have managed to enter Milan, since some noble citizens had offered to introduce it. Ludovico did not resist the tension and was struck, it seems, by a stroke that left him paralyzed for a short time. "The Duke of Milan has lost his feelings," Malipiero writes, "he abandons himself." Beatrice therefore found herself alone to face the difficult situation of war. However, he managed to juggle very well and to ensure the support and loyalty of the Milanese nobles. It was then that her husband officially appointed her governor of Milan together with her brother Alfonso, who soon came to their rescue. The latter, however, soon fell ill with syphilis, also it was rumored that Duke Ercole did not want the recovery of Novara, being in league with the French, and together with the Florentines secretly subveded the Orleans, and that , stronghold of the Sforza army, played a double game with the king of France. Beatrice therefore decided, on June 27, to go alone to the military camp of Vigevano to supervise the order and animate the captains against the French, despite the fact that the Duke of Orleans made raids in that area all day long, while her husband remained in Milan. On this occasion she demonstrated – not unlike her male relatives – a remarkable inclination to war. This is considerable when one considers that the conduct of war operations was at that time the prerogative of men. More than the kinship with her father, whose help she asked for help in vain, the alliance with Venice proved fruitful, which sent Bernardo Contarini, provveditore of the stratioti, to the rescue, with whom Beatrice became friends. Some severed heads of the French were brought to her by the stratioti, and she rewarded them with a ducat for each. Guicciardini's opinion is that if Louis d'Orléans had attempted the assault immediately, he would have taken Milan since the defence was inconsistent, but Beatrice's demonstration of strength was perhaps worth confusing him in making him believe the defences superior to what they were so that he did not dare to try his luck and retreated into Novara. The hesitation was fatal to him, as it allowed the army to reorganize and surround him, thus forcing him to a long and exhausting siege that decimated his men due to famine and epidemics, a siege from which he was finally defeated a