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The House of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled over Rimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as (in different periods) other lands and towns in Romagna and holding high positions in the government of cities in present-day Tuscany, Lombardy and Marche. The dynasty is considered among the most important and influential of the Late Middle Ages. In the period of maximum influence, they extended their domains along the Marche coast, up to Ascoli Piceno, Senigallia, Sansepolcro and Citerna, and to the north, on the territories of Bergamo and Brescia.[2]
| Malatesta de Malatestiis | |
|---|---|
| Noble house | |
| |
| Country | Italy San Marino |
| Founded | 1295 |
| Founder | Malatesta da Verucchio |
| Final ruler | Pandolfo IV Malatesta |
| Titles | List
|
| Estate(s) | Castel Sismondo (Rimini) Rocca Malatestiana (Cesena) |
| Dissolution | 1619 |
| Deposition | 1528 |
The family's progenitor is said to be Rodolfo of Carpegna whose fighting spirit yielded him the sobriquet mala testa ("bad head"). From 1004 onward, he built a castle on the rock of Pennabilli.
In the 11th century, the family had possessions in the region of Gabicce Mare, Gatteo, and Poggio Berni. Giovanni Malatesta (d. 1150) owned some land between rivers Marecchia and Rubicon, and was the first to settle down in Rimini. His son married into the Traversari family, who were lords of Ravenna and Rimini during the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1186, the Malatesta became lords of Torriana. Giovanni's grandsons Giovanni and Malatesta I Malatesta (1183–1248) founded the branches of the Counts of Sogliano al Rubicone (extinguished in 1640) and "della Penna" of Pennabilli and Verucchio (until 1462). In 1216, they became citizens of Rimini.
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Malatesta I became podestà (chief magistrate) of Pistoia in 1228 and of Rimini in 1239 and 1247. During the struggles between papal and imperial followers (Guelphs and Ghibellines), he supported emperor Frederick II. His son however, Malatesta da Verucchio (d. 1312), switched sides after the emperor's defeat near Parma in 1248, and became leader of the Guelphs while Guido I of Montefeltro took the lead of the Ghibellines in the Marche and Romagna regions. Malatesta da Verucchio made himself sole master of the city ("signore") after the expulsion of the family's Ghibelline rivals, the Parcitadi, in 1295. His hunchback son Giovanni Malatesta is chiefly famous because he murdered his wife Francesca da Polenta and his younger brother Paolo in 1285, having discovered them in adultery, and the murder is recorded in Dante's Inferno as well as in a story by Giovanni Boccaccio.
Malatestino I, Giovanni's brother, became capitano of the Guelphs of Bologna in 1296 and of Florence in 1303. In 1312, he destroyed his Ghibelline cousins' castle at Sogliano, and in 1312, he followed his father as lord of Rimini. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Malatestas ruled over a number of cities in the Romagna and the Marche, including Pesaro, Fano, Cesena, Fossombrone, and Cervia. Several Malatestas were condottieri at the service of various Italian states. Malatesta Novello built the Malatestiana Library at Cesena from 1447 to 1452.
The most famous was Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who was engaged in conflict with the papacy over territorial claims, as well as with his rival Federico da Montefeltro. In the end, he lost almost all of his territories, except for Rimini which he held with the support of the Republic of Venice. He had, however, built the cathedral of Rimini, the Tempio Malatestiano, from 1450. His grandson Pandolfo was eventually expelled from Rimini in 1500 by Cesare Borgia and the city was finally incorporated in the Papal States in 1528, after the last failed attempt of Pandolfo's son, Sigismondo. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the family still provided a number of condottieri; the Sogliano branch extinguished in 1640; the last of the Rimini branch was the Jesuit Roberto Malatesta (d. 1708), and the Ghiaggiolo branch extinguished with Lamberto in 1757.
1st generation:
2nd generation:
di Malatestino:
di Paolo:
di Gianciotto
di Pandolfo:
3rd generation:
di Ferrantino:
di Malatesta:
di Galeotto:
4th generation
di Pandolfino:
| Malatesta I lord of Rimini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pandolfo I lord of Rimini, Pesaro | Giovanni lord of Pesaro | Malatestino lord of Rimini | Paolo capitano in Florence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Malatesta II lord of Rimini, Pesaro BRANCH OF PESARO | Galeotto lord of Rimini, Fano, Cesena, Fossombrone BRANCH OF RIMINI | Ferrantino lord of Rimini | Ramberto claimant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pandolfo II lord of Pesaro | Ungaro lord of Jesi | Carlo I lord of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Cesena | Pandolfo III lord of Fano | Andrea lord of Fossobrone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Malatesta III lord of Pesaro, Fossombrone, Jesi | Galeotto Roberto lord of Rimini | Domenico Novello condottiero | (illeg.) Sigismondo Pandolfo lord of Rimini, Fano | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Galeazzo lord of Pesaro, Fossombrone | Carlo II lord of Pesaro, Fossombrone | Cleofa Malatesta | Theodore II Palaiologos despot of Morea | Roberto lord of Rimini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pandolfo IV lord of Rimini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sigismondo condottiero | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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