Ferdinando Gonzaga

Ferdinando Gonzaga

Ferdinando Gonzaga (born April 26, 1587 in Mantua ; † October 29, 1626 ibid) was the second son of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga of Mantua and Montferrat and as such intended for service in the Catholic Church .

As planned, he became a cardinal in 1607 at the age of 20 , but then had to give up his ecclesiastical offices when his older brother Francesco IV Gonzaga died at the end of 1612 without a male heir. He succeeded in Mantua and Montferrat, married on February 19, 1616 in secret morganatic marriage Camilla Faà di Bruno (1599–1662), daughter of Count Ardizzino Faà di Bruno from Casale Monferrato . This marriage was never officially annulled. As early as the end of 1616, Pope Paul V gave Ferdinando Gonzaga the dispensations necessary for a befitting remarriage. On February 16, 1617 he concluded his second marriage with Caterina de 'Medici (* May 2, 1593 - April 17, 1629), the daughter of Grand Duke Ferdinando I of Tuscany , which, however, remained childless. From the connection with Camilla Faà Ferdinando had a son, Francesco Giacinto Gonzaga (1616-1630), who grew up at the court of Mantua, but was never legitimized, was intended for a clerical career and died in 1630 of the plague.

When Ferdinando died in 1626 at the age of 39, the only heir was his brother Vincenzo II Gonzaga , who now had to draw the same conclusions as Ferdinando thirteen years earlier.

literature

• Gino Benzoni:  FERDINANDO Gonzaga, duca di Mantova e dei Monferrato. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 46:  Feducci-Ferrerio. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1996.

Web links

Commons : Ferdinando Gonzaga  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ferdinando Gonzaga. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website, English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Francesco IV.	Duke of Mantua 1612–1626	Vincenzo II