United States or Colombia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Sometimes, when the Marquis Gianfrancesco was away from Mantua, we find his wife consulting Lodovico on affairs of state, asking him to prevent her neighbour Galeotto della Mirandola from constructing a canal which may injure her subjects, or appealing to the Sanseverino brothers in the case of a faithless servant of hers who had sought shelter under the Count of Caiazzo's banners.
The situation was indeed enough to move a stouter heart than that of the feeble young king. For the moment Charles returned evasive answers to his petitioners; but the trouble of his soul was manifest, and no sooner had he set forth on his way to Piacenza than the Moor resolved to remove the cause of further vacillation. Sending to Pavia, Lodovico had his nephew poisoned.
This faithful servant had already written to give Lodovico details of the treaty concluded between Charles VIII. and Maximilian, and had informed him of the French king's resolve to invade Italy without delay. Now, at his master's summons, he rode to Parma as fast as relays of the fleetest horses could take him, and fell seriously ill on the day after his arrival.
"To say the truth," writes Jean d'Auton, "the whole duchy of Milan was secretly in favour of Lodovico, and all the Lombards were swollen with poison, and ready like vipers to shoot out the deadly venom of their treason."
After Louis XII. left Milan, the severity of Trivulzio's rule, and the violence and rapacity of the French soldiery, led to increasing discontent among the people, who sighed for the good old days of Duke Lodovico, when at least their life and property, and the honour of their wives and daughters, were safe.
Thus on every side the house of Sforza was restored to its former dignity, and the great Condottiere's name was respected and honoured. The Milanese once more enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity, and Lodovico was able to devote himself to his favourite pursuits, the encouragement of learning and of the fine arts.
On the death of Francesco Sforza, in 1466, he left two sons, Galeazzo Maria and Lodovico, surnamed Il Moro, both of whom were destined to play a prominent part in history. Galeazzo Maria, dissolute, vicious, and cruel to the core, was murdered by his injured subjects in the year 1476.
During that time an office in the customs fell vacant which could only be held by a Florentine citizen; so Lodovico, the father of Michael Angelo, came to the Magnificent and spoke for it: "Lorenzo, I can do nothing but read and write; the comrade of Marco Pucci in the Dogana is dead. I should like to have his place. I believe I shall be able to carry out the duties properly."
Lodovico, whom the King of Naples immediately invested with the dukedom of Bari in his brother's stead, now crossed the Genoese Alps and boldly invaded the territory of Tortona. But the enterprise was a perilous one, and the allied forces of Milan were preparing to crush his little army, when an unexpected turn of fortune altered the whole condition of affairs.
It is related, I say, that, when the Emperor was master of Verona, Don Alfonso of Castille and Alarcon, a very famous Captain, happened to be in that city on behalf of His Majesty and the Catholic King; and that these lords, being in the house of the Veronese Count Lodovico da Sesso, said that they had a great desire to see that picture.
Word Of The Day