Alfonsina Orsini

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfonsina Orsini (* 1472 in Naples , † February 7, 1520 in Florence ) was the daughter of Roberto Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo (* before 1445; † June 29, 1476 in Siena) and his wife Caterina Sanseverino. From 1487 to 1503 she was the wife of Piero di Lorenzo de 'Medici (1472–1503). She was also the mother of Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici (1492-1519) and Clarice Strozzi (1493-1528).

Life

1472 to 1492

On his father's side, Alfonsina Orsini descended from the Lords of Bracciano, a line of the Roman Orsini family who were wealthy in the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples . Her maternal relatives, the House of Sanseverino , had been one of the most important families in the Kingdom of Naples since the 11th century. After the death of her father, Alfonsina lived with her mother alternately at the court of the King of Naples or in the castles of her numerous relatives.

In 1485, Neapolitan barons, with the support of Pope Innocent VIII (1432–1492), who was also the feudal lord of the Kingdom of Naples, rose against the rule of King Ferrante (1423–1494), whom the city lord of Florence, Lorenzo il Magnifico (1449– 1492), and the Milanese regent, Ludovico il Moro (1451–1508), supported. Lorenzo therefore signed a pay contract in Florence on November 2, 1485 with Virginio, Vicino, Giulio and Gian Paolo Orsini, who opposed the uprising of the barons at the side of the King of Naples. The baron war ended with the peace between the Pope and the King of Naples in August 1486, which granted the insurgents the required amnesty.

Virginio Orsini , Lord of Bracciano , intended after the end of the Baron War to consolidate the favorable relations between his family and the Medici family through family ties. He therefore suggested to Lorenzo to marry his cousin Alfonsina with his eldest son Piero. Since Alfonsina was not considered a good match, Virginio counted on the support of Lorenzo's wife Clarice Orsini (1453-1488), whose mother Maddalena was a sister of Alfonsina's father Roberto and thus also a cousin of Alfonsina.

Lorenzo il Magnifico then sent his brother-in-law Bernardo Rucellai (1449–1514) to Naples in November 1486 with the task of discreetly observing Alfonsina. The young Orsini did not delight Bernardo Rucellai, she seemed to him too reserved and too ignorant. Instead, he praised her physical qualities, admired her beautiful hands and arms, and concluded that the fourteen-year-old must have equally beautiful legs. Lorenzo il Magnifico then agreed, based on the information from Rucellai and the not inconsiderable dowry of 12,000 ducats, to marry his son with Alfonsina.

On February 25, 1487, in Naples, in the presence of King Ferrante, the marriage contract was signed in the absence of the bride, represented by Virginio Orsini, and the groom, whose agent was Bernardo Rucellai, and it was then celebrated in great splendor. Also on February 25, 1487, but in Rome, the marriage between Piero's sister Maddalena (1473-1519) and the Pope's son, Francesco Cibo (around 1450-1519), was closed. Both marriages were a success for the Medici in foreign policy; they were not only approved by the Neapolitan king but also recognized by the Milanese court. However, these marriage connections worried the Florentine oligarchy, so that Lorenzo il Magnifico preferred to promise his remaining daughters Luisa (1476/77-1488) and Contessina (1478-1515) to Giovanni de 'Medici (1467-1498) and Piero Ridolfi .

Lorenzo il Magnifico always knew that the rule of the Medici in Florence was not permanently secured by tradition or law. With the marriages of Piero and Maddalena and the planned ecclesiastical career of Giovanni , he therefore aimed to create a second foothold for the Medici in Rome, with the aim of securing the future rule of his eldest son Piero in Florence and, if necessary, with help the Orsini happen. The condottiere Virginio Orsini hoped for lucrative contracts, recommendations and financial favors for himself and his family from the connection with the richest family in Italy.

Alfonsina only met her husband in May 1488, after he had visited Virginio Orsini in his castle near Bracciano, and then accompanied Alfonsina on their trip to Florence. Both arrival in Florence, however, were overshadowed by the death of Luisa, Piero's twelve-year-old sister, so the wedding ceremony was postponed but held a few weeks later.

Piero was a proud and carefree young man who appeared haughty and spent more time in games and amusements than in state affairs. He was influenced by his mother, Clarice Orsini, who saw Piero as the future hereditary prince of Florence and raised him accordingly. In contrast, Lorenzo il Magnifico called his eldest son, who was called "the unfortunate" even as a child, as the fool among his sons.

The commercial Florentines rejected the young Orsini because of their noble and especially Roman origins. In Florence, Roman nobles were seen as bigoted, uneducated boasters, and these prejudices quickly pushed Alfonsina into isolation. The sixteen-year-old kept her distance from her surroundings and was therefore perceived as unfriendly. Alfonsina did not realize that the Medici exercised their power in dependence on the benevolence of the Florentine population and she was also not prepared to adapt to the circumstances in Florence. But she managed to win the sympathy of her husband Piero, who increasingly sought her advice since the death of his mother Clarice († July 30, 1488).

1492 to 1503

Lorenzo il Magnifico, who died on April 8, 1492, left his eldest son a difficult political legacy. The Banco Medici was on the verge of ruin, the Dominican Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) inspired more and more people in Florence with his sermons and the republican-minded population began to reject the rule of the Medici. Alfonsina, who gave birth to her son Lorenzo on September 9, 1492 and her daughter Clarice the following year, frequently advised her husband on governance, so that she was soon blamed for his clumsy policies.

In 1494, the Milanese conflict over the throne between the rightful Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza (1469-1494), who was supported by his father-in-law King Alfonso II of Naples , and the previous regent Ludovico il Moro, who with the help of Maximilian I (1459 -1519) reckoned on the collapse of the political equilibrium in Italy that had existed since the Peace of Lodi (1454). Alfonsina influenced her husband in the spirit of the Orsini, who clung to the alliance with Naples and thus opposed Milan. The isolation of Milan within the Italian states then led to the fateful step of Ludovico, who entered into an alliance with the French King Charles VIII (1470–1498), whose army requested the conquest of Naples and thus initiated the Italian Wars (1494 to 1559).

Piero the Unfortunate tried to keep the French army away from Florence by handing over important fortresses in Tuscany and the ports of Pisa and Livorno to Charles VIII . This then triggered the events that ended on November 8, 1494 with the expulsion of the Medici. Alfonsina fled with her husband, her children and her husband's brothers from Florence to Venice, and a little later they moved to Rome. The Medici supporters made several unsuccessful attempts to regain power in Florence between 1495 and 1499. However, Piero's military failure led to a falling out between him and his brothers, who left Italy for a few years. Piero then resigned himself, he became addicted to alcohol, lived sexually dissolute and therefore lost his following.

Alfonsina, who was now worried about the social position of her children, succeeded with great difficulty in convincing her husband to join the army of the French King Louis XII. (1462–1515) to join in order to regain power in Florence. However, the Spanish army of the Neapolitan viceroy Gonzalo de Córdoba (1453-1515) destroyed the French army at Gaeta on December 28, 1503, and Piero the Unfortunate drowned while retreating in the floods of the Garigliano .

1504 to 1520

The widowed Alfonsina then lived with her children in Rome and later in the Duchy of Urbino , where she lived at the expense and under the protection of Guidobaldos da Montefeltro (1472–1508) and his successor Francesco Maria I della Rovere (1490–1538). There she proved to be a determined fighter for the restoration of Medici rule. She reconciled on the one hand with Giovanni (1475-1521), Giuliano (1479-1516) and Giulio de 'Medici (1478-1534), on the other hand she succeeded in 1508, her daughter Clarice with Filippo Strozzi the younger, who also came from a influential and important Florentine family came to marry.

On September 1, 1512 Giovanni and Giuliano de 'Medici as well as Alfonsina and their son Lorenzo returned to Florence. Giovanni initiated the first steps to take power, but then left the rule to his brother Giuliano, as he had to return to Rome, where he was elected Pope on March 11, 1513. A few days later, Leo X (Giovanni de 'Medici) appointed his cousin Giulio Archbishop of Florence and in 1515 sent his brother Giuliano to France. The rule in Florence was then transferred to Lorenzo di Piero.

Like his father Piero, Lorenzo di Piero was an excellent rider, he was enthusiastic about painting, literature and music, but like his father he could not make quick decisions or dare to take decisive steps. In politics, he was therefore dominated by his determined and energetic mother, who de facto directed the affairs of state in Florence from November 1515. The ambitious Alfonsina, who met with incomprehension from the Florentines due to her despotic style of government, now pursued the next goal of winning the Duchy of Urbino for her son. This led to violent arguments with her brother-in-law Giuliano, who feared far-reaching conflicts and who, unlike Alfonsina, did not want to show the Duke of Urbino ungrateful for his support.

But after Giuliano's untimely death († March 17, 1516) Alfonsina convinced the Pope to take action against the Duke of Urbino. Leo X excommunicated Francesco della Rovere and on May 30, 1516 papal troops captured Urbino. Lorenzo was appointed the new Duke of Urbino on August 18, 1516, but the chased della Rovere involved him in a month-long war, the cost of which was borne by the Florentine population. In 1517 della Rovere reconquered his lost duchy with the help of German and Spanish mercenaries and Lorenzo, who was wounded in a battle, returned to Florence.

Alfonsina meanwhile conducted successful negotiations with the diplomats of the French king. She managed to get her son to lead the members of the French high nobility Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne to the altar in Florence on May 13, 1518. Madeleine and Lorenzo became the parents of the future French Queen Katharina de 'Medici on April 13, 1519, but they died a few days after the birth of their only child together. Cardinal Giulio de 'Medici took over the affairs of state in Florence and acted as guardian of Catherine, who spent her early childhood in the household of Clarice and Filippo Strozzi. Alfonsina Orsini withdrew from the public and died on February 7, 1520 in Florence.

children

The following children came from the marriage between Alfonsina Orsini and Piero de 'Medici, known as the unfortunate, in Naples on February 25, 1487:

literature

personal data
SURNAME Orsini, Alfonsina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Orsini, Alfonsina degli
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of Piero the unfortunate
DATE OF BIRTH 1472
PLACE OF BIRTH Naples
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 1520
Place of death Florence