Gian Giacomo Trivulzio
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
aristocrat and condottiero who held several military commands during the Italian Wars
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...
.
Biography
Trivulzio was born in MilanMilan
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 ,...
, where he studied, among the others, with Galeazzo Maria Sforza
Galeazzo Maria Sforza
Galeazzo Maria Sforza was Duke of Milan from 1466 until his death. He was famous for being lustful, cruel and tyrannical....
. In 1465 he followed the latter's army in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to help King Louis XI
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
. He also took part in the Milanese
Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan , was created on the 1st of may 1395, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, purchased a diploma for 100,000 Florins from King Wenceslaus. It was this diploma that installed, Gian Galeazzo as Duke of Milan and Count of Pavia...
campaigns against Bartolomeo Colleoni
Bartolomeo Colleoni
Bartolomeo Colleoni was a Venetian condottiero, who became Captain-General of the republic of Venice, where there is a famous statue showing him on horseback.-Biography:...
and fought alongside Federico III da Montefeltro in the wars in Romagna
Romagna
Romagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
.
In 1478 he supported the Florentines
Republic of Florence
The Republic of Florence , or the Florentine Republic, was a city-state that was centered on the city of Florence, located in modern Tuscany, Italy. The republic was founded in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon Margravine Matilda's death. The...
against Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...
's expansionism. Two years later he acquired the castle of Mesocco
Mesocco
Mesocco is a municipality in the district of Moesa in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.-History:The first human settlement in the area dates back to the Mesolithic era. Stone tools dating to about 6000 BC have been found in the Silex section of the municipality. At the same site, Neolithic fire pits...
. In 1483 he abandoned Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Sforza , was Duke of Milan from 1489 until his death. A member of the Sforza family, he was the fourth son of Francesco Sforza. He was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists, and presided over the final and most productive stage of the Milanese Renaissance...
and switched his allegiance to Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
. In 1484 he defeated the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
army at Martinengo.
In 1488 he married Beatrice d'Avalos, after his first wife (Margherita Colleoni) had died. In June of the same year he moved to southern Italy, at the service of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
and its ruler Ferdinand of Aragon
Ferdinand I of Naples
Ferdinand I , also called Don Ferrante, was the King of Naples from 1458 to 1494. He was the natural son of Alfonso V of Aragon by Giraldona Carlino.-Biography:...
. As Isabella of Aragon had married the young Gian Galeazzo Visconti, heir of the family who had held Milan before the Sforzas, Ludovico asked Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
to invade Naples. Charles swept away any resistance in Italy and soon forced the Neapolitans to sign a treaty of peace; the latter was dealt by Trivulzio, who in the meantime had been named commander-in-chief of the Neapolitan army. Impressed by Trivulzio's capabilities, Charles decided to engage him, with Ferdinand's permission, for a wage of 10,000 ducats a year.
Trivulzio then followed Charles' army in its return to France, and fought in the victorious battle of Fornovo
Battle of Fornovo
The Battle of Fornovo took place 30 km southwest of the city of Parma on 6 July 1495. The League of Venice was able to temporarily expel the French from the Italian Peninsula. It was the first major battle of the Italian Wars.-Antecedents:...
(1495) against the Italian league. On June 15, 1495 he was appointed governor of 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...
and was given noble titles and territories in France. After Charles' death, his successor Louis XII
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
mustered a large army under Trivulzio to conquer the Duchy of Milan. After the latter's defeat, Trivulzio was in fact created governor of Milan and, on September 29, 1499, Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
.
He also took part in the victorious Battle of Agnadello
Battle of Agnadello
The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà, was one of the more significant battles of the War of the League of Cambrai and one of the major battles of the Italian Wars....
against the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, and commanded contingents of the French army at Novara
Battle of Novara (1513)
The Battle of Novara was a battle of the War of the League of Cambrai fought on June 6, 1513, near Novara, in Northern Italy.The French had been victorious at Ravenna the previous year. Nevertheless, the French under King Louis XII were driven out of the city of Milan the following month by the...
and (this time allied with the Venetians against the Swiss) Marignano
Battle of Marignano
The Battle of Marignano was fought during the phase of the Italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai, between France and the Old Swiss Confederacy. It took place on September 13 and 15, 1515, near the town today called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan...
. In 1516 he successfully defended Milan from the assault of Emperor Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
.
However, voices about his behaviour as governor had him fall in disgrace soon afterwards. He moved to France to support his position with King Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, but in vain. He died at Arpajon
Arpajon
Arpajon is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.Seat of the canton, the commune is located south of Paris, accessible by the N20, and to in the north of Étampes...
(France) in 1518.
His nephew Teodoro Trivulzio
Teodoro Trivulzio
Teodoro Trivulzio was an Italian condottiero and marshal of France.He was born in Milan, the nephew of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio. He took part in the Italian Wars under the French King Louis XII, fighting in the French vanguard at the battle of Agnadello and in the battle of Ravenna...
was also a military commander under France, who was shortly governor of Milan, Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
.
Patronage of art
Trivulzio accumulated huge amounts of money, which he used in part as a patron of arts, in particular of works by BramantinoBramantino
Bartolomeo Suardi, best known as Bramantino , was an Italian painter and architect, mainly active in his native Milan.-Biography:...
: these include the Trivulzio Chapel in the Basilica of San Nazaro in Brolo
San Nazaro in Brolo
The basilica of San Nazaro in Brolo or San Nazaro Maggiore is a church in Milan, northern Italy.-History:The church was built by St. Ambrose starting from 382 on the road that connected Milan to Rome...
, where he was buried, and the tapestries cycle of the Twelve Months now in the Castello Sforzesco
Castello Sforzesco
Castello Sforzesco is a castle in Milan, Italy, that used to be the seat and residence of the Duchy of Milan and one of the biggest citadels in Europe and now houses several of the city's museums and art collections.-History:...
in Milan.
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
had designed a large equestrian statue of Trivulzio, which was never begun.