Alessandro de’ Medici (22 July 1510 – 6 January 1537), nicknamed “il Moro” (“the Moor“) due to his dark complexion, Duke of Penne and the first Duke of the Florentine Republic (from 1532), was ruler of Florence from 1530 to his death in 1537.[1] The first Medici to rule Florence as a hereditary monarch, Alessandro was also the last Medici from the senior line of the family to lead the city. His assassination at the hands of distant cousin Lorenzaccio caused the title of Duke to pass to Cosimo I de Medici, from the family’s junior branch.
Born in Florence, Alessandro was recognized by a plurality of his contemporaries as the only son of Lorenzo II de’ Medici, grandson of Lorenzo de’ Medici “the Magnificent”.[2] Others believed him to be the illegitimate son of Giulio de’ Medici (later Pope Clement VII), but at the time that was a minority view.[3] Scipione Ammirato, the court historian of the medicean Grand Dukedom writes that “…some whose authority is credible and that have obtained this secret from penetralia servants, think he was son of Clement, born of a servant of the house when he was a knight of Saint John.”
Alessandro’s nickname “il Moro” is attributed to his relatively dark pigmentation.[4][5][6][7] Some historians, such as Christopher Hibbert and John Brackett, believe that he had been born to a servant of African descent who was working in the Medici household, identified in documents as Simonetta da Collevecchio.[8] French author Jean Nestor reported in the 1560s that the claim of a black slave origin was a false rumor first spread by Alessandro’s exiled enemies in Naples.[9] University of Florence historian Giorgio Spini, too, described this rumour as unfounded, instead tracing Alessandro’s mother to a Roman peasant who would later go on to marry a carrier from Lazio.[10]
Early lifeEdit
Alessandro spent his early childhood in Rome, where he received a humanist education by Valeriano, under the supervision of Pope Leo X and Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici.[12] During those years, a number of unexpected deaths occurred in the Medici family’s senior line: Giuliano, Duke of Nemours (1516); Lorenzo II, Duke of Urbino (1519); and eventually Pope Leo X (1521). This prompted Cardinal Giulio (then Gran Maestro of Florence, later Pope Clement VII), to relocate the remaining Medici heirs to Poggio a Caiano, near Florence: Alessandro; his half-sister Catherine, (later Queen Consort of France); and his cousin Ippolito, (later Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic Church).[13] In 1522, Cardinal Giulio purchased the title ‘Duke of Penne’ for Alessandro from Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.[14][12]
When Cardinal Giulio became Pope Clement VII in 1523, he left leadership of Florence to Alessandro and Ippolito, under the regency of papal representative Cardinal Silvio Passerini. Unfortunately, Alessandro and Ippolito were “alike in one respect only, their mutual hatred of each other.”[15] They openly feuded throughout their short lives.[16] Passerini was extremely unpopular with the anti-Medici faction in Florence, as well as with members of the Medici family such as Clarice Strozzi, daughter of Piero di Lorenzo (“the Unfortunate”). She disparaged not only Passerini but Alessandro as well, calling him unworthy of the family name. Outrage over the Medici-backed Passerini regency led to a popular revolt four years later.[17]
During the Sack of Rome in 1527, a faction of Florentines overthrew the Medici and installed a theocratic, Savonarola-influenced Republic.[18][17] Alessandro and Ippolito de’ Medici were advised to leave the city with Cardinal Passerini. Many of the Medicis’ main supporters fled Florence; but eight-year-old Catherine de’ Medici was left behind.[19] Alessandro lived in exile for the next three years.[20]
Duke of Florence
In 1530, after a nearly ten month siege of Florence supported by Spanish troops, Alessandro was named head of state.[1] Pope Clement VII chose him for the position over Ippolito, who was made cardinal. Clement’s choice increased tension between the Medici cousins; for the rest of Ippolito’s life, he spoke openly about wanting to overthrow Alessandro and lead Florence.[21] Alessandro arrived in Florence to rule on 5 July 1531. Nine months later he was made hereditary Duke by Charles, as Tuscany lay outside the Papal States. This ended the Florentine Republic and started over 200 years of Medici monarchy.[22][23]
The Florentine Constitution of 1532 consolidated Duke Alessandro’s power.[24] While Clement lived, Alessandro ruled “with the advice of elected councils, trying to calm the nerves of the defeated republicans”; however, as his reign progressed he showed authoritarian tendencies.[25] In 1534, he ordered construction of Florence’s Fortezza da Basso, “to secure the Medici’s control of the city following their recent return after the Siege of Florence, and to provide lodging for a massive contingent of troops.”[26]
Duke Alessandro’s government drew both praise and criticism. His “common sense and his feeling for justice won his subjects’ affection”; and he “enjoyed some status as the champion of the poor and the helpless, as ballads and novelle record.”[21][27] He was also a patron of the arts, commissioning notable works by Giorgio Vasari, Jacopo Pontormo, Benvenuto Cellini, and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.[28][29] Conversely, Florence’s vocal exile community judged his rule as harsh, depraved, and incompetent, an assessment debated by historians.[30] In 1535, the exiles enlisted Cardinal Ippolito to meet with Emperor Charles V to denounce Alessandro’s government; however, en route to the meeting, Ippolito died under questionable circumstances. Rumors spread that he was poisoned on Alessandro’s orders.[31] After the exiles voiced their complaints to Charles, Florentine diplomat Francesco Guicciardini responded, “his Excellency’s virtue, his fame, the opinion of him held throughout the city, of his prudence, of his virtuous habits, are a sufficient reply”.[25] Emperor Charles dismissed the complaints, continuing to support Alessandro.
In 1536, Emperor Charles kept a promise to Pope Clement by marrying his daughter, Margaret of Austria, to Duke Alessandro.[32] He seems to have remained faithful to one mistress, Taddea Malaspina, who bore his only children: Giulio de’ Medici (c. 1533/37–1600), who had illegitimate issue, and Giulia de’ Medici.[33]
