Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Encyclopedia
Cosimo I de' Medici was Duke of Florence
from 1537 to 1574, reigning as the first Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569.
, on June 12, 1519, the son of the famous condottiere Giovanni dalle Bande Nere
from Forlì
and Maria Salviati
. Cosimo came to power at 17, when the 26 year old Duke, Alessandro de' Medici, was assassinated in 1537, as Alessandro's only male child was illegitimate. Cosimo was from a different branch of the family, and so far had lived in Mugello
, and was almost unknown in Florence: however, many of the influential men in the city favored him, several of them hoping to rule through him and thereby enrich themselves at the state's expense. However, as Benedetto Varchi
famously put it "The innkeeper's reckoning was different from the glutton's." Cosimo proved strong-willed, astute and ambitious, and soon rejected the clause he had signed, which entrusted much of the power to a council of Forty-Eight.
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When the Florentine exiles heard of the death of Alessandro, they marshalled their forces with support from France
and from disgruntled neighbors of Florence. During this time, Cosimo had an illegitimate daughter, Bia (1537 – 1542), who was portrayed shortly before her premature death in a marvelous painting by Bronzino.
Toward the end of July 1537, the exiles marched into Tuscany under the leadership of Bernardo Salviati
and Piero Strozzi
. When Cosimo heard of their approach, he sent his best troops under Alessandro Vitelli
to engage the enemy, which they did at Montemurlo
, a fortress that belonged to the Nerli. After defeating the exiles' army, Vitelli stormed the fortress, where Strozzi and a few of his companions had retreated to safety. It fell after only a few hours, and Cosimo celebrated his first victory. The prominent prisoners were subsequently beheaded on the Piazza or in the Bargello
. Filippo Strozzi
's body was found with a bloody sword next to it and a note quoting Virgil
, but many believe that his suicide was faked.
In June 1537 Cosimo was recognized as head of the Florentine state by the Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V
, in exchange for help against France in the course of the Italian Wars
. With this move he firmly restored the power of the Medici
, who thereafter ruled Florence
until the death of the last of the Medici, Gian Gastone de' Medici, in 1737. The help granted to Charles V allowed him to free Tuscany from the Imperial garrisons, and to increase as much as possible its independence from the overwhelming Spanish influence in Italy.
Cosimo next turned on Siena
. With the support of the Emperor, he defeated the Sienese at the Battle of Marciano
(1554), and laid siege to Siena. Despite the inhabitants' desperate resistance, on April 17, 1555, after a 15-month siege, the city fell, its population diminished from forty thousand to eight thousand. In 1559 Montalcino
, the last redoubt of Sienese independence, was annexed to Cosimo's territories. In 1569, Pope Pius V
elevated him to the position of Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Cosimo was an authoritarian ruler and secured his position by employing a guard of Swiss mercenaries. In 1548 he managed to have his relative Lorenzino
, the last Medici claimant to Florence, assassinated in Venice
.
Cosimo also was an active builder of military structures, in an attempt to save his state from the frequent passage of foreign armies (examples are the new fortresses of Siena, Arezzo, Sansepolcro
, the new walls of Pisa
and Fivizzano
, and the strongholds of Portoferraio, on the island of Elba
, and Terra del Sole
).
He laid heavy tax burdens on his subjects. Despite his economic difficulties, he was a lavish patron of the arts and also developed the Florentine navy, which eventually took part in the Battle of Lepanto
, and which he entrusted to his new creation, the military Order of St. Stephen.
In the last 10 years of his reign, struck by the death of two of his sons by malaria
, Cosimo gave up the active rule to his son and successor Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
. He retreated to live in his villa, Villa di Castello
, outside Florence.
("offices"). Originally intended as a means of consolidating his administrative control of the various committees, agencies, and guilds established in Florence's Republican past, it now houses one of the world's most important collections of art, much of it commissioned and/or owned by various Medici. He also finished the Pitti Palace as a home for the Medici and created the magnificent Boboli Gardens
behind the Pitti. As his more prominent ancestors had been, he was also an important patron of the arts, supporting, among others, Vasari, Cellini, Pontormo
, Bronzino, the architect Lanci
, and the historians Scipione Ammirato
and Benedetto Varchi
.
A large bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I by Giambologna
, erected in 1598, still stands today in the Piazza della Signoria
, the main square of Florence.
Cosimo was also an enthusiast of alchemy
, a passion he had inherited from his grandmother Caterina Sforza
.
In 1539, he married Eleonora di Toledo
(1522 – 1562), the daughter of Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, the Spanish viceroy
of Naples
. Her face is still familiar to many because of her solemn and distant portraits by Agnolo Bronzino. The most famous of them, with her son Giovanni, hangs in the Uffizi Gallery. She provided the Medici with the Pitti Palace and seven sons to ensure male succession and four daughters to connect the Medici with noble and ruling houses in Italy. She was a patron of the new Jesuit
order, and her private chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio
was decorated by Bronzino, who had originally arrived in Florence to provide festive decor for her wedding. She died, with her sons Giovanni and Garzia, in 1562, when she was only forty; all three of them were struck down by malaria
while traveling to Pisa
.
Before his first marriage, Cosimo fathered an illegitimate daughter with an unknown woman:
With Eleonora, Cosimo fathered eleven children:
After Eleonora's death in 1562, Cosimo fathered two children with his mistress Eleonora degli Albrizzi:
In 1570, Cosimo married Camilla Martelli
(died 1590) and fathered one child with her:
Duke of Florence
Il Duca di Firenze, rendered in English as The Duke of Florence, was a title created in 1532 by Pope Clement VII. There were effectively only two dukes, Alessandro de' Medici and Cosimo de' Medici, the second duke being elevated to The Grand Duke of Tuscany, causing the Florentine title...
from 1537 to 1574, reigning as the first Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569.
Biography
Cosimo was born in FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, on June 12, 1519, the son of the famous condottiere Giovanni dalle Bande Nere
Giovanni dalle Bande Nere
Lodovico de Medici also known as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:Giovanni was born in the Northern Italian town of Forlì to Giovanni de' Medici and Caterina Sforza, one of the most famous women of the Italian Renaissance.From an early age, he demonstrated great...
from Forlì
Forlì
Forlì is a comune and city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the right of the Montone river, and is an important agricultural centre...
and Maria Salviati
Maria Salviati
Maria Salviati was an Italian noblewoman, the daughter of Lucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici and Jacopo Salviati. She married Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and was the mother of Cosimo I de Medici. Her husband died November 30, 1526, leaving her a widow at the age of 27...
. Cosimo came to power at 17, when the 26 year old Duke, Alessandro de' Medici, was assassinated in 1537, as Alessandro's only male child was illegitimate. Cosimo was from a different branch of the family, and so far had lived in Mugello
Mugello region
Mugello is a landscape north of Florence in northern Italy. It is separated by the Santerno river valley by the Futa Pass.The area was settled by a Ligurian tribe known as the Magelli, whence the name. Then the region was occupied by the Etruscans who have left many archeological traces and who...
, and was almost unknown in Florence: however, many of the influential men in the city favored him, several of them hoping to rule through him and thereby enrich themselves at the state's expense. However, as Benedetto Varchi
Benedetto Varchi
Benedetto Varchi was an Italian humanist, a historian and poet.-Biography:Born in Florence to a family that had originated at Montevarchi, he frequented the neoplatonic academy that Bernardo Rucellai organized in his garden, the Orti Oricellari; there, in spite of the fact that Rucellai was...
famously put it "The innkeeper's reckoning was different from the glutton's." Cosimo proved strong-willed, astute and ambitious, and soon rejected the clause he had signed, which entrusted much of the power to a council of Forty-Eight.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and from disgruntled neighbors of Florence. During this time, Cosimo had an illegitimate daughter, Bia (1537 – 1542), who was portrayed shortly before her premature death in a marvelous painting by Bronzino.
Toward the end of July 1537, the exiles marched into Tuscany under the leadership of Bernardo Salviati
Bernardo Salviati
Bernardo Salviati was an Italian condottiero and Roman Catholic Cardinal.Salviati was born in Florence, the son of Jacopo Salviati and Lucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici, the sister of Giovanni de' Medici. From an early age he was a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem...
and Piero Strozzi
Piero Strozzi
Piero Strozzi was an Italian military leader. He was a member of the rich Florentine family of the Strozzi.-Biography:Piero Strozzi was the son of Filippo Strozzi the Younger and Clarice de' Medici....
. When Cosimo heard of their approach, he sent his best troops under Alessandro Vitelli
Vitelli
The Vitelli, among other families so named, were a prominent family of Umbria, rulers of Città di Castello and lesser rocche. In spite of ambitious genealogies, there is no demonstrable connection with the ancient Roman Vitellius...
to engage the enemy, which they did at Montemurlo
Montemurlo
Montemurlo is a comune in the Province of Prato in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 25 km northwest of Florence and about 8 km northwest of Prato...
, a fortress that belonged to the Nerli. After defeating the exiles' army, Vitelli stormed the fortress, where Strozzi and a few of his companions had retreated to safety. It fell after only a few hours, and Cosimo celebrated his first victory. The prominent prisoners were subsequently beheaded on the Piazza or in the Bargello
Bargello
The Bargello, also known as the Bargello Palace or Palazzo del Popolo is a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence, Italy.-Terminology:...
. Filippo Strozzi
Filippo Strozzi the Younger
thumb|250px|A view of [[Palazzo Strozzi]] in Florence.Filippo Strozzi the Younger was an Italian condottiero and banker, the most famous member of the Florentine Strozzi family in the Renaissance.-Biography:...
's body was found with a bloody sword next to it and a note quoting Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, but many believe that his suicide was faked.
In June 1537 Cosimo was recognized as head of the Florentine state by the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, in exchange for help against France in the course of the Italian Wars
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...
. With this move he firmly restored the power of the Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
, who thereafter ruled Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
until the death of the last of the Medici, Gian Gastone de' Medici, in 1737. The help granted to Charles V allowed him to free Tuscany from the Imperial garrisons, and to increase as much as possible its independence from the overwhelming Spanish influence in Italy.
Cosimo next turned on Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
. With the support of the Emperor, he defeated the Sienese at the Battle of Marciano
Battle of Marciano
The Battle of Marciano occurred in the countryside of Marciano della Chiana, near Arezzo, Tuscany, on August 2, 1554, during the Italian War of 1551...
(1554), and laid siege to Siena. Despite the inhabitants' desperate resistance, on April 17, 1555, after a 15-month siege, the city fell, its population diminished from forty thousand to eight thousand. In 1559 Montalcino
Montalcino
Montalcino is a hilltown and comune in Tuscany, Italy. It is famous for its Brunello di Montalcino wine.The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is 42 km from Siena, 110 km from Florence and 150 km from Pisa...
, the last redoubt of Sienese independence, was annexed to Cosimo's territories. In 1569, Pope Pius V
Pope Pius V
Pope Saint Pius V , born Antonio Ghislieri , was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman liturgy within the Latin Church...
elevated him to the position of Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Cosimo was an authoritarian ruler and secured his position by employing a guard of Swiss mercenaries. In 1548 he managed to have his relative Lorenzino
Lorenzino de' Medici
Lorenzino de' Medici , sometimes called Lorenzaccio de' Medici, was an Italian writer remembered primarily as the assassin of Alessandro de' Medici, duke and ruler of Florence.-Biography:...
, the last Medici claimant to Florence, assassinated in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
Cosimo also was an active builder of military structures, in an attempt to save his state from the frequent passage of foreign armies (examples are the new fortresses of Siena, Arezzo, Sansepolcro
Sansepolcro
Sansepolcro , is a town and comune in Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo.Situated on the upper reaches of the Tiber river, Borgo was the birthplace of the painters Piero della Francesca, Raffaellino del Colle and Angiolo Tricca...
, the new walls of Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
and Fivizzano
Fivizzano
Fivizzano, a walled city in the province of Massa-Carrara, Tuscany , became part of the Republic of Florence in the 15th century thus gaining the Tuscan republic an important foothold in Lunigiana, a key region which Genoa, Pisa, Milan and Florence had sought to dominate since the early Middle Ages...
, and the strongholds of Portoferraio, on the island of Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
, and Terra del Sole
Terra del Sole
Terra del Sole was a town constructed in 1564 for Cosimo I de’ Medici by Baldassarre Lanci of Urbino, in what is now the Province of Forlì-Cesena, northern Italy. It was one of the first fortified cities to be constructed entirely from new on a planned grid system...
).
He laid heavy tax burdens on his subjects. Despite his economic difficulties, he was a lavish patron of the arts and also developed the Florentine navy, which eventually took part in the Battle of Lepanto
Battle of Lepanto (1571)
The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece...
, and which he entrusted to his new creation, the military Order of St. Stephen.
In the last 10 years of his reign, struck by the death of two of his sons by malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, Cosimo gave up the active rule to his son and successor Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.- Biography :...
. He retreated to live in his villa, Villa di Castello
Villa di Castello
The Villa di Castello is one of the Medici villas near Florence, Tuscany, central Italy. Its ideal design appears in a lunette painted by Giusto Utens in 1599. The property was purchased by Lorenzo de'Medici in 1477 on the site of an existing building which he had rebuilt...
, outside Florence.
Cosimo and the arts
Cosimo is perhaps best known today for the creation of the UffiziUffizi
The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...
("offices"). Originally intended as a means of consolidating his administrative control of the various committees, agencies, and guilds established in Florence's Republican past, it now houses one of the world's most important collections of art, much of it commissioned and/or owned by various Medici. He also finished the Pitti Palace as a home for the Medici and created the magnificent Boboli Gardens
Boboli Gardens
The Boboli Gardens are a park in Florence, Italy, that is home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities.-History and layout:...
behind the Pitti. As his more prominent ancestors had been, he was also an important patron of the arts, supporting, among others, Vasari, Cellini, Pontormo
Pontormo
Jacopo Carucci , usually known as Jacopo da Pontormo, Jacopo Pontormo or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine school. His work represents a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine...
, Bronzino, the architect Lanci
Baldassarre Lanci
Baldassarre Lanci was an Italian architect, inventor, theatrical set designer, and master of perspective of the Renaissance period. Born in Urbino, he spent most of his working life in Tuscany.-Early career:...
, and the historians Scipione Ammirato
Scipione Ammirato
Scipione Ammirato was an Italian historian.Ammirato was born at Lecce, in the kingdom of Naples. His father, intending him for the profession of law, sent him to study at Naples, but his own decided preference for literature prevented him from fulfilling his father's wishes...
and Benedetto Varchi
Benedetto Varchi
Benedetto Varchi was an Italian humanist, a historian and poet.-Biography:Born in Florence to a family that had originated at Montevarchi, he frequented the neoplatonic academy that Bernardo Rucellai organized in his garden, the Orti Oricellari; there, in spite of the fact that Rucellai was...
.
A large bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I by Giambologna
Giambologna
Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, incorrectly known as Giovanni da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculptor, known for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.- Biography :...
, erected in 1598, still stands today in the Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio....
, the main square of Florence.
Cosimo was also an enthusiast of alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, a passion he had inherited from his grandmother Caterina Sforza
Caterina Sforza
Caterina Sforza, Countess of Forlì was an Italian noblewoman, the illegitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan and Lucrezia Landriani, the wife of the courtier Gian Piero Landriani, a close friend of the Duke...
.
Marriage and family
Eleonora di Toledo
Eleanor of Toledo Eleanor of Toledo Eleanor of Toledo (Italian: Eleonora di Toledo (1522 – 17 December 1562), born Doña Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, was a Spanish noblewoman who was Duchess of Florence from 1539. She is credited with being the first modern first lady, or consort...
(1522 – 1562), the daughter of Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, the Spanish viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. Her face is still familiar to many because of her solemn and distant portraits by Agnolo Bronzino. The most famous of them, with her son Giovanni, hangs in the Uffizi Gallery. She provided the Medici with the Pitti Palace and seven sons to ensure male succession and four daughters to connect the Medici with noble and ruling houses in Italy. She was a patron of the new Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
order, and her private chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany...
was decorated by Bronzino, who had originally arrived in Florence to provide festive decor for her wedding. She died, with her sons Giovanni and Garzia, in 1562, when she was only forty; all three of them were struck down by malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
while traveling to Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
.
Before his first marriage, Cosimo fathered an illegitimate daughter with an unknown woman:
- Bia de' MediciBia de' MediciBia de' Medici was the illegitimate daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, born before his first marriage....
(ca. 1536 – March 1, 1542)
With Eleonora, Cosimo fathered eleven children:
- Maria (April 3, 1540 – November 19, 1557)
- FrancescoFrancesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of TuscanyFrancesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.- Biography :...
(March 25, 1541 – October 19, 1587)
Cosimo's successor as Grand Duke of Tuscany - IsabellaIsabella de' MediciIsabella Romola de' Medici was the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo....
(August 31, 1542 – July 16, 1576)
was murdered by her husband Paolo Giordano I OrsiniPaolo Giordano I OrsiniPaolo Giordano I Orsini was the first duke of Bracciano from 1560. He was a member of the Rome family of the Orsini.-Biography:...
because of infidelity - GiovanniGiovanni de' Medici (cardinal)Giovanni di Cosimo I de' Medici , also known as Giovanni de' Medici the Younger, was an Italian cardinal.-Biography:...
(September 28, 1543 – November 1562)
became Bishop of Pisa and cardinal - LucreziaLucrezia di Cosimo de MediciLucrezia de' Medici was the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici and Eleanor of Toledo.Born in Florence, she was the first wife of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Modena and Ferrara, whom she married on 3 July 1558. She moved to Ferrara only two years later, after being abandoned by her husband, who...
(June 7, 1545 – April 21, 1561)
in 1560 married of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and ModenaModenaModena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.... - Pietro (Pedricco) (August 10, 1546 – June 10, 1547)
- GarziaGarzia de' MediciGarzia de' Medici was the son of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. He was the subject of a famous painting by Bronzino when he was an infant...
(July 5, 1547 – December 12, 1562) - Antonio (1548 – 1548)
- FerdinandoFerdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of TuscanyFerdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I.-Biography:...
(July 30, 1549 – February 17, 1609)
Francesco's successor as Grand Duke of Tuscany - Anna (1553 – 1553)
- Don Pietro de' MediciDon Pietro de' MediciDon Pietro de' Medici was the youngest son of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo.Early in 1571 he went to Rome and in the spring of 1575 he went to Venice...
(June 3, 1554 – April 25, 1604)
murdered his wife Eleonora di Garzia di ToledoEleonora di Garzia di ToledoEleonora di Garzia di Toledo , more often known as "Leonora" or "Dianora", was the daughter of García Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Marquis of Villafranca, Duke of Fernandina, and the wife of Don Pietro de' Medici, a son of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany...
because of infidelity
After Eleonora's death in 1562, Cosimo fathered two children with his mistress Eleonora degli Albrizzi:
- unnamed daughter (born and died 1566)
died before baptism - GiovanniDon Giovanni de' Medicithumb|left|Don Giovanni de' Medici.Don Giovanni de' Medici was an Italian military commander and diplomat....
(1567 – 1621)
later legitimized by his father
In 1570, Cosimo married Camilla Martelli
Camilla Martelli
Camilla Martelli was the first lover and then second wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici. She was the mother of Virginia de' Medici, future Duchess of Modena.- Biography :...
(died 1590) and fathered one child with her:
- VirginiaVirginia de' MediciVirginia de' Medici was an illegitimate daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Camilla Martelli. She was the Duchess of Modena and Reggio by marriage to Cesare d'Este, Duke of Modena.-Biography:...
(May 29, 1568 – January 15, 1615)
married Cesare d'EsteCesare d'EsteCesare d'Este was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1597 until his death. During his reign, in 1598, the House of Este lost the Duchy of Ferrara.-Biography:...
, Duke of Modena
Ancestors and Descendants
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany ancestors in three generations- "Ancestors of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence", from Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
- Pictorial version of Cosimo I de Medici's Ancestors
- Descendants of Cosimo I de' MediciDescendants of Cosimo I de Medici-Descendants in three generations:...
which maps how the MediciMediciThe House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
became part of the European Royal families, eventually leading to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, future King of Great Britain through the House of StuartHouse of StuartThe House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
.
Further reading
*- Henk Th. Van Veen, Cosimo I de' Medici and his Self-Representation in Florentine Art and Culture (Cambridge, CUP, 2006).
- Gáldy, Andrea M. Cosimo I de'Medici as collector: antiquities and archaeology in sixteenth-century Florence (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).
External links
- Tales From The Crypt: Reports On The Exhumation Of The Medici Tombs In Italy, medical investigation into Cosimo's remains
- Cosimo I and his Family