Editing Lombardy (section)

===Renaissance duchies of Milan and Mantua===
{{Further|Duchy of Milan|Duchy of Mantua}}
[[File:Visconti XIV century.svg|thumb|The [[Visconti of Milan|Viscontis']] dominions in the 14th century, before the foundation of the [[Duchy of Milan]]]]

In the 15th century, the [[Duchy of Milan]] was one of the wealthiest states during the [[Renaissance]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Milan – History|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Milan-Italy|access-date=17 December 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Milan and Mantua became centres of the [[Renaissance]], whose culture with people such as [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Andrea Mantegna]], and works of art such as da Vinci's ''[[The Last Supper (Leonardo)|The Last Supper]]'' were highly regarded. The enterprising class of the communes extended its trade and banking activities well into northern Europe; the metonym "Lombard" designated a merchant or banker from northern Italy, for example [[Lombard Street, London]]. 

The name "Lombardy" came to denote the whole of northern Italy until the 15th century and sometimes later.<ref>{{cite book|first=Leandro|last=Alberti|title=Descrittione di tutta Italia di F. Leandro Alberti bolognese, nella quale si contiene il sito di essa, l'origine & le signorie delle città & de i castelli...|publisher=Giouan Maria Bonelli|location=Venice|year=1553|language=it}} {{No ISBN}}</ref> From the 14th century onward, the instability created by the internal and external struggles ended in the creation of noble ''seigniories'', the most significant of whom were the [[Visconti of Milan|Viscontis]] (later [[House of Sforza|Sforzas]]) in Milan and of the [[House of Gonzaga|Gonzagas]] in Mantua. This wealth, however, attracted the now-more-organised armies of national powers such as France and Austria, which waged a lengthy battle for Lombardy in the late 15th to early 16th centuries.