v09_1005 - ITALY - DUCHY OF MILAN - GIAN GALEAZZO VISCONTI Denier n.d.

ITALY - DUCHY OF MILAN - GIAN GALEAZZO VISCONTI

(1385-1402)

Jean Galéas Visconti was born in 1353. He is the son of Galéas II and Blanche de Savoie. In 1360, he married Isabelle de France, daughter of Jean II dit le Bon (1350-1364) who brought him as a dowry the county of Vertus in Champagne. In 1380 he married Catherine, daughter of Barnabo Visconti. He seized the duchy after imprisoning and poisoning his uncle. A true conqueror, he took Verona and Vicenza in 1387, Padua, Feltre and Bellune in 1388, Pisa and Lunigiana in 1397, Siena in 1399, Perugia, Assisi, Spoleto and Nocera in 1400. Count of Vertus and lord of Milan, he bought in 1395 to the Emperor Wenceslas the title of Duke of Milan; as early as 1386 he had requested the title of King of Italy from Urban V; he died in 1402 in Melegnano.