Della Rovere, family. - A noble house of very humble origins in Savona, whose fortunes began with the elevation to the papacy in 1471 of Francesco D. R. under the name of Sixtus IV.
Brothers of the Pope were Raffaello and Bartolommeo; sisters: Bianca, who married Paolo Rario (q.v.), and Luchina, who married Gian Guglielmo Basso.
Sons of Raffaello were: Giuliano, cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincoli, later Pope Julius II; Giovanni, made lord of the vicariates of Sinigaglia and Mondavio, prefect of Rome in 1475 and in December 1484 captain general of the Church, who married Giovanna, daughter of Federico da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino; Bartolommeo, bishop of Massa (8 Jan. 1472), then of Ferrara (11 July 1474), castellan of Castel S. Angelo from 1487 (d. 1494); Luchinetta, wife of Gabriele Gara, and then in 1480 of the Lucchese Gian Francesco Franciotti. From him Luchinetta had Galeotto, who was created cardinal by Julius II on 29 Nov. 1503, vice-chancellor in 1505, d. 11 Sept. 1507; and Sisto, created cardinal on 11 Sept. 1507, d. 8 March 1517, also vice-chancellor and penitentiary. Both held bishoprics in commendam. Children of Luchina, married to Basso, were Girolamo, bishop of Recanati (5 Oct. 1476), cardinal on 10 Dec. 1477, d. 1 Sept. 1507; and Antonio, who married Caterina Marzana, niece of the king of Naples, d. 12 Aug. 1480 (cf. Pastor, II, p. 454 ff.).
Did not belong to the kinship of Sixtus IV were the two brothers from Turin, Cristoforo D. R., archbishop of Tarentaise (1472), created cardinal on 10 Sept. 1477, d. 1 Feb. 1478, and Domenico, created cardinal on 10 Feb. 1478, d. 22 Apr. 1501.
When Giuliano D. R. was created Pope Julius II, he made cardinal of the SS. Apostoli on 29 Nov. 1503 Clemente Grosso D. R., a relative who had been bishop of Mende since 27 Oct. 1483. After his death in the Curia on 18 Aug. 1504, he created cardinal on 10 Dec. 1505 the brother of Leonardo, bishop of Agen since 9 Dec. 1487; in 1511 he also appointed him penitentiary. Leonardo, who had resigned Agen in 1519, d. in the Curia on 17 Sept. 1520.
At the death of Guidubaldo, son of Federico duke of Urbino, without heirs, in 1508, Julius II invested with that duchy Francesco Maria, son of Giovanni D. R. of Sinigaglia. The latter in Aug. 1508 married Eleonora, daughter of Gian Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua, well known in the Italian events of those years as prefect of Rome (1504) and then as captain in the service of the Church. With Leo X he lost the duchy in 1516, but regained it after his death (1521) and held it until his death (1538), when he was succeeded by his son Guidubaldo II (d. 1574).
Brother of the latter was Giulio, whom Paul III created cardinal at the age of 16 on 27 July 1547 and published on 9 January following. Giulio held the see of Urbino in commendam on 24 Sept. 1547, then that of Vicenza on 13 Sept. 1560 and finally the archbishopric of Ravenna on 6 March 1566; but he died at 46 in Urbino on 3 Sept. 1578. The line of these D. R. became extinct with Francesco Maria II, son of Guidubaldo, d. 28 Apr. 1631; and the duchy reverted to the direct dominion of the Apostolic See. Also the famous ducal library of Urbino, through the efforts of the popes, left Urbino for the Vatican, where it forms a special collection; the prefecture of Rome, hereditary in the D. R., passed to Taddeo Barberini (Pastor, XIII, p. 272). See pl. LXXXVIII.