Lucrezia de' Medici (1470–1553)

Lucrezia de' Medici
Spouse(s) Jacopo Salviati

Issue

Giovanni Salviati
Lorenzo Salviati
Piero Salviati
Elena Salviati
Baptist Salviati
Maria Salviati
Luisa Salviati
Francesca Salviati
Bernardo Salviati
Alamanno Salviati
Noble family Medici (by birth)
Salviati (by marriage)
Father Lorenzo de' Medici
Mother Clarice Orsini
Born 4 August 1470
Republic of Florence
Died 15 November 1553 (aged 83)

Lucrezia Maria Romola de' Medici (4 August 1470 – between 10 and November 15, 1553) was an Italian noblewoman, the eldest daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici and Clarice Orsini and mother of Maria Salviati and Giovanni Salviati, who was a cardinal from 1517 until his death. Her portrait was considered (as a newborn) as the baby Jesus in Our Lady of the Magnificat of Sandro Botticelli

Life, marriage and issue

She was married on 10 September 1486 to Jacopo Salviati. By Salviati, she had 10 children, some of whom were of great importance to the history of Renaissance Europe:

Later life

Jacopo died in 1533, Lucrezia outlived him by twenty years.

Lucrezia was a proud great grandmother to ten great grandchildren, through her daughter Maria, who would look after all of them. Lucrezia's exact death date is unknown but it is known that she died between 10th and 15 November 1553.

Her age at the time of her death was 83 years old, which was very old for women in the 16th century and she had outlived three great grandchildren.

Descendants

Through her daughter Maria, Lucrezia is an ancestor of the ducal branch of the Medici family, an ancestor of the Kings of France (House of Bourbon) and also the Kings of England (House of Stuart). Her grandson was Cosimo I de' Medici, who became Grand Duke of Tuscany. His son, Francesco I de' Medici who succeeded his father in 1574, had two daughters who married into important families and changed the course of history - Eleonora de' Medici and Marie de' Medici. Eleonora married Vincenzo I Gonzaga, their son was Francesco IV Gonzaga and through her, Lucrezia is an ancestor of the Dukes of Mantua and also of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Through Marie, Eleonora's sister, Lucrezia is ancestor of Kings of France, due to Marie's marriage to Henry IV of France. Marie's grandson was Louis XIV of France. Louis's grandson, Philip, Duke of Anjou, became king of Spain and is a direct ancestor of Juan Carlos, current king of Spain. Princess Michael of Kent, born Baroness Marie Christine, is also a descendant of this lineage.

Marie also had a daughter called Henrietta Maria who married Charles I of England. Henrietta Maria and Charles were the parents of Charles II of England and James II of England. James was the father of Mary II of England, Anne, Queen of Great Britain and James Francis Edward Stuart- 'the Old Pretender'. Charles never had any legitimate children, but numerous illegitimate ones and through several of them is an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York, among others. His brother, James is also an ancestor of Diana through his own illegitimate issue.

The 'Old Pretender' had two sons, Henry Benedict Stuart and Bonnie Prince Charlie- 'the Young Pretender'. Henry Benedict was a cardinal, who died childless, while the 'Young Pretender' had an illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, Duchess of Albany. Charlotte had illegitimate children of her own and one of her daughters had surviving issue and descendants, one of whom is Peter Pininski, the author of the book 'The Stuart's Last Secret'.

Henrietta Maria also had a daughter, Henrietta 'Minette' Anne Stuart, who married Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and had issue. Her descent ultimately culminated in Franz, Duke of Bavaria, who is the current Heir General of the House of Stuart and embodies the still continuing Jacobite claim to the thrones of England, Scotland, Ireland and France.

Ancestry