Bartolomeo Colleoni

Bartolomeo Colleoni (; 1400 – 2 November 1475) was an Italian condottiero who served as the captain-general of the Republic of Venice. Colleoni gained a reputation as one of the foremost tacticians and disciplinarians of the 15th century. He is also credited with refurbishing the Roman baths at Trescore Balneario.

Biography Background Coat of arms of Bartolomeo Colleoni with augmentation by René of Anjou, featuring three pairs of testicles. The name "Colleoni" was in Bartolomeo's day alternately spelled "Coglione", a vulgar term meaning "balls".

Colleoni was born in Solza near Bergamo, which was then part of the Duchy of Milan. In Bergamo Colleoni later built himself a mortuary chapel, the Cappella Colleoni. The Colleoni family was noble, but had been exiled with the rest of the Guelphs by the Visconti of Milan. Bartolomeo's father Paolo Colleoni had seized the castle of Trezzo, until he was assassinated by his cousins, probably acting on the orders of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.

Career The young Colleoni trained as a soldier, first in the retinue of Filippo d'Arcello, the new master of Piacenza. Then he entered the service of various condottieri, beginning with Braccio da Montone, who was skirmishing in Apulia, profiting from the struggles between Alfonso of Aragon and Louis of Anjou during the weak sovereignty of Queen Joan II and taking Alfonso's cause, then that of Carmagnola. After the latter was put to death in Venice (1432), Colleoni entered the direct service of the Venetian Republic, which represented the major phase of his career. In 1448, he took leave of Sforza and returned to the Venetians until 1451. Disgusted at not having been elected captain-general, he once more went over to Sforza (who had conquered Milan in 1450, ending the Ambrosian Republic and being recognised as the new Milanese duke) in 1452, but Venice could not do without him; by offering him greater emoluments, the Venetians induced him to return in 1453, and in 1455 he was appointed captain-general of the Republic of Venice for life. Although he occasionally fought on his own account when Venice was at peace, he remained at the disposal of the republic in time of war until his death.

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