co, however, was sent by his father to Cremona, the
city which had been Duchess Bianca's dowry, and whose inhabitants were
among the most loyal subjects of the Sforza princes. Here he lived
during the next two years, enjoying his foretaste of power, and making
himself very popular with the Cremonese. In 1465, his accomplished
sister was married to Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, and Lorenzo de Medici
came to Milan for the nuptials. Then these two men, who in days to come
were to be so often named together as the most illustrious patrons of
art and letters in the Renaissance, met for the first time, and
discovered the mutual tastes which in future years often brought them
into close relation.

The sudden death of Duke Francesco in 1466 brought a change in
Lodovico's position, and the ingratitude with which the new duke,
Galeazzo, treated his widowed mother, naturally irritated his brothers.
In October, 1468, Bianca retired to Cremona, where she died a week
after her arrival--"more from sorrow of heart than sickness of body,"
wrote her doctor. The good duchess was buried by her husband's side in
the Duomo of Milan, and was long and deeply lamented both by her
children and subjects, and by none more than her son Lodovico, who
always remembered his mother with the deepest affection. But he remained
on good terms with Galeazzo, and was deputed by the new duke to receive
his bride, Bona of Savoy, when the princess arrived at Genoa, from the
French court, where her youth had been spent with her sister, the wife
of King Louis XI. During the next ten years Lodovico lived in enforced
idleness at the Milanese court, and, freed from the restraint of his
parents' authority, abandoned himself to idle pleasures. All we have
from his pen at this period are two short letters. In one, written from
Milan and dated April 19, 1476, he asks the Cardinal of Novara to stand
godfather to the illegitimate son whom his mistress, Lucia Marliani,
Countess of Melzi, had borne him, and who was to be baptized at Pavia.
The other is an affectionate letter addressed from Vigevano a year later
to Lucia herself, rejoicing to hear of her well-being, and looking
forward to seeing her after the feast of St. George. Whether the son was
Leone Sforza, afterwards apostolic protonotary, or whether he was the
child whose death Lodovic lamented a few years later, does not appear,
but all his life the Moro retained a sincere regard for the mother,
Lucia Marliani, and lef