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Alessandro Sforza
Alessandro Sforza (21 October 1409 – 3 April 1473) was an Italian condottiero and lord of Pesaro, the first of the Pesaro line of the Sforza family. Biography He was born in Cotignola in 1409, an illegitimate son of the famous condottiero Muzio Attendolo Sforza. Alessandro collaborated actively with his brother Francesco in his military campaign, and with him he conquered Milan, Alessandria and Pesaro. In 1435, at Fiordimonte, he won the battle in which the riotous Niccolò Fortebraccio was killed. In 1442 at Assisi he 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 Lombardy in support of Francesco he presided Parma and, in February 1446, he proclaimed himself lord of the city. After Francesco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Condottiero
''Condottieri'' (; singular ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other European monarchs during the Italian Wars of the Renaissance and the European Wars of Religion. Notable ''condottieri'' include Prospero Colonna, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Cesare Borgia, the Marquis of Pescara, Andrea Doria, and the Duke of Parma. The term ''condottiero'' in medieval Italian originally meant "contractor" since the ''condotta'' was the contract by which the condottieri put themselves in the service of a city or of a lord. The term, however, became a synonym of "military leader" during the Renaissance and Reformation era. Some authors have described the legendary Alberto da Giussano as the "first condottiero" and Napoleon Bonaparte (in virtue of his Italian origins) as the "last condottiero". According to this view, the condott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in August 1464. He was born at Corsignano in the Sienese territory of a noble but impoverished family. He was a Renaissance humanist, famous as an author in Latin before he became pope. His longest and most enduring work is the story of his life, the ''Commentaries'', which is the only revealed autobiography ever to have been written by a reigning pope. This was only published in 1584. Early life Aeneas was born to Silvio, a soldier and member of the House of Piccolomini, and Vittoria Forteguerri, who had 18 children including several twins, though most died at a young age. He worked with his father in the fields for some years and at age 18 left to study at the universities of Siena and Florence. He settled in the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sante Bentivoglio
Sante I Bentivoglio (1426–June 24, 1462) was an Italian nobleman who ruled as tyrant or de facto prince of Bologna from 1445 to 1462. Officially the son of a poor blacksmith, he worked as a youth in the wool industry in Florence under another name, until he was alleged to be a natural son of Ercole Bentivoglio. He was educated at Florence in the court of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder and possessed a vast culture. Through his putative noble father, Sante can pretend to be a cousin of Annibale I Bentivoglio, at the time ruler of Bologna (also of dubious paternity). When Annibale was killed in an ambuscade by a rival family, the people of Bologna gave him the government of their city with the title of '' Gonfaloniere di Giustizia''. He was also named as sole tutor of Annibale's son, Giovanni. The event transformed Sante from a Florentine popolano into the virtual prince of Bologna. It was with Sante Bentivoglio's seizure of power, encouraged by the Duke of Milan, that the Signoria w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ginevra Sforza
Ginevra Sforza (144016 May 1507) was the wife and counselor of Giovanni II Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna. Birth and first marriage Ginevra Sforza was born in Ancona in 1440, the illegitimate daughter of Alessandro Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. She married Sante Bentivoglio, a cousin of Giovanni II Bentivoglio, on 19 May 1454 at the church of San Giacomo Maggiore. She gave her first husband two children: * Constance (1458–1491), who married Antonmaria Pico della Mirandola, and * Ercole Bentivoglio (1459–1507), a condottiero, who married Barbara Torelli. Second marriage In 1463 Ginevra became a widow, and a year later married Giovanni II Bentivoglio, becoming among other things, his counsellor. Probably a relationship already existed between the two. Ginevra had sixteen children with her husband, of whom five died in infancy. The others were: *Annibale II Bentivoglio (1469–1540) who married Lucrezia, daughter of Ercole I d'Este, and who was lord of Bologna from 1511 to 1512; * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federico III Da Montefeltro
Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro KG (7 June 1422 – 10 September 1482), was one of the most successful mercenary captains (''condottieri'') of the Italian Renaissance, and lord of Urbino from 1444 (as Duke from 1474) until his death. A renowned intellectual humanist and civil leader in Urbino on top of his impeccable reputation for martial skill and honor, he commissioned the construction of a great library, perhaps the largest of Italy after the Vatican, with his own team of scribes in his scriptorium, and assembled around him a large humanistic court in the Ducal Palace, Urbino, designed by Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Biography Federico was born in Castello di Petroia in Gubbio, the illegitimate son of Guidantonio da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino, Gubbio and Casteldurante, and Duke of Spoleto. Two years later he was legitimized by Pope Martin V, with the consent of Guidantonio's wife, Caterina Colonna, who was Marti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battista Sforza
Battista Sforza (14466 or 7 July 1472) was the second wife of Federico da Montefeltro, and Countess of Urbino. Biography Battista was the first legitimate child born to Alessandro Sforza, lord of Pesaro, and Costanza da Varano (14281447), 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 (14401507) and Antonia (14451500), moved to the court of their paternal uncle Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti where they were brought up alongside their cousins. Battista and her cousin Ippolita Maria received a humanist education and the former was fluent in Greek and Latin, giving her first Latin public speech at the age of four. She was said to be very skilled in Latin rhetoric and even gav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Malatesta
) , type= Noble house , country=ItalySan Marino, estates= Castel Sismondo (Rimini) Rocca Malatestiana (Cesena) , titles=, founded=, founder=Malatesta da Verucchio, final ruler=Pandolfo IV Malatesta, deposition=, dissolution= The House of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as (in different periods) other lands and towns in Romagna and holding high positions in the government of cities in present day Tuscany, Lombardy and Marche. The dynasty is considered among the most important and influential of the Late Middle Ages. In the period of maximum influence, they extended their domains along the Marche coast, up to Ascoli Piceno, Senigallia, Sansepolcro and Citerna, and to the north, on the territories of Bergamo and Brescia. History The family's progenitor is said to be Rodolfo of Carpegna whose fighting spirit yielded him the sobriquet ''mala testa'' ("bad head"). From 1004 on he built a castle on the rock of Pennabilli. In th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urbino
Urbino ( ; ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482. The town, nestled on a high sloping hillside, retains much of its picturesque medieval aspect. It hosts the University of Urbino, founded in 1506, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Urbino. Its best-known architectural piece is the Palazzo Ducale, rebuilt by Luciano Laurana. Geography The city lies in a hilly region, at the foothills of the Northern Apennines and the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines. It is within the southern area of Montefeltro, an area classified as medium-high seismic risk. In the database of earthquakes developed by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, nearly 65 seismic events have affected the town of Urbino between 26 March 1511 and 26 March 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guidantonio Da Montefeltro
Guidantonio da Montefeltro (1377 – February 1443) was count of Urbino in Italy from 1403 until his death. In 1403, at the death of his father Antonio, Guidantonio inherited the family lands in the region of Italy called the Marche. Later he abandoned the Papal suzerainty and allied with King Ladislaus of Naples, who made him ''Gran conestabile'' of the Kingdom of Naples in 1411. Excommunicated by Pope Gregory XII, he took advantage of that move to conquer Assisi. He also controlled Castello, Cagli, Forlì, and Forlimpopoli.* Guidantonio later reconciled with Pope Martin V and with his enemy, the condottiero Braccio da Montone. In 1427 he occupied Urbania. He died in 1443, his son Oddantonio succeeding him in Urbino. Family and children He married Ringarda Malatesta in 1397, but the two had no children. Guidantonio remarried with Caterina Colonna, who bore him 9 children. Apart from Oddantonio, his most famous son was the legitimated Federico, who was Duke of Urbino, as well a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sveva Da Montefeltro
Seraphina Sforza (1434 – 8 September 1478), born Sveva da Montefeltro, was an Italian noblewoman and nun, a Poor Clare after her husband Alessandro Sforza discarded her. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1754, and her feast is kept on 9 September by Franciscans. Life She was born in Urbino to Guido Antonio of Montefeltro, Count of Urbino, and Caterina Colonna in the first half of 1434. Her father having died in 1438, and her mother in 1443, she was cared for in Urbino first by her elder brother Oddantonio da Montefeltro, who had succeeded their father as Count, and then by her half-brother Federico da Montefeltro, who succeeded Oddantonio after his assassination in 1444. In March 1446, aged around 12, she moved to Rome where she stayed for more than a year, under the protection of her maternal uncle Cardinal Prospero Colonna (cardinal). In 1448 Seraphina married Alessandro Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. Some time after, her husband left to support his brother Francesco I Sforz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pietro Gentile I Da Varano
Pietro is an Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice * Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his death * Pietro II Candiano (c. 872–939), 19th Doge of Venice, son of Pietro I A–E * Pietro Accolti (1455–1532), Italian Roman Catholic cardinal * Pietro Aldobrandini (1571–1621), Italian cardinal and patron of the arts * Pietro Anastasi (1948–2020), Italian former footballer * Pietro di Antonio Dei, birth name of Bartolomeo della Gatta (1448–1502), Florentine painter, illuminator and architect * Pietro Aretino (1492–1556), Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer * Pietro Auletta (1698–1771), Italian composer known mainly for his operas * Pietro Baracchi (1851–1926), Italian-born astronomer * Pietro Bellotti (1625–1700), Italian Baroque painter * Pietro Belluschi (1899–1994), Italian architect * Pietro Bembo (1470 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Costanza Varano
Costanza Varano (1426–1447) was a noted humanist, scholar, and writer in early modern Italy. She is regarded as "one of the best known learned women" of the mid-15th century. Life and education Varano was the first child born to Pier Gentile da Varano, lord of Camerino, and Elisabetta Malatesta. She was born in Camerino in 1426. Her father was lord of Camerino until his death in 1433, while her mother was the daughter of scholar Battista da Montefeltro Malatesta and Galeazzo Malatesta, lord of Pesaro until 1444. She had one known brother, Rodolfo, heir to Camerino. In her early years, the family lived in the Varano family palace, Palazzo Ducale, in Camerino, which rests in the heart of the Marche region. In 1433, Pier Gentile da Varano was executed by his brothers during a struggle to rule the city of Camerino. In the aftermath, her mother fled to Pesaro in 1434 with Costanza, her brother Rodolfo, and two other children, where her grandmother and grandfather lived. Varano's educ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
