Sforza Family ( Dukes of Milan )

August 13, 2022

The Sforza family was one of the most powerful families in and around Milan for about 100 years from 1450 to 1535.  The line was founded by Muzio Attendolo around 1411.  This family was very much involved in Papal politics and are featured in several series about the Medici’s and Borgia’s.  I can trace directly back to Muzio, and also have several great aunts and uncles.

Jacopo Muzio Sforza’s relation to you: Direct ancestor (19 generations)

Here’s how:

1. Nicholas Victor Sorrentino is your father

2. Maria Luigia Piromallo is the mother of Nicholas Victor Sorrentino

3. Maria Emilia Caracciolo is the mother of Maria Luigia Piromallo

4. Filippo Caracciolo is the father of Maria Emilia Caracciolo

5. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Filippo Caracciolo

6. Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo

7. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo

8. Ambrogio Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo

9. Prince Marino III Caracciolo is the father of Ambrogio Caracciolo

10. Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo is the father of Prince Marino III Caracciolo

11. Francesca D’AVOLOS is the mother of Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo

12. Isabela Aragon is the mother of Francesca D’AVOLOS

13. Lavinia Della Rovere is the mother of Isabela Aragon

14. Guidobaldo II Della Rovere is the father of Lavinia Della Rovere

15. Francesco Maria I Della Rovere is the father of Guidobaldo II Della Rovere

16. Giovanna Montefeltro is the mother of Francesco Maria I Della Rovere

17. Battista Sforza is the mother of Giovanna Montefeltro

18. Alessandro Sforza is the father of Battista Sforza

19. Muzio Sforza is the father of Alessandro Sforza

 

Citation Information

Article Title:Sforza Family

Website Name:Encyclopaedia Britannica

Publisher:Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Date Published:15 March 2017

Muzio Sforza 17th Great Grandfather

 

A miniature of Muzio Attendolo, fifteenth century

Rising from the rural nobility of Lombardy, the Sforza family became condottieriand used this military position to become rulers in Milan. The family governed by force, ruse, and power politics, similar to the Mediciin Florence. Under their rule, the city-state flourished and expanded.

Muzio Attendolo(1369–1424), called Sforza (from sforzare, to exert or force), founded the dynasty. A condottierofrom Romagna, he served the Angevinkings of Naplesand became the most successful dynast of the condottieri.

His son Francesco I Sforzaruled Milan, having acquired the title of Duke of Milan(1450–1466) after marrying in 1441 the natural daughter and only heir of the last Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, Bianca Maria(1425–1468), making the Sforzas the heirs of the house of Visconti.

The family also held the seigniory of Pesaro, starting with Muzio Attendolo’s second son, Alessandro(1409–1473). The Sforza held Pesaro until 1512, after the death of Costanzo II Sforza.

Muzio’s third son, Bosio (1411–1476), founded the branch of Santa Fiora, who held the title of count of Cotignola; the Sforza ruled the small county of Santa Fiorain southern Tuscanyuntil 1624. Members of this family also held important ecclesiastical and political positions in the Papal States, and moved to Rome in 1674, taking the name of Sforza Cesarini.

The Sforza became allied with the Borgia familythrough the arranged marriage(1493–1497) between Lucrezia Borgiaand Giovanni(the illegitimate son of Costanzo I of Pesaro).[1]This alliance failed, as the Borgia family annulled the marriage once the Sforza family were no longer needed.

In 1499, in the course of the Italian Wars, the army of Louis XII of Francetook Milan from Ludovico Sforza(known as Ludovico il Moro, famous for taking Leonardo da Vinciinto his service).

After Imperial Germantroops drove out the French, Maximilian Sforza, son of Ludovico, became Duke of Milan (1512–1515) until the French returned under Francis I of Franceand imprisoned him.

Alessandro Sforza 16th Great Grandfathe

Alessandro Sforza(21 October 1409 – 3 April 1473) was an Italian condottieroand lord of Pesaro, the first of the Pesaro line of the Sforzafamily.

 He was born in Cotignolain 1409, an illegitimate son of the famous condottiero Muzio Attendolo Sforza.[1] 

Alessandro collaborated actively with his brother Francescoin his military campaign, and with him he conquered Milan, Alessandriaand Pesaro. In 1435, at Fiordimonte, he won the battle in which the riotous Niccolò Fortebracciowas killed. In 1445 at Assisihe commanded the troops besieged by Pope Eugene IV‘s condottiero Francesco Piccinino. He was forced to leave the city, abandoning the city to ravages and massacres. In 1444 he obtained the lordship of Pesaro by Galeazzo Malatesta. Here he enlarged the Ducal Palace to conform it to the Renaissance standards.

During the Wars in Lombardyin support of Francesco he presided Parmaand, in February 1446, he proclaimed himself lord of the city. After Francesco’s conquest of the Duchy of Milan, the Peace of Lodi(1454) confirmed him in Parma.

In 1464 he obtained by Pope Pius IIthe seigniory of Gradara, which he defended by the Malatesta attempts of reconquest.

He died in 1473[1]from an attack of apoplexy[citation needed]. His son Costanzosucceeded him in Pesaro.

Family

He married Costanza Varano(1428–1447), the daughter of Pietro Gentile I da Varano, on 8 December 1444. She died while bearing Costanzo. The following year he married to Sveva da Montefeltro(1434–1478), daughter of Guidantonio da Montefeltro, count of Urbino. In 1457, fearing a possible conjure of the Malatestafamily to regain the seigniory of Pesaro, he obliged her to become a nun in a monastery in the city.

By Costanza he had two children, Battista(1446–1472), who became the wife of Federico III of Urbino, and Costanzo.

He also had an illegitimate daughter, Ginevra(c. 1440–1507), known as a patron of the visual and literary arts. She married Sante Bentivoglioin 1454 and, after his death, Giovanni II Bentivoglio, duke of Bologna.[2]

Battista Sforza 15th Great Grandmother

Battista was the first legitimate child born to Alessandro Sforza, lord of Pesaro, and Costanza da Varano (1428–1447), the eldest daughter of Piergentile Varano (d. 1433), Lord of Camerino, and Elisabetta Malatesta. In 1447, Costanza died after giving birth to her second child, a son called Costanzo (d. 1483), when Battista was 18 months old. After the death of their mother Battista and Costanzo, together with their illegitimate half-sisters Ginevra(1440–1507) and Antonia (1445–1500), moved to the court of their paternal uncle Francesco Sforzaand his wife Bianca Maria Viscontiwhere they were brought up alongside their cousins.[1]

Battista and her cousin Ippolita Mariareceived a humanisteducation and the former was fluent in Greek and Latin, giving her first Latin public speech at the age of four.[2]She was said to be very skilled in Latin rhetoric and even gave an orationbefore Pope Pius II. The poet Giovanni Santidescribed Battista as “a maiden with every grace and virtue rare endowed”.[3]

Her uncle Francesco Sforza arranged for her marriage to Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, who was twenty-four years older than her. The wedding took place on 8 February 1460, when Battista was fourteen years old, and she acted as regent during her husband’s absences from Urbino.[4][5]Their marriage was a happy one and they were described by a contemporary, Baldi, as “two souls in one body”.[1]Federico called Battista “the delight of both my public and my private hours.”[6]Moreover, he spoke with her about political issues and she accompanied him to almost all official events outside of Urbino.

Carrying on the Sforza family’s tradition of humanist education for women, she educated her daughters similarly to the education she had received from her aunt Bianca Maria. Similarly, Battista’s granddaughter Vittoria Colonna, daughter of Agnese, was a famous poet.

After giving birth to six daughters, Battista gave birth to their first son and heir Guidobaldo da Montefeltroon 24 January 1472.[1]However, three months after the birth of their son, Battista, having never fully recovered from her last pregnancy and labour, fell ill and died in July 1472.

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