Bona Sforza (2 February 1494 or 2 February 1493 – 19 November 1557) was a member of the powerful Milanese House of Sforza. In 1518, she became the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and became the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania.
She was the third child of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his wife Isabella of Naples. Her older brother was Francesco Sforza and her sisters were Ippolita Maria and Bianca Maria. All of Bona's siblings died young.
When her mother Isabella of Naples died in 1524, Bona succeeded to the titles Duchess of Bari and Princess of Rossano. She also became the holder of the Brienne claim to the title of King of Jerusalem.
Read more about Bona Sforza: Murder, Legacy, Children, Ancestors
Famous quotes containing the word bona:
“If men will believe it, sua si bona norint, there are no more quiet Tempes, nor more poetic and Arcadian lives, than may be lived in these New England dwellings. We thought that the employment of their inhabitants by day would be to tend the flowers and herds, and at night, like the shepherds of old, to cluster and give names to the stars from the river banks.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)