| Cosimo I | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Duke of Florence | |||||
| Reign | 6 January 1537 –21 August 1569 | ||||
| Predecessor | Alessandro | ||||
| Grand Duke of Tuscany | |||||
| Reign | 21 August 1569 – 21 April 1574 | ||||
| Successor | Francesco I | ||||
| Born | 12 June 1519 Florence,Republic of Florence | ||||
| Died | 21 April 1574(1574-04-21) (aged 54) Florence,Grand Duchy of Tuscany | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue more... | Bia de' Medici Maria de' Medici Francesco I de' Medici Isabella, Duchess of Bracciano Cardinal Giovanni Lucrezia, Duchess of Modena Garzia Ferdinando I de' Medici Pietro Virginia, Duchess of Modena | ||||
| |||||
| House | Medici | ||||
| Father | Giovanni delle Bande Nere | ||||
| Mother | Maria Salviati | ||||
| Religion | Catholicism | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and lastduke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the firstgrand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. He built theUffizi (office) to organize his administration, and conqueredSiena to consolidate Florence's rule in Tuscany. He expanded thePitti Palace and most of theBoboli Gardens were also laid out during his reign.
Cosimo was born inFlorence on 12 June 1519, the son of the famouscondottiere Ludovico de' Medici (known asGiovanni delle Bande Nere) and his wifeMaria Salviati,[1] herself a granddaughter ofLorenzo the Magnificent. He was the grandson ofCaterina Sforza, the Countess of Forlì and Lady ofImola. Cosimo became Duke of Florence in 1537 at age 17, after the former Duke of Florence,Alessandro de' Medici, was assassinated.[2] Cosimo was from a different branch of the Medici family, descended fromGiovanni il Popolano, the great-grandson ofGiovanni di Bicci de' Medici, founder of theMedici Bank. It was necessary to search for a successor outside of the "senior" branch of the Medici family descended fromCosimo di Giovanni de' Medici, since the only male child of Alessandro, the lastlineal descendant of the senior branch, was bornout-of-wedlock and was only four years old at the time of his father's death.
Up to the time of hisaccession, Cosimo had lived only inMugello (the ancestral homeland of theMedici family) and was almost unknown in Florence. However, many of the influential men in the city favoured him as the new duke. Several hoped to rule through him, thereby enriching themselves at the state's expense. However, as the FlorentineliteratusBenedetto Varchi famously put it, "The innkeeper's reckoning was different from the glutton's."[3] Cosimo proved strong-willed, astute and ambitious and soon rejected the clause he had signed that entrusted much of the power of the Florentine duchy to a Council of Forty-Eight.
When the Florentine exiles heard of the death of Alessandro, they marshalled their forces with support fromFrance and from disgruntled neighbors of Florence. During this time, Cosimo had an illegitimate daughter,Bia (1537 – 1542), who was portrayed shortly before her premature death in a painting[4] byBronzino.
Toward the end of July 1537, the exiles marched into Tuscany under the leadership ofBernardo Salviati andPiero Strozzi.[5] When Cosimo heard of their approach, he sent his best troops underAlessandro Vitelli to engage the enemy, which they did atMontemurlo.[5] 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 thePiazza della Signoria or in theBargello.Filippo Strozzi's body was found with a bloody sword next to it and a note quotingVirgil, but many believe that his suicide was faked.
In 1537, Cosimo sentBernardo Antonio de' Medici to Holy Roman EmperorCharles V to gain recognition for his position as head of the Florentine state. That recognition came in June 1537 in exchange for help against France in the course of theItalian Wars. With this move, Cosimo firmly restored the power of theMedici,[dubious –discuss] who thereafter ruledFlorence until the death of the last of the Medici rulers,Gian Gastone de' Medici, in 1737. The help granted to Charles V allowed him to free Tuscany from the Imperial garrisons and to increase as much as possible its independence from the overwhelming Spanish influence in Italy.
Cosimo next turned his attention toSiena. With the support of Charles V, he defeated the Sienese at theBattle of Marciano in 1554 and laid siege to their city. Despite the inhabitants' desperate resistance, the city fell on 17 April 1555 after a 15-month siege, its population diminished from 40,000 to 8,000 people. In 1559,Montalcino, the last redoubt of Sienese independence, was annexed to Cosimo's territories. In 1569,Pope Pius V elevated him to the rank of Grand Duke of Tuscany.[6]
In the last 10 years of his reign, struck by the death of two of his sons bymalaria, Cosimo gave up active rule of the Florentine state to his son and successorFrancesco I. He retreated to live in his villa, theVilla di Castello, outside Florence.
Cosimo was an authoritarian ruler and secured his position by employing a guard of Swissmercenaries. In 1548, he managed to have his relativeLorenzino, the last Medici claimant to Florence who had earlier arranged the assassination of Cosimo's predecessor Alessandro, assassinated himself inVenice.[dubious –discuss] Cosimo also was an active builder of military structures,[7] as a part of his attempt to save the Florentine state from the frequent passage of foreign armies. Examples include the new fortresses of Siena,Arezzo,Sansepolcro, the new walls ofPisa andFivizzano and the strongholds ofPortoferraio on the island ofElba andTerra del Sole.
He laid heavy tax burdens on his subjects. Despite his economic difficulties, Cosimo I was a lavish patron of the arts and also developed the Florentine navy, which eventually took part in theBattle of Lepanto, and which he entrusted to his new creation, theKnights of St. Stephen.[8]
Cosimo is perhaps best known today for the creation of theUffizi ("offices"). Originally intended as a means of consolidating his administrative control of the various committees, agencies, and guilds established in Florence's Republican past, it now houses one of the world's most important collections of art, much of it commissioned and/or owned by various members of the Medici family.
His gardens atVilla di Castello, designed byNiccolò Tribolo when Cosimo was only seventeen years old, were designed to announce a new golden age for Florence and to demonstrate the magnificence and virtues of the Medici. They were decorated with fountains, alabyrinth, agrotto and ingenious ornamental water features, and were a prototype for theItalian Renaissance garden. They had a profound influence on later Italian and French gardens through the eighteenth century.[9]
Cosimo also finished thePitti Palace as a home for the Medici and created the magnificentBoboli Gardens behind the Pitti. As his more prominent ancestors had been, he was also an important patron of the arts, supporting, among others,Giorgio Vasari,Benvenuto Cellini,Pontormo,Bronzino, the architectBaldassarre Lanci, and the historiansScipione Ammirato andBenedetto Varchi.
A large bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I byGiambologna, erected in 1598,[10] still stands today in thePiazza della Signoria, the main square of Florence.
Cosimo was also an enthusiast ofalchemy, a passion he inherited from his grandmotherCaterina Sforza.
In 1539, Cosimo married the Spanish noblewomanEleanor of Toledo (1522 – 1562), the daughter ofDon Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, the Spanishviceroy ofNaples.[11] The couple had a long and peaceful married life. Surprisingly for the era, Cosimo was faithful to his wife throughout their married life. The example of a traditional couple served to strengthen his various reforms and separate their association with the former Duke. Eleanor was a political adviser to her husband and often ruled Florence in his absence. She provided the Medici with thePitti Palace and was a patron of the newJesuit order. The Duchess died with her sons Giovanni and Garzia in 1562, when she was only forty; all three of them were struck down bymalaria while traveling toPisa.
Cosimo and Eleanor had:
Before his first marriage, Cosimo fathered an illegitimate daughter with an unknown woman:
After Eleanor's death in 1562, Cosimo fathered two children with his mistressEleonora degli Albizzi:
In 1570, Cosimo marriedCamilla Martelli (died 1590)[16] and fathered one child with her:
Media related toCosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany at Wikimedia Commons| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Duke of Florence 1537–1569 | Elevated to Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Elevated from Duchy of Florence | Grand Duke of Tuscany 1569–1574 | Succeeded by |
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