Clarice Orsini

Clarice Orsini
Spouse(s)	Lorenzo de' Medici
Issue Lucrezia de' Medici Piero de' Medici Maddalena de' Medici Contessina Beatrice de' Medici Giovanni de' Medici, Pope Leo X Luisa de' Medici Contessina de' Medici Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours
Noble family	Orsini (by birth) Medici (by marriage)
Father	Jacopo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo and Bracciano
Mother	Maddalena Orsini
Born	1453 Monterotondo, Papal States
Died	30 July 1488 (aged 34) Florence, Republic of Florence

Clarice Orsini (c. 1453 – 30 July 1488) was the daughter of Jacopo (Giacomo) Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo and Bracciano, and his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini. Born in the Papal States, she is most known as the wife of Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent), de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic. She was the mother of Pope Leo X.

Lorenzo and Clarice were married by proxy on 7 February 1469. The marriage was arranged by Lorenzo's mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni, who wanted her eldest son to marry a woman from a noble family, in order to enhance the social status of the Medicis. Clarice's dowry was 6,000 florins. She arrived in Florence on 4 June 1469.

Clarice was not popular in Florence, because her strict religious personality was in deep contrast with the humanist ideals of the age. Even Lorenzo preferred a Florentine woman, Lucrezia Donati, to whom he dedicated his poems. Of the nine children born to them, three died in infancy.

During the Pazzi Conspiracy, which was aimed at murdering Lorenzo and his younger brother Giuliano, Clarice and her children were sent to Pistoia. (The Pazzis succeeded in murdering Giuliano, but Lorenzo survived the attack, thus the conspirators' plan to replace the Medicis as de facto rulers of Florence failed.)

Clarice returned to Rome several times to visit her relatives; she also visited Volterra, Colle Val d'Elsa, Passignano sul Trasimeno, and other places in the 1480s. On 30 July 1488 she died unexpectedly from tuberculosis in Florence.

Issue

Clarice and Lorenzo had 10 children:

• Lucrezia Maria Romola de' Medici (Florence, 4 August 1470 – 15 November 1553); married 10 September 1486 Jacopo Salviati and had 10 children, including Cardinal Giovanni Salviati, Cardinal Bernardo Salviati, Maria Salviati (mother of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany), and Francesca Salviati (mother of Pope Leo XI).
• Twins who died after birth (March 1471).
• Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence, 15 February 1472 – Garigliano River, 28 December 1503), ruler of Florence after his father's death, called "the Unfortunate"
• Maria Maddalena Romola de' Medici (Florence, 25 July 1473 – Rome, 2 December 1528), married 25 February 1487 Franceschetto Cybo (illegitimate son of Pope Innocent VIII) and had seven children
• Contessina Beatrice de' Medici (23 September 1474 - September 1474), died young
• Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence, 11 December 1475 – Rome, 1 December 1521), ascended to the Papacy as Pope Leo X on 9 March 1513.
• Luisa Contessina Romola de' Medici (Florence, 25 January 1477 – July 1488), also called Luigia, was betrothed to Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano but died young.
• Contessina Antonia Romola de' Medici (Pistoia, 16 January 1478 – Rome, 29 June 1515); married 1494 Piero Ridolfi (1467 - 1525) and had five children, including Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi.
• Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Nemours (Florence, 12 March 1479 – Florence, 17 March 1516), created Duke of Nemours in 1515 by King Francis I of France.

Ancestry

External links

• Associazione Culturale "Clarice Orsini" - Monterotondo (Italy)