 Francesco spent most of his life as a military officer in the Netherlands, although he returned to Italy a number of times, usually as a Burgundian ambassador.He was sent by his father to the Burgundian court in 1444 to be raised and educated with Charles the Bold, and later given the title "Marquis of Ferrara".It is possible Francesco was killed in 1476 at the Grandson battlefield near Courcelles, in today's Belgium.