it is more plausible the identification with Bertrand de Beauvau, son of Antoine, created count of Policastro and died in 1495. The ducal investiture Soon, realizing that his plans had not gone as planned, Ludovico abandoned the alliance with the French and joined the Holy League, expressly formed between the various Italian powers to drive foreigners from the peninsula. Meanwhile, on October 21, 1494, the legitimate Duke Gian Galeazzo died and Ludovico obtained by acclamation of the senate that the ducal title passed to him and his legitimate descendants, thus bypassing in the succession the son that Gian Galeazzo left. Beatrice, who was pregnant at that time, gave birth on February 4, 1495, Sforza Francesco, so named in honor of his late paternal uncle Sforza Maria, to whom Ludovico had been very fond, and of his grandfather Francesco. The newborn was baptized by his aunt Isabella d'Este with fifteen names, but was then called simply Francesco. The official investiture by the emperor came on May 26, 1495, and was solemnized by a large public ceremony in the Duomo. The siege of Novara Soon, realizing that his plans had not gone as planned, Ludovico abandoned the alliance with the French and joined the Holy League, expressly formed among the various Italian powers to drive foreigners from the peninsula. While Charles, after the conquest of Naples, was still in the kingdom, in a situation of serious tension, on 11 June 1495, contravening the orders of the king, Louis of Orléans occupied the city of Novara with his men and went as far as Vigevano, threatening concretely to attack Milan with the intention of usurping the duchy, which he considered his right being a descendant of Valentina Visconti. Ludovico hastened to close himself with his wife and children in the Rocca del Castello in Milan but, not feeling equally safe, he contemplated leaving the duchy to take refuge in Spain. Only the iron opposition of his wife and some members of the council, as Bernardino Corio writes, convinced him to desist from this idea. However, due to the heavy expenses incurred for the investiture, the state was on the verge of financial collapse, and there was no money to maintain the army; a popular uprising was feared. The Commines writes that, if the Duke of Orleans had advanced only a hundred steps, the Milanese army would have passed the Ticino, and he would