Marriages
In January 1474, when Bianca was not quite two years old, she married her first cousin Philibert I, Duke of Savoy, the son of her uncle Amadeus IX of Savoy, and Yolande of France. Duke Philibert died in the spring of 1482, leaving Bianca a widow at the age of ten. She returned to Milan. She was not given much of an education, but was allowed to indulge her own interests, which was mainly needle work.
On 16 March 1494, in Hall, Tyrol, she married secondly, the King of the Romans, Maximilian I, who had been a widower since the tragic death of his much-loved first wife Mary of Burgundy on 27 March 1482, when she was fatally injured after falling from her horse. Her second marriage was arranged by her uncle, who wanted recognition and the title of Duke confirmed by the Emperor; in exchange, the Emperor received a large dowry along with Bianca. Her magnificent retinue on her way to her wedding aroused much attention.
At her wedding, Bianca wore a bodice "with eighty pieces of the jeweler's art pinned thereon, with each piece consisting of one ruby and four pearls". She also brought her husband a rich dowry of 400,000 ducats, and through his marriage, Maximilian was able to assert his right to the Imperial overlordship of Milan. This angered Anne of France, regent of France for her brother King Charles VIII, and brought about French intervention in Italy, thus inaugurating the lengthy Italian Wars.
Maximilian and Bianca's marriage was unhappy; Maximilian said that she may be as beautiful as his first spouse but not as wise. He considered Bianca to be uneducated, overly talkative, naive, wasteful with money, and careless. It happened several times that he left her behind as security when he could not pay for his rooms on trips. He did wish to have children with her, but all their attempts failed: despite Bianca's several pregnancies, none produced a living child. She very much liked his children, but was criticized for forgetting her dignity when she sat on the floor with them to play. After 1500, Maximilian lost all interest in her. She lived with her own court of Milanese people in various castles in the Tirol.
Maximilian took the title of Holy Roman Emperor Elect in 1508. Bianca was, by marriage, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.
Bianca had no children of her own. She had two stepchildren from Maximilian's marriage to Mary of Burgundy, Philip the Handsome, who married Joanna of Castile, and Archduchess Margaret of Austria, who married firstly, John, Prince of Asturias and secondly Philibert II, Duke of Savoy.
Bianca Maria Sforza died at Innsbruck on 31 December 1510. She was buried at Stams.
A noteworthy portrait of Bianca Maria Sforza by Ambrogio de Predis hangs in the National Gallery of Art of the United States in Washington, D.C.
Read more about this topic: Bianca Maria Sforza
Famous quotes containing the word marriages:
“Good marriages are built on respectful disagreement and back-and-forth cooperation. We learn to cue each other, fill in for each other, forgive each other’s fumbles, celebrate small victories. We revel in the realization that we’re working on something bigger than both of us, and that parenthood is not only incredibly challenging but also incredibly enriching.”
—Susan Lapinski (20th century)
“Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“The happiest two-job marriages I saw during my research were ones in which men and women shared the housework and parenting. What couples called good communication often meant that they were good at saying thanks to one another for small aspects of taking care of the family. Making it to the school play, helping a child read, cooking dinner in good spirit, remembering the grocery list,... these were silver and gold of the marital exchange.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)