Toynbee "Galeazzo"
son of Matteo Visconti of Milan, who brought about his marriage (in 1300) with Beatrice of Este, daughter of Obizzo II, and widow of Nino Visconti of Pisa, although she had already been promised to Alberto Scotto of Piacenza. In revenge, the latter helped to expel Matteo and his son from Milan in 1302 ({Villani, viii. 61}). After the death of his father, who had returned to Milan in 1310 ({Villani, ix. 9}), Galeazzo assumed the lordship of the city (June 1322); he was expelled, however, within a few months, but returned before the end of the year ({Villani, ix. 156, 181, 184}), and remained in possession until 1327, when he was deposed by Lewis of Bavaria ({Villani, x. 31}). He died in the following year while serving under Castruccio Castracane.

. . . messer Galeasso de' Visconti di Milano, il quale era in servigio di Castruccio, ammalò al castello di Pescia, e in quello in corto termine morì scomunicato assai poveramente, ch'era stato così grande signore e tiranno, che innanzi che 'l Bavaro gli togliesse lo stato era signore di Milano e di sette altre città vicine al suo seguito, com'era Pavia, Lodi, Cremona, Como, Bergamo, Noara, e Vercelll, e morì vilmente soldato alla merce di Castruccio. ({Villani, x. 86}.)

Galeazzo may be indirectly referred to by Nino Visconti (in Ante-Purgatory), who, speaking of his wife Beatrice and her second marriage, says that 'the viper which the Milanese bears into the field' of battle will not look so fair on her tomb as his own arms, the cock of Gallura, [Purg. viii. 79-81]; but in its first meaning il Melanese here is singular for plural, 'the Milanese' whose arms were those of the Visconti, a viper holding in its jaws a child. [Beatrice_4: Gallura: [Melanese: Nino_2.] Villani says:

I signori Visconti di Milano, come si sa, hanno l'arme loro il campo bianco e la vipera cilestra ravvolta con un uomo rosso in bocca. (ix. 110.)

[On the interpretation of il Melanese and the verb accampa, see F. Novati, Indagini e postille dantesche (Bologna, 1899), pp. 153-157; see also BSDI, v (1897), 174, and M. Cecchi-Torriani, Il Canto viii del Purgatorio ed i Visconti di Pisa e di Milano (Firenze, 1964).]

©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press