Facino Cane (1360-May 1412) was a condottiero who served the Duchy of Milan and Montferrat.
Biography[]
Bonifacio Cane was from Casale Monferrato, born to a noble family. He fought under Otto of Brunswick against Charles III of Naples in 1382, and in 26 he served the House of Scaligeri of Verona and the House of Carraresi of Padua. In 1387 he led 400 knights against Savoy for Theodore II of Montferrat, but his savage acts of ruthlessness towards the population and his aims to only enrich his men and himself led to his dismissal ten years later. He then served the House of Visconti in the Duchy of Milan, and in 1401 he took over Alessandria, Tortona, and Novara.
A member of the Templar Order, he took over effective control of the Duchy of Milan after the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1402. Cane tricked the new Duke Gian Maria Visconti, known for his cruelty, to kill his own mother Caterina Visconti, and Cane and a group of rebels assassinated him in May 1412. He tried to flee to Pavia, with the Assassin Order on his tail, attempting to stop him from taking over the duchy of Milan. Cane was assassinated there the same month as the death of Gian Maria, stopping a Templar takeover of Milan.