Isabella de' Medici
Encyclopedia
Eleonora di Toledo
Eleanor of Toledo Eleanor of Toledo Eleanor of Toledo (Italian: Eleonora di Toledo (1522 – 17 December 1562), born Doña Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, was a Spanish noblewoman who was Duchess of Florence from 1539. She is credited with being the first modern first lady, or consort...
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With her siblings, Isabella was raised in Florence and at a country estate, educated in a humanist manner, and from an early age showed a great love of music and dancing. Her father arranged for her to be married to Paolo Giordano I Orsini
Paolo Giordano I Orsini
Paolo Giordano I Orsini was the first duke of Bracciano from 1560. He was a member of the Rome family of the Orsini.-Biography:...
to secure a relationship with the powerful Roman Orsinis
Orsini family
Orsini: the origin of learning.We love Mrs. Orsini forever! ~8F Social Studies 2011The Orsini family is an Italian noble family; it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and renaissance Rome...
. The marriage was consummated when Isabella was 16, but in an unconventional move, her father arranged for her to stay in his household after her marriage, giving her an unusual degree of independence for a woman of her period.
Biography
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
where, with her brothers and sisters, she lived in the Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany...
, the Palazzo Pitti
Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti , in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast mainly Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio...
, although the children spent much of their time at their father's ancestral country home, Villa di Castello
Villa di Castello
The Villa di Castello is one of the Medici villas near Florence, Tuscany, central Italy. Its ideal design appears in a lunette painted by Giusto Utens in 1599. The property was purchased by Lorenzo de'Medici in 1477 on the site of an existing building which he had rebuilt...
. The Medici children were educated at home by tutors in a range of subjects such as classics, languages, and arts. From an early age Isabella showed a great love for music, which in her adulthood she used as means for self-expression, according to biographer Caroline Murphy. A great beauty, she had a lively, high-spirited and impulsive character that was commented on by courtiers.
In 1553, when she was 11 years old, in an effort to secure his southern border and to secure a liaison with the ancient Roman Orsini family
Orsini family
Orsini: the origin of learning.We love Mrs. Orsini forever! ~8F Social Studies 2011The Orsini family is an Italian noble family; it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and renaissance Rome...
, Cosimo negotiated Isabella's betrothal to 12 year old Paolo Giordano Orsini
Paolo Giordano I Orsini
Paolo Giordano I Orsini was the first duke of Bracciano from 1560. He was a member of the Rome family of the Orsini.-Biography:...
, in line for the Duchy of Bracciano
Bracciano
Bracciano is a small town in the Italian region of Lazio, 30 km northwest of Rome. The town is famous for its volcanic lake and for a particularly well-preserved medieval castle Castello Orsini-Odescalchi...
in southern Tuscany. The two married in 1558, in a semi-private ceremony, at Villa di Castello. Paolo left the following day. Concerned by the spending habits of his new son-in-law, Cosimo decided to keep his daughter and her 50,000 scudi
Italian scudo
The scudo was the name for a number of coins used in Italy until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from the Latin scutum . From the 16th century, the name was used in Italy for large silver coins...
dowry in Florence, giving her greater freedom and control over her own affairs than was customary for Florentine women of the time.
Following her mother's death, she acted as first lady of Florence for a time, displaying the de' Medici aptitude for politics. She suffered several miscarriages and remained childless until her late twenties, which also meant that she had more freedom than most women her age. Her daughter Francesca Eleonora (known as Nora), was born in 1571 and eventually married her cousin Alessandro Sforza. Her son Virginio was born in 1572 and eventually inherited his father's dukedom.
Isabella allegedly had a free-spirited personality which created rumours with regard to the nature of her relationship with Troilo Orsini, Paolo Giordano's cousin, who was charged with looking after her while the Giordano was away tending to military duties. Paolo Giordano was eventually informed of Isabella's infidelity. Her powerful father having died, the duke had Isabella strangled in the Villa di Cerreto Guidi, near Florence, probably with the complicity of her brother Francesco, the new Grand Duke. Troilo was also murdered in the same fashion in Paris a few months later.