Francesco III
Gonzaga (10 March 1533 – 22 February 1550) was
Duke of Mantua
During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.
From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...
and
Marquess of Montferrat
The Marquises and Dukes of Montferrat were the rulers of a territory in Piedmont south of the Po and east of Turin called Montferrat. The March of Montferrat was created by Berengar II of Italy in 950 during a redistribution of power in the no ...
from 1540 until his death. He was the eldest son of
Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua
Federico II of Gonzaga (17 May 1500 – 28 August 1540) was the ruler of the Italian city of Mantua (first as Marquis, later as Duke) from 1519 until his death. He was also Marquis of Montferrat from 1536.
Biography
Federico was son of Francesco ...
and his wife
Margaret Paleologina.
Life
On 22 October 1549, he married
Catherine of Habsburg, a daughter of
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
Ferdinand I. The marriage lasted only four months as Francesco died of pneumonia on 21 February 1550, after falling into one of Mantua lakes during a hunt. Widowed Catherine returned home to Innsbruck. Habsburgs claimed that the marriage was not
consummated
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage t ...
to increase Catherine's chances for a better second marriage.
Honours
*
Knight of the
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...
Ancestry
References
Sources
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1533 births
1550 deaths
Francesco 3
Francesco 3
Francesco 3
16th-century Italian nobility
Burials at the Palatine Basilica of Santa Barbara (Mantua)
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