Gerry's Collection
of Antique Wax Seal Stamps
House of Sforza
Dukes of Milan, Counts of Cotignola and Santa Fiora
The House of Sforza: a powerful Italian condottiere dynasty, originally lords of Cotignola, a town in Romagna
The House of Sforza descends from Muzio Attendolo Sforza (1369 - 1424), who was an Italian condottiero. He was the father of Francesco Sforza, who established the Sforza dynasty that governed the Duchy of Milan across multiple generations during the Renaissance. The Sforza family were the Counts of Cotignola and Santa Fiora. The lion augmentation of their several branches' coats of arms was granted by Rupert, King of Germany in 1401.
After Muzio Attendolo Sforza's death in 1424, Joanna II of Naples awarded his descendants to replace the surname of Attendolo with that of Sforza, later known as Sforza di Santa Fiora.
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The origin of the Sforza name.
The main line of the Sforza family descends from Muzio Attendolo. Muzio was the short form of the nickname of Giacomuzzo, which was the name of his paternal grandfather. He was born in 1369 in Cotignola (Romagna) to a rich family of rural nobility and was the son of Giovanni Attendolo and Elisa. According to the story, young Giacomo was ploughing a field when mercenaries led by Boldrino da Panicale passed nearby in search of recruits. He then stole one of his father's horses and followed the soldiers to follow the same career. Later, together with his brothers Bosio, Francesco and Bartolo and two cousins, Muzio joined the company of Alberico da Barbiano, who nicknamed him "Sforza" ('Strong').
Muzio Attendolo Sforza had sixteen known children born from five marriages, which explains the several coats of arms of the family.
King Rupert of Germany and the Augmentation of Arms with the Lion.
Rupert ruled as King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1400 to 1410, a period that overlaps with the early career of Muzio Attendolo Sforza, who was born in 1369. At that time, Italy was a patchwork of city-states and feudal lords hiring mercenary captains (condottieri), and German imperial authority had only limited influence south of the Alps. Rupert, as King of the Romans and head of the Holy Roman Empire, claimed nominal overlordship over northern Italian territories, particularly Lombardy, which would later be ruled by the Sforza Dukes of Milan.
In the late 14th century, Muzio Attendolo Sforza rose to fame as a condottiere. During Rupert’s reign (1400–1410), he served in campaigns against various Italian factions and distinguished himself militarily. As a mark of favor and recognition, King Rupert granted him the right to augment his family’s coat of arms with a lion rampant. The augmentation was significant: it not only enhanced the visual prestige of the Sforza arms, but also confirmed the family’s rising status among the great lords of Italy. The lion was both an emblem of royal favor and a sign that Sforza’s military prowess was recognized at the imperial level, paving the way for their later rule in Milan. In later centuries, the Milanese Sforza arms incorporated other devices (notably the biscione, the Visconti serpent), but the lion augmentation remained an important early milestone of heraldic prestige.
Dukes of Milan.
The Sforza were originally from Cotignola, a town in Romagna. Muzio's sons, especially Francesco Sforza (1401–1466), built the family into a leading Italian power. Francesco ultimately became Duke of Milan, founding the Milanese Sforza dynasty.
Francesco was one of the seven illegitimate sons of the Muzio and Lucia de Martini. He was married to Bianca Maria Visconti as part of the agreements that ended the war between Milan and Venice. Before the Sforza, Milan was ruled by the powerful Visconti family. The last Visconti Duke, Filippo Maria Visconti, ruled from 1412 to 1447, but had no legitimate sons and died without male heirs. After Filippo's death, Milan’s ruling elites refused to let anyone succeed outright, so they proclaimed a Republic: The Ambrosian Republic. The republic was however weak and beset by enemies (Venice, Savoy, internal factions), so Francesco Sforza, already a famous general, was first hired by the Republic to defend Milan. He gained the support of many Milanese citizens who were disillusioned with the Republic. In 1450 the citizens and leading families of Milan effectively offered him the ducal title, recognizing him as successor by right of his marriage to Bianca Maria Visconti, his military achievements, and his promise to restore order and prosperity.​
Because Milan was formally an imperial fief of the Holy Roman Empire, the new duke needed imperial confirmation, which he recieved from Emperor Frederick III who recognized Francesco as Duke of Milan, cementing his legitimacy. He ruled Milan until his death in 1466, founding the Sforza dynasty, which controlled the duchy for much of the 15th and 16th centuries.
An infamous son.
Francesco's rule on Milan was moderate and skilful. He modernized the city and duchy. He created an efficient system of administration, and his court became a center of Renaissance learning and culture. The people of Milan grew to love him.
But the same could not be said about his son, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, who was one of the most colorful and infamous rulers because he combined typical princely splendor with extreme personal cruelty and ostentation. Contemporary chroniclers (notably Bernardino Corio and Stefano Infessura) and later historians recorded many examples of Galeazzo’s violent temper and sadistic punishments. He was infamous for humiliating and torturing members of the Milanese aristocracy suspected of conspiracy or simply falling out of favor. Unlike his father Francesco, who was a respected ruler, Galeazzo often resorted to violence to enforce his authority. At the same time, he maintained an enormous retinue of courtiers, musicians, and artists, with expenditures far exceeding Milan’s revenues. His spending drained Milan’s treasury and increased taxation, which contributed to public discontent. Being very much hated by most of the population, three high-ranking Milanese, Carlo Visconti, Gerolamo Olgiati, and Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani, organized a conspiracy. They assassinated him on 26 December 1476 inside San Stefano Church in Milan.
The Sforza di Santa Fiora Branch.
This cadet line of the family survived much longer than the Milanese Sforza and was significant in ecclesiastical and feudal affairs in central Italy. Bosio I Sforza, Count of Cotignola and brother of Francesco, was the founder of this branch. Bosio I married in 1439 Cecilia Aldobrandeschi, Countess of Santa Fiora, who brought him the sovereign county as a dowry. He thus became the progenitor of the branch of the Sforza family of Santa Fiora - which became extinct in 1712 - and of the collateral branch of the Sforza-Cesarini, dukes of Segni, which still exists.
The subsisting Sforza-Cesarini branch.
The Sforza Cesarini branch was created when the Sforza di Santa Fiora line married into the Roman Cesarini family. The Cesarini was a very old Roman noble family tracing its prestige to the Middle Ages. They held the title of Dukes of Civitanova and had extensive estates around Rome and the Marche. The two families merged by marriage in the 17th century, when Livia Cesarini, last of the Cesarini line, married Federico Sforza, Duke of Santa Fiora. To preserve the Cesarini name, their descendants used the compound surname “Sforza Cesarini". From this union, the family inherited the Cesarini palazzi in Rome, the fief of Genzano, and lands in the Roman countryside. The Sforza Cesarini became some of the most prominent Roman nobles, and held titles such as Duke of Genzano, Duke of Civitanova, Prince of Carbognano, and Marquess of Castel d’Azzano. Their main residence was the magnificent Palazzo Sforza Cesarini on Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Rome. They also owned the famous Palazzo Sforza Cesarini di Genzano, surrounded by celebrated gardens overlooking Lake Nemi.
In the 19th century the Sforza Cesarini sold or lost much of their property due to political changes and financial decline. Their palaces in Rome were gradually subdivided and sold. Nevertheless, the family title survived into the 20th century.
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An important member of this branch was Lorenzo Sforza Cesarini (1807–1866), who was a Senator of the Kingdom of Italy after unification. He was the 25th Count of Santa Fiora, 8th Prince of Genzano, and 3rd Duke Sforza Cesarini. In 1837 Lorenzo married the English noblewoman Caroline Shirley (1818-1897), daughter of Viscount Ferrers, and they settled in Rome where Lorenzo had the gardens of the ancestral palace of Genzano di Roma built in honor of his young wife.
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Gerry's Collection of Antique Seal Stamps.