Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua
Vincenzo II Gonzaga (7 January 1594 – 25 December 1627) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1626 until his death. Vincenzo was the son of Duke Vincent I and Eleonora de' Medici and inherited the duchy upon the death of his elder brother Ferdinand, receiving the imperial investiture on 8 February 1627. He had also received a cardinalate upon Ferdinando's succession, but had dismissed it in 1616 in order to marry his relative Isabella Gonzaga, daughter of Alfonso Gonzaga, Count of Novellara. Conscious of his poor health, the childless Vincenzo set  up an inheritance for his lands through the marriage of his niece Maria (daughter of the former Duke Francis IV) with Charles of Nevers' son Charles of Gonzaga-Nevers. The elder Charles was a cousin of his father. Vincenzo died on the marriage day of Mary and Charles. Family. Vincenzo II Gonzaga had no legitimate offspring from the wife, but he recognized four natural sons. By Paola Scarpelli: By Luigia "the Spanish":