Bartolommeo Colleoni

COLLEONI, BARTOLOMMEO (1400-1475), Italian sol dier of fortune, served the Venetian republic for many years under Gonzaga and Francesco Sforza. He defeated the Milanese at the battles of Brescia, Verona and on Lake Garda. He transferred his services to the Milanese in 1443, but the suspicious nature of Visconti was awakened by his conduct, and he was imprisoned at Monza until the duke died in 1447. He left the Milanese service in 1448, and returned to that of Venice; but dissatisfied at not having been appointed captain-general he again entered the Milan ese service. The offer of increased pay brought him back once more to Venice, and in 1455 he was appointed captain-general for life. He died in 1475.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-For

an account of Colleoni's wars, S. Romanin, Bibliography.-For an account of Colleoni's wars, S. Romanin, Storia documentata di Venezia vol. iv. (Venice, 1855), and other histories of Venice; see also G. M. Bonomi, Il Castello di Caverrago e i Conti Martinengo Colleoni (Bergamo, 1884) • O. Browning, Life of Bartolommeo Colleoni (1891) ; B. Belotti, La Vita di Bartolommeo Colleoni (Bergamo, 1923) .