DoctorArcanus said:
I have found an interesting site with flags of the Visconti and Sforza families:
http://www.ugopozzati.it/Bandiere Milanesi.htm
Of particular interest, the second and the last flag (where the motto "a bon droit" appears):
http://www.ugopozzati.it/images/Bandiera%20con%20l'impresa%20della%20colomba1.jpg
http://www.ugopozzati.it/images/Bandiera di Massimiliano Sforza1.jpg
Did you know that the Visconti motto was invented by Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca), author of the famous Triumphs (Trionfi) poem? I didn't!
Marco
Thanks for finding that site, Marco! Beautiful flags. I can well imagine the pageantry... I tend to dwell there all the time.
Yes, I knew that Petrarch had designed the motto (and the dove in the sun motif, IIRC) for Gian Galeazzo Visconti. I don't know the background story, but I'm sure it's around here somewhere (Petrarch spent several years in Pavia). In the context of his dreams of becoming sole master of Milan, it makes sense - "with good right". He was the oldest son of Galeazzo II, while Bernabo was Galeazzo II's brother. Thus there is a sense of "right" in the sense of primogeniture; Galeazzo II was the first son of Stefano, and Stefano of Luchino. Although Luchino was the *third* son of Matteo, he held the sole rule of Milan after his two brothers died, and then even after his nephew Azzone (who was Galeazzo I's - Matteo's *first* son - first son) died childless in 1339.
So the right rule seems to have been primogeniture, and then to the next in line. Luchino, although the third son, was legitimately the sole ruler of Milan. Thus Gian Galeazzo had a more "rightful" claim on Milan than his uncle Bernabo, since Galeazzo II, the eldest, had not died without a successor.
I think Petrarch is more important to our story than has yet been appreciated; my thoughts these days tend in the direction of France - French illustrations for Petrarch's Triomphes influencing the TdM designs (or "re-designs") - while the early Italian trionfi owe less to any tradition of illustration of the trionfi.
