Emmanuel, duke of Savoy, for the possession of Montferrato, the latter claiming it for his grand-daughter Maria, the only surviving child of Francesco IV. and of Margherita of Savoy. The question was submitted for decision to the emperor; but while it was under arbitration, Ferdinand de Gonzaga died in 1626, and was succeeded by his brother, Vincenzo II., born in 1594. The latter, being without sons, called to the inheritance of Mantua his cousin, Carlo of Bethel, son of the duke of Nevers, and married him to the heiress of Montferrato on the 26th December, 1627. Vincenzo died on the day after the ceremony, and thus the two principalities were again united under the house of Gonzaga. Carlo I., duke of Mantua, Monferrato, Nevers, and Mayenne, reigned from 1627 to 1637, and his right was fully recognized by his subjects; but the jealousy of the Emperor Ferdinand II. against a French prince encouraged Don Ferdinando, duke of Guastalla, though not so nearly related to the dukes of Mantua, to contest his claim. The rival princes were respectively supported by France and Austria, and this led to a protracted war which desolated the duchy of Mantua. In 1630 the city was taken and pillaged by the imperial troops. The invasion of Germany by Gustavus Adolphus suddenly changed the position of affairs. The emperor hastened to conciliate the duke of Nevers, and in April, 1631, he formally invested him with the duchies of Mantua and Montferrato, detaching only a small portion of territory from the latter to give to the duke of Savoy. Charles of Rethel having died in 1631, Carlo I. was succeeded in 1637 by his grandson. Carlo II., who, being only seven years of age, was placed under the guardianship of his mother, Maria. In 1649 he married Isabella Chiara of Austria, but became notorious for his profligate habits. After being compelled by his extravagance to sell all the French fiefs which remained in the family, he died, the victim of intemperance, in 1665. He was succeeded by his son, Carlo Ferdinando, tenth and last duke of Mantua and Montferrato. In 1670 he married Anna Isabella, eldest daughter of Ferdinand, duke of Guastalla, at whose death in 1679 he took possession of that duchy, but was afterwards compelled to relinquish it to Vincenzo de Gonzaga, a cousin-german of the deceased duke. By heavy taxation and the most shameless expedients he amassed large sums, which he squandered in gambling and debauchery at the carnivals of Venice. In 1686 he served under Leopold I. against the Turks, but left in Hungary a poor impression of his valour. He was as faithless in his political conduct as he was unprincipled in private life, and the war of the Spanish succession, in which he had no personal interest, was the cause of his ruin. Instead of maintaining a wise neutrality, he sold Casal to France, and received in 1701 a French garrison into Mantua. At the same time he tampered with the emperor in such a way as to alienate even his French allies; and after peace was concluded he was abandoned by both parties, as well as detested by his subjects. Victor Amadeus of Savoy conquered Montferrato, and the duchy of Mantua was given by France to Austria in virtue of the convention of March 13, 1707. The duke, who had taken refuge in Venice, was put under the ban of the empire, and his estates were annexed to Austrian Lombardy. After the death of his first wife he had married in 1704 Susanne-Henriette of Lorraine, but had no children by either marriage; and at his death in 1708 the dynasty and family of the Gonzagas of Mantua became extinct.
Ferdinando de Gonzaga, who founded the dukedom of Molfetta and Guastalla, which existed in the family till the middle of the eighteenth century, was the third son of Francesco II. (noticed above), and was born in 1506. He followed the banner of Charles V.; commanded at the siege of Florence in 1530; fought at Tunis in 1535, and having been named viceroy of Sicily, accompanied the emperor on his expedition at Provence. In 1546 he was appointed governor of the Milanese, but was superseded by Phillip II. in 1556, after having made his name odious in Italy by a series of dastardly crimes. He then purchased the duchy of Molfetta in Naples, and the lordship of Guastalla, which he transmitted to his family. This branch of the Gonzagas became extinct in 1746 on the death of Giuseppe Maria.—G. BL.
GONZAGA, Anne de, Princess-palatine, born in 1616, and died at Paris in 1684, was the second daughter of Charles de Gonzaga, duke of Nevers and afterwards of Mantua, and of Catherine of Lorraine. Refusing to enter a convent as her father wished, she resided with her sister Maria at the Hôtel de Nesle in Paris; and, after a romantic intrigue with Henry de Guise, married in 1645 Prince Edward of Bavaria, fourth son of Frederick V., elector-palatine of the Rhine. In the struggles of the Fronde she sided warmly with Anne of Austria, and displayed an ability that called forth the warm admiration of De Retz. After her husband's death in 1663 she devoted all her time to religious exercises.—W. J. P.
GONZAGA, Ercole de, Cardinal, was born in 1505, and died in 1563. He was the son of John Francis II., duke of Mantua. Created bishop of Mantua in 1520, he became, six years later, a cardinal and archbishop of Tarragona. In 1540 he acted as regent of Mantua during the minority of his nephews. In 1559 he nearly succeeded in being elected pope; and in 1562 was chosen to preside at the council of Trent; but a fever soon afterwards terminated his career. He was a friend of letters and of literary men.—W. J. P.
GONZAGA, Lucrezia, daughter of Pirro, lord of Gazzuolo, one of the most celebrated women of the sixteenth century, received her classic education from the renowned Matteo Bandello, who dedicated to her a poem entitled "Del vivo amore col tempio di Pudicizia." Shortly after her marriage her husband, Gian-Paolo Manfroni, was condemned to death for having conspired against the duke of Ferrara. She obtained by her entreaties the commutation of the sentence into a perpetual imprisonment, and followed him to his dungeon, where he died in 1552. Her life has been written by Scaliger, Buscelli, and Doni. She passed the rest of her days in exercises of piety, and died at Mantua on the 2nd of February, 1576.—A. C. M.
GONZAGA, Maria Louisa de, sister of Anne de Gonzaga, born about 1612. The duke of Orleans having conceived a passion for her, which was disapproved of by the court, she was imprisoned at Vincennes and treated with great harshness. Subsequently the unfortunate Cinq-Mars ventured to aspire to her hand; she secretly favoured his suit, but it was ended by the axe of the executioner. In 1645 she was married to the aged king of Poland, Sigismund-Ladislaus IV.; and after his death, a papal dispensation having been obtained, to his brother and successor John Casimir. As queen of Poland, she displayed very high political capacity. Her death occurred at Warsaw in 1667. Her husband immediately abdicated, and retired to a monastic life in France.—W. J. P.
GONZAGA, Scipio de, Cardinal, was born in 1542, and died in 1593. In 1587 he obtained a cardinal's hat from Sixtus V. by the influence of his uncle the duke of Mantua, with whom he had previously been on unfriendly terms. Gonzaga was an intimate friend of Tasso, of Guarini, and of Muretus. He founded at Padua the Academy Degli Eterei.—W. J. P.
GONZAGA, Thomas Antonio, a Brazilian poet, was born at Oporto in 1747, but spent his youth at Bahia, where his father was a magistrate. He was sent to Europe for his education, and about 1768 returned to Brazil, where, after holding several public appointments, he was stationed at Minas, and afterwards at Villa Rica. Here, about 1788, he formed an attachment to a lady born at Minas, Doña Maria Joaquina Dorotheia-Seixas Brandao, whose name is even now still remembered as the Portuguese Laura. His collection of lyric poems, entitled "Marilia de Dirceo," enjoys the honour of having been oftener reprinted and more widely admired, than, perhaps, any Portuguese poetry save that of Camoens. Gonzaga was about to be married to the object of his passionate admiration when he was involved in a charge of conspiracy against the government, and sentenced to ten years' banishment to the coast of Mozambique. Here the climate brought on a fever, the result of which was the entire prostration of his intellect. He died in 1793.—F. M. W.
GONZALES, the name by which Gonzales Cocques, the pupil of David Ryckaert the elder, is commonly known in this country. He was born at Antwerp in 1618, and early distinguished himself for his small portraits, in which he endeavoured to imitate the style of Vandyck. Gonzales painted many family portraits in small, and also some genre pieces; but he is chiefly distinguished for the beauty and skill of his small portrait pieces, as domestic family scenes, &c. He painted many of the great families of his time in this style. He was twice president of the academy of Antwerp, where he died in 1684.—(Descamps, La Vie des Peintres, &c.)—R. N. W.
GONZALO de Berceo, the earliest known Spanish writer, flourished between 1220 and 1260. His works, which form the second volume of the collection of Sanchez, consist of nine poems,
