Duca Francesco Maria di Medici, I

1541 - 1587  (46 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Francesco Maria di Medici
  Prefix	Duca
  Suffix	I
  Birth	25 Mar 1541	Firenze, Toscana, Italia
  Gender	Male
  Death	17 Oct 1587	Firenze /Poggio a Caian
  Siblings	10 Siblings
  1. Maria di Medici,   b. 1540   d. 1557  (Age 17 years) + 2. Duca Francesco Maria di Medici, I,   b. 25 Mar 1541, Firenze, Toscana, Italia d. 17 Oct 1587, Firenze /Poggio a Caian  (Age 46 years) ▻ Giovanna von Österreich,  m. 18 Dec 1565 ;   Bianca Cappello + 3. Isabella di Medici,   b. 31 Aug 1542   d. 16 Jul 1576  (Age 33 years) ▻ Duca Paolo Giordano I Orsini,  m. 1565   4. Cardinal Giovanni di Medici,   b. 1543   d. 1562  (Age 19 years)   5. Lucretia di Medici,   b. 1545   d. 1562  (Age 17 years) ▻ Alfonso II d' Este   6. Peter di Medici,   b. 10 Aug 1546   d. 10 Jun 1547  (Age 0 years)   7. Garzia di Medici,   b. 1547   d. 1562  (Age 15 years)   8. Antonio di Medici,   b. 1548   d. 1548  (Age 0 years) + 9. Duca Ferdinando I di Medici,   b. 1549   d. 7 Feb 1609  (Age 60 years) ▻ Christine von Lothringen;     10. Anna di Medici,   b. 1553   d. 1553  (Age 0 years)   11. Pierro di Medici,   b. 1554   d. 1604  (Age 50 years) ▻ Eleonora Álvarez di Toledo;   Beatrice de Meneses
  Person ID	I9740	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	3 Jan 2007

  
  

  Father	Duca Cosimo di Medici, I, "the Great",   b. 12 Jun 1519, Firenze, Toscana, Italia d. 21 Apr 1574, Villa Di Castello, Italia (Age 54 years)
  Mother	Marquesa Leonor Álvarez de Toledo,   b. 1522, Toledo, Castilla–La Mancha, España d. 17 Dec 1562, Pisa, Italia (Age 40 years)
  Marriage	1539
  Family ID	F21608	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Giovanna von Österreich,   b. 24 Jan 1547, Wien, Österreich d. 11 Apr 1578, Firenze, Toscana, Italia (Age 31 years)
  Marriage	18 Dec 1565	Firenze, Toscana, Italia
  Children	+ 1. Eleonore di Medici,   b. 1566   d. 1611 (Age 45 years)   2. Romola di Medici,   b. 1568   d. 1568 (Age 0 years)   3. Anna di Medici,   b. 1569   d. 1584 (Age 15 years)   4. Isabella di Medici,   b. 1571   d. 1572 (Age 1 year)   5. Lucrece di Medici,   b. 1572   d. 1574 (Age 2 years) + 6. Maria di Medici,   b. 26 Apr 1573, Firenze, Toscana, Italia d. 3 Jul 1642, Cologne (Age 69 years)   7. Antonio di Medici,   b. 1576   d. 1621 (Age 45 years)   8. Filippo di Medici,   b. 1577   d. 1582 (Age 5 years)
  Family ID	F2845	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2000

  
  

  Family 2	Bianca Cappello   d. 17 Oct 1587, Poggio a Caiano
  Family ID	F32799	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2000

  
  

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  		Birth - 25 Mar 1541 - Firenze, Toscana, Italia Marriage - 18 Dec 1565 - Firenze, Toscana, Italia  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

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• Notes

  Francesco, the successors of Cosimo (who died in 1574 at the age of 54) was an introverted man, gloomy given to silence, definitely not as good as his father had been. What is more, he was distracted by very different interests, particularly scientific and alchemistic studies. He was also distracted by an intense love-affair with a beautiful venetian young lady Bianca Cappello that he married after his official wife Joanna of Austria passed away. Both of them Francesco and Bianca died in 1582, mysteriously one after the other in their Villa at Poggio a Caiano and since Francesco's only son little Don Filippo had died, too, the only heir of the Medici family was Francesco's brother: cardinal Ferdinando. (Medical):3 jan 2007 ROME - Scientists in Italy believe they have uncovered a murder - 400 years after it is thought to have taken place. Historians have long suspected that Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife, Bianca Cappello, did not die of malaria but were poisoned - by Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who was vying for the dukedom. For four centuries that theory remained just that - a theory. following a study into the affair, forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence believe they have uncovered clear evidence of murder by poisoning. Francesco's "was a lethal dose, but progressive, and the symptoms were compatible with arsenic poisoning" Donatella Lippi, a professor of history of medicine and a co-author of the study, published in the British Medical Journal on Dec. 21, told The Associated Press. As rulers, art connoisseurs and financiers of kings, the Medici flourished for centuries in the rough and tumble alliances of old Europe, ruling first the city of Florence then Tuscany from 1430 to 1737. Francesco ruled from 1574 until his death Oct. 17, 1587, at age 46, 11 days after first taking to his bed and a few hours before his wife. Scientists Francesco Mari, Aldo Polettini, Elisabetta Bertol and Lippi collected and tested beard hairs from Francesco's grave in the Medici chapels in Florence, as well as other remains found in clay jars in a crypt about 12 miles west of Florence. Bianca's grave was never found. Tests on the beard hairs proved inconclusive - but samples of Francesco's liver taken from the crypt showed levels of arsenic that were "significantly higher" than those normally found in humans, the scientists said. But if Francesco was murdered, who did it? Experts say that, though there is no proof, Ferdinando was the only person with an obvious motive. He wanted his brother's dukedom and his behavior at the time was suspicious - for example, he took charge of his brother's illness, compiling the medical bulletins and minimizing the gravity of Francesco's illness in dispatches to the Holy See. After their deaths, he ordered immediate autopsies - an unusual step which could have been designed to cover up evidence. "These important findings, in addition to the historical data collected on the events before and after the almost simultaneous deaths of the grand-ducal couple, allow us to rewrite the historical reconstruction of those events," the study said. "It sounds pretty reasonable," said Richard J. Hamilton, a medical toxicologist who is Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University, Philadelphia. "They've established what they have, they've done an efficient job of matching the DNA," said Hamilton, who read the study but was not affiliated with it. He added that the results were consistent with poisoning. The only surprising aspect is that Francesco - who had an interest in alchemy and chemistry and was suspected of having poisoned his first wife - could have been poisoned so easily and so quickly, Hamilton said. However, Angelo Moretto, a clinical and experimental toxicologist with the International Center for Pesticides in Milan, is not entirely convinced. "They make accusations that are quite strong," he said. "I would have been more low key about it."