Gonzaga

Gonzaga, the name of a ducal dynasty at Mantua and Montferrat. Luis Gonzaga ousted the Bonacossi family from the lordship of Mantua in 1328, and Giovanni Francesco (1394-1444) was created Marquis by the Emperor Sigismund in 1433. His son Luis, "the Turk" (1144-78), owned one of the finest bodies of mercenaries in Europe.

His grandson Federico (1500-40) was made Duke by Charles V., and received- Montferrat from him. Several of his successors were cardinals. Ferdi-NAndo Carlo (1652-1708) was put to the ban of the empire and deprived of his duchies for favouring the B'rench cause in the Spanish Succession War. Two Counts and five Dukes of Guastalla also belong to a collateral branch of this family. The last of them died in 1746. Like most Italian princes, the Gonzagas were munificent patrons of literature and the arts, besides being vigorous and unscrupulous warriors.