Ferrante II Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla

Who was Ferrante II Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla?

Ferrante II Gonzaga was Count of Guastalla and, from 1621, Duke of Guastalla.

He was the son of Cesare I Gonzaga, Count of Guastalla and Duke of Amalfi, and Camilla Borromeo. He succeeded his father in 1575. On 2 July 1621, the County of Guastalla was elevated to a Duchy and Ferrante was subsequently deemed a Duke.

Ferrante played a part in the War of the Mantuan Succession when, as a distant Gonzaga cousin, he claimed the Duchy of Mantua after the extinction of the direct male line of the House of Gonzaga in December 1627. He was nominally supported by Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II, who really sought to re-attach the Duchy of Mantua to the Holy Roman Empire. His attempt failed as the French candidate Charles of Nevers became the new Duke.