The most glorious reign of Gian Galeazzo I Visconti, King of Milan from 1395-1428:
As told by Felice Ghislieri, a great judge in the court of the King who was active during the duration of his reign, lived through the regency period immediately following the death of Galeazzo, and saw the coronation of King Galeazzo III, the rightful successor to the throne. All told, Ghislieri has served Milan for 34 years.
Here are his words:
The reign of the most honorable Gian Galeazzo I Visconti, King of Milan, henceforth referred to simply as King Galeazzo I or Galeazzo, has created much controversy in the immediate years following his death. While people emulate Milanese styles, the kingdom of Milan has also gained an extremely bad reputation due to the late King's actions.
Beginning his reign in 1395, Galeazzo spent the first few years of reign in relative calm and peace compared to later parts of his reign. Beginning in 1399, Galeazzo began to have strange dreams of himself as not only King of Milan, but Emperor of Rome, and all of Italy. These dreams turned to a frenzied and frantic push for aggressive military action, and Galeazzo began to enlarge the Milanese army. He also moved to centralize his kingdom to further tighten his control, a move he would make two more times during his reign.
Milan in 1399, showing the Battle of Parma fought against those who rebelled against Galeazzo's attempts at centralization:
After defeating the rebels, Galeazzo turned his lustful gaze on Ferrara, a kingdom which was splitting Milan into two disconnected parts on the peninsula. Galeazzo declared war on Ferrara, and Mantua and the Holy Roman Emperor, Bohemia, unwisely joined. The end result of the war was as follows: Ferrara ceded Modena and became a vassal, Mantua was annexed into Greater Milan, while Bohemia, after suffering repeated defeats at the hands of the glorious Milanese army, agreed to sign white peace, the war was concluded in 1404.
Galeazzo decided that with his fine tuned army, no Italian city state stood any chance of stopping him. But his gaze rested not only on Rome and Italy, but also on becoming a grand sort of 'Roman' Emperor. With this in mind, he declared war on Switzerland, while foolhardy Tuscany followed by the Palitinate, the new Emperor, who answered the call to arms by beleagured Switzerland. Milan's armies were swift in their defeat of the forces arrayed against them. Tuscany was annexed in July 1404, followed by peace with Switzerland, which ceded it's eastern most province while agreeing to become a vassal of Milan. Soon thereafter the Palatinate fell to Milan's armies, and also became a vassal. The Palatinate, being an elector of the Holy Roman Emperor, also decided to cast their vote for the election of Galeazzo as Emperor. Slowly but surely, Galeazzo's dreams were beginning to become reality.
In 1407, Galeazzo decided to further strengthen his already powerful army by instituing the national idea of Military Drill. The Milanese army would soon become famous their impeccable discipline and their high morale in battle due to this decision.
Having always had friendly relations with the King of Bavaria, the recently elected Holy Roman Emperor, it came to no surprise to Galeazzo when he was offered the position of elector in the Holy Roman Emperor by his good friend. Galeazzo happily accepted the offer, and his dreams of Emperorship seemed closer and closer to reality.
Having been at peace for far too long (a couple years), Galeazzo hatched a plan that would result in Milan's realms stretching from Northern Switzerland to the boot of Italy by war's end. The insignificant nation of Urbino was guarenteed or allied with the Papal State, Naples, Siciliy, and Genoa. In short, all of Galeazzo's rivals on the peninsula. He declared war on Urbino and like clockwork, the aformentioned rivals joined the war against Milan and her vassals. Milan made short work of all of them however.
Sicily was also forced to become a vassal of Milan. At this point, Galeazzo's reputation had become rather poor, as other states watched Milan nervously in fear of being the next victim. Accordingly, Galeazzo was treachoursly backstabbed when a rival arranged for his excommunication. Instead of seeking to apologize for his actions and hope for forgiveness by the Pope, Galeazzo instead declared the Pope's opinion to be of little consequence, and declared himself the final, legal authority on all matters of religion. Not surprisingly, the citizens of Milan still viewed their leader as one who was condemned to goto hell, despite Galeazzo's grand posturing.
Impressed by Galeazzo's courage, the gracious and honorable King of Hungary sought fit to convince the Pope to reconsider his earlier condemnation of Galleazo, and in turn he lifted the unjust excommunciation.
The Kingdom of Milan, 1413:
Galeazzo was eager for war, and in search of more blood and glory for his kingdom, he entered war against Venice, the Papal State, Savoy, and Bohemia. Galeazzo swiftly conquered Rome, and Galeazzo wasted no time in quickly annexing the Papal State. Unfortunately, his attempts at finding the Pope and beheading him were met with failure. Fortunately, Venice , Savoy and Bohemia soon crumbled under the might of Milan's armies, and quickly signed peace.
Fortunatelly reinforcements arrived and put down the revolt. Galeazzo's love for Rome and Empire led him to create a grand new center of trade in Rome. Nearly all of Milan would trade through this new trade center, which would further cement Galeazzo's authority over his new possessions while lining his pockets with gold.
From this point followed a period of great peace in Milan. Galeazzo consolidated his gains while glorifying the city of Milan with the construction of a massive new Church. This peace did not last long however, as under Galeazzo peace only served to interrupt war. War was declared upon Aquileia, Sardinia, Venice and Genoa. This war was quick and swift, with Milan annexing Sardinia and forcing Aquileia to become a vassal.
This would, unfortunately, be the last war of Galeazzo's reign. Galeazzo was 73 at the conclusion of his last war, and the remaining years of his reign were spent in declining health. At the age 77, Galeazzo passed away with no immediate heir available.
Galeazzo would leave a grand legacy behind him. While some might say, accurately, that Galeazzo was a crazy and barbaric conqueror, they fail to see the lighter side of Galeazzo. He was a king who always took the extra step when it came to his people. For example, he once allowed concessions to the wealthy merchant class in his empire, resulting in a move towards a plotucratic government. Of course, Galeazzo was also famous for his love for public executions.
Galeazzo's great dream of an empire might have fell short, but as a great lover of political theory the universities in his realm flourished, which has lead to Milan being a world leader in governemntal theories. Unfortunately, Galeazzo's focus on military resulted in Milan being behind in several other areas of technology.
The army of Milan, though not the largest in the world, is still very numerous and has a quality that is nearly unsurpassed.
The large addition of new provinces to Milan has resulted in Lombard losing some of its majority status in the empire as a whole. Galeazzo's reign also resulted in Milan being a kingdom where the majority of its land was a new addition.
In the area of diplomacy, Milan has seven loyal vassals. Milan also has great relations with Brandenburg, an elector in the Holy Roman Empire.
Thus concludes this history of Gian Galeazzo I Visconti, King of Milan.
Long live his successor, Galeazzo III!
NOTE: I'm sorry if this was a bit long to read, but I really enjoyed my very eventful time as ruler of Milan, so I hope you all enjoyed it reading about it as much as I did playing it=) Also, I came up with the age of Galeazzo by looking at his date of birth on Wikipedia.
EDIT: I should also mention that, as you can see in the EU3 history for my king, I switched to Despotic Monarchy. I did this in order to stay under the reputation limit while I annexed the Papal State and continued to take territory (eventually annexing Sardinia as well).
Link to savegame:
http://www.easy-share.com/1908355614/Milan_Succession_Game_1433.zip
34 years and the italian peninsula is 99% ours..
