Bona Sforza

Bona Sforza
Cameo with bust of Bona Sforza, c. 1540
Queen consort of Poland
Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania
Tenure18 April 1518 – 1 April 1548
Coronation18 April 1518
Kraków, Poland
Duchess regnant of Bari
Tenure11 February 1524 – 1557
PredecessorIsabella
SuccessorNone (annexed by Naples)
Born2 February 1494
Vigevano, Duchy of Milan
Died19 November 1557(1557-11-19) (aged 63)
Bari, Kingdom of Naples
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1517; died 1548)
Issue
Detail
HouseSforza
FatherGian Galeazzo Sforza
MotherIsabella of Aragon

Bona Sforza (2 February 1494 – 19 November 1557) was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Sigismund the Old, and Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right. She was a surviving member of the powerful House of Sforza, which had ruled the Duchy of Milan since 1450.

Smart, energetic and ambitious, Bona became heavily involved in the political and cultural life of the Polish–Lithuanian union. To increase state revenue during the Chicken War, she implemented various economic and agricultural reforms, including the far-reaching Wallach Reform in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In foreign policy, she allied with the Ottoman Empire and sometimes opposed the Habsburgs. Her descendants became beneficiaries of the Neapolitan sums, a loan to Philip II of Spain that was never completely paid.