Gian Giacomo Trivulzio

Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (1440 or 1441 – December 5, 1518) was an Italian aristocrat and condottiero who held several military commands during the Italian Wars.

Trivulzio was born in Milan, where he studied, among the others, with Galeazzo Maria Sforza. In 1465, he followed the latter's army in France to help King Louis XI of France. He also took part in the Milanese campaigns against Bartolomeo Colleoni and fought alongside Federico III da Montefeltro in the wars in Romagna.

In 1478 he supported the Florentines against Pope Sixtus IV's expansionism. Two years later he acquired the castle of Mesocco. In 1483, he abandoned Ludovico Sforza and switched his allegiance to Charles VIII of France. In 1484, he defeated the Venetians at Martinengo.

In 1488, he married Beatrice d'Avalos, after his first wife (Margherita Colleoni) had died. In June of the same year, he moved to southern Italy, entering the service of the Kingdom of Naples and its ruler Ferdinand of Aragon. The same year, Isabella of Aragon, daughter of Prince Alfonso and granddaughter of King Ferdinand married Gian Galeazzo Sforza, formally Duke of Milan. In 1493, the young duke asked his father-in-law for support to regain his ducal power from his uncle, the Regent Ludovico il Moro. Ludovico then asked Charles VIII to invade Naples. Charles swept away any resistance in Italy and soon forced the Neapolitans to sign a treaty of peace. The treaty was negotiated by Trivulzio, who in the meantime had been named commander-in-chief of the Neapolitan army. Impressed by Trivulzio's capabilities, Charles decided to engage him, with Ferdinand's permission, for a salary of 10,000 ducats a year.

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