Antonio de' Medici
Encyclopedia
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.- Biography :...
and his mistress Bianca Capello, was a minor figure at the Grand Ducal Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
court.
Antonio was born under obscure conditions during the lifetime of Francesco's legitimate consort, who died in childbirth in April 1578. The grand duke secretly married Bianca only two months later, before celebrating a public wedding in 1579, after the official mourning period. The very existence of the infant was not publicly acknowledged until he was almost three years old, but from the moment he was brought into the court, he was raised as the legitimate heir to Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
. During his father's lifetime no doubts were raised either of his paternity, or of Francesco's intention that he should succeed him. Francesco legitimated Antonio and in 1584 he obtained implicit approval from Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, who was the overlord of Siena, that the legitimated Antonio was to rule. Francesco's younger brother, had been designated for the Church, rising to the rank of Cardinal.
Within hours of Francesco's death on 18 October 1587, Bianca Cappello was dead, too, poisoned, it was thought, at the direction of the Cardinal, who now set aside his orders and took up rule as Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Ferdinando de' Medici
Ferdinando de' Medici may refer to various members of the Medici ruling family of Tuscany:* Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, , Grand Duke of Tuscany 1587–1609...
. Bianca Cappello had recently undergone a false pregnancy, in 1586, which encouraged Cardinal Ferdinando to create a story that Bianca's pregnancy in 1576 had been a falso one, too, and that Antonio was the son of a serving girl who had been smuggled into the bed. As a magnmanimous gesture, the former Cardinal conferred some substantial property on the youth and induced him to take the clerical habit of the Knights of Malta
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
, which would preclude any further heirs with substantial claims to the Medici inheritance.
Thus at eighteen, Antonio joined the Knights of Malta; he fought the Ottoman Turks in Hungary in 1594-95 and soon contracted syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
; he served in various ambassadorial capacities, and satisfied his pleasure in the hunt, and in music and theater. His virtuoso interests in alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
and other scientific concerns brought him into contact with Galileo. His mistress from Lucca presented him with four sons, to the disapproval of the Medici court; but he managed to have them legitimated by Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
and recognized by Grand Duke Cosimo.
Antonio died in modest retirement in 1621, having withdrawn from the court after 1614.
Children
Paolo de' Medici (1616-1656), son of Antonio and Artemisa Tozzi, military;Giulio de' Medici (1617-1670), son of Antonio and Artemisa Tozzi; Religious;
Anton Francesco de' Medici (1618-1659), son of Antonio and Artemisa Tozzi. Marriage with Maria Francesca Aganetti, noble of Piemont.