GONZA'GA, a historical family of Italy, which was numbered among the sovereigns of that country as hereditary dukes of Mantua and Monferrato for more than three centuries. The Gonzaga, like the Medici, did not belong to the feudal nobility; they were originally a plebeian family, which took its name from their native village. Luigi Gonzaga was appointed Podeeth of Modena in 1313, through the influence of Passerine Bonacolsi, lord of Mantua. In 1328, a con spiracy having broken out at Mantua against Bonacolsi, who was murdered with all his relatives, Luigi Gonzaga, who was privy to the conspiracy under the pretence of restoring liberty to his country, was appointed captain-general, and in the following year the Emperor Louis of Bavaria made him imperial vicar of Mantua. From that time the Gonzagas became hereditary rulers of that country. A century later they assumed the title of marquises of Mantua, still acknowledging themselves feudatories of the empire. They were repeatedly engaged in war with the visconti of Milan. In 1495 Gianfranceaco Gonzaga placed himself at the head of the Italian league, for the purpose of driving the French under Charles VIII. out of Italy. He commanded at the battle of Tornuvo on the river Taro, on the 6th of July of that year, in which the French were worsted, and Charles was obliged to make a precipitate retreat across the Alps. Gonzaga then marched towards Naples, was present at the battle of Atella, and contributed with Gonzalo of Cordova to the evacuation of the kingdom by the French, and the restoration of the Aragonese dynasty. When Louis XIL again invaded Lombardy, Gonzaga was obliged, in order to save himself, to do homage to him, and in 1509 lie joined the league of Cambrai against the Venetians. His eon Frederic fought against the French commanded by Lautrec and Bonnivet, and as a reward for his services was made Duke of Mantua by Charles V., and obtained also the marquiaato of Monferrato in 1536. Frederic's brother, Ferrante Gonzaga, distinguished himself also in the imperial service, and was made by Charles V. governor of the Milanese. He founded the line of the dukes of Gnastalla, a principality which he obtained partly by purchase and partly by intrigue. Ouglialmo, son and encceasor of Frederic, was humpbacked, and it is recorded that when he ascended the ducal throne the courtiers vied with each other in putting on artificial humps, thinking to please their sovereign thereby. He proved a good prince, and he protected the learned ; Bernardo Tasao, the father of Torquato, was his seem. tary ; Paolo Serpi was for a time his theologian, and the Jesuit Possevin his confessor. The city of Mantua in his time had a perm. lation of 43,000 inhabitants, almost double its present number. His son Vincenzo early showed a disposition for learning, and a fondness for learned men. He went to Ferrara on purpose to effect the deliver. ance of Torquato Tessa, who was confined as being insane, and he obtained his liberty from the Duke Alfonso d'Este. But in the course of time, after he succeeded his father on the ducal throne, Vincenzo abandoned himself entirely to pleasure, neglected the interests of his subjects, and dilapidated the property of his own family. It was he who has been charged with the assassination of James Crichton, in 1583, who had been his preceptor. [CarcwroN.] Vincenzo died in 1612, and was succeeded by his son Francis, who began by introducing economy Into the palace, from which he drove away the actors, singers, and parasites whom his father had gathered round him. He died a few months after his accession, and was succeeded by his brother, Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga, who, dying in 1626, left his states to his other brother, Vincenzo, who died in the following year. None
of these three princes left any legitimate son, and with the last, Vincenzo, the direct line of the house of Gonzaga became extinct in 1627. It was however succeeded in the sovereignty by the lateral branch of Nevem, descended from Louis, brother of Ouglielmo the humpbacked, who, haying gone to France, had married there Henrietta of Cleves, heiress of the duchies of Nevera and Rethel. Ills son Charles was called to Italy by the prospect of the extinction of the ducal house of Mantua, and after the death of his cousin, the Duke Vincenzo, he claimed the succession to the ducal throne. But his claims were disputed by his cousin Gouzags, duke of Guastalla, a descendant of Don Ferrante, already mentioned ; and the Duke of Savoy, seizing the pretext of the disputed succession, invaded Mon ferrate, upon which he had some old claims, while the emperor Ferdinand II. on his side invaded Mantua as an Imperial fief. Louis XIII. took the part of the Duke of Nevem, and the question of the Mantua succession occasioned a European war. The French entered Piedmont, and obliged the Duke of Savoy to raise the siege of Casale in Monferrato in 1629, while the imperial army took Mantua after an obstinate siege, and pillaged the town for three days. The paintings, statues, and other works of art, collected during centuries by the dukes Gonzaga, were carried to Prague, many of them were purchased by Christina of Sweden, and afterwards bought by the Duke of Orleans for his gallery of the Palais Royal. At last, in 1630, by the treaty of Ratisbon, between the emperor and France, and that of Cherasco, with the Duke of Savoy, Charles of Nevers was put in possession of Mantua and Monferrato, and received the solemn investi ture from the emperor. In 1635 he seized upou the principality of Correggio, which he added to his dominions. He died in 1637, and was succeeded by his grandson Charles, under the regency of his mother. Charles proved a weak dissipated prince ; he wavered between the French and Spanish alliances during the Italian wars ; he sold, in 1659, the duchies of Ncvers and Rethel and his other possessions in France to Cardinal Mazarin, and died in 1605, leaving an only son, Ferdinand Charles, under the guardianship of his mother, who was an Austrian archduchess. Ferdinand, once on the throne, showed himself even more dissolute than his father. He collected at hie court female performers, singers, and dancers from every part of Italy, in whose company he delighted, and by whom he was attended when he travelled about. Ou the breaking out of the war of the Spanish succession, Ferdinand, although a feudatory of the emperor, allowed the French to garrison Mantua. The emperor Joseph I. put him under the ban of the empiro as a traitor ; and as the French ultimately lost their footing iu Italy, the Austrians took possession of Mantua, which was annexed to the Milanese. Ferdinand being deserted by the French, for whose sake he had lost his dominions, retired to Padua, where he died in 1708, leaving uo issue. He was the last duke of Mautua. The other lateral branches of the Gonzagas, of Guastalla, Sabbioneta, Novellara, and Castiglione, became also extinct, or were dispossessed of their principalities. Some of their descendants were living at Mantua not many years since as private individuals. The 18th century saw the extinction of three Italian sovereign houses, Medici, Gonzaga, and Farnese, while that of Este has been perpetuated only by a female.