Giovanni Visconti

Giovanni Visconti (1290–1354), son of Matteo I Visconti, was an archbishop who led armies and held cities by force. Elected archbishop of Milan in 1317, he was refused confirmation by Pope John XXII, who installed Aicardo da Camodeia and excommunicated him for heresy in 1323; the antipope Nicholas V made him a cardinal.

He became bishop and lord of Novara in 1331 and entered Milan in triumph in 1339, only confirmed in 1342. With his brother Luchino he bought the co-lordship of Milan from the pope for half a million florins, and after 1349 he ruled alone. He gained Bologna in 1350 and Genoa in 1353.

When Florence organized an alliance against him, he tortured leading Bolognese until they confessed to a plot with Florence, and used it to justify war. Giovanni died on 5 October 1354.