FOREIGN ARCHITECTS IN MILAN LODGE
| 80. | 1389 | Anichino or Annex of Freiburg | Was paid for the model of adome which was not used. | |
| " | Giacobino de Bruge | Fell ill, and was supportedby the lodge. | ||
| 81. | 1391 | Ulrico di Ensingen | Came for a few months. | |
| " | Heinrich di Gmunden | Entered, July 1391; left,June 1392. | ||
| 82. | 1399 | Jean Mignot de Paris | Came from Paris. | |
| 83. | Jean Campanias from Normandy | Campanias did not stay long. | ||
| 84. | Ulrich de Frissengen | Worked at Milan for a shorttime. | ||
| 85. | Aulx di Marchestein | |||
| 86. | 1482 | Giovanni da Gratz | Engaged, 1482; discharged,1488. | |
I.—The Comacines under the Visconti
History repeats itself. We began the story of the Comacines in Lombardy with their works under the invading Longobards, we end it with their works under the usurping Visconti. The first era shows their early Roman-Lombard style in its purity; the last shows the culmination of their later Italian-Gothic style in its fulness.
Like Florence, Siena, Pisa, Pistoja, and other cities, Milan, on freeing herself from Longobard and French tyrants, had become a commune, but she could not escape the usual fate of a mediæval commune, i.e. party faction, and the supremacy of a dominant family. As Florence had her Guelphs and Ghibellines, Pistoja her Bianchi and Neri, so Milan had her two warring families, the Torriani and Visconti. The conflict was long, but in the end the Visconti dominated. Matteo I. reigned over Cremona, Lodi, Bergamo, Pavia, Alexandria, and Vercelli. Azzo Visconti subjugated Piacenza and Como, etc. Luchino added Asti, Bobbio, and Parma; while his brother, the Archbishop Giovanni, acquired Brescia, Genoa, and Bologna. His nephews, Bernabò and Galeazzo II., divided the state, and lost part of it. Genoa freed herself from Galeazzo, while Bernabò's vices and cruelties caused rebellion everywhere.
Galeazzo's son, Gian Galeazzo, who was only fifteen when his father died in 1378, married Isabella of France, he being then seventeen, and she a child still. By this he gained, as his bride's portion, the estate of Vertus in Champagne, and his descendants kept up the title, which became Italianized into Conte di Virtù. His second wife was his cousin, Caterina, daughter of Bernabò. To assure himself of her heritage, he imprisoned his uncle in the castle of Trezza, where he died a few months after, some say by poison. However this be, Gian Galeazzo immediately rode into Milan, where he was proclaimed Signore of Milan. Wenceslaus, Emperor of Germany, had already created him his Vicar-general in Lombardy, so that his power was great. So great was it that he was able to oust the Scaligers from Verona in 1386; the Carraresi from Vicenza and Padua in 1387. In 1395 he induced Wenceslaus to nominate him Duke of Milan, and to make the title hereditary. Then, emulating his Longobardic predecessors, he began a march of conquest southwards; took Perugia, Spoleto, and Assisi in 1400; Lucca in 1401; then he bought Pisa from the Appiani, and Siena capitulated. Florence was next in his list, but luckily for her he died at this juncture, and Florence escaped.[265]
These were the princes under whose auspices the cathedral of Milan arose, a mountain of sculpture white as snow. In olden times there were twin churches standing on the site of Milan cathedral: S. Maria Maggiore, the winter church, and S. Thecla, the estiva, or summer church. Santa Maria had two Baptisteries, one for male children, the other for female. They both had marvellous towers: that of S. Maria was two hundred and forty-five braccia (about four hundred and seventy feet) high, and of "admirable beauty." This tower was thrown down and the church destroyed in the siege of Milan, 1162. After the Peace of Costanza, Sta. Maria was restored by public offerings, and the Milanese ladies, like the ancient Roman dames, threw their jewels into the treasury. The façade of this restoration was of black and white marble in squares, and the church was so large that it could contain 7000 people.
By the fourteenth century Milan had become so wealthy and powerful that it determined to build a church more beautiful than any before it. To Gian Galeazzo is generally given the whole credit of this initiative, but documents seem to prove it was a general move on the people's part. On May 12, 1386, Monsignor Antonio dei Marchesi, Archbishop of Milan, addressed a circular letter to his clergy, saying that the church of the Blessed Virgin was old and dilapidated, and "the hearts of the faithful" intended to rebuild it, which work being very costly, the Archbishop prayed all his clergy to "institute offerings in their churches, and to pray God to bless the work."
Again a year later he circulated another letter, to ask that all the offerings thus gathered should be transmitted to Milan before the fête of St. Martin, as the faithful were anxious to continue the work begun. Gian Galeazzo did his part by promulgating two edicts; one dated October 12, 1386, instituting a questua (collection) in all the Ducal State for the benefit of the funds for the Duomo; the second, dated February 7, 1387, decreed that all the money from the paratici of the city, which shall be paid as offerings during the fête of the Madonna in February of this and following years, shall be dedicated to the building fund. The results of all these appeals and decrees, and the small part the Visconti had in the giving, appears in a letter from the deputies of the Fabbrica or Opera, addressed to Gian Galeazzo, on August 3, 1387, saying—"Offerings have been made with great devotion by every kind of person, rich and poor, who have copiously and liberally aided the building. Now, O Signore, we pray that you and your lady mother, your consort, and daughter, may also transmit your devout oblations to subsidize the church."