Manfredi, Galeotto, Signore of Faenza

MANFREDI, Galeotto, Signore of Faenza. - Born in Faenza in 1440 to Astorgio II, lord of the city, died there on 31 May 1488. In 1468, when Astorgio died, he was succeeded by his son Carlo II together with his brother Federico, bishop of the city. G. was exiled, but returned in 1477 and, having driven out Carlo and Federico, remained sole lord.

G. possessed to a large extent the gifts and the defects of the princes of his time: generous patronage, warrior valor and diplomatic skill, but lightness of character and corruption of morals. In 1482 he married Francesca, daughter of Giovanni Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna. Six years later G. fell victim to a conspiracy hatched by his father-in-law who, supported by the Duke of Milan, aspired to seize Faenza; and it seems established that Francesca herself, irritated by an affair of G. with a woman of Ferrara, killed her husband with her own hand. Bentivoglio's designs were immediately thwarted by Lorenzo de' Medici, who sent troops that arrested him and sent Francesca back to Bologna. She was forbidden to return to Faenza even after her father was freed. G.'s son, Astorgio III, still a boy, was recognized by the people of Faenza. Deposed in 1501 by Cesare Borgia and imprisoned, he died in Rome the following year.