Bona of Savoy

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Bona of Savoy (8 October 1449–1503) was born in Chambéry, Savoy.

Her parents were Duke Louis I of Savoy and Anne De Lusignan of Cyprus. She was the sister-in-law of the King of France. Bona’s older sister Charlotte married Louis XI on 14 February 1457.

Bona married Galeazzo Maria Sforza in 1468. An alliance between the Sforza and the royal house of France had been rumoured from as early as 1460: and "[i]n June 1464 Bona of Savoy was officially offered to Galeazzo by letters from the King of France and the Duke of Savoy."

She was to have been betrothed to Edward IV of England, until his secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was revealed.

Bona of Savoy was considered to be one of the most powerful women of the period. Her husband Galeazzo Maria Sforza was assassinated, on 26 December 1476, at the age of 32 by three young noblemen on the porch of the cathedral church of San Stefano in Milan. Galeazzo was succeeded after his 10-year reign by his 7-year-old son Gian Galeazzo Sforza (1469–1494) under the regency of the boy's mother (Bona of Savoy). But dissensions soon arose between the regent and her brother-in-law, Ludovico Maria Sforza, nicknamed "Il Moro" (the Moor).

In the first encounter Bona and her chief counsellor, Cicco Simonetta, were victorious, and Ludovico and his brothers were made to leave the city. In order to obtain his re-admission, Ludovico, took advantage of the rivalry between Tassino (the favourite of Bona) and Simonetta. The fall and execution of Simonetta followed. From 1479 the real government of Milan lay in the hands of Ludovico, whose power was further secured in 1480, when he seized his nephew Gian, deprived him of the duchy and assumed control. Consequently, Bona was obliged to leave Milan and Ludovico was left to rule unchallenged.^[1]

Bona of Savoy commissioned the Sforza Book of Hours manuscript, which was painted in about 1490 by a famous court artist, Giovan Pietro Birago. She used the book, which contained devotional texts and is considered to be one of the most outstanding treasures of the Italian Renaissance.^[2]