| Malatesta de Malatestiis | |
|---|---|
| Noble house | |
 | |
| Country | Italy San Marino |
| Founded | 1295; 731 years ago (1295) |
| Founder | Malatesta da Verucchio |
| Final ruler | Pandolfo IV Malatesta |
| Titles | List
|
| Estate(s) | Castel Sismondo (Rimini) Rocca Malatestiana (Cesena) |
| Dissolution | 1619 (1619) |
| Deposition | 1528 (1528) |
TheHouse of Malatesta was an Italian family that ruled overRimini from 1295 until 1500, as well as (in different periods) other lands and towns inRomagna and holding high positions in the government of cities in present-dayTuscany,Lombardy andMarche. The dynasty is considered among the most important and influential of theLate Middle Ages. In the period of maximum influence, they extended their domains along the Marche coast, up toAscoli Piceno,Senigallia,Sansepolcro andCiterna, and to the north, on the territories ofBergamo andBrescia.[2]
The family's progenitor is said to be Rodolfo ofCarpegna whose fighting spirit yielded him the sobriquetmala testa ("bad head"). From 1004 onward, he built a castle on the rock ofPennabilli.
In the 11th century, the family had possessions in the region ofGabicce Mare,Gatteo, andPoggio Berni. Giovanni Malatesta (d. 1150) owned some land between riversMarecchia andRubicon, and was the first to settle down in Rimini. His son married into theTraversari family, who were lords ofRavenna and Rimini during the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1186, the Malatesta became lords ofTorriana. Giovanni's grandsons Giovanni and Malatesta I Malatesta (1183–1248) founded the branches of the Counts ofSogliano al Rubicone (extinguished in 1640) and "della Penna" of Pennabilli andVerucchio (until 1462). In 1216, they became citizens of Rimini.
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Malatesta I becamepodestà (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 emperorFrederick II. His son however,Malatesta da Verucchio (d. 1312), switched sides after the emperor's defeat near Parma in 1248, and became leader of theGuelphs while Guido I ofMontefeltro took the lead of the Ghibellines in theMarche andRomagna 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 sonGiovanni Malatesta is chiefly famous because he murdered his wifeFrancesca da Polenta and his younger brotherPaolo in 1285, having discovered them in adultery, and the murder is recorded inDante'sInferno as well as in a story byGiovanni Boccaccio.
Malatestino I, Giovanni's brother, becamecapitano of the Guelphs ofBologna in 1296 and ofFlorence 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, includingPesaro,Fano,Cesena,Fossombrone, andCervia. Several Malatestas werecondottieri at the service of various Italian states.Malatesta Novello built theMalatestiana Library at Cesena from 1447 to 1452.
The most famous wasSigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who was engaged in conflict with the papacy over territorial claims, as well as with his rivalFederico da Montefeltro. In the end, he lost almost all of his territories, except for Rimini which he held with the support of theRepublic of Venice. He had, however, built the cathedral of Rimini, theTempio Malatestiano, from 1450. His grandsonPandolfo was eventually expelled from Rimini in 1500 byCesare 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 theJesuit Roberto Malatesta (d. 1708), and the Ghiaggiolo branch extinguished with Lamberto in 1757.
| 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 | DomenicoNovello 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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