Ludovico II del Vasto (23 March 1438 in

Saluzzo Saluzzo (; pms, Salusse ) is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are fo ...

– 27 January 1504) was

marquess of Saluzzo The marquises (also marquesses or margraves) of Saluzzo were the medieval feudal rulers city of Saluzzo (today part of Piedmont, Italy) and its countryside from 1175 to 1549. Originally counts, the family received in ''feudum'' the city from the ...

from 1475 until his death. Before his accession as marquis he held the title of Count of

Carmagnola Carmagnola (; pms, Carmagnòla ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located south of Turin. The town is on the right side of the Po river. The nature of the soil determined over ...

Biography

Ludovico was the son of

Ludovico I of Saluzzo Ludovico I del Vasto (died 1475) was Marquess of Saluzzo from 1416 until his death. The son of Marquess Thomas III, he held the Marquisate of Saluzzo for much of the 15th century, under its period of greatest splendour. Always in good relationshi ...

and Isabella of Montferrat. He continued his father's war against

Charles I of Savoy Charles I (28 March 1468 Carignano, Piedmont – 13 March 1490 Pinerolo), called the Warrior, was the Duke of Savoy from 1482 to 1490 and titular king of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia from 1485 to 1490. Life Charles was son of Amadeus IX, D ...

, which had depleted Saluzzo's fortunes, but again without notable results. Following his father's death in April 1475, Ludovico became marquess of Saluzzo. In an effort to foster trade, he patronized the construction of an alpine tunnel under Monviso which was completed in 1480. In 1481, Ludovico married his cousin, Giovanna Palaiologo of Montferrat, daughter of

William VIII, Marquess of Montferrat William VIII Palaiologos (Italian: ''Guglielmo VIII Paleologo''; 19 July 1420 – 27 February 1483) was the Marquis of Montferrat from 1464 until his death. He was the second son of Marquis John Jacob, and inherited the Marquisate after the deat ...

. He married

Margaret of Foix-Candale }, 1473, – Castres, 9 September 1536), Marchioness of Saluzzo, regent of Marquisate of Saluzzo (1504–1526), aunt of Anna of Foix-Candale, Queen of Hungary. Life Margaret was the youngest daughter of John de Foix, 1st Earl of Kendal and Marg ...

in 1492. Worsening relations with duke Charles of Savoy, hastened Ludovico's allegiance to the French king Charles VIII. In 1487, Ludovico asked Charles for an army to relieve the siege of Saluzzo, but the city fell to Louis Tailland on 3 April 1587. Ludovico fled to Provence and remained in exile until 1490. In 1499, Ludovico was with the French forces of

Louis XII of France Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...

that

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city sin ...

. Following the French loss of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Ludovico was sent to

Gaeta Gaeta (; lat, Cāiēta; Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a city in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Southern Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples. The town has played a consp ...

and reinforced the city upon his arrival.

Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua Francesco II (or IV) Gonzaga (10 August 1466 – ) was the ruler of the Italian city of Mantua from 1484 until his death. Biography Francesco was born in Mantua, the son of Marquess Federico I Gonzaga. Francesco had a career as a condottiero act ...

, leading a French army to Gaeta, resigned his command to Ludovico. Ludovico encamped his army across from the Spanish separated by the Garigliano river. The Spanish, with the building of a pontoon bridge, were able to launch a surprise attack on Ludovico's army and defeated it at the

Battle of Garigliano The Battle of Garigliano was fought in 915 between Christian forces and the Saracens. Pope John X personally led the Christian forces into battle. The aim was to destroy the Arab fortress on the Garigliano River, which had threatened central Ita ...

in 1503. Ludovico died in Genoa in January 1504 and was succeeded by his and Marguerite's eldest child,

Michele Antonio I of Saluzzo Michele Antonio del Vasto (26 March 1495 – 18 October 1528) was the Marquess of Saluzzo from 1504 until his death. Born in Saluzzo, the elder son of Ludovico II of Saluzzo and Margaret of Foix-Candale, he was Count of Carmagnola until he succ ...

. A monument to him is located in the church of ''San Giovanni'' at Saluzzo, commissioned by his wife Margaret and executed by

Benedetto Briosco 200px, Arca of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Cremona Cathedral. Benedetto Briosco (c.1460–c.1517) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect, active in Lombardy. Briosco was born in Pavia, and is thought to have apprenticed in Milan. ...

in 1508. Ludovico II was also the initiator of the Neo-Gothic Cathedral of Saluzzo and of the first Alpine tunnel, the

Buco di Viso The Monte Viso Tunnel (Italian: ''Buco di Viso''; French: ''Pertuis du Viso'') is an Alpine pedestrian tunnel excavated in the rock during the Renaissance and located eight kilometres north of Monviso (Cottian Alps), northern Italy. It is 75 ...

(2,880 metres above sea level).

Children

Ludovico and Margaret had: * Michele Antonio (1495–1528) * Gian Ludovico (1496–1529, d.1563), ''deposed'' * Francesco Ludovico I (1498–1537) * Gian Gabriele (1501–1548)

References

Sources

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludovico 02 Of Saluzzo 1438 births 1504 deaths Ludovico 2 15th-century condottieri Aleramici 15th-century Neapolitan people