Malatesta dei Sonetti

Malatesta IV (or III) Malatesta (also known as Malatesta dei Sonetti; 1370 - 19 December 1429) was an Italian condottiero, poet and lord of Pesaro, Fossombrone, Gradara, Jesi, Narni and other fiefs in Italy.

Born in Pesaro, he was the only son of Pandolfo II Malatesta and his second wife Paola Orsini. He was given the nickname "dei sonetti" ("of the Sonnets") due to his love for literature and fine arts. He married Elisabetta da Varano, who gave him seven children : Galeazzo, Carlo, Galeotto, Paola, Pandolfo, Cleofa and Taddea.

He became lord of Pesaro in 1385. He was hired by pope Urban VI to fight against antipope Clement VII. In 1390 he fought against the Bolognesi led by Giovanni da Barbiano and later was hired by Republic of Florence against the Visconti of Milan. In 1392 he was excommunicated by the pope for having conquered Todi, namely a Papal possession.

He 1394 he served antipope Benedict XIII, who named him captain general of Bologna, to fight against pope Boniface VIII. During the conflict, he destroyed several towns in Umbria and the Latium, and took control Narni and Orte for himself as podestà. Later he made peace with Boniface. In 1404 Malatesta was hired by the Republic of Venice, which assigned him some 20,000 troops to fight against the Carraresi of Padua. However, the Venetian troops was defeated and returned to Pesaro in the late 1404, after which he made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

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