TREVISANO, LODOVICO. - Cardinal, son of maestro Biagio, doctor of arts and medicine, b. in Venice in Nov. 1401, d. in Rome on 22 March 1465.
He graduated in arts and medicine at Padua on 9 July 1425; he began as physician to Cardinal Gabriele Condulmer and was a member of his household when the latter became Pope Eugene IV. A writer of apostolic letters, he became bishop of Traù on 24 Oct. 1435, then archbishop of Florence on 6 Aug. 1437 and as such subscribed at the Council in 1439. In that same year he was appointed patriarch of Aquileia, where he hardly ever resided, and was appointed camerlengo on 11 Jan. 1440. In March 1440 he took command of the Church's troops as legate, after the killing of Cardinal
Vitelleschi (v.); and he fought first in the Patrimony, then in Tuscany against Niccolò Piccinino, whom he defeated at Anghiari on June 20, 1440, to the advantage of Florence. For this deed he was created cardinal on July 1. Soon, as legate in Romagna, he waged war against those lords and cities, trying in vain to take Bologna. Then together with Filippo M. Visconti and with Piccinino he fought in the Marca against Francesco Sforza (March 1442). His negotiations with Alfonso of Aragon, concluded at Terracina on June 14, 1443, allowed Eugene IV to return to Rome. Having resumed the struggle with Sforza, after the ephemeral Peace of Perugia (Oct. 9, 1444), he went back into battle as an ally of Naples and Milan in 1445-46; until the death of Eugene IV (Feb. 23, 1447) changed the course of events. In the meantime he had also become bishop of Cava (Sept. 14, 1444), abbot of Vangadizza and of Chiaravalle (Milan) in January and November 1445 and later also of Montecassino (May 18, 1454). Callistus III turned to him again for the war against the Turks. The T., having built a fleet on the Tiber, set out toward the seas of the Levant on May 31, 1456. He was at Rhodes and at Mytilene, and returned in 1458. Under Pius II he attended the Congress of Mantua (1459-60); as bishop of Albano he provided for the needs of the place. He died very wealthy, although he had led a lavish life, also given to gambling, more like a condottiere than a prelate.
Bibliography
Pio Paschini