Alessandro De Medici: The Duke Of Florence As Well As The Start Out Dark Caput Of Blue Planet Inwards The Modern Western World
Alessandro de' Medici (July 22, 1510 – Jan 6, 1537) also called "il Moro" ("the Moor"), was a gifted soldier, proficient politician, Duke of Penne together with also the kickoff human inwards the history of Italy to dominion equally the Duke of Florence. Alessandro who was an illegitimate boy of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici who later became Pope Clement VII of the Holy Catholic Church of Rome together with an African slave named Simonetta da Collavechio, together with was the kickoff dark (African Florentine) ruled Florence from 1530 until 1537. Though illegitimate, he was the terminal fellow member of the "senior" branch of the Medici to dominion Florence together with the kickoff to live a hereditary duke. The ethnic brand upwards of this Medici Prince makes him the kickoff dark caput of nation inwards the modern western world.
He was the patron of some of the leading artists of the era together with is i of the 2 Medici princes whose remains are buried inwards the famous tomb yesteryear Michaelangelo. Alessandro was assassinated yesteryear his distant cousin Lorenzino de' Medici, nicknamed "Lorenzaccio" ("bad Lorenzo"). Alessandro`s menage unit of measurement history is also total dependent area inwards the novel Fox together with Starz TV series Da Vinci's Demons created by David S. Goyer and starring om Riley, Laura Haddock et al. The greater bulk of the noble houses of Italy tin flaming today describe their ancestry dorsum to Alessandro de Medici.
Alessandro had 2 children Giulio together with Giulia with his mistress Taddea Malespina together with through them the bulk of the Italian noble houses are descended. There are many portraits of the Duke including Cristofano dell'Altissimo's (1525–1605) icon from the Giovio Series. Perhaps the most striking is Agnolo Bronzino’s “Portrait of Duke Alessandro de’ Medici,” painted inwards the 1550s. But what Bronzino’s minor icon shows us is that he was also clearly half-black, the boy of a slave inwards the pope’s household, mayhap — other paintings of Alessandro unremarkably embrace his pilus together with lighten his complexion, but Bronzino’s near-photographic complete leaves trivial dubiety nearly his mixed-race heritage.
Despite the many portraits of this 16th century Italian Renaissance figure, his African heritage is rarely mentioned. The greater bulk of the noble houses of Italy tin flaming today describe their ancestry dorsum to Alessandro de Medici.
In a recent exhibition on Italian Renaissance fine art that was on display at the Philadelphia Museum inwards Feb. 13, 2005, inwards which the focal go was a portrait of Alessandro de' Medici, the ethnic ancestry of the prince was ignored. The unique chance that this small, but of import demo mightiness receive got offered to the national conversation on race inwards U.S. of America inwards particular together with the globe full general was never to live realized.
Rather inwards a shameful together with the solely reference to the Duke's color inwards the entire 173-page catalogue of the Philadelphia exhibit, Karl Strehlke, the curator together with organizer writes, "Some scholars receive got claimed that Alessandro's woman parent was a North African slave. This cannot live confirmed, however, together with the text of a missive of the alphabet that she wrote to her boy inwards 1529 suggests that she was an Italian peasant from Lazio." Such a contestation tin flaming solely live described equally disingenuous.
Based on what Lorenzino de' Medici, Alessandro's kinsman, wrote nearly her inwards his Aplogoia, all scholars who receive got dealt with the dependent area receive got that the retainer whom he cites equally the Duke's mother, is i together with the same Simunetta from Collavecchio inwards the say of Lazio. Besides her beingness specifically identified equally a "slave" yesteryear the historians Bernardo Segni together with Giovanni Cambi, both contemporaries of the Duke's, Cardinal Salviati, a relation of Alessandro's, describes this adult woman equally "una villisima schiava." And, inwards signal of fact, the query of identity that Lorenzino de' Medici does raise, together with Segni repeats, is non whether Simunetta was Alessandro's mother, but whether the "mule driver" she after married was Alessandro's manlike individual parent instead of i or the other of 2 candidates soundless attributed with his paternity.
As Christopher Hare inwards his work, Romance of a Medici Warrior, explains, "[Alessandro] was reported to live the boy of the belatedly Lorenzo dei Medici, Duke of Urbino, but the affection shown him yesteryear Clement VII, gave strength to the full general persuasion that the Pope was his father. In whatever instance his woman parent was a mulatto slave, together with Alessandro had the dark skin, thick lips together with curly pilus of a Negro."
But equally it happens to all people with dark ancestry, the to a greater extent than yous endeavour to hid their blackness the to a greater extent than history together with scientific discipline reveals the truth through the sand of time.
Alessando de' Medici was born inwards Florence inwards 1510, to a dark serving adult woman inwards the Medici household who, after her subsequent wedlock to a muleteer, is exactly referred to inwards existing documents equally Simonetta da Collavechio. Historians today are convinced that Alessandro was fathered yesteryear the seventeen twelvemonth onetime Cardinal Giulio de Medici who later became Pope Clement VII. Cardinal Giulio was the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent. The nickname (il Moro) is said to derive from his features (Hibbert 1999: 236)
When Emperor Charles V sacked Rome inwards 1527, the Florentines took wages of the turmoil inwards Italy to reinstall the Republic; both Alessandro together with Ippolito fled, along with the residual of the Medici together with their master copy supporters, including the Pope's regent, Cardinal Silvio Passerini, with the exception of the eight-year-old Catherine de' Medici, who was left behind. Michelangelo, together with therefore occupied inwards creating a funerary chapel for the Medici, initially took accuse of edifice fortifications some Florence inwards back upwards of the Republic; he later temporarily fled the city. Clement eventually made his peace with the Emperor, together with with the back upwards of Imperial troops, the Republic was overwhelmed after a lengthy siege, together with the Medici were restored to powerfulness inwards the summertime of 1530. Clement assigned Florence to nineteen-year-old Alessandro, who had been made a duke, an appointment that was purchased from Charles. He arrived inwards Florence to convey upwards his dominion on July 5, 1531, together with was made hereditary Duke of Florence nine months later yesteryear the Emperor (for Tuscany lay exterior the Papal States), thereby signalling the destination of the Republic (Hibbert 1999: 250–252; together with Schevill 1936: 482, 513–514).
His many enemies with the exiles declared that his dominion was harsh, depraved together with incompetent, an assessment debated yesteryear later historians. One relic of his dominion sometimes pointed out equally a symbol of Medici oppression is the massive Fortezza da Basso, today the largest historical monument of Florence. In 1535 the Florentine opposition sent his cousin Ippolito to appeal to Charles V against some actions of the Duke, but Ippolito died en route; rumors were spread that he had been poisoned at Alessandro's orders (Hibbert 1999: 254).
In a belatedly replay of the variety of medieval civil politics that had long revolved some pope together with emperor, commune together with lord, the Emperor supported Alessandro against the republicans. In 1536, he married his natural immature adult woman Margaret of Republic of Austria to Alessandro. For his ain inclinations, Alessandro seems to receive got remained faithful to i mistress, Taddea Malaspina, who bore his solely children Giulio de' Medici (c. 1540-1600), who also had illegitimate issue, together with Giulia de' Medici, who married her cousin Bernardetto de' Medici, Signore di Ottaiano, together with had issue.
Four years later his distant cousin Lorenzino de' Medici, nicknamed "Lorenzaccio" ("bad Lorenzo"), assassinated him. (This number is the dependent area of Alfred de Musset's play "Lorenzaccio.") Lorenzino entrapped Alessandro through the ruse of a promised arranged sexual run across with Lorenzino's sis Laudomia, a beautiful widow. For fright of starting an uprising if intelligence of his expiry got out, Medici officials wrapped Alessandro's corpse inwards a carpet together with secretly carried it to the cemetery of San Lorenzo, where it was hurriedly buried.
In Valladolid (Spain), where the majestic courtroom of Charles V was established, a solemn funeral was celebrated.
Lorenzino, inwards a annunciation published later, said that he had killed Alessandro for the sake of the republic. When the anti-Medici faction failed to rise, Lorenzino fled to Venice, where he was killed inwards 1548. The Medici supporters (called "Palleschi" from the balls on the Medici arms) ensured that powerfulness together with therefore passed to Cosimo I de' Medici, the kickoff of the "junior" branch of the Medici to dominion Florence.
Alessandro was survived yesteryear 2 natural children of Taddea's: a son, Giulio (aged iv at the fourth dimension of his father's death) married to Lucrezia Gaetani, together with a daughter, Giulia married firstly to Francesco Cantelmo, the Count of Alvito together with the Duke of Popoli together with and therefore Bernadetto de' Medici, prince of Ottaiano.
The greater bulk of the noble houses of Italy tin flaming today describe their ancestry dorsum to Alessandro de Medici. And, equally shown inwards the 2 lines of descent to the Hapsburgs drawn upwards below, therefore tin flaming a number of other princely families of Europe:
Giulio de Medici, (Allessandro's son) Knight Commander of the Gallery of St. Stephen m. Lucrezia, Countess Gaetani
Cosimo de Medici (illegitimate) m. Lucrezia (II), Countess Gaetani
Angelica de Medici m. Gianpetro, Count Altemps
Maria Cristina, Countess Altemps m. 1646 Ipollito, Duke Lante della Rovere
Antonio, Duke Lante m. 1682 Angelique, Princesse de La Tremouille
Marie Anne Lante m. Jean Baptiste, Duke of Croy Havre
Louis, Duke of Croy Havre m. 1736 Marie Louise, Princess of Montmorency Luxembourg
Joseph, Duke of Croy Havre m. 1762 Adelaide, Princess of Croy Solre
Adelaide, Duchess of Croy Havre m. 1788 Emanuel, Prince of Croy Solre
Constance, Princess of Croy Solre m. 1810 Ferdinand, Duke of Croy
Augusta, Duchess of Croy m. 1836 Alfred, Prince of Salm Salm
Alfred, Prince of Salm Salm m. 1869 Rosa, Countess Lutzow
Emanuel, Prince of Salm Salm m. 1902 Christina von Hapsburg, Archduchess of Austria
Rosemary, Princess of Salm Salm m. 1926 Hubert Salvator von Hapsburg, Archduke of Austria
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF ALESSANDRO'S DESCENT:Joseph, Duke of Croy Havre m. 1762 Adelaide, Princess of Croy Solre
Amalie, Duchess of Croy Havre m. 1790 Charles, Marquis of Conflans
Amalie de Conflans m. 1823 Eugene, Prince of Ligne
Henri, Prince of Ligne m. 1851 Marguerite, Countess of Talleyrand Perigord
Ernest Louis, Prince of Ligne m. 1887 Diane Marchioness of Cosse Brissac
Eugene, Prince of Ligne m. 1917 Phillipine, Princess Noailles
Yolanda, Princess of Ligne m. 1950 Karl von Hapsburg, Archduke of Austria
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF ALESSANDRO'S DESCENT:
Giulio de Medici, Knight Commander of the Gallery of St. Stephen m. Lucrezia, Countess Gaetani
Cosimo de Medici (illegitimate) m. Lucrezia, Countess Gaetani
Angelica de Medici m. Gianpetro, Count Altemps
Maria Cristina, Countess Altemps m. 1646 Ipollito, Duke Lante della Rovere
Antonio, Duke Lante m. 1682 Angelique, Princesse de La Tremouille
Luigi, Duke Lante m. Angela, Princess Vaini
Fillipo, Duke Lante m. Faustina, Marchioness Caprianca
Maria Christina Lante m. Averado, Duke Salviati
Anna Maria Salviati m. Marcantonio , Prince Borghese
Camillo, Prince Borghese m. 1803 Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon's Sister
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF ALESSANDRO'S DESCENT:
Marie Anne Lante m. Jean Baptiste, Duke of Croy Havre
Adelaide, Croy Havre m. Emanuel, Prince of Croy Solre
Constance, Princess of Croy Solre m. 1810 Ferdinand of Croy Solre
Juste Marie, Prince of Croy m. 1854 Marie, Countess Ursel
Charles, Prince of Croy m. 1896 Matilda, Countess Robiano
Marie Imaculee m. 1926 Thiery, count of Limburg Stirum
Evrard, Count of Limburg Stirum m. 1957 Helen, Princess of France daughter of the Count of Paris
source:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/medici.html
THE BLURRED RACIAL LINES OF FAMOUS FAMILIES
Jan 14,2005
by Mario de Valdes y Cocom
In a electrical flow exhibition on Italian Renaissance fine art that is on display at the Philadelphia Museum until Feb. 13, 2005, a focal go is a portrait of Alessandro de' Medici. Unfortunately, however, the unique chance that this small, but of import demo mightiness receive got offered to the national conversation on race has been ignored.
Down through the centuries, most scholars receive got accepted that Alessandro de' Medici's woman parent was a slave adult woman together with she was therefore identified yesteryear Alessandro's contemporaries. But the dependent area of the African ancestry of Alessandro, the kickoff Duke of Florence, is beingness downplayed yesteryear the curators of the Philadelphia exhibit, entitled "Pontormo, Bronzino together with the Medici."
Due to a variety of snobbery endemic to the land - a dependent area which Phillipe de Montebello at the Met inwards New York therefore unabashedly has talked nearly - it is non exactly the Philadelphia Museum but the American fine art institution inwards full general that appears to live having difficulty coming to price with this Medici scion from whom descends some of Europe's most titled families, including 2 branches of the Hapsburgs.
In exactly the terminal 3 years, for example, a portrait of Alessandro's daughter, Giulia, Princess of Ottojano, together with some other portrait of the Duke himself receive got appeared inwards 2 major exhibitions inwards the U.S.: i at the National Gallery inwards Washington inwards 2001 together with some other at the Art Institute of Chicago inwards an exhibit which a few months later travelled to the Detroit Institute of the Arts where it unopen inwards 2003. However, equally with the electrical flow Philadelphia exhibit, trivial was done yesteryear the curators of these shows to force the public's attending to either the Duke's color or his house inwards history.
In the solely reference to the Duke's color inwards the entire 173-page catalogue of the Philadelphia exhibit, Karl Strehlke, the curator together with organizer writes, "Some scholars receive got claimed that Alessandro's woman parent was a North African slave. This cannot live confirmed, however, together with the text of a missive of the alphabet that she wrote to her boy inwards 1529 suggests that she was an Italian peasant from Lazio." Such a contestation tin flaming solely live described equally disingenuous.
Based on what Lorenzino de' Medici, Alessandro's kinsman, wrote nearly her inwards his Aplogoia, all scholars who receive got dealt with the dependent area receive got that the retainer whom he cites equally the Duke's mother, is i together with the same Simunetta from Collavecchio inwards the say of Lazio. Besides her beingness specifically identified equally a "slave" yesteryear the historians Bernardo Segni together with Giovanni Cambi, both contemporaries of the Duke's, Cardinal Salviati, a relation of Alessandro's, describes this adult woman equally "una villisima schiava." And, inwards signal of fact, the query of identity that Lorenzino de' Medici does raise, together with Segni repeats, is non whether Simunetta was Alessandro's mother, but whether the "mule driver" she after married was Alessandro's manlike individual parent instead of i or the other of 2 candidates soundless attributed with his paternity.
As Christopher Hare inwards his work, Romance of a Medici Warrior, explains, "[Alessandro] was reported to live the boy of the belatedly Lorenzo dei Medici, Duke of Urbino, but the affection shown him yesteryear Clement VII, gave strength to the full general persuasion that the Pope was his father. In whatever instance his woman parent was a mulatto slave, together with Alessandro had the dark skin, thick lips together with curly pilus of a Negro."
Like Hare, i ask solely to browse through the images of the Duke published inwards Carla Langedijk's two-volume work, Portraits of the Medici, to verify contemporary descriptions of his apearance such equally Ceccherelli's "capelli ricci neri e bruno inwards vise," (brown inwards complexion with real curly dark hair) or Scipione Ammirato's "color bruno, labbri grossi e capegli crespi." (brown, thick lips together with kinky hair.)
Granted, the bulk of paintings, coins, medallions, etc. depicting Alessandro de' Medici were done after his assassination inwards 1537. However, they were the go of artists who had known him personally. The African traits of the Duke that seem inwards Giorgio Vasari's frescos inwards the Palazzo Vecchio, for example, are exactly equally pronounced equally inwards the to a greater extent than familiar image attributed to the schoolhouse of Bronzino. Furthermore, inwards Vasari's ain description of the go he did for this commission, the accuracy of the innumerable portraits he executed together with the public's powerfulness to seat them, specially after their demise, was the rootage of a non bad grapple of pride for him.
But what could live to a greater extent than decisive proof of Alessandro's African ancestry than the next taken from Scipione Ammirato, the courtroom historian of Alessandro de' Medici's successor, Cosimo:
"Non sono per tacere l'opinione,che inwards quel eta ando attorno intorno la nascita di Alessandro, la qual fu, che egli fusse nato d' una schiava inwards quel tempo, che il padre e i zij rientrarono inwards Firenze. Il che peravventura pote procedere per esser egli stato di color bruno, e per aver avuto i labbri grossi, e i capegli crespi."
What makes the omission of Alessandro's race inwards the electrical flow Philadelphia exhibition problematic, specially after criticism yesteryear the Washington Post together with the New York Times for the like omission inwards the National Gallery's exhibition, is the fact that also beingness the kickoff dark caput of nation inwards modern western history, Alessandro de' Medici's race was quite pivotal to the Grand Ducal together with the most politically powerful catamenia of Medici history.
Pope Clement VII, Alessandro's father, who also was born illegitimate, patently felt that his illegitimate boy would ask every political bootstrap he could obtain for him if Alessandro were to go equally the legal representative of the family. Hence the grapple Clement struck with the Emperor Charles V inwards 1529 to receive got Alessandro created Duke of Florence fifty-fifty though the menage unit of measurement had assiduously avoided such honorifics therefore equally non to seem insensitive to the republican aspirations of the population.
Considering non solely the racial problems America is soundless struggling with but also the high proportion of African Americans inwards Philadelphia, the curators' handling of the dependent area of Alessandro's African slave woman parent is troubling. All the to a greater extent than therefore considering how of import a purpose the de' Medici receive got played inwards European history together with civilization together with the implications this holds for undermining the racial preconceptions that people of color must soundless scrap with today.
Moreover, it seems to me that inwards add-on to the elitism of the rarified globe of the fine art connoisseur, the onetime bugaboo of political correctness is also to blame. For those who force the victimization image of the African American experience, at that spot tin flaming live no room inwards the discourse on race for "narratives" that practise non check the stereotype.
But such a stance is misguided. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 study of this particular branch of the Medici menage unit of measurement would supply us with a unique together with invaluable insight into how i of the most powerful together with influential dynasties inwards Europe was forced to grapple with the number of race therefore early on inwards the history of the African slave trade.
Alessandro De Medici, also called “Il Moro” (“The Moor”), was the kickoff African duke of Florence together with the terminal fellow member of the Medicis to rule. Pained yesteryear Agnolo Bronzino inwards 1550`s.
He was the patron of some of the leading artists of the era together with is i of the 2 Medici princes whose remains are buried inwards the famous tomb yesteryear Michaelangelo. Alessandro was assassinated yesteryear his distant cousin Lorenzino de' Medici, nicknamed "Lorenzaccio" ("bad Lorenzo"). Alessandro`s menage unit of measurement history is also total dependent area inwards the novel Fox together with Starz TV series Da Vinci's Demons created by David S. Goyer and starring om Riley, Laura Haddock et al. The greater bulk of the noble houses of Italy tin flaming today describe their ancestry dorsum to Alessandro de Medici.
Alessandro had 2 children Giulio together with Giulia with his mistress Taddea Malespina together with through them the bulk of the Italian noble houses are descended. There are many portraits of the Duke including Cristofano dell'Altissimo's (1525–1605) icon from the Giovio Series. Perhaps the most striking is Agnolo Bronzino’s “Portrait of Duke Alessandro de’ Medici,” painted inwards the 1550s. But what Bronzino’s minor icon shows us is that he was also clearly half-black, the boy of a slave inwards the pope’s household, mayhap — other paintings of Alessandro unremarkably embrace his pilus together with lighten his complexion, but Bronzino’s near-photographic complete leaves trivial dubiety nearly his mixed-race heritage.
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 portrait of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence together with the kickoff dark caput of nation inwards the modern western world. Painted yesteryear Cristofano dell'Altissimo (1525–1605) inwards betwixt 1511 & 1537
Despite the many portraits of this 16th century Italian Renaissance figure, his African heritage is rarely mentioned. The greater bulk of the noble houses of Italy tin flaming today describe their ancestry dorsum to Alessandro de Medici.
In a recent exhibition on Italian Renaissance fine art that was on display at the Philadelphia Museum inwards Feb. 13, 2005, inwards which the focal go was a portrait of Alessandro de' Medici, the ethnic ancestry of the prince was ignored. The unique chance that this small, but of import demo mightiness receive got offered to the national conversation on race inwards U.S. of America inwards particular together with the globe full general was never to live realized.
Rather inwards a shameful together with the solely reference to the Duke's color inwards the entire 173-page catalogue of the Philadelphia exhibit, Karl Strehlke, the curator together with organizer writes, "Some scholars receive got claimed that Alessandro's woman parent was a North African slave. This cannot live confirmed, however, together with the text of a missive of the alphabet that she wrote to her boy inwards 1529 suggests that she was an Italian peasant from Lazio." Such a contestation tin flaming solely live described equally disingenuous.
Based on what Lorenzino de' Medici, Alessandro's kinsman, wrote nearly her inwards his Aplogoia, all scholars who receive got dealt with the dependent area receive got that the retainer whom he cites equally the Duke's mother, is i together with the same Simunetta from Collavecchio inwards the say of Lazio. Besides her beingness specifically identified equally a "slave" yesteryear the historians Bernardo Segni together with Giovanni Cambi, both contemporaries of the Duke's, Cardinal Salviati, a relation of Alessandro's, describes this adult woman equally "una villisima schiava." And, inwards signal of fact, the query of identity that Lorenzino de' Medici does raise, together with Segni repeats, is non whether Simunetta was Alessandro's mother, but whether the "mule driver" she after married was Alessandro's manlike individual parent instead of i or the other of 2 candidates soundless attributed with his paternity.
As Christopher Hare inwards his work, Romance of a Medici Warrior, explains, "[Alessandro] was reported to live the boy of the belatedly Lorenzo dei Medici, Duke of Urbino, but the affection shown him yesteryear Clement VII, gave strength to the full general persuasion that the Pope was his father. In whatever instance his woman parent was a mulatto slave, together with Alessandro had the dark skin, thick lips together with curly pilus of a Negro."
But equally it happens to all people with dark ancestry, the to a greater extent than yous endeavour to hid their blackness the to a greater extent than history together with scientific discipline reveals the truth through the sand of time.
Alessando de' Medici was born inwards Florence inwards 1510, to a dark serving adult woman inwards the Medici household who, after her subsequent wedlock to a muleteer, is exactly referred to inwards existing documents equally Simonetta da Collavechio. Historians today are convinced that Alessandro was fathered yesteryear the seventeen twelvemonth onetime Cardinal Giulio de Medici who later became Pope Clement VII. Cardinal Giulio was the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent. The nickname (il Moro) is said to derive from his features (Hibbert 1999: 236)
When Emperor Charles V sacked Rome inwards 1527, the Florentines took wages of the turmoil inwards Italy to reinstall the Republic; both Alessandro together with Ippolito fled, along with the residual of the Medici together with their master copy supporters, including the Pope's regent, Cardinal Silvio Passerini, with the exception of the eight-year-old Catherine de' Medici, who was left behind. Michelangelo, together with therefore occupied inwards creating a funerary chapel for the Medici, initially took accuse of edifice fortifications some Florence inwards back upwards of the Republic; he later temporarily fled the city. Clement eventually made his peace with the Emperor, together with with the back upwards of Imperial troops, the Republic was overwhelmed after a lengthy siege, together with the Medici were restored to powerfulness inwards the summertime of 1530. Clement assigned Florence to nineteen-year-old Alessandro, who had been made a duke, an appointment that was purchased from Charles. He arrived inwards Florence to convey upwards his dominion on July 5, 1531, together with was made hereditary Duke of Florence nine months later yesteryear the Emperor (for Tuscany lay exterior the Papal States), thereby signalling the destination of the Republic (Hibbert 1999: 250–252; together with Schevill 1936: 482, 513–514).
His many enemies with the exiles declared that his dominion was harsh, depraved together with incompetent, an assessment debated yesteryear later historians. One relic of his dominion sometimes pointed out equally a symbol of Medici oppression is the massive Fortezza da Basso, today the largest historical monument of Florence. In 1535 the Florentine opposition sent his cousin Ippolito to appeal to Charles V against some actions of the Duke, but Ippolito died en route; rumors were spread that he had been poisoned at Alessandro's orders (Hibbert 1999: 254).
In a belatedly replay of the variety of medieval civil politics that had long revolved some pope together with emperor, commune together with lord, the Emperor supported Alessandro against the republicans. In 1536, he married his natural immature adult woman Margaret of Republic of Austria to Alessandro. For his ain inclinations, Alessandro seems to receive got remained faithful to i mistress, Taddea Malaspina, who bore his solely children Giulio de' Medici (c. 1540-1600), who also had illegitimate issue, together with Giulia de' Medici, who married her cousin Bernardetto de' Medici, Signore di Ottaiano, together with had issue.
Portrait of Maria Salviati de'Medici, item (Giulia de'Medici), c. 1539 immature adult woman of Alessandro de` Medici yesteryear Pontormo the artista. Curator's comment: "The trivial immature adult woman asset her mitt hither is in all probability Giulia, a Medici relative who was left inwards Maria's tending after the murder of the child's father, Duke Alessandro de' Medici (1511-1537). Because Alessandro was born of a liaison betwixt a Medici substitution together with a retainer who, tradition has it, was African, this formal portrait may live the kickoff of a immature adult woman of African ancestry inwards European art."
Four years later his distant cousin Lorenzino de' Medici, nicknamed "Lorenzaccio" ("bad Lorenzo"), assassinated him. (This number is the dependent area of Alfred de Musset's play "Lorenzaccio.") Lorenzino entrapped Alessandro through the ruse of a promised arranged sexual run across with Lorenzino's sis Laudomia, a beautiful widow. For fright of starting an uprising if intelligence of his expiry got out, Medici officials wrapped Alessandro's corpse inwards a carpet together with secretly carried it to the cemetery of San Lorenzo, where it was hurriedly buried.
In Valladolid (Spain), where the majestic courtroom of Charles V was established, a solemn funeral was celebrated.
Lorenzino, inwards a annunciation published later, said that he had killed Alessandro for the sake of the republic. When the anti-Medici faction failed to rise, Lorenzino fled to Venice, where he was killed inwards 1548. The Medici supporters (called "Palleschi" from the balls on the Medici arms) ensured that powerfulness together with therefore passed to Cosimo I de' Medici, the kickoff of the "junior" branch of the Medici to dominion Florence.
Alessandro was survived yesteryear 2 natural children of Taddea's: a son, Giulio (aged iv at the fourth dimension of his father's death) married to Lucrezia Gaetani, together with a daughter, Giulia married firstly to Francesco Cantelmo, the Count of Alvito together with the Duke of Popoli together with and therefore Bernadetto de' Medici, prince of Ottaiano.
The greater bulk of the noble houses of Italy tin flaming today describe their ancestry dorsum to Alessandro de Medici. And, equally shown inwards the 2 lines of descent to the Hapsburgs drawn upwards below, therefore tin flaming a number of other princely families of Europe:
Cosimo de Medici (illegitimate) m. Lucrezia (II), Countess Gaetani
Angelica de Medici m. Gianpetro, Count Altemps
Maria Cristina, Countess Altemps m. 1646 Ipollito, Duke Lante della RovereAntonio, Duke Lante m. 1682 Angelique, Princesse de La Tremouille
Marie Anne Lante m. Jean Baptiste, Duke of Croy Havre
Louis, Duke of Croy Havre m. 1736 Marie Louise, Princess of Montmorency Luxembourg
Joseph, Duke of Croy Havre m. 1762 Adelaide, Princess of Croy Solre
Adelaide, Duchess of Croy Havre m. 1788 Emanuel, Prince of Croy Solre
Constance, Princess of Croy Solre m. 1810 Ferdinand, Duke of Croy
Augusta, Duchess of Croy m. 1836 Alfred, Prince of Salm Salm
Alfred, Prince of Salm Salm m. 1869 Rosa, Countess Lutzow
Emanuel, Prince of Salm Salm m. 1902 Christina von Hapsburg, Archduchess of Austria
Rosemary, Princess of Salm Salm m. 1926 Hubert Salvator von Hapsburg, Archduke of Austria
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF ALESSANDRO'S DESCENT:Joseph, Duke of Croy Havre m. 1762 Adelaide, Princess of Croy Solre
Amalie, Duchess of Croy Havre m. 1790 Charles, Marquis of Conflans
Amalie de Conflans m. 1823 Eugene, Prince of Ligne
Henri, Prince of Ligne m. 1851 Marguerite, Countess of Talleyrand Perigord
Ernest Louis, Prince of Ligne m. 1887 Diane Marchioness of Cosse BrissacEugene, Prince of Ligne m. 1917 Phillipine, Princess Noailles
Yolanda, Princess of Ligne m. 1950 Karl von Hapsburg, Archduke of Austria
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF ALESSANDRO'S DESCENT:
Giulio de Medici, Knight Commander of the Gallery of St. Stephen m. Lucrezia, Countess Gaetani
Cosimo de Medici (illegitimate) m. Lucrezia, Countess Gaetani
Angelica de Medici m. Gianpetro, Count Altemps
Maria Cristina, Countess Altemps m. 1646 Ipollito, Duke Lante della Rovere
Antonio, Duke Lante m. 1682 Angelique, Princesse de La Tremouille
Luigi, Duke Lante m. Angela, Princess Vaini
Fillipo, Duke Lante m. Faustina, Marchioness Caprianca
Maria Christina Lante m. Averado, Duke Salviati
Anna Maria Salviati m. Marcantonio , Prince Borghese
Camillo, Prince Borghese m. 1803 Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon's Sister
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF ALESSANDRO'S DESCENT:
Marie Anne Lante m. Jean Baptiste, Duke of Croy Havre
Adelaide, Croy Havre m. Emanuel, Prince of Croy Solre
Constance, Princess of Croy Solre m. 1810 Ferdinand of Croy Solre
Juste Marie, Prince of Croy m. 1854 Marie, Countess Ursel
Charles, Prince of Croy m. 1896 Matilda, Countess Robiano
Marie Imaculee m. 1926 Thiery, count of Limburg Stirum
Evrard, Count of Limburg Stirum m. 1957 Helen, Princess of France daughter of the Count of Paris
source:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/medici.html
THE BLURRED RACIAL LINES OF FAMOUS FAMILIES
Jan 14,2005
by Mario de Valdes y Cocom
In a electrical flow exhibition on Italian Renaissance fine art that is on display at the Philadelphia Museum until Feb. 13, 2005, a focal go is a portrait of Alessandro de' Medici. Unfortunately, however, the unique chance that this small, but of import demo mightiness receive got offered to the national conversation on race has been ignored.
Down through the centuries, most scholars receive got accepted that Alessandro de' Medici's woman parent was a slave adult woman together with she was therefore identified yesteryear Alessandro's contemporaries. But the dependent area of the African ancestry of Alessandro, the kickoff Duke of Florence, is beingness downplayed yesteryear the curators of the Philadelphia exhibit, entitled "Pontormo, Bronzino together with the Medici."
Girogio Vasari's total length portrait of Alessandro de' Medici from the frescos inwards the Palazzo Vecchio
Due to a variety of snobbery endemic to the land - a dependent area which Phillipe de Montebello at the Met inwards New York therefore unabashedly has talked nearly - it is non exactly the Philadelphia Museum but the American fine art institution inwards full general that appears to live having difficulty coming to price with this Medici scion from whom descends some of Europe's most titled families, including 2 branches of the Hapsburgs.
In exactly the terminal 3 years, for example, a portrait of Alessandro's daughter, Giulia, Princess of Ottojano, together with some other portrait of the Duke himself receive got appeared inwards 2 major exhibitions inwards the U.S.: i at the National Gallery inwards Washington inwards 2001 together with some other at the Art Institute of Chicago inwards an exhibit which a few months later travelled to the Detroit Institute of the Arts where it unopen inwards 2003. However, equally with the electrical flow Philadelphia exhibit, trivial was done yesteryear the curators of these shows to force the public's attending to either the Duke's color or his house inwards history.
In the solely reference to the Duke's color inwards the entire 173-page catalogue of the Philadelphia exhibit, Karl Strehlke, the curator together with organizer writes, "Some scholars receive got claimed that Alessandro's woman parent was a North African slave. This cannot live confirmed, however, together with the text of a missive of the alphabet that she wrote to her boy inwards 1529 suggests that she was an Italian peasant from Lazio." Such a contestation tin flaming solely live described equally disingenuous.
Based on what Lorenzino de' Medici, Alessandro's kinsman, wrote nearly her inwards his Aplogoia, all scholars who receive got dealt with the dependent area receive got that the retainer whom he cites equally the Duke's mother, is i together with the same Simunetta from Collavecchio inwards the say of Lazio. Besides her beingness specifically identified equally a "slave" yesteryear the historians Bernardo Segni together with Giovanni Cambi, both contemporaries of the Duke's, Cardinal Salviati, a relation of Alessandro's, describes this adult woman equally "una villisima schiava." And, inwards signal of fact, the query of identity that Lorenzino de' Medici does raise, together with Segni repeats, is non whether Simunetta was Alessandro's mother, but whether the "mule driver" she after married was Alessandro's manlike individual parent instead of i or the other of 2 candidates soundless attributed with his paternity.
As Christopher Hare inwards his work, Romance of a Medici Warrior, explains, "[Alessandro] was reported to live the boy of the belatedly Lorenzo dei Medici, Duke of Urbino, but the affection shown him yesteryear Clement VII, gave strength to the full general persuasion that the Pope was his father. In whatever instance his woman parent was a mulatto slave, together with Alessandro had the dark skin, thick lips together with curly pilus of a Negro."
Like Hare, i ask solely to browse through the images of the Duke published inwards Carla Langedijk's two-volume work, Portraits of the Medici, to verify contemporary descriptions of his apearance such equally Ceccherelli's "capelli ricci neri e bruno inwards vise," (brown inwards complexion with real curly dark hair) or Scipione Ammirato's "color bruno, labbri grossi e capegli crespi." (brown, thick lips together with kinky hair.)
Granted, the bulk of paintings, coins, medallions, etc. depicting Alessandro de' Medici were done after his assassination inwards 1537. However, they were the go of artists who had known him personally. The African traits of the Duke that seem inwards Giorgio Vasari's frescos inwards the Palazzo Vecchio, for example, are exactly equally pronounced equally inwards the to a greater extent than familiar image attributed to the schoolhouse of Bronzino. Furthermore, inwards Vasari's ain description of the go he did for this commission, the accuracy of the innumerable portraits he executed together with the public's powerfulness to seat them, specially after their demise, was the rootage of a non bad grapple of pride for him.
But what could live to a greater extent than decisive proof of Alessandro's African ancestry than the next taken from Scipione Ammirato, the courtroom historian of Alessandro de' Medici's successor, Cosimo:
"Non sono per tacere l'opinione,che inwards quel eta ando attorno intorno la nascita di Alessandro, la qual fu, che egli fusse nato d' una schiava inwards quel tempo, che il padre e i zij rientrarono inwards Firenze. Il che peravventura pote procedere per esser egli stato di color bruno, e per aver avuto i labbri grossi, e i capegli crespi."
What makes the omission of Alessandro's race inwards the electrical flow Philadelphia exhibition problematic, specially after criticism yesteryear the Washington Post together with the New York Times for the like omission inwards the National Gallery's exhibition, is the fact that also beingness the kickoff dark caput of nation inwards modern western history, Alessandro de' Medici's race was quite pivotal to the Grand Ducal together with the most politically powerful catamenia of Medici history.
Pope Clement VII, Alessandro's father, who also was born illegitimate, patently felt that his illegitimate boy would ask every political bootstrap he could obtain for him if Alessandro were to go equally the legal representative of the family. Hence the grapple Clement struck with the Emperor Charles V inwards 1529 to receive got Alessandro created Duke of Florence fifty-fifty though the menage unit of measurement had assiduously avoided such honorifics therefore equally non to seem insensitive to the republican aspirations of the population.
Considering non solely the racial problems America is soundless struggling with but also the high proportion of African Americans inwards Philadelphia, the curators' handling of the dependent area of Alessandro's African slave woman parent is troubling. All the to a greater extent than therefore considering how of import a purpose the de' Medici receive got played inwards European history together with civilization together with the implications this holds for undermining the racial preconceptions that people of color must soundless scrap with today.
Moreover, it seems to me that inwards add-on to the elitism of the rarified globe of the fine art connoisseur, the onetime bugaboo of political correctness is also to blame. For those who force the victimization image of the African American experience, at that spot tin flaming live no room inwards the discourse on race for "narratives" that practise non check the stereotype.
But such a stance is misguided. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 study of this particular branch of the Medici menage unit of measurement would supply us with a unique together with invaluable insight into how i of the most powerful together with influential dynasties inwards Europe was forced to grapple with the number of race therefore early on inwards the history of the African slave trade.
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