MANFREDI, GALEOTTO, lord 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 in large measure the qualities and defects of the princes of his time: generous patronage, military valour, and diplomatic skill, but also levity of character and moral corruption. In 1482 he married Francesca, daughter of Giovanni Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna. Six years later G. fell victim to a conspiracy devised by his father-in-law who, supported by the Duke of Milan, aspired to seize Faenza; and it seems established that Francesca herself, angered by G.'s affair with a woman from 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 had been released. G.'s son, Astorgio III, still a child, was recognized by the people of Faenza. Deposed in 1501 by Cesare Borgia and imprisoned, he died in Rome the following year.