#(im confident about ascanio tho bc we got museums to confirm and also art history books. della rovere did interesting things with him)

[brother-emperors]

... please share some bernardino lonati info crumbs with us? Please 🥺 ascanio too if you want to

(PS. your art is so beautiful aaa💗)

YES (also thank you! 💗) oh my god okay so

They were!!! friends!!

Bernardino Lonati was from Pavia, and Ascanio spent a lot of time in Pavia in the earlier parts of his life and was also the apostolic administrator of Pavia, so it's very likely they knew each other as teenagers (Ascanio refers to Bernardino as his "cardinal from home")

Ascanio Maria Sforza: la parabola politica di un cardinale-principe del Rinascimento, Marco Pellegrini

and they were only a couple of years apart in age (Lonati was born in 1452, Ascanio was 1455)

Lonati was one of the cardinals that Ascanio had "made," (Sanseverino is another). Before that, though, he was Ascanio's secretary!

Popes, Cardinals and War, D.S. Chambers

in 1497, Ascanio fell seriously ill, like a lot of Rome thought he had died despite being alive because of how bad his condition was. Lonati was someone Ludovico Sforza got in contact with to try to navigate the situation, and Lonati and Sanseverino were part of a group that banded together to prevent Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) from seizing Ascanio's assets in the event of his death.

Ascanio Maria Sforza: la parabola politica di un cardinale-principe del Rinascimento, Marco Pellegrini

Every time Ascanio would go against the Vatican for one reason or another/in conflict with the pope (the reason is that Ascanio's loyalty went to Milan first and always), Lonati was one of the cardinals that always sided with him :)

So when Lonati fell ill and it was clear things weren't going to get better

Ascanio Maria Sforza: la parabola politica di un cardinale-principe del Rinascimento, Marco Pellegrini

Ascanio rushed to be with him in his final hours and was so grief stricken over it that he had to be physically pulled away from Lonati's bedside because they were concerned that Ascanio would become ill as well (this was later in 1497). After Lonati died, Ascanio took care of the finances: Lonati wanted to pass the beneficiaries on to family members, but could not do this without Ascanio signing off on it since Ascanio was the apostolic administrator of Pavia.

Asanio did him one better: He wrote to his brother, knowing that he could ensure Lonati's last wishes, and had the income from S. Savino and a third of the income from S. Antonio go to the son, and the minor benefits go to the nephew, and the remaining 2/3rds of the income Ascanio had donated to charitable works in honor of Lonati's soul.

and he was in charge of the funeral arrangements and monument :')

Ascanio Maria Sforza: la parabola politica di un cardinale-principe del Rinascimento, Marco Pellegrini

Lonati was buried in Santa Maria del Popolo, a church associated with Ascanio, and later Giuliano della Rovere (Pope Julius II) would have a tomb commissioned for Ascanio there too, which I feel so so so normal about.

Also, Lonati was considered a "poor cardinal" while he was alive, Ascanio was the driving force behind getting Lonati additional incomes.

Ascanio Maria Sforza: la parabola politica di un cardinale-principe del Rinascimento, Marco Pellegrini

and for some Ascanio trivia: he was gambled (literally) with Rodrigo Borgia on occasion, and was apparently an amateur musician on top of the Everything Else He Did 🎵

A Companion to Late Medieval and Early Modern Milan, edited by Andrea Gamberini

#i feel normal™ about whatever was going on with ascanio and lonati #other things ascanio enjoyed doing: horseback riding apparently. also hunting #ascanio juggling lucrezia's marriage arrangements and cesare's french affair and rodrigo trying to kick him out of vatican politics like #'cardinal sforza went to cardinal colonna's estates to relax his mind by hunting' BRO YOU'RE 43 TAKE A NAP OR SOMETHING #like. do you sleep. DO YOU SLEEP. YOU'VE EARNED A BREAK. << me saying this because chapter 13 of the ascanio biography is killing me #Events Do Not Stop Happening And I Am Just An Artist Who Is Trying So Hard To Keep Up With this #anyway i was up at 5am for reasons and was going to go back to bed for a bit but then i saw this ask and was immediately AWAKE #thank u anon this was more effective than any alarm clock followed by coffee #bernardino lonati #ask tag #rec tag #i wish i could provide you with primary (letter) sources but alas. i Do Not Live In Milan otherwise i'd live in the archives forever #i have. pictures of both ascanio and lonati's tombs? the monument/sculpture part. i think #im confident in ascanio's and less so about lonati since. again. never been to italy. would love to go someday! #and im relying on this one person's photography to not be lying to me with lonati hshdfhghg #(im confident about ascanio tho bc we got museums to confirm and also art history books. della rovere did interesting things with him) #long post #thanks for the ask anon!!! i love Every Opportunity I Get To Talk About The House Sforza (what i call ascanio and his friends lmao) #renaissance papacy tag