Facino Cane. Facino Cane da Casale (1360 – May 1412), born Bonifacio Cane, was an Italian condottiero.

Biography

Cane was born in Casale Monferrato to a noble family. He trained in the military arts by fighting under Otto of Brunswick against Charles of Durazzo, in 1382. At 26 he became condottiero for the

Scaliger The Della Scala family, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years. History Wh ...

and, later,

Carraresi The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405. Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, F ...

families. In 1387 he was hired by Theodore II, Marquess of Montferrat, with 400 knights, in the war against the House of Savoy. Facino's aim in wars was almost exclusively the enrichment of himself and his soldiers, resulting in savage acts of ruthlessness and cruelties against the population. This led Theodore to dismiss Facino in 1397, and the condottiero moved first back to the da Carrara and, in 1401, to the Visconti. In 1400 he had also created the small seigniory for himself in Borgo San Martino. In 1404 his personal dominions included also Alessandria,

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

and Tortona. In 1402, at the death of Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti, he assumed the effective control of the Duchy of Milan. Facino died in

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

in 1412: his widow Beatrice Lascaris di Tenda married the new duke Filippo Maria Visconti, who therefore inherited the cities, the treasure and the soldiers of Facino.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cane, Facino 1360 births 1412 deaths People from Casale Monferrato 14th-century condottieri 15th-century condottieri Duchy of Milan people