Francesco II. Sforza

Francesco II Sforza ( February 4, 1495 *, † October 24, 1535 ) was the younger son of the Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan and Beatrice d' Este and the last sovereign Duke of Milan in history.

Life

When his father in 1499 by the French King Louis XII. was overthrown and imprisoned in the castle Loches, Francesco fled with his older brother Massimiliano at the court of Emperor Maximilian, who was married to his cousin Bianca Maria Sforza.

Massimiliano was used in 1512 by the Swiss in Milan again, after the crushing defeat of his allies in the battle of Marignano in 1515, however, he relinquished his rights to Francis I of France (reigned 1515-1547 ) against a pension of 30,000 ducats and died in 1530 in Paris.

Francesco took Milan to the defeat of the French at the Battle of Bicocca in 1522 itself in possession and entered 1526, the League of Cognac against Emperor Charles V (reigned 1519-1555 ) in. He was unpopular because of its control surveys. In 1533 he married a gravely ill man by procurationem the only twelve year old niece of the Emperor Christina of Denmark. However, since he died on October 24, 1535 ended with him the direct male line of the Sforza. The Duchy of Milan was handed over to the Emperor.