Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua

Ferdinando Gonzaga
Ferdinando Gonzaga
Spouse(s)	Catherine de' Medici
Noble family	House of Gonzaga
Father	Vincenzo I Gonzaga
Mother	Eleonora de' Medici
Born	(1587-04-26)26 April 1587 Mantua
Died	29 October 1626(1626-10-29) (aged 39) Mantua

Ferdinand I Gonzaga (April 26, 1587 – October 29, 1626) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1612 until his death.

Biography

Born in Mantua, he was the son of Vincenzo I and Eleonora de' Medici.

He was appointed a cardinal at the age of 20. A few years after his elder brother, Duke Francesco IV, died in 1612 without heirs, he renounced the ecclesiastical career and succeeded his brother in both the Duchy of Mantua and the Duchy of Montferrat.

In 1616 he secretly married Camilla Faà di Bruno, whom he divorced in the same year. Their son Francesco Giacinto Teodoro Giovanni Gonzaga, although accepted at court, was not made Ferdinando's heir. He died of the plague—or was murdered—during the 1630 siege of Mantua. On February 16, 1617 he married Catherine de' Medici (1593–1629), the daughter of Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Ferdinand Gonzaga died in 1626. His younger brother Vincenzo II inherited the duchy.

Family

On 1616 he married in married Camilla Faà di Bruno,
had a son :

• Francesco Giacinto Gonzaga (4 December 1616 – 1630), Lord of Bianzè since 1624, benefited Priest of St. Benedict Polirone.^[1][2]

References

Ancestry