SFORZA, MUZIO ATTENDOLO

born May 8, 1369, Cotignola died Jan. 4, 1424, Pescara soldier of fortune who played an important role in the wars of his period and whose son Francesco became duke of Milan. The son of Giovanni Attendolo, a prosperous farmer of the Romagna (in north-central Italy), Muzio left home in 1384 to join a mercenary band, eventually becoming squadron leader and then company commander in the service of different condottieri (mercenary captains), including the famous Alberico da Barbiano, who gave him the nickname Sforza (Force). In 1398 Muzio entered the employ of the Visconti, the rulers of Milan, but he soon left to fight first for Florence and then Ferrara. Summoned to Naples in 1412 by King Ladislas, Muzio became grand constable of the kingdom. After the death of Ladislas (1414), Muzio, during the vicissitudes of the stormy reign of Queen Joan II, was at one moment presented with lands, offices, and honours and the next imprisoned and tortured. In 1424, sent by Queen Joan against an old adversary, the condottiere Braccio da Montone, in the employ of King Alfonso V of Aragon, Muzio drowned while attempting to cross the Pescara River in east-central Italy.