Bianca of Savoy
Encyclopedia
Bianca of Savoy was the only surviving daughter of Aimone, Count of Savoy
Aimone, Count of Savoy
Aymon , surnamed the Peaceful, was Count of Savoy from 1329 to 1343. His father was Amadeus V, Count of Savoy and he was the younger brother of Edward, Count of Savoy....

 and his wife Yolande Palaeologina of Montferrat
Yolande Palaeologina of Montferrat
Yolande Palaiologina or Violant was the daughter of Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat and Argentina Spinola, a Genoese lady, daughter of Opicino Spinola...

. Bianca was Lady of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 by her marriage to Galeazzo II Visconti
Galeazzo II Visconti
-External links:*...

.

Early life

She was the second of five children born to Count Aimone and Yolande, herself the daughter of Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat
Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat
Theodore I Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Marquess of Montferrat from 1306 until his death.He was a son of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos and Irene of Montferrat...

 (1291–1338) and Genoese noblewoman Argentina Hispanola.

When Bianca was six years old she lost her mother Yolande, who died giving birth on 24 December 1342 to her younger brother Louis, who died in childhood. Six months later on 22 June 1343 her father, Aimone died.

Bianca was raised in the Castle of the Counts of Savoy on the shores of Lake Bourget. In 1345 tragedy struck when Bianca's younger brother John died. This left only one son and heir to Savoy, Bianca's older brother Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy
Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy
Amadeus VI , nicknamed the Green Count was Count of Savoy from 1343 to 1383. He was the eldest son of Aimone, Count of Savoy and Yolande of Montferrat....

. The period was marked by the devastating epidemic of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

 that killed off much of the population of Europe between 1347 and 1350.

Marriage

In an attempt to curb the expansionist policies of Bianca's uncle John II, Marquess of Montferrat
John II, Marquess of Montferrat
John II Palaeologus was the Margrave of Montferrat from 1338.He was the son of Theodore I of Montferrat, with whom he was associated in the government from 1336. He had great fortune in extending the boundaries of the margraviate against his neighbours...

, an alliance was established on the 22 October 1349 between Savoy, governed by Amadeus III of Geneva
Amadeus III of Geneva
Amadeus III was the Count of Geneva from 1320 until his death. He ruled the Genevois, but not the city of Geneva proper, and it was during his time that the term "Genevois" came to be used as it is today. He was the eldest son and successor of William III and Agnes, daughter of Amadeus V of Savoy...

 and Louis II of Vaud
Louis II of Vaud
Louis II , of the House of Savoy, was the Baron of Vaud from 1302 until his death. A military man, he fought widely in Italy and, during the first phase of the Hundred Years' War, in France...

 with Giovanni Visconti of Milan. In the agreements, a marriage was arranged between Bianca and Giovanni's nephew Galeazzo II Visconti
Galeazzo II Visconti
-External links:*...

.

On 28 September 1350 at Rivoli
Rivoli
Rivoli may refer to:*Rivoli, Piedmont, , a town near Turin in Italy*Rivoli Veronese, a community in the Italian province of Verona*Battle of Rivoli, a battle that took place near Rivoli Veronese*The Rivoli, a restaurant/club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

, Bianca and Galeazzo were married, he was sixteen years her senior.

Only weeks after the marriage in October 1350, Galeazzo was asked by his uncle to seize the city of Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

 but his fragile health forced him to leave the conquest.

After moving to Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

 in 1351 their first child was born, Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Gian Galeazzo Visconti , son of Galeazzo II Visconti and Bianca of Savoy, was the first Duke of Milan and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance...

, then in 1352 a daughter, Maria (who died aged ten in April 1362) and then another daughter Violante
Violante Visconti
Violante Visconti was the second of three children of Galeazzo II Visconti, Lord of Milan and Pavia, and Bianca of Savoy. Her father gave to her the provinces of Alba, Mondovì, Kenites, Cherasco and Demonte as an inheritance...

 in 1354.

In 1360 Galeazzo was appointed Imperial vicar by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....

 and Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

 fell under the domination of the Visconti family.

Bianca followed her husband here who built the Visconti Castle where she educated, availed herself of illustrious friends, including Francesco Petrarca founder of the Library Visconti, which brought the first copies of Divine Comedy.

Bianca and Galeazzo had three children:
  1. Gian Galeazzo
    Gian Galeazzo Visconti
    Gian Galeazzo Visconti , son of Galeazzo II Visconti and Bianca of Savoy, was the first Duke of Milan and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance...

     (November 1351 – 3 September 1402), succeeded his father as Lord of Milan. Married firstly to Isabella of France and secondly to Caterina Visconti
    Caterina Visconti
    Caterina Visconti, Duchess of Milan was a member of the Italian noble family Visconti, which ruled Milan from 1277 to 1447. She was the second wife of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first Duke of Milan, and was the mother of two succeeding Dukes of Milan, Gian Maria Visconti and Filippo Maria Visconti...

    .
  2. Maria (1352 – April 1362), betrothed with the future Secondotto, Marquess of Montferrat with Asti
    Asti
    Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...

     as her dowry; she died before the wedding took place.
  3. Violante
    Violante Visconti
    Violante Visconti was the second of three children of Galeazzo II Visconti, Lord of Milan and Pavia, and Bianca of Savoy. Her father gave to her the provinces of Alba, Mondovì, Kenites, Cherasco and Demonte as an inheritance...

     (1354 – November 1386), married firstly to Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence
    Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence
    Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Ulster and 5th Baron of Connaught, KG was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...

    , secondly to Secondotto, Marquess of Montferrat and thirdly to Lodovico Visconti.


When war broke out between Milan and her uncle John II, on the side of the latter was Bianca's brother, Count Amadeus VI. Bianca tried to whatever means to avert quarrels between him and her husband. The conflict ended with a dedication by John II in occupied areas of Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

 and Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

.

Later life

When the state of her husband's health deteriorated, the couple relocated to Cortenova
Cortenova
Cortenova is a comune in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 60 km northeast of Milan and about 15 km north of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,285 and an area of 11.6 km²....

. Galeazzo died in 1378. Bianca founded the Franciscan Monastery Cortenova dedicated to St. Clare of Assisi. In the last years of life, Bianca spent time raising her granddaughter, Valentina, whom she taught French and German.

In 1385 together with her son she participated in a conspiracy against Bernabò Visconti
Bernabo Visconti
Bernabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was Lord of Milan.-Life:He was born in Milan, the son of Stefano Visconti and Valentina Doria. From 1346 to 1349 he lived in exile, until he was called back by his uncle Giovanni Visconti...

. The conspiracy succeeded , and Bernabò was executed. So from then Bianca's son Gian Galeazzo was the independent ruler of Milan. Bianca took the death of her daughter Violante very badly in 1386.

Bianca died aged 51 years old on 31 December 1387. She was buried at Pavia Santa Chiara, Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

.
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