Sforza family

Italian family that ruled the duchy of Milan 1450–99, 1512–15, 1521–24, and 1529–35. Its court was a centre of Renaissance culture and its rulers prominent patrons of the arts.

The family descended from Giacomuzzo, or Muzio, Attendolo (1369–1424), a peasant condottiere who adopted the name of Sforza. Francesco Sforza (1401–66) succeeded his father in command of the condottiere. He served Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, and in 1441 married his only daughter, Bianca. On Filippo's death in 1447, Francesco defeated the Venetians, hereditary enemies of Milan, and was acknowledged duke of Milan in 1450. Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1444–76) succeeded as duke of Milan in 1466. When he was assassinated, he left a young son, Giangaleazzo Sforza (1468–94), who took the title of duke, with his mother as regent. Ludovico Sforza, Giangaleazzo's uncle, supplanted the regent and took power, eventually becoming duke on his nephew's death in 1494. Though he himself lost the dukedom when the French invaded in 1499, the volatile situation in the following decades meant that both his sons were, briefly, installed in Milan: Massimiliano (1490–1530, named after the Holy Roman Emperor) was duke from 1512 until the Francis I's successful invasion of 1515; Francesco Maria (1492–1535) held power twice, in 1521–24 and from 1529 until his death in 1535, which left Charles V in control of Milan.