Francesco Maria II della Rovere

Francesco Maria II (painting by Federico Barocci , 1572)

Francesco Maria II. Della Rovere (born February 20, 1549 in Pesaro , † April 23, 1631 in Urbania ) was the last Duke of Urbino from the house of della Rovere .

Life

Francesco Maria II was the son of Duke Guidobaldos II of Urbino and Princess Vittoria Farneses of Parma . He was educated at the court of Philip II of Spain from 1565 to 1568 and succeeded his father on the throne after his death in 1574. In 1580, due to the financial situation of his house, he had to rule over the Duchy of Sora and Arce to Giacomo Boncompagni , the legitimate son of Pope Gregory XIII. , sell for 100,000 gold scudi . In 1585 Philip II awarded him the Order of the Golden Fleece .

In 1570, Francesco Maria married Lucrezia d'Este (1535–1598), a daughter of Duke Ercoles II. D'Este . The marriage remained childless and was divorced in 1576. Francesco Maria needed a male heir, however, because the Duchy of Urbino would revert to the Papal States after the dynasty died out . After Lucrezia's death in 1599, he married his cousin Livia della Rovere (1583–1641), who was 36 years his junior . On May 16, 1605, their first and only child, Federico Ubaldo, was born, but he died in 1623.

Since no further heirs were expected, Francesco Maria II handed over the Duchy of Urbino to Pope Urban VIII in 1625 , after his death in 1631 Urbino finally fell to the Papal States. His granddaughter Vittoria della Rovere , the last of the main line of the family, inherited the art collection and had it taken to the Uffizi .

literature

• Gino Benzoni:  FRANCESCO MARIA II Della Rovere, duca di Urbino. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 50:  Francesco I Sforza-Gabbi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1998.

Web links

Commons : Francesco Maria II. Della Rovere  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Guidobaldo II della Rovere	Duke of Urbino 1574–1631	(falls to the Papal States )