Francesco I Sforza
Francesco Sforza was a mercenary captain who made himself Duke of Milan. Born in 1401, the illegitimate son of the condottiere Muzio Attendolo Sforza, he inherited his father's company at twenty-three when the older man drowned crossing a river, and spent the next twenty-five years selling it to whoever paid best. He fought for and against Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples and the Papacy, sometimes changing sides within a season, and was regarded as the finest soldier in Italy. His route to Milan ran through a marriage. Filippo Maria Visconti, the last Visconti duke, had one child, an illegitimate daughter named Bianca Maria, and used the prospect of her hand to keep Sforza loyal for over a decade before finally permitting the marriage in 1441. Visconti died in 1447 without a legitimate heir, and Milan proclaimed itself the Ambrosian Republic. Sforza was hired to defend it. He spent three years fighting Venice on its behalf, made a secret treaty with Venice instead, and then blockaded the city he was employed to protect until hunger opened the gates in February 1450. He was acclaimed duke by the crowd, having never received imperial investiture, which left his title legally defective for the rest of the dynasty. He then governed unexpectedly well: canals, the Ospedale Maggiore, a restored treasury, and the Peace of Lodi in 1454, which he negotiated with Cosimo de' Medici and which produced forty years of relative stability in Italy. Machiavelli treats him as the model of a private man who became a prince by his own arms. He died in 1466.
- Lived: 1401 CE – 1466 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: condottiere, duke
