Francesco I Sforza Francesco I Sforza ( July 23 , 1401 – March 8 , 1466 ) was an Italian condottiero , the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Milan , Italy . He was the brother of Alessandro , with whom he often fought . Biography . Early life . Francesco Sforza was born in San Miniato , Tuscany , one of the seven illegitimate sons of the condottiero Muzio Sforza and Lucia da Torsano . He spent his childhood in Tricarico ( in the modern Basilicata ) , the marquisate of which he was granted in 1412 by King Ladislaus of Naples . In 1418 , he married Polissena Ruffo , a Calabrese noblewoman . From 1419 , he fought alongside his father , soon gaining fame for being able to bend metal bars with his bare hands . He later proved himself to be an expert tactician and very skilled field commander . After the death of his father , he fought initially for the Neapolitan army and then for Pope Martin V and the Duke of Milan , Filippo Maria Visconti . After some successes , he fell in disgrace and was sent to the castle of Mortara as a prisoner " de facto " . He regained his status after a successful expedition against Lucca . In 1431 , after a period during which he fought again for the Papal States , he led the Milanese army against Venice ; the following year the duke ' s daughter , Bianca Maria , was betrothed to him . Despite these moves , the wary Filippo Maria never ceased to be distrustful of Sforza . The allegiance of mercenary leaders was dependent , of course , on pay ; in 1433 - 1435 , Sforza led the Milanese attack on the Papal States , but when he conquered Ancona , in the Marche , he changed sides , obtaining the title of vicar of the city directly from Pope Eugene IV . In 1436 - 39 , he served variously both Florence and Venice . In 1440 , his fiefs in the Kingdom of Naples were occupied by King Alfonso I , and , to recover the situation , Sforza reconciled himself with Filippo Visconti . On October 25 , 1441 , in Cremona , he could finally marry Bianca Maria . The following year , he allied with René of Anjou , pretender to the throne of Naples , and marched against southern Italy . After some initial drawbacks , he defeated the Neapolitan commander Niccolò Piccinino , who had invaded his possessions in Romagna and Marche , through the help of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta ( who had married his daughter Polissena ) and the Venetians , and could return to Milan . Sforza later found himself warring against his son Francesco ( whom he defeated at the Battle of Montolmo in 1444 ) and , later , the alliance of Visconti , Eugene IV , and Sigismondo Malatesta , who had allegedly murdered Polissena . With the help of Venice , Sforza was again victorious and , in exchange for abandoning the Venetians , received the title of " capitano generale " ( commander - in - chief ) of the Duchy of Milan ' s armies . Duke of Milan . After the duke died without a male heir in 1447 , fighting broke out to restore the so - called Ambrosian Republic . The name Ambrosian Republic takes its name from St . Ambrose , a popular patron saint of Milan . Agnese del Maino , his wife ' s mother , convinced the condottiero who held Pavia to restore it to him . He also received the seigniory of other cities of the duchy , including Lodi , and started to carefully plan the conquest of the ephemeral republic , allying with William VIII of Montferrat and ( again ) Venice . In 1450 , after years of famine , riots raged in the streets of Milan and the city ' s senate decided to entrust to him the duchy . It was the first time that such a title was handed over by a lay institution . While the other Italian states gradually recognized Sforza as the legitimate Duke of Milan , he was never able to obtain official investiture from the Holy Roman Emperor . That did not come to the Sforza Dukes until 1494 , when Emperor Maximilian formally invested Francesco ' s son , Ludovico , as Duke of Milan . Under his rule ( which was moderate and skillful ) , Sforza modernised the city and duchy . He created an efficient system of taxation that generated enormous revenues for the government , his court became a center of Renaissance learning and culture , and the people of Milan grew to love him . In Milan , he founded the Ospedale Maggiore , restored the Palazzo dell ' Arengo , and had the Naviglio d ' Adda , a channel connecting with the Adda River , built . During Sforza ' s reign , Florence was under the command of Cosimo de ' Medici and the two rulers became close friends . This friendship eventually manifested in first the Peace of Lodi and then the Italian League , a multi - polar defensive alliance of Italian states that succeeded in stabilising almost all of Italy for its duration . After the peace , Sforza renounced part of the conquests in eastern Lombardy obtained by his condottieri Bartolomeo Colleoni , Ludovico Gonzaga , and Roberto Sanseverino after 1451 . As King Alfonso of Naples was among the signatories of the treaty , Sforza also abandoned his long support of the Angevin pretenders to Naples . He also aimed to conquer Genoa , then an Angevin possession ; when a revolt broke out there in 1461 , he had Spinetta Campofregoso elected as Doge , as his puppet . Sforza occupied Genoa and Savona in 1464 . Sforza was the first European ruler to follow a foreign policy based on the concept of the balance of power , and the first native Italian ruler to conduct extensive diplomacy outside the peninsula to counter the power of threatening states such as France . Sforza ' s policies succeeded in keeping foreign powers from dominating Italian politics for the rest of the century . Sforza suffered from hydropsy and gout . In 1462 , rumours spread that he was dead and a riot exploded in Milan . He however survived for four more years , finally dying in March 1466 . He was succeeded as duke by his son , Galeazzo Maria Sforza . Francesco ' s successor Ludovico commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to design an equestrian statue as part of a monument to Francesco I Sforza . A clay model of a horse which was to be used as part of the design was completed by Leonardo in 1492 — but the statue was never built . In 1999 the horse alone was cast from Leonardo ' s original designs in bronze and placed in Milan outside the racetrack of Ippodromo del Galoppo . Culture . Francesco Sforza is mentioned several times in Niccolò Machiavelli ' s book " The Prince " ; he is generally praised in that work for his ability to hold his country and as a warning to a prince not to use mercenary troops . He was a moderate patron of the arts . The main humanist of his court was the writer Francesco Filelfo . His best works were mentioned in chapters 7 , 12 , and 14 . Antonio Menniti Ippolito , Francesco I Sforza , duca di Milano , in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , L , Roma 1998 , pp . 1 – 15 .