Il Castello di Milano
The sforzas
| 1512 |
The body of the heroic Count of Foix,
killed in the battle of Ravenna, is brought to Milan and buried in
the Duomo. The Swiss soldiers of the Lega Santa drag it out and throw
it on the ramprts of the Castle, which is still held by the French.
Guided by Pope Julius the 11 the Lega Santa succeeds in restoring the ducal crown to Massimiliano Sforza, Ludovico’s son. Massimiliano enters Milan. He establishes his residence in the ducal palace near the Duomo and besieges the Castle where the French remain entrenched. |
| 1513 | The siege lasts ten months, then the French surrender, and their lives being spared return to France. |
| 1515 | Francis the First king of France enters Italy with
a formidable army. At Melegnano he fights and wins the Battaglia dei
Giganti thereby also gaining the possession of the Duchy of Milan. The Milanese submit to the King who enjoins Pietro Novarro to storm the castle, Massimiliano’s last shelter. Forsaken by the garrison the Duke soon gives upthe fight and opens negotiations for yielding the Duchy and the Castle on condition of being granted a pension for life and getting his brother nominated a cardinal. (The Duke, always a wreched man, died miserably in Paris the year 1530). |
| 1521 | The explosion of a deposit of gunpowder caused by a thunderbolt completely destroys the Castle’s central tower built buAverulino andfronting the town. |
| 1522 | The Castle is hesieged by Prospero Colonna captain of the League between Pope Leo the Xth and Charles the Vth. |