Montefeltro
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Montefeltro is the name of an historical Italian family who ruled Urbino and Rimini.
The family's reign began in 1267 when Bonconte di Montefeltro was elected podestà of Urbino. He and his descendants were leaders of the Ghibellines of the Marche and the Romagna.
Bonconte was succeeded by Montefeltrano (1214-55), and Guido da Montefeltro (1255-86 and 1293-6), who was captain of Forlì during wars with the French and papal armies. Pope Boniface VIII absolved him from censures for his actions in those wars, and employed him against Palestrina and the Colonna.
Guido's successor, Federico I (1296-1322), increased his domains by taking Fano, Osimo, Recanati, Gubbio, Spoleto, and Assisi from the Holy See. He was murdered after levying high taxes, and Urbino fell under papal control. In 1323, however, Frederico's son Nolfo (1323-59) was proclaimed lord of Urbino. In 1355, as a papal legate, Cardinal Albornoz, travelled through Italy restoring papal authority, Urbino once more came under the control of the Holy See. Nolfo's son Federico was left without any authority, but his son, Antonio (1377-1403), took advantage of the rebellion of the Marche and Umbria against the Holy See (1375) to restore his authority in Urbino.
Guido Antonio (1403-43) was appointed ruler of the Duchy of Spoleto by Pope Martin V (1419) and carried on war against Braccio di Montone with varying fortune. His son, Oddo Antonio, was assassinated after only a few months in power. The Urbinese then offered the lordship to Federico II (1444-82), the illegitimate son of Guido Antonio, a pupil of Vittorino da Feltre's school and a lover of art. Under him Urbino became a cultural center of the Renaissance. He was implicated in the wars against Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the pope, René of Anjou, and Florence. Pope Sixtus IV conferred on him the title of Duke of Urbino (1474).
Guidubaldo I (1492-1508) was forced to flee Urbino to escape the armies of Caesar Borgia. He adopted Francesco Maria della Rovere (1508-38), his sister's child, thus uniting the signoria of Sinigaglia with Urbino. He aided Julius II in reconquering the Romagna. Pope Leo X deprived him of his territory, which was given to Lorenzo de' Medici, and later to Giovanni Maria Varano (1516-21).
On Leo's death, another Montefeltro, Federico III, ascended the throne. The internal government of Urbino during his reign was almost entirely in the hands of duchess Eleonora Gonzaga. Guidubaldo II (1538-74), by his marriage with Giullia di Varano, obtained the Duchy of Camerino, which he had to cede in 1539 to Pope Paul III for 60,000 scudi. In 1572 the Urbinese rebelled against taxation, but were suppressed. Francesco Maria II (1574-1631) endeavored to reduce the taxes imposed by his father. In 1606 and 1626 he withdrew from the government to study natural sciences, and appointed a commission of eight to rule. On the assassination of his only son, Federico Ubaldo, in 1624, he placed his domains under the Holy See, ending the period of Montrefelto rule in Urbino.
[edit] External links
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
