Sublime

“Their stated object was a crusade against the infidel,” wrote Sa’id Mubarak Shah, “their real one was plunder.

schisms

When Leonardo arrived, Milan was ruled by Ludovico Sforza, who was also thirty. A dark-skinned and burly man nicknamed “Il Moro” (the Moor), he was not actually the Duke of Milan yet, though he exercised the authority and would soon grab the title. His father, Francesco Sforza, one of seven illegitimate sons of a military mercenary, had seized