Galeazzo Maria Sforza

Galeazzo Maria Sforza
Galeazzo Sforza, by Piero Benci, Uffizi Gallery
Duke of Milan
Reign20 March 1466 –
26 December 1476
PredecessorFrancesco I Sforza
SuccessorGian Galeazzo Sforza
Born(1444-01-24)24 January 1444
Commune of Fermo
(now in Italy)
Died26 December 1476(1476-12-26) (aged 32)
Milan, Duchy of Milan
(now in Italy)
SpouseDorotea Gonzaga
Bona of Savoy
Issue
HouseSforza
FatherFrancesco I Sforza
MotherBianca Maria Visconti

Galeazzo Maria Sforza (24 January 1444 – 26 December 1476) was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476. He was notorious for being lustful, cruel, and tyrannical.

He was born to Francesco Sforza, a popular condottiero and ally of Cosimo de' Medici who would gain the Duchy of Milan in 1450, and Bianca Maria Visconti.

He married into the Gonzaga family; on the death of his first wife Dorotea Gonzaga, he married Bona of Savoy. Cruel and vengeful, he was "a man who did great follies and dishonest things not to write".[1]

  1. ^ Galeazzo Maria Sforza, di Cesare Violini, 1943, p. 141.