Giovanni Paolo I Sforza
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Giovanni Paolo I Sforza (March 1497 - December 1535) was an Italian condottiero, the first in the Sforza family line of the Marquesses of Caravaggio.
He was a legimitated son of Ludovico il Moro, duke of Milan, and Lucrezia Crivelli. In 1513, when his brother Massimiliano shortly restored the family seignory in Milan, he took part in the defence of Novara against the French. When his other brother Francesco II made a similar attempt (1525), Giovanni Paolo was besieged in the Castello Sforzesco by the Spaniards under Antonio de Leyva; three years later he was agained besieged by them in Lodi, this time with victorious results.
In 1532, after the peace of Bologna between Francesco and Charles V of Spain, he received in reward the title of marquess of Caravaggio. Three years later, after Francesco's death, he moved to the Kingdom of Naples (then under Spanish suzerainty) to reclaim the Duchy of Milan for him, but died midway at Florence under mysterious circumstances. Some sources says that he was poisoned by de Leyva.
He was married with Violante Bentivoglio. His son Muzio I Sforza succeeded him in Caravaggio and in the county of Galliate.
