Hercules Maximilien Sforza , in Italian Ercole Massimiliano Sforza , born the January 25th 1493 with Milan and officially dead the June 4th 1530 with Paris in France, is noble a Italy N which was duke of Milan in Lombardy.

Biography

Maximilien was the first wire of the duke Ludovic Sforza (1452-1508) and of Béatrice d' Este (1475-1497), itself girl of Hercules I {{er}} of Este (1431-1505), duke of Ferrare, Modena and Reggio of Emilie, and Éléonore of Naples (1450-1493).
Maximilien had a brother, François, two years its junior and some half-brothers and half-sisters, born for the major part before the marriage of its parents.
His/her mother, Beatrice, died during the birth of a child still-born child, the January 2nd 1497.

In 1500, his/her Ludovic father is évincé duchy of Milan by the king de France Louis XII and dies in exile in May 1508.
Maximilien becomes the heir to the ducal crown to the beginning of the year 1512 after the death, the January 17th, of the son of Jean Galéas, Francesco. This child, born in 1491 and called it Duchetto (the small Duke) , was three years old when his/her father died in October 1494. Despizing death tax direct, his/her uncle Ludovic was made name duke in his place and places.

The departure of the French

To counter the territorial appetites of Louis XII which seeks to extend its Italian possessions towards the Venezia and with an aim of driving out the French out of Italy, the Pape Jules II had organized, the October 5th 1511, with Venice and the Spanish of Naples, a holy Ligue to which will adhere the Swiss Cantons carried out by the bishop of Sion Matthieu Schiner, as well as the England.
In spite of the Battle of Ravenne gained the April 11th 1512 by the French troops, the 18  000 Swiss soldiers break on the Lombardy and manage to drive out the French in June of them. The 20, Ottaviano Sforza, bishop of Lodi, takes possession of the city of Milan in the name of Maximilien.

The duke

Maximilien thus becomes the ninth duke of Milan and is accommodated by its city and is established the December 28th 1512.
Son return on the ducal throne however costs expensive the duchy. The Suisse S receive, in thanks, the cities of Lugano, Locarno as well as the valley of Ossola. The alliance of the Three leagues, formed by inhabitants of the Grison , occupies the Valteline where the Swiss ones, come with the help from the Milanese army, beat the French. The July 26th, Maximilien can return to Milan and, on the end of the year 1513, the French Army turns over in France.
The year 1514 will be one year of peace for the duchy of Milan and the artists will devote themselves to the rebuilding and the compensations for the damages inflicted at the buildings by the war.

The return of the French

January 1st 1515, the king de France Louis XII dies in Paris.
Its successor is his first cousin, François I {{er}}, also descending from Louis I {{er}} of Orleans and Valentine Visconti which is its great-grandparents. Its claims are double because he married Claude, the girl of Louis XII, and that it also is back-small-girl of Louis of Orleans and Valentine. Hardly on the throne, it is put at the head of an army to take advantage of its rights on the Duché of Milan.
The February 16th 1515, the pope founds a new league joining together, in addition to the Papal States, the Empire, the Couronne of Aragon, the Suisse and Milan. The April 5th, France and Venice renew their alliance of March 1513.
In August, the chief of the Milanese army, Prospero Colonna is captured without combat by the French with Villafranca with the Piedmont.
Then, the 13 and September 14th, takes place the Bataille of Marignan. After baited engagements, the arrival of Venetian, under the command of Bartolomeo d' Alviano, transforms these undecided combat into a terrible defeat for Matthieu Schiner and its troops Swiss which lose 14  000 men. The survivors return on their premises to Switzerland, taking along the young brother of the duke, François which will reside at Innsbruck under the guard of the emperor Maximilien I {{er}}.
The French enter Milan the September 17th and Maximilien goes the October 4th. enter its new duchy the October 11th accompanied by the duke of Savoy Charles III and by the marquis de Montferrat Guillaume IX which made him allégeance.
The capitulation is consumed and Maximilien is exiled in France with an annual rent of: 35000 ecus.

End-of-life

Maximilien dies in Paris, 37 years old, the June 4th 1530.
A doubt remains on its effective death on this date. Of aucuns claim that it became Moine of the Abbaye of Saint-Germain-of-Meadows under the name of Celestino da Olgiate and that it died there in 1552.

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