A branch of the Fieschi family, expelled from Genoa in 1339, had taken up its residence in Piedmont and acquired there both possessions and honours. A certain Giovanni Fieschi--made bishop of Vercelli by Clement VI., in 1348--gave a share of the temporal government of his diocese to his brother Nicolò, and conferred upon him some lands and castles. We find in the archives of the court at Turin that the Fieschi ruled in Masserano until 1381, and that Nicolò, Giovanni, and Antonio formed an alliance with count Verde. Some few years later, or in 1394, Lodovico Fieschi, also bishop of Vercelli and cardinal, petitioned Boniface IX. for the repayment of a large sum of money spent by him in maintaining the rights of his church, and he obtained permission to alienate from the jurisdiction of the church the castles of Masserano and Moncrivello, and to confer the feud upon his brother Antonio. This investiture was confirmed by subsequent popes, especially by Julius II.; and Alexander VI. added, in 1498, the feuds of Curino, Brusnengo, Flecchia, and Riva, assigning them to the brothers Innocenzo and Pier Luca. The first of these had a son named Lodovico, and this Lodovico a daughter named Beatrice, whose hand her father gave to Filiberto Ferrero, a citizen of Biella, adopting him as a son. The Fieschi possessions in this way passed into the family of Ferrero; and he, having obtained for his son Besso the hand of Camilla, niece of Paul III., secured the investiture of Masserano, then created a Marquisate. Whoever is desirous of learning how these feuds came into the possession of the Ferreri to the exclusion of the male line, and particularly of Gregory and Pier Luca Fieschi, may consult _Curzio Giuniore_. This Pier Luca II., lord of Crevacuore, where he had an excellent mint, of whose coinage some specimens are preserved to us, constantly revolved revolutionary projects, as a means of recovering his lost dominions, and urged Count Gianluigi to proclaim himself a partisan of France. It is certain that by the advice of Pier Luca, Gianluigi bought the Farnesian galleys, of which we shall presently speak. The count received Pier Luca at his house in Vialata with every mark of affection, and lent a willing ear to his suggestions; but fearing that France would wish to reduce Genoa to the condition of a French province, he resolved to ascertain the views of the ministers of that power, and to obtain pledges for the security of popular liberty. He entrusted this negotiation to Gian Francesco, (called Gagnino) Gonzaga of the family of the dukes of Sabbione, a brave soldier, hostile to the empire. With his uncle Frederick he had fought against Cæsar at Parma, and later as a colonel of the Florentines in the celebrated siege of Florence. Being an open partisan of the French, he was banished from his native land.