was an Italian condottiero, the leader of a force of mercenary soldiers. He was a brother or nephew of the condottiero Alberico da Barbiano.
Paolo Savelli was an Italian condottiero who served under Alberico da Barbiano in the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples, before entering the service of the Duchy of Milan in its wars with Florence. He finally served the Republic of Venice as its commander-in-chief during the War of Padua, dying of the plague during the final siege of Padua.
Gabriele Maria Visconti was born an illegitimate child in 1385 from the relationship of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, with Agnese Mantegazza. Upon his father's death in 1402, when he was sixteen years old, he inherited the Lordship over Pisa and other neighboring territories; he also inherited the Lordship over Crema and Sarzana. All these lordships were assigned to him in appanage as a vassal of his legitimate half-brother and new Duke of Milan, Giovanni Maria Visconti, who was fourteen at the time and therefore under the regency of their mother Caterina Visconti.
The League of Bologna was a defensive alliance concluded on 11 April 1392 by the Republic of Florence, Bologna, Padua, Ferrara, Imola, Faenza, and Ravenna, directed against the expansionist ambitions of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, lord of Milan.
The Florentine–Milanese Wars or Visconti Wars were three separate but connected conflicts in 1390–1402 between the Republic of Florence and her allies against the expansionist designs of the lordship of Milan under Gian Galeazzo Visconti. The wars involved most of the states of northern Italy, as well as foreign powers, as the rivals sought support in Germany and France. The first two conflicts were largely inconclusive, while Florence could count on an alliance network to contain Visconti. As the Florence's alliances collapsed during the late 1390s, the city was left exposed. Defeated during the third war, Florence was saved from conquest only by the sudden death of Visconti from the plague, after which his extensive territorial state rapidly collapsed.
