327) Bianca Maria Sforza

Bianca Maria Sforza (1472 – 1510). Queen of Germany and Italy, and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire as the third spouse of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan by his second wife, Bona of Savoy.

She had two brothers: Gian Galeazzo Sforza and Hermes Maria Sforza, Marquis of Tortona, and a sister, Anna Maria Sforza. Caterina Sforza was her half-sister.

In 1485, the engagement between Bianca and John Corvinus, the only (though illegitimate) son of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, was formally announced. The marriage by proxy was signed on 25 November 1487, and according to the terms of the contract, Bianca received several Hungarian counties. However, due to the opposition and intrigues of Queen Beatrix, wife of King Matthias, the formal marriage never took place.

In 1494 in Hall, Tyrol, Bianca married her second husband, the widowed King Maximilian I of Germany.