Malatesta, Sigismondo Pandolfo

Born in Brescia on June 19, 1417, the eldest of two sons of Pandolfo III from his mistress Antonia da Barignani.

After the death of his father, he participated (at the age of 13) in a war with his relative Carlo II Malatesta , Senor Pesaro. He was awarded with his brothers Galeotto Roberto and Domenico - the title of papal vicar Rimini, Cesena and Fano.

In 1432, after the death of Galeotto Roberto, he became the sole ruler of Rimini. In the same year at the head of the papal troops defeated the Spanish condotier Sante Cyrillo.

Around 1435, he married his niece Ginevre d'Este, daughter of Niccolò III d'Este and Parisians Malatesta . She died on October 12, 1440, and there were rumors that her husband had poisoned her. Widowed, Sigismondo Pandolfo married Polissien Sforza, the illegitimate daughter of Duke Francesco I Sforza . Their son died in infancy, the daughter of Giovanna (born 1444) later married the Duke of Camerino.

He fought under different banners. In 1437, at the head of the Venetian troops, he was defeated by the condottiere Niccolo Picinino in the battle of Calcinar sull'Oglio. Later, defending their possessions from Picinino, Federigo III da Montefeltro and Malatesta Novello, defeated their army under Monteluro. In the 1440s he served the kondotta to Pope Eugene IV , Duke of Sforza of Milan, King of Naples Alphonse V , Florence.

In 1449, died Polissen Sforza, his second wife. Father-in-law accused Sigismondo Pandolfo of being drowned by one of his servants by his order, but the cause of death remained unclear. Sigismondo Pandolfo had numerous mistresses. Two of them are especially known: Vanette dei Toshi (the son of Roberto was born from her in 1441), and Isotta degli Atti , from whom the children of Margherita, Sallustio and Antony were born. Later, in 1456, he married Isotta degli Atti and legalized their common children.

In the years 1449-1454 He served Venice, Florence, Siena, Naples and Sforza.

In 1460, Pope Pius II excommunicated him, accusing him of many sins, including incest and sodomy. A crusade was declared against Sigismondo Pandolfo, in which the troops of the Pope, Naples, Milan and Urbino participated.

Sigismondo Pandolfo suffered several defeats and in 1463 was forced to sign a peace treaty, according to which he was left with only the city of Rimini, and that one - without the right to inherit (later Pope Paul II removed this condition).

Sigismondo Pandolfo bequeathed Rimini Sallustio, son of Isotta degli Atti. However, after his death, his other son, Roberto , seized power in the city.

• Ginevra d'Este
• Polyxena Sforza
• Isotta degli Atti

Pope Pius II on Malateste:

In his eyes, marriage was never sacred. He converged with married women whose children they had baptized before, and he killed their husbands. In cruelty, he surpassed all barbarians. He crowded the poor, took away the property from the rich, did not spare either orphans or widows; in short, no one during his reign was confident of his safety. His subjects were found guilty for having riches, wives, beautiful children. He hated priests, did not believe in a future life, and believed that the souls of people perish along with the body. This did not prevent him from building in Rimini a beautiful temple in honor of St. Francis. But he overwhelmed him with pagan works, so it seemed that it was not a Christian, but a pagan temple dedicated to pagan deities. In it, he built the tomb of his concubine - a tomb of magnificent marble of excellent work, which, according to pagan custom, ordered to carve the inscription: "The sanctuary of the divine Isotta." ^[one]

Rendina, Claudio. I capitani di ventura. Newton Compton. 1994

• Portrait of Ginevra d'Este