View source for Cosimo I de' Medici

{{Short description|Duke of Florence later Grand Duke of Tuscany (1537–1574)}}
{{Redirect|Cosimo I|the founder of the Medici dynasty|Cosimo de' Medici}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Cosimo I
| image = Agnolo Bronzino - Cosimo I de' Medici in armour - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption = ''[[Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici]]'', {{circa|1545}}
| image_size = 225px
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Eleanor of Toledo]]|1539|1562|end=d}}
* {{marriage|[[Camilla Martelli]]<br>|1570}}
}}
| succession = [[Duke of Florence]]
| reign = 6 January 1537 &ndash; {{nowrap|21 August 1569}}
| predecessor = [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro]]
| successor =
| succession1 = [[Grand Duke of Tuscany]]
| reign1 = 21 August 1569 &ndash; 21 April 1574
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 = [[Francesco I de' Medici|Francesco I]]
| issue  = [[Bia de' Medici]]<br>[[Maria de' Medici (1540–1557)|Maria de' Medici]]<br>[[Francesco I de' Medici]] <br>[[Isabella de' Medici|Isabella, Duchess of Bracciano]]<br>[[Giovanni de' Medici (cardinal)|Cardinal Giovanni]]<br>[[Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara|Lucrezia, Duchess of Modena]]<br>[[Garzia de' Medici|Garzia]]<br>[[Ferdinando I de' Medici]]<br>[[Pietro de' Medici|Pietro]]<br>[[Virginia de' Medici|Virginia, Duchess of Modena]]
| issue-link = #Marriage and family
| issue-pipe = more...
| full name = Cosimo I de' Medici
| house = [[Medici]]
| father = [[Giovanni delle Bande Nere]]
| mother = [[Maria Salviati]]
| birth_date = 12 June 1519
| birth_place = [[Florence]], [[Republic of Florence]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1574|4|21|1519|6|12|df=y}}
| death_place = Florence, [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]
| religion = [[Catholicism]]
| signature = Signature of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.jpg
}}
'''Cosimo I de' Medici''' (12 June<!--- [https://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?tocId=9371732&query=Cosimo%20I%20de%27%20Medici&ct=] but [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/i-m/medici1.html] has him born June 15 ---> 1519 &ndash; 21 April 1574) was the second and last [[duke of Florence]] from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first [[grand duke of Tuscany]], a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy.  He built the [[Uffizi]] (office) to organize his administration, and conquered [[Siena]] to consolidate Florence's rule in Tuscany. He expanded the [[Pitti Palace]] and most of the [[Boboli Gardens]] were also laid out during his reign.

==Life==

===Rise to power===
Cosimo was born in [[Florence]] on 12 June 1519, the son of the famous [[condottiere]] Ludovico de' Medici (known as [[Giovanni delle Bande Nere]]) and his wife [[Maria Salviati]],{{sfn|Fossi|2001|p=20}} herself a granddaughter of [[Lorenzo de' Medici|Lorenzo the Magnificent]]. He was the grandson of [[Caterina Sforza]], the Countess of Forlì and Lady of [[Imola]]. Cosimo became Duke of Florence in 1537 at age 17, after the former Duke of Florence, [[Alessandro de' Medici]], was assassinated.{{sfn|Fletcher|2016|p=xvi}} Cosimo was from a different branch of the Medici family, descended from [[Giovanni il Popolano]], the great-grandson of [[Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici]], founder of the [[Medici Bank]]. It was necessary to search for a successor outside of the "senior" branch of the Medici family descended from [[Cosimo de' Medici|Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici]], since the only male child of Alessandro, the last [[lineal descendant]] of the senior branch, was born [[out-of-wedlock]] and was only four years old at the time of his father's death.

[[File:Jacopo Pontormo - Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici 2014 NYR 02819 0166.jpg|thumb|left|Cosimo I de' Medici at about 19 years of age (by [[Pontormo]], c. 1538)]]
Up to the time of his [[Accession Day|accession]], Cosimo had lived only in [[Mugello region|Mugello]] (the ancestral homeland of the [[Medici 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 Florentine [[intellectual|literatus]] [[Benedetto Varchi]] famously put it, "The innkeeper's reckoning was different from the glutton's."<ref>"Ma un conto facea il ghiotto, e un altro il taverniere", B. Varchi, Storia Fiorentina, 15, 600.</ref> 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 from [[France]] and from disgruntled neighbors of Florence. During this time, Cosimo had an illegitimate daughter, [[Bia de' Medici|Bia]] (1537 &ndash; 1542), who was portrayed shortly before her premature death in a painting<ref>[http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bronzino/1/bia.html Bia's portrait] by Bronzino, now at the [[Uffizi Gallery]]</ref> by [[Bronzino]].

Toward the end of July 1537, the exiles marched into Tuscany under the leadership of [[Bernardo Salviati]] and [[Piero Strozzi]].{{sfn|Landon|2013|p=74}} When Cosimo heard of their approach, he sent his best troops under [[Vitelli|Alessandro Vitelli]] to engage the enemy, which they did at [[Montemurlo]].{{sfn|Landon|2013|p=74}} 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 the [[Piazza della Signoria]] or in the [[Bargello]]. [[Filippo Strozzi the Younger|Filippo Strozzi]]'s body was found with a bloody sword next to it and a note quoting [[Virgil]], but many believe that his suicide was faked.

===Rule of Tuscany===
[[File:Essendo uenuto in Roma il sermo. Gran Duca di Toscana per ringratiare S. Sta. del titolo concessegli et per coronarsia di xviii Febraro 1570.jpg|thumb|The coronation of Cosimo as Grand Duke of Tuscany by [[Pope Pius V]] in the [[Sala Regia (Vatican)|Sala Regia]] of the [[Vatican Palace]]]]
In 1537, Cosimo sent [[Bernardo Antonio de' Medici]] to Holy Roman Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles 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 the [[Italian Wars]]. With this move, Cosimo firmly restored the power of the [[Medici]], {{Dubious |The Medici were already firmly in power|date=September 2020}} who thereafter ruled [[Florence]] until the death of the last of the Medici rulers, [[Gian Gastone di Cosimo de' Medici|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.
[[File:Naldini, Giovanni Battista - Official portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Grand Duke of Tuscany.jpg|thumb| Official portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Grand Duke of Tuscany by [[Giovanni Battista Naldini]]]]
Cosimo next turned his attention to [[Siena]]. With the support of Charles V, he defeated the Sienese at the [[Battle 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.{{sfn|Acidini|2002|p=309}}

In the last 10 years of his reign, struck by the death of two of his sons by [[malaria]], Cosimo gave up active rule of the Florentine state to his son and successor [[Francesco I de' Medici|Francesco I]]. He retreated to live in his villa, the [[Villa di Castello]], outside Florence.

==Statesmanship==
[[File:Cosimo I de MediciSculptSFFAM75.2.16 img0626.JPG|thumb|left|Portrait bust from the workshop of [[Benvenuto Cellini]], ca. 1550]]
Cosimo was an authoritarian ruler and secured his position by employing a guard of Swiss [[mercenary|mercenaries]]. In 1548, he managed to have his relative [[Lorenzino de' Medici|Lorenzino]], the last Medici claimant to Florence who had earlier arranged the assassination of Cosimo's predecessor Alessandro, assassinated himself in [[Venice]].{{Dubious |Lorenzino's assassination |date=September 2019}} Cosimo also was an active builder of military structures,<ref>Role, R.E., ''Fort'' 2008 ([[Fortress Study Group]]), ('''36'''), pp108-129</ref> 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 of [[Pisa]] and [[Fivizzano]] and the strongholds of [[Portoferraio]] on the island of [[Elba]] and [[Terra 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 the [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Battle of Lepanto]], and which he entrusted to his new creation, the [[Knights of St. Stephen]].{{sfn|Mason|1989|p=85-86}}

==Patronage of the arts==
[[File:Cosimo_I_de_Medici.jpg|thumb|Cosimo as [[Orpheus]], by [[Bronzino]]]] 

Cosimo is perhaps best known today for the creation of the [[Uffizi]] ("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 at [[Villa di Castello]], designed by [[Niccolò 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, a [[labyrinth]], a [[grotto]] and ingenious ornamental water features, and were a prototype for the [[Italian Renaissance garden]]. They had a profound influence on later Italian and French gardens through the eighteenth century.<ref>Isabella Ballerini (2011), ''The Medici Villas'', Giunti Publishers, Florence ({{ISBN|978-88-09-76632-7}}), pp. 30-41</ref>

Cosimo also finished the [[Palazzo Pitti|Pitti Palace]] as a home for the Medici and created the magnificent [[Boboli 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 architect [[Baldassarre Lanci]], and the historians [[Scipione Ammirato]] and [[Benedetto Varchi]].

A large bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I by [[Giambologna]], erected in 1598,{{sfn|McHam|2017|p=195}} still stands today in the [[Piazza della Signoria]], the main square of Florence.

Cosimo was also an enthusiast of [[alchemy]], a passion he inherited from his grandmother [[Caterina Sforza]].

==Marriage and family==
[[File:Eleanora of Toledo.jpg|thumb|right|Eleanor of Toledo, Duchess of Florence, who purchased the [[Palazzo Pitti]] in 1549 for the [[Medici]] family.]]

In 1539, Cosimo married the Spanish noblewoman [[Eleanor of Toledo]] (1522 &ndash; 1562), the daughter of [[Pedro de Toledo y Zúñiga|Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo]], the Spanish [[viceroy]] of [[Naples]].{{sfn|Crews|2008|p=136-137}} 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 the [[Pitti Palace]] and was a patron of the new [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] order. The Duchess 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]].

Cosimo and Eleanor had:
*[[Maria de' Medici (1540-1557)|Maria]] (3 April 1540 &ndash; 19 November 1557), engaged to [[Alfonso II d'Este]], but died before the marriage{{sfn|Murphy|2008|p=63}}
*[[Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Francesco]] (25 March 1541 &ndash; 19 October 1587),{{sfn|Fossi|2001|p=20}} Cosimo's successor as Grand Duke of Tuscany
*[[Isabella de' Medici|Isabella]] (31 August 1542 &ndash; 16 July 1576), murdered by her husband [[Paolo Giordano I Orsini]] because of infidelity
*[[Giovanni de' Medici (cardinal)|Giovanni]] (28 September 1543 &ndash; 20 November 1562), who became [[Bishop of Pisa]] and a cardinal{{sfn|Fossi|2001|p=20}}
*[[Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici|Lucrezia]] (7 June 1545 &ndash; 21 April 1561), who married [[Alfonso II d'Este]], [[Duke of Ferrara]] and [[Modena]], in 1560{{sfn|Murphy|2008|p=63}}
*Pietro (Pedricco) (10 August 1546 &ndash; 10 June 1547), who died in infancy
*[[Garzia de' Medici|Garzia]] (5 July 1547 &ndash; 12 December 1562), who died of [[malaria]] at age 15
*Antonio (1 July 1548 &ndash; July 1548), who died in infancy
*[[Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Ferdinando]] (30 July 1549 &ndash; 17 February 1609),{{sfn|Fossi|2001|p=20}} Francesco's successor as Grand Duke of Tuscany
*Anna (19 March 1553 &ndash; 6 August 1553), who died in infancy
*[[Don Pietro de' Medici|Pietro]] (3 June 1554 &ndash; 25 April 1604),{{sfn|Loffredo|2022|p=176}} who murdered his wife [[Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo]] 

Before his first marriage, Cosimo fathered an illegitimate daughter with an unknown woman:
*[[Bia de' Medici]] (ca. 1536 – March 1, 1542){{sfn|Langdon|2007|p=99}}

After Eleanor's death in 1562, Cosimo fathered two children with his mistress [[Eleonora degli Albizzi]]:
*an unnamed daughter (born and died 1566) who died before baptism''
*[[Don Giovanni de' Medici|Giovanni]] (1567 &ndash; 1621),{{sfn|Clifton|2016|p=174}} later legitimized by his father

In 1570, Cosimo married [[Camilla Martelli]] (died 1590){{sfn|Bercusson|2017|p=164}} and fathered one child with her:
*[[Virginia de' Medici|Virginia]] (29 May 1568 &ndash; 15 January 1615),{{sfn|Sherrill|2006|p=136}} who married [[Cesare d'Este]], [[Duke of Modena]]{{sfn|Davies|2009|p=27}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |title=The Medici, Michelangelo, & the Art of Late Renaissance Florence  |editor-first=Cristina |editor-last=Acidini |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2002 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Strategies for survival: women at the court of the Medici (1565-1578) |first=Sarah |last=Bercusson |title=Gender and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800 |editor-first1=Svante |editor-last1=Norrhem |editor-first2=James |editor-last2=Daybell |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |pages=158–176 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=The Triumph of Truth in an Age of Confessional Conflict |first=James |last=Clifton |title=Personification: Embodying Meaning and Emotion |editor-first1=Walter |editor-last1=Melion |editor-first2=Bart A. M. |editor-last2=Ramakers |publisher=Brill |year=2016 |pages=162–185 }}
*{{cite book |title=Twilight of the Renaissance: The Life of Juan de Valdés |first=Daniel A. |last=Crews |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2008 }}
*{{cite book |title=Culture and Power: Tuscany and Its Universities 1537-1609 |first=Jonathan |last=Davies |publisher=Brill |year=2009 }}
*{{cite book |title=The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro De' Medici |first=Catherine |last=Fletcher |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 }}
*{{cite book |title=Uffizi Gallery: Art, History, Collections |first=Gloria |last=Fossi |publisher=Giunti |year=2001 }}
*{{cite book |title=Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi and Niccolo Machiavelli |first=William J. |last=Landon |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2013 }}
*{{cite book |title=Medici Women: Portraits of Power, Love and Betrayal from the Court of Duke Cosimo I |first=Gabrielle |last=Langdon |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2007 }}
*{{cite book |title=A Companion to Cosimo I de' Medici |editor-first1=Alessio |editor-last1=Assonitis |editor-first2=Henk Th. |editor-last2=van Veen |chapter=Cosimo I and His Spanish In-Laws: The Duke and the Toledo Family |first=Fernando |last=Loffredo |publisher=Brill |year=2022 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Mason |first=Roger |title=The Medici-Lazara Map of Alanya |journal=Anatolian Studies |volume=39 |year=1989 |pages=85–105 |doi=10.2307/3642815 |jstor=3642815 |s2cid=140560594 }}
*{{cite book |title=Patronage and Italian Renaissance Sculpture |editor-first=David J. |editor-last=Drogin |chapter=Giambologna's equestrian monument to Cosimo I: the monument makes the memory |first=Sarah Blake |last=McHam |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 }}
*{{cite book |title=Murder of a Medici Princess |first=Caroline |last=Murphy |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Fleas, Fur, and Fashion: Zibellini as Luxury Accessories of the Renaissance |first=Tawny |last=Sherrill |title=Medieval Clothing and Textiles |volume=2 |editor-first1=Robin |editor-last1=Netherton |editor-first2=Gale |editor-last2=Owen-Crocker |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2006  |pages=121–150}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|editor-first=Konrad|editor-last=Eisenbichler|title=The Cultural Politics of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici|year=2001}}
*{{cite book|editor-first=Konrad|editor-last=Eisenbichler|title=The Cultural World of Eleonora of Toledo, Duchess of Florence and Siena|year=2004}}
* Henk Th. Van Veen, ''Cosimo I de' Medici and his Self-Representation in Florentine Art and Culture'' (Cambridge, CUP, 2006).
* Gáldy, Andrea M. ''Cosimo I de'Medici as collector: antiquities and archaeology in sixteenth-century Florence'' (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).

==External links==
*{{Commons category inline}}
*[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tales-from-the-crypt-01-10-2004/ Tales From The Crypt: Reports On The Exhumation Of The Medici Tombs In Italy]

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro de' Medici]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Duke of Florence]]|years=1537–1569}}
{{s-non|reason={{nowrap|Elevated to Grand Duchy of Tuscany}}}}
|-
{{s-non|reason=Elevated from Duchy of Florence}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Grand Duke of Tuscany]]|years=1569–1574}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Francesco I de' Medici]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Grand Dukes of Tuscany}}
{{Medici}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosimo 1}}
[[Category:1519 births]]
[[Category:1574 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian nobility]]
[[Category:16th-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:16th-century grand dukes of Tuscany]]
[[Category:House of Medici|Cosimo 1]]
[[Category:Dukes of Florence|Cosimo 1]]
[[Category:Tuscan nobility]]
[[Category:Italian patrons of the arts]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece]]
[[Category:1560s in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]
[[Category:1570s in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]
[[Category:16th century in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Italian art patrons]]