Anna Sforza
{{More citations needed|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| consort = yes
| name = Anna Sforza
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| succession = Hereditary Princess of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio
| reign = 12 January 1491 – 30 November 1497
| spouse = Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara
| full name = Anna Maria Sforza
| house = Sforza
| father = Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan
| mother = Bona of Savoy
| birth_date = 21 July 1476
| birth_place = Milan, Italy
| death_date = {{death date and age|1497|11|30|1476|7|21|df=y}}
| death_place = Ferrara, Italy
}}
Anna Maria Sforza (21 July 1476 – 30 November 1497) was Hereditary Princess of Ferrara as the first wife of Alfonso I d'Este, future Duke of Ferrara.{{Cite book |last1=Bloemendal |first1=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQBBAQAAQBAJ&dq=Anna+Maria+Sforza+Alfonso+I+d%27Este&pg=PA11 |title=Neo-Latin Drama in Early Modern Europe |last2=Norland |first2=Howard |date=2013-09-19 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-25746-7 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Jane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbGfAAAAMAAJ&q=Anna+Maria+Sforza+Alfonso+I+d'Este |title=Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance & Mannerist Art: Abacco to Lysippus |date=2000 |publisher=Grove's Dictionaries |isbn=978-0-333-76094-9 |language=en}} She was the second legitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, and his second wife, Bona of Savoy.
Life
Born in Milan, she was the second daughter and last legitimate child of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, by his second wife, Bona of Savoy. Anna's paternal grandparents were Francesco I Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti, and her maternal were Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan of Cyprus, for whom she was named. She had two older brothers: Gian Galeazzo Sforza and Hermes Maria Sforza, Marquis of Tortona, and a sister, Bianca Maria Sforza, second wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.{{Cite book |last=Pastrnak |first=Patrik |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VKDEEAAAQBAJ&dq=Anna+Maria+Sforza+Bianca&pg=PT248 |title=Dynasty in Motion: Wedding Journeys in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe |date=2023-07-28 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-91707-9 |language=en}}
When Anna was an infant, her father was assassinated inside the Church of Santo Stefano in Milan on 26 December 1476, which was the Feast Day of St. Stephen.{{Cite book |last=Gagné |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwcTEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Francesco+i+Sforza%22&pg=PP7 |title=Milan Undone: Contested Sovereignties in the Italian Wars |date=2021-01-01 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-24991-2 |language=en}} He was stabbed to death by three high-ranking officials of the Milanese court.{{Cite book |last1=Dean |first1=Trevor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jcwnDwAAQBAJ&dq=Galeazzo+Sforza+assassinated&pg=PA144 |title=Murder in Renaissance Italy |last2=Lowe |first2=K. J. P. |date=2017-07-13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-13664-9 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Ray |first=Meredith K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLblEAAAQBAJ&dq=Gian+Galeazzo+Sforza+assassinated&pg=PT6 |title=Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Italian Renaissance |date=2023-12-22 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-003-81389-7 |language=en}}
In 1477, Anna was formally betrothed to Alfonso I d'Este, the heir of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Her wedding with Prince Alfonso d'Este took place fourteen years later, on 12 January 1491, amidst banquets, receptions, and theatrical representations. However, the marriage was said to be unhappy. Some sources made claims implying that Anna was attracted to women, suggesting that Anna was 'unfeminine' (perhaps even dressing in men's clothes), preferred the company of women, and refused to consummate her marriage with sex; additionally, mention was made of Anna's deep attachment to a Black girl who was part of her entourage.Geneviève Chastenet: Lucrezia Borgia (Spanish version) 1995, Javier Vergara Editorial, p. 200. [retrieved 19 December 2014].{{Better source needed|date=November 2016}}{{Cite book |last1=Bindman |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AK_mZsynJ6IC&dq=Anna+Sforza+Alfonso+I+d%27Este+feminine&pg=PA105 |title=The Image of the Black in Western Art |last2=Gates (Jr.) |first2=Henry Louis |last3=Dalton |first3=Karen C. C. |date=2010 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-05261-1 |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFjrAAAAMAAJ&q=Anna+Sforza+Alfonso+I+d'Este+slave |title=Antichità viva |date=1982 |publisher=Edam. |language=it}} The supposed unhappiness of the marriage, however, may also have been due to Alfonso's well-known reputation for extramarital affairs.{{Cite book |last=Frieda |first=Leonie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REo0AgAAQBAJ&dq=Anna+Sforza+Alfonso+I+d'Este+black&pg=PT209 |title=The Deadly Sisterhood: A story of Women, Power and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance |date=2012-11-22 |publisher=Orion |isbn=978-0-297-85850-8 |language=en}}
Only after six years of marriage, Anna became pregnant, but died in childbirth; while some sources reported that her child, a son, died immediately after being baptized; others,[http://wwperson.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/cgi-bin/l1/LANG=germ/INDEX=I114760 Alessandro d'Este in: Genealogy Database by Herbert Stoyan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218012803/http://wwperson.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/cgi-bin/l1/LANG%3Dgerm/INDEX%3DI114760 |date=December 18, 2014 }} [retrieved 17 December 2014]. said that he survived and was named Alessandro, dying in 1514 aged 17. She was buried in the monastery of San Vito, of which Anna was a benefactor. Her husband was unable to take part of her funeral because at that time his face was disfigured as a consequence of syphilis.Sarah Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, Milano, Mondadori, 2005.
Her death marked the end of the bond between the Sforza and Este families. Alfonso remarried, to Lucrezia Borgia, in 1502.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080906143917/http://www.kleio.org/de/geschichte/stammtafeln/sforza/450.html A number of portraits].
{{Princesses of Modena by marriage}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:15th-century Italian nobility
Category:15th-century Italian women