Whether or not Lodovico had him poisoned, as has been alleged--a charge, which, after all, rests on no proof, nor even upon the word of any person of reliance--his death most certainly lies at his ambitious uncle's door.
Charles was at Piacenza when the news of Gian Galeazzo's death reached him.

Like the good Christian that he accounted himself, he ordered the most solemn and imposing obsequies for the poor youth for whom in life he had done nothing.
Gian Galeazzo left a heart-broken girl-widow and two children to succeed him to the throne he had never been allowed to occupy--the eldest, Francesco Sforza, being a boy of five.

Nevertheless, Lodovico was elected Duke of Milan.

Not only did he suborn the Parliament of Milan to that end, but he induced the Emperor to confirm him in the title.

To this the Emperor consented, seeking to mask the unscrupulous deed by a pitiful sophism.