- Federico II, Duke of Mantua
Federico II of Gonzaga (
May 17 ,1500 –August 28 ,1540 ), was the ruler of the Italian city ofMantua (first as Marquis, later as Duke) from 1519 until his death. He was alsoMarquis of Montferrat from 1536.Biography
He was a son of his predecessor
Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua andIsabella d'Este . Educated at the French and Papal courts, he inherited the Marquisate from his father in 1519, initially under the regency of his mother and his uncles Sigismondo and Giovanni Gonzaga. He received the imperial investiture from emperor Charles V onApril 7 1521 .Despite his poor military experience, Pope
Leo X named him "Gonfaloniere" andCaptain General of the Church (commander in chief of the Papal Army), though a clause allowed Frederick to avoid fighting against the Empire, to which Mantua has been always traditional ally. Frederick therefore did not intervene when the Imperial troops passed through his lands in 1527, indirectly causing the subsequent Sack of Rome.Frederick had signed a marriage contract with the heir to the Marquisate of Monteferrat,
Maria Palaeologina , aiming to acquire that land as the marquessBoniface IV of Montferrat was in poor health. But, when Boniface seemed to recover, he set up an alleged plot from Maria against Frederick's mistress, Isabella Boschetti: this was sufficient to have the Pope cancel his contract. Frederick therefore signed another marriage contract with Charles V's aunt, Julia of Aragon. In lieu of this move, in 1530 he was granted the ducal title, whereby their dynasty became Dukes of Mantua. However, when Boniface died by a fall from horse on March 25 of that year, he paid 50,000 ducats to Charles in exchange of the annulment of the contract, and pushed the pope to return him to former marriage promise. When Maria also died, he was able to marry her sister Margaret onNovember 16 1531 . At the death of the last legitimate male heir of thePalaiologos family, Giovanni Giorgio (1533), the marquisate went therefore to the Gonzaga, who held it until the 18th century.Frederick was the commissioner of the
Palazzo Te , as his summer palace, in the neighbourhood of Mantua.Suffering from long of
syphilis , which he had inherited from his father, he died in 1540 at his villa atMarmirolo .Family and issue
Frederick and Margaret were parents to seven children:
*Eleonora Gonzaga.
*Anna Gonzaga.
*Francesco III Gonzaga , Duke of Mantua (March 10 ,1532 -February 22 ,1550 ).
*Isabella Gonzaga. MarriedFernando Francesco d'Ávalos .
*Guglielmo I of Gonzaga (April 24 ,1538 -August 14 ,1587 ).
*Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers (October 22 ,1539 -October 23 ,1595 ). Father ofCharles I, Duke of Mantua .
*Federico, Cardinal Gonzaga (1540 -February 21 ,1565 ).ee also
*Sack of Rome
*Italian Wars References
*cite book|first=Giuseppe|last=Coniglio|title=I Gonzaga|location=Varese|publisher=Dall'Oglio|year= 1967
*cite book|first=Lorenzo|last=Bignotti|title=La Zecca di Mantova e Casale (Gonzaga)|location=Mantua|publisher=Grigoli|year=1984External links
* [http://www.itis.mn.it/gonzaga/files/gonzaga/6_gonzaga/federico2.html Biography] ] it icon
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