SFORZA (Francis), natural son to the former; an able statesman, and a renowned general. He served under his father against Alphonzo king of Arragon; and, though illegitimate, he succeeded to his estate, and to his post in the army, under Jane II. queen of Naples. He afterwards attached himself to René duke of Anjou, her successor. The reputation of his valour engaged the pope, the Venetians, and the Florentines, to appoint him their general in the war against the duke of Milan, though he had married his daughter. The duke dying in 1447, the Milanese chose Sforza to be their general against the Venetians; and, after many signal services performed for them, he turned his arms against them, laid siege to Milan, and obliged them to acknowledge him duke of Milan. The dukedom, by hereditary right, belonged to Charles duke of Orleans; but Louis XI. who hated the duke of Orleans, entered into a treaty with Sforza, and, in 1464, transferred to him all the claims of France to Milan and Genoa; upon which he made himself master of the latter. Died in 1466.