• DOI:10.1086/673405
• Corpus ID: 194035594

The Langobard Revival of Matteo il Magno Visconti, Lord of Milan

@article{Marina2013TheLR,
  title={The Langobard Revival of Matteo il Magno Visconti, Lord of Milan},
  author={Areli Marina},
  journal={I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance},
  year={2013},
  volume={16},
  pages={377 - 414}
}

• A. Marina
• Published 1 September 2013
• History
• I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance

OF THE TWELVE VISCONTI LORDS who ruled Milan, Matteo Visconti (1250–1322) remains the most obscure. He died a condemned heretic, his burial place is unknown, and his heirs preferred to celebrate their glories instead of his. Although contemporaries called him Matteo il Magno (the Great), modern historians favor his better-documented successors. All agree, nonetheless, that Matteo the Great consolidated the fragmented Milanese possessions acquired by his great-uncle Archbishop Ottone (1207–95) into a larger Lombard dominion that Matteo then succeeded in passing on to his sons. I argue that Matteo also bequeathed his heirs an additional legacy—the enduring cultural strategy that would justify the Visconti right to rule.