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| Francesco I de' Medici | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait byAlessandro Allori, c. 1580-1585 | |
| Grand Duke of Tuscany | |
| Reign | 21 April 1574 – 19 October 1587 |
| Predecessor | Cosimo I |
| Successor | Ferdinando I |
| Born | 25 March 1541 Florence,Duchy of Florence |
| Died | 19 October 1587(1587-10-19) (aged 46) Medici Villa inPoggio a Caiano,Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Joanna of Austria Bianca Cappello |
| Issue among others... | |
| House | Medici |
| Father | Cosimo I |
| Mother | Eleanor of Toledo |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Francesco I (25 March 1541 – 19 October 1587) was the secondGrand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 until his death in 1587. He was a member of theHouse of Medici.
Born inFlorence, Francesco was the son ofCosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, andEleanor of Toledo.[1] He served asregent for his father Cosimo after he retired from his governing duties in 1564.
On 18 December 1565, Francesco married ArchduchessJoanna of Austria, youngest daughter ofFerdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and his wifeAnne of Bohemia and Hungary.[2] By all reports, it was not a happy marriage. Joanna was homesick for her native Austria, and Francesco was neither charming nor faithful. In 1578, Joanna died at the age of thirty-one, after falling down a flight of stairs while pregnant with their eighth child.[3]
Soon after 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), rumours spread that Francesco and Bianca had conspired to poison Joanna. Francesco reportedly built and decorated theVilla di Pratolino for Bianca. She was, however, not always popular among Florentines. They had no legitimate children, but Bianca had borne him a son, Antonio (29 August 1576 – 2 May 1621), in his first wife's lifetime. Following the death of Francesco's legitimate sonFilippo in 1582, Antonio was proclaimed heir. Francesco also adopted Bianca's daughter by her first marriage, Pellegrina (1564–?).
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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 Spain. He continued the heavy taxation of his subjects to pay large sums to the emperor.
Francesco had an avid interest in manufacturing and sciences. He foundedporcelain 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 theAccademia della Crusca. Francesco was also passionately interested in chemistry and alchemy and spent many hours in his private laboratory and curio collection, theStudiolo in thePalazzo Vecchio, which held his collections of natural items and stones and allowed him to dabble inchemistry andalchemical schemes.
Francesco and Bianca died on 19 and 20 October, both at the Medici Villa inPoggio a Caiano. Although the original death certificates mention malaria, it has been widely speculated that the couple was poisoned, possibly by Francesco's brotherFerdinando.[4] While some early forensic research supported the latter theory,[4] forensic evidence from a study in 2010 found the parasitePlasmodium falciparum, which causesmalaria, in the skeletal remains of Francesco I,[5] which strongly bolstered the infection theory and the credibility of the official documents.[6] Francesco was succeeded by his younger brother Ferdinando.
In 1857, all members of the Medici family were exhumed and reburied in the place where they still lie today, theBasilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. The painterGiuseppe Moricci attended the ceremony and depicted Francesco with a facial droop, a right claw hand appearance, the right shoulder internally rotated, the right calf muscle wasted and a right clubfoot confirmed by orthopaedic footwear within the coffin.[7] These are the signs of a right-sided stroke possibly within theinternal 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 famous portrait of Francesco as a child byBronzino that hangs in theUffizi Gallery inFlorence. Francesco's marriage to Bianca and the couple's death was exploited byThomas Middleton for his tragedyWomen Beware Women, published in 1658.
Francesco and Joanna had eight children:
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| Preceded by | Grand Duke of Tuscany 1574–1587 | Succeeded by |
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