Lords of Milan

Pagano della Torre (meaning 'of the tower' and also rendered as Torriani) was a condottiero, essentially a military leader with the status of a warlord, someone who often served as a mercenary commander in times of conflict in Italy. His grandfather was one Martino 'The Giant' who fought in the Crusades. Martino's son was Jacopo, who married into the powerful Visconti family and became captain of Milan while his in-laws were serving as patrician of Pisa, dominating the giudici of Cagliari, and intermarrying with the giudici of Gallura. Pagano was Jacopo's son, and he also became captain of Milan (in 1240), establishing himself and his descendants as the main power in the city.

Milan had been founded by the Celtic Insubres tribe, perhaps around 600 BC. It was developed under Roman control, but its convoluted political history during the medieval period essentially reflected that of all of Italy. The governance of the peninsula was disjointed and fractured, with frequent internecine squabbles and threats from greater powers from outside Italy, especially from the growing might of France, Aragon, and Castile. All of northern Italy remained nominally under the vassalage of the Holy Roman empire, but the struggle for power between the Papist Guelfs and their opponents, the Imperialist Ghibellines, was intense in this period.

1240 - 1247cPaganus / Pagano I della Torre, Son of Jacopo. Captain of Milan. Died.

1247 - 1257 Paganus / Pagano II della Torre

1253 - 1256 Manfredi Lancia

1257 - 1259 Martino della Torre, Brother or nephew of Pagano I. Died 1263.

1257 - 1259 Martino imposes his personal power over Milan as its captain. The della Torre lordship of the city begins with him and lasts for half a century or so. The della Torre family also hold Bergamo, Lodi, Novara, and Vercelli. In 1259, Oberto Pallavicino, a field captain for former Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, defeats the Lombardic-Guelphish League of towns at the Battle of Cassano, and as a reward he is granted command of Alessandria, Como, Lodi, Milan, Novara, and Tortona.

Medieval Italy

Medieval Italy was a cauldron of competing city states, with unceasing competition between them that sparked the Renaissance and a blossoming of culture and advancement

1259 - 1264 Oberto Pallavicino

1263 - 1265 Filippo della Torre, Brother of Martino.

1265 - 1277 Napoleone della Torri Cousin, and son of Pagano I. Imprisoned, died the following year.

1273 - 1274 With his brother Raimondo, bishop of Como, having been a prisoner of Conrad Venosta von Matsch (a minor vassal from the alpine Valchiavenna region of Lombardy) since 1269, Napoleone manages to free him. In the same year, Rudolph of Habsburg is elected Holy Roman Emperor and Napoleone switches his own allegiance to him, away from the now too-dominant Charles of Anjou in Naples. As a reward, in 1274 Napoleone is granted the title of imperial vicar in Lombardy.

1277 Napoleone is attacked by Ottone Visconti in a struggle for control of Milan. Initially, Napoleone holds him off, winning the Battle of Guazzera (the captured nephew of Ottone Visconti, Teobaldo Visconti, is captured during the battle and is later beheaded). However, he is subsequently defeated at the Battle of Desio, and della Torre power in Milan is broken, barring a brief final flourish in 1302. Napoleone dies the following year. Francesco della Torre, podestà of Alessandria, Bergamo, Brescia, Lodi and Novara, is also killed by the visconti at Desio, a double blow for the della Torre family.

1277 - 1294
Ottone Visconti
Son of Ubaldo Visconti. Archbishop of Milan.
1284
Early in the year, Genoa attempts the conquest of Porto Torres and Sassari on Sardinia (part of the recently fallen giudicato of Logudoro). Part of Genoa's large merchant fleet defeats a Pisan force while heading into the eastern Mediterranean. Then Genoa blockades Porto Pisano, Pisa's own harbour, and attacks Pisan vessels across the Mediterranean. The final act is the Battle of Meloria on 5-6 August 1284, close to Livorno on Italy's upper western coast. The Pisan fleet is decimated by Genoese galleys at the same time as Pisa itself is attacked by Florence and Lucca, destroying any hope of a Pisan restoration. The defeat marks the end of Pisa as a major power, sending the city into a decline that ends with its eventual conquest by Florence. Corsica is ruled by the victorious Genoa.

1294 - 1302 Matteo I Visconti, Grand-nephew through Teobaldo Visconti (killed 1277).

1288/1291 Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph I appoints Matteo as his vicar general for Lombardy, and the captain's influence extends as far as Bologna, Emilia, Genoa, and Piedmont. The year in which this takes place is unclear, either being 1288 or 1291.

1297 - 1302 Lugano is taken from the bishopric of Como and becomes the property of Milan. The struggle for power in Italy between the Papist Guelfs, which in Rome are led by the Orsini family, and their opponents, the Imperialist Ghibellines which are led by the Colonna family, is intense in this period. It also influences the struggle for power between Como and Milan. When Guido della Torre of the anti-Visconti Guelfs displaces Matteo Visconti as lord of Milan in 1302, Como regains Lugano and holds it for over a century.

1302 - 1311 Guido della Torre, Fled Milan and died in 1312.

1308 With the death of Nino Visconti, giudice of Gallura, his daughter Joanna inherits the title. Despite attempts to assert her rights to control Gallura, she is unsuccessful, and she eventually sells her title to her relatives, the Visconti family of Milan (presumably in 1308). They later sell them on to Aragon, which is eventually able to conquer the entire island of Sardinia.

1311 Guido attempts to rally the people of Milan against Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxemburg and his proposed treaty between the opposing factions in Italy. The attempt fails and Guido is forced to flee Milan, to be replaced by the restored Matteo Visconti.

1311 - 1322 Matteo I Visconti Restored. Abdicated.

1320 - 1322 In an escalation of the continuing conflict between Guelfs and Ghibellines, Pope John XXII ensures that Matteo is charged with necromancy for attempted papicide. Matteo refuses to appear before the papal court and is found guilty in his absence in 1321. The charge spreads to Galeazzo, Matteo's son, and in 1322 the papal legate, Cardinal Bertrand du Poujet, proclaims a holy crusade against the Visconti. With the stakes escalating further, Matteo stands aside in favour of his son (and dies a month later).

1322 - 1327 Galeazzo I Visconti, Son. Imprisoned at Monza.

1327 - 1339 Azzone Visconti Son. Died of gout.

1330 In a change to the established tradition, Azzone is named perpetual lord of Milan, now that the threat of excommunication raised against his family during the conflict with Matteo Visconti has expired.

1331 - 1335 Azzone allies himself with Theodore I, marquess of Montferrat. Their common enemy is Robert of Anjou, king of Naples, and Azzone is keen to reclaim his possessions in north-western Italy. The following year, he takes Bergamo and Pizzighettone. Further conquests in 1335 include Crema, Cremona, Lodi, and Vercelli, along with other territories in Lombardy that had ceded control to the Papal States.

1339 - 1349 Luchino Visconti, Brother of Galeazzo I. Lord of Pavia (1315). Poisoned.

1339 - 1349 Luchino expands his territory during his time as lord of Milan, by hiring an army of mercenaries and placing them under the command of his illegitimate son, Stefano. Pisa is captured, and Parma is purchased from Obizzo III d'Este, marquis of Ferrara.

1343 - 1345 Jani Beg, khan of the Golden Horde, leads a massive Crimean Tartar force against the Crimean port city of Kaffa. The assault turns into a siege which is lifted by a Genoese relief force. Two years later, Jani Beg returns, but the second attack against Kaffa is defeated by an outbreak of Black Plague. There is a possibility that Jani Beg's army catapult their infected fellow troops into Kaffa so that the defenders will become infected. The ploy fails to bring the city to its knees, but infected Genoese sailors subsequently take the Black Death with them back to Italy.

1349 - 1354 Giovanni Visconti, Brother. Archbishop of Milan (1342-1354).

1350 - 1352 Giovanni secures control of Bologna as its new lord, and he places his nephew, Bernabò, in command there. Milan continues to increase its power in Lombardy in general. Genoa is added to the list of Milanese possessions in 1352, with Giovanni becoming lord there, and in 1353 Novara is also acquired.

1354 - 1385 Bernabò Visconti, Nephew, and son of Stefano.

1354 - 1378 Galeazzo II Visconti, Brother and co-ruler.

1354 - 1355 Matteo II Visconti Brother and co-ruler.

1355 After having shared power in turns in Milan for just a year, the vicious Matteo is murdered by his two brothers, and they divide his share of Milan's outer territories between themselves.
Sforzesco Castle in Milan

Although Sforzesco Castle was only transformed into a ducal palace by its namesake, Francesco Sforza, in 1450, its origins date to the time of Galeazzo II Visconti

1378 - 1385 Gian Galeazzo I Visconti, Son of Galeazzo II, and co-ruler with Bernabò Visconti.

1385 Bernabò Visconti is overthrown by his nephew and son-in-law, Comte de Vertus in Champagne, Gian Visconti (a title delivered to Gian by his first wife, Isabelle of Valois). Bernabò is imprisoned and dies soon afterwards, poisoned allegedly on Gian's orders. Soon after securing his new domain, Gian expands his territory. He seizes Padua, Verona, and Vicenza, becoming lord of each of them and giving himself control of much of the Po Valley. Padua is lost in 1390.

1385 - 1395 Gian Galeazzo I Visconti, Became sole lord in 1385. Raised to duke of Milan.

1395 Gian Galeazzo Visconti purchases a diploma for 100,000 florins from Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslas of Luxemburg. This diploma confirms Gian Visconti as duke of Milan and count of Pavia.

EXARCHATE OF THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE

With the destruction of the Ostrogoth threat, the Eastern Roman empire now controlled large areas of Italy. The city of Rome and the papacy remained dominated by Constantinople until the eighth century, although a civil government slowly emerged to take control of Roman regional affairs in the late ninth century, often vying for power with the pope. However, Eastern Roman authority was theoretical in some places where Roman forces were spread thinly, and a new threat to peace quickly materialised when the Lombards entered northern Italy.

The exarch in Italy was the direct military and civil representative of the Eastern Roman emperor, and as such he wielded considerable power. He directly controlled much of Italy's Adriatic coast, with territory comprising Ravenna itself, plus the Pentapolis, a strip of five Adriatic coastal cities immediately to the south, and the duchy of Perugia immediately south of that. There were also a host of other territories which were governed by magister militum and dux, including Calabria, Campania, Emilia and Liguria, the Urbicaria around Rome, and Venice. Areas in Italy which were outside the exarch's control were Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily. In later years, the exarch was often regarded as a foreign intruder, and he could find his best efforts being blocked not only by the Lombards, but also by Rome and others who supposedly answered to him. As a result the exarchate gradually faded in strength until it became easy prey to conquest.

552/3 - 567/8 Narses / Narsete Eastern Romans eunuch general, liberated Rome.

568 - 569 The Lombards enter northern Italy, intent on conquering it and creating their own kingdom. The first Roman city to fall is that of Forum Iulii (now Cividale de Friuli), with small Eastern Roman defensive forces from Ravenna unable to offer any viable opposition (and perhaps not even bothering to try). The first Lombard duchy is created here, the duchy of Friuli. In the same year, Vicenza, Verona and Brescia also fall to Alboin, followed by a great prize in the capture of Milan. The north belongs to the Lombards.
General Narses

Although unconfirmed, the mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale that depicts Emperor Justinian and his entourage includes this man who is usually identified as General Narses

568 - 573 Longinus Last military governor.

569 - 571 Eastern Roman Emperor Justin II sends Longinus to stem the Lombard advance, but he can do little more than defend the coastal territories with the powerful Byzantine fleet. Inland, territorial gains to the south of the exarchate are quickly formalised in the shape of the duchies of Benevento and Spoleto. Rome is temporarily isolated during this period and records destroyed, leaving little information about the pontificate of John III.

572 After a siege lasting three years, the city of Pavia falls to the Lombards. They make it the first capital of their new kingdom. Although Ravenna manages to retain control of the region around this imperial city, and also re-secures Rome through a narrow corridor of territory running through Perugia, the Lombards still have free access to central southern Italy and their conquests there. Apart from much of the coastline, Ravenna also controls the extreme south of Italy, below Benevento, along with Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and a wide strip of territory between Rome and Lombardic northern Italy.

573 - 575 Ravenna is almost certainly behind the murders of the powerful Lombard king, Alboin, in 573, and his successor in 575. Such plotting removes a powerful figure of opposition, severely damages Lombard unity, and raises the possibility of the Eastern Roman reconquest of Italy. The Lombards largely remain divided, unable to organise any significant further conquests, and a balance of power is established in Italy.

575 - 576 Baduarius First exarch. Killed in battle.

576 Baduarius, son-in-law of Eastern Roman Emperor Justin II, is defeated and killed in battle. Due to the Roman focus on their eastern borders and crisis in the Balkans, there are no extra resources to devote to Italy. Therefore, Roman authority is limited to large pockets of territory, including Ravenna and Rome.

576 - 585 Decius

580 Eastern Roman Emperor Tiberius II reorganises the surviving Roman territories in Italy into five provinces which are given the Greek name eparchies. This use of Greek instead of Latin is part of a gradual shift for the Eastern Romans away from their Italian roots and towards greater integration with their permanent homeland in Greece. The new provinces are the Annonaria in northern Italy around Ravenna (which incorporates the duchy of the Pentapolis, a strip of five Adriatic coastal cities immediately south of Ravenna, and below that the duchy of Perugia, both governed directly from Ravenna), the duchy of Calabria (although some areas are lost to Benevento), the Campania, Emilia and Liguria (only nominally), and the Urbicaria around the city of Rome (Urbs). To the north, across the River Po, the duchy of Venice remains nominally under the service of the Eastern Romans.

584/585 The Lombards invade the Merovingian Frankish region of Provence. In return, the Frankish king of Austrasia, Childebert II, and Guntramn, king of Burgundy, invade Lombard Italy. They capture Trent and open negotiations with the Eastern Roman emperor via Ravenna, perhaps with a view of carving up Italy between them. The Lombards, fearing Frankish domination, elect a king to end their disunity. He is successful in throwing out the invaders and restoring the strength of the kingdom.

585 - 589 Smaragdus Removed from office due to his violence & charges of insanity.

588 Smaragdus is able to recover Classis, the port of Ravenna, from the Lombards, but overall is not able to make any great impact in pushing them back. Alliances with the Avars and Franks come to nothing as the Franks, at least, are not particularly interested in conducting campaigns into Italy.

589 - 598 Romanus Died in office.

589 Romanus is able to recover the cities of Altinum, Mantua, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, and Reggio from the Lombards during one extremely successful year of campaigning.

598 - 603 Callinicus / Kallinikos / Gallicinus Recalled and replaced.

601 - 603 King Agilulf of Lombardy fights a successful series of campaigns against rebel dukes in northern Italy, capturing Padua in 601, and Cremona and Mantua in 603. He is also successful in forcing the exarch of Ravenna to pay a sizable tribute. Eastern Roman Emperor Phocas restores Smaragdus to the position of exarch, but even he cannot hold onto Cremona and Mantua. However, the peace he establishes by releasing Lombard prisoners lasts for the remainder of his term of office.

603 - 611 Smaragdus Restored. Died shortly after being removed from office.

611 - 615 John I Lemigius Murdered along with several other officials.

616 - 619 Eleutherius A eunuch. Declared himself emperor in 619. Killed 620.

616 - 617 Eleutherius puts to death all those who are implicated in the death of his predecessor, but immediately Naples is withdrawn from his control by one John of Conza. Eleutherius marches on the city, retakes it and kills the rebel. To make the situation worse the Lombards threaten to attack, so they have to be bought off with promises of an annual tribute.

619 - 620 Following growing discontent with the exarchate's Eastern Roman masters, Eleutherius notes the emperor's focus is on fighting the Sassanids and takes the opportunity to declare himself emperor. In 620 he marches on Rome, intent on making it his capital, but he is murdered by his own troops.

620 - 637 Isaac the Armenian Died, presumably in fighting against the Lombards.

638 - 648 Plato Sometimes placed after the first term of Theodore I.

638 In response to the rebellion of John of Conza, the exarchate creates the duchy of Naples, the sixth such division of Eastern Roman territories in Italy. A dux or duke is brought into Italy to command Naples, and he reports directly to the military leaders of Sicily. The new duchy is similar in size and territory to the modern province of Naples.

643 One of the most active of Lombard kings since Alboin, Rotharis conquers the surviving Eastern Roman territories of Linguria (Liguria) and Inner Veneto, dealing another blow to the fading authority of the exarch at Ravenna. Several thousand Roman soldiers are killed in battle and, according to some sources, Exarch Isaac is either also killed or dies of a stroke following the battle. Either way, while this seems to link him to 643, other sources end his term of office in 637. It is possible that two different battles and defeats have been merged into one.

648 - 649 Theodore I Calliopas Succeeded Isaac or Plato (sources differ).

649 - 652 Olympus / Olympius Declared himself emperor in 652. Died of illness.

652 Frustrated by his attempts to remove Pope Martin from office under the orders of Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II, Olympus switches his allegiance. Now supporting the pope, he declares himself emperor. In the same year he marches into Sicily, although who he is about to fight, the Roman Leaders or the Arabs, is not clear. Instead he is struck down by disease and dies.
Emperor Constans II, This light solidus was minted during the reign of Constans II, with his face on the obverse

652 - 666 Theodore I Calliopas Restored. Died.

653 The newly restored Theodore is ordered by the Eastern Roman emperor to arrest Pope Martin I, as his election had not been referred to the emperor for approval. Theodore enters Rome and his soldiers drag the pope from the Lateran. Martin is packed onto a ship and sent into exile in Crimea, but it takes a year before the Romans to elect a new pope.

661 Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is highly interested in affairs in southern Italy, which causes him to move his capital to Syracuse on Sicily. He appoints a native of Naples, one Basil, as the new dux, the military commander of the city. This is not the first dux to be appointed, but it seems to be the first about whom anything concrete is known, the previous incumbents being foreigners who had been forced to answer directly to the leaders of Sicily. Now Naples is its own master.

666 - 678 Gregory

678 - 687 Theodore II Confirmed Pope Conon in office in 686.

683 Following the short-lived declaration of independence by the archbishop of Ravenna (about 670-678), the independence of the see of Ravenna is suppressed. Rome's rights over the see are confirmed by Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine IV.

687 - 702 John II Platinus / Platyn

687 The rivalry between the two candidates for the papacy - Paschal and Theodorus - erupts into open conflict before a third candidate, Sergius, is elected Pope. Paschal offers John II Platinus gold in exchange for military support. The exarch arrives in Rome to collect his gold, and collects it by looting St Peter's (Old) Basilica, before departing back to Ravenna. Paschal is arrested and confined to a monastery on charges of witchcraft.

697 The Eastern Roman tribunes are substituted in Venice with an elective, life-long office. It is another loss of power in Italy for Constantinople. The process of once imperial positions passing into the hands of a local or settled elite is ongoing throughout Italy. Militia units are gradually formed to protect local imperial interests, but eventually drift into local control, taking more authority and power away from Constantinople. All of this leads to the creation of vested interests that are different from those of the exarchate, thereby weakening it.

702 - 710 Theophylactus

709 The exarchate is further weakened, this time by the Byzantine emperor himself. Justinian II sends an expedition against Ravenna, commanded by the patrician Theodore. The reason is not clear, but it may be related to a rebellion which involved some of the the city's inhabitants and which dethroned Justinian in 695. Theodore invites all of Ravenna's leading citizens to attend a banquet, where they are captured as they arrive and thrown onto a ship to be taken back to Constantinople. The city itself is subsequently sacked. Exarch Theophylactus is apparently not involved either in prosecuting or defending against the action, but he is replaced in the following year.

710 - 711 John III Rizocopo Involved in tidying up the repercussions of 709, brutally.

711 - 713 Entichius Also involved in putting down revolts following the 709 events.

713 - 726 Scholasticus

724 In documents that are disputed in terms of their authenticity, Lombard King Liutprand cedes various properties in Lugano to the Church of Saint Carpophorus in Como. The town remains under the rule of the Rusca family in Como, which lies approximately midway between Lugano and Milan, at the very foot of Lake Como (in modern Italy, just inside the border with Switzerland).

726 The Lombards take control of the exarchate. As a result, Byzantine imperial authority is temporarily unrecognised in Italy, marking a break in Constantinople's control over the Papacy.

727 Paul Under Lombard control.

728 The Byzantines recover the exarchate, although control over Venice is weaker now that the city has its own elected doge in place of a Roman tribune (there is a school of thought which suggests that the doge and Exarch Paul are one and the same person, although the dates of office do not match up). The remaining territory within the exarch consists of Ferrara, Istria, the Pentapolis, Perugia, and Ravenna's immediate surroundings.
Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna

During the two centuries of Byzantine dominance in eastern Italy, the Eastern Romans left behind a good deal of their Greek-based culture, including these mosaics at Ravenna

728 - 752 Eutychius Under Byzantine control. Killed by Lombards.

752 - 754 The exarchate is recaptured by the Lombards, permanently ending Byzantine influence in much of Italy. In the south, the catepanate of Italy at Bari is reorganised as the chief Byzantine authority in its remaining territories. In 754, Rome is delivered from Lombard attack by Pepin III, king of the Franks. This fulfils his role as the ordained protector of the church following Pope Stephen's visit to Paris, during which he re-consecrated the Frankish king. The ex-Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna is transferred to the pope in the form of the Papal States.

755 - 756 The exarchate is briefly re-captured by the resurgent Lombards in 755, but the following year the Carolingian Franks recapture the territory. The ex-Byzantine exarchate is handed back to Rome as the Papal States and northern Italy becomes part of the Carolingian empire. The Papal States are autonomously controlled by the archbishops of Ravenna until 1218. The Lombards remain in power in northern Italy (despite being subjects of the Carolingians) while the Papal States control upper central Italy. Two independent Lombard states, Benevento and Spoleto, control much of the southern central region, while the far south remains in Byzantine hands.

755 - 768 Pepin III King of the Franks. Nominal overlord of northern Italy.

768 - 781 Charles the Great / Charlemagne King and emperor of the Franks.

774 Daufer, king of the Lombards, invades the papal territories, and Pope Adrian is forced to call upon the Frankish King Charlemagne for support and aid. Charlemagne enters Italy and breaks the Lombards, taking the title of 'king of the Lombards' for himself. Rome gains part of the Lombard duchy of Benevento out of the conquest while the rest signals its independence as a continuation of the Lombard kingdom.

781 Pepin, son of Charlemagne, is given command of the Italian portion of the Frankish empire, which includes the former Lombard territories. He also gains the iron crown of the rex Langobardum (king of the Lombards), and it remains in use by the Frankish kings of Italy.