A Renaissance Court

Milan under Galleazzo Maria Sforza. The author provides a detailed portrait of one of the most brilliant courts in early Renaissance Europe, describing how Milan and its young ruler exemplified the political, cultural, religious and economic aspirations of the Renaissance. Ambitious, extravagant, progressive, and sexually notorious, Galeazzo Maria Sforza inherited the ducal throne of Milan in 1466, at the age of twenty-two. Although his reign ended tragically only ten years later, the young prince's court was a dynamic community where arts, policy making, and the panoply of state were integrated with the rhythms and preoccupations of daily life. Gregory Lubkin explores this vital but overlooked center of power, allowing the members of the Milanese court to speak for themselves and showing how dramatically Milan and its ruler exemplified the political, cultural, religious, and economic aspirations of Renaissance Italy.