Medici, Lucretia (1470-1553)

Family and Early Years

Lucretia Medici was born in Florence on August 4, 1470. In baptism, she received the names of Lucretius Maria Romola. Lucretia was the first child and eldest daughter in a large family of Lorenzo the Magnificent and Clarice Orsini ^[1] . On her paternal side, she was the granddaughter of Piero Podagric , the head of the Florentine Republic and Lucretia Tornabuoni , a religious poetess in whose honor she received her main name. On the maternal side was the granddaughter of Giacomo Orsini, owner of Monterotondo and Magdalene Orsini. Lucrezia's sibling was Pope Leo X ^[2] .

She received a good education. Her teacher was the famous poet and humanist Angelo Ambrogini, nicknamed Poliziano . Subsequently, the preacher and Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola had a great influence on the personality of Lucretia. Already in early childhood, parents began to look for her a worthy spouse. In 1474, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere grabbed her for his brother Giovanni della Rovere , but was refused. Lorenzo the Magnificent thought of marrying the eldest daughter to a representative of one of the most influential Florentine families. Thus, he hoped to strengthen the position of the Medici house in Florence. After the failed Pazzi conspiracy , in reconciliation with the house of Salviati , the family of one of the executed conspirators , on September 10, 1481, Lucrezia was engaged to Jacopo, the heir to the banker Giovanni Salviati and Elena Magdalene Gondi-Buondelmonti. The betrothal was officially announced on September 12, 1482. The bride's dowry was two thousand florins ^{[3] [4]} .

Marriage and offspring

The wedding ceremony of Lucretia and was held in Florence on September 10, 1486 (according to other sources in February or September 1488 ^{[2] [5]} ). The marriage with her provided a quick career growth for her spouse. Having married, she preferred to stay for a long time in her parents' house, caring for them until their death ^[4] .

She gave birth to a spouse of thirteen or twelve children, of which ten have reached the age of majority - six sons and four daughters ^{[4] [6]} :

• (03.3.1490 - 10.28.1553), cardinal since 1517, cardinal bishop of Albano since 1543;
• Lorenzo (8.7.1492 - 16.7.1539), senator and philanthropist, in 1514 was married to Constance Conti;
• Pierrot , holder of the Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem , married with Catherine Pallavicini;
• Elena (1495 - 1552), combined the first marriage with Margrave Pallavichino Pallavichino , the second marriage - with Prince Jacopo V d'Appiano ;
• Battista (1498 - 1524), married with Constance Bardi;
• Maria (07/17/1499 - 12/29/1543), in 1516 was married to the condottiere Giovanni Medici (1498 - 1526), ​​known by the nickname "Giovanni, the Black Stripes"; their son Cosimo became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany;
• Louise , married with , Count of Caltabellota;
• (genus 23.8.1504 - date of death unknown), married first marriage with Piero Gwalterotti, second marriage - ; their son Alessandro Ottaviano became pope under the name Leo XI;
• Bernardo (1508 - 6.5.1568), cardinal since 1561, prior of the Order of the Hospitallers St. John of Jerusalem;
• Alamanno (1510 - 1571), married with Constance Serristori.

Lucretia paid much attention to the upbringing and education of children. Her two daughters were given by her to the education of the blessed Elizabeth Salviati, a nun- kamaldulka and abbess of the monastery of St. John the Evangelist in Boldron. She attached no less importance to the matrimonial relations of children with the Medici house; daughter Maria married her pupil Giovanni, son of Giovanni Popolano and Katerina Sforza , whom she took custody of as a teenager after he was orphaned. Arranged the marriage of another daughter, widowed by Francesca with the widower Ottaviano, a representative of the side branch of the Medici house. In an effort to strengthen the position of the Medici house in the apostolic capital, Lucrezia helped the eldest son Giovanni to receive the rank of cardinal, and the other son, Lorenzo married a representative of the Roman nobility ^[4] .

Before and after widowhood

Even in marriage, Lucretia never forgot that she was a Medici. She maintained close contact with all her brothers and sisters, especially after the Medici family was expelled from Florence, despite the fact that her husband was on the side of their opponents. In August 1497, she paid three thousand ducats to carry out a coup that would allow her brother Pierrot the Unlucky to regain power over the city. The conspiracy failed and its members were killed, all but her. Lucretia was arrested and . But , the head of the Florentine Republic did not dare to execute the conspirator, fearing revenge on the part of her supporters from among the fans of Girolamo Savonarola, and released him ^{[4] [7]} . However, Lucretia continued to act in the interests of her family. Contrary to the wishes of opponents who feared the strengthening of the Medici house, she began negotiations on the marriage of condottier with her niece Clarice , daughter of her exiled brother ^[8] . When in 1512 her brother Giuliano stood at the head of the Florentine Republic, he made Lucretius his adviser ^[9] .

After her younger brother Giovanni was elected pope in March 1513, Lucretia, along with her brothers and sisters, held a celebration in Florence. During the celebrations, all the townspeople received gifts and generous alms from the Medici family ^[10] . In the same year, she moved to Rome, where her husband was appointed ambassador of the Florentine Republic to the Holy See . Here they settled in the Medici Palace, now the palace of Madame ^[4] . Already in 1514, the pontiff brother, who led a wasteful lifestyle, had to lay the papal tiara, whose value was estimated at forty-four thousand ducats, with the older sister and her husband ^[11] . At the same time, Lucrezia had a quarrel with Alfonsina Orsini , the widow of his brother Pierrot Unlucky, who was trying to make her son Lorenzo the duke of Florence. Then Lucretia supported the republican form of government ^[12] . She used influence on dignified relatives solely in the interests of the family. The eldest son, who became a cardinal under the patronage of an uncle pontiff, helped her acquire a number of buildings and territories in Rome and its environs, which later allowed to maintain the position of the Medici house at the Holy See and after the death of Pope Leo X, who died in her arms ^{[13 ]} .

In the 1520s-1530s, Lucretia benefited many churches and monasteries in Florence and Rome. On her donation, a chapel was built, which became the ancestral tomb of the Medici family in Rome ^[14] . She supported the ministry of St. Philip Neri , who cared for homeless children in the apostolic capital, and was in correspondence with Niccolo Machiavelli . She patronized the poet and musician , with whom she turned to her brother, Pope Leo X, with a request to allow the transfer of the remains of Dante Alighieri from Ravenna , where he died, to Florence, in which the poet was born ^[15] .

Lucretia opposed the marriage of the niece of Catherine , the daughter of brother Lorenzo , the Duke of Urbinsky with Henry , the Duke of Orleans, the future king of France under the name of Henry II, as she believed that the dynastic marriages of the Medici family should be concluded with representatives of the Italian aristocracy ^[16] . However, her cousin, Pope Clement VII, needed this marriage and insisted on his own. She fled from Rome during his sack by the troops of the Holy Roman Empire under the command of Emperor Charles V. From May to June 1527, Lucretia was in Venice , where other representatives of the Medici house arrived, and then returned to Rome, where in December she was joined by her husband who escaped from captivity. According to another version, he was bought by her ^[17] . When the representatives of the Medici house became the Dukes of Florence, the husband of Lucretia and the eldest son-cardinal came out in support of the republic. ^{On the} contrary, she supported Alessandro, the first duke of Florence from the house of the Medici, and he, in turn, helped her arrange the marriage of the youngest son Alamanno ^[4] .

September 6, 1533 the husband of Lucretia died. Having become a widow, she headed the banking house of Salviati and successfully managed the financial affairs of the family in Rome and Florence. But in 1538, Pope Paul III expelled the Medici family and their relatives from Rome, thus resolving the property dispute between them and their relatives . Before exile, Lucretia bequeathed to bury herself in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva . She died in old age on November 10 or 15, 1553 in Florence ^{[2] [6]} (according to other sources in December of the same year in Rome) ^[4] .

• Tomas NR The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence: [ eng. ] . - Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003 .-- 229 p. - (Women and gender in the early modern world). - ISBN 978-0-75-460777-9 .

• Cawley ch. Lucrezia de 'Medici (Florence 4 Aug 1470 - Florence 10/15 Nov 1553 ) . www.fmg.ac. - Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Date of treatment September 22, 2016.
• Fosi Ir. Medici, Lucrezia de ' (Italian) . www.treccani.it . - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (2009) - Volume 73. Date of treatment September 22, 2016.
• Vogt-Lüerssen M. Lucrezia de 'Medici (German) . www.kleio.org . - Die Medici. Date of treatment September 22, 2016.