Francesco IV Gonzaga | |
---|---|
![]() Francesco IV Gonzaga | |
Duke of Mantua and Montferrat | |
Reign | 9 February 1612 - 22 December 1612 |
Predecessor | Vincenzo I Gonzaga |
Successor | Ferdinando Gonzaga |
Born | Mantua, Duchy of Mantua | 7 May 1586
Died | 22 December 1612 Mantua, Duchy of Mantua | (aged 26)
Spouse | |
Issue | Maria Gonzaga |
House | Gonzaga |
Father | Vincenzo I Gonzaga |
Mother | Eleonora de' Medici |
Francesco IV Gonzaga (7 May 1586 – 22 December 1612) was duke of Mantua and Montferrat between 9 February and 22 December 1612.
Biography
[edit]Born in Mantua, he was the eldest son of Duke Vincenzo I and Eleonora de' Medici.[1]
In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi dedicated his opera L'Orfeo to Francesco. The title page of the opera bears the dedication "Al serenissimo signor D. Francesco Gonzaga, Prencipe di Mantoua, & di Monferato, &c."
Francesco became Duke upon his father's death on 9 February 1612. He died at Mantua on 22 December 1612 without male heirs. He was succeeded by his brother Ferdinand; however, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, the father of Francesco's wife Margaret of Savoy, disputed this, leading to the War of the Montferrat Succession (1613–1617).
Family
[edit]On 19 February 1608 he married in Turin, Margaret of Savoy (1589–1655),[1] daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy.[2] They had:
- Maria (29 July 1609 – 14 August 1660);[2] married in 1627 Charles II of Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel and Nevers.[3]
- Ludovico (27 April 1611 – 3 August 1612).
- Eleanore (12 September 1612 – 13 September 1612).
Honours
[edit]Ancestry
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Bourne 2010, p. 182.
- ^ a b Raviola 2016, p. 59.
- ^ Bourne 2016, p. 162.
Sources
[edit]- Bourne, Molly (2010). "The Art of Diplomacy: Mantua and the Gonzaga". In Rosenberg, Charles M. (ed.). The Court Cities of Northern Italy: Milan, Parma, Piacenza, Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, Urbino, Pesaro, and Rimini. Cambridge University Press. p. 138-195.
- Bourne, Molly (2016). "From court to cloister and back again: Margherita Gonzaga, Caterina dé Medici and Lucrina Fetti at the convent of Sant'Orsola in Mantua". In Cavallo, Sandra; Evangelisti, Silvia (eds.). Domestic Institutional Interiors in Early Modern Europe. Routledge. p. 153-180.
- Raviola, Blythe Alice (2016). "The Three Lives of Margherita of Savoy-Gonzaga, Duchess of Mantua and Vicereine of Portugal". In Cruz, Anne J.; Stampino, Maria Galli (eds.). Early Modern Habsburg Women: Transnational Contexts, Cultural Conflicts. Routledge. p. 59-78.