The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive (1537-1743)

Acknowledgements

Introduction
Alessio Assonitis (The Medici Archive Project)

1. The Revenge of the Emperor: Rewriting the Story of Lorenzino de’ Medici’s Assassination
Stefano Dall’Aglio (University of Leeds)

2. Cosimo I de’ Medici and his Library
Alessio Assonitis (The Medici Archive Project)

3. Le ‘spoglie’ invisibili. Note a margine di alcuni documenti relativi al reimpiego dei materiali nei cantieri fiorentini di Giorgio Vasari
Francesca Funis (The Medici Archive Project)

4. “When He Becomes Pope …” The Rise and Fall of Don Luis de Toledo at the Medici Court (1545-1579)
Anatole Tchikine (Dumbarton Oaks)

5. Jacobiglio Hebreo: Mercante, antiquario, informatore del Gran Duca
Piergabriele Mancuso (The Medici Archive Project)

6. Political Meddling in Women’s Lives: Sienese and Florentine Solutions in Difficult Times (1490-1560)
Elena Brizio (The Medici Archive Project)

7. The Contributions of Medici Women to Medicine in Grand Ducal Tuscany and Beyond
Sheila Barker (The Jane Fortune Program on Women Artist)

8. Sofonisba Anguissola, Francesco de’ Medici and Chiappino Vitelli: a Lady-in-waiting, a Prince and a General at the Spanish Court
Maurizio Arfaioli (The Medici Archive Project)

9. The Riches of The Indies: Francesco and Ferdinando de’ Medici and The Americas
Lia Markey (Villa I Tatti – The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies)

10.’Al certo che questa corte ha un bel misto’: Mapping the Artistic Relations between the Medici and the Savoia
Roberta Piccinelli (Università degli studi di Teramo)

11. Jachia ben Mehmet and the Medici Court
Mark Rosen (University of Texas at Dallas)

12. Donna Livia’s New Clothes
Brendan Dooley (University College Cork)

13. Of Mothers and Aunts: Regency Government and Performance in Early Modern France and Tuscany under Maria de’ Medici and Christine de Lorraine
Brian Sandberg (Northern Illinois University)

14. A Grand Duchess and her Painters as Matchmakers: Maria Magdalena of Austria, Tiberio Titi, Giusto Suttermans and the Betrothal of Empress Eleonora Gonzaga
Lisa Goldenberg Stoppato

15. Florentine Avvisi and Diplomatic Correspondence from London, 1614-22
Lisa Kaborycha (University of California Education Abroad Program)

16. A Medici Agent’s Newsletters to Florence during the Leghorn Crisis of 1653
Nicholas Brownlees (Università degli studi di Firenze)

Edited by A. Assonitis & B. Sandberg
220 p., 4 col. ills, 33 b/w ills,
ISBN 978-1-909400-34-4,
€85 / $ 111.00 / £72.50
To purchase the volume click here

Abstract

Taking advantage of the vast archives of the Medici Grand Dukes, the authors of this volume present original research and fresh perspectives on the Medici family and the Tuscan court, revealing the mechanisms of Medicean diplomacy, patronage, and cultural brokerage.

The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive offers a unique window into early modern Florentine society through an exploration of the archives of the Medici ruling family. Teeming with four and a half million letters, the archival collection of the Medici Grand Dukes housed at the Archivio di Stato in Florence chronicles the culture and history of Europe and beyond, for a span of over two hundred years. The letters of this collection, known as the Mediceo del Principato, embrace a great variety of themes including diplomacy, art, medicine, food, science, and material culture. Since its contents originate from a court archive that served both the state and a ruling family, the collection comprises administrative, political and financial correspondence as well as more private and intimate accounts of the Medici themselves and their activity at court. It would be a great misconception to assume that this enormous archival collection pertains just to Florence or to just the Medici, given that the vast majority of these missives were written by ambassadors, agents, and informants stationed throughout Europe.

This volume, The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive, aims to unlock not only the complex structure of the Mediceo del Principato but also the richness of its content. The sixteen essays address a variety of topics—book history, Ottoman relations, collections of New World artifacts, medical history, gender studies, and material culture—all with direct reference to the Medici Grand Duchy. The original research that supports these studies was drawn in part from the Medici Archive Project’s online platform (BIA) for querying over 350,000 digitized and/or transcribed letters. Making use of these and other original sources, the essays in The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive shed new light on the mechanisms and strategies that enabled Florence to emerge from decades of internecine conflict and diplomatic chaos in order to enjoy cultural and political prominence.

About the Editors

Alessio Assonitis (PhD Columbia, 2003) is the Director of the Medici Archive Project.

Brian Sandberg (PhD Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, 2001) is Associate Professor of Early Modern European History at Northern Illinois University.

Table of Contents

Abstract

About the Editors

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