Lucrezia de' Medici (1545–1561)

Lucrezia de' Medici (14 February 1545 – 21 April 1561)[1] was the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici and Eleanor of Toledo.

Born in Florence, she was the first wife of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Modena and Ferrara, whom she married on 3 July 1558. She did not move to Ferrara until February 1560, for her husband Alfonso d’Este was fighting in France. [2] When Lucrezia died in 1561, she had been severely ailing for about a month, to the extent that Cosimo, her father, sent the family doctor, Andrea Pasquali, to attend to her and to send detailed reports back to him. Her symptoms – fevers, severe weight loss, constant coughing and a permanently bleeding nose – have led to a modern diagnosis that Lucrezia was suffering from tuberculosis. At the time, however, there was speculation she'd been poisoned.[3]

After the ground-breaking book of Louis S. Friedland of 1936, experts claim she is the Duchess on the painting referred to in Robert Browning's poem My Last Duchess.

References and notes

  1. ^ Dates according to the Medici Archives.
  2. ^ Murphy, Caroline P. Murder of a Medici Princess. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-19-531439-7
  3. ^ Murphy, Caroline P. Murder of a Medici Princess. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-19-531439-7

Ancestry

Lucrezia de' Medici (1545–1561)
Cadet branch of the 1561
Born: 14 February 1545 Died: 21 April
Royal titles
Preceded by
Renée of France		 Duchess consort of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio
3 October 1559 - 21 April 1561		 Vacant
Title next held by
Barbara of Austria