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- BIOGRAPHY
Francisco was born in 1366, the son of Ludovico II Gonzaga, lord of Mantua, and Alda d'Este. He succeeded his father in 1382, receiving an enormous monetary inheritance. In 1388 he was appointed captain-general of Mantua, in a solemn ceremony in which he received the baton of command in the cathedral. In the same year the greater council of Venice appointed him to the nobility of Venice. Francesco spent nearly his whole life in war with the Visconti of Milan. In 1380 he had married Agnese, daughter of Barnabó Visconti, but discovering her to be unfaithful to him, or believing her so, he had her put to death in 1391, refusing all her family's intercessions for mercy. It is said that thereafter he wandered aimlessly about in many Italian cities. At last he married a second time, choosing Margarita Malatesta di Rimini, daughter of Galeotto Malatesta, lord of Rimini, and Elisabetta Varano di Camerino. They had two children, a son GianFrancesco and a daughter Susanna; only GianFrancesco would have progeny.
He was said to be 'a prince of high and generous soul and of manly greatness rare in his time'. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On his return he compiled the city's statutes, divided Mantua into four districts, and named the streets.
Francesco represented how far the Gonzaga family had come, from medieval warriors to lords of status and authority. In 1394 he was given a charter as count of Mantua by Pope Boniface IX, on condition that he acknowledged himself a vassal of the Church.
In 1403 the emperor-elect Wenceslas IV elevated Francesco to marquis of Mantua. Unfortunately Wenceslas had been forced to abdicate as emperor-elect in 1400, making his actions thereafter null and void, and Francesco's elevation was not recognised. However in 1434 Emperor Sigismund IV granted to Francesco's son GianFrancesco the title of marquis of Mantua that had eluded his father. Francesco died on 8 March 1407.
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