Gonzaga, Giovanni (1474-1525)

Giovanni Gonzaga was born in 1474 in Mantua. He was the sixth child and third son in the family of Prince Federico, the future Margrave of Mantua under the name of Federico I and Margarita of Bavaria , a princess from the Wittelsbach house. On the paternal side, he was a grandson of Ludovico III , Margrave of Mantua and Barbara of Brandenburg , a princess from the Hohenzollern house. On the maternal side, he was the grandson of Albrecht III , the Duke of Bavaria and Anna Braunschweig-Hrubenhagen, a princess from the house of Welfers ^{[1] [2]} .

Together with his older brothers - Francesco and Sigismondo received a good education. From 1478 to 1480, the teachers of the princes were Giovan Maria Filelfo, then Colombino Veronese. Since July 1484 he was in the service of his brother, who, after the death of his father, became the new Margrave of Mantua under the name Francesco II. In October 1489, in Pesaro, he represented him at the wedding celebrations of their sister Magdalene and Giovanni Sforza , the owner of Pesaro. In June 1492, Giovanni accompanied Francesco II to Bologna for the wedding of Alessandro Bentivoglio and Hippolyta Sforza . In October of the same year, again passing through Bologna, where he had a wife, he arrived in Rome and represented Margrave Mantua in front of the new Pope Alexander VI ^[3] .

June 20, 1491 in Bologna, Giovanni married Laura, daughter of Giovanni II , the owner of Bologna from the house of Bentivoglio and Ginevra Sforza . The consummation of the marriage was delayed until February 10, 1492, when Giovanni again arrived in Bologna. He was here during the whole carnival and in a mask riding a donkey took part in the "battle with the eggs." On June 19, 1493, Giovanni again arrived in Bologna to meet his wife. Only at the beginning of 1494, accompanied by a guard sent by her husband, did Laura Bentivoglio move to Mantua ^[3] . March 22, 1519 acquired the seigneur Veskovato and became the founder of the branch of Gonzaga-Veskovato in the house of Gonzaga ^{[4] [5]} . In the family of Giovanni and Laura, eight children were born:

• (1497-1527), 2nd owner of Vescovato, married with Hippolyta Sforza de Santa Fiora;
• Federico (1495-1545), priest and prior of the Abbey of St. Benedict in Poliron;
• Francesco (1496-1523), married with Lucretius Sforza;
• Ginevra (1497-1570), nun and abbess of the monastery of St. Paul in Mantua;
• (1499-1530), combined with Antonia Pallavicini;
• Camilla (1500-1585), married with Pierre Maria III de Rossi, Margrave and Count of San Secondo;
• Eleanor (1501-1502);
• (1509-1562), poet and governor of Modena.

As part of the army of Margrave Mantua, Giovanni took part in the Italian Wars. In September 1494, at the head of a detachment of fifty soldiers, he went to the army camp of the Kingdom of Naples; in October he arrived in Faenza and came under the command of Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria . Instead of battles, in January - February 1495, feasts and allegorical performances took place in the camp. In May of that year, Giovanni entered the service of Lodovico, Duke of Milan, and participated in the Italian League offensive on the army of the French kingdom and their allies. He took part in the siege of the fortress of Novara and attacks on the territory of the Duchy of Savoy, which was governed by Regent Blanca of Monferrat. In April 1496 he entered the service of Ferdinand II , King of Naples, and, together with Giovanni Sforza , commanded a detachment of two hundred horsemen. In July of that year he participated in the siege of Atella. After the surrender of the army of the French kingdom, he returned to Mantua.