Kingdom of France
121-454: Duchy of Milan (before 1495) England (1496–98) Margraviate of Mantua Charles VIII Duke of Orléans Count of Montpensier Louis de la Trémoille Gian Francesco Sanseverino and Gaspare Sanseverino (before 1495) Ferdinand II of Naples Frederick of Naples Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba Francis II of Mantua Galeazzo Sanseverino (after 1495) 25,000 men The First Italian War , or Charles VIII's Italian War ,
242-407: A gonfalone to the doge. The legend on the left identifies the saint as S M VENET, i.e. Saint Mark of Venice, and the legend on the right identifies the doge, with his title DVX in the field. On the reverse, Christ stands among a field of stars in an oval frame. The reverse legend is the same as on Roger II’s ducats. Succeeding doges of Venice continued striking ducats, changing only their name on
363-485: A Byzantine emperor and his eldest son, Duke Roger III of Apulia , is depicted in battle dress. The coin took its common name from the Duchy of Apulia , which the younger Roger had been given by his father. Doge Enrico Dandolo of Venice introduced a silver ducat which was related to the ducats of Roger II. Later gold ducats of Venice, however, became so important that the name ducat was associated exclusively with them and
484-633: A French army under Napoleon Bonaparte conquered it, and it ceased to exist a year later as a result of the Treaty of Campo Formio , when Austria ceded it to the new Cisalpine Republic . After the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 restored many other states which he had destroyed, but not the Duchy of Milan. Instead, its former territory became part of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia , with
605-411: A certain journey planned by King Ferrante to Genoa, where, accompanied by his nephew Ferdinand II of Naples , he was supposed to meet Ludovico and Beatrice to persuade them to peace, but stopped in those days, he died on January 25, 1494, according to some more of sorrow than of illness. Ascending the throne, Alfonso I accepted the prayers of his daughter Isabella and occupied, as a first act of hostility,
726-728: A common feature of western coinage, Venice struck ducats without them until Napoleon ended the Venetian Republic in 1797. When the Roman Senate introduced gold coinage either the florin or the ducat could have provided an advantageous model to imitate , but the Florentines who controlled the Senate’s finances ensured that their city’s coin was not copied. Instead, the Roman coin showed a senator kneeling before St. Peter on
847-467: A daughter; he declared that he loved both granddaughters equally and urged them to be prudent, so that the situation remained stable until the king was alive. In May Ludovico Sforza sent his wife Beatrice as his ambassador to Venice and communicated to the Signoria, through her, some of his secret practices with Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg to obtain the investiture to the Duchy of Milan, as well as
968-427: A different legend. Like the original, but not contemporary, Hungarian ducats, the reverse had a shield, which now showed the coat of arms of the issuing province These types evolved into a standing knight holding a sword and seven arrows representing the seven provinces in the union. The legend, CONCORDIA RES PARVÆ CRESCUNT, shortened in a variation of ways, says "by concord small things increase". It also names—or shows
1089-407: A few days he prepared a fairly fine army, with which he entered Novara and took it, and in a few days he also had the castle, which caused great fear to Ludovico Sforza and he was close to despair over his fate, had he not been comforted by his wife Beatrice [...] O little glory of a prince, to whom the virtue of a woman must give him courage and make war, for the salvation of the domain! On June 29,
1210-671: A few other lands. Defeated and taken prisoner in Novara in 1500, he was deported to France , to the Castle of Loches , where he died on 27 May 1508. Louis XII remained Duke of Milan until 1512, when the Swiss army expelled the French from Lombardy and placed Maximilian Sforza , son of Ludovico il Moro, on the Milanese throne. Between 1512 and 1515 the Swiss cantons de facto controlled
1331-571: A fight, and the Neapolitan nobles opened the doors to him and crowned him king of Naples. The French occupation, however, quickly incited the hatred of the Neapolitans, who suffered continuous abuses. By May, equipped with fresh troops and the support of allies, Ferdinand II of Naples was able to return to the peninsula, acclaimed by cries of "Ferro! Ferro!" and began, from [Puglia], the difficult reconquest of his kingdom. Despite his defeat in
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#17327656977271452-644: A fortunate coincidence, he obtained from Pope Alexander VI a peaceful entry into the Eternal City. The pope's mistress Giulia Farnese , wife of his ally Orsino Orsini , had been taken prisoner by French soldiers while traveling from Bassanello to the Vatican with her mother-in-law Adriana Mila. Charles used them as bargaining chips: the women were freed within a month and the French army was able to parade into Rome . The agreement did not, however, spare Rome from
1573-461: A gold coinage exploiting ores of Aba's ancient gold mines. His son, Louis I of Hungary changed the designs by replacing the standing figure of Saint John from the florin with a standing figure of Saint Ladislaus and later changing the lily of Florence to his coat of arms, but he maintained the purity of the gold. In light of the 15th century debasement of the Rhenish florin or goldgulden versus
1694-466: A growing number of cities giving their allegiance to the invaders, Ferdinand made the drastic decision to abandon Naples in search of reinforcements. Before leaving, however, he made a public promise that he would return within 15 days, and that if he did not do so they could all be considered free from the oath of fidelity and obedience made to him. He went with the royal family to Ischia, then to Messina. On February 22, King Charles occupied Naples without
1815-821: A half million ducats . In December Ludovico led his wife to see him and promised her that, if he gave him a son, he would make her a lady and mistress of everything; conversely, dying him, she would have very little left. Already in January 1492 Beatrice predicted to the Florentine ambassador that within a year she and her husband would be dukes of Milan, and the hostility between the two cousins became so intense that in February Ludovico, strong of some rumors coming from France, accused King Ferrante of having spurred Charles VIII to wage war against him, in order to free Gian Galeazzo from his tyranny; he also refused to meet
1936-533: A much smaller extension than present-day Lombardy. The government of the Habsburgs of Austria was characterized by significant administrative reforms, which the sovereigns of the Austrian house - inspired by the principles of the so-called enlightened absolutism - also introduced in their Lombard territories: for example, the rearrangement of the land register , the suppression of ecclesiastical censorship and
2057-445: A new question for the succession to the throne. In this period, to be precise in 1532, Francesco II Sforza requested and obtained from Pope Clement VII the elevation of Vigevano , a city to which his family had always been deeply linked, to the capital of Vigevanasco , after it had obtained in 1530 the title of city and bishopric according to the same methods. The King Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor claimed
2178-661: A niece of the King of Naples, who took the side of the legitimate heir. Ludovico il Moro responded by encouraging King Charles VIII of France to reclaim the Kingdom of Naples, as until 1442 the Neapolitan throne had belonged to Charles ancestors, the Capetian House of Anjou . In 1494 Charles VIII conquered Naples, upsetting the balance between the various Italian states and starting the Italian Wars . In 1495 Charles VIII
2299-530: A splendid feast to please the king, but on that same day Charles fell seriously ill with an evil that at that time was mistaken for smallpox, but which was more likely a first manifestation of syphilis. For this event the very continuation of the war was questioned: many members of the king's retinue wished to return to France. The indisposition, however, was short-lived: already on September 21 King Charles got out of bed, and Louis d'Orleans fell ill with double Quartan fever. Duke Ercole d'Este counted, perhaps through
2420-573: A symbol representing—the province that issued the coin. The reverse had a tablet inscribed and always shortened in the same way: MOneta ORDInum PROVINciarum FOEDERatorum BELGicarum AD LEGem IMPerii, gold money of the federated provinces of Belgium in accordance with the law of the realm. In the Napoleonic period, the Batavian Republic and Louis Bonaparte continued to strike ducats with these designs. These coins were not issued during
2541-578: Is also fought with money) such as the eventual one of Italian Principalities, Lordships and Republics. And in fact Charles VIII had begun his retreat from Naples not because he had been defeated in the field, but from the serious prospect of such an eventuality. In this respect, the Battle of Fornovo was a deadly defeat for all the states of the League. Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( Italian : Ducato di Milano ; Lombard : Ducaa de Milan )
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#17327656977272662-461: Is today, because, despite the League having numerical superiority and the command of one of the most skilled leaders of the time, Francesco Gonzaga, the army of Charles VIII remained more powerful from a technological point of view, and in the number and quality of artillery. At the time both the Italians and the French claimed to have won. Both parties strove to present themselves as the victors in
2783-494: The hyperpyron , and the Great Council of Venice responded with its own coin of pure gold in 1284. In 1252 Florence and Genoa introduced the gold florin and genovino , respectively, both of 3.5 grams of 98.6% fine gold; the florin preceded the ducat as Western Europe's first standard gold coin. Venice modeled the size and weight of their ducat on the florin, with a slight increase in weight due to differences in
2904-506: The Battle of Seminara , Ferdinand's campaign ultimately proved to be a success. On July 7, after defeating the last French garrisons, he was able to return to Naples, welcomed by the festive population. The speed of the French advance, together with the brutality of their sack of Mordano, left the other states of Italy in shock. Ludovico Sforza, realizing that Charles had a claim to Milan as well as Naples, and would probably not be satisfied by
3025-610: The Cispadane Republic in 1797 to form the Cisalpine Republic , of which Milan became the capital. After the defeat of Napoleon, on the basis of the decisions taken by the Congress of Vienna on 9 June 1815, the Duchy of Milan was not restored but became part of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia , a constituent land of the Austrian Empire . The kingdom ceased to exist when the remaining portion of it
3146-574: The Emperor of Austria as its king. In 1859, Lombardy was ceded to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia , which became the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The fate of the city of Milan was intertwined since the 13th century with that of the Visconti family , who resumed the policy of territorial expansionism inherited from the city's municipality. One of the first Visconti exponents to lead the Lombard city
3267-511: The Gotthard Pass to the gates of Como (today's Canton of Ticino ). The Treaty of Noyon of 1516 confirmed the possession of the Duchy of Milan to the French. Francis of Valois governed the duchy until 1521, when Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor , raised Maximilian's young brother, Francesco II Sforza , to the throne of the duchy. After the decisive French defeat in the Battle of Pavia on 24 February 1525, which left
3388-855: The Ottoman Turks , however, endangered the structure of the Venetian possessions in the Aegean Sea and after 4 years of war the Peace of Lodi was signed in 1454. With this document Francesco Sforza and Alfonso of Aragon were recognized respectively as Duke of Milan and King of Naples, the Republic of Venice extended its dominion up to the Adda and the Holy Italian League against the Turks
3509-629: The Republic of Venice . (Venice's ostensible purpose in joining the League was to oppose the Ottoman Empire , while its actual objective was French expulsion from Italy.) This alliance was known as the Holy League of 1495, or as the League of Venice, and was proclaimed on 31 March 1495. England joined the League in 1496. The League gathered an army under the condottiero Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua . Including most of
3630-533: The license to quarter the Visconti's biscione with the imperial eagle in the new ducal flag. The duchy, as defined in the diploma of 1395, included the territory surrounding Milan, between the Adda and Ticino rivers, but the dominions of Gian Galeazzo Visconti extended beyond, including 26 towns and spanned from Piedmont to Veneto and from present-day Canton of Ticino to Umbria . Milan thus became one of
3751-837: The 1635–1659 Franco-Spanish War, Milan sent and paid for on average 4,000 soldiers per year to the Spanish crown, with many of these men serving in the Low Countries against the Dutch States Army. Ducat The ducat ( / ˈ d ʌ k ə t / ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around 3.5 grams (0.11 troy ounces) of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide international acceptance over
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3872-495: The 20th century ducats have transitioned from trade coin used in daily commerce to bullion coin for collectors and investors. Austria continued to strike ducats until 1915, and has continued to restrike the last of them, including some four ducat coins illustrated here. Nevertheless, bullion for Spain's American colonies allowed the Spanish dollar to supersede the ducat as the dominant currency of world trade. Around 1913,
3993-718: The Angevin line of Neapolitan succession. Casus belli of the conflict was the rivalry that arose between the Duchess of Bari, Beatrice d'Este , wife of Ludovico Sforza , known as the Moor, and the Duchess of Milan, Isabella of Aragon , wife of Gian Galeazzo , who both aspired to control of the Duchy of Milan and to the hereditary title for their children: since 1480 Ludovico Sforza ruled that duchy as regent of his little nephew Gian Galeazzo, not being therefore duke by right, but only de facto . The situation remained calm until 1489, when
4114-553: The Aragonese King of Naples. The looming danger of looting and violence of the French army (emphasized by the impassioned sermons of Girolamo Savonarola) that heightened the resentment of most citizens against the Medici came to pass when Charles VIII entered Fivizzano on October 29. Later, Charles laid siege to the fortress of Sarzanello, demanding that they open the way to Florence. Piero, having taken new counsel, went to meet
4235-625: The Duchy of Milan, which he considered his right, being a descendant of Valentina Visconti. On 11 June he occupied with his troops the city of Novara , which was given to him by treason, and went as far as Vigevano . Ludovico il Moro then took refuge with his family in the Rocca del Castello in Milan but, not feeling equally safe, he meditated on abandoning the duchy to take refuge in Spain. The firm opposition of his wife Beatrice d'Este and some members of
4356-553: The Duke of Ferrara Ercole I d'Este and cousin of Isabella on her mother's side. Determined and ambitious young woman, Beatrice was soon associated by her husband with the government of the state, nor Isabella, "angry and desperate for envy", could bear to see herself surpassed in all honors by her cousin. The Duchy of Milan was at the time the richest state in Italy after the Republic of Venice and its treasury amounted to as many as one and
4477-754: The Duke of Ferrara, Beatrice's father, together with the Florentines kept King Charles informed every day of everything that was being done in Venice as in Lombardy, then secretly supplying the Duke of Orleans in Novara, as he sought the king's help in the recovery of the Polesine , stolen from him by the Venetians at the time of the Salt War. In addition the leader Fracasso [ it ] , Galeazzo's brother,
4598-492: The Florentines facilitated the invasion of Charles VIII, considering him restorer of their freedom and reformer of the Church (whose Pope Alexander VI, who ascended to the papal throne on August 26, 1492, was considered unworthy by Savonarola). In Florence, however, a conflict immediately arose when the liberator Charles made a demand for a huge sum of money that the Florentine government refused. The French king threatened to order
4719-559: The Hungarian ducat acceptable throughout Europe. Even the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland left records of the ones his king used for gambling. Hungary continued to strike ducats with 3.53133 grams of 98.6% fine gold. Unlike the unchanging designs of the ducats in Venice, the coat of arms on the reverse of the ducats of Hungary was frequently modified to reflect changed circumstances. In 1470, Matthias Corvinus replaced
4840-544: The Hungarian ducat and those coins had more influence on the subsequent coinage of the United Provinces . Since the Netherlands became a dominant international trader, the influence of these ducats was global. At first, ducats of Hungarian type struck in the Netherlands had a standing figure on the obverse with the crown and battle axe that St. Ladislaus carried on the Hungarian prototype, but naming him with
4961-491: The Italian historian Francesco Guicciardini 's judgement was to award the palm of victory to the French. Privately, Gonzaga confessed to his wife that the battle was a near run thing and that if the French had turned on them, the League's forces would have been destroyed. A week later, Bernardino Fortebraccio spoke to the Venetian senate, stating the League's army could have defeated the French if their troops would have stayed in
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5082-671: The Lombard cities of Como , Crema , Lodi and the Valtellina in 1335, Bormio (Lombardy) and Piacenza (Emilia) in 1336, and Brescia and the Val Camonica in 1337. The brothers Luchino and Giovanni Visconti added Bellinzona (present-day Switzerland in 1342, Parma (Emilia) in 1346 and several territories in southwestern Piedmont in 1347: Tortona , Alessandria , Asti , and Mondovì . Bernabò conquered Reggio Emilia in 1371 and Riva del Garda in 1380, and Gian Galeazzo greatly expanded Milan's dominions, first eastwards, with
5203-736: The Milanese declared the so-called Golden Ambrosian Republic , which soon faced revolts and attacks from its neighbors. In 1450 mercenary captain Francesco Sforza , having previously married Filippo Maria Visconti's illegitimate daughter Bianca Maria, conquered the city and restored the duchy, founding the House of Sforza . The Venetian republic had not abandoned its desire to expand into Lombardy and therefore entered into an alliance with Alfonso V of Aragon , King of Naples , and with Emperor Frederick III , against Francesco I Sforza and his allies. The fall of Constantinople , conquered by
5324-485: The Neapolitan orator, except behind a very large armed escort, claiming that he was sent by the Duke of Calabria to assassinate him. To make the suspicions more concrete was added, at the end of the year, the attempted poisoning, perpetrated by Isabella of Aragon rea confesses, against Galeazzo Sanseverino , dear son-in-law and captain general of the Moro, as well as the danger that this was repeated against some other member of
5445-534: The Neapolitans but most of the fighting involved the Milanese and Neapolitans. The artillery French then concentrating the shot on the Aragonese defeated them, forcing them to flee or surrender. The Orsini and the Campofregoso were taken prisoner. The Swiss also massacred those who intended to surrender and even the wounded, then sacked the city of Rapallo. This battle annihilated the Neapolitan fleet and opened
5566-418: The Neapolitans had already offered the crown of Naples to René II, who set an expedition to gain possession of the realm, but he was then halted by Charles VIII of France, who intended to claim Naples himself. Charles VIII was arguing that his grandmother Marie of Anjou, the sister of René of Anjou, had a closer connection than Rene II's mother Yolande, the daughter of René of Anjou, and therefore he came first in
5687-598: The Republic of Venice which ceded the entire Apulian coast ( Brindisi , Monopoli , Gallipoli , Polignano , Lecce , Bari and Trani ) in exchange for the withdrawal of imperial claims on Milan, also due to the fact that Charles V did not want to clash with the Venetians, and he knew he didn't have the means to succeed, because the Venetians were too concerned that Milan not fall into the hands of foreigners powers, given that they did not consider themselves "capable of occupying it nor proportionate to be able to hold it". Francesco II Sforza died without heirs in 1535, opening
5808-525: The States themselves) shortly after the clash, and this, regardless of how the military outcome of the battle of Fornovo had been, showed what and how great was the real weakness of the Italians: the internal divisions. Even if Fornovo had not been a total victory, every European sovereign would have hesitated in the face of the prospect of fighting in a foreign land and against a rich coalition (as we know, war
5929-566: The aims of Ludovico Sforza and to renounce the conquest of his father's kingdom, all in the presence of Ludovico himself. The king was moved by that scene, and promised to protect his son, but replied that he could not stop a war that had begun. A month after this meeting Gian Galeazzo Sforza died, he said he was poisoned, and Ludovico il Moro became lord of Milan. The meeting of Charles VIII and Gian Galeazzo Sforza in Pavia in 1494, Pelagio Palagi. In front of her dying husband's bed, Duchess Isabella begs
6050-576: The annexation of Naples alone, turned to Pope Alexander VI , who was embroiled in a power game of his own with France and various Italian states over his attempts to secure secular fiefdoms for his children. The Pope formed an alliance of several opponents of French hegemony in Italy: himself; Ferdinand of Aragon , who was also King of Sicily ; the Emperor Maximilian I ; Ludovico in Milan ; and
6171-484: The annexation of the Netherlands into the French Empire. Since Napoleon’s defeat, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has continued to issue them as trade and bullion coins. The text in the table on the reverse now says MOneta AURea REGni BELGII AD LEGEM IMPERII. The silver ducaton commenced in the Italian states in the mid-16th century as a large coin of approximately 30 grams fine silver, worth slightly less than
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#17327656977276292-400: The army of the League followed Charles's retreat northwards through Rome , which had been abandoned to the French by Pope Alexander VI on 27 May 1495. The king's cousin, Louis d'Orléans , had not followed Charles on his march to Naples, but had remained in his own fief of Asti, having fallen ill with malaria in September of the previous year. He now threatened to implement his plan to conquer
6413-451: The bans before dying in 1492, but the offer to Charles remained an apple of discord in Italian politics. Ferdinand died on 25 January 1494 and was succeeded by his son Alfonso II . A third claimant to the Neapolitan throne was René II, Duke of Lorraine . He was the oldest son of Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine (died 1483), the only surviving child of René of Anjou (died 1480), the last effective Angevin King of Naples until 1442. In 1488
6534-401: The battle and left the baggage train alone. The French had won their battle, fighting off superior numbers and proceeding on their march to Asti. The League took much higher casualties and could not prevent the French army from crossing Italian lands on its way back to France. On the political level the States of the Holy League divided and resumed their policy against each other, (even within
6655-420: The battle. The battle was reported in Venice as a victory, and was recorded and celebrated as such, which included the capture of Mathieu de Bourbon. Regardless of the self-proclamations of victory by League commanders, Domenico Malipiero recognized that the League failed to stop the French from reaching Asti. Francesco Gonzaga claimed victory and the ordered the portrait of the Madonna della Vittoria , while
6776-414: The behest of King Charles, who was returning to France, and the enterprise ended in nothing. Charles, wanting to avoid being trapped in Campania, on May 20 left Naples and marched north to reach Lombardy, but met the army of the League in the Battle of Fornovo , 30 km (19 miles) southwest of the city of Parma , on 6 July 1495. The result of the battle was however uncertain, and, in some ways, it still
6897-445: The camp moved to Cassolnovo , a direct possession of Beatrice. The woman supervised the order of the troops and the camp, then returned to Vigevano, where she remained housed, so as to keep herself immediately informed of the operations. According to Sanudo, however, she was disliked by everyone for the hatred they brought to her husband Ludovico, who was safe in the castle of Milan and from there made his measures. Finally recovering from
7018-400: The centuries. Similarly named silver ducatons also existed. The gold ducat circulated along with the Florentine florin and preceded the modern British pound sterling . The word ducat is from Medieval Latin ducalis = "relating to a duke (or dukedom )", and initially meant "duke's coin" or a "duchy's coin". The first issue of scyphate billon coins modelled on Byzantine trachea
7139-467: The city of Bari. From this came the reaction of Ludovico who, in order to respond to his threats, gave a free hand to the French monarch to go down to Italy. Charles was also being encouraged by his favorite, Étienne de Vesc , as well as by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere , the future Pope Julius II , who hoped to settle a score with the incumbent Pope, Alexander VI. Charles was preceded in Italy by his cousin Louis d'Orleans , who in July 1494 arrived in
7260-457: The city-states of northern Italy, the League of Venice threatened to shut off King Charles's land route by which to return to France. Charles VIII, not wanting to be trapped in Naples, marched north to Lombardy on 20 May 1495, leaving Gilbert, Count of Montpensier , in Naples as his viceroy , with a substantial garrison. After Ferdinand of Aragon had recovered Naples, with the help of his Spanish relatives with whom he had sought asylum in Sicily,
7381-510: The coat of arms by a Madonna. Hungary struck ducats until 1915, even under Austrian rule. These were used as trade coins and several of the later dates have been restruck. In the 15th and 16th centuries, international traders in Western Europe shifted from the florin to the ducat as their preferred currency, with ducats often co-circulating with locally minted gold coins like the Rhenish guilder , French écu and Spanish escudo . As rulers reformed their currencies, they frequently used
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#17327656977277502-408: The conquest of the Venetian cities of Verona (1387), Vicenza (1387), Feltre (1388), Belluno (1388) and Padua (briefly, from 1388 to 1390), and later southwards, conquering Lucca , Pisa and Siena in Tuscany in 1399, Perugia in Umbria in 1400, Bologna in Emilia in 1402, and Assisi in Umbria also in 1402. When the last Visconti duke, Filippo Maria , died in 1447 without a male heir,
7623-436: The council convinced him to desist. However, the state was suffering from a severe financial crisis, there was no money to pay for the army and the people threatened the revolt. Comines writes that, if the Duke of Orleans had advanced only a hundred paces, the Milanese army would have crossed the Ticino again, and he would have managed to enter Milan, since some noble citizens had offered to introduce him. Ludovico did not resist
7744-422: The development of the silk industry. Following Napoleon Bonaparte 's victorious campaign in northern Italy in 1796, the duchy, entrusted to an interim government junta, was ceded to the French Republic by the Habsburgs with the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797. But already in 1796 the French had established the vassal state of the Transpadane Republic on the territories of the Duchy of Milan, which merged with
7865-423: The disease, in early August the latter went with his wife Beatrice to the Camp of Novara, where they resided in the following weeks. Meanwhile the city was decimated by famine and epidemics that decimated the enemy army. The Duke of Orleans, also ill with malarial fevers, urged his men to resist with the false promise that the king's help would soon come. He was finally forced to cede the city on 24 September 1495 at
7986-405: The ducal family. The point of definitive rupture, however, took place in January 1493, with the birth of Hercules Maximilian , eldest son of Moro and Beatrice: the possession of a legitimate descent was what was still missing for the spouses to be able to aspire to the ducal title. Rumors spread that Ludovico intended to appoint his son Count of Pavia – a title belonging exclusively to the heir to
8107-554: The ducat as a model. The Mamluk ashrafi and the Ottoman sultani are examples. In 1497, Spain reformed its gold excelente into a copy of the ducat which was known as the ducado from 1504. 23¾ carats fine and slightly smaller than the Venetian ducat, each had about 3.484 g of pure gold and was reckoned as 375 maravedís , the typical unit of account at the time. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian—I initiated his own currency reform, minting gold ducats in Austria from 1511. Gold ducats and florins were established through
8228-438: The ducat waned from the 17th century with the minting of freshly-mined Latin American gold to Iberian standards like the Spanish doubloon and the Portuguese moidore . In the 19th century ducats were progressively dropped as standard coin of several nations, most significantly the Latin Monetary Union of 1865 (France, Italy, Switzerland) and the Vienna Monetary Treaty of 1857 ( German Confederation , Austria-Hungary ). By
8349-445: The duchy by making war. The latter, claiming it as an imperial fief upon the extinction of the Sforza, obtained control of the duchy and installed his son Philip II there with an imperial diploma signed in Brussels on 11 October 1540 and made public in 1554. Philip's possession of the duchy was finally recognized by King Henry II of France in 1559, with the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis . The duchy, having lost all forms of independence,
8470-445: The duchy – in place of Isabella's son, Francesco. The latter, feeling threatened, asked for the intervention of her father Alfonso of Aragon, whose impetus was however restrained by the wiser King Ferrante, who repudiated the war by officially declaring: ""if the wife of the Duke of Milan is my nephew, the wife of the Duke of Bari is also my nephew". He, moreover, had been affectively very close to Beatrice, whom until 1485 he had raised as
8591-401: The duchy. Under the reign of King Francis I , the French Crown managed to re-establish its sovereignty over the Milanese duchy. In 1515, after the bloody Battle of Marignano , which saw the defeat of the Swiss army, the French sovereign deposed Maximilian and installed himself on the ducal throne. Despite the defeat, the Swiss managed to retain the territories along the road that leads from
8712-544: 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 . Under the House of Sforza , Milan experienced a period of great prosperity with
8833-515: The event of the extinction of the Visconti dynasty, the title of Duke of Milan went to Valentina's descendants. Louis XII, claiming to be the legitimate heir of the Viscontis, invaded the Milanese state in 1499, driving out Ludovico il Moro. The former Sforza ruler tried in vain to counter the transalpine troops, even asking the Emperor for help, but only managed to briefly recapture the capital and
8954-636: The five major states of the Italian peninsula in the 15th century. The House of Visconti had been expanding their dominions for nearly a century, under the reigns of Azzone Visconti , Luchino Visconti , Giovanni Visconti , Bernabò Visconti and Gian Galeazzo Visconti: during the rule of Azzone Visconti, the Ossola in Piedmont had been conquered in 1331, followed by Bergamo and Pavia (Lombardy) and Novara (Piedmont) in 1332, Pontremoli (Tuscany) in 1333, Vercelli (Piedmont) and Cremona (Lombardy) in 1334,
9075-526: The forces of Charles V in a strong position within the Italian peninsula, Francesco II Sforza joined the League of Cognac against Charles: together with him, the Republic of Venice , the Florentine Republic , Pope Clement VII and the Kingdom of France . The Duke was quickly overwhelmed by Charles troops, but managed to maintain control over some cities and strongholds of the duchy. Thanks to
9196-658: The gold ducat or sequin . Similarly-named coins were also minted in the Low Countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, which became popular negotiepenningen (trade coins) along with gold ducats: the Spanish Netherlands ducaton in 1618 of 30.7 g fine silver, the Dutch Republic 's silver rider ducaton in 1659 of 30.45 g fine silver, and (confusingly) the Dutch Republic's smaller zilveren dukaat (silver ducat) in 1659 of 24.36 g fine silver. Use of
9317-413: The gold ducat was worth the equivalent of "nine shillings and four pence sterling, or somewhat more than two dollars. The silver ducat is of about half this value." Even now some national mints produce batches of ducats made after old patterns as bullion gold and banks sell these coins to private investors or collectors. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in
9438-430: The government of Francis of Anjou in 1583, however, left them without a constitutional ruler to name on those coins. They fell back on the longstanding regional tradition of imitating well accepted foreign coins. In this case they avoided political complications by copying obsolete coins. The gold coins Ferdinand and Isabella issued to the standards of the ducat were widely copied and called ducats. They also imitated
9559-437: The higher-valued gold ducat, and the latter was eventually called the ducato de zecca , i.e. ducat of the mint, which was shortened to zecchino and corrupted to sequin . Leonardo Loredan extended the coinage with a half ducat and subsequent doges added a quarter, and various multiples up to 105 ducats. All of these coins continued to use the designs and weight standards of the original 1284 ducat. Even after dates became
9680-531: The intercession of his daughter and son-in-law, to be appointed captain general of the army French, but since he realized that the project would not go through, on September 22 he left discontent for Ferrara. Leaving Asti, Carlo was hosted in Vigevano by the Dukes of Bari, then in Pavia, where he wanted to meet Gian Galeazzo Sforza dying in bed. His wife Isabella of Aragon at first refused with absolute rigor to meet
9801-702: The introduction of the silk industry, becoming one of the wealthiest states during the Renaissance . From the late 15th century, the Duchy of Milan was contested between the forces of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of France . It was ruled by Habsburg Spain from 1556 and it passed to Habsburg Austria in 1707 during the War of the Spanish Succession as a vacant Imperial fief . The duchy remained an Austrian possession until 1796 when
9922-409: The king to negotiate, and was forced to grant him the fortresses of Sarzanello, Sarzana and Pietrasanta, the cities of Pisa and Livorno with their ports useful to French ships in support of the army, and the green light for Florence. Returning to Florence on November 8, Piero was forced to flee from citizens who accused him of a cowardly and servile attitude and proclaimed the Republic. At the same time
10043-457: The king, threatening suicide with a knife in front of the astonished Ludovico Sforza and Galeazzo Sanseverino, in case they wanted to force her, saying: "first I will kill myself, that never go to his presence of who goes to the ruin of the King my father!"; at a later time she went of her own free will to her husband's room, threw herself on her knees at the feet of King Charles and, showing him her son Francesco, begged him to protect his family from
10164-494: The looting of French troops. To avoid a further stay in the city, on January 6, 1495, Alexander VI welcomed Charles VIII and authorized his passage through the Papal States towards Naples, alongside his son Cesare Borgia as cardinal legate. Charles VIII besieged and conquered the castle of Monte San Giovanni, killing 700 inhabitants, and Tuscania (Viterbo), destroying two terzieri and killing 800 inhabitants. Knowing that he
10285-602: The looting of the city by the blowing of trumpets, to which the gonfalonier Pier Capponi replied that Florence would respond by ringing the city bells to call the people to resist. Rather than face the dangerous threat of a revolt, Charles chose instead to continue towards Rome. Charles, however, fearful of antagonizing the European powers, did not intend to depose the Borgia from the papacy. He marched to Rome and first took Civitavecchia, and on December 31, 1494, taking advantage of
10406-440: The marriage between Gian Galeazzo and Isabella of Aragon, granddaughter of King Ferrante of Naples as the daughter of Alfonso Duke of Calabria, took effect. Isabella immediately realized that all power was reduced to the hands of Louis and suffered from the ineptitude of her husband, listless and totally disinterested in the government; nevertheless he endured in silence until, in 1491, Ludovico married Beatrice d'Este, daughter of
10527-690: The necessary measures for the defense and abolished some taxes in hatred of the people. The army of the league had meanwhile moved near Vigevano. Captain General of the Sforza army was then Galeazzo Sanseverino , while the Serenissima sent Bernardo Contarini, provveditore of the stradiotti, to the rescue of Milan. However, in June the Lordship of Venice – according to Malipiero – had meanwhile discovered how
10648-523: The obverse and Christ amid stars in oval frame on the reverse in direct imitation of the Venetian ducat. The Popes subsequently changed these designs, but continued to strike ducats of the same weight and size into the 16th century. Most imitations of the Venetian ducat were made in the Levant , where Venice spent more money than it received. The Knights of Saint John struck ducats with grand master Dieudonné de Gozon , 1346-1353, kneeling before Saint John on
10769-667: The obverse and an angel seated on the Sepulcher of Christ on the reverse. Subsequent grand masters, however, found it expedient to copy the Venetian types more exactly, first at Rhodes and then on Malta. Genoese traders went further; they struck ducats at Chios that could be distinguished from the Venetian originals only by their workmanship. These debased ducats were problematic for Venice, which valued its money's reputation for purity. The rarity of ducats that Genoese traders struck at Mytilene, Phocaea, and Pera suggests that Venetians melted those they encountered. In Western Europe, Venice
10890-454: The obverse. The ducat had a variable price versus the silver Venetian lira , reaching 6.2 lire or 124 soldi (shillings) by 1470. At that point a ducat worth 124 soldi emerged as a new silver-based unit of account for quoting salaries and costs. Continued depreciation in the silver currency during the 16th century, however, made the gold ducat worth more than 124 soldi. At this point, the currency ducat of 124 soldi had to be distinguished from
11011-579: The order and to animate her captains to move against the Duke of Orleans, who in those days was constantly making raids in that area. Guicciardini's opinion is that if the latter had attempted the assault immediately, he would have taken Milan, since the defense resided only in Galeazzo Sanseverino, but Beatrice's demonstration of strength was able to confuse him in making him believe the defenses superior to what they were, so that he did not dare to try his luck and retired to Novara. The hesitation
11132-549: The ordinary income of 1,200,000 gold florins , another 800,000 in extraordinary subsidies. The duchy was officially established on 11 May 1395, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti , the Dominus Generalis of Milan, obtained the title of Duke of Milan by means of a diploma signed in Prague by Wenceslaus of Bohemia . The nomination was ratified and celebrated in Milan on 5 September 1395. Gian Galeazzo Visconti also obtained
11253-554: The original ducat, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V recognized this distinction in 1524 when he made ducats of the Venetian standard valid money in the Empire with a value 39% higher than the gulden. His younger brother and eventual successor, Ferdinand I , brought this system to Hungary in 1526, when he inherited its throne. The still-pure gold coins of Hungary were henceforth called ducats. Their purity made
11374-464: The papacy, excommunicated and deposed Ferdinand by a bull of 11 September 1489. Innocent then offered the Kingdom of Naples to Charles VIII of France , who had a remote claim to its throne because his grandfather, Charles VII , King of France, had married Marie of Anjou of the Angevin dynasty , the ruling family of Naples until 1442. Innocent later settled his quarrel with Ferdinand and revoked
11495-559: The rest of the Holy Roman Empire by minting ordinances ( Reichsmünzordnung ) in 1524, 1559, and later. The ducat weighed 3.49 grams and was 23⅔ carats fine (3.442 g of pure gold) and exchanged at a ratio of 8 ducats for 11 Rhenish florins, which weighed 3.25 grams and were 18½ carats fine (2.503 g of pure gold). The German territories retained these standards until the 19th century. The Dutch Revolt gave its seven northern provinces control of their coinage. The collapse of
11616-539: The secret news just communicated to him that Charles VIII, signed the peace with the emperor, was determined to carry out his enterprise against the kingdom of Naples and to appoint Ludovico head and conductor of said enterprise. The spouses therefore wished to know the opinion of the Signoria in this regard, and indirectly asked for its support. The Venetians replied that what was reported was very serious and limited themselves to vague reassurances, keeping out of these maneuvers. Francesco Guicciardini spoke at this point of
11737-582: The side of the French. Ferdinand and his whole army were forced to leave Cesena in a hurry. Charles had at first intended to travel the Via Emilia to Romagna, but changed his plans and, after a stop in Piacenza, headed towards Florence. The city was traditionally pro-French, but the uncertain policy of its lord, Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, had deployed it in defense of
11858-646: The silver coins came to be called grossi . In the 13th century, the Venetians imported goods from the East and sold them at a profit north of the Alps. They paid for these goods with Byzantine gold hyperpyra , but when the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos backed the revolt of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, he debased the hyperpyron . This was just one more in a series of debasements of
11979-484: The sovereign Charles VIII on his knees not to want to continue the war against Alfonso her father and entrusts him with her son Francesco. Next to the king, with a shady face, stands Duke Ludovico, presumed responsible for the poisoning. The King of Naples, Alfonso of Aragon, entrusted the general command of the Neapolitan army to his son Ferdinand who, although young, was endowed with exceptional qualities in both war and politics. In September and October he stopped with
12100-480: The tension and fell ill, perhaps due to a stroke (according to the hypothesis of some historians), since, as reported by the chronicler Malipiero, he had become paralytic of a hand, he never left the bedroom and was rarely seen. The government of the state was then taken over by the Duchess Beatrice, appointed for the occasion governor of Milan, who secured the support and loyalty of the Milanese nobles, took
12221-408: The territories of the Duchy of Milan with the vanguards of the French army, benevolently welcomed in Vigevano by the Dukes of Bari Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice d'Este, then settled in his fief of Asti. Only on 3 September 1494 King Charles moved to Italy through Montgenèvre, with an army of about 30,000 troops, of which 5,000 were Swiss mercenaries, equipped with modern artillery. Arriving in Piedmont he
12342-600: The troops in Romagna, where he sought the alliance of Caterina Sforza, lady of Forlì and Imola, to secure that important place of transit to Naples. The alliance, however, did not last long because, on 19 October a contingent of Charles' army besieged the fortress of Mordano . After refusing to surrender, the fortress was bombarded, taken by French-Milanese forces, and the surviving inhabitants massacred. Caterina Sforza accused her Neapolitan allies of not having wanted to come to her rescue and therefore changed alliances, passing to
12463-473: The two cities′ weight systems. The Venetian ducat contained 3.545 grams of 99.47% fine gold, the highest purity medieval metallurgy could produce. Venetian ducat designs followed those of the silver grossi , which were ultimately of Byzantine origin. The obverse shows the Doge of Venice kneeling before St. Mark , the patron saint of Venice. Saint Mark holds the gospel, which is his usual attribute, and presents
12584-708: The way to Liguria and central Italy to the army of Charles VIII. The French army camped in Asti on September 11, where Charles VIII received the homage of his supporters: first of all Duke Ludovico Sforza with his wife Beatrice d'Este and his father-in-law Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Margarita dè Solari, an eleven-year-old girl (in 1495 she dedicated Les Louanges du Mariage to him), staying in her father's Palace in Asti, listened to his hatreds. He immediately recalled his cousin Luigi d'Orleans to Asti from Genoa, who arrived on 15 September. On September 13, Duchess Beatrice had ordered
12705-548: Was Ottone Visconti , elected archbishop in 1262 and who defeated the Della Torre family in the Battle of Desio in 1277. In the first half of the following century, his nephews and great-grandsons who came to govern Milan: Matteo I , Galeazzo I , Azzone and the Archbishop Giovanni , expanding the area of Visconti influence over the surrounding regions. An equal policy of enlargement and consolidation
12826-487: 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
12947-511: Was accused of double game with the king of France. The suspicions were corroborated by the fact that the latter had responded with little respect to the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga, when the latter during a council of war accused him of not collaborating in war operations. Not being able to count on her father's help, on June 27 Beatrice d'Este went alone, without her husband, to the military camp of Vigevano, both to supervise
13068-454: Was an active trader but they sold more than they bought, thus giving the Florentine florin an early foothold in the Rhine river valley in 1354. However, this Rhenish florin or gulden was debased over the centuries, from 3.43 g fine gold in 1354, to 2.76 g fine gold by 1419, and to 2.503 g fine gold by 1559. After Henckels assassinated Amadeus Aba in 1311, Charles I of Hungary began
13189-417: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. Under the Spanish viceroys from 1535, Milan became one of the contributors to the Spanish king's army. At the time Lombardy had the most developed manufacturing and commercial economy anywhere in the world, making it a valuable tool for the Spanish military: an armory of paramount strategic importance. In addition to resources, Milan also provided soldiers. During
13310-651: Was aware that his army, advancing into the long Italian peninsula towards Naples, needed naval help to ensure logistical support from the sea. The Aragonese maneuver was instead precisely to prevent him from freedom of maneuver in the Tyrrhenian Sea; already in July a Neapolitan fleet bombards the Genoese Porto Venere trying in vain to seize the base. On September 5, 1494, the city of Rapallo in Liguria
13431-527: Was concluded. The political balance achieved with the Peace of Lodi lasted until the death of Lorenzo de' Medici , ruler of the Florentine Republic , and the incursion of King Charles VIII of France into Italy in 1494, except for some Swiss incursions which resulted in the Peace of Lucerne. Galeazzo Maria , son of Francesco Sforza, due to his government considered by many to be tyrannical,
13552-403: Was deeply hated by the Neapolitan people and their allies, on January 22, 1495, Alfonso II decided to abdicate in favor of his more-popular son Ferdinand, in the hope that this would be enough to improve the political situation. Despite the efforts of the new king to remedy the mistakes made by his predecessors, it was insufficient to avoid the French conquest of Naples. Betrayed by his captains and
13673-666: Was expelled from the Peninsula by a League composed of many Italian states, the Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire and the Kingdom of England , but only three years later, in 1498, the Duke of Orléans, who had become King of France with the name of Louis XII , assert his claims on the Duchy of Milan: one of his ancestors, Louis of Orleans , had in fact married Valentina Visconti , daughter of Duke Gian Galeazzo, in 1389, whose marriage contract established that, in
13794-628: Was fatal to him, as it allowed Galeazzo to reorganize the troops and surround him, thus forcing him to a long and exhausting siege. Loys duc d'Orleans [...] en peu de jours mist en point une assez belle armée, avecques la quelle il entra dedans Noarre et icelle print, et en peu de jours pareillement eut le chasteau, laquelle chose donna grant peur à Ludovic Sforce et peu près que desespoir à son affaire, s'il n'eust esté reconforté par Beatrix sa femme [...] O peu de gloire d'un prince, à qui la vertuz d'une femme convient luy donner couraige et faire guerre, à la salvacion de dominer! Louis Duke of Orleans [...] in
13915-424: Was greeted festively by the Dukes of Savoy, and then joined his cousin in the controlled County of Asti. Charles VIII gathered a large army of 25,000 men, including 8,000 Swiss mercenaries and the first siege train to include artillery He was aided by Louis d'Orleans victory over Neapolitan forces at the Battle of Rapallo which allowed Charles to march his army through the Republic of Genoa . Charles VIII
14036-505: Was made by King Roger II of Sicily as part of the Assizes of Ariano (1140). It was to be a valid issue for the whole kingdom. The first issue bears the figure of Christ and the Latin inscription Sit tibi, Christe, datus, quem tu regis iste ducatus (meaning "O Christ, let this duchy, which you rule, be dedicated to you") on the obverse. On the reverse, Roger II is depicted in the style of
14157-629: Was murdered in a conspiracy. His son, Gian Galeazzo , governed under the regency of his mother Bona of Savoy , until his uncle, Ludovico il Moro usurped the throne of the duchy. Ludovico il Moro, son of Francesco Sforza, managed to obtain the guardianship of his nephew Gian Galeazzo and confine him to the Visconti Castle of Pavia , where in 1494 he died in such mysterious circumstances that many suspicions gathered around Ludovico himself. Relations between Ludovico and Ferdinand II of Aragon therefore deteriorated: Gian Galeazzo had in fact married
14278-463: Was pursued in the second half of the century by their successors: Matteo II , Bernabò and Gian Galeazzo . After a period marked by tensions between the various members of the powerful family, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, nephew of Bernabò, came to power with a coup in 1385 and gradually unified the vast family domains scattered across Northern Italy . It is said that the territories subject to his dominion earned Gian Galeazzo in one year, in addition to
14399-456: Was reached by the Aragonese naval fleet that landed 4,000 Neapolitan soldiers commanded by Giulio Orsini, Obietto Fieschi and Fregosino Campofregoso: the intention was to raise the population of Rapallo against Genoa which at that time was subject to the Sforza lordship. Three days later, a French army commanded by Louis d'Orléans arrived in the city, consisting of French soldiers, 3,000 Swiss mercenaries and Milanese contingents. The Swiss attacked
14520-444: Was the opening phase of the Italian Wars . The war pitted Charles VIII of France , who had initial Milanese aid, against the Holy Roman Empire , Spain and an alliance of Italian powers led by Pope Alexander VI , known as the League of Venice. This is an overview of notable events including battles during the war. Pope Innocent VIII , in conflict with King Ferdinand I of Naples over Ferdinand's refusal to pay feudal dues to
14641-470: Was then reduced to a regional state subjected to foreign domination. With the Treaty of Baden , which ended the War of the Spanish Succession , the Duchy of Milan was ceded to the Austrian Habsburgs . During the 18th century, the surface area of the duchy - despite its unification in 1745 with the Duchy of Mantua , which however had strong autonomy from Milan - was further reduced, reaching
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