On the tenth of December 1547 Giovanni Anguissola went to the castle which Farnese had erected to command the city and demanded instant speech of the duke on matters of pressing urgency. Having entered, Anguissola and his friend Giovanni Valentino threw themselves upon the duke and killed him with stabs in his face and breast. On leaving the apartment, the assassin killed a priest and a servant who were rushing in to ascertain the occasion of the duke’s cries, struck down a German lancer who threw himself before him and ran to rejoin his fellow conspirators, who, led by Confaloniere immediately overpowered the garrison of the citadel. Others, headed by Landi and the Pallavicini brothers, attacked and soon captured the castle with but little loss of life. Some mercenaries fleeing from the citadel spread a report that the Spaniards had attacked the castle; and the plebians, to whom the very name Spaniards was odious, rose in arms, gathered around Tommasoni da Terni, captain of the city militia, and marched to the citadel to recover it by storm. The battle could not have been long or doubtful; for only thirty-seven conspirators were in possession of the fortress. But they invented an expedient which served them in the stead of force. They hung the corpse of the duke to the wall and afterwards threw it into the moat. The sight destroyed the hopes of the people. The conspirators found means to increase the number of their adherents and to occupy the city. Captain Ruschino arrived before the gates, according to a previous understanding, at the head of a considerable body of infantry and shortly after the castellan of Cremona arrived with reinforcements. These were followed by Gonzaga himself who took possession in the name of Cæsar. The vengeance of Doria was complete. The Venitians were greatly grieved by these events; indeed, all the governments in Italy which were unfriendly to the Spanish power were alarmed at its success. The nobles of Piacenza regretted too late that they had changed masters without gaining their liberties. Gonzaga had promised to destroy the citadel, but he increased its strength and it remained for three centuries.