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The Medici — Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464)

Cosimo de' Medici
Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464)

This is the only portrait of him produced in his lifetime, by Benozzo Gozzoli around 1459.


Born:
10. April 1389

Deceased:
1. August 1464

Father:

Giovanni "di Bicci" de' Medici (1360-1429)


Mother:

Piccarda (c. 1368-1433), daughter of Odoardo de' Bueri; marriage in the year 1386


Siblings:
  • his brother Antonio († 1398)
  • his brother Damiano († 1390)
  • his brother Lorenzo (1394/95-1440); married to Ginevra Cavalcanti (1397-1435); Lorenzo had two sons: Francesco († before 1440), who was married to Maria Gualtierotti, and Pierfrancesco (1415-1476)

Spouse:

Contessina de'Bardi (c. 1392-1473), daughter of Alessandro di Sozzo Bardi, Count of Vernio, and Cammilla, daughter of Raniero di Galdo or Guido Pannochieschi, Count of Elci; marriage around 1415: "The Bardi were in the fourteenth century the richest banking family in Florence ... But they had fallen on evil days before Cosimo's marriage to the eldest daughter of the house, having been gradually ruined owing to the loss of a large sum of money which, lent by them to Edward III. of England, had never been repaid." (in: G. F. Young, The Medici, Vol. 1, London 1930, pp. 63-64)


Children:

his legitimate children:

  1. his son Piero "il Gottoso" (1416-1469)
  2. his son Giovanni (1421-1463), married to Maria Ginevra on 14. May 1452 or on 20. January 1453, who was a daughter of Niccolò degli Alessandri (a wealthy and politically prominent wool manufacturer) – Giovanni had one son, Cosimo (1453-1461)

his illegitimate child:

Carlo (c. 1428/30-1492), Abbot of San Salvatore di Vaiano (Prato) and Provost of the Cathedral of Prato, his mother was a Circassian slave who was named Maddalena and who was bought by his father, when she was 21 or 22 years old, for around 60 ducats in Venice in 1427


More Images:
Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo de' Medici

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