Overview
Spinetta Malaspina II, Duke of Gravina in Apulia (died 1398) was an Italian nobleman. Son of Galeotto I Malaspina, he was the third Marquis of Fosdinovo.
Biography
Probably born at Fosdinovo, Spinetta II Malaspina was the son of the Marquis of Fosdinovo Galeotto I Malaspina (1355-1367) and a nephew of Spinetta Malaspina, Lord of Fosdinovo (1340-1352). On the death of his father, he and his brothers Gabriele and Leonardo Malaspina were raised by their mother Argentina Grimaldi, a Genoese noblewoman who had previously been the widow of the marquis Morello Malaspina of Giovagallo.
In the name of his sons, he brought a case before Emperor Charles IV against relatives who, taking advantage of Galeotti's death, had stripped his family of lands and castles. On 18 April 1369 the emperor followed the appeal of Argentina by appointing three doctors and a lawyer from the Roman Curia to resolve the dispute.
Regaining the possession of their ancestral lands, the sons Gabriele, Spinetta, and Leonardo remained under the tutelage of Argentina until they reached an age that would allow them to govern.
Of these, Spinetta and Leonardo stood out in particular, who were appointed knights on the occasion of the succession of Antonio and Bartolomeo II della Scala to the lordship of Verona in 1375. The two brothers lived in Verona until 1381, the year in which Antonio della Scala had his brother Bartolomeo killed, and then charged the murder to several courtiers, including the two Malaspina. Spinetta, banned from Verona along with his brother, became a "captain of fortune", fighting under different armies, including that of Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
