Francis Mary of the Rovere, Duke of Urbino

FRANCIS MARY OF THE ROVERE, Duke of Urbino. - Born at Senigallia on 22 March 1490, to Giovanni, brother of Julius II, and to Giovanna di Montefeltro, daughter of Duke Federico; died at Pesaro on 20 Oct. 1538. When the house of Montefeltro became extinct with Guidobaldo, he received the duchy of Urbino in 1508. Captain general of the Church in the League of Cambrai, he fought against the Venetians (1509) and, the alliances having shifted, against the duke of Ferrara (1511).

Absolved of the killing of Cardinal Alidosi, legate, with whom he had come into conflict over responsibility for the loss of Bologna, which had rebelled against Julius II, he retook Ravenna and Bologna from the French (1512), who had been shaken by the death of Gaston de Foix. The uncertain conduct he maintained during the campaign in Lombardy against Francis I (1515) brought him, along with excommunication, the loss of the duchy, which passed to Lorenzo de' Medici. Only after the death of Leo X was he able to reconquer his lands, of which Adrian VI restored to him the investiture in 1523. As condottiere of the Venetians in the League of Cognac against Charles V, because of his temporizing and the indecision of the allies, he had to witness the sack of Rome (1527) from afar. Death overtook him while he was commander of the land forces of the league against the Turks.

Vittorio E. Giuntelli