Marriage and Family
In 1539, he married Eleonora di Toledo (1522 – 1562), the daughter of Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, the Spanish viceroy of Naples. Her face is still familiar to many because of her solemn and distant portraits by Agnolo Bronzino. The most famous of them, with her son Giovanni, hangs in the Uffizi Gallery. She provided the Medici with the Pitti Palace and seven sons to ensure male succession and four daughters to connect the Medici with noble and ruling houses in Italy. She was a patron of the new Jesuit order, and her private chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio was decorated by Bronzino, who had originally arrived in Florence to provide festive decor for her wedding. She died, with her sons Giovanni and Garzia, in 1562, when she was only forty; all three of them were struck down by malaria while traveling to Pisa.
Before his first marriage, Cosimo fathered an illegitimate daughter with an unknown woman:
- Bia de' Medici (ca. 1536 – March 1, 1542)
With Eleonora, Cosimo fathered eleven children:
- Maria (April 3, 1540 – November 19, 1557)
Engaged to Alfonso di Ercole II d'Este, but died before the marriage - Francesco (March 25, 1541 – October 19, 1587)
Cosimo's successor as Grand Duke of Tuscany - Isabella (August 31, 1542 – July 16, 1576)
was murdered by her husband Paolo Giordano I Orsini because of infidelity - Giovanni (September 28, 1543 – November 1562)
became Bishop of Pisa and cardinal - Lucrezia (June 7, 1545 – April 21, 1561)
in 1560 married of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Modena - Pietro (Pedricco) (August 10, 1546 – June 10, 1547)
died aged one - Garzia (July 5, 1547 – December 12, 1562)
died of malaria aged 15 - Antonio (July 1, 1548 – July 1548)
died in infancy - Ferdinando (July 30, 1549 – February 17, 1609)
Francesco's successor as Grand Duke of Tuscany - Anna (March 19, 1553 – August 6, 1553)
died in infancy - Don Pietro de' Medici (June 3, 1554 – April 25, 1604)
murdered his wife Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo because of infidelity
After Eleonora's death in 1562, Cosimo fathered two children with his mistress Eleonora degli Albrizzi:
- unnamed daughter (born and died 1566)
died before baptism - Giovanni (1567 – 1621)
later legitimized by his father
In 1570, Cosimo married Camilla Martelli (died 1590) and fathered one child with her:
- Virginia (May 29, 1568 – January 15, 1615)
married Cesare d'Este, Duke of Modena
Read more about this topic: Ancestors Of Cosimo I De Medici
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and, marriage and/or family:
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Through too much play, or marriage with a fool?”
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