Gianfrancesco was the son of
Francesco I Gonzaga and
Margherita Malatesta. He inherited the rule of
Mantua in 1407, when he was 12. In his first years, he was under the patronage of his uncle
Carlo Malatesta and, indirectly, of the
Republic of Venice. In 1409 he married
Paola Malatesta, daughter of
Malatesta IV Malatesta of
Pesaro, by whom he had eight children. These included
Ludovico, who succeeded him as marquis of Mantua,
Carlo,
Margherita and Cecilia, a nun and scholar. Gianfrancesco was the first Gonzaga to bear the title of marquis, which he obtained from
Emperor Sigismund on 22 September 1433. He fought for the
Papal States and the
Malatestas in 1412 and 1417, respectively, and was
capitano generale (commander-in-chief) of the Venetian Armies from 1434. Later he left the alliance with Venice and entered at the service of the
Visconti of Milan, starting an unsuccessful war against Venice which caused the loss of several Mantuan territories. During his reign the famous humanist
Vittorino da Feltre was invited to Mantua, as well as numerous artists like
Pisanello and others, starting the traditional role of the city as a capital of Italian Renaissance. He founded the first workshop in Italy for the manufacture of
tapestries.
Cecilia Gonzaga, his daughter, was a humanist and scholar who received instruction from Vittorino. He pushed for his daughter to marry
Oddantonio da Montefeltro, the first
duke of Urbino, but renounced the arrangement later when the Duke turned out to be a cruel ruler. ==References==