Isabella de' Medici

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Isabella Romola de' Medici (31 August 1542 – 16 July 1576) was the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo.

[edit] Biography

She was born in Florence and was educated along with her brothers and sisters to a high standard. She had a lively, high-spirited and impulsive character that was commented upon by courtiers.

In 1553, when she was only eleven years old, Isabella was betrothed to Paolo Giordano Orsini, a violent condottiero who held the Duchy of Bracciano, a southern neighbour to Tuscany. The two married in 1558. Her father negotiated a marriage contract that ensured Isabella would continue to live in Florence instead of with her husband, thus ensuring that she had far more freedom and control over her own affairs than other women of her era. 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 did not have children until her late twenties, which also gave her more freedom than many women. Francesca Eleonora, called Nora, was born in 1571 and eventually married her cousin Alessandro Sforza. Son Virginio was born in 1572 and eventually inherited his father's dukedom.

Isabella allegedly had an open character that created rumours about her behaviour, especially in regard to the nature of her relationship with Troilo Orsini, Paolo Giordano's cousin, who was to look after her while the Giordano was away tending to military duties. Paolo Giordano eventually was 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 the new Grand Duke, her brother Francesco. Troilo was killed in the same fashion in Paris some months later.

According to tradition, Isabella's restless ghost appears periodically in several places which she inhabited, including the Odescalchi Castle on Lake Bracciano, near Rome.

[edit] References

• Murphy, Caroline P. (2008) Murder of a Medici Princess Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531439-7