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'Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany' (25 March 1541 – 17 October 1587) was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.

Contents

Biography

Ancestors

Children

Descendants

References

External links

Biography

Born in Florence, he was the son of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo, and served as regent for his father starting in 1564.
On December 18, 1565, he married Johanna of Austria, youngest daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, after among others Princess Elizabeth of Sweden had ben considered. 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 in 1578.
Soon after the Grand Duchess Joanna had died, Francesco went on to marry his Venetian mistress, Bianca Cappello, after aptly disposing of her husband, a Florentine bureaucrat. Because of the quick remarriage and similar occurrences among the Medici (Francesco's younger brother Pietro had reportedly killed his wife), rumors spread up that Francesco and Bianca had conspired to poison Johanna. Francesco reportedly built and decorated Villa Medicea di Pratolino for Bianca. She was, however, not always popular among Florentines. They had no children, but Francesco adopted her daughter by first marriage Pellegrina (1564- ?) and her son Antonio (August 29 1576 - May 2 1621), who was first adopted as newborn child by Bianca Cappello with the intention to present him to Francesco as "own child" by means of changeling.

Like his father, Francesco was often despotic, but while Cosimo had known how to maintain Florentine independence, Francesco acted more like a vassal of his father-in-law, the emperor, and subsequent Holy Roman Emperors. He continued the heavy taxation of his subjects in order to pay large sums to the empire.
He had an amateur's interest in manufacturing and sciences. He founded porcelain and stoneware manufacture, but these did not thrive until after his death. He continued his father's patronage of the arts, supporting artists and building the Medici Theater as well as founding the Accademia della Crusca. He was also passionately interested in chemistry and alchemy and spent many hours in his private laboratory/curio collection, the Studiolo in the Palazzo Vecchio, which held his collections of natural item and stones and allowed him to dabble in amateur chemistry and alchemical schemes.
Francesco and Bianca died on the same day, possibly poisoned, or as many historians believe, from malarial fever. However, recent forensic evidence uncovered by Italian scientists supports the theory that he and his wife were poisoned ^[1].
Francesco was succeeded by his younger brother, Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
There is a famous portrait of Francesco as a child by Agnolo Bronzino, which hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Francesco's marriage to Bianca and the couple's death was exploited by Thomas Middleton for his tragedy ''Women Beware Women'' (published 1657).

Ancestors

'Francesco I de' Medici ancestors in three generations'

'Francesco I de' Medici Grand duke of Tuscany'	'Father:' Cosimo I de' Medici Grand duke of Tuscany	'Paternal Grandfather:' Lodovico de' Medici Giovanni dalle Bande Nere	'Paternal Great-grandfather:' Giovanni the Popolano ''il Popolani''
			'Paternal Great-grandmother:' Caterina Sforza Countess of Forlì
		'Paternal Grandmother:' Maria Salviati	'Paternal Great-grandfather:' Jacopo Salviati (1461-1533)
			'Paternal Great-grandmother:' Lucrezia de' Medici (1470-a1550) ''il Cafaggiolo''
	'Mother:' Eleonora di Toledo See Aragon family	'Maternal Grandfather:' Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo Marqués of Villafranca	''Maternal Great-grandfather:' Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo Duke of Alba
			'Maternal Great-grandmother:' Isabel de Zúñiga y Pimentel
		'Maternal Grandmother:' María Osorio Pimentel	'Maternal Great-grandfather:' Luis Pimentel y Pacheco Marqués of Villafranca
			'Maternal Great-grandmother:' Juana Osorio y Bazán Marquesa of Villafranca

Children

Francesco and Johanna had seven children:

★ Eleonora (March 1, 1566 – September 9, 1611), who married Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (1582-1612).

★ Romola (November 20, 1568 – December 2, 1568)

★ Anna (December 31, 1569 – February 19, 1584)

★ Isabella (September 30, 1571 – August 8, 1572)

★ Lucrezia (November 7, 1572 – August 14, 1574)

★ Maria (1573 – 1642), who became Queen of France by her marriage to Henri IV in 1600.

★ Filippo (May 20, 1577 – March 29, 1582)

Descendants

'Descendents of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany, in three generations'

Francesco I de' Medici Grand duke of Tuscany

'Daughter:' Marie de' Medici Queen of France

'Granddaughter:' Henrietta Maria of France Queen of England

'Great-Grandson:' Charles II of England King of England, Ireland and Scotland

References

★ The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, , Christopher, Hibbert, Penguin Books, 1979,

External links

★ "The Medici Archive Project", from ''The Medici Archive Project''

★ "Medici Family History"

★ "Toledo-de' Medici, Leonor de (Eleonora)", from ''The Medici Archive Project''

★ "Osorio Pimentel, María", from ''The Medici Archive Project''

★ "Ancestors of Leonora Alvarez de Toledo", from ''Foundation for Medieval Genealogy''