Francesco II Sforza

Francesco II Sforza
Francesco II Sforza
Duke of Milan
Reign	5 October 1515 – 1 November 1535
Predecessor	Maximilian Sforza
Successor	Philip II of Spain
Usurper	Francis I of France (1515–21)
Born	4 February 1495; Milan, namesake Duchy
Died	2 November 1535 (aged 40); Milan, namesake Duchy
Spouse	Christina of Denmark
House	Sforza
Father	Ludovico Sforza
Mother	Beatrice d'Este
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Francesco II Sforza (February 4, 1495 – November 1, 1535) was Duke of Milan from 1521 until his death. He was the last member of the Sforza family to rule Milan.

He was the second son of Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice d'Este. When Ludovico was ousted from Milan in the course of the Italian Wars, he brought Francesco with him to the court of the Emperor Maximilian I, who had married a Sforza, Francesco's cousin Bianca Maria. Francesco was assigned to an ecclesiastical career. His father was imprisoned in Loches by Louis XII of France, and died in 1508, but when Charles V re-conquered Milan from the French in 1521, Francesco was appointed its duke,[1] the last of the family to hold that title. His sovereignty, however, remained circumscribed by the military occupation of Milan by Spanish troops.[2]

He returned to his state, depleted by twenty years of combat, promoting a cultural and economic recovery. Francesco fought at the Battle of Bicocca, on the side of the emperor, in 1522. In 1526 he switched sides, joining the League of Cognac, together with Francis I of France, Pope Clement VII and the Republic of Florence, and was besieged in the Castello Sforzesco.

On May 4, 1534 he married the 12-year-old niece of Charles V, Christina of Denmark, the daughter of Christian II of Denmark and Isabella of Burgundy. The union remained childless. His death in 1535 sparked the Italian War of 1535. His half-brother Giovanni Paolo reclaimed briefly the Duchy of Milan after his death, but died in the same year under mysterious circumstances.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Francesco II Sforza

16. Giovanni Attendolo

8. Muzio Attendolo Sforza

17. Elisa Petraccini

4. Francesco I Sforza

9. Lucia da Torsciano

2. Ludovico Sforza

20. Gian Galeazzo Visconti

10. Filippo Maria Visconti

21. Caterina Visconti

5. Bianca Maria Visconti

22. Ambrogio del Maino

11. Agnese del Maino

1. Francesco II Sforza

24. Alberto d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara

12. Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara

25. Isotta Albaresani

6. Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara

26. Thomas III, Marquis of Saluzzo

13. Ricciarda, Marquise of Saluzzo

27. Marguerite de Pierrepont

3. Beatrice d'Este

28. Alfonso V of Aragon

14. Ferdinand I of Naples

29. Giraldona Carlino

7. Eleanor of Naples

30. Tristan, Count of Copertino

15. Isabella of Clermont

31. Caterina del Balzo Orsini

Footnotes

Michael Mallett and Christine Shaw, The Italian Wars:1494-1559, (Pearson Education Limited, 2012), 141-142.
Schulin p. 151

References

Michael Mallett and Christine Shaw, The Italian Wars:1494-1559, Pearson Education Limited, 2012.
Charles Oman. A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. London: Methuen & Co., 1937.
Ernst Schulin. Kaiser Karl V: Geschichte eines übergroßen Wirkungsbereiches. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 1999. (German)

Regnal titles
Preceded by Francis I of France	Duke of Milan 1521–1535	Vacant Title next held by Philip II of Castile

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[1] Michael Mallett and Christine Shaw, The Italian Wars:1494-1559, (Pearson Education Limited, 2012), 141-142.

[2] Schulin p. 151