Bolognino - Francis I Gonzaga

Francis I ruled Mantua as Captain-General rather than duke — the Gonzaga did not receive the marquisate until Gianfrancesco I secured it from Sigismund in 1433. The bolognino itself takes its name from Bologna, where the type originated in the thirteenth century and spread across northern Italian signorie as a reliable small-denomination silver for regional trade. Francis I's tenure coincided with the shifting Visconti-led conflicts that repeatedly drew Mantua into condottiere arrangements, and much of the coinage of this period functioned as much as military payment as civic currency.