Background
He was the second son of Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice d"Este.
He was the second son of Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice d"Este.
Francesco was assigned to an ecclesiastical career. His father was imprisoned in Loches by Louis XII of France, and died in 1508, but when Charles V re-conquered Milan from the French in 1521, Francesco was appointed its duke, the last of the family to hold that title. His sovereignty, however, remained circumscribed by the military occupation of Milan by Spanish troops.
He returned to his state, depleted by twenty years of combat, promoting a cultural and economic recovery.
Francesco fought at the Battle of Bicocca, on the side of the emperor, in 1522. In 1526 he switched sides, joining the League of Cognac, together with Francis I of France, Pope Clement VII and the Republic of Florence, and was besieged in the Castello Sforzesco.
The union remained childless. His death in 1535 sparked the Italian War of 1535.
His half-brother Giovanni Paolo reclaimed briefly the Duchy of Milan after his death, but died in the same year under mysterious circumstances.
He was the last member of the Sforza family to rule Milan.