(1325-1373)
Signore di Pesaro
1326-1330
1333-1340
Italian condottiero
His lover was:
Giovannina di Montebretto.
Also known as:
Giovannola di Montebretto.
" . . . There is first to be recalled the sorry record of Pandolfo Malatesta, elder son of Gustafamiglia and the friend of Petrarch, as a captain of the Visconti and then of Florence. During 1356 and the first half of 1357 he was appointed Galeazzo Visconti's representative in Milan and commander in the war with Montferrat in 1356-57. But an indecent intimacy with Bernabo Visconti's mistress, Giovannina Montebretto, brought his employment to an abrupt end. . . ." (The Malatesta of Rimini and the Papal State: 84)
(1325-1373)
Podesta of Pesaro
1347-1373
Italian condottiero.
His lover was:
Giovannina di Montebretto.
Also known as Giovannola di Montebretto.
Giovannina di Montebretto.
Also known as Giovannola di Montebretto.
" . . . There is first to be recalled the sorry record of Pandolfo Malatesta, elder son of Gustafamiglia and the friend of Petrarch, as a captain of the Visconti and then of Florence. During 1356 and the first half of 1357 he was appointed Galeazzo Visconti's representative in Milan and commander in the war with Montferrat in 1356-57. But an indecent intimacy with Bernabo Visconti's mistress, Giovannina Montebretto, brought his employment to an abrupt end. . . ." (The Malatesta of Rimini and the Papal State: 84)
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| Pandolfo III of Rimini the Great |
His lovers were:
1) Allegra de' Mori.
Natural offspring:
a. Galeotto Roberto Malatesta (1411-1432)
b. Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
c. Domenico Malatesta
Natural offspring:
4) Isabella
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| Pandolfo III of Rimini |
(1369-1427)
Signore di Bergamo
1407-1421
Italian condottiero & aristocrat.
Son of: Galeotto I Malatesta
His lovers were:
1) Allegra de' Mori.
Natural offspring:
a. Galeotto Roberto Malatesta (1411-1432)
b. Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
c. Domenico Malatesta
2) Antonia Castellani.
3) Antonia da Barignano.
Natural offspring:
a. Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.
4) Isabella.
His lovers were:
1) Allegra de' Mori.
Natural offspring:
a. Galeotto Roberto Malatesta (1411-1432)
b. Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
c. Domenico Malatesta
2) Antonia Castellani.
3) Antonia da Barignano.
Natural offspring:
a. Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.
4) Isabella.
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| Sigismondo Pandolfo of Rimini the Wolf of Rimini |
(1417-1468)
Signore di Rimini
1432-1468
Italian condottiero, poet
& patron of the arts.
Illegitimate son of: Pandolfo III Malatesta & Antonia da Barignani.
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| Ginevra d'Este |
1. Ginevra d'Este (1419-1440), daughter of Niccolo III d'Este & Parisina Malatesta, mar 1434.
2. Polissena Sforza (1428-1449), natural daughter of Francesco Sforza, Duca di Milano & Giovanna d'Acquapendente, mar 1442 (1445, per other sources).
" . . . In 1445, Sigismondo was married to his second wife, Polissena Sforza (1448-1449), when he first noticed Isotta, who was only twelve years old. He fell madly in love, and she eventually returned his favors, with her father's consent. The mistress gradually takes center stage, as Sigismondo's wife Polissena, ignored and humiliated, retreats and eventually dies in 1449. At the time there was a strong speculation that Sigismondo had her murdered, but Polissena probably died of (the) plague, which was the officially reported cause. Sigismondo eventually married Isotta in 1453 or 1454." (Pagan Virtue in a Christian World)
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| Isotta degli Atti |
Lover in 1446-1456; mar 1456
Regent of Rimini 1468-1469
Daughter of: Francesco degli Atti, Italian wool trader & banker.
Natural Offspring:
a. Giovanni (b/d 1447)
b. Margherita Malatesta, married Carlo
c. Sallustio Malatesta (1448-?)
d. Valerio Malatesta (1453-?)
e. Antonia Malatesta married in 1481 Rodolfo Gonzaga, Marchese di Castel Goffredo.
f. Roberto Malatesta married Elisabetta da Montefeltro.
"Rimini---where the Emilian Way, just south of the Rubicon, reached its Adriatic end---entered violently into Renaissance history through its ruling family, the Malatestas---Evil Heads. They appear first toward the end of the tenth century as lieutenants of the Holy Roman Empire, governing the Marches of Ancona for Otto III. By playing Guelf and Ghibelline factions against each other, and making obeisance now to the emperor, now to the pope, they acquired actual, though not formal, sovereignty over Ancona, Rimini, and Cesena, and ruled them as despots acknowledging no morals except those of intrigue, treachery, and the sword. . . It was a Malatesta, Giovanni, who, in a monogamous moment, killed his wife Francesca da Rimini and his brother Paolo (1285). Carlo Malatesta established the repute of the family in the patronage of arts and letters. Sigismondo Malatesta carried the dynasty to its zenith of power, culture, and assassination. His many mistresses gave him several children, in some instances with disturbing simultaneity. He married thrice, and killed two wives on pretext of adultery. He was alleged to have made his daughter pregnant, to have attempted sodomy with his son, who repelled him with a drawn dagger, and to have wreaked his lust upon the corpse of a German lady who had preferred death to his embrace; however we have for these explouts only the word of his foes. To his final mistress, Isotta degli Atti, he gave unwonted devotion and ultimately and ultimately marriage; and after her death he set up in the church of San Francesco a monument marked Divae Isottae sacrum---'Sacred to the Divine Isotta.' He seems to have denied God and immortality; he thought it a merry prank to fill with ink the holy-water stoup of a church, and to watch the worshippers bespatter themselves as they entered.": (The Renaissance: A History of Civilization in Italy from 1304-1576 A.D.: 339)
"Following the accepted practice of the times, Sigismondo maintained several mistresses. One who bore him four children, Isotta degli Atti, was the love of his life. He lavished her with poetry and commissioned Leon Battista Alberti to build her tomb at Tempio Malatestiano while still married to his second wife. The Pope legitimized their children, and at some point they married, although the historical record is vague with no mention of a ceremony." (thiswritelife)
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta di Rimini whom she bore four children: Giovanni (who died in infancy), Margherita - later wife of Carlo di Fortebraccio, Sallustio and Antonia (also called Anna) -later the first wife of Rodolfo Gonzaga, Lord of Castiglione delle Stiviere, who beheaded her in 1483 when she was discovered in adultery.
" . . . He himself, not yet the impoverished and excommunicate rebel he was soon to become, might also now have improved his position by taking a wife from the neighbouring dynasty. Instead, discarding policy, he chose to marry his mistress, la Diva Isotta, for many years already his true consort and companion, dutifully commemorated by his court poets and artists, and stronger in command of his loyalty or passion than any reason of state." (Jones, 2005, p. 213)
"Isotta was more than just a mistress to Sigismondo, she became an integral part of his life. She even joined him on the battlefield and when not together the two kept in constant correspondence. Isotta also continued to bear his children, although he did not officially marry her until 1457. Isotta may be most important for Sigismondo's legacy because she had begun the process of rebuilding a chapel in the church of San Francesco in 1447. . . ." (Zaho, 2004, p. 69)
Isotta's Undiminished Influence.
" . . . Some years later Isotta, who never married any one else, had yielded to his pursuit, to the great indignation of her family, which, however, was of short duration, and in spite of the existing marriage with Policena, she was proclaimed and acknowledged in 1446 as the mistress of of the Prince of Rimini. Medals were struck in her honour; her name was sung throughout Italy; her brother was knighted son afterwards with great dignity, the Duke of Urbino buckling on his spurs... Isotta was the mother of several children, and she retained an undiminished influence over her lover, due probably to her remarkable tact, and to her toleration of his occasional excesses. . . ." (The Edinburgh Review, Vol. 157: 346)
Mistress as Regent of the State.
" . . . It was not, however, until 1456, . . . six years after the death of his second wife, that Sigismond married Isotta, and fulfilled her hopes and desires. . . In 1460 the proceedings . . . were instituted against Malatesta in Rome. It was just before the crisis of his fate that Isotta, who had been the mistress of the triumphant condottiere, became the wife of a prince robbed of his dominions and threatened even in his life. She was then more devoted than ever to his cause for it was that of her husband and her children; and she showed in those stormy times an amount of courage and sagacity equal to the occasion. During the expedition of Sigismond to the Morea he left the Regency of Rimini to Isotta, under the protection of the Venetians, in who service he had gone abroad. . . ." (The Edinburgh Review, Vol. 157: 347)
" . . . Another remarkable instance is afforded by the plain-featured, unlettered but wily and womanly Isotta, the mistress of that truculent through cultivated tyrant, Sigismondo Malatesta. Isotta secured the lifelonf devotion of this prodigious ruffian, when most women would have met with a speedy and tragic fate. She wheedled, cajoled and tantalized the most difficult man in Italy into matrimony, and was entrusted with the government of a troublesome state when he was away at the wars. She was discontented with the position of mistress, though from Roman times, the concubine of a prince, at least, held no vey dishonourable or unenviable position among women. She had resisted the first advances of Sigismondo for some time, and now, in her turn, she had to beseech. Two years before she gained her point she indited (for she was unable to write with her own hand) a letter full of seeming timidity and humbleness, inspired, really, by daring; she mingles tenderness with scorn, she even ventures on satire, she does not withhold reproaches or disguise the anger of one who loves and is betrayed, but she astutely follows up the calculated outburst with soft weakness, deemed appropriate to her sex, and very effective with men, if judiciously displayed. . . ." (Woman in Italy: From the Introduction of the Chivalrous Service of Love to the Apperance of the Professional Actress)
1) Alba.
2) Aritrea di Galeazzo Malatesta di Pesaro (1444-1501)
" . . . This letter also displays her jealousy towards Aritrea di Galeazzo Malatesta (ca. 1444-1501), the daughter of Sigismondo's uncle, the Malatesta Lord of Pesaro, and his ward, for whom he showed much affection. Aritrea gave birth to Sigismondo's illegitimate daughter, Alessandra, in 1462, but the girl did not survive passed (sic) the age of six and Aritrea was married off to Andrea Dandolo." (Ladies, Concubines & Pseudo-wives: 44)
4) Vannetta de' Toschi (1419-1475)
Italian aristocrat & mistress.
Daughter of: Galeotto Toschi, Italian jurist, Illegitimate son of: Pandolfo Malatesta III & Antonia da Barignani.
Wife of:
1. his niece and first cousin, Ginebra d'Este but killed her with poison served in an emerald cup;
2 .Polissena Sforza, illegitimate daughter of Francesco Sforza. (thiswritelife).
Natural Offspring:
Daughter of: Galeotto Toschi, Italian jurist, Illegitimate son of: Pandolfo Malatesta III & Antonia da Barignani.
Wife of:
1. his niece and first cousin, Ginebra d'Este but killed her with poison served in an emerald cup;
2 .Polissena Sforza, illegitimate daughter of Francesco Sforza. (thiswritelife).
Natural Offspring:
a. Roberto (1441-?).
" . . . One of the consequences of this domestic anarchy was the failure of regular succession, and the recurrence of abominable contests and crimes between the children of the same father. Thus Roberto il Magnifico, as he was termed, the son of Sigismond by Vanetta dei Toschi di Fano (born in 1442), succeeded in wrestling the principality of Rimini from the children of Isotta, and Sullustion and Valerio, her sons, were both successively assassinated by order of their brother in 1470, within two years of their father's death. . . ." (The Edinburgh Review, Vol. 157: 348)
" . . . One of the consequences of this domestic anarchy was the failure of regular succession, and the recurrence of abominable contests and crimes between the children of the same father. Thus Roberto il Magnifico, as he was termed, the son of Sigismond by Vanetta dei Toschi di Fano (born in 1442), succeeded in wrestling the principality of Rimini from the children of Isotta, and Sullustion and Valerio, her sons, were both successively assassinated by order of their brother in 1470, within two years of their father's death. . . ." (The Edinburgh Review, Vol. 157: 348)
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| Roberto Malatesta of Rimini the Magnificent |
Illegitimate son of: Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta di Rimini & Vannetta Toschi di Fano.
Husband of Elisabetta da Montefeltro (1464-1510), mar 1471, daughter of Federico da Montefeltro, Duca di Urbino & Battista Sforza di Pesaro
"In many ways Roberto resembled Sigismondo. He was a greatly admired condottiere and earned the name Roberto the Magnificent. He was treacherous, lecherous and cruel. In the summer of 1470 three convenient deaths made Roberto's position as lord of Rimini more secure. The bodies of his two half-brothers, Sallustio and Valerio, were found in the streets. And in the great fortress-palace built by Sigismondo, Isotta degli Atti pined away and died of a wasting disease which looked remarkably like a poisoning. Roberto was wifely given credit for three murders." (Princes of the Renaissance)
His lover was:
Elisabetta Aldobrandini da Ravenna.
(Jones, p. 251)
Natural offspring:
b. Carlo Malatesta
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