Ferdinando I Gonzaga

Ferdinando I Gonzaga (april 26, 1587 - October 29, 1626) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1612 until his death.

Biography

Born in Mantua, he was the son of Vincenzo I Gonzaga and Eleonora de' Medici.

Appointed as cardinal at 20, he renounced to the ecclesiastical career when his elder brother, Duke Francesco, died in 1612 without heirs. He succeeded him in both the Duchy of Mantua and the Duchy of Montferrat.

In 1616 he married secretly Camilla Faà di Bruno, whom, however, he divorced in the same year. (Their son Giacinto Teodoro Giovanni, although accepted at court, was not made Ferdinando’s heir; he died of the plague—or was murdered—during the 1630 siege of Mantua.) On February 16, 1617 he married to Caterina de' Medici (1593-1629), the daughter of Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Ferdinando Gonzaga died in 1626. His younger brother Vincenzo inherited the dukedom.

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