1.
Giusto Utens
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Giusto Utens or Justus Utens was a Flemish painter who is remembered for the series of Medicean villas in lunette form that he painted for the third grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I, in 1599–1602. He moved to Carrara about 1580, where he married, of the seventeen Utens paintings, fourteen have survived, and were displayed in the history museum of Florence, the Museo di Firenze comera, until its closure in 2010. They were transferred in 2014 to a new permanent gallery at Petraia Villa Medici, Villa Medici in Fiesole Ballerini, Isabella. The Medici Villas, The Complete Guide
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Tuscany
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Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is considered a nation within a nation. Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited destination in the region. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val dOrcia are also internationally renowned, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year. In 2012, the city of Florence was the worlds 89th most visited city, roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north and east, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany has a western coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres, surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds of the total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres, and mountains. Plains occupy 8. 4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres —mostly around the valley of the River Arno, many of Tuscanys largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks, following this, the Villanovan culture saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms. City-states developed in the late Villanovan before Orientalization occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose, the Etruscans created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory, throughout their existence, they lost territory to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts. Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks, the cultures of Greece, one reason for its eventual demise was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, however, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, in the years following 572, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
4.
Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
5.
Bologna
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Bologna is the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, located in the heart of an area of about one million. The first settlements back to at least 1000 BC. The city has been a centre, first under the Etruscans. Home to the oldest university in the world, University of Bologna, founded in 1088, Bologna is also an important transportation crossroad for the roads and trains of Northern Italy, where many important mechanical, electronic and nutritional industries have their headquarters. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city, Bologna is home to numerous prestigious cultural, economic and political institutions as well as one of the most impressive trade fair districts in Europe. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, the city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the wealthiest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country, after a long decline, Bologna was reborn in the 5th century under Bishop Petronius. According to legend, St. Petronius built the church of S. Stefano. After the fall of Rome, Bologna was a stronghold of the Exarchate of Ravenna in the Po plain. In 728, the city was captured by the Lombard king Liutprand, the Germanic conquerors formed a district called addizione longobarda near the complex of S. Stefano. Charlemagne stayed in this district in 786, traditionally said to be founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely considered to be the first university. The university originated as a centre of study of medieval Roman law under major glossators. It numbered Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca among its students, the medical school is especially famous. In the 12th century, the families engaged in continual internecine fighting. Troops of Pope Julius II besieged Bologna and sacked the artistic treasures of his palace, in 1530, in front of Saint Petronio Church, Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII. Then a plague at the end of the 16th century reduced the population from 72,000 to 59,000, the population later recovered to a stable 60, 000–65,000. However, there was also great progress during this era, in 1564, the Piazza del Nettuno and the Palazzo dei Banchi were built, along with the Archiginnasio, the centre of the University
6.
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Francesco I was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 until his death in 1587. He was the grand duke of the house of Medici. Born in Florence, he was the son of Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleanor of Toledo, by all reports, it was not a happy marriage. Joanna was homesick for her native Austria, and Francesco was neither charming nor faithful, Joanna died at the age of thirty one in 1578. Soon after the Grand Duchess Joanna had died, Francesco went on to marry his Venetian mistress, Bianca Cappello, after disposing of her husband. Because of the quick remarriage and similar occurrences among the Medici, rumours spread that Francesco, Francesco reportedly built and decorated Villa di Pratolino for Bianca. She was, however, not always popular among Florentines, Francesco also adopted Biancas daughter by her first marriage, Pellegrina. Like his father, Francesco was often despotic, but while Cosimo had known how to maintain Florentine independence, Francesco acted more like a vassal of the Habsburgs of Austria and he continued the heavy taxation of his subjects to pay large sums to the empire. He had an amateurs interest in manufacturing and sciences and he founded porcelain and stoneware manufacture, but these did not thrive until after his death. He continued his fathers patronage of the arts, supporting artists, Francesco and Bianca died on 19 and 20 October both at the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano. Although the original death certificates mention malaria, it has been speculated that the couple was poisoned, possibly by Francescos brother. Investigations of Francescos facial hair that were found among his remains have detected low levels of arsenic, testing showed proof that support the theory of arsenic-poisoning. The same findings were detected in organs from Francesco and it is believed that Francesco and Bianca were given small doses of arsenic for several days until it killed them. But the doses were too small and given over a too short period of time to be detected in Francescos facial hair. In this way their symptoms, such as fever, stomach-cramps and vomiting, easily could be misinterpreted as some kind of infection, Francesco was succeeded by his younger brother, Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1857, all members of the Medici family were exhumed and reburied in the place where they still lie today and these are the features of a right sided stroke possibly within the internal capsule. The presence of the orthopaedic footwear suggests that this stroke happened significantly before his death, during life, in his official portraits, the Grand Duke was always depicted as being in perfect physical condition. The cause of his stroke is not known but malaria is known to cause this condition There is a portrait of Francesco as a child by Bronzino
7.
Bianca Cappello
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Bianca Cappello was an Italian noblewoman who was the mistress, and afterward the second wife, of Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Her husband officially made her his consort and she was born in Venice, in 1548, the daughter of Bartolomeo Cappello and Pellegrina Morosini, a member of one of the richest and noblest Venetian families, and was noted for her great beauty. At the age of fifteen she fell in love with Pietro Bonaventuri, a young Florentine clerk in the firm of Salviati, and on 28 November 1563 escaped with him to Florence, in 1564 she had a daughter named Virginia, or, according to other sources, Pellegrina. The Venetian government made every effort to have Bianca arrested and brought back but the Grand Duke Cosimo I intervened in her favour, although already married to Joanna of Austria, Francesco seduced Bianca and gave her jewels, money and other presents. Bonaventuri, Biancas husband, was given employment and consoled himself with other ladies until, in 1572. It is possible that Bianca and Francesco were involved, on the death of Cosimo in 1574 Francesco succeeded to the grand duchy, he now installed Bianca in a palace close to his own and outraged his wife by flaunting his mistress before her. At this point, Francesco had no son to inherit the duchy, a child by Bianca, though illegitimate, would be a potential heir. In 1576 she duly gave birth to Don Antonio de Medici, in 1578 Joanna died, a few months later Francesco secretly married Bianca, and on 10 June 1579, the marriage was publicly announced, and Antonio acknowledged as the Dukes son. Two days later, on the 12 June, Bianca was crowned the Grand Duchess of Tuscany at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Biancas position, however, was still not secure. The heir remained the young Grand Prince Philip, her own son by Francesco, though acknowledged, remained illegitimate, in 1582, however, Grand Prince Philip died. Francesco immediately began working on securing the succession for his son, Antonio, having him legitimated and declared heir apparent. In October 1587, at the Villa Medici in Poggio a Caiano, Francesco and Bianca died on 19 and 20 October, possibly poisoned, or as some historians believe, from malarial fever. As Bianca wasnt a member of the Medici family, Cardinal Ferdinand didnt allow her body to be buried in the Medici family tombs. Instead, Bianca was buried in a grave under the church of St. Lorenzo. The biography of Bianca Cappello was used by Thomas Middleton for his tragedy Women Beware Women. James Chater, Bianca Cappello and Music, in Renaissance Studies in Honor of Craig Hugh Smyth, vol. i, 569–79 Samuele Romanin, Lezioni di storia Veneta, thurston, H. T. Colby, F. M. eds. article name needed
8.
Bernardo Buontalenti
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Bernardo Buontalenti, byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole, was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist. He entered the service of the Medici as a youth and remained with them the rest of his life and he executed a number of miniatures for Francesco, the son of Cosimo I. He was also a mechanic, and an excellent mathematician. In 1562 he travelled to Spain and his first known work is from 1568, the Palazzo di Bianca Cappello in Florence. In the Uffizi Palace of Florence, he built a great court stage and he designed costumes for the Medici extravaganzas. Despite his successes, his prodigality led Buontalenti to financial ruin, dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. York St. #4, Covent Garden, London, Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18,2007, George Bell, Bernardo Buontalenti and the Grotta Grande of Boboli, Florence, Maschietto Editore,2012
9.
Mannerism
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Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, lasting until about 1580 in Italy, when the Baroque style began to replace it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century, stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the harmonious ideals associated with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo. Where High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities. Mannerism favors compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting, Mannerism in literature and music is notable for its highly florid style and intellectual sophistication. The definition of Mannerism and the phases within it continue to be a subject of debate among art historians, for example, some scholars have applied the label to certain early modern forms of literature and music of the 16th and 17th centuries. The term is used to refer to some late Gothic painters working in northern Europe from about 1500 to 1530. Mannerism also has been applied by analogy to the Silver Age of Latin literature, the word mannerism derives from the Italian maniera, meaning style or manner. Like the English word style, maniera can either indicate a type of style or indicate an absolute that needs no qualification. Vasari was also a Mannerist artist, and he described the period in which he worked as la maniera moderna, james V. Mirollo describes how bella maniera poets attempted to surpass in virtuosity the sonnets of Petrarch. This notion of bella maniera suggests that artists thus inspired looked to copying and bettering their predecessors, in essence, bella maniera utilized the best from a number of source materials, synthesizing it into something new. As a stylistic label, Mannerism is not easily defined, “High Renaissance” connoted a period distinguished by harmony, grandeur and the revival of classical antiquity. The term Mannerist was redefined in 1967 by John Shearman following the exhibition of Mannerist paintings organised by Fritz Grossmann at Manchester City Art Gallery in 1965. The label “Mannerism” was used during the 16th century to comment on social behaviour, however, for later writers, such as the 17th-century Gian Pietro Bellori, la maniera was a derogatory term for the perceived decline of art after Raphael, especially in the 1530s and 1540s. From the late 19th century on, art historians have used the term to describe art that follows Renaissance classicism. By the end of the High Renaissance, young artists experienced a crisis, no more difficulties, technical or otherwise, remained to be solved. The young artists needed to find a new goal, and they sought new approaches, at this point Mannerism started to emerge. The new style developed between 1510 and 1520 either in Florence, or in Rome, or in both cities simultaneously and this period has been described as a natural extension of the art of Andrea del Sarto, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Michelangelo from an early age had developed a style of his own, one of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and subsequent artists attempted to imitate it
10.
House of Medici
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The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until they were able to fund the Medici Bank. The bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century, the Medici produced three Popes of the Catholic Church—Pope Leo X, Pope Clement VII, and Pope Leo XI, two regent queens of France—Catherine de Medici and Marie de Medici. In 1531, the family became hereditary Dukes of Florence, in 1569, the duchy was elevated to a grand duchy after territorial expansion. They ruled the Grand Duchy of Tuscany from its inception until 1737, the grand duchy witnessed degrees of economic growth under the earlier grand dukes, but by the time of Cosimo III de Medici, Tuscany was fiscally bankrupt. Their wealth and influence initially derived from the textile trade guided by the guild of the Arte della Lana. They, along with families of Italy—such as the Visconti and Sforza of Milan, the Este of Ferrara. The Medici Bank was one of the most prosperous and most respected institutions in Europe, there are some estimates that the Medici family were the wealthiest family in Europe for a time. From this base, they acquired political power initially in Florence and later in wider Italy, a notable contribution to the profession of accounting was the improvement of the general ledger system through the development of the double-entry bookkeeping system for tracking credits and debits. The Medici family were among the earliest businesses to use the system, the Medici family came from the agricultural Mugello region, north of Florence, being mentioned for the first time in a document of 1230. The origin of the name is uncertain, Medici is the plural of medico, also written del medico or delmedigo, meaning, medical doctor. It has been suggested that the derived from one Medico di Potrone, a castellan of Potrone in the late 11th century. The dynasty began with the founding of the Medici Bank, until the late 14th century, prior to the Medici, the leading family of Florence was the House of Albizzi. In 1293 the Ordinances of Justice were enacted, which became the constitution of the republic of Florence throughout the Italian Renaissance. The citys numerous luxurious palazzi were becoming surrounded by townhouses, built by the ever prospering merchant class. In 1298, one of the leading banking families of Europe, the main challengers to the Albizzi family were the Medicis, first under Giovanni de Medici, later under his son Cosimo di Giovanni de Medici and great-grandson, Lorenzo de Medici. The Medici controlled the Medici bank—then Europes largest bank—and an array of other enterprises in Florence, in 1433, the Albizzi managed to have Cosimo exiled. The next year, however, a pro-Medici Signoria was elected, the Medici became the citys leading family, a position they would hold for the next three centuries. Cosimo and Lorenzo rarely held official posts but were the unquestioned leaders, some examples of these families include the Bardi, Salviati, Cavalcanti, and the Tornabuoni
11.
Giambologna
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Giambologna — born Jean Boulogne — was a Flemish sculptor based in Italy, celebrated for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style. Giambologna was born in Douai, Flanders, in 1529, after youthful studies in Antwerp with the architect-sculptor Jacques du Broeucq, he moved to Italy in 1550, and studied in Rome. Giambologna made detailed study of the sculpture of classical antiquity and he was also much influenced by Michelangelo, but developed his own Mannerist style, with perhaps less emphasis on emotion and more emphasis on refined surfaces, cool elegance and beauty. Pope Pius IV gave Giambologna his first major commission, the colossal bronze Neptune, Giambologna spent his most productive years in Florence, where he had settled in 1553. He was interred in a chapel he designed himself in the Santissima Annunziata, Giambologna became well known for a fine sense of action and movement, and a refined, differentiated surface finish. Among his most famous works are the Mercury, poised on one foot, the god raises one arm to point heavenwards, in a gesture borrowed from the repertory of classical rhetoric that is characteristic of Giambolognas maniera. His other most famous work is the Rape of the Sabine Women a marble sculpture which is featured prominently in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florences Piazza della Signoria and this impressive sculpture which includes three full figures was carved from a single piece of marble. Giambologna carved it without a subject in mind, and the name Rape of the Sabine Women was given after it was in place in the Loggia, the sculpture was produced for Francesco Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Another of his marbles, Hercules Slaying a Centaur was also placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi in 1599 and he created allegories strongly promoting Medicean political propaganda, such as Florence defeating Pisa and, less overtly, Samson Slaying a Philistine, for Francesco de Medici. The equestrian statue of Cosimo I de Medici also in Florence, was completed by his studio assistant Pietro Tacca. Giambologna provided as well as sculptures for garden grottos and fountains in the Boboli Gardens of Florence and at Pratolino. For the grotto of the Villa Medicea of Castello he sculpted a series of studies of animals, from life. Small bronze reductions of many of his sculptures were prized by connoisseurs at the time and ever since, italian Art, Florence, Giunti Gruppo Editoriale,2000, ISBN 88-09-01771-4. Giambologna, 1529-1608, sculptor to the Medici, an exhibition organised by the Arts Council of Great Britain etc. catalogue edited by Charles Avery, london, Arts Council of Great Britain,1978, ISBN 0-7287-0180-4. Biography with a portrait on kfki. hu Giambologna on mega. it Model of a River God, archived from the original on 2009-07-09. Archived from the original on 2011-03-12, a Tour of the location of Giambolognas major works in Florence
12.
Michel de Montaigne
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Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Lord of Montaigne was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight, in his own lifetime, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman than as an author. In time, however, Montaigne would come to be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time and he is most famously known for his skeptical remark, Que sçay-je. Much of modern literary non-fiction has found inspiration in Montaigne and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his balance of intellectual knowledge. Montaigne was born in the Aquitaine region of France, on the family estate Château de Montaigne, in a town now called Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne, close to Bordeaux. The family was wealthy, his great-grandfather, Ramon Felipe Eyquem, had made a fortune as a herring merchant and had bought the estate in 1477. His father, Pierre Eyquem, Seigneur of Montaigne, was a French Catholic soldier in Italy for a time and had also been the mayor of Bordeaux. Although there were several families bearing the patronym Eyquem in Guyenne and his mother, Antoinette López de Villanueva, was a convert to Protestantism. His maternal grandfather, Pedro Lopez, from Zaragoza, was from a wealthy Marrano family who had converted to Catholicism and his maternal grandmother, Honorette Dupuy, was from a Catholic family in Gascony, France. His mother lived a part of Montaignes life near him, and even survived him. Montaignes relationship with his father, however, is reflected upon. Montaignes education began in childhood and followed a pedagogical plan that his father had developed, refined by the advice of the latters humanist friends. After these first spartan years, Montaigne was brought back to the château, the objective was for Latin to become his first language. The intellectual education of Montaigne was assigned to a German tutor and his father hired only servants who could speak Latin, and they also were given strict orders always to speak to the boy in Latin. The same rule applied to his mother, father, and servants, who were obliged to use only Latin words he himself employed, Montaignes Latin education was accompanied by constant intellectual and spiritual stimulation. He was familiarized with Greek by a method that employed games, conversation. The atmosphere of the upbringing, although designed by highly refined rules taken under advisement by his father, created in the boys life the spirit of liberty. Duty by an unforced will, and of my own voluntary motion. without any severity or constraint and he then began his study of law at the University of Toulouse in 1546 and entered a career in the local legal system
13.
Villa d'Este
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The Villa dEste is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Villa was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II dEste, second son of Alfonso I dEste, the Duke of Ferrara and grandson of Pope Alexander VI, along with Lucrezia Borgia. The Este family had been lords of Ferrara since 1393, and were famous as patrons of the arts, as a second son, Ippolito was destined for a career in the church, he was named archbishop of Milan when he was only ten years old. At the age of 27, he was sent to the French court, where he became an advisor to the French King, Francis I, at the age of thirty, at the request of the King, Pope Paul III made dEste a cardinal. Thanks to his ecclesiastical and royal connections, he one of the wealthiest cardinals of the time. He was a patron of the arts, supporting among others the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, the musician Pierluigi da Palestrina. While his income was enormous, he was always in debt, the new French King, Henry II, sent him as an envoy to Rome, where he played a major role in the social and political life of the city. His first candidacy for the position, in 1549, with the support of the French King, was blocked by the Habsburg Emperor. DEste promptly withdrew his own candidacy, endorsed the Habsburg candidate and this new title suited dEste, because he was already a passionate collector of antiquities, and it gave him jurisdiction over the site of Hadrians villa and other sites just being excavated. He did not give up his ambition to become Pope and he was five times a candidate for Pope, but was never selected. Tivoli had been a summer residence since ancient Roman times due to its altitude, cooler temperatures and its proximity to the Villa Hadriana. The position of Governor of Tivoli came with a residence located in a former convent of the Benedictine order. In 1256 it had donated to the Franciscan order. He obtained an abundant supply of marble and statuary from the ruins of Hadrians villa and he did not return to Tivoli until the summer of 1555. In September 1555, however, he was accused of simony by Pope Paul IV, the Pope died in 1559, and the new pontiff, Pope Pius IV, rehabilitated dEste and restored his title as governor of Tivoli. Construction began when he returned in July 1560, more land was needed and acquired through 1569. The vast construction site required the demolition of houses, public buildings, in 1568 the local residents filed twelve different lawsuits against the Cardinal, but did not deter him from his project. Between 1563 and 1565, an amount of earth was excavated and used to construct new terraces, arcades, grottos, niches
14.
Stefano della Bella
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Stefano della Bella was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes. He left 1052 prints, and several drawings, but only one known painting. He was born and died in Florence, Italy and he was born at Florence to a family of artists, and was apprenticed to a goldsmith, but became an engraver working briefly under Orazio Vanni and then Cesare Dandini. He studied etching under Remigio Cantagallina, who had also been the instructor of Jacques Callot, who had lived in Florence 1612-1621 and he also made trips to Florence to record and assist the court festivities of the Medici. In this period his style developed from Mannerist to Baroque, in Rome, he created a series of six prints forming a long,2. 5-meter panel, showing the Polish Ambassador’s Ceremonial Entry into Rome in 1633. He also created a number of prints of views of Rome and he was also influenced by Rembrandt and other Dutch printmakers, and made trips to Holland and North Africa. The majority of his prints date from the years in Paris, he had arrived four years after the death of Callot and his ornament prints were very innovative, seeming to look forward to the Rococo. The road over the bridge and in front of the platform with the statue of Henri IV is crowded with carriages, wagons, people. Among the 451 distinct figures are beggars, gypsies, hurdy-gurdy players, children and tooth-pullers, with horses, donkeys, dogs and he continued to send plates to Paris publishers. He is known to have illustrated some discoveries for Galileo, and depicted Hansken the famous elephant, in 1661 he appears to have suffered a stroke, after which he produced little work. Antonio Francesco Lucini was one of his pupils in Florence,3, pp. 631–634, in The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner. Also at Oxford Art Online, subscription required, reed, Sue Welsh & Wallace, Richard, editors. Italian Etchers of the Renaissance and Baroque, Museum of Fine Arts, ISBN 0-87846-306-2 or 304-4 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Stefano Della Bella, Catalogue Raisonné, with Introduction and Additions by Phyllis Dearborn Massar, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 159-176. Works by Stefano della Bella at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Finding aid for Stefano della Bella Etchings at the Getty Research Institute
15.
Villa Medici
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The Villa Medici is a mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, a musical evocation of its garden fountains features in Ottorino Respighis Fontane di Roma. In ancient times, the site of the Villa Medici was part of the gardens of Lucullus, which passed into the hands of the Imperial family with Messalina, who was murdered in the villa. In 1564, when the nephews of Cardinal Giovanni Ricci of Montepulciano acquired the property, the new proprietors commissioned Annibale Lippi, the late architects son, to continue work. Interventions by Michelangelo are a tradition, in 1576, the property was acquired by Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici, who finished the structure to designs by Bartolomeo Ammanati. A series of grand gardens recalled the botanical gardens created at Pisa and at Florence by the Cardinals father Cosimo I de Medici, sheltered in plantations of pines, cypresses and oaks. Ferdinando de Medici had a studiolo, a retreat for study and contemplation, now these rooms look onto Borghese gardens but would then have had views over the Roman countryside. An engraving detailing the arrangement of statues prior to 1562 was documented by Galassi Alghisi, then the antiquities from the Villa Medici formed the nucleus of the collection of antiquities in the Uffizi, and Florence began to figure on the European Grand Tour. The fountain in the front of the Villa Medici is formed from a red granite vase from ancient Rome and it was designed by Annibale Lippi in 1589. The view from the Villa looking over the fountain towards St Peters in the distance has been much painted, like the Villa Borghese that adjoins them, the villas gardens were far more accessible than the formal palaces such as Palazzo Farnese in the heart of the city. For a century and a half the Villa Medici was one of the most elegant and worldly settings in Rome, the seat of the Grand Dukes embassy to the Holy See. When the male line of the Medici died out in 1737, in this manner Napoleon Bonaparte came into possession of the Villa Medici, which he transferred to the French Academy at Rome. Subsequently it housed the winners of the prestigious Prix de Rome, under distinguished directors including Ingres and Balthus, in 1656, Christina, Queen of Sweden was said to have fired one of the cannon on top of the Castel SantAngelo without aiming it first. The wayward ball hit the villa, destroying one of the Florentine lilies that decorated the facade, in 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte moved the French Academy in Rome to the Villa Medici with the intention of preserving an institution once threatened by the French Revolution. At first, the villa and its gardens were in a sad state, in this way, he hoped to retain for young French artists the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance. The young architect Auguste-Henri-Victor Grandjean de Montigny undertook the renovation, the competition was interrupted during the first World War, and Benito Mussolini confiscated the villa in 1941, forcing the Academy of France in Rome to withdraw until 1945. The competition and the Prix de Rome were eliminated in 1968 by André Malraux, the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Institut de France then lost their guardianship of the Villa Medici to the Ministry of Culture and the French State. Between 1961 and 1967, the artist Balthus, then at the head of the Academy, carried out a vast restoration campaign of the palace and its gardens, Balthus participated “hands on” in all the phases of the construction
16.
Boboli Gardens
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The Boboli Gardens is 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. The Gardens, directly behind the Pitti Palace, the seat of the Medici grand dukes of Tuscany at Florence, are some of the first and most familiar formal 16th-century Italian gardens. The openness of the garden, with a view of the city, was unconventional for its time. The gardens were very lavish, considering no access was allowed to anyone outside the immediate Medici family, the Boboli Gardens were laid out for Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de Medici. The name is a curruption of Bogoli, a family from whom land had been bought to construct the garden, the elaborate architecture of the grotto in the courtyard that separates the palace from its garden is by Buontalenti. The garden lacks a water source. To water the plants in the garden, a conduit was built from the nearby Arno River to feed water into an irrigation system. The primary axis, centered on the rear façade of the palace, at the center of the amphitheater and rather dwarfed by its position is the Ancient Egyptian Boboli obelisk brought from the Villa Medici at Rome. This primary axis terminates in a fountain of Neptune, with the sculpture of Neptune by Stoldo Lorenzi visible against the skyline as a visitor climbs the slope, Giulio Parigi laid out the long secondary axis, the Viottolone or Cyprus Road at a right angle to the primary axis. In 1617, Parigi constructed the Grotto of Vulcan along this axis, the gardens have passed through several stages of enlargement and restructuring work. They were enlarged in the 17th century to their present extent of 45,000 meters², the Boboli Gardens have come to form an outdoor museum of garden sculpture that includes Roman antiquities as well as 16th and 17th century works. In the first phase of building, the amphitheatre was excavated in the hillside behind the palace, the small Grotto of Madama, and the Large Grotto, were begun by Vasari and completed by Ammannati and Buontalenti between 1583 and 1593. Even while undergoing restoration work in 2015, the Large Grottos statues are still on display, decorated internally and externally with stalactites and originally equipped with waterworks and luxuriant vegetation, the fountain is divided into three main sections. Other rooms in the Grotto contain Giambolognas famous Bathing Venus and an 18th-century group of Paris, in the hillside above the amphitheatre is a double ramp, leading to the Fountain of Neptune. The main feature is a basin with a central bronze statue of Neptune by Stoldo Lorenzi. The conceit here recalls the story of the competition of Athena, in that legend, Neptune struck the ground with his trident to spring forth water from the land. Higher up on the hillside is a statue of Abundance, the Isolotto is an oval-shaped island in a tree enclosed pond nearly at the end of the alternative Viottolone axis. In the centre of the island is the Fountain of the Ocean, while in the moat, there are statues of Perseus
17.
Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Ferdinand III was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1790 to 1801 and, after a period of disenfranchisement, again from 1814 to 1824. He was also the Prince-elector and Grand Duke of Salzburg and Grand Duke of Würzburg, Ferdinand was born in Florence, Tuscany, into the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He was the son of Leopold, then Grand-Duke of Tuscany. When his father was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand succeeded him as Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1792 during the French Revolution, Ferdinand became the first monarch to recognize the new French First Republic formally, and he attempted to work peacefully with it. As the French Revolutionary Wars commenced, however, the rulers of Britain, Ferdinand provided his allies with passive support but no enthusiasm, and after he witnessed a year of resounding victories by the French, he became the first member of the coalition to give up. In a proclamation dated 1 March 1795, he abandoned the alliance, on 25 December 1805, Ferdinand had to give up Salzburg as well, which by the Treaty of Pressburg was annexed by his older brother, Emperor Francis II. Ferdinand was then made Duke of Würzburg, a new state created for him from the old Bishopric of Würzburg, with the dissolution of the Empire in 1806, he took the new title of Grand Duke of Würzburg. On 30 May 1814, after Napoleons fall, Ferdinand was restored as Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand died in 1824 in Florence and was succeeded by his son Leopold. Grand Duchess Luisa died when they were all young, on 19 September 1802. Two decades later, in Florence on 6 May 1821, Ferdinand married again, this time to the much younger Princess Maria Ferdinanda of Saxony. She was the daughter of Maximilian, Prince of Saxony, and his wife Caroline of Bourbon-Parma, she was also his first cousin once removed, though Ferdinand was likely hoping to produce another male heir, there were no children born of this second marriage. House of Habsburg, Tuscan Branch, family tree by Ferdinand Schevill in A Political History of Modern Europe
18.
English landscape garden
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The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. The work of Lancelot Capability Brown was particularly influential, by the end of the 18th century the English garden was being imitated by the French landscape garden, and as far away as St. Petersburg, Russia, in Pavlovsk, the gardens of the future Emperor Paul. It also had a influence on the form of the public parks. These parks featured vast lawns, woods, and pieces of architecture and these gardens, modelled after the gardens of Versailles, were designed to impress visitors with their size and grandeur. William Kent was an architect, painter and furniture designer who introduced Palladian style architecture to England and his gardens were designed to complement the Palladian architecture of the houses he built. He collaborated with Kent on several major gardens, providing the botanical expertise which allowed Kent to realize his architectural visions, Kent created one of the first true English landscape gardens at Chiswick House for Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. Between 1733 and 1736, he redesigned the garden, adding lawns sloping down to the edge of the river, for the first time the form of a garden was inspired not by architecture, but by an idealized version of nature. Rousham House in Oxfordshire is considered by some as the most accomplished, the patron was General Dormer, who commissioned Bridgeman to begin the garden in 1727, then brought in Kent to recreate it in 1737. Bridgeman had built a series of gardens, including a grotto of Venus, on the slope along the river Cherwell, finally, he added cascades modelled on those of the garden of Aldobrandini and Pratolino in Italy, to add movement and drama. Stowe, in Buckinghamshire, was a more radical departure from the formal French garden. In the early 18th century, Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, had commissioned Charles Bridgeman to design a formal garden, bridgemans design included an octagonal lake and a Rotunda designed by Vanbrugh. In the 1730s, William Kent and James Gibbs were appointed to work with Bridgeman, Kent remade the lake in a more natural shape, and created a new kind of garden, which took visitors on a tour of picturesque landscapes. The garden attracted visitors from all over Europe, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and it became the inspiration for landscape gardens in Britain and on the Continent. Stourhead, in Wiltshire, created by banker Henry Hoare, was one of the first picturesque gardens, Hoare had travelled to Italy on the Grand Tour and had returned with a painting by Claude Lorrain. He sought to create an ideal landscape out of the English countryside and he created artificial lakes and used dams and canals to transform streams or springs into the illusion that a river flowed through the garden. He compared his own role as a designer to that of a poet or composer. Here I put a comma, there, when its necessary to cut the view, I put a parenthesis, there I end it with a period, the most important were, Petworth in 1752, Chatsworth in 1761, Bowood in 1763, Blenheim Palace in 1764. Humphry Repton was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, to help clients visualize his designs, Repton produced Red Books with explanatory text and watercolors with a system of overlays to show before and after views
19.
Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Leopold II was Grand Duke of Tuscany. He married twice, first to Maria Anna of Saxony, and after her death in 1832, by the latter, he begat his eventual successor, Ferdinand. Leopold was recognized contemporarily as a monarch, authorizing the Tuscan Constitution of 1848. The Grand Duke was deposed briefly by a government in 1849, only to be restored the same year with the assistance of Austrian troops. Leopold attempted a policy of neutrality with regard to the Second Italian War of Independence, the Grand Ducal family left for Bologna, in Papal territory. Tuscany was occupied by soldiers of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia for the duration of the conflict, Ferdinand was not, however, any more acceptable to the revolutionaries in control of Florence, and his accession was not proclaimed. Instead, the government proclaimed the deposition of the House of Habsburg. Born in Florence, Leopold II was the son of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Princess Luisa Maria Amelia Teresa of the Two Sicilies and his maternal grandparents were Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Marie Caroline of Austria. He succeeded his father on 18 June 1824, during the first twenty years of his reign he devoted himself to the internal development of the state. But Austrian influence prevented him from doing more, even had he wished to do so, the granting of the Neapolitan and Piedmontese constitutions was followed by that of Tuscany, composed by Gino Capponi. His speech on their departure was uncompromisingly Italian and Liberal, soldiers, he said, the holy cause of Italian freedom is being decided to-day on the fields of Lombardy. Already the citizens of Milan have purchased their liberty with their blood, honour to the arms of Italy. The Tuscan contingent fought bravely, though unsuccessfully, at Curtatone, Capponi resigned, and Leopold agreed reluctantly to a Montanelli-Guerrazzi ministry, which in its turn had to fight against the extreme republican party. New elections in the autumn of 1848 returned a constitutional majority, the utmost confusion prevailed in Florence and other parts of Tuscany. On 18 February 1849 a republic was proclaimed and on same day Leopold sailed for Gaeta. A third parliament was elected and Guerrazzi appointed dictator, but there was great discontent, and the defeat of Charles Albert at Novara caused consternation among the Liberals. Leopold accepted, although he said nothing about the foreign invasion, on 24 May the latter appointed G Baldasseroni prime minister, on the 25th the Austrians entered Florence and on 28 July Leopold himself returned. On their advice he formally revoked the constitution, political trials were held, Guerrazzi and many others being condemned to long terms of imprisonment, and although in 1855 the Austrian troops left Tuscany, Leopolds popularity was gone
20.
Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato
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Count Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato was a Russian industrialist, jurist, philanthropist and nobleman of the Demidov family. His parents were Aurora Karamzina and her husband Pavel Nikolaievich Demidov and his first marriage was on 1 June 1867 to Princess Maria Elimovna Meshcherskaya. She died two days after giving birth to a son, Elim Pavlovich Demidov, 3rd Prince of San Donato, at Hietzing in the suburbs of Vienna on 6 August 1868. They ended up selling San Donato, and it was ceded on 5 November 1881 to Gaston Mestayer, with the sold separately to Nemesio Papucci. Owning hundreds of factories in Russia, millions of kilometres of land and palaces in Russia, France and Italy. He developed the family fortunes and inherited Anatoles title of Prince of San Donato after the death without legitimate issue in 1870. He served with the Red Cross rather than the Russian military forces during the Russo-Turkish War, princedom of San Donato Jewish Encyclopedia http, //jssgallery. org/Essay/Italy/Demidoff/Demidoff_2nd. htm Princely House Demidov de San Donato
21.
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
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Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević, was regent of Yugoslavia during the minority of King Peter II. Peter was the eldest son of his first cousin Alexander I, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was the only son of Prince Arsen and Princess and Countess Aurora Pavlovna Demidova. He married Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, a sister of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, King George VI, when Duke of York, was best man at his wedding in Belgrade. Paul was educated at the University of Oxford, where he was a member of the exclusive Bullingdon Club - a dining club notorious for its members, grand banquets. Cultivated and bisexual like his closest friends Prince George, Duke of Kent and Sir Henry Channon and he was installed as a Knight of the Garter in 1939. On 9 October 1934 Vlado Chernozemski assassinated Pauls cousin King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in Marseille in France, in his will, Alexander had stipulated that if he died, a council of regents chaired by Paul should govern until Alexanders son Peter II came of age. Prince Paul, far more than Alexander, was Yugoslav rather than Serb in outlook, however, unlike Alexander, he inclined much more toward democracy. In 1939, Prince Paul, as acting head of state, accepted an invitation from Adolf Hitler. In August 1939, the Cvetković-Maček Agreement set up the Banovina of Croatia, Croatia was to have its own legislature in Zagreb, and a separate budget. When World War II broke out in 1939, Yugoslavia declared its neutrality, on March 25,1941, the Yugoslav government signed the Axis Tripartite Pact with significant reservations as it received three notes. The first note obliged the Axis powers to respect the integrity and sovereignty of Yugoslavia. In the second note the Axis promised not to ask Yugoslavia for any military assistance, in the third note they promised not to ask Yugoslavia for permission to move military forces across its territory during the war. Pauls foreign policy, including the signing of the Tripartite Pact, after the fall of France in 1940 left the United Kingdom essentially alone to face the Axis, Paul saw no way of saving Yugoslavia except through adopting policies of accommodation to the Axis powers. But even under those circumstances Paul, outwardly neutral, remained determinedly pro-Allied, nonetheless, the signing of the pact did not sit well with several elements of the Yugoslav army. On 27 March 1941, two days after Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact, Yugoslav military figures with British support forcibly removed Paul from power, for the remainder of the war, Prince Paul was kept, with his family, under house arrest by the British in Kenya. His sister-in-law the Duchess of Kent and her husband the Duke, appealed to Winston Churchill, hoping he would allow Paul, Churchill, who viewed Prince Paul as a traitor and a war criminal, denied the request in no uncertain manner. The original book Paul of Yugoslavia was written by Neil Balfour, the post-war communist authorities had Prince Paul proclaimed an enemy of the state, he was disallowed from returning to Yugoslavia and all his property was confiscated. He died in Paris on 14 September 1976, aged 83 and was buried in Switzerland
22.
Grotto
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A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or liable to flood at high tide, sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden features. The Grotta Azzurra at Capri and the grotto at the villa of Tiberius in the Bay of Naples are examples of popular natural seashore grottoes, the word grotto comes from Italian grotta, Vulgar Latin grupta, and Latin crypta. It is also related by an accident to the word grotesque. The rooms had sunk underground over time, the Romans who discovered this historical monument found it very strange, a sentiment enhanced by the fact that it was uncovered from an underworld source. This led the Romans to give it the name grottesche, or grotesque, grottoes were very popular in Greek and Roman culture. Spring-fed grottoes were a feature of Apollos oracles at Delphi, Corinth, the Hellenistic city of Rhodes was designed with rock-cut artificial grottoes incorporated into the city, made to look natural. According to tradition, Praenestes sacred spring had a native nymph, Tiberius, the Roman emperor, filled his grotto with sculptures to create a sense of mythology, perhaps channeling Polyphemus cave in the Odyssey. The numinous quality of the grotto is still more ancient, in a grotto near Knossos in Crete, Eileithyia was venerated, even farther back in time, the immanence of the divine in a grotto is seen in the sacred caves of Lascaux. The popularity of artificial grottoes introduced Mannerist style to Italian and French gardens of the mid-16th century, two famous grottoes in the Boboli Gardens of Palazzo Pitti were begun by Vasari and completed by Ammanati and Buontalenti between 1583 and 1593. One of these grottoes originally housed the Prisoners of Michelangelo, before Boboli grotto, a garden was laid out by Niccolò Tribolo at the Medici Villa Castello, near Florence. At Pratolino, in spite of the dryness of the site, there was a Grotto of Cupid, with water tricks for the unsuspecting visitor. The Fonte di Fata Morgana at Grassina, not far from Florence, is a garden building. It is decorated with sculptures in the Giambolognan manner, the outside of garden grottoes are often designed to look like an enormous rock, a rustic porch or a rocky overhang. Damp grottoes were cool places to retreat from the Italian sun, in Kuskovo at the Sheremetev estate there is a Summer Grotto, built in 1775. Grottoes could also serve as baths, an example of this is at the Palazzo del Te, in the Casino della Grotta, courtiers once bathed in the small cascade that splashed over the pebbles and shells encrusted in the floor and walls. Grottoes have also served as chapels, or at Villa Farnese at Caprarola and they were often combined with cascading fountains in Renaissance gardens. The grotto designed by Bernard Palissy for Catherine de Medicis château in Paris, there are also grottoes in the gardens designed by André Le Nôtre for Versailles
23.
Automaton
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An automaton is a self-operating machine, or a machine or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a predetermined sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers in mechanical clocks, are designed to give the illusion to the observer that they are operating under their own power. The word automaton is the latinization of the Greek αὐτόματον, automaton and this word was first used by Homer to describe automatic door opening, or automatic movement of wheeled tripods. The automata in the Hellenistic world were intended as tools, toys, religious idols and he had invented the worlds first cuckoo clock. Complex mechanical devices are known to have existed in Hellenistic Greece, though the surviving example is the Antikythera mechanism. However, the information gleaned from recent scans of the fragments indicate that it may have come from the colonies of Corinth in Sicily and its also said that when King Solomon stepped upon the throne, a mechanism was set in motion. As soon as he stepped upon the first step, a golden ox, on each side, the animals helped the King up until he was comfortably seated upon the throne. In ancient China, an account of automata is found in the Lie Zi text. Within it there is a description of an earlier encounter between King Mu of Zhou and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an artificer. The latter proudly presented the king with a life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical handiwork and it walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune and he touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, glue and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red, other notable examples of automata include Archytass dove, mentioned by Aulus Gellius. The manufacturing tradition of automata continued in the Greek world well into the Middle Ages, similar automata in the throne room were described by Luitprands contemporary Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who later became emperor, in his book Περὶ τῆς Βασιλείου Τάξεως. In the mid-8th century, the first wind powered automata were built, statues that turned with the wind over the domes of the four gates, the public spectacle of wind-powered statues had its private counterpart in the Abbasid palaces where automata of various types were predominantly displayed. In 827, Caliph Al-Mamun had a silver and golden tree in his palace in Baghdad, there were metal birds that sang automatically on the swinging branches of this tree built by Muslim inventors and engineers. The Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir also had a tree in his palace in Baghdad in 915, with birds on it flapping their wings. In the 9th century, the Banū Mūsā brothers invented an automatic flute player. Al-Jazari described complex programmable humanoid automata amongst other machines he designed and constructed in the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206 and his automaton was a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties
24.
Water organ
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The water organ or hydraulic organ is a type of pipe organ blown by air, where the power source pushing the air is derived by water from a natural source or by a manual pump. Consequently, the organ lacks a bellows, blower, or compressor. The hydraulic organ is often confused with the hydraulis. The hydraulis is the name of a Greek instrument created by Ctesibius of Alexandria, the hydraulis has a reservoir of air which is inserted into a cistern of water. The air is pushed into the reservoir with hand pumps, the reservoir is open on the bottom, allowing water to maintain the pressure on the air as the air supply fluctuates from either the pumps pushing more air in, or the pipes letting air out. The hydraulis in ancient Greek is often imagined as an automatic organ, one of the oldest automatic instruments known is the automatic flute player invented by Banū Mūsā brothers in 9th-century Arabia. A hydraulis is a type of pipe organ that operated by converting the dynamic energy of water into air pressure to drive the pipes. Hence its name hydraulis, literally water pipe and it is attributed to the Hellenistic scientist Ctesibius of Alexandria, an engineer of the 3rd century BC. The hydraulis was the worlds first keyboard instrument and was, in fact, both water and air arrive together in the camera aeolis. Here, water and air separate and the air is driven into a wind-trunk on top of the camera aeolis. Two perforated ‘splash plates’ or ‘diaphragms’ prevent water spray from getting into the organ pipes, the water, having been separated from the air, leaves the camera aeolis at the same rate as it enters. It then drives a water wheel, which in turn drives the musical cylinder, to start the organ, the tap above the entry pipe is turned on and, given a continuous flow of water, the organ plays until the tap is closed again. Many water organs had simple water-pressure regulating devices, at the Palazzo del Quirinale, the water flows from a hilltop spring, coursing through the palace itself into a stabilizing ‘room’ some 18 metres above the camera aeolis in the organ grotto. This drop provides sufficient wind to power the restored six-stop instrument, among Renaissance writers on the water organ, Salomon de Caus was particularly informative. It also includes an example of music for water organ. Water organs were described in the writings of the famous Ctesibius, Philo of Byzantium. Like the water clocks of Platos time, they were not regarded as playthings but might have had a significance in Greek philosophy. Hydraulically blown organ pipes were used to imitate birdsong, and musicologists Susi Jeans, ord-Hume have suggested that it was used to create the sounds of the Vocal Memnon
25.
Cosimo de' Medici
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Cosimo di Giovanni de Medici was an Italian banker and politician, the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth as a banker, and he was a patron of learning. Cosimo de Medici was born in Florence to Giovanni di Bicci de Medici and he had a twin brother, Damiano, who died shortly after birth. Cosimo also had a brother, Lorenzo the Elder, who was six years his junior. Cosimo inherited both his wealth and his expertise in banking from his father, Giovanni had gone from being a moneylender to joining the bank of his relative, Vieri di Cambio, before founding his own bank, Medici Bank, around 1397. Over the next two decades, the Medici Bank opened branches in Rome, Geneva, Venice, and temporarily in Naples, the branch manager in Rome was a papal depositario generale, managing Church finances in return for a commission. In fifteen years he would make a profit of 290,791 florins, in 1415, Cosimo allegedly accompanied the Antipope John XXIII at the Council of Constance, and in the same year he was named Priore of the Republic. Later he acted frequently as ambassador, showing a prudence for which he became renowned and this gave the Medici family tremendous power, allowing them to threaten defaulting debtors with excommunication, for instance. However, after the Spini Bank went insolvent in 1420, they again secured priority, Giovanni withdrew from the bank in 1420, leaving its leadership to both of his sons. He left them 179,221 florins upon his death in 1429, two-thirds of this came from the business in Rome, while only a tenth came from Florence, even Venice offered better business than Florence. The brothers would earn two-thirds of the profits from the bank, besides the bank, the family owned much land in the area surrounding Florence, including Mugello, the place from which the family originally came. Cosimos power over Florence stemmed from his wealth, which he used to control votes, as Florence was proud of its democracy, he pretended to have little political ambition and did not often hold public office. Enea Piccolomini, Bishop of Siena and later Pope Pius II, said of him, the man he chooses holds office. He it is who decides peace and war and he is king in all but name. Venice sent an envoy to Florence on his behalf, requested they rescind the order of banishment, when they refused, Cosimo settled down in Venice, his brother Lorenzo accompanying him. Cosimo returned a year later in 1434, to influence the government of Florence. Cosimos time in exile instilled in him the need to squash the factionalism that resulted in his exile in the first place. In order to do this, Cosimo, with the help of favorable priors in the Signoria, the Milanese made a brief attempt at democracy before Sforza finally was acclaimed duke by the city in February 1450
26.
Piero di Cosimo de' Medici
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Piero di Cosimo de Medici, was the de facto ruler of Florence from 1464 to 1469, during the Italian Renaissance. Piero was the son of Cosimo de Medici the Elder and Contessina de Bardi, during his fathers life he did not play an extensive role due to his perpetual poor health, the source of his nickname. His brother Giovanni was named as Cosimos executor, but predeceased his father, in 1461, Piero was the last Medici elected to the office of Gonfaloniere. His gout often kept him confined to bed and this meant that his bedroom effectively became his office where he would conduct political meetings, and led to the Medici palace becoming the seat of government. Upon taking over the family Medici bank from his father, Piero had a financial overview prepared, the results led him to call up a number of long-standing loans, many to various Medici supporters, which his father had let stand. This immediately drove a number of the merchants involved into bankruptcy. Although not as brilliant a banker as his father, he was able to keep things running smoothly during his tenure, the coup failed, as did an attempted repeat backed by Venice, using troops commanded by Bartolomeo Colleoni. In 1467 Piero had to face the war against the Republic of Venice, prompted by the Florentine support given to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, however, the Venetian army under Colleoni was defeated at the Battle of Molinella by the league of Florence, Naples, Papal States and Milan. He also continued the tradition of artistic patronage, including Gozzolis fresco Procession of the Magi in Palazzo Medici Riccardi. His taste was more eclectic than that of his father, extending to Dutch and he also continued to collect rare books, adding many to the Medici collections. He died in 1469, due to gout and lung disease, the tomb, created by Andrea del Verrocchio, was commissioned by his sons Lorenzo and Giuliano. On 3 Jun 1444 Piero married Lucrezia Tornabuoni and their children include Lorenzo the Magnificent and Giuliano de Medici. All his family is portrayed in the famous painting by Botticelli, called Madonna del Magnificat. Lucrezia Tornabuoni De Medici and the Medici Family in the Fifteenth Century, new York, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. The Medici Women, Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence
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Lorenzo de' Medici
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Lorenzo de Medici was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, who was one of the most powerful and enthusiastic patrons of the Renaissance. Also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent by contemporary Florentines, he was a magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars and he is well known for his contribution to the art world by sponsoring artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo. His life coincided with the phase of Italian Renaissance and his death coincided with the end of the Golden Age of Florence. The fragile peace that he helped maintain among the various Italian states collapsed with his death and he is buried in the Medici Chapel in Florence. Lorenzos grandfather, Cosimo de Medici, was the first member of the Medici family to combine running the Medici Bank with leading the Republic of Florence, Cosimo was one of the wealthiest men in Europe and spent a very large portion of his fortune in government and philanthropy. He was a patron of the arts and funded public works, Lorenzos mother, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, was a writer of sonnets and a friend to poets and philosophers of the Medici Academy. She became her sons advisor after the deaths of his father, with his brother Giuliano, he participated in jousting, hawking, hunting, and horse breeding for the Palio, a horse race in Siena. His own horse was named Morello di Vento, Piero sent Lorenzo on many important diplomatic missions when he was still a youth, which included trips to Rome to meet the pope and other important religious and political figures. Lorenzo was described as plain of appearance and was of average height, having a broad frame and short legs, a swarthy skin, squashed nose, short-sighted eyes. Giuliano, on the hand, was regarded as handsome, he was used as a model by Botticelli in his painting of Mars. Lorenzo, groomed for power, assumed a role in the state upon the death of his father in 1469. Lorenzo, like his grandfather, father, and son, ruled Florence indirectly through surrogates in the city councils, threats, payoffs, although Florence flourished under Lorenzos rule, he effectively reigned as a despot, and people had little political freedom. Rival Florentine families inevitably harboured resentments over the Medicis dominance, the most notable of the rival families was the Pazzi, who nearly brought Lorenzos reign to an end right after it began. Alum had been discovered by local citizens of Volterra, who turned to Florence to get backing to exploit this important natural resource. When they realized the value of the mine, the people of Volterra wanted its revenues for their municipal funds rather than having it enter the pockets of their Florentine backers. Thus began an insurrection and secession from Florence, which involved putting to death several opposing citizens, Lorenzo sent mercenaries to suppress the revolt by force, and the mercenaries ultimately sacked the city. Lorenzo hurried to Volterra to make amends, but the incident would remain a dark stain on his record, Giuliano was killed, brutally stabbed to death, but Lorenzo escaped with only a minor wound to the shoulder, having been defended by the poet Politian. That success enabled Lorenzo to secure constitutional changes within the Florentine Republics government, Lorenzo maintained good relations with Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, as the Florentine maritime trade with the Ottomans was a major source of wealth for the Medici
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Giuliano de' Medici
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Giuliano de Medici was the second son of Piero de Medici and Lucrezia Tornabuoni. As co-ruler of Florence, with his brother Lorenzo the Magnificent, he complemented his brothers image as the patron of the arts with his own image as the handsome, sporting, golden boy. As the opening stroke of the Pazzi Conspiracy, he was assassinated on Sunday,26 April 1478 in the Duomo of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, by Francesco de Pazzi and he was killed by a sword wound to the head and was stabbed 19 times. Giulio di Giuliano de Medici, Giulianos illegitimate son by his mistress Fioretta Gorini and he had been promised in marriage to Semiramade Appiani Aragona, daughter of Iacopo IV Appiani, the Lord of Piombino but died before their wedding. Guiliano de Medici is portrayed by Tom Bateman in Starzs original series Da Vincis Demons and he has an affair with Vanessa, who becomes pregnant with his child. He is murdered in the season 1 finale, angelo Poliziano wrote two works which include Giuliano de Medici as a major character. Stanze per la giostra di Giuliano was written to commemorate a joust that Giuliano won in 1475 and it is mostly fictionalized and involves Giulianos love for Simonetta Vespucci. It was left unfinished, for both of his protagonists died, the other work is Coniurationis Commentarium, which was written in 1478 to commemorate Giulianos murder. It explains the people involved in the plot and the events of the day of his assassination, house of Medici Medici Chapel Media related to Giuliano de Medici at Wikimedia Commons
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Piero the Unfortunate
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Piero di Lorenzo de Medici, called Piero the Unfortunate, was the Gran maestro of Florence from 1492 until his exile in 1494. Piero di Lorenzo de Medici was the eldest son of Lorenzo de Medici and Clarice Orsini and he was educated to succeed his father as head of the Medici family and de facto ruler of the Florentine state, under notable figures such as Angelo Poliziano. However, his feeble, arrogant and undisciplined character was to prove unsuited to such a role, Piero took over as leader of Florence in 1492, upon Lorenzos death. Charles had been lured to Italy by Ludovico Sforza, ex-Regent of Milan, as a way to eject Ludovicos nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza, after settling matters in Milan, Charles moved towards Naples. He needed to pass through Tuscany, as well as leave troops there, Piero attempted to stay neutral, but this was unacceptable to Charles, who intended to invade Tuscany. Piero quickly gave up as Charless army neared Florence and surrendered the chief fortresses of Tuscany to the invading army and his poor handling of the situation and failure to negotiate better terms led to an uproar in Florence, and the Medici family fled. The family palazzo was looted, and the substance as well as the form of the Republic of Florence was re-established, a member of the Medici family was not to rule Florence again until 1512. Piero and his family at first fled to Venice with the aid of Philippe de Commines, in 1486, Pieros uncle, Bernardo Rucellai negotiated for Piero to marry Alfonsina Orsini, and stood in for him in a marriage by proxy. Piero and Alfonsina met in 1488 and she was a daughter of Roberto Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo and Caterina Sanseverino. They had two children, Lorenzo II, Duke of Urbino and she married Filippo Strozzi the Younger. Bernardo Rucellai and the Orti Oricellari, A Study on the Origin of Modern Political Thought, journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. The Medici Women, Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence
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Pope Leo X
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Pope Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici, was Pope from 9 March 1513 to his death in 1521. The second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, ruler of the Florentine Republic, following the death of Pope Julius II, Giovanni was elected pope after securing the backing of the younger members of the Sacred College. Early on in his rule he oversaw the sessions of the Fifth Council of the Lateran. In 1517 he led a war that succeeded in securing his nephew as duke of Urbino. He later only narrowly escaped a plot by some cardinals to poison him and he is probably best remembered for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peters Basilica, which practice was challenged by Martin Luthers 95 Theses. He seems not to have taken seriously the array of demands for reform that would quickly grow into the Protestant Reformation. His Papal Bull of 1520, Exsurge Domine, simply condemned Luther on a number of areas and he did, however, grant establishment to the Oratory of Divine Love. A significant patron of the arts, upon election Leo is alleged to have said, Since God has given us the papacy, under his reign, progress was made on the rebuilding of Saint Peters Basilica and artists such as Raphael decorated the Vatican rooms. Leo also reorganised the Roman University, and promoted the study of literature, poetry and he died in 1521 and is buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. He is the last pope not to have been in priestly orders at the time of his election to the papacy. Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici was born on December 11,1475 in the Republic of Florence, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. From an early age he was destined for an ecclesiastical career and he received the tonsure at the age of seven and was soon granted rich benefices and preferments. Meanwhile, he received an education at Lorenzos humanistic court under such men as Angelo Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, from 1489 to 1491 he studied theology and canon law at Pisa. On 23 March 1492, he was admitted into the Sacred College of Cardinals and took up his residence at Rome. The death of Lorenzo on the following 8 April, however and he returned to Rome to participate in the conclave of 1492 which followed the death of Innocent VIII, and unsuccessfully opposed the election of Cardinal Borgia. While Piero found refuge at Venice and Urbino, Giovanni traveled in Germany, in the Netherlands, in May 1500, he returned to Rome, where he was received with outward cordiality by Pope Alexander VI, and where he lived for several years immersed in art and literature. In 1503 he welcomed the accession of Pope Julius II to the pontificate and this and other attempts to regain political control of Florence were frustrated until a bloodless revolution permitted the return of the Medici. Giovannis younger brother Giuliano was placed at the head of the republic, Giovanni was elected Pope on 9 March 1513, and this was proclaimed two days later
31.
Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours
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Giuliano di Lorenzo de Medici KG was an Italian nobleman, the third son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Born in Florence, his brothers were Piero and Giovanni de Medici and his older brother Piero was briefly the ruler of Florence after Lorenzos death, until the republican faction drove out the Medici in 1494. The Medici family was restored to power after the Holy League drove the French forces that had supported the Florentine republicans from Italy and this effort was headed by Spain. Giuliano reigned at Florence from 1512 to 1516, the French were also apparently grooming him for the throne of Naples, when Giuliano died prematurely. He was succeeded in Florence by his nephew Lorenzo, Giuliano left a single illegitimate son, Ippolito de Medici, who became a cardinal. His portrait, painted in Rome by Raphael, shows Romes Castel SantAngelo behind a curtain, giulianos tomb in the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo, Florence, is ornamented with the Night and Day of Michelangelo, along with a statue of Giuliano by Michelangelo. Due to the common name which he shares with his uncle, whose tomb is also in the Medici Chapel. Medici Chapel Giuliano de Medici, Duke of Nemours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
32.
Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino
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Lorenzo di Piero de Medici was the ruler of Florence from 1513 to his death in 1519. He was also Duke of Urbino from 1516 to 1519 and his daughter, Catherine de Medici, became Queen Consort of France, while his illegitimate son, Alessandro de Medici, became the first Duke of Florence. Born in Florence on 12 September 1492, a son of Piero di Lorenzo de Medici and his paternal grandparents were Lorenzo the Magnificent and Clarice Orsini. His maternal grandparents were Roberto Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo and Catherine San Severino, niccolò Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to Lorenzo to inform him of tactics to use in unifying Italy, though the entire intent behind this dedication is shrouded in mystery. His uncle, the Medici Pope Leo X, made Lorenzino duke of Urbino in 1516 at the age of 24. After the short reconquest by the duke, Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Lorenzo was named commander of the 10,000 men sent to recapture it. Lorenzo regained the duchy by a treaty short in the September of the same year, the territory reverted to the Della Rovere family after Lorenzos death. As Duke of Urbino, Lorenzo married Madeleine de la Tour, daughter of the Count of Auvergne, Pope Leo X also took care of her throughout her childhood. Lorenzo died from syphilis only 21 days after his daughters birth and his tomb, along with its companion piece, the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de Medici, is in the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo. The tombs are ornamented with sculpture by Michelangelo, with the known as Pensieroso representing Lorenzo. House of Medici Medici Chapel The Medici Family Line - The Glorious 1400s
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Pope Clement VII
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Pope Clement VII, born Giulio di Giuliano de Medici, was Pope from 19 November 1523 to his death in 1534. The Sack of Rome and English Reformation occurred during his papacy, Giulio de Medici was born in Florence one month after the assassination of his father, Giuliano de Medici, following the Pazzi Conspiracy. Although his parents had not had a marriage, they had been formally betrothed per sponsalia de presenti. Despite this accommodation for an important and powerful family, Giulio was considered illegitimate by his contemporaries and he was the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who educated him in his youth. Giulios mother, Fioretta Gorini, also died leaving him an orphan, Giulio was enrolled in the Knights Hospitaller and made Grand Prior of Capua. On the death of Archbishop Cosimo de Pazzi, Giulio was named Archbishop of Florence on 9 May 1513, a post he held until his own election as pope on 19 November 1523. On 23 September 1513, he was created a cardinal by Leo X, and on 29 September was appointed Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Domnica, which had been vacated by the election of his cousin the Pope. On 26 June 1517 he was created Cardinal Priest of S. Clemente and he was ordained a priest on 19 December 1517, and consecrated bishop two days later. Cardinal de Medici soon became a figure in Rome. Upon his cousins accession to the papacy, Giulio became his principal minister and confidant, in 1517 he conducted his first diocesan Synod in Florence. On 14 February 1515, Cardinal de Medici was named Archbishop of Narbonne and he ruled the diocese through a Vicar General. He bestowed upon the Cathedral of Saint Just a picture of Saint Lazare and he decided to keep the original, however, and an alternative version was made for Narbonne by Sebastiano del Piombo. At the same time as he was named Archbishop, Cardinal Giulio was granted the Abbey of Cîteaux and he held these offices until he was elected pope. But he is returning to Florence to govern the city and he had the credit of being the main director of papal policy during the whole of Leo Xs pontificate, especially as cardinal protector of England. Between 7 June 1521 and 26 September 1522 he was Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Worcester, on that date the Pope appointed Hieronymus Ghinucci, who was expelled from the See in 1535 as a foreigner by the legislation of Henry VIII. At Leo Xs death in 1521, Cardinal Medici was considered papabile in the protracted conclave. Following Adrian VIs death on 14 September 1523, Medici overcame the opposition of the French king, Pope Leo brought to the papal throne a high reputation for political ability and possessed in fact all the accomplishments of a wily diplomat. However, he was considered by his contemporaries as worldly and indifferent to the dangers of the Protestant Reformation by the people of the papacy
34.
Ippolito de' Medici
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Ippolito de Medici was the illegitimate only son of Giuliano di Lorenzo de Medici. His father died when he was five, and he was subsequently raised by his uncle Pope Leo X. When Giulio de Medici was elected pope as Clement VII in 1523, after the siege of Florence, however, Clement favored his illegitimate nephew Alessandro as the family member to take charge of Florence. Since he was eighteen, he could not be consecrated a bishop or even be the Administrator of the diocese without a papal dispensation. Ippolito was named Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede, though there is no evidence that he was ordained priest or consecrated bishop. His own choice for himself was to be ruler of Florence, not a cleric, on 3 May 1529 Cardinal Ippolito was named Papal Legate in Perugia. In Bologna he participated in the ceremonies of the coronation, on 15 February 1530, Pope Clement granted Cardinal Ippolito a ⅓ share in the annual papal income from the town and territory of Clusium for his lifetime. Ippolito was sent to Hungary in the Spring of 1532 as Papal Legate, departing from Rome on 8 July, according to Pietro Aretino and he was in Ratisbon by 12 August. When the Emperor returned to Italy early in the next year, on 3 July 1532, Cardinal Ippolito was named Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, the most lucrative office in the Roman Curia. Along with that post he was transferred to the Titular church of San Lorenzo in Damaso and he was a friend to, and possibly had a liaison with, Giulia Gonzaga, the Countess of Fondi. He loved Catherine de Medici but they never married, Alessandro de Medici caught him and Catherine de Medici in a private embrace. However, when he was sent away as a Cardinal, they werent allowed to see each other any longer, some theories suggest that the reason Clement made Ippolito Cardinal was to keep him and Catherine de Medici apart. By 24 April 1531 Catherine had been promised to Henri, the son of King Francis I of France, Catherine was 11, and Cardinal Ippolito was 21. Ippolitos cousin, Pope Clement, died on 25 September 1534, the Conclave elected Cardinal Alessandro Farnese on October 12, and he chose the name Paul III. In 1535, free of his cousins influence, Cardinal Ippolito acted as Florentine ambassador to the emperor Charles V, augustin Theiner, ed. Annales ecclesiastici, denuo excusi et ad nostra usque tempora perducti ab Augustino Theiner. Memorie storiche de cardinali della Santa romana chiesa, spanish Diplomacy and the Mysterious Death of Cardinal Ippolito de Medici. Della venuta e dimora in Bologna del S. P. Clemente VII per la coronazione di Carlo V, Bologna, Fonderia e Tipografia Governativa - Alla Volpe. Il Cardinale Ippolito dei Medici dal trattato di Barcellona alla morte, the History of the Popes, from the close of the Middle Ages, Volume X. London, Kegan Paul Trench Trübner
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Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence
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This article is on the first Duke of Florence. For the Alessandro de Medici who was pope, see Pope Leo XI, Alessandro de Medici called il Moro, Duke of Penne and also Duke of Florence, was ruler of Florence from 1531 until 1537. Though illegitimate, he was the last member of the branch of the Medici to rule Florence. Born in Florence, he was recognized by the majority of contemporaries as the son of Lorenzo II de Medici. A few believed him to be in fact the son of Giulio de Medici, nephew of Lorenzo de Medici, the Magnificent. Historians believe he had been born to a servant of African descent who was working in the Medici household, the nickname is said to derive from his features. Clement assigned Florence to nineteen-year-old Alessandro, who had made a duke. One relic of his rule sometimes pointed out as a symbol of Medici oppression is the massive Fortezza da Basso, today the largest historical monument of Florence. In a late replay of the kind of civil politics that had long revolved around pope and emperor, commune and lord. In 1536, Charles V married his natural daughter Margaret of Austria to Alessandro, in 1537 his distant cousin Lorenzino de Medici, nicknamed Lorenzaccio, assassinated him. Lorenzino entrapped Alessandro through the ruse of a promised arranged sexual encounter with Lorenzinos sister Laudomia, in Valladolid, where the imperial court of Charles V was established, a solemn funeral was celebrated. Lorenzino, in a declaration published later, said that he had killed Alessandro for the sake of the republic, when the anti-Medici faction failed to rise, Lorenzino fled to Venice, where he was killed in 1548. The Medici supporters ensured that power passed to Cosimo I de Medici. The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall, Alessandro de Medici PBS online page discussing his ancestry, and his heirs. Updated in A View on Race and the Art World, victoria & Albert Museum website article discussing Alessandro de Medici in the context of the depiction of Africans in medieval and Renaissance art
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Duke of Florence
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Il Duca di Firenze, rendered in English as The Duke of Florence, was a title created in 1532 by Pope Clement VII. Alessandro is also believed by historians to have been the son of either Pope Clement VII or Lorenzo II de Medici. Charles rejected the appeals, as Alessandro had been wedded to the emperors daughter Margaret of Parma. Alessandro ruled as duke less than four years, being assassinated by Lorenzino de Medici on 6 January 1537, with no legitimate issue, Cosimo de Medici was chosen to succeed his distant relative by Florentine officials. Cosimo completely overhauled the bureaucracy and administration of Florence, and, in 1542, on 17 April 1555, Florentine and Spanish forces occupied the Republic of Siena after a brief conflict. Philip II of Spain bestowed the territory on Cosimo as a fiefdom in July 1557. In 1548, Cosimo purchased Elba from the Republic of Genoa, Cosimo founded the port city of Livorno and allowed the city’s inhabitants to enjoy freedom of religion. The ducal family moved into the Palazzo Pitti in 1560, Cosimo commissioned the architect Vasari to build the Uffizi as offices for the Medici bank. Finally, Cosimo was elevated to The Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569 by Pope Saint Pius V and this effectively ended the Duchy of Florence, which became subordinate to the more elevated grand ducal title. The de Medici continued to rule over Florence and Tuscany until their extinction in 1737 after the death of Gian Gastone de Medici, who had no children. Alessandro de Medici Birth,22 July 1510 Death,6 January 1537 Reign,1532 –6 January 1537 Created the first Duke of Florence in 1532, Alessandro died without legitimate issue, causing Florentine officials to select the next duke. From 1569 on, he was known as Cosimo I and created the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, which became the ruling title used by his successors
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Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Cosimo I de Medici was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. Cosimo was born in Florence, on 12 June 1519, the son of the famous condottiere Giovanni dalle Bande Nere from Forlì and he was the grandson of Caterina Sforza, the Countess of Forlì and Lady of Imola. Cosimo came to power at 17, when the 26-year-old Duke, Alessandro de Medici, was assassinated in 1537, 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 men in the city favoured him. Several hoped to rule through him, thereby enriching themselves at the states expense, however, as Benedetto Varchi famously put it The innkeepers reckoning was different from the gluttons. Cosimo proved strong-willed, astute and ambitious, and soon rejected the clause he had signed, 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 a daughter, Bia. 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, 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 Strozzis body was found with a sword next to it and a note quoting Virgil. In June 1537 Cosimo had sent Bernardo Antonio de Medici to Charles V to gain his recognition as head of the Florentine state and that recognition came in June 1537, in exchange for help against France in the course of the Italian Wars. With this move Cosimo firmly restored the power of the Medici, 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. With the support of the Emperor, he defeated the Sienese at the Battle of Marciano, despite the inhabitants desperate resistance, on 17 April 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 Cosimos territories, in 1569, Pope Pius V elevated him to the rank of Grand Duke of Tuscany. In the last 10 years of his reign, struck by the death of two of his sons by malaria, Cosimo gave up the rule to his son and successor Francesco I de Medici. He retreated to live in his villa, Villa di Castello, 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, Cosimo also was an active builder of military structures, in an attempt to save his state from the frequent passage of foreign armies
38.
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
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The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchys capital was Florence, Tuscany was nominally a state of the Holy Roman Empire until the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797. Initially, Tuscany was ruled by the House of Medici until the extinction of its branch in 1737. The Medicis only advancement in the days of their existence was their elevation to royalty, by the Holy Roman Emperor. Francis Stephen of Lorraine, a descendant of the Medici, succeeded the family. Tuscany was governed by a viceroy, Marc de Beauvau-Craon, for his entire rule and his descendants ruled, and resided in, the grand duchy until 1859, barring one interruption, when Napoleon Bonaparte gave Tuscany to the House of Bourbon-Parma. Following the collapse of the Napoleonic system in 1814, the duchy was restored. The United Provinces of Central Italy, a client state of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, Tuscany was formally annexed to Sardinia in 1860, following a landslide referendum, in which 95% of voters approved. In 1569, Cosimo de Medici had ruled the Duchy of Florence for 32 years, during his reign, Florence purchased the island of Elba from the Republic of Genoa, conquered Siena and developed a well-equipped and powerful naval base on Elba. Cosimo also banned the clergy from holding positions and promulgated laws of freedom of religion. Cosimo also was a supporter of Pope Pius V, who in the light of Florences expansion in August 1569 declared Cosimo Grand Duke of Tuscany. The international reaction to Cosimos elevation was bleak, Queen Catherine of France, though herself a Medici, viewed Cosimo with the utmost disdain. Rumours circulated at the Viennese court that had Cosimo as a candidate for King of England, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King Philip II of Spain reacting quite angrily, as Florence was an Imperial fief and declared Pius Vs actions invalid. However, Maximilian eventually confirmed the elevation with an Imperial diploma in 1576, during the Holy League of 1571, Cosimo fought against the Ottoman Empire, siding with the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy League inflicted a defeat against the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto. Cosimos reign was one of the most militaristic Tuscany had ever seen, Cosimo experienced several personal tragedies during the later years of his reign. His wife, Eleanor of Toledo, died in 1562, along with four of his due to a plague epidemic in Florence. These deaths were to him greatly, which, along with illness
39.
Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I. Ferdinando was the son of Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleanor of Toledo, the daughter of Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo. He was made a Cardinal in 1562 at the age of 14 but was never ordained into the priesthood, at Rome, he proved an able administrator. He founded the Villa Medici in Rome and acquired works of art. When his brother Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany died in 1587, in many ways, Ferdinando was the opposite of his brother who preceded him. Approachable and generous, he set out to rule mildly and he re-established the justice system and was genuinely concerned about the welfare of his subjects. During his reign, Tuscany revived and regained the independence his brother had given up, Ferdinando fostered commerce and gained great wealth through the Medici banks, which were established in all the major cities of Europe. He enacted an edict of tolerance for Jews and heretics, and he established the Medici Oriental Press, which published numerous books in the Arabic script. He improved the harbor Cosimo I had built and diverted part of the flow of the Arno River into a canal called the Naviglio, which aided commerce between Florence and Pisa. He fostered an irrigation project in the Val di Chiana, which allowed the flatlands around Pisa and Fucecchio, for the first two years of his reign, he retained his position as Cardinal. In 1589 he married Christina of Lorraine, the couple had a large reception at the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano. Christinas dowry was considerably large, it included 600,000 crowns in cash as well as jewellery with a value of 50,000 crowns. Also, the rights of the duchy of Urbino were transferred to Christina after the death of Queen Catherine and his foreign policy attempted to free Tuscany from Spanish domination. After the assassination of Henry III of France in 1589, he supported Henry IV of France in his struggles against the Catholic League, Ferdinando lent Henry money and encouraged him to convert to Catholicism, which he eventually did. Ferdinando also used his influence with the Pope to get him to accept Henrys conversion, Henry showed no appreciation for these favors, and Ferdinando let the relationship cool, maintaining his cherished independence. He supported Philip III of Spain in his campaign in Algeria and Rudolf II, for these undertakings, he found it necessary to raise taxes on his subjects. He finally obtained the investiture of Siena, which his father had conquered. Ferdinando also strengthened the Tuscan fleet, and it saw victories against pirates on the Barbary coast in 1607 and he also dreamed of a small African empire, and then considered the possibility of a colony in Brasil
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Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Cosimo II de Medici was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1609 until 1621. He was the son of the then incumbent Grand Duke. He married Maria Magdalena of Austria, and had eight children, for the majority of his eleven-year reign, he delegated the administration of Tuscany to his ministers. He is best remembered as the patron of Galileo Galilei, his childhood tutor and he died of tuberculosis in 1621. Cosimo de Medici was the son of Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. His father requisitioned a modern education for him, Galileo Galilei was Cosimos tutor between 1605 and 1608, Ferdinando arranged for him to marry Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria, daughter of Archduke Charles II, in 1608. Together they had eight children, among whom was Cosimos eventual successor, an Archduchess of Inner Austria, due to his precarious health, Cosimo did not actively participate in governing his realm. Just over a year after Cosimos accession, Galileo dedicated his Sidereus Nuncius, additionally, Galileo christened the moons of Jupiter the Medicean stars. Galileos advocacy of Copernicanism later led to his trial by the Roman Inquisition, the Grand Duke assiduously enlarged the navy. He died on 28 February 1621 from tuberculosis and he was succeeded by his elder son, Ferdinando. The child-Grand Dukes regency was bestowed upon Cosimo IIs wife and mother, Maria Cristina de Medici died unmarried, deformed or mentally retarded Ferdinando II de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany who married Vittoria della Rovere and had issue. Gian Carlo de Medici died unmarried, margherita de Medici married Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma and had issue. Anna de Medici married Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria and had issue, florence and the Medici, Orion books, London,1977, ISBN 1-84212-456-0 Liedtke, Walter A. Flemish paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ferdinando I de Medici Italian colonization of Americas Media related to Cosimo II de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany at Wikimedia Commons
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Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Ferdinando II de Medici was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest child of Cosimo II de Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria and his 49-year rule was punctuated by the beginning of Tuscanys long economic decline. He married Vittoria della Rovere, with whom he had two children, Cosimo III de Medici, his successor, and Francesco Maria de Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro. Ferdinando was the eldest son of Cosimo II de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II died when Ferdinando was 10, because he had not yet reached maturity, his mother and paternal grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, acted as joint regents. In his seventeenth year, Ferdinando embarked on a tour of Europe, one year later, his regency ended and his personal rule began. Dowager Grand Duchess Christina was the power behind the throne until her death in 1636, ferdinand, like Christina before him, was a patron, ally, and friend of Galileo. Galileo dedicated his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems to him and this work led to Galileos second set of hearings before the Inquisition. The first calamity of Ferdinando’s reign was in 1630, when a plague swept through Florence, unlike the Tuscan nobility, Ferdinando and his brothers stayed in the city to try to ameliorate the general suffering. His mother and grandmother arranged a marriage with Vittoria della Rovere, together they had two children, Cosimo, in 1642, and Francesco Maria de Medici, in 1660. The latter was the fruit of a reconciliation, as after the birth of Cosimo. Grand Duke Ferdinando was obsessed with new technology, and had several hygrometers, barometers, thermometers, in 1654, influenced by Galileo, he is reported to have invented the sealed-glass thermometer, by sealing the glass tip of a tube filled to a certain height with colored alcohol. Small glass bubbles filled with air at varying pressures hovered trapped within the liquid, changing positions as the temperature rose or fell. Marked off with 360 divisions, like the gradations or degrees of a circle, in 1657, Leopoldo de Medici, the Grand Duke’s youngest brother, established the Accademia del Cimento. It was set up to attract scientists from all over Tuscany to Florence for mutual study, Tuscany participated in the Wars of Castro and inflicted a defeat on the forces of Urban VIII in 1643. The treasury was so empty that when the Castro mercenaries were paid for the state could no longer afford to pay interest on government bonds, the interest rate was lowered by 0. 75%. The economy was so decrepit that barter trade became prevalent in rural market places, Ferdinando died on 23 May 1670 of apoplexy and dropsy. He was interred in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the Medicis necropolis, at the time of his death, the population of the grand duchy was 730,594 souls, the streets were lined with grass and the buildings on the verge of collapse in Pisa. R. Florence and the Medici, Orion books, London,1977, ISBN 1-84212-456-0 Liedtke, new York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Cosimo III de Medici was the penultimate Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the son of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. Cosimos 53-year-long reign, the longest in Tuscan history, was marked by a series of laws which regulated prostitution. His reign also witnessed Tuscanys deterioration to previously unknown economic lows and he was succeeded by his elder surviving son, Gian Gastone, when he died, in 1723. He married Marguerite Louise dOrléans, a cousin of Louis XIV, the marriage was solemnized by proxy in the Kings Chapel at the Louvre, on Sunday,17 April 1661. It was a marriage fraught with tribulation, Marguerite Louise eventually abandoned Tuscany for the Convent of Montmartre. Together, they had three children, Ferdinando in 1663, Anna Maria Luisa, Electress Palatine, in 1667, and Gian Gastone, All Cosimos efforts to salvage the plan foundered, and in 1737, upon his younger sons death, Tuscany passed to the House of Lorraine. Cosimo de Medici was born on 14 August 1642, the eldest surviving son of Vittoria della Rovere of Urbino and their previous two children had died shortly after birth. Grand Duke Ferdinando wished to give his son the finest scientific education available, volunnio Bandinelli, a Sienese theologian, was appointed Cosimos tutor. His character was analogous to the Grand Duchesss, as a youth, Cosimo revelled in sports. His uncle Gian Carlo once wrote to family member with news that should surprise you. The young prince has killed a goose in mid-air. Cosimo, at the age of 11, killed five pigs with five shots, the Luchese Ambassador praised the young Cosimo to the skies. His successor, however, noticed a different person, whom he described as melancholy. By 1659, Cosimo had ceased smiling in public and he frequently visited places of religious worship and surrounded himself with friars and priests, concerning Grand Duke Ferdinando. Cosimos only sibling, Francesco Maria de Medici, the fruit of his parents brief reconciliation, was born the next year, Marguerite Louise dOrléans, a granddaughter of Henry IV of France, was married to Cosimo by proxy on 17 April 1661 at the Palais du Louvre. She arrived in Tuscany on 12 June, disembarking at Livorno, as a wedding gift, Grand Duke Ferdinando presented her with a pearl the size of a small pigeons egg. The marriage was unhappy from the start, a few nights following the formal entry, Marguerite Louise demanded the Tuscan crown jewels for her own personal use, Cosimo refused. The jewels that she did manage to extract from Cosimo were almost smuggled out of Tuscany by her attendants, accordingly, the interest rate was lowered by 0. 75%
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Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
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Gian Gastone de Medici was the seventh and last Medicean Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was the son of Grand Duke Cosimo III and Marguerite Louise dOrléans. His sister, Electress Palatine Anna Maria Luisa, arranged his marriage to the wealthy, the couple despised each other and had no children. As Grand Prince Ferdinando, Gian Gastones elder brother, predeceased Cosimo III and his reign was marked by the reversal of his predecessors conservative policy, he abolished taxes for poorer people, repealed penal laws which restricted Jews and discontinued public executions. The Medici were wanting in male heirs, his father, Cosimo III, Charles later transferred his claim to Francis Stephen of Lorraine pursuant to a preliminary peace that was finalized in 1738. Francis Stephen duly succeeded at Gian Gastones demise, on 9 July 1737, for the latter part of his reign, Gian Gastone chose to remain confined in his bed, tended by his entourage, the Ruspanti. On 24 May 1671, the first anniversary of his grandfather Ferdinando IIs death, Giovanni Battista Gastone de Medici was born in Florence to Grand Duke Cosimo III and he derived his baptismal name, Giovanni Battista Gastone, from his maternal grandfather, Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Cosimo and Marguerite Louise frequently quarreled, as a result, four years after his birth, Marguerite Louise returned home to France. Gian Gastone and his siblings were left in the care of their grandmother Vittoria della Rovere, Gian Gastone was tutored by Cardinal Henry Noris, whose company the prince hardly left. The Tuscan prince was an intellectual, being an antiquarian, a botanist. In addition, he could speak English, among other languages, Cosimo III considered compelling Gian Gastone to become a cardinal. Peter II of Portugal, however, had things in mind for him, he wanted Gian Gastone to marry his only daughter, Isabel Luísa. To marry her, Gian Gastone would have to convince his father to him an allowance of adequate stature. However, the Grand Duke refused and neither the nor the Portuguese marriage ever materialised. Out of sympathy, Gian Gastone befriended his unhappy sister-in-law, Duchess Violante Beatrice of Bavaria and her husband, Grand Prince Ferdinando, thought her too ugly and too dull for him. At the same time, Gian Gastone sank into a state of melancholy, in an attempt to rouse him from this condition, Cardinal Francesco Maria often summoned Gian Gastone to festivities at his villa, Lappeggi. However, these soirées had no effect and Gian Gastone continued to weep unceasingly in his private rooms, by 1697, Violante Beatrice and Ferdinando had been married for eight years and still lacked issue, as did Gian Gastones sister, the Electress Palatine. Concerned for the future of the dynasty, Cosimo urged the Electress to find Gian Gastone—currently the only one of his siblings unmarried—a suitable bride and she put forward Anna Maria Franziska, her brother-in-laws widow and potential heiress of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg
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Queen consort
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A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. In Brunei, the wife of the Sultan is known as a Raja Isteri with prefix Pengiran Anak, equivalent with queen consort in English, a queen consort usually shares her husbands social rank and status. She holds the equivalent of the kings monarchical titles, but historically, she does not share the kings political. A queen regnant is a queen in her own right with all the powers of a monarch, where some title other than that of king is held by the sovereign, his wife is referred to by the feminine equivalent, such as princess consort or empress consort. In monarchies where polygamy has been practiced in the past, or is practiced today. In Morocco, King Mohammed VI has broken with tradition and given his wife, Lalla Salma, prior to the reign of King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan monarchy had no such title. In Thailand, the king and queen must both be of royal descent, the kings other consorts are accorded royal titles that confer status. Other cultures maintain different traditions on queenly status, a Zulu chieftain designates one of his wives Great Wife, which would be the equivalent to queen consort. Conversely, in Yorubaland, all of a chiefs princess consorts are essentially of equal rank, in general, the consorts of monarchs have no power per se, even when their position is constitutionally or statutorily recognized. In some cases, the queen consort has been the power behind her husbands throne, e. g. Maria Luisa of Parma. Past queens consort, Queen Jang, consort to Sukjong of Joseon
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Catherine de' Medici
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Catherine de Medici, daughter of Lorenzo II de Medici and of Madeleine de La Tour dAuvergne, was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II. As the mother of three sons who became kings of France during her lifetime, she had extensive, if at times varying, for a time, she ruled France as its regent. In 1533, at the age of fourteen, Caterina married Henry, second son of King Francis I, under the gallicised version of her name, Catherine de Médicis, she was Queen consort of France as the wife of King Henry II of France from 1547 to 1559. Throughout his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from participating in state affairs and instead showered favours on his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Henrys death thrust Catherine into the arena as mother of the frail fifteen-year-old King Francis II. When he died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her ten-year-old son King Charles IX and was granted sweeping powers, after Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her only in the last months of her life. Catherines three sons reigned in an age of almost constant civil and religious war in France, the problems facing the monarchy were complex and daunting but Catherine was able to keep the monarchy and the state institutions functioning even at a minimum level. At first, Catherine compromised and made concessions to the rebelling Protestants, or Huguenots and she failed, however, to grasp the theological issues that drove their movement. Later she resorted, in frustration and anger, to hard-line policies against them, some historians have excused Catherine from blame for the worst decisions of the crown, though evidence for her ruthlessness can be found in her letters. In practice, her authority was limited by the effects of the civil wars. Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power, the years in which they reigned have been called the age of Catherine de Medici. According to Mark Strage, one of her biographers, Catherine was the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe. Catherine was born on 13 April 1519 in Florence, Republic of Florence, the child of Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Urbino, and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour dAuvergne. The young couple had married the year before at Amboise as part of the alliance between King Francis I of France and Lorenzos uncle Pope Leo X against the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. According to a chronicler, when Catherine was born, her parents were as pleased as if it had been a boy. King Francis wanted Catherine to be raised at the French court, Catherine was first cared for by her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini. After Alfonsinas death in 1520, Catherine joined her cousins and was raised by her aunt, the death of Pope Leo in 1521 interrupted Medici power briefly, until Cardinal Giulio de Medici was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523
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Marie de' Medici
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Marie de Medici was Queen of France as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici, following the assassination of her husband in 1610, which occurred the day after her coronation, she acted as regent for her son, King Louis XIII of France, until he came of age. She was noted for her ceaseless political intrigues at the French court and she was born as Maria at the Palazzo Pitti of Florence, Italy, the sixth daughter of Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Archduchess Joanna of Austria. Marie was one of seven children, but only she and her sister Eleonora survived to adulthood, Marie is not a male-line descendant of Lorenzo the Magnificent but from Lorenzo the Elder, a branch of the Medici family sometimes referred to as the cadet branch. She does descend from Lorenzo in the female-line however, through his daughter Lucrezia de Medici, nonetheless this cadet branch produced every Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1537 to 1737, and the kings of France from Louis XIII in 1601 to Louis XVI in 1793. This cadet branch is already 700 years old, beginning with Averardo de Medici in 1320 and flourishes to this day with Louis Alphonse and her daughter, Henrietta Maria was queen consort of England, Scotland, and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I. Henrietta Maria, in turn, was mother of two successors, Charles II and James II. Lorenzo the Magnificents line instead became extinct shortly after the death of Lorenzo in 1492, at the time of his death the Medici Bank was already in bankruptcy. A portrait of Marie as a girl shows her with regular features. Her wavy hair was light brown in colour, and she had honey-brown eyes, the painter was from the school of Santi di Tito. She married Henry IV of France in October 1600 following the annulment of his marriage to Margaret of Valois. The wedding ceremony in Florence, Italy was celebrated with 4,000 guests and lavish entertainments, including examples of the newly invented musical genre of opera and she brought as part of her dowry 600,000 crowns. Her eldest son, the future King Louis XIII, was born at Fontainebleau the following year and her husband was almost 47 at the marriage and had a long succession of mistresses. Dynastic considerations required him to take a second wife, the marriage was successful in producing children, but it was not a happy one. The queen feuded with Henrys mistresses in language that shocked French courtiers, when he failed to do so, and instead married Marie, the result was constant bickering and political intrigues behind the scenes. Catherine referred to Maria as the fat bankers daughter, Henry used Maria for breeding purposes exactly as Henry II had treated Catherine de Medici, although the king could have easily banished his mistress, supporting his queen, he never did so. She, in turn, showed sympathy and support to her husbands banished ex-wife Marguerite de Valois. Marie was crowned Queen of France on 13 May 1610, a day before her husbands death, hours after Henrys assassination, she was confirmed as regent by the Parliament of Paris
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Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
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Pope Leo XI
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Pope Leo XI, born Alessandro Ottaviano de Medici, was Pope from 1 to 27 April 1605. His pontificate is one of the briefest in history having lasted under a month and he was from the prominent House of Medici originating from Florence. Alessandro Ottoviano de Medici was born in Florence as the son of Francesca Salviati and he was the great-nephew of Pope Leo X. Alessandros father died when he was a child and he was home schooled by a Dominican priest, Vincenzo Ercolano. Medici felt the call to the priesthood but his mother opposed his vocation since he was the male in the family. To discourage this, she sent him to the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and he later travelled to Rome in 1560 where he commenced a lifelong friendship and collaboration with Philip Neri, future saint. It was Neri who predicted that he would ascend to the pontificate, medicis mother died in 1566 at which point he continued his studies to become a priest. This led to his ordination on 22 July 1567, Alessandro served as the Florentine ambassador to Pope Pius V from 1569 to 1584 and was later appointed by Pope Gregory XIII as the Bishop of Pistoia in 1573. In March 1573 after the appointment he received consecration in Rome. He was later made the Archbishop of Florence in 1574, Medici was elevated into the cardinalate in 1583 and Pope Sixtus V made the Cardinal-Priest of Santi Quirico e Giulitta, a title he received on 9 January 1584. It was a titular church reverted from its previous name of San Ciriaco alle Terme Diocleziane, in the period after this, he would opt for other titular churches. In 1596 Pope Clement VIII sent him as the legate to France where Maria de Medici was queen. He remained there until 1598 when he received word of his appointment as the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, on 14 March 1605, eleven days after the death of Clement VIII,62 cardinals entered the conclave. Prominent among the candidates for the papacy were the great historian Cesare Baronius, king Henry IV of France is said to have spent 300,000 écus in the promotion of Alessandros candidacy. On 1 April 1605, Cardinal Alessandro de Medici was elected as pope and he chose to be called Leo XI in honor of his uncle Pope Leo X. He was crowned on 10 April 1605 by the protodeacon, Cardinal Francesco Sforza, when he was elected, Leo XI was almost seventy years of age, and he died twenty seven days later. His death came as a result of fatigue and cold in the ceremony of taking possession of the Basilica of St John Lateran and he was called Papa Lampo because his papacy was so short. List of popes List of popes from the Medici family List of popes by length of reign Chisholm, Hugh, catholic Hierarchy, Pope Leo XI Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Medici Leo XI at St Peters Basilica Leo XI. In, Salvador Miranda, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, online at fiu. edu, Website of Florida International University, retrieved 21 November 2011
