Guelfs and ghibellines in early 15th century Lombardy

Factions were a prominent feature of political life in fifteenth-century Italy, but in Lombardy they seem to have retained a particularly significant role, both in organizing politics at the local level and in providing, through the traditional names of "Guelf" and "Ghibelline", a common language for a wide-range of political relations. This paper treats on Filippo Maria Visconti's complex attitude towards the phenomenon. On the one hand, the duke of Milan, when appropriate, speak the factional language. On the external political stage, for instance, he tended to depict himself as leader and patron of the Italian Ghibelline party. On the other hand, his increasing effort to discipline local political entities generated policies that repressed factions and parties. This tendency to criminalization, notwithstanding proved ineffective in the crisis that followed the duke's death, and was abandoned by the new Sforza dynasty.