Francesco Sforza’s Friends and Foes. Techniques of Characterization in Filelfo’s Sphortias

This article analyzes techniques of character portrayal and its functionality in the humanist Francesco Filelfo’s Sphortias, a Neo-Latin epic poem about the conquest of the Duchy of Milan (1447-1450) by Francesco Sforza, who subsequently became the author’s major patron. The article focuses on two clusters of characters who have an obvious relationship to the eponymous hero of the poem: Sforza’s personal lieutenants on the one hand, and the leaders of Venice, Sforza’s major adversary during the war, on the other. By means of intratextual and intertextual allusions, as well as by reworking historical data, Filelfo portrays some members of the first group in a negative way, while others in the second group are cast in a favourable light. The reason for such unexpected characterization of the individuals in question is not their actual behaviour during the conflict, but their relationship with Sforza at the time of the poem’s composition.