Cosimo III de' Medici

Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723

Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, a granddaughter of Henry IV of France, was married to Cosimo by proxy on 17 April 1661 at the Louvre Palace.^[9] She arrived in Tuscany on 12 June, disembarking at Livorno, and made her formal entry to Florence on 20 June to much pageantry.^[10] As a wedding gift, Grand Duke Ferdinando presented her with a pearl the "size of a small pigeon's egg."^[11]

The marriage was unhappy from the start.^[12] A few nights following the formal entry, Marguerite Louise demanded the Tuscan crown jewels for her own personal use; Cosimo refused. The jewels that she did manage to extract from Cosimo were almost smuggled out of Tuscany by her attendants but for the efforts of Ferdinando's agents.^[12] Marguerite Louise's extravagances perturbed Ferdinando because the Tuscan exchequer was nearly bankrupt; it was so empty that when the

Grand Duke Ferdinando encouraged Cosimo to go on a European tour to distract him from Marguerite Louise's renewed hostility. On 28 October 1667 he arrived in

The excursion did Cosimo good. His health was better than ever, as was his self-esteem.[19] His wife's unrelenting enmity towards him, however, undid the aforesaid progressions. Grand Duke Ferdinando, once again, feared for his health, so he sent him on a second tour in September 1668.^[19]

When he went to Spain, the disabled King Charles II, received him in a private interview.^[19] By January 1669, he had arrived in Portugal, being welcomed by the Court and Peter II, where he stayed until March, visiting several villages and cities such as Lisbon, Setúbal, Santarém, Coimbra, Rates and Viana.^[22][24] Of the various monuments, convents and churches visited, it was the Monastery of Saint Denis of Odivelas that most aroused the curiosity of the Florentines due to the libertine lifestyle of the nuns living there.^[25] In Lisbon, Cosimo also had the opportunity to talk several times with the Jesuit Priest António Vieira and to attend his famous masses.^[25] After leaving Caminha by sea they arrived at La Coruña where they took another ship. At some point, the ship met an uncomfortable storm that made them land in Kinsale, Ireland. From there they went to England, where he met Charles II. Samuel Pepys described him as "a very jolly and good comely man."^[26] Cosimo was amiably welcomed by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, for his father's perceived protection of Galileo Galilei from the Inquisition.^[26] He met with scientists such as Robert Hooke, Henry Oldenburg, Isaac Newton, and Robert Boyle; Cosimo bought a machine, built by Samuel Morland. In London, he stayed at St. Albans House as a guest of the Earl of St Albans.^[27]

On the return, he travelled again through the Dutch Republic; this time he bought a self-portrait which Rembrandt had finished in the meantime. He visited Jan Swammerdam and his collection of insects. Passing Aachen, Cosimo visited Louis XIV and his mother-in-law, Marguerite of Lorraine, in Paris. He arrived back in Florence on 1 November 1669.^[28] His travels were described in a detailed journal by his travelling companion Lorenzo, Conte Magalotti (1637–1712).^[29]

Reign

Departure of Marguerite Louise

Ferdinando II died on 23 May 1670 of

Without Marguerite Louise to occupy his attention, Cosimo turned to persecuting the Jewish population of Tuscany. Sexual intercourse between Jews and Christians was proscribed, and by a law promulgated on 1 July 1677, Christians could not work in establishments owned by Jews. If they did regardless, a fine of 50 crowns was incurred; if the person in question had insufficient funds, he was liable to be tortured on the rack; and if he was deemed unfit for torture, a four-month prison sentence was substituted.^[38] The antisemitic roster was supplemented by further declarations on 16 June 1679 and 12 December 1680 banning Jews from visiting Christian prostitutes and co-habitation, respectively.^[39]

Meanwhile, in Lorraine, Charles V was without an heir and Marguerite-Louise, as the daughter of a Lorrainer princess, delegated the right to succeed to the duchy to her elder son, Ferdinando. Grand Duke Cosimo tried to get his son international recognition as heir-apparent, to no avail.^[40] Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, supported Cosimo's claim, not wanting to see Lorraine revert to France. The Treaties of Nijmegen, which concluded the Franco-Dutch War, did not rubber stamp Cosimo's ambitions, as he had wished. The Lorrainer question was concluded with the birth of a son to Charles V in 1679, ending Cosimo's dream of a Medici cadet branch, dreams which were to be revived in 1697 by Gian Gastone's marriage to an heiress.^[41]

1679–1685

Cosimo kept himself apprised of his wife's conduct in France through the Tuscan emissary, Gondi.^[42] Marguerite Louise frequently requested more money from the Grand Duke, while he was scandalised by her behaviour: she took up with a groom named Gentilly.^[41][43] In January 1680 the Abbess of Montemarte asked Cosimo to pay for the construction of a reservoir, following a scandal at the convent: The Grand Duchess had placed her pet dog's basket in close proximity to the fire, and the basket burst into flames, but instead of trying to extinguish it, she urged her fellow nuns to flee for their lives. On previous occasions, she had explicitly stated that she would burn down the convent if the Abbess disagreed with her, too, making the Abbess view the accident as intentional.^[44] Cosimo, unable to do much else for fear of upsetting Louis XIV, reproached her in a series of letters. Another scandal erupted that summer, the Grand Duchess bathed nude, as was the custom, in a local river. Cosimo exploded with anger upon hearing of this.^[45] Louis XIV, tiring of Florence's petitions, retorted: "Since Cosimo had consented to the retirement of his wife into France, he had virtually relinquished all right to interfere in her conduct." Following Louis XIV's rebuff, Cosimo fell grievously ill, only to be roused by Francesco Redi, his physician, who helped him reform his ways so illness would never strike him again.^[46] It was after this event that Cosimo finally stopped bothering with the Grand Duchess's life. In 1682 Cosimo III appointed his brother, Francesco Maria de' Medici, Governor of Siena.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor requested Cosimo's participation in the Great Turkish War. At first, he resisted, but then sent a consignment of munitions to Trieste, and offered to join the Holy League.^[47] They defeated the Turks at the Battle of Vienna in September 1683. To Cosimo's dismay, "many scandals and disorders continued to occur in the matter of carnal intercourse between Jews and Christian women, and especially putting their children out to be suckled by Christian nurses."^[48] The Grand Duke, wishing to supplement the "foe of heretics" persona he acquired after Vienna, outlawed the practice of Jews using Christian wet nurses and declared that if a Christian father wished to have his half-Jewish child suckled by a Christian nurse he must first apply to the government for a permit in writing.^[48] In addition, public executions increased to six per day.^[49] Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury and a famed memorialist, visited this Florence in November 1685, of which he wrote that "[Florence] is much sunk from what it was, for they do not reckon that there are fifty thousand souls in it; the other states, that were once great republic, such as Siena and Pisa, while they retained their liberty, are now shrunk almost into nothing..."^[48]

Marriage of the Grand Prince Ferdinando

Cosimo went about arranging a marriage for his elder son, Ferdinando, in 1686. He ushered him into the marriage as the other Tuscan princes,

Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy procured the style Royal Highness from Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in June 1689, infuriating Grand Duke Cosimo, who complained to Vienna that a duke was inferior status to a grand duke, and proclaimed it "unjustly exalted...since the House of Savoy had not increased to the point of vying with kings, nor had the House of Medici diminished in splendour and possessions, so there was no reason for promoting one and degrading the other." Cosimo also played upon all the times Tuscany provided financial and military assistance to the Empire. The Emperor, anxious to avoid friction, suggested that Anna Maria Luisa should marry Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine to compensate for the affront.^[52] The Elector Palatine, two years later, several months before his marriage to Anna Maria Luisa, went about acquiring the aforesaid style for Cosimo and his family, despite the fact that they had no claim to any kingdom.^[53] Henceforth, Cosimo was His Royal Highness The Most Serene Grand Duke of Tuscany.^[54]

1691–1694

Louis XIV was angered by Anna Maria Luisa's marriage to his sworn foe. Cosimo, after much coaxing, persuaded him otherwise.^[55] On 9 October 1691, France, England, Spain, and the United Provinces guaranteed the neutrality of the Tuscan port of Livorno.^[55] The Empire, meanwhile, was attempting to extract feudal dues from Cosimo, and ordering him to ally with Austria.^[55] The Grand Duke replied that if he did so France would send a naval fleet from Toulon to occupy his state; the Emperor reluctantly accepted this excuse. Tuscany was not alone in its feudal ties to the Empire: A large part of northern Italy was also bound to pay the Emperor, but at a much higher magnitude than Cosimo, who merely paid on his few undisputed Imperial fiefs.^[55]

Cosimo, not having much else to do, instituted more moral laws. Young men were not allowed to "enter into houses to make love to girls, and let them dally at doors and windows, is a great incentive to rapes, abortions, and infanticides..." If a man did not comply, he was liable to receive enormous fines.^[56] This coincided with a new wave of taxes that stagnated Tuscany's already declining economy. Harold Acton recounts that a bale of wool "sent from Leghorn and Cortona had to pass through ten intermediate customs."^[57] The Grand Duke oversaw the establishment of the Office of Public Decency, whose goal was to regulate prostitution, also.^[58] Prostitutes were oft thrown into the Stinche, a jail for women of that profession, for years, with scant food, if they could not afford the fines levied on them by the Office of Public Decency. Evening permits and exemptions were available for those willing to pay six crowns per month.^[59]

Cosimo resurrected a law from the regency of his father which banned Students from attending college outside Tuscany, thus strengthening the Jesuits' hold on education.^[60] A contemporary wrote that not a single man in Florence could read or write Greek, a stark contrast to those of the old republic.^[61] In a letter dated 10 October 1691, Cosimo's personal secretary wrote, "By the Serene Master's express command I must inform Your Excellencies that His Highness will allow no professor in his university at Pisa to read or teach, in public or in private, by writing or voice, the philosophy of Democritus, or of atoms, or any save that of Aristotle."^[60]

Ferdinando and Violante, despite being married for over five years, had not produced any offspring as of 1694. The Grand Duke responded by declaring special days of devotion, and erecting a "fertility column" in the Cavour district of Florence, an act which attracted popular ridicule.

Cosimo became perturbed by the question of the Tuscan Succession following the death of his mother. Ferdinando was lacking any children, as was Anna Maria Luisa. The latter, who was high in her father's estimation, put forward a German princess to marry Gian Gastone. The lady in question, Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, nominal heiress of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, was extremely wealthy. Cosimo once again dreamed of a Medici cadet branch in a foreign land. They were married on 2 July 1697. Gian Gastone and herself did not get along; he eventually abandoned her in 1708.^[63]

Dawn of the 18th century

The 17th century did not end well for the Grand Duke: he still had no grandchildren, France and Spain would not acknowledge his royal status and the Duke of Lorraine declared himself King of Jerusalem without any opposition.^[64] In May 1700 Cosimo embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome. Pope Innocent XII, after much persuasion, created Cosimo a Canon of Saint John in the Lateran, in order to allow him to view the Volto Santo, a cloth thought to have been used by Christ before his crucifixion. Delighted by his warm reception from the Roman people, Cosimo left Rome with a fragment of Saint Francis Xavier's bowels.^[65]

Charles II of Spain died in November 1700. His death, without any ostensible heir, brought about the War of the Spanish Succession, which involved all of the European powers. Tuscany, however, remained neutral.^[66] Cosimo recognised Philip, duc d'Anjou, as Carlos's successor, whose administration refused to sanction the Trattamento Reale reserved for the royal family.^[67] The Grand Duke, soon after the royal altercation, accepted the investiture of the nominal Spanish fief of Siena from Philip, thereby confirming his status as a Spanish vassal.^[68]

Gian Gastone was consuming money at a rapid pace in Bohemia, wracking up titanic debts. The Grand Duke, alarmed, sent the Marquis Rinnuci to scrutinise the Prince's debts. Rinnuci was abhorred to discover that Jan Josef, Count of Breuner and Archbishop of Prague, was among his creditors.^[69] In an attempt to salvage Gian Gastone from shipwreck, Rinnuci tried to coerce Anna Maria Franziska to return to Florence, where Gian Gastone longed to be.^[70] She blankly refused. Her confessor, hoping to keep her in Bohemia, regaled her with tales of the "poisoned" Eleanor of Toledo and Isabella Orsini, other Medici consorts.

The Scottish artists John Smibert and John Alexander benefited from Cosimo's patronage in the early years of the 18th Century. Smibert was accorded the privilege of copying from paintings in his collection. The Duke's help led Alexander to dedicate his engravings after Raphael to him.^[71]

Tuscan succession and later years

Cosimo's piety had not faded in the slightest since his youth. He visited the Florentine Convent of Saint Mark on a daily basis. A contemporary recounted that "The Grand Duke knows all the monks of Saint Mark at least by sight..."^[72] This, however, did not occupy all his efforts: He was still trying to coax Anna Maria Franziska to Florence, where he believed her caprices would cease.^[73] Additionally, in 1719, he claimed that God asked him to pledge the grand duchy to "the governance and absolute dominion of the most glorious Saint Joseph".^[74]

The Grand Prince Ferdinando was grievously ill with syphilis; he had become prematurely senile, not recognising anybody who came to see him. Cosimo despaired. He successfully requisitioned the assistance of Pope Clement XI with Anna Maria Franziska. He sent the Archbishop of Prague to reproach her. She cited the example of Marguerite-Louise, adding that the Pope did not bother himself to machinate a reconciliation.^[76] Cosimo wrote desperate missives to the Electress Palatine: "I can tell you now, in case you are not informed, that we have no money in Florence..." He added that "two or three-quarters of my pension are fallen into arrears".^[76]

Gian Gastone arrived in Tuscany, without his wife, in 1708.

Without any ostensible heir, Cosimo contemplated restoring the Republic of Florence.^[79] However, this presented many obstacles. Florence was nominally an Imperial fief, and Siena a Spanish one.^[80] The plan was about to be approved by the powers convened at Geertruidenberg when Cosimo abruptly added that if himself and his two sons predeceased the Electress Palatine she should succeed and the republic be re-instituted following her death.^[81] The proposal sank, and was ultimately put on hold following Emperor Joseph's death.

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, agreed to an audience with the Electress Palatine in December 1711.^[82] He concluded that the Electress's succession brought no quandary, but added that he must succeed her. Cosimo and herself were abhorred by his reply. Realising how unforthcoming he had been, Charles wrote to Florence agreeing to the project, mentioning but one clause: the Tuscan state must not be bequeathed to the enemies of the House of Austria.^[83] At the culmination of the War of the Spanish Succession, at the Treaties of Utrecht and Rattstatt, Cosimo did not vie for international assurances for the Electress's succession. An inaction he would later grow to lament.

The Grand Prince finally succumbed to syphilis on 30 October 1713. Cosimo deposited a succession bill in the Senate, Tuscany's nominal legislature, on 26 November. The bill promulgated that if Gian Gastone predeceased the Electress Palatine, she should ascend to all the states of the grand duchy. It was greeted with a standing ovation by the senators. Charles VI was furious. He retorted that the grand duchy was an Imperial fief, and that he alone had the prerogative to choose who would succeed.

In May 1716, the Emperor assured the Electress and the Grand Duke that there was no insurmountable obstacle preventing her accession, but that Austria and Tuscany must soon reach an agreement regarding which royal house which was to succeed the Medici.^[85] As an incentive to accelerate Cosimo's reply, the Emperor hinted that Tuscany would reap territorial advancements.^[86] In June 1717 Cosimo declared his wish that the House of Este should succeed. Charles VI's promises never materialised. In 1718 he repudiated Cosimo's decision, declaring a union between Tuscany and Modena (the Este lands) unacceptable. On 4 April 1718 Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic (and later Austria) selected Infante Charles of Spain, the eldest child of Elisabeth Farnese and Philip V of Spain, as the Tuscan heir. By 1722 the Electress was not even acknowledged as heiress, and Cosimo was reduced to a spectator at the conferences for Tuscany's future.^[87]

Death and legacy

On 22 September 1723, the Grand Duke experienced a two-hour-long fit of trembling. His condition steadily deteriorated. Cosimo was attended by the Papal nuncio and the Archbishop of Pisa on his deathbed. The latter pronounced, "that this Prince required little assistance in order to die well, for he had studied and cared for nothing else throughout the long course of his life, but to prepare himself for death". On 25 October 1723, six days before his death, Grand Duke Cosimo disseminated a final proclamation commanding that Tuscany shall stay independent; Anna Maria Luisa shall succeed uninhibited to Tuscany after Gian Gastone; the Grand Duke reserves the right to choose his successor,^[91] but these stanzas were completely ignored. Six days later, on All Hallow's Eve, he died.^{[citation needed]} He was interred in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the Medici necropolis.^{[citation needed]}

Cosimo III left Tuscany one of the poorest nations in Europe; the treasury empty and the people weary of religious bigotry, the state itself was reduced to a gaming chip in European affairs. Among his enduring edicts is the establishment of the Chianti wine region. Gian Gastone repealed Cosimo's Jewish persecution laws, and eased tariffs and customs. Cosimo's inability to uphold Tuscany's independence led to the succession of the House of Lorraine upon Gian Gastone's death in 1737.

Issue

Cosimo III had three children with Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, a granddaughter of Henry IV of France:

1. Violante Beatrice of Bavaria
   , no issue;
2. Electress Palatine (b.1667 d.1743) married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine
   , no issue;
3. Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b.1671 d.1737) married Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg
   , no issue.

Bibliography

• Acton, Harold: The Last Medici, Macmillan, London, 1980,
  ISBN 0-333-29315-0
• Strathern, Paul: The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, Vintage books, London, 2003,
  ISBN 978-0-09-952297-3
• Hale, J. R.: Florence and the Medici, Orion books, London, 1977,
  ISBN 1-84212-456-0
• van de Wetering, Ernst: Rembrandt: The Painter at Work, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 1997
  ISBN 978-90-5356-239-0
• Setton, Kenneth M.: Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies of Turkish Doom, Amer Philosophical Society, 1992,
  ISBN 978-0-87169-201-6

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

• Timeline of the events of Cosimo III's reign by Google

Cosimo III de' Medici House of Medici Born: 14 August 1642 Died: 31 October 1723
Regnal titles
Preceded by Ferdinando II de' Medici	Grand Duke of Tuscany 1670–1723	Succeeded by Gian Gastone de' Medici