Gian Galeazzo Visconti
| Gian Galeazzo Visconti | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Milan | |
Portrait attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, reputed to be of Gian Galeazzo Visconti
|
|
| Coat of arms |
.svg) .svg) Lord of Milan - Duke of Milan |
| Spouse(s) |
Isabelle of Valois Caterina Visconti |
| Issue | |
| Noble family | House of Visconti |
| Father | Galeazzo II Visconti |
| Mother | Bianca of Savoy |
| Born |
16 October 1351 Pavia |
| Died | 3 September 1402 (aged 50) Melegnano |
Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), son of Galeazzo II Visconti and Bianca of Savoy, was the first Duke of Milan (1395) and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He was the great 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.
During his patronage of the Visconti Castle, he contributed greatly to the growth of the collection of scientific treatises and richly illuminated manuscripts in the Visconti Library.
Although most famous as Signore of Milan, Gian Galeazzo was the son of Galeazzo II Visconti who possessed the signoria of the city of Pavia. In 1385 Gian Galeazzo gained control of Milan by overthrowing his uncle Bernabò through treacherous means. He imprisoned his uncle who soon died, supposedly poisoned on his orders.
His first marriage was to Isabelle of Valois, who brought him the title of comte de Vertus in Champagne, rendered in Italian as Conte di Virtù, the title by which he was known in his early career. A devoted father to his daughter Valentina (wife of Louis, Duke of Orleans and mother of the famous poet, Charles of Orleans), Gian Galeazzo reacted to gossip about Valentina at the French Court by threatening to declare war on France. The wife of King Charles VI of France was Isabeau of Bavaria, the granddaughter of Bernabò Visconti, and, thus, a bitter rival of Valentina and her father Gian Galeazzo Visconti. After Galeazzo's wife Isabelle died in childbirth in 1373, he married secondly, on 2 October 1380, his first cousin Caterina Visconti, daughter of Bernabò; with her he had two sons, Gian Maria and Filippo Maria.
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Wikipedia