Italian prince tells his story
Italian prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy attended the launch of his autobiography, C’era una Volta un Principe, in Milan on November 19. The prince is the grandson of Italy’s last king. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images. Photo provided by PicApp)
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My great great uncle from the 18th century was King of Italy and I have his coat of arms and it was pass down to me ever since then.
Italian prince Emanuele Filiberto we met once!
This is my great great great uncle
1385 Bernabo Visconti is imprisoned by his nephew Giangaleazzo
How do I know this my grandma told me about this and we try not to talk about it in our family anymore. Our Family moved over to the United States in the 1900′s from Milan, Italy. I am looking up family history
Bernabo Visconti (also called Bernabo) (1323 – 18 December 1385) was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was Lord of Milan.
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. On 27 September 1350 Bernabo married Beatrice Regina della Scala, daughter of Mastino II, Lord of Verona and Taddea da Carrara, and forged both a political and cultural alliance between the two cities. His intrigues and ambitions kept him at war almost continuously with Pope Urban V, the Florentines, Venice and Savoy. In 1354, at the death of Giovanni, he inherited the power of Milan, together with his brothers Mateo and Galeazzo. Bernabo received the eastern lands (Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona and Crema), that bordered the Veronese territories. Milan itself was to be ruled in turn by the three brothers. The vicious Matteo was murdered in 1355 at the order of his brothers, who divided his inheritance between them.
In 1356, after having offended the emperor, he pushed back a first attack upon Milan by the imperial vicar Markward von Raudeck, imprisoning him. In 1360 he was declared heretic by Innocent VI at Avignon and condemned by Emperor Charles IV. The ensuing conflict ended with a dismaying defeat at San Ruffillo against the imperial troops under Galeotto I Malatesta (29 July 1361). In 1362, after the death of his sister’s husband, Ugolino Gonzaga, caused him to attack also Mantua. Warring on several different fronts, in December of that year he sued for peace with the new pope, Urban V, through the mediation of King John II of France. However, having Bernabo neglected to return the papal city of Bologna and to present himself at Avignon, on 4 March 1363 he was excommunicated once more, together with his children, one of whom, Ambrogio, was captured by the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz. With the peace signed on 13 March 1364, Visconti left the occupied Papal lands, in exchange for the raising of the ban upon a payment of 500,000 florins.
In spring 1368 Visconti allied with Cansignorio Della Scala of Verona, and attacked Mantua, still ruled by Ugolino Gonzaga. The situation was settled later in the year through an agreement between him and emperor. Two years later he besieged Reggio, which he managed to acquire from Gonzaga in 1371. The following war against the Este of Modena and Ferrara raised again Papal enmity against the Milanese, now on the part of Gregory XI. In 1370, he ordered the construction of the Trezzo Bridge, then the largest single-arch bridge in the world.
In 1373, the pope sent two papal delegates to serve Bernabo and Galeazzo their excommunication papers (consisting of a parchment bearing a leaden seal rolled in a silken cord). Bernabo, infuriated, placed the two papal delegates under arrest and refused their release until they had eaten the parchment, seal, and silken cord which they had served him. He managed to resist, despite also the outbreak of a plague in Milan, whose consequences he suppressed with frantic energy.[2] In 1378 he allied with the Republic of Venice in its War of Chioggia against Genoa. His troops were however defeated in September 1379 in the Val Bisagno.
Bernabo, whose despotism and taxes had enraged the Milanese — he is featured among the exempla of tyrants as victims of Fortune in Chaucer’s[3] Monk’s Tale as “god of delit and scourge of Lumbardye” — was deposed by his nephew Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1385. Imprisoned in the castle of Trezzo, he was poisoned in December of that year.
The funerary monument of Bernabo Visconti, with an equestrian statue, together with that of his consort, had been made beforehand, in 1363. The sculptures by Bonino da Campione were intended for the church of San Giovanni in Conca. They now stand in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan.
Children
Bernabo was an ally of Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria: three of his daughters were married with Stephen’s descendants. His issue includes:
Viridis (1352- 1414), married Leopold III, Duke of Inner Austria and were the parents of Ernest, Duke of Austria the father of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.
Agnese (1362- executed 1391), married Francesco I Gonzaga
Taddea (1351-28 September 1381), married Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria. She was the mother of Louis VII of Bavaria and Isabeau of Bavaria.
Marco (November 1353- 1382), married Elisabeth of Bavaria.
Ludovico (1358- 7 March 1404), married Violante Visconti (1353- November 1386), daughter of Galeazzo II Visconti, and widow of Lionel of Antwerp.
Rodolfo (d.1388), Lord of Parma
Carlo (September 1359- August 1403), married Beatrice, daughter of John II of Armagnac and sister of John III of Armagnac.
Valentina (d.1393), married Peter II of Cyprus
Caterina (1361- poisoned 17 October 1404,[4]) married her cousin Gian Galeazzo Visconti as his second wife. She was the mother of Gian Maria Visconti and Filippo Maria Visconti, successive dukes of Milan. She acted as regent for her son Gian Maria during his minority.
Lucia (1372- 14 April 1424), betrothed 1. Louis II of Anjou and married 2. Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent
Maddalena (1366- 17 July 1404), married Frederick, Duke of Bavaria and was mother of Henry XVI of Bavaria.
Mastino (d.1404), married Antonia della Scala (d. 1400), daughter of Cangrande II della Scala.
Anglesia (d.12 October 1439), married Janus of Cyprus
Giammastino (1370- 19 June 1405), married Cleofa (d.1403) daughter of Cangrande II della Scala.
Elisabetta (1374- 2 February 1432), married Ernest, Duke of Bavaria and was the mother of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria.
Antonia (1360-26 March 1405), married Eberhard III, Count of Württemberg.