Ludovico Sforza, “the Moor”, is the eighth of Francesco Sforza’s thirty children and the regent-duke of Milan, who lets the King of France and forty thousand soldiers cross the Alps against the King of Naples. Two statements identify him, unsettled, as Graz’zt.
| Type | Character |
| House | Sforza |
| Spanish entry | Ludovico Sforza |
Milan
Milan is “a very strong city”, “a place of armories and inventions”, with “a new regent” for one or two years. When war came he “barricaded himself in his enormous castle”. His column numbers forty thousand men “and 800 protected ones”.
Family
The Sforza replaced the Visconti as Milan’s “last dynasty”. Francesco, “one of the great captains, condottieri”, married Bianca Visconti, daughter of Filippo Maria, turning command into dynastic right; he “had forged the peace of Lodi”.
The throne belongs to Gian Galeazzo, “the true heir, the son of Francesco the first duke of Milan”; Ludovico is called appointed duke, “just a regent” and “a regent who was usurping the throne”. The ducal title came from “the emperor on the other side of the Alps, Maximilian”. Sforza power rests on armories and inventions, marriages, gold — “I’ll pay you one million two hundred thousand” doubloons to the French army — and bought recognition.
Caterina Sforza, lady of Imola, is widow of the late Riario, “supposed nephew” and in truth son of Pope Sixtus, “the one of the Borges”. She knows “artillery, tournament”, rides very well, has cannons and has borne “at least fifteen children”. Her marriage to the companion Pérsico was announced; Ananta keeps warning: “don’t do it, don’t do it”.
The Alps
He lets the King of France through his lands and invites him across the Alps with forty thousand soldiers “and bring him the empire”, against “an enemy of his, who is the king of Naples”. He is “a guy who has known how to be very flexible”.
Graz’zt
He is named “alias, for you, Graz’zt. The knight you freed” — the one the company released from confinement — and elsewhere “also known to you as Graz’zt”. Whether this is identity, disguise or epithet is not established.
Conflicting accounts
- Gian Galeazzo is his nephew in some genealogies, Francesco’s son (so his brother) in others; another version has a nephew Galeazzo “as regent” after the succession.
- Whereabouts: barricaded in Milan’s castle; marching toward Imola with his forty thousand and eight hundred; or fled — “he has gone to Venice and I think even from Venice… gone to fight the Turk, I don’t know if in Rhodes or Cyprus”. No chronology orders these.
Open questions
- His appearance, age and voice.
- What the eight hundred “protected ones” are.
- What the doubloons buy, or whether the figure is a boast.
- What the “castelo de Suaceco”, tied to both Visconti and Sforza, is.