Like Florence, Siena, Pisa, Pistoja, and other cities, Milan, on freeing herself from Longobard and French tyrants, had become a commune, but she could not escape the usual fate of a mediæval commune, _i.e._ party faction, and the supremacy of a dominant family. As Florence had her Guelphs and Ghibellines, Pistoja her Bianchi and Neri, so Milan had her two warring families, the Torriani and Visconti. The conflict was long, but in the end the Visconti dominated. Matteo I. reigned over Cremona, Lodi, Bergamo, Pavia, Alexandria, and Vercelli. Azzo Visconti subjugated Piacenza and Como, etc. Luchino added Asti, Bobbio, and Parma; while his brother, the Archbishop Giovanni, acquired Brescia, Genoa, and Bologna. His nephews, Bernabò and Galeazzo II., divided the state, and lost part of it. Genoa freed herself from Galeazzo, while Bernabò's vices and cruelties caused rebellion everywhere. Galeazzo's son, Gian Galeazzo, who was only fifteen when his father died in 1378, married Isabella of France, he being then seventeen, and she a child still. By this he gained, as his bride's portion, the estate of Vertus in Champagne, and his descendants kept up the title, which became Italianized into Conte di Virtù. His second wife was his cousin, Caterina, daughter of Bernabò. To assure himself of her heritage, he imprisoned his uncle in the castle of Trezza, where he died a few months after, some say by poison. However this be, Gian Galeazzo immediately rode into Milan, where he was proclaimed Signore of Milan. Wenceslaus, Emperor of Germany, had already created him his Vicar-general in Lombardy, so that his power was great. So great was it that he was able to oust the Scaligers from Verona in 1386; the Carraresi from Vicenza and Padua in 1387. In 1395 he induced Wenceslaus to nominate him Duke of Milan, and to make the title hereditary. Then, emulating his Longobardic predecessors, he began a march of conquest southwards; took Perugia, Spoleto, and Assisi in 1400; Lucca in 1401; then he bought Pisa from the Appiani, and Siena capitulated. Florence was next in his list, but luckily for her he died at this juncture, and Florence escaped.[265]