Luigi dal Verme (died 1449) was an Italian condottiero.
The son of the condottiero Jacopo dal Verme, initially he followed the latter's campaigns, then fought in the company of Muzio Attendolo in the war against Joan II of Naples. Later he was hired by the Bolognesi and then by the Republic of Venice. He married Luchina Bussone, daughter of condottiero Carmagnola.
After fighting in the war between the Republic of Florence and Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, the latter give him the title of count and several fiefs. In 1437 he returned to Lombardy and, together with Niccolò Piccinino, defended Bellinzona but was defeated at Orzinuovi and Soncino. In 1446, for Visconti, he besieged Cremona with Francesco Piccinino, but was pushed back by Scaramuccia da Forlì's Venetian troops.
Later he was commander-in-chief of the Estensi army. He was defeated at Monte Brianza by Attendolo. When in 1447 the Ambrosian Republic was proclaimed, he joined Francesco Sforza in its defence, contributing to the latter's conquest of Milan. Finished the war, dal Verme obtained by him the confirmation of his fief in Lombardy.
Dal Verme was wounded in the siege of Monza and died soon afterwards, most likely of plague.
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.
Condottieri were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other European monarchs during the Italian Wars of the Renaissance and the European Wars of Religion. Notable condottieri include Prospero Colonna, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Cesare Borgia, the Marquis of Pescara, Andrea Doria, and the Duke of Parma.
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.
Erasmo Stefano of Narni, better known by his nickname of Gattamelata, was an Italian condottiero of the Renaissance. He was born in Narni, and served a number of Italian city-states: he began with Braccio da Montone, served the Papal States and Florence, as well as the Republic of Venice in 1434 in the battles with the Visconti of Milan.
Niccolò Piccinino was an Italian condottiero.
Francesco Bussone, often called Count of Carmagnola, was an Italian condottiero.
Scaramuccia da Forlì was an Italian condottiero active in the first half of the 15th century. In Italian his name means "skirmish". He was a native of Forlì, Romagna.
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.
The Wars in Lombardy were a series of conflicts between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan and their respective allies, fought in four campaigns in a struggle for hegemony in Northern Italy that ravaged the economy of Lombardy and weakened the power of Venice. They lasted from 1423 until the signing of the Treaty of Lodi in 1454. During their course, the political structure of Italy was transformed: out of a competitive congeries of communes and city-states emerged the five major Italian territorial powers that would make up the map of Italy for the remainder of the 15th century and the beginning of the Italian Wars at the turn of the 16th century. They were Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. Important cultural centers of Tuscany and Northern Italy—Siena, Pisa, Urbino, Mantua, Ferrara—became politically marginalized.
Carlo I Malatesta was an Italian condottiero during the Wars in Lombardy and lord of Rimini, Fano, Cesena and Pesaro. He was a member of the powerful House of Malatesta. Carlo's wife was Elisabetta Gonzaga; they were married in November 1386. Francesco I Gonzaga married Carlo's sister Margherita Malatesta in 1393, cementing ties between the families. Carlo was the brother of Pandolfo III and Andrea Malatesta, with whom he fought in numerous occasions.
Alessandro Sforza was an Italian condottiero and lord of Pesaro, the first of the Pesaro line of the Sforza family.
Micheletto Attendolo, also called Micheletto da Cotignola, was an Italian condottiero. He was seigneur of Acquapendente, Potenza, Alianello, Castelfranco Veneto and Pozzolo Formigaro.
Niccolò Fortebraccio (1375–1435), also known as Niccolò della Stella, was an Italian condottiero.
Francesco Piccinino was an Italian condottiero.
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.
Jacopo Dal Verme was an Italian condottiero.
Luchino Dal Verme was an Italian condottiero.
The War of Padua was a conflict in 1404–1405 between the Republic of Venice and the Carrarese lordship of Padua. In the power vacuum produced by the death of the Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in 1402, Francesco II da Carrara endeavored to expand into the Veneto and capture cities held by Visconti troops. These designs alarmed Venice, which allied with Milan to counter the common threat posed by the Carrarese state, and for the first time adopted a policy of direct intervention in the affairs of its hinterland.