Murder of a Medici Princess

by Murphy, Caroline P.

• ISBN13: 9780195314397
• ISBN10: 0195314395
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In Murder of a Medici Princess, Caroline Murphy illuminates the brilliant life and tragic death of Isabella de Medici, one of the brightest stars in the dazzling world of Renaissance Italy, the daughter of Duke Cosimo I, ruler of Florence and Tuscany. Murphy is a superb storyteller, and her fast-paced narrative captures the intrigue, the scandal, the romantic affairs, and the violence that were commonplace in the Florentine court. She brings to life an extraordinary woman, fluent in five languages, a free-spirited patron of the arts, a daredevil, a practical joker, and a passionate lover. Isabella, in fact, conducted numerous affairs, including a ten-year relationship with the cousin of her violent and possessive husband. Her permissive lifestyle, however, came to an end upon the death of her father, who was succeeded by her disapproving older brother Francesco. Considering Isabella's ways to be licentious and a disgrace upon the family, he permitted her increasingly enraged husband to murder her in a remote Medici villa. To tell this dramatic story, Murphy draws on a vast trove of newly discovered and unpublished documents, ranging from Isabella's own letters, to the loose-tongued dispatches of ambassadors to Florence, to contemporary descriptions of the opulent parties and balls, salons and hunts in which Isabella and her associates participated. Murphy resurrects the exciting atmosphere of Renaissance Florence, weaving Isabella's beloved city into her story, evoking the intellectual and artistic community that thrived during her time. Palaces and gardens in the city become places of creativity and intrigue, sites of seduction, and grounds for betrayal. Here then is a narrative of compelling and epic proportions, magnificent and alluring, decadent and ultimately tragic.

Author Biography

Caroline P. Murphy is a cultural historian and biographer who lives in Cambridge, Mass. She is the author of Lavinia Fontana: A Painter and Her Patrons in Sixteenth-Century Bologna and The Pope's Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice Della Rovere.

Table of Contents

Map of Florence and Medici Family Tree	p. ix
Prologue: A Summer's Day at Cerreto Guidi	p. 1
A Medici Childhood
The New Medici	p. 7
'I Have Never Seen a More Beautiful Baby Girl'	p. 19
Growing up Medici	p. 34
Approaching Adulthood	p. 45
A Medici Princess Grows Up
A Bridegroom for Isabella	p. 53
Medici Weddings	p. 63
Zibellini and a Hat Full of Musk	p. 69
The Duke and Duchess of Bracciano	p. 78
'My Brother and I'	p. 86
Overcome by Sorrow	p. 95
The First Lady of Florence
After Eleonora	p. 109
At Home with Paolo and Isabella	p. 120
Debt	p. 128
Conflict	p. 133
The Baroncelli	p. 141
The Theatre of Isabella	p. 149
Fidelities	p. 159
Troilo	p. 165
A 'Clandestine' Affair	p. 170
Medici Machinations
The Imperial Sister-in-Law	p. 181
Family Lives	p. 189
Grand Duke	p. 198
Cammilla	p. 204
'I Turchi'	p. 211
Lepanto and Don Giovanni	p. 218
Putti	p. 225
Bianca	p. 232
An Assassination	p. 237
The Best of Times	p. 243
The Troubles of a Medici Princess
The Decline of Cosimo	p. 253
The Children's Negotiation	p. 260
'My Coming'	p. 267
The New Ambassador	p. 272
Leonora	p. 278
The Duelling Season	p. 282
The Pucci Conspiracy	p. 289
Troilo, Bandito	p. 294
Final Acts
The New Year	p. 305
A Trip to Cafaggiolo	p. 314
A Trip to Cerreto Guidi	p. 319
'As If She Imagined What Was in Store for Her'	p. 323
Post-Mortem	p. 328
The Culling Continued	p. 334
The Assassin's Tale	p. 339
Epilogue: Isabella Eterna	p. 345
Bibliography	p. 353
Notes	p. 361
List of plates	p. 381
Acknowledgements	p. 383
Index	p. 385
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