The Renaissance not only fundamentally reshaped the intellectual life of Western peoples but also changed the external forms of existence and established a new ideal of the state. Just as the revival of the classical spirit first occurred on ancient soil itself, the new state ideal that emerged from the Renaissance found its first realization in Italy. Emperor Frederick II, "the first modern man on the throne," as he has been called, provided the other Italian states with a model of absolute rule in his southern Italian realm. The Visconti in Milan then developed this new form most sharply in the 14th and 15th centuries. Now, the French kings lay claim to their legacy. Louis XII expels the Sforza from Milan; however, Francis I must once again reclaim the city through splendor.