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Ferdinando I
Ferdinando in 1590
Grand Duke of Tuscany
Reign	19 October 1587 – 7 February 1609
Predecessor	Francesco I
Successor	Cosimo II
Born	30 July 1549 Florence, Duchy of Florence
Died	3 February 1609(1609-02-03) (aged 59) Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Spouse	Christina of Lorraine
Issue	Cosimo II Maria Maddalena Catherine, Duchess of Mantua Carlo, Bishop of Ostia Claudia, Archduchess of Austria
Names Ferdinando de' Medici
House	Medici
Father	Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Mother	Eleanor of Toledo

Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (30 July 1549 – 3 February 1609) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I, who presumably died from malaria.

Early life

Ferdinando was the fifth son (the third surviving at the time of his birth) of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleanor of Toledo, the daughter of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca, the Spanish viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples.

He was made a Cardinal in 1562 at the age of 13, but was never ordained into the priesthood. At Rome, he proved an able administrator. He founded the Villa Medici in Rome. He acquired the large collection of antiquities established by Andrea della Valle in 1584, as well as other works of art like the Medici lions. These were subsequently divided among the various Medici estates.

Grand Duke

When his brother Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, died in 1587, Ferdinando succeeded as grand duke at the age of 38.

In many ways, Ferdinando was the opposite of his brother who preceded him. Approachable and generous, he set out to rule mildly. He re-established the justice system and was genuinely concerned about the welfare of his subjects. During his reign, Tuscany revived and regained the independence his brother had given up.

Ferdinando fostered commerce and gained great wealth through the Medici banks, which were established in all the major cities of Europe. He enacted an edict of tolerance for Jews and non-Catholics, and Livorno became a haven for Spanish Jews as well as other persecuted foreigners. He established the Medici Oriental Press (Typographia Medicea), which published numerous books in the Arabic script.

He improved the harbour Cosimo I had built and diverted part of the flow of the Arno river into a canal called the Naviglio, which aided commerce between Florence and Pisa. He fostered an irrigation project in the Val di Chiana, which allowed the flatlands around Pisa and Fucecchio and in the Val di Nievole to be cultivated.

The greatest cultural achievement in Florence during Ferdinando's reign was the introduction of opera to Europe. For the wedding of Ferdinando's niece Marie de' Medici to King Henry IV of France in 1600, his court sponsored a lavish performance of one of the first notable operas, Jacopo Peri's Euridice.

Marriage

For the first two years of his reign, he retained his position as cardinal, but he gave it up in order to marry Christina of Lorraine in 1589. The couple had a large reception at the Villa di Poggio a Caiano. Christina's dowry was fairly large; it included 600,000 crowns in cash as well as jewellery with a value of 50,000 crowns. Also, the rights of the Duchy of Urbino were transferred to Christina after the death of Queen Catherine de' Medici of France and thus assumed by future Medici rulers.

Foreign policy

Ferdinando's foreign policy attempted to free Tuscany from Spanish domination. After the assassination of Henry III of France in 1589, he supported Henry IV of France in his struggles against the Catholic League. Ferdinando lent Henry money and encouraged him to convert to Catholicism, which he eventually did. Ferdinando also used his influence with Pope Clement VIII to get him to accept Henry's conversion.

Henry showed no appreciation for these favours, and Ferdinando let the relationship cool, maintaining his cherished independence. He supported Philip III of Spain in his campaign in Algeria and Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor in his against the Ottoman Empire. For these undertakings, he found it necessary to raise taxes on his subjects. He finally obtained the formal investiture of Siena, which his father had conquered. Ferdinando sought to reconquer Cyprus for the Christians and had similar designs on the Holy Land, while also seeking commercial ties with Aleppo. He sent Ottoman convert Michel Angelo Corai to Ali Janbulad as an ambassador to fund rebellion in Ottoman Syria.

Ferdinando strengthened the Tuscan fleet, and it saw victories against pirates on the Barbary coast in 1607 and against a superior Turkish fleet the following year.

He also dreamed of a small African empire, and then considered the possibility of a colony in Brazil. A few months before his death, Ferdinando organised an expedition in 1608 under the command of Captain Robert Thornton to northern Brazil and the Amazon River in order to create a colony.

Issue

• Cosimo II (1590–1621), who succeeded as Grand Duke of Tuscany; he married Maria Maddalena of Austria and had issue
• Eleonora (1591–1617), died unmarried
• Caterina (1593–1629), married Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, later Governor of Siena
• Francesco (1594–1614), died unmarried
• Carlo (1595–1666), died unmarried
• Filippino (1598–1602), died unmarried
• Lorenzo (1599–1648), died unmarried
• Maria Maddalena (1600–1633), died unmarried
• Claudia (1604–1648), married first to Federico della Rovere and had issue, then to Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, and had issue.

Ancestors

References

1. Ferdinando I De Medici, Document Inviting Jewish Merchants to Settle in Livorno and Pisa, in Italian, Manuscript on Vellum, Florence, Italy, 10 June 1593 (fac-simile)
2. BBC Radio4
3. Strong. Roy, C. Art and power: Renaissance festivals, 1450-1650. p. 129.
4. Federici, Federico M. (2014), Federici, Federico M.; Tessicini, Dario (eds.), "A Servant of Two Masters: The Translator Michel Angelo Corai as a Tuscan Diplomat (1599–1609)", Translators, Interpreters, and Cultural Negotiators: Mediating and Communicating Power from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 81–104, doi:10.1057/9781137400048_6, ISBN 978-1-137-40004-8, retrieved 7 September 2024
5. "Italians in Brasil, of Matteo Sanfilippo (in Italian)". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2010.

• Hibbert, Christopher (1979). "XXI". In Pelican History of Art (ed.). The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici. Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 279–281.

External links

• Media related to Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany at Wikimedia Commons
• Works by Ferdinando I de' Medici at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Ferdinando I de' Medici at the Internet Archive
• Works by or about Grand Duke of Tuscany at the Internet Archive

v t e House of Medici
People	Lords of Florence Cosimo "The Elder" Piero "The Gouty" Lorenzo "The Magnificent" Piero "The Brief" Giovanni, Pope Leo X Giuliano Lorenzo II Giulio (Clement VII) Ippolito Alessandro "The Moor" Dukes of Florence Alessandro "The Moor" Cosimo I Grand Dukes of Tuscany Cosimo I Francesco I Ferdinando I Cosimo II Ferdinando II Cosimo III Gian Gastone Queens of France Caterina Maria Popes Leo X Clement VII Leo XI Cardinals male line: Giovanni (Leo X) Giulio (Clement VII) Ippolito Alessandro (Leo XI) Giovanni Ferdinando I Carlo Giovan Carlo Leopoldo Francesco Maria Francesco female line: Luigi de' Rossi Giovanni Salviati Innocenzo Cybo Bernardo Salviati Niccolò Ridolfi Lorenzo Strozzi Ferrante Gonzaga Vincenzo II Gonzaga Bishops and archbishops Filippo Bernardo Antonio Giuliano Zanobi Condottieri Giovanni delle Bande Nere Don Giovanni Mattias Genealogy Genealogical tables of the House of Medici	Festina Lente
Buildings	Villas Cafaggiolo Trebbio Careggi Fiesole La Quiete Collesalvetti Poggio a Caiano Castello Mezzomonte Agnano Spedaletto La Petraia Camugliano Stabbia La Topaia Cerreto Guidi Marignolle Arena Metato Poggio Imperiale Lapeggi L'Ambrogiana La Màgia Liliano Coltano Montevettolini Artimino Buti Seravezza Madama Palaces Casino Mediceo di San Marco Palazzo Medici Riccardi Palazzo Madama Palazzo Pitti Villa Medici Palazzo Medici Tornaquinci Livorno Palazzo delle Vedove Pisa Materdei Palazzo Medici di Ottaviano Fountains and gardens Medici fountain Villa di Pratolino Fortresses Arezzo Grosseto Piombino Pistoia San Piero a Sieve Siena Volterra Chapels Magi Chapel Medici Chapels, San Lorenzo New Sacristy Cappella dei Principi Old Sacristy
Patronage	Painters, sculptors and architects Bartolomeo Ammannati Sandro Botticelli Filippo Brunelleschi Michelangelo Michelangelo and the Medici Bernardo Buontalenti Leonardo da Vinci Donatello Michelozzo Antonio del Pollaiuolo Jacopo della Quercia Giorgio Vasari Poets and other literary figures Agnolo Poliziano Niccolò Machiavelli Humanists and philosophers Pico della Mirandola Marsilio Ficino Scientists Galileo Galilei Musicians Emilio de' Cavalieri Jacopo Peri
Heraldry	Medici coat of arms Crown of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Order of Saint Stephen
Institutions	Medici Bank
Art	Medici lions Medici porcelain Medici Vase Venus de' Medici Arazzeria Medicea
Related	Medici giraffe Galilean moons Stories set to music: "opera" Albizzi Pazzi conspiracy Savonarola TV series episodes

• 1549 births
• 1609 deaths
• 16th-century Italian cardinals
• 16th-century Italian nobility
• 17th-century Italian nobility
• 16th-century grand dukes of Tuscany
• 17th-century grand dukes of Tuscany
• House of Medici
• Burials at San Lorenzo, Florence
• Italian Roman Catholics