as once they had shared his joy, and to wear mourning for a year. The
_coup de main_ (1385) by which his nephew Giangaleazzo got him into his
power--one of those brilliant plots which make the heart of even late
historians beat more quickly was strikingly characteristic of the man .

In Giangaleazzo that passion for the colossal which was common to most
of the despots shows itself on the largest scale. He undertook, at the
cost of 300,000 golden florins, the construction of gigantic dikes, to
divert in case of need the Mincio from Mantua and the Brenta from
Padua, and thus to render these cities defenseless. It is not
impossible, indeed, that he thought of draining away the lagoons of
Venice. He founded that most wonderful of all convents, the Certosa of
Pavia and the cathedral of Milan, 'which exceeds in size and splendor
all the churches of Christendom.' The palace in Pavia, which his father
Galeazzo began and which he himself finished, was probably by far the
most magnificent of the princely dwellings of Europe. There he
transferred his famous library, and the great collection of relics of
the saints, in which he placed a peculiar faith. It would have been
strange indeed if a prince of this character had not also cherished the
highest ambitions in political matters. King Wenceslaus made him Duke
(1395); he was hoping for nothing less than the Kingdom of Italy or the
Imperial crown, when (1402) he fell ill and died. His whole territories
are said to have paid him in a single year, besides the regular
contribution of 1,200,000 gold florins, no less than 800,000 more in
extraordinary subsidies. After his death the dominions which he had
brought together by every sort of violence fell to pieces: and for a
time even the original nucleus could with difficulty be maintained by
his successors. What might have become of his sons Giovanni Maria (died
1412) and Filippo Maria (died 1447), had they lived in a different
country and under other traditions, cannot be said. But, as heirs of