. . . married Piero de' Medici, Cosimo and Contessina's oldest son, in 1444 when she was 19. Over the next ten years she had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood, including Lorenzo ("the Magnificent"). In 1464 when Cosimo died, the reins of Medici power fell to Piero, who was known as "Piero the Gouty." His illness meant that much of the Medici business, including Florentine politics, was conducted at the newly built Medici Palace (see post of Jan 29, 2012). From infionline.net, we learn: "Scholars and artists came as well: like his father, Piero supported vernacular literature and the work of local artists. As a result of all this activity at her home, Tornabuoni began to play a role closer to that of the duchesses of the princely Italian states than to that of the wife of a republican merchant-banker. Favor-seekers asked for her intercession with Piero; vernacular poets read her their work and exchanged sonnets with her. It may have been at this period that she began to take her own writing seriously."
Maybe you have seen Natalie Tomas's book about the Medici women. If not, you would like it.
ReplyDeleteEileen
I probably would like it, but . . . e` troppo caro! My sources are "Florence and the Medici," by Hale; "The Medici," by Cesati, and "The Medici Women," Arnaud, ed.
ReplyDelete