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- BIOGRAPHY
Caterina was born in Milan about 1360, one of 17 children of Barnabó Visconti, lord of Milan, Bergamo, Cremona, Lodi and Bologna, and Beatrice della Scala.
Early in 1379 a possible marriage was discussed between Caterina and King Richard II of England. The king's tutor and advisor Sir Simon Burley went to Milan to negotiate, but he had misgivings about the match. Barnabó also rejected it, as he favoured another alliance for his daughter. On 2 October 1380, in the Church of San Giovanni in Conca, at the age of about nineteen, Caterina married her first cousin Gian Galeazzo Visconti, count of Pavia, son of Galeazzo II Visconti and Bianca Maria de Savoie, dame de Yenne. Gian Galeazzo's first wife Isabelle de France had died in 1373 in childbirth, leaving him three sons who all died young, and a daughter Valentina Visconti who in 1389 married Louis, duke of Orléans. From Isabelle, Gian Galeazzo had inherited the title of Count of Vertus in Champagne. Caterina and Gian Galeazzo had two sons of whom Filippo Maria would have progeny.
In 1385 Gian Galeazzo deposed Caterina's father Barnabó as lord of Milan. Barnabó was imprisoned at the Castle of Trezzo where he was allegedly poisoned on orders of Gian Galeazzo.
Caterina became the duchess of Milan on 11 May 1395, when her husband was created the first duke by Wenceslas IV, king of Bohemia and emperor-elect, for 100,000 florins. To commemorate the event, a missal was painted by Anovelo da Imbonate depicting, in the foreground, the kneeling figures of Caterina and Gian Galeazzo. It is now in the library of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan. Her husband granted her the castle of Monza and the signoria of Vicenza. Caterina and her husband commissioned the construction of the Certosa di Pavia, which began on 27 August 1396.
When Gian Galeazzo died of a fever on 3 September 1402, Caterina became regent for her son Giovanni Maria who was fourteen years old. The duchy was riven by strife and numerous revolts as rival factions between Gian Galeazzo's legitimate and illegitimate heirs contested for land and power during her regency. Caterina's faction was led by Francesco Barbavara, count of Valsesia, and a member of the regency council. However the faction led by her enemy, the condottiero Facino Cane, prevailed. Along with the illegitimate sons of Gian Galeazzo, he created doubts about Caterina's loyalty in her son's mind. Convinced of his mother's treachery, Giovanni Maria had Caterina arrested on 18 August 1404 and imprisoned in her own castle of Monza, where she died on 17 October 1404, allegedly of poisoning. She was about forty-three years old.
Caterina's son Giovanni Maria was assassinated in 1412 by a group of Milanese Ghibellines. Her second son Filippo Maria succeeded him as duke of Milan,
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