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 Women and Gender in the Early Modern World
Series Editors: Allyson Poska and Abby Zanger

In the past decade, the study of women and gender has offered some of the most vital and innovative challenges to
scholarship on the early modern period. Ashgate's new series of interdisciplinary and comparative studies, 'Women
and Gender in the Early Modern World', takes up this challenge, reaching beyond geographical limitations to explore
the experiences of early modern women and the nature of gender in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Titles in the series include:

Gender, Society and Print Culture in Late-Stuart England

The cultural world of the Athenian Mercury
Helen Berry

Women and the Book Trade in Sixteenth-Century France

Susan Broomhall

Poetic Resistance
English Women Writers and the Early Modern Lyric
Pamela S. Hammons

Subordinate Subjects
Gender, the Political Nation, and Literary Form in England, 1588-1688
Mihoko Suzuki
 The Medici Women

Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence

Natalie R. Tomas
Monash University, Australia
First published 2003 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2017 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © Natalie R. Tomas 2003

The author has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the
author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Tomas, Natalie R.
The Medici women : gender and power in Renaissance Florence. - (Women and gender in the early modern world)
1.Medici (Family) 2.Women - Italy - Florence - Social conditions 3.Power (Social Sciences) - Italy - Florence History
4.Florence (Italy) - Politics and government 1421-1737
I.Title
305.4'2'09224551

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

Tomas, Natalie
The Medici women : gender and power in Renaissance Florence / by Natalie R. Tomas.
p. cm. -- (Women and gender in the early modern world)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-0777-1 (alk. paper)
1. Medici, House of. 2. Nobility--Italy--Biography. 3. Women--Italy--Biography. 4. Florence (Italy)--History-
-1421-1737. I. Title. II. Series.

DG737.42.T66 2002
945'.5105'08621--dc21

2002038258

ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-0777-9 (hbk)

For my mother, Anna, Jordan, Isabelle and Ethan
 Contents
List of Figures
Abbreviations
Notes on the Text
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The Locus of Power
2 The Exercise of Power
3 Medici Matronage
4 In Exile
5 At the Papal Court
6 The 'Problem' of a Female Ruler
Afterword
Bibliography
Index
 List of Figures
1 A Medici Family Tree
2.1 Domenico Ghirlandaio, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, c.1475, Samuel H. Kress Collection, Photograph © Board of
Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
2.2 Domenico Ghirlandaio, Birth of St John the Baptist, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
c.1488.
Photograph © Scala Art Resource, Florence
6.1 Francesco Allegrini, Alfonsina Orsini, after Giuseppe Allegrini, Chronologica series simulacororum
regiae familiae Mediceae, Florence, 1761, no plate nos.
Photograph © Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
 Abbreviations
ASF: Archivio di Stato di Firenze.
AB: Archivio Bardi.
Acq e Doni: Acquisti e Doni.
C.S. Carte Strozziane.
Copialettere: Copialettere di Goro Gheri (5 vols).
CRS: Corporazioni Religiose Soppresse dal Governo Francese.
Dipl.: Diplomatico
MAP: Mediceo Avanti il Principato.
Misc. Med.: Miscellanea Medicea.
Misc. Rep.: Miscellanea Repubblica.
N.A.: Notarile Antecosimiano.
O.G.e.r: Otto di Guardia, epoca repubblicana.
Ospedale: Ospedale di San Paolo dei Convalescenti.
Signoria, Dieci,... Leg. e Com. Miss. Resp.: Signoria, Dieci di Guerra, Otto di Pratica, Legazione e Commissione,
Missive e Responsive.
Signori Responsive: Signori, Carteggi Responsive Originali.
ASMa: Archivio di Stato di Mantova.
AG: Archivio Gonzaga.
ASP: Archivio Salviati, Pisa.
BMaF: Biblioteca Marucelliana, Firenze.
BMF: Biblioteca Moreniana, Firenze.
Frullani, Autog.: Raccolta Frullani d'autografi.
BML: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.
BNF: Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze.
GC: Ginori Conti.
Magl.: Magliabecchiana.
Autographs Misc.: Pierpont Morgan Library, N.Y. Autographs Miscellaneous, House of Medici.
UCLA: University of California, Los Angeles.
c. carta.
cc. carte.
Doc. Documento.
fasc. fascicolo.
n.d.: no date given.
n.m.: no month given.
n.y.: no year given.
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 Notes on the Text

A Note on Dates

Dates are given as day/month/year in the notes. Florentines began the year on the Feast of the Annunciation, March
25. Dates will be given in the modern style in the text and both styles of dating will be given in the notes; for
example, a letter dated 11 January 1525 in modern style will be written as 11/1/1524/5. Pisa began its year on the same
day as the Florentines, but was a year ahead; eg. 25/5/1472 (modern style) was 25/5/1473 (Pisan style). Rome began its
year on January 1st therefore all letters from Rome are dated in modern style.
A Note on Names

To avoid confusing women with the same first name, I will adopt the following method of identifying individual
women of the Medici family. Those who marry into the family will also be identified by their natal surname (for
example Lucrezia Tornabuoni), while women who were born into the family will also be referred to by their married
name (for example Lucrezia Salviati). The exceptions are: (a) Luisa de' Medici, Lorenzo's and Clarice Orsini's third
daughter, who died before her marriage and (b) Caterina de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino,
the future Queen Regent of France, where she is referred to before her marriage to the Duke of Orléans.
A Note on Translation

All translations are my own, unless otherwise indicated.

 Acknowledgements
It is a pleasure to be able to thank the many people who have assisted and supported me throughout the many years
it has taken to complete this book. It began its life as a doctoral dissertation at Monash University. My main
supervisor, Bill Kent, has been a source of inspiration throughout the many years that I have been engaged in
research on women in Renaissance Florence. He has been a superb teacher, mentor, critic, and most importantly, a
generous friend. Peter Howard has also always been a source of support and encouragement. Barbara Caine has
helped and encouraged me to write the kind of feminist work that I have always wanted to. I owe a much older debt
to Marian Quartly for first introducing me to feminist history.
I have been privileged to have the advice and assistance of Lorenzo Polizzotto of the University of Western
Australia, who has given generously of his time and expertise as well as his manuscript and book resources. I thank
Philippa Maddern for her friendship, encouragement, generous hospitality and in particular, her perceptive comments
on an earlier draft of the introduction to this book. Nick Eckstein's expert editorial suggestions have greatly improved
the earlier chapters of this book.
The support and friendship of fellow postgraduates in the School of Historical Studies at Monash University has
been of incalculable benefit. I would like to thank Ersie Burke, Marita Cullen, Jacqueline Dynon, Anne McKane,
Yolande McNicoll, Katie Oppel, David Rosenthal, Catherine Schapper, Kathryn Sinclair and Cynthia Troup. Justine
Heazlewood has generously shared her sources on Florentine nuns with me as well as her technological expertise.
Vian Lawson has been a wonderful friend and support. Her vital assistance in Florence made a memorable trip even
more so.
I have received assistance and valuable suggestions from Lorenz Böninger, Alison Brown, Bruce Edelstein, Nick
Eckstein, Louis Green, John Gregory, Olwen Hufton, Carolyn James, Dale Kent, Stephen Kolsky, Margaret Lindley,
Isabelle McClennan, Wendy Madden, Constant Mews, Adelina Modesti, Judith Richards, Ian Robertson, Michael
Rocke, Pauline Stafford, Sharon Strocchia and Charles Zika. Sheryl Reiss has been especially generous in sharing her
interest, research and sources on Alfonsina Orsini. Jane Tylus kindly allowed me to see the introduction to her
translation of Lucrezia Tornabuoni's poetry prior to its publication.
The time I spent in Florence in 1995 was enriched by the help and guidance I received from Lyn Blanchfield, Laura
De Angelis, Margery Ganz, Susan McKillop, Tony Molho, John Paoletti, Linda Pellecchia, Patrizia Salvadori and
especially Saundra Weddle. Gino Corti's expert assistance with difficult transcriptions was vital.
I would like to thank the staff of the Archivio di Stato di Firenze; Archivio Salviati, Pisa; Biblioteca Berenson, Villa
I Tatti, Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies; Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze; Biblioteca Moreniana di
Firenze; Biblioteca Marucelliana di Firenze; the Reid Library at the University of Western Australia and the Matheson
Library at Monash University. Particular thanks go to Grace Giannini, Claudia De Salvo and Karen Bruck at the
Matheson Library. Suzanne Barker, Nancy Oguto, Mi Du, Yolande McNicoll and Kim Toffeletti have given me
valuable assistance that was funded by the Centre for Equity and Diversity, Monash University. Cecilia Hewlett
provided essential research assistance in Florence.
This study was undertaken with the assistance of a Monash Graduate Scholarship and a Supplementary Grant for
Students with Physical and Sensory Disabilities. Access Inc. (Vic.); the School of Historical Studies and the Faculty of
Arts of Monash University; the Vice-Chancellor's Fund, Monash University; and a Monash University Travel Grant in
Aid, provided essential assistance with travel, conference and research expenses. I am also grateful to the Australian
Foundation for Study in Italy (AFSI) for awarding me a grant to cover my expenses in Italy.
An earlier and shortened version of Chapter Six appeared as 'Alfonsina Orsini de' Medici and the "Problem" of a
Female Ruler in Early Sixteenth-Century Florence', Renaissance Studies 14 (1) (2000), pp. 70-90. © 2000 The Society
for Renaissance Studies, Oxford University Press. I am thankful for their permission to reprint it here. I am also
grateful to the editorial and production staff of Ashgate Publishing Co., for their assistance with this project.
Particular thanks must go to my Commissioning Editor, Erika Gaffney, a dream to work with, and also to the editors
of the series 'Women and Gender in the Early Modern World'. Valuable suggestions for revisions were received from
two anonymous reviewers. Finally, thanks to Max McMaster for preparing the index.
I dedicate this book both to my mother, who has taught me always to remember my roots, and to Anna, Jordan,
Isabelle and Ethan who are the future.

School of Historical Studies

Monash University, Australia
June 2003
 Introduction
'O do not be born a woman if you want your own way', wrote an exasperated Nannina Rucellai, sister of Lorenzo de'
Medici 'the Magnificent', to her mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni in July 1479 after losing an argument about their
children's education with her husband Bernardo Rucellai. Faced with having to dismiss the children's tutor on his
order, Nannina cleverly chose to resolve the situation by asking her mother if the man could be placed in the
household of Lorenzo for two to three months until an outbreak of plague in his hometown of Figline
subsided.1Lucrezia would have had to use considerable influence to convince her son to take in the hapless man,
suggesting that Nannina was well aware when she asked her mother for assistance that her own situation did not
apply to all women in all circumstances. But Nannina's lack of influence with her husband exemplifies the general
situation that many historians have argued was the lot of Florentine women (particularly of the upper class) during
the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.2 Indeed, it has even been suggested that Florence was possibly the worst of
all places in Renaissance Italy to be born a woman.3
It is probably for this reason that historians writing about powerful women in Renaissance Italy in recent years,
have generally focussed on the women of the princely courts. Eleonora of Aragon, duchess of Ferrara; her two
daughters, Isabella, marchioness of Mantua and Beatrice d'Este, duchess of Milan; Bianca Maria Visconti Sforza;
Lucrezia Borgia, duchess of Ferrara; Caterina Sforza, ruler of Imola; Battista da Montefeltro; Ippolita Maria Sforza,
duchess of Calabria; and Barbara of Brandenburg, marchioness of Mantua, are just a few of the names that spring
immediately to mind.4 Women of ruling families in republican regimes (such as the Medici) have not received much
attention since it is generally agreed that they had fewer options, able to exercise only informal power through their
connections with influential male relatives in contrast to the more formal power often exercised by women in courts
or kingdoms.5
However, it is well known that in medieval and Renaissance Europe all females were presumed to be naturally
subordinate and morally and intellectually inferior to males, with the consequence that men were deemed to be
suited to the position of ruler and women to that of the ruled.6 So the nature of women's power and/or the matter of
women as rulers were vexed issues to contemporaries, regardless of the type of regime. Most women rulers had to
exert considerable effort to legitimise their position. Therefore, women, and their apologists or advisers, tried to
predicate their right to rule on the construction of images that stressed their chastity, maternal nature and
intercessory powers.7 Certainly, women's opportunities to demonstrate their political skills and abilities were
different and greater in monarchies and seigneurial regimes than in republics. But in republics too, women were able
to act decisively in the political sphere since the informal networks they utilised were themselves an integral part of
the political process. Therefore, although an important factor, the type of regime alone (monarchy, princely court or
republic) did not determine whether women in ruling families could or could not be involved in politics.
I would argue that the relationship between gender and power and how that was understood by contemporaries
was a much more significant influence.8 How, and under what circumstances, such women came to exercise that
power and to what extent they and their male supporters were able to justify successfully their actions in terms that
did not subvert the existing gender order, were equally important factors in influencing the extent to which women
in ruling families could get their own way.9 The Medici women provide an outstanding opportunity for us to
examine the possibilities for positive and purposeful action as well as the pitfalls for powerful women in Renaissance
Italy. Over the century between Cosimo de' Medici 'the Elder"s assumption of de facto power in 1434 and Duke
Alessandro de' Medici's assumption of de jure power in 1532, the Medici went from being the chief family in an
oligarchic republic to hereditary dukes in a principate. The assassination of Duke Alessandro in 1537 saw Duke
Cosimo I elected to succeed him and he consolidated and strengthened Medici power so that the family's rule of
Florence and later, all of Tuscany, continued on until the male line became extinct in 1737. Hence the women's
involvement in the Medici regime between 1434 and 1537 forms an illuminating series of case studies through which
to explore the negotiations of gender and power in both oligarchic republics and hereditary principates.
Their gender was a crucial determining factor in the Medici women's access to influence, power and authority how
that was perceived at the time.10 This book, then, investigates when, how, and why certain women members of the
Medici family were able to utilise power and influence, and sometimes even authority, in fifteenth and early
sixteenth century Florence and how that exercise of power was viewed and represented by contemporaries and near
contemporaries.11 It is also primarily concerned with their contribution to the gradual shift of the Medici from being
first among equals in an oligarchic republic to absolute rulers of a principate. This investigation involves examining
the actions of the women of the family in the political arena, and how their modus operandi altered over time.
Throughout this book I will argue that we cannot hope fully to comprehend the process of Florence's change from a
republic to a principate and the domination of the Medici in the life of the city unless we analyse the activities and
contemporary representations of the women in the Medici family. This present study therefore seeks to investigate
their continuous and changing contribution to the character, development and strengthening of the Medici regime
over the course of the century between republican and ducal rule in Florence.
Hidden From History?

The Medici were the most famous Florentine family of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Their name has long
been linked to the history (and myth) of Florence's celebrated political, intellectual and artistic achievements —
stemming from the classical revival of Greece and Rome that later writers have called the 'Renaissance'. The role of
the leading men of the family has been the subject of both popular and scholarly work on the contribution and
impact of the Medici on Florentine political, economic, religious, social and cultural life. The history of Renaissance
Florence is often written in terms of the Medici men's successes and failures over the course of roughly a century
between Cosimo 'the Elder" s assumption of de facto power in 1434 and the consolidation of Medici ducal rule in 1537
with the accession of Duke Cosimo I. (Medici control during this period was not unbroken as the family was in exile
between 1494 and 1512 and 1527 and 1530.) In this story of Renaissance Florence and the Medici, Cosimo de' Medici,
'the Elder' (1389-1464); Piero di Cosimo, 'the Gouty' (1416-1469); Lorenzo 'the Magnificent' (1449-1492); Pope Leo X
(1475-1521); Pope Clement VII (1478-1534); and Duke Cosimo I (1519-1574) are some of the best known names.12
In stark contrast to this plethora of historical interest in the Medici men, there has been virtually no scholarly
study of the women in the Medici family for more than sixty years either as a group or individually, with the notable
exception of Lucrezia Tornabuoni. Earlier studies focussed more on providing biographical detail about individual
Medici women rather than any critical analysis of their position as women and how and why their gender affected
their access to power.13 Lucrezia Tornabuoni alone has received significant attention in recent years, in part because
of her writing of religious poetry.14 I want to place the women of the Medici family in the centre of the historical
frame rather than at its edge. Now I want to focus on questions of gender and to explore the ways in which
Renaissance concepts and expectations of masculinity and femininity affected the ways that the Medici women
understood and exercised power.
A number of women will be referred to in this study, namely: Contessina Bardi de' Medici (c. 1400-1473); Ginevra
Alessandri de' Medici (died after 2 August 1478); Lucrezia Tornabuoni de' Medici (1427-1482); Clarice Orsini de'
Medici (1450-1488); Bianca de' Medici Pazzi (1445-1488); Lucrezia (called Nannina) de' Medici Rucellai (1447-1493);
Maria de' Medici Rossi (died before March 1473); Lucrezia de' Medici Salviati (1470-1553); Maddalena de' Medici Cibo
(1473-1519); Contessina de' Medici Ridolfi (1476-1515); Luisa de' Medici (1477-1488); Alfonsina Orsini de' Medici
(1472-1520); Clarice de' Medici Strozzi (1493-1528); and Maria Salviati de' Medici (1499-1543).15 (See Figure 1 for
genealogical relationships.) All the individual members of the Medici family were able to achieve influence by virtue
of possessing or acquiring the surname Medici, but while the men who had that surname were able to exercise
authority in their own right, the women could not. Their ability to exert influence, power and sometimes authority,
derived from their various positions as daughters, sisters, mothers, wives, and/or widows of key men in the Medici
regime. In all cases, the Medici women needed not only to claim family membership similarly to the men, but also to
demonstrate that they sought and were using power and influence because of their interpretation of their feminine
duties.
However not all of the women in the Medici family will receive equal attention. Of particular interest are Lucrezia
Tornabuoni, Clarice Orsini, Alfonsina Orsini, Maddalena Cibo, Lucrezia Salviati and Maria Salviati. Their lives are
the best documented of all the women under study, and cover the range of possible familial relationships to the
Medici men. Together they span the whole period under consideration. Their differing understandings of power and
how it should be employed elucidate the continuities as well as the changes in Medici control of Florence as well as in
contemporary attitudes towards and perceptions of the Medicean regime and of women of power.
Power Through the Family

It is true that their position as members of Florence's chief family gave the Medici women a position of influence
generally not available to other women of the city. Such familial connections were of great importance. Political
power was lost or won generally throughout Europe at the time because of familial connection, so this type of power
held by the Medici women — that is, power through the family — cannot be under-estimated or trivialised. They
were able to use their traditional duties and responsibilities as wives and mothers to justify their actions in the
political sphere. Their exceptional status thus did not subvert the existing gender order. As a consequence of their
position of privilege, women in the Medici family during the fifteenth century were frequently called upon by
Florentines and others from all strata of society to intercede with their husbands, brothers, or, when widowed, with
their sons. This intercession took place in order to obtain government offices, jobs, legal redress, charity and a
multitude of other items either for the petitioners themselves, their relatives, and friends or for the Medici women's
own clients. Their ability to act as intercessors with the men of the family on behalf of supplicants gave these women
the capacity to exercise legitimately a considerable degree of influence, even power, through their participation in an
under-government (sottogoverno), which was fundamental to the way in which politics (outside of the formal
government processes) worked in Renaissance Florence.16 I argue in Chapter Two that even though women were
excluded from the formal political processes of government and office holding, and therefore denied the opportunity
to exert power and influence officially, the Medici women could negotiate significant space for themselves within the
Florentine sottogoverno through an alternative feminine model of patronage by intercession, which was premised on
their authority as wives, widows and mothers.
Therefore it would be a mistake to discount the importance of these informal networks of influence in republican
Florence. Nannina had in fact, asked her mother to do for her what many other people — rich and poor, male and
female, Florentine and non-Florentine, lay and clerical — had been asking Lucrezia Tornabuoni, successfully, to do for
them for several years: that is, to intercede with her eldest son, Lorenzo di Piero di Cosimo de' Medici. At the time
Lorenzo was — like his father and grandfather before him — the de facto ruler of the city. Despite the fact that she
could not hold any public or political office, Lucrezia, as the widow of the previous head of the family and mother of
the current one, could instead exercise successfully substantial power and influence.
The discussion in Chapter Three suggests that the Medici women's patronage of culture provided a further
opportunity for them to exert much power and influence through their choice of patronage projects. These projects
both served to advance the Medici regime's political agenda and were also considered appropriate for women to
undertake because most of them were religious or culturally conservative in nature. Alfonsina Orsini's building works
at the Medici villa of Poggio a Caiano and her palace building in Rome are exceptions that point indeed to the
extraordinary nature of Alfonsina's power in the mid-1510s, since such patronage usually was the prerogative of men.
The patronage process itself was gendered.
Women of the family in the early sixteenth century were able to employ great power and influence in Florence and
beyond. Lorenzo 'di Piero di Cosimo de' Medici's marriage strategies were designed to heal political rifts within
Florence and, more importantly, to assist the launching of the Medici onto the broader Italian stage. Thus from the
late 1480s onwards, Lorenzo's daughter Maddalena in Rome and daughter in law Alfonsina from Naples also often
arranged patronage connections that spanned the area from Florence to Rome. Furthermore, after the Medici were
expelled in 1494 all the Medici daughters and Alfonsina were called upon to exert their influence. Crisis necessitated
their involvement in the political arena, as Chapter Four demonstrates. Indeed, their influence stretched from
Florence to Rome with the accession of a Medici Pope in 1513. Chapter Five deals with the unusual phenomenon of
the Medici women's presence at the all-male bastion of the Curia during the pontificates of the two Medici Popes, Leo
X and Clement VII. Lorenzo's eldest daughter, Lucrezia Salviati had extensive involvement in the management of the
household of her son, Cardinal Giovanni (1490-1553), from the mid-1520s and her protection and extension of Salviati
family interests in Rome was a successful strategy that adapted traditional means of exercising power and influence
in a very non-traditional environment without incurring any negative press. The last part of that chapter documents
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