Bernardino Lunati

Bernardino Lunati was born in Pavia in 1452 to Filippina Beccaria and Antonio, miles auratus, an important leader of the Visconti army who supported the succession of Francesco I Sforza in the Duchy of Milan.

Having obtained the important dignity on 14 March 1484, the following August Cardinal Sforza moved to Rome to participate in the conclave which was to elect the successor of Pope Sixtus IV and brought Lunati with him as his own conclavist.

When necessary, he was employed in private diplomatic missions: in the spring-summer of 1486 he was sent to Naples to work for the cessation of the barons' war; in July 1487 he was sent to Milan to evaluate the possibilities that his master had of being appointed regent of the Duchy in the event of the death of Ludovico il Moro.

[1] Returning to Rome in the autumn of 1488 together with Ascanio, Lunati became his very active during the negotiations that led to the creation of the thirteen-year-old Giovanni de' Medici (future Pope Leo X) as cardinal.

Coming into conflict with Alexander VI during the preliminary phases of the arrival of Charles VIII of France, Sforza established contacts with the anti-papal front and in the spring of 1494 sent Lunati to Milan in order to ascertain through him the possibilities of calling a Gallican council with which to put the pontiff on trial.

Having returned to Rome, Lunati was busy, between the summer and the following autumn, ensuring diplomatic cover for the anti-papal moves that his master, who had fled the city for fear of retaliation, was plotting clandestinely.

In the autumn of the same year, in view of the anti-French revolt promoted by Ascanio, Lunati was sent to the Kingdom of Naples to support the Aragonese war of reconquest.

He was with the duke for the occupation of Anguillara Sabazia, Galera, Bassano, Sutri, Campagnano di Roma, Formello, Sacrofano, and Cesena.