History
The Duchy of Milan (Ducatus Mediolani), was created 1 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. At its foundation the duchy included 26 towns and spanned from the hills of Montferrat to the Lagoons of Venice, and included all the former towns of the Lombard League.
During the rule of the Visconti and Sforza, the duchy had to defend its territory against the Swiss, the French and the Venetians, until the Betrayal of Novara in 1500 when the duchy passed to the French-claim of Louis XII.
Milan declared itself a republic, despite the fact that the Duke of Orleans was the legitimate heir by treaty. Orleans proved unable to make good his claim, but the republic was nevertheless short-lived. The adventurer Francesco Sforza, who married the last Visconti's illegitimate daughter, seized Milan in 1450 and made himself duke.
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