IN THE LITTLE ROMAGNOL town of Cotignola, on 28th May, 1369, the founder of the House of Sforza first saw the light. At that time Milan had not yet become a Duchy, although under the joint rule of Bernabò and Galeazzo Visconti, it was fast being welded into a State. The Italian soldier of fortune, moreover, was not yet a factor in politics. Only in 1379 did the Company of S. George, consisting purely of Italians, fight and win its first battle against the French mercenaries, who were threatening Rome in the interest of the anti-Pope. Hence the birth of the fifth son of Giovanni Attendolo excited no interest beyond the bounds of Cotignola. None could tell that the boy himself would become the chief of Italian condottieri. Still less could it be imagined that his son would one day mount the throne of Milan. Nevertheless, in the course of the next century both these feats were accomplished, and in Francesco Sforza’s recognition as Duke of Milan the Italian soldier of fortune won his crowning triumph. During the years that intervened the peculiar characteristics of the condottiere system were developed, chief of which was the desire of every mercenary captain to make himself an independent prince. Not only did he need a State to support himself and his troops in time of peace, but it was the natural instinct of the hired soldier to aspire to the position of his employer, in order to become, in the words of a Sforza chronicler, “hammer and not anvil”. Thus the partition of the Duchy of Milan among his generals, on the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and the dominion which Braccio won for himself round Perugia, foreshadowed Francesco Sforza’s acquisition of the most powerful State in Italy. From the point of view of the condottiere, it was a triumph. From the point of view of the prince, it formed a striking illustration of Machiavelli’s assertion as to the danger of trusting to mercenary arms. If your hired captain is skilful, Machiavelli declares, he will always work for his own ends; while, if he is a bad soldier, he will ruin you in the ordinary way.
The rise of the House of Sforza from the camp to the Duchy is a matter of history. Popular tradition adds a still more romantic element to the story by making Muzio Attendolo of peasant birth. One day, runs the legend, when a troop of mercenaries were riding through the flat marshy country between Ravenna and Bologna, they came upon a peasant lad who was cutting wood near his native town of Cotignola. Struck by the boy’s appearance, they called out to him to join them. He replied by throwing his axe into the branches of an adjacent oak: “If it stays, I will go,” he cried. “The axe stuck in the tree, and Sforza went forth to found a line of Dukes.”
As is the fate of all popular stories, the legend of the axe has been declared to have no foundation in history. Yet, unlike the majority of legends, it is known to be practically contemporary. As early as 1411, Pope John XXIII., furious at Sforza’s desertion of his service for that of King Ladislas of Naples, caused his enemy to be depicted hanging from his right leg and holding an axe in his hand, while the following lines were attached to the picture: —
Io sono Sforza, villano della Cotignola, traditore; Che dodici tradimenti ho fatto alla Chiesa contro lo mio onore. Promissioni, capitoli, patti haio, rotti.
Freely circulated in the camp of Sforza’s rival, Braccio, the story is told by three chroniclers of a slightly later date. It was also known to the later members of the House of Sforza. When Francesco Sforza II. was exhibiting the marvels of the Castello of Milan to Paolo Giovio, the Duke remarked with a smile, “We owe it all to that famous axe, which our ancestor threw into the branches of a tree, and which, to our good fortune, stayed there”. There is, moreover, no inherent improbability in the legend, as many of the most famous condottieri, including Carmagnola and Piccinino, were undoubtedly of peasant origin. On the other hand, two contemporary biographers of the first Sforza, whose account is followed by Corio, give a version of their hero’s youth, in which neither the axe nor his low birth occur. Alberico da Barbiano, the founder of the Company of S. George, came from the village adjoining Cotignola. According to these writers, the fame of his great neighbour so inspired young Muzio that he ran away from his father’s house when only twelve years old, in the hope of winning similar glory. He fell in with some troops belonging to a Captain of the Church, Boldrino da Panigale, with whom he remained four years. During that time he won the notice of his hero, Alberico da Barbiano, who, impressed by the lad’s great strength and fiery nature, nicknamed him “Sforza,” and promised to have him trained as a soldier. When the four years were over, Muzio returned to Cotignola to visit his parents. This time he was not allowed to leave home empty- handed, and his father sent him back to the camp with four fully equipped horses, a gift which must have involved considerable wealth on the part of the donor.
The recent researches of Professor Gaetano Solieri, in the archives of Cotignola, have made a strong case for this second version of the story. His evidence shows that the Attendoli, far from being poor peasants, ranked among the leading families of their native town. As early as 1226 an Attendolo acted as ambassador for the neighbouring town of Bertinoro, when it made its submission to Bologna. Giovanni Attendolo, Muzio’s father, married Elisa Petrocini, who came of a well-to-do citizen family, and it is probable that her husband’s social status was very much the same as her own. When Sir John Hawkwood enlarged and fortified Cotignola in 1376, the only lands suitable for his purpose belonged to Giovanni Attendolo, who consented to yield them in exchange for a yearly tribute. Meanwhile Giovanni was occupied with the building of his own family mansion, which appears to have been one of the few houses in Cotignola that were not made of wood. A document of the year 1412 records a great fire in the town, which destroyed everything “save the church, the house of Sforza, the house of Lorenzo Attendolo, and two or three houses near them, which did not burn because they were of stone”. Not only were the Attendoli comparatively wealthy, but they were also powerful and war-like. The peace of Cotignola was constantly broken by their feud with the Ghibelline family of Pasolini which came to a crisis in 1388, when Bartolo Attendolo and Martino Pasolini aspired to the hand of the same young lady. Sforza, who was spending the winter at home in condottiere fashion, threw himself into the fight that ensued. Two of his brothers were killed and he himself was badly wounded. Finally matters reached such a pitch that those of the Pasolini who had most deeply offended the Attendoli decided to quit Cotignola, while those who remained changed their name in order to escape the enmity of their rivals. The Attendoli were a numerous race, and Elisa Petrocini had no less than twenty-one children, all of whom seemed born with a natural aptitude for warfare. Fifteen of Muzio’s brothers and cousins became soldiers of some repute, the most celebrated among them being Micheletto Attendolo, who raised the mercenary standard at the same time as his cousin. He afterwards won distinction as Captain- General of the Venetian forces, in which capacity he fought against Francesco Sforza on more than one occasion. With all this the Attendoli were rough, even barbaric, in their habits. According to Giovio’s description, Sforza’s home in Cotignola was more like a camp than a private house. The walls were hung with shields, lances and coats-of-mail instead of with tapestries. For beds there were great wooden couches without hangings or coverings, upon which a band of soldiers could throw themselves. Instead of sitting down to well-cooked meals, every one ate standing of such rough food as the men- at-arms could prepare.
In the face of this evidence it seems impossible to maintain that the Attendoli were peasants. “Considering their town and country,” as their own historian Marco Attendolo says, they were rich and influential. Yet by the side of Braccio, a Perugian noble, the native of an obscure townlet in Romagna might appear little better than a peasant. Sforza’s uncouth appearance and inability to write so much as his own name, seemed to confirm the rumours as to his low birth, which were circulated by his enemies. The story of Sforza’s peasant origin and, according to Solieri, the legend of the axe arose in Braccio’s camp. On this last point, however, there seems still room for doubt. Rough and uncivilised as the Attendoli were, there is no great improbability in Muzio being employed, when a boy of twelve, to cut wood. The argument that, at that age, no one but a mythical hero would have the strength to throw an axe into a tree is hardly convincing. There is no reason why those who wish to believe the story should not do so, and they will find themselves in good company. “Let us keep the legend of the axe,” writes Count Pasolini, the historian of Caterina Sforza. “The epic of the Sforza begins with it, and I believe it and hope it for the sake of the love that I feel for them and for Cotignola.”
For some fifteen years Sforza fought beneath the banners of Alberico da Barbiano, side by side with his future rival, Braccio da Montone. Braccio was less than a year older than Sforza, and it was probably in a burst of boyish affection that the two agreed always to wear the same colours and devices. Even when Braccio and Sforza became the leaders of rival schools of soldiery, this practice was still maintained, until at length the difficulty of distinguishing his men from the enemy forced Braccio to adopt a new device. Among the great freemasonry of the Italian condottieri there existed friendships and enmities between individual captains which bore no relation to the sides upon which they fought. Hence the years of conflict between Sforzeschi and Bracceschi never entirely killed the friendship which their leaders had formed as boys. When during the Neapolitan Succession Wars Queen Joanna of Naples wished to win back Sforza to her side, it was to Braccio that the task of reconciliation was entrusted. The news of Sforza’s death came as such a shock to Braccio that it was some time before he would believe it. Genuine grief mingled with a presentiment that he would not long survive the rival, whose fortunes were so strangely linked with his own. These forebodings were fulfilled five months later when Braccio met his end over that same siege of Aquila which had cost Sforza his life.
In 1398 Sforza was able to form a small company of his own, and to launch upon an independent career as a mercenary captain. At that time Gian Galeazzo Visconti was rapidly making himself master of Northern and Central Italy. Perugia made a desperate attempt to escape the fate of her sister republics by taking Sforza into her service, and for two years the armies of Milan were kept at bay. When Perugia at length bowed beneath Visconti’s yoke, the abilities of her defender had not escaped Gian Galeazzo’s notice. Sforza entered the service of Milan with a doubled salary, and only the jealousy of the Milanese captains at the favour bestowed upon an intruder prevented him from sharing the final triumphs of Gian Galeazzo’s reign. As it was, Sforza fled in danger of his life to Florence, which had become the final centre of resistance to Visconti’s advance. While he was engaged in the defence of Florentine liberty Sforza made the acquaintance of Lucia Terzana, who became the mother of four of his sons. On 23rd July, 1401, the eldest of these was born at San Miniato. Hence Corio, the Milanese historian, must needs break off from his account of Gian Galeazzo’s exploits to tell how, beneath the banners of the Republic that barred Visconti’s path of conquest, the future Duke of Milan. made his entry into the world. “At that time,” he writes, “the heavens and the earth rejoiced at the birth of Francesco Sforza, who made his posterity illustrious.”
On the arrival of Rupert III., King of the Romans, in Italy, with the intention of humbling his Milanese vassal, Sforza headed the Florentine contingent that was sent to his aid. Rupert III. soon swelled the ranks of Sforza’s admirers, and before they parted he granted him the right of bearing his own arms, namely, a lion rampant. The citizens of Cotignola had already given Sforza the quince (cotigna), which formed the device of his native town. Now, at the King’s suggestion, the lion grasped the quince in his left paw, while with his right he challenged all those who should venture to wrest the trophy from his grasp. The device was crowned by the Sforza helmet, consisting of a winged dragon with a man’s head. In 1409 a diamond ring was added by the Marquis of Este to commemorate Sforza’s triumph over Ottobuono Terzo, the tyrant of Parma.
After the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the chief scene of Italian warfare shifted from the centre to the south. In 1409 the Council of Pisa made an attempt to heal the Great Schism in the Papacy, with the only result that the number of rival popes was increased from two to three. The efforts of the various papal claimants to establish themselves in Rome alone furnished considerable employment for the condottieri. At the same time the prospect of the line of Anjou-Durazzo dying out with the present King Ladislas and his sister Joanna produced a fresh phase in the interminable Neapolitan Succession Wars. From the day that Sforza was first drawn into the Neapolitan conflict until the French invasions at the end of the fifteenth century, the affairs of Naples exercised a strong influence over the fortunes of his own House. Hence, it seems best to explain at the outset the essential features of the dynastic dualism which again and again broke the peace of the Neapolitan Kingdom. The chief rivals of the Durazzo monarchs were their French cousins of the second House of Anjou. In 1382 Charles of Durazzo had conquered Naples in defiance of the claims of Louis I. of Anjou, and from that time the representatives of the French House missed no opportunity for seeking their revenge. When Joanna II. succeeded her brother in 1414, Louis III. of Anjou seemed the natural heir to the throne of Naples. In coming to Italy and announcing himself as King already, he outstepped his advantage, and Joanna promptly adopted Alfonso of Aragon as her heir, in order that he might act as a counterpoise to the pretensions of Anjou. Round these two claimants and their heirs raged all the Neapolitan wars of the century. The Pope and the Neapolitan baronage, who welcomed anything that weakened the power of the monarchy, fostered this dynastic struggle by every means in their power. It was no less acceptable to the condottieri, who realised their dearest ambitions in the perpetual state of warfare which it involved. Sforza had been in the service of Ladislas at the time of the King’s death, and he remained for some years with Joanna II. When, however, Louis III. of Anjou entered the arena of Neapolitan politics, Sforza seized the opportunity to free himself from a most undesirable mistress. He and Pope Martin V. were responsible for the invitation that first brought Anjou to Italy, and on his arrival Sforza levied war upon the Queen, calling himself the Grand Constable of King Louis. Joanna replied by summoning Braccio and Alfonso of Aragon to her aid. From henceforth Sforza was generally identified with the cause of Anjou, while Braccio posed as the champion of Aragon. In the years that followed, the struggle between the rival schools of soldiery often obscured the dynastic conflict, which formed the ostensible reason for war. Meanwhile Joanna spent the remainder of her reign in supporting first one side and then the other as the occasion suited her.
While Sforza was fighting the battles of others he was gradually accumulating cities and territories of his own. Among his earliest acquisitions was his native Cotignola, of which he was made Papal Vicar by Pope, John XXIII., whom he had helped to establish in Rome. In the service of Joanna II. Sforza experienced both extremes of fortune. At one moment he was loaded with gifts and favours, at the next he was disgraced and imprisoned. On one occasion he owed his escape from prison, and probably his life, to the bravery of his sister Margherita. Implicated in a conspiracy with Joanna’s cast-off favourite, Pandolfo d’Alopo, Sforza was thrown into prison, while some Neapolitan nobles went to take possession of his Castle of Tricarico. Margherita Attendolo had been left in charge of the castle, but instead of yielding it, she rode out at the head of such troops as she could muster, and took the envoys prisoners. She then kept them as hostages until Sforza was set at liberty. Yet with all her fickleness Joanna could not long dispense with Sforza’s services, and each return to her favour added new territories to the condottiere’s dominions. These lands were held under different conditions, but Sforza’s rights usually included the administration of justice, and he often exercised all the privileges of an independent ruler. In the archives of Cotignola there are no less than four volumes of laws which Sforza framed for the municipality. All the concerns of the little community are dealt with in their pages, which are distinguished throughout by a desire to respect local privileges and to protect the citizens from the arbitrary rule of subordinate officials. To these isolated towns in Romagna and Naples belongs the credit of having provided a famous race of rulers with their earliest training in the art of government.
In 1423 the two great condottieri leaders gathered forces for their final struggle. By this time Joanna had quarrelled with Alfonso of Aragon and was trying to drive him from Naples. When Braccio was hurrying to the aid of his patron he found his passage barred by the city of Aquila, and he thereupon sat down before the walls until the city could be reduced to submission. Not long before, Braccio had achieved his longstanding ambition of conquering Perugia, and he realised that Aquila would form a valuable connecting-link between that city and his possessions in the Campagna. Hence no appeals from Alfonso could induce him to abandon the siege. The result of this obstinacy was to give Sforza a free hand in Naples. In January, 1424, Alfonso had been obliged to fly and Sforza could muster his full strength for the relief of Aquila. Finding Braccio’s forces entrenched behind the river Pescara, Sforza at once prepared to ford the stream. While the Sforzeschi were in the act of crossing a violent storm arose, and their captain reached the shore to find that half his troops were still upon the opposite bank. He at once turned back to encourage them for another attempt. During this perilous passage Sforza’s favourite page fell into the river, and in the effort to save him Sforza too lost his balance. Once the stream had engulfed him the strong current made rescue impossible. The gallant captain was never seen again, and his body was swept along by the stream until it reached the sea. For one who had spent his life in perpetual conflict it was a strangely appropriate tomb.
Contemporary historians describe the first Sforza as a man of great height and enormous strength, with a dark skin and deep-set blue eyes, half-hidden by his bushy, black eyebrows. His harsh voice and rough manners served to emphasise the general ferocity of his appearance. Iron discipline prevailed in his camp. All gambling and swearing were forbidden; a soldier who appeared in rusty armour was flogged; treachery and stealing were, punished by death. Braccio, once ventured to criticise his rival for the pains which he took to spare the country people from plunder, whereupon Sforza replied that he had never found cause to repent the observance of justice. In spite of his severity his soldiers were devoted to the leader, who shared all their hardships, and whose courage and talents were extolled throughout Italy. “Truly your captain is far above all others of our age, go and tell him so from me,” Alfonso of Aragon is held to have said to one of Sforza’s soldiers whom he had taken prisoner. Alfonso’s opinion was shared by all who came in contact with this chief of condottieri, who, as a soldier, was not even surpassed by his more famous son. Yet, in the elder Sforza, a soldier’s gifts were coupled with a soldier’s limitations. His whole interest lay in the camp, and this, with his hot blood and his want of education, prevented him from ever becoming a statesman. Hence to the end of his life he fought the battles of others, and he died as he had lived, a simple mercenary captain.
Sforza left behind him a large number of children, of whom several lived to make their mark in the world, and no less than three founded dynasties. Francesco’s brother, Alessandro, became Lord of Pesaro, while his half-brother, Bosio, married the heiress of Santa Fiora. The Sforza Counts of Santa Fiora survived all other branches of the family, and Bosio’s descendants retained the sovereignty of this little Tuscan State until the middle of the seventeenth century. Two more sons, Leone and Giovanni, were soldiers of some repute, while Gabriele became Archbishop of Milan. Thus the future Duke of Milan was no isolated genius absorbing all the talents of his race, but the greatest among a remarkable band of brothers. Francesco’s mother, Lucia Terzana, was for long Sforza’s recognised mistress, and when motives of ambition prompted the condottiere to take a wife, he married Lucia to one of his captains, Marco Fogliano. Hence Francesco’s childhood was spent in the Fogliano household at Ferrara, where he was educated with the children of Niccolò d’Este. When twelve years old he joined his father in Naples, and from henceforth his home was the camp. Although at the time of Sforza’s death Francesco was not yet twenty-three, his experience of the world was already considerable. He had fought in many battles where his military talents were soon perceived. Through the territories which had been bestowed on him by his father’s patrons, he had gained some knowledge of government. When only seventeen he had married a Calabrian heiress, Polissena Ruffa, who died two years after their marriage, leaving her estates to her husband. This gave Francesco a certain influence in the district, and on Sforza’s alliance with Louis of Anjou, his son was sent to win the Calabrian nobles to the Angevin cause. Francesco was summoned from thence to aid in the relief of Aquila, where his father’s death left him the acknowledged leader of the Sforzeschi. In the confusion which followed Sforza’s tragic end the young captain showed the greatest self-control. fie at once rallied the troops and conducted an orderly retreat towards Naples. Here the sad news was broken to the Queen, who, loud in her lamentations at the loss of her captain, decreed that all his descendants must bear the name which he had rendered illustrious. From henceforth Sforza became the family surname, and Attendolo, gradually dropped out of use.
Meanwhile Braccio never for a moment relaxed his hold upon Aquila, and when the spring came a new army was despatched to its relief. Although an older captain was given nominal control of the expedition, the real leader was Francesco Sforza, and with him lay the honour of the final victory on 2nd June. Throughout the day his black plumes were seen waving in the forefront of the battle, serving as a rallying-point for his followers. Braccio, despite his mortal wounds, could not refrain from expressing his admiration for the young general. Francescohad proved himself, said this generous antagonist, a true son of his father. His victory at Aquila at once placed Francesco upon the pinnacle of military glory. Pope Martin V., who had trembled lest the fall of the city should leave Rome at Braccio’s mercy, hailed Sforza as his deliverer and pronounced him to be the “beloved son of the Pope and the Church”. The numerous condottieri who had taken part in the battle could not but recognise the superiority of Francesco’s talents. All Italy competed for his services. Among the various competitors was no less a person than Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan. During the struggle over Naples between Joanna and Alfonso of Aragon, the Milanese fleet under Guido Torello had been sent to the Queen’s aid. Hence it was on the advice of this captain that the Duke offered Francesco the command of 1,500 horse and 300 foot in the armies of Milan. In 1425 the offer was accepted, and Francesco embarked upon the first phase of his career in the Duchy which he was one day to rule.
When Francesco Sforza entered his service, the Duke of Milan had every need of skilful captains. Since 1412, when his brother’s death left Filippo Maria sole heir to the Visconti dominions, his time had been spent in persistent efforts to reconstruct the territory and power that had once been his father’s. To a certain extent he had succeeded. The Duchy of Milan now stretched from the Sesia on the west to the Mincio, on the east. The Swiss had been driven back from Domodossola and Bellinzona. By the recovery of Piacenza and Parma, Visconti once more controlled the passage of the Po, and could press on into Romagna by the highway of the Via Æmilia. In one quarter Filippo Maria had been even more successful than Gian Galeazzo. Genoa had been induced to exchange her French Protectorate for that of the Duke of Milan, thus leaving Visconti and Florence to vie for the control of the west coast, with no buffer state between them. For all this, Filippo Maria’s position was in no way equal to that of his father. When Gian Galeazzo seemed about to control Italy, the only effective resistance came from Florence. Now not only Florence but Venice was prepared to oppose the expansion of Filippo Maria’s dominions. Since the beginning of the century Venice had become a mainland power, with a frontier that touched the Duchy of Milan at the Mincio. In 1425 she was persuaded by Florence to take the offensive against Visconti as the surest means of preventing encroachment upon her existing boundaries. The effect of this double pressure was at once to emphasise the internal weaknesses of the Duchy. During the period of confusion which followed Gian Galeazzo’s death, the composite character of the Milanese State had been most fully revealed. It was held together by a personal tie, and when that bond was removed the whole structure fell to pieces. Far from regarding Milan as their capital, the subject towns looked upon her as a rival republic who chanced to be subject to the same lord as themselves. On the death of Gian Galeazzo there was hardly a city that did not set up a local tyrant or break away from the Duchy under the leadership of one of Visconti’s captains. Milan and Pavia alone remained to the Duke’s sons, and even they rejoiced at the revival of the old system by which the younger brother ruled independently at Pavia, thus severing the connection between the two cities. Filippo Maria had, indeed, reunited the various elements of which the Duchy was composed. Yet what had happened once might happen again, and the process was made easier by the internal factions which divided the cities of Lombardy. If one party in the town favoured Visconti, the other almost necessarily opposed him. While the Ghibelline was bound by tradition to the side of the Duke of Milan, the Guelph was prepared to play into the hands of Venice or into those of any other rivals to his supremacy. Such were the difficulties of the Duke of Milan which Francesco Sforza saw, for the first time, when he fought Filippo Maria’s battles against Venice, and which he was to realise with a deepening personal interest as the years went by.
Sforza served under Visconti’s banners through three successive wars against Venice. During that time he experienced to the full the inevitable ups and downs of a condottiere’s career. Filippo Maria was himself no soldier, and in the absence of a recognised chief the quarrels between his captains were apt to become acute. The older men, such as Pergola and Guido Torello, invariably opposed the schemes of the younger and more adventurous element as represented by Sforza and Niccolò Piccinino. At the same time Piccinino was the recognised leader of the Bracceschi, and their temporary alliance could not override the hereditary rivalry between himself and Sforza. The appointment of Carlo Malatesta as Captain-General of the Milanese forces did not greatly improve the situation. Although the other condottieri were willing to accept his authority, he proved himself, according to Corio’s sarcastic phrase, “more fitted for peace than for war”. With such a leader it is hardly surprising that the campaigns of 1426 and 1427 ended in the surrender of Brescia and Bergamo to Venice. Francesco Sforza also suffered from the suspicions of Filippo Maria, who rivalled Louis XI. of France in his readiness to think evil of those who served him. In 1428 Sforza was imprisoned in the Castle of Mortara, near Pavia, upon a charge of treachery. Only after two years, when Visconti wished to defend Lucca from the onslaughts of Florence without openly interfering in Tuscany, did he remember his disgraced captain. Sforza was thereupon released, and only nominally dismissed by the Duke, in order that he might serve him more effectually. At Lucca fortune smiled kindly upon Sforza. After he had contrived to raise the siege the citizens proposed to accept him as their lord, while Florence offered him a substantial bribe to leave Lucca to her fate. Francesco closed with the latter offer, and retired with his troops to Cotignola. Thither he was followed by envoys from both Florence and Milan, eager to secure his services for the coming war. After prolonged negotiations the prize fell to Milan. Whereas Florence only offered a high salary, Filippo Maria promised Sforza the hand of his illegitimate daughter, Bianca Maria, with the prospect of succeeding him upon the throne of Milan. From henceforth the consummation of this alliance became the goal of Francesco’s ambitions, the end towards which his whole policy was directed.
Sforza returned to the service of Milan in time to share in the third war against Venice, which was ended in 1432 by the coming of the Emperor Sigismund to Italy. When the Emperor came to Milan to receive the iron crown of Lombardy, the occasion was marked by the betrothal of Francesco Sforza to Bianca Maria Visconti. The eight-year-old bride lived with her mother, Agnese del Maino, at Abbiategrasso, and this was probably her first visit to Milan. When the ceremonies were over Bianca returned to her quiet home, where she must have watched with some excitement the vicissitudes through which Francesco won his way to her side. For the moment Sforza was in high favour with the Duke. At the time of his betrothal he was invested with three fiefs in the neighbourhood of Alessandria. A year later he embarked upon fresh exploits in which the hand of Visconti is plainly discernible. Officially, Francesco received leave of absence for a few months in order that be might recover his Neapolitan fiefs, which were slipping from his grasp. When he halted, on his way south, to wrest the greater part of the March of Ancona from Pope Eugenius IV., it is clear that he did so with the approval, if not at the instigation, of the Duke of Milan. During the recent war Eugenius had shown himself Venetian in sympathy as well as by birth, and Visconti welcomed an opportunity to do him covert injury. Hence Sforza’s interference in the March seemed, at first, merely a repetition of the Lucca episode upon a larger scale. It proved, however, to be a turning-point in Francesco’s career. From that time, although Sforza still served as a mercenary, he had also his own battles to fight and his own cities from whence to draw men and money. He had ceased to be merely a condottiere, and had entered the ranks of the Italian despots.
THE MARCH OF ANCONA, which formed the chief scene of Sforza’s activities during the next fourteen years, is a narrow strip of country bounded on the north and south by Romagna and the Kingdom of Naples, on the west by the Apennines, and on the east by the sea. It has been said that Romagna was the centre of the nervous system of Italy, and the description is equally applicable to the March. As Romagna, the March of Ancona formed part of the estates of the Church, but the weakness of the papal power during the exile and schism had enabled local despots to establish themselves in the chief towns of both districts. Unable to overthrow these usurpers, the Pope had in many cases saved his dignity by making them Papal Vicars of the towns which they had mastered. The arrangement found favour with the Italian powers, who asked nothing better than to see the March weak and divided. For the March, no less than Romagna, was essentially a border province — a highway between north and south. Hence its destinies were closely watched by each of the five States, and the undue preponderance of any one Power in that quarter at once aroused the suspicions of the other four. When Francesco Sforza first entered the March, the whole territory was given over to misrule. The petty despots were too weak to be anything but the worst and most tyrannical of sovereigns. They held their own towns by violence, while they sought to obtain those of their neighbours by treachery. Perpetual feuds, bad government and oppression wrought havoc throughout their dominions. The towns which were not subject to a native lord enjoyed nominal liberty under the protection of the Church, yet their fate was hardly happier than that of their neighbours. Giovanni Vitelleschi, who held supreme authority in the March as Papal Legate, had contrived to inspire universal hatred, and in the absence of a despot the citizens were more exposed to his cruelty. Hence Sforza was welcomed on all sides as, in later years, Cæsar Borgia was welcomed in Romagna. Where the inhabitants did not take the opportunity to throw off the yoke of a local tyrant, the ruling families sought Sforza’s aid in order to rid themselves of Vitelleschi. Such being the conditions of the March, it is not surprising that the years which Francesco spent there proved the most troubled in his career. If for the moment the Italian Powers regarded him as a convenient instrument to use against one another, they soon began to fear the rise of a military monarchy under the greatest soldier of the day. When they turned against Sforza they could reckon upon considerable support from his subjects, of whom many were soon as eager to overthrow Francesco’s authority as they had once been to establish it. Nevertheless, his rule in the March gave Sforza experience which he could hardly have obtained elsewhere. Here, for the first time, he met the princes of Italy upon terms of equality. Here he formed friendships and alliances which stood him in good stead in the years to come. Here, above all, he was so far independent as to be able to make his own terms with Visconti and to force him to keep his promises.
With the acquisition of Jesi on 7th December, 1433, Francesco obtained his first footing in the March. From thence he issued a manifesto, in which he announced himself as the representative of the Council of Basel, sent in order to free the March of Ancona from the iniquitous rule of Eugenius IV. Every city was called upon to dismiss its papal officials without delay, and to send a deputation of four citizens to Sforza’s camp to discuss the future government of the province. A timely warning was added to the effect that those who continued to pay taxes to the Pope would have to pay them twice over, while those who obeyed the manifesto would at once enjoy Sforza’s favour and protection. The effect of this proclamation was instantaneous, and on 10th December Sforza began what was rather a triumphal progress than a conquest. On his march from Jesi ambassadors from the chief cities came to offer him their keys. The few places that dared to resist were plundered. Montolmo, Macerata, Fermo, Recanati, Osimo, one after the other, acknowledged Sforza as their lord. On Christmas Day his triumph was made complete by the submission of Ascoli, which brought the conqueror to the southern frontiers of the province. Vitelleschi, after a vain attempt at resistance, betook himself to Loreto, saying that he wished to prepare the famous sanctuary for Francesco’s coming. The real object of his visit transpired a few days later, when the Papal. Legate set sail for Venice taking with him no less than sixteen chests filled with the treasures that he had robbed from the sanctuary. From thence he made his way to Rome, leaving Francesco in undisputed possession of the March.
Fortunately for Sforza, Eugenius IV. was not in a position to oust him from his newly won dominions. The armies of Milan were already threatening Rome, and a few months later the Pope was forced to take refuge in Florence. Hence in February, 1434, Sforza was made Marquis of the March and Vicar of Fermo, while he was given command of the papal armies, with the title of Gonfalonier of the Church. Francesco hastened to publish the treaty throughout his dominions. Thereupon, says the chronicle of Fermo, “the hills of the March were seen to shine with fires of joy, its cities and fortresses were illuminated”.. In September Eugenius revived the League of Florence, Venice and the Papacy against Milan, and offered the post of Captain-General to Sforza. It was with some hesitation that Francesco committed himself definitely to the cause of Visconti’s enemies. Yet he had already offended the Duke of Milan by his treaty with Eugenius, and to quarrel with the Pope at this juncture was to imperil his position in the March. Hence Francesco became CaptainGeneral of the League, and threw himself into the struggle against his former colleagues, Piccinino and Fortebraccio. Meanwhile the remaining cities of the March were gradually recognising Sforza’s authority. The inhabitants of Camerino rose and murdered all of the ruling family of Varano upon whom they could lay hands, while in May, 1435, a wholesale massacre of the Chiavelli took place in the church at Fabriano. Such conspiracies were generally accompanied by a voluntary surrender of the town to Sforza, in order that he might protect the rebels from the vengeance of those relatives of the native lord who still remained alive. Strong in the possession of a legal title, and of considerable local support, Sforza appeared to have conquered the March with almost incredible ease. Now, according to Machiavelli’s principle, he was to meet with one difficulty after another in keeping what he had won.
In the autumn of 1435 Francesco went to visit his new patron at Florence. Here he was received with every mark of honour both by the Pope and by Cosimo dei Medici, whom Francesco probably now met for the first time. While the troops performed feats of arms to the delight of the citizens, the seeds of a lasting friendship were sown between the condottiere leader and the virtual ruler of Florence. Francesco, with that curious power of attraction which he appears to have possessed, at once convinced the shrewd Florentine that his was no ordinary personality. From henceforth Cosimo was prepared to stake his reputation upon Francesco’s ultimate success. In the most critical moments of Sforza’s career, Cosimo was ready with advice and encouragement and often with pecuniary aid. But for his friend’s persistent support it is doubtful whether even Sforza could have won his way to Milan.
If francesco could from that time reckon Cosimo dei Medici as a friend, he soon discovered a secret enemy in the person of Eugenius IV. In September, 1436, Francesco narrowly escaped assassination from the hands of Baldassare da Offida, Podestà of Bologna. He was, however, warned in time to avoid the danger, and to seize the would-be murderer. Offida was imprisoned in the fortress at Fermo, where he was killed by a brick which fell, perhaps not wholly accidentally, upon his head. Before his death he wrote to Francesco confessing that he had acted as the instrument of Eugenius IV., and warning him of the Pope’s designs. “My Lord,” wrote Offida, “there is no man in the world towards whom the Pope bears more ill-will than he does to you. For God’s sake, do not trust him, for he will always do you evil when he can.”. This testimony was confirmed in the following year, when Piccinino’s son, Francesco, appeared in the March with an army at his back, announcing that he had come to restore the rule of the Papacy, and to drive out the usurper. In a proclamation2. inciting Sforza’s subjects to rebellion, Piccinino informed them that he was supported by both the Pope and the Duke of Milan, who had “lately become a good and devout son of the Church,” and that his father Niccolò Piccinino would shortly come to his aid. On Sforza’s protest, Eugenius did indeed issue a counter-proclamation repudiating francesco Piccinino’s action, and expressing his entire confidence in his “beloved son Francesco Sforza”.. Yet this did not bring with it the restoration of the towns that Piccinino had already conquered. It was clear that the Pope desired nothing better than to see Sforza undone, and that he would seize any opportunity to rid himself of his too powerful vassal.
While francesco was struggling to maintain his hold upon the March, he kept an ever watchful eye upon the proceedings of Visconti. In 1437 the elder Piccinino waged war upon the League in Tuscany, and the Venetians proposed to create a diversion by sending Sforza against Cremona. Their scheme was frustrated by francesco’s firm refusal to cross the Po. He was willing to fight the Milanese forces in other parts of Italy, but he would not invade the territories of his prospective father-in-law. The Venetians were naturally angry at such unwonted independence on the part of a condottiere whom they were helping to pay, and even Cosimo dei Medici could not prevent a rupture between them and Sforza. Nevertheless, francesco’s action stood him in good stead by paving the way for his reconciliation with the Duke of Milan. Visconti was delighted at the discomfiture of Venice, and in March, 1438, he made peace with Florence and Sforza, by a treaty from which the Venetians were excluded. More than this, the Duke agreed that Bianca Maria’s marriage with francesco should take place without delay. francesco Piccinino was recalled from the March, at a moment when he seemed likely to conquer the whole province, while Visconti also promised Sforza his support for the expedition which he proposed to make in aid of the Angevin cause in Naples. On 4th April francesco wrote in high glee to his brothers, Alessandro and Giovanni, saying that all his business with the Duke of Milan had been most satisfactorily settled, and that he hoped in a very short time to bring his bride home to the March.. According to francesco’s expectations the wedding would be in May, and he intended to come at once to his own dominions, where Bianca would be safe from her father’s clutches. For the next few weeks the whole province gave itself up to preparations for the reception of the bridal pair. The centre of interest lay round the little city of Fermo, the capital of Sforza’s dominions, and Bianca’s future home. Fermo stood on a hill some five miles from the modern east coast railway, as it runs southward from Ancona. On the crest of the hill rose the newly erected Girifalco or fortress, which was now to be improved and adorned for the reception of the bride. Yet Fermo alone was not capable of furnishing all that was required for the coming festivities. Special officials were appointed to visit the other towns of the March in quest of “everything necessary for the said festa”. Most varied was the list of Sforza’s requirements. The officials were to make careful inquiries as to the amount of corn, straw, meat and poultry that each town could provide. They were to ascertain the number of “good beds with all the necessary appurtenances”. They were to discover what places could furnish cooks and “boys capable of and suitably dressed for waiting, or for other more important duties”. Horses, beasts of burden, carpenters “with their tools,” game, eggs, fresh cheese and salted tongue — all were to be sought out and ordered for the great occasion. Meanwhile the inhabitants of every town that recognised Sforza’s authority were voting money for a gift to the bride and choosing representatives to attend the festivities at Fermo.
The expectations that he had raised in the March must have added greatly to the bitterness of francesco’s disappointment when he discovered that he had been outwitted by the crafty policy of the Duke of Milan. Filippo Maria had no intention of allowing the marriage to take place until he was absolutely forced to do so. Once Bianca was married, he would lose the bait with which Sforza could always be lured to his side. Hence the wedding was suddenly postponed at the Duke’s orders, and francesco’s chances of winning his bride seemed as remote as ever. Visconti’s promises of support in Naples proved as valueless as those which concerned his daughter. The present representative of the Angevin cause was René, the younger brother of Louis Ill., who since Joanna II’s death in 1435 had been trying to drive Alfonso of Aragon from the Neapolitan Kingdom. He had at first been aided by Filippo Maria, and, at Gaeta, the Genoese fleet had actually taken Alfonso prisoner, carrying him off as a captive to Milan. Here Alfonso succeeded in persuading Visconti that, in view of the French claims upon Milan, his interests were best served by opposing the French House of Anjou in Naples. The argument appealed to Visconti, as it was one day to appeal to Sforza, and from that moment he secretly supported the cause of Aragon. He encouraged Sforza to embark upon a Neapolitan expedition, but by once more letting Piccinino loose upon the March, he prevented Francesco from striking a single blow in René’s support. Shortly afterwards the renewal of the Milanese attacks on Tuscany forced the Florentines to recall their condottiere. francesco obeyed the summons, having learned to his cost the worth of Visconti’s pledges.