Ferdinand I de' Medici

Ferdinand I de' Medici (in Italian, Ferdinando I de' Medici; Florence, July 30, 1549-Florence, February 3, 1609) was the third Grand Duke of Tuscany between 1587 and 1609. Fifth son of Duke Cosme I de' Medici and Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, he was ordained a cardinal in 1562, at the age of fourteen. He built the Villa Medici in Rome, acquiring many works of art which he moved to Florence on his return.He succeeded his brother, Francis I de' Medici, as grand duke in 1587, aged thirty-eight.

Biography

Fernando de Médici, in his childhood by Bronzino.

Ferdinand I de' Medici was a capable administrator, as he had already demonstrated in Rome. He retained the cardinalship after being named Grand Duke, until his marriage to Cristina de Lorraine in 1589. On his death in 1609, he left behind four children, the eldest of whom, Cosimo, inherited the ducal throne at the age of nineteen.. Ferdinand's daughter, Claudia de' Medici (1604-1666) married the Duke of Urbino, Federico Ubaldo della Rovere.

Fernando I de Médici as a cardinal (1588).

Accessible and generous, he set out to rule leniently, restoring the judicial system and sincerely caring for the well-being of his subjects. During his government, Tuscany was resurrected and regained the independence lost during the government of his brother.

Fernando I de Médici as a great Duke of Tuscany, by Scipione Pulzone (1590).

Ferdinand encouraged trade and obtained great wealth through the Medici banks, which were present in the largest cities in Europe. He issued an edict of tolerance towards Jews and heretics, so that Livorno became a port of welcome for Sephardic Jews, expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, as well as for other persecuted foreigners.

Equestrian statue of bronze of Fernando I de Médici in the square of the Santissima Annunziata, work of Giambologna, completed by his assistant, Pietro Tacca.

He improved the port of Livorno that his father had built, while diverting part of the course of the Arno River into a canal called the Naviglio, through which he boosted trade between Florence and Pisa. He promoted an irrigation project in the Val di Chiana, which allowed the plains around Pisa and Fucecchio to be cultivated, as well as in the Valle di Nievole.

Regarding his foreign policy, he tried to liberate Tuscany from Spanish domination. After the assassination of King Henry III of France, in 1589, he supported the future Henry IV of France in his disputes with the Catholic League. Fernando lent Enrique money and told him to convert to Catholicism, which he eventually did. Fernando also used his influence with the Pope to convince him to accept Enrique's conversion.

Enrique did not show much appreciation after these favors, so his relationship with Fernando cooled, the latter making an effort to maintain his valued independence. He supported King Philip II of Spain in his Algerian campaign, and the Holy Roman Empire against the threat of the Ottoman Empire. To undertake these companies he believed it necessary to raise taxes on his subjects. He finally obtained official recognition of his possession of Siena, which his father had conquered.

He also strengthened the Tuscan fleet, witnessing major victories over Berber pirates (1607), and defeating a superior Ottoman fleet the following year.

On his death he was succeeded by his eldest son, Cosimo, who ruled as Cosimo II de' Medici.

Colonial attempt

Ferdinand I made the only Italian attempt to create colonies in America. To do this, the Grand Duke organized an expedition to the north of Brazil in 1608, under the command of the English captain Thornton.

Nei primi anni del Seicento Ferdinando I di Toscana valuta la possibilità di una Colonia brasiliana.Ferdinando fa armre una caravella e una tarna nel porto di Livorno e le affida al capitano Thornton.

In the early years of the seventeenth century Fernando I of Tuscany considers the possibility of making a colony in Brazil...Fernando prepares a "carabela" and a "tartana" in the port of Livorno and assigns them to Captain Tornton.

Unfortunately Thornton, on his return from the preparatory voyage in 1609 (he had been in the Amazon River), found Ferdinand I dead and his successor, Cosimo II, abandoned the project.

Offspring

Ancestry