Royal history: Who was Allesandro de' Medici?
About Him
On 22 July 1510, Alessandro de' Medici was born in Florence. He was officially recognized as the son of Lorenzo II de’ Medici, though some accounts suggest he may have been the illegitimate son of Pope Clement VII, his uncle. His mother is believed to have been a woman of African descent, possibly a servant or enslaved woman in the Medici household, making him one of the first known rulers of European descent with African ancestry.
Childhood
Alessandro spent his early childhood in Rome, receiving a humanist education under the scholar Pierio Valeriano Bolzani, supervised by Pope Leo X and Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici. During these years, a series of unexpected deaths in the Medici family's senior line reshaped the political landscape:
Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours (1516)
Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (1519)
Pope Leo X (1521)
These losses prompted Cardinal Giulio (later Pope Clement VII) to relocate the remaining Medici heirs—Alessandro, his half-sister Catherine (later Queen of France), and his cousin Ippolito—to Poggio a Caiano near Florence. In 1522, Cardinal Giulio secured the title Duke of Penne for Alessandro from Emperor Charles V.
When Giulio became Pope Clement VII in 1523, he left Florence under the regency of Cardinal Silvio Passerini, with Alessandro and Ippolito nominally in charge. However, the two cousins despised each other. Alessandro faced opposition not only from Ippolito but also from Florentine nobles, including Clarice Strozzi, daughter of Piero the Unfortunate, who considered him unworthy of the Medici name.
In 1527, during the Sack of Rome, anti-Medici factions overthrew the Medici rule and established a Savonarola-influenced Republic. Alessandro and Ippolito fled with Cardinal Passerini, while young Catherine de' Medici was left behind. Alessandro lived in exile for the next three years.
Duke of Florence
In 1530, after a nearly ten-month siege of Florence, supported by Spanish troops, Alessandro was appointed head of state. Pope Clement VII favored him over Ippolito, who was made a cardinal instead. This decision fueled Ippolito’s resentment, and he continued plotting against Alessandro.
On 5 July 1531, Alessandro arrived in Florence as ruler. Nine months later, Emperor Charles V formally made him hereditary Duke of Florence, ending the Republic and beginning over 200 years of Medici monarchy. The Florentine Constitution of 1532 consolidated his power.
Initially, Alessandro ruled with the advice of elected councils to calm defeated republicans. However, as his reign progressed, he exhibited authoritarian tendencies. In 1534, he ordered the construction of Fortezza da Basso, a fortress meant to secure Medici control and house a large military garrison.
Patron of the Arts
Despite criticism from exiles, Alessandro was a notable patron of the arts, commissioning works from:
Giorgio Vasari
Jacopo Pontormo
Benvenuto Cellini
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
Florentine exiles viewed him as a harsh and incompetent ruler, but contemporary Medici supporters defended his leadership.
Margeret of Parma
Love, Marriage, and Children
In 1536, Emperor Charles V kept a promise to Pope Clement VII by arranging Alessandro’s marriage to his illegitimate daughter, Margaret of Austria. However, they had no children. Margaret later became an important political figure as Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, living in Oudenaarde (modern-day Belgium).
Although officially married to Margaret, Alessandro remained devoted to his mistress, Taddea Malaspina, who bore him two illegitimate children:
Giulio de' Medici (c. 1533/37–1600) – Had illegitimate issue
Giulia de' Medici – Married Francesco Cantelmo, Duke of Popoli, and later Bernadetto de' Medici, Prince of Ottajano
The Assassination
On the Night of Epiphany (5–6 January 1537), Alessandro was assassinated by his cousin and close friend, Lorenzino de’ Medici ("Lorenzaccio").
Lorenzino lured Alessandro into a private meeting with the promise of a secret encounter with a beautiful widow. When Alessandro arrived alone and unarmed, Lorenzino and his servant Piero di Giovannabate (Scoronconcolo) ambushed him. Alessandro resisted fiercely, even biting off part of Lorenzino’s finger, but ultimately succumbed to multiple stab wounds. The assassins locked the door to delay discovery of the murder and fled Florence.
To prevent unrest, Medici officials secretly wrapped Alessandro’s body in a carpet and buried him hurriedly in San Lorenzo. Meanwhile, a solemn funeral was held at the imperial court of Charles V in Valladolid, Spain.
Lorenzino later justified the murder as an act to restore the Florentine Republic, but the people did not rise in revolt. In 1548, he was assassinated in Venice on the orders of Emperor Charles V.
With Alessandro’s death, the Medici lineage shifted to the junior branch, as power passed to Cosimo I de’ Medici, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Legacy
Alessandro de' Medici remains a controversial figure in history. Some view him as a tyrant, while others argue that he stabilized Florence during a period of political turmoil. His mixed-race heritage also adds a unique dimension to discussions on race and power in Renaissance Europe.
His descendants, through his daughter Giulia de' Medici, continued to hold influence within Italian nobility.
In the next blog post, we will travel back to a royal destination in Florence. Keep in touch!
Source pictures: Wikipedia
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