Clarice Orsini

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Clarice Orsini de Medici. Painting by Domenico Ghirlandaio (painted no later than 1494)

Clarice Orsini (* 1453 in Rome , † July 30, 1488 in Florence ), also 'Clarissa' (Ger.) Or Clarice degli Orsini, was a daughter of an ancient Roman noble house that had influence in the curia, as there were many family members in the Vatican high positions. On June 4, 1469 she became the wife of Lorenzo de 'Medici, called Lorenzo il Magnifico , who ruled Florence from 1469 to 1492. This marriage also confirmed that the Florentine princely house was to be regarded as equal with the Roman noble family.

Their sons together were Piero di Lorenzo de 'Medici , from 1492 to 1494 city lord of Florence, Giovanni , from 1513 to 1521 Pope Leo X, and Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici , from 1515 Duke of Nemours and from 1512 to 1515 Regent of Florence.

Family history

1453 to 1469

Clarice Orsini was the daughter of Prince Jacopo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo, and his wife Maddalena Orsini, nee Carlo, who came from the branch of the Lords of Bracciano. Her paternal uncle was Giovanni Orsini, who later served as Archbishop of Trani, and Latino Carlo on her mother's side, who was a cardinal in Rome. Her brother Rinaldo Orsini became Archbishop of Florence in 1474 with the help of her husband Lorenzo. Clarice's childhood was from the 1455 through Pope Kalixt III. the suppressed revolt of the Orsini and the 1458 revenge campaign of the Orsini against the Borgias overshadowed.

Piero de 'Medici , lord of the city of Florence, sent his wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni to Rome in March 1467 to promote the policy of the Medici after the failed revolt of Agnolo Acciauoli (1466) and to look out for a suitable bride for his eldest son Lorenzo to keep. The chosen bride should not only be rich, she should also bring with her as a dowry the possibility of an important alliance for the future. During her stay in Rome, Lucrezia met Cardinal Latino Orsini , who recommended his niece Clarice, daughter of his sister Maddalena, to be Lorenzo's wife.

Lucrezia Tornabuoni saw the fourteen-year-old Clarice for the first time on March 28, 1467 in St. Peter's Church in Rome and got a very good impression of the young woman. Clarice corresponded to the ideal of beauty of the time, she appeared polite and well-behaved to her future mother-in-law. She wrote to her husband: “The girl is more than medium-sized and has pure skin and pleasant manners. She may not be as beautiful as our own daughters. But she looks very modest. So I think it will be easy to learn. She is not a blonde, there are no such girls here. Her thick, dark hair has a reddish tinge. Your face is quite round, but not in such a way that it bothers you. The neck is quite nice, if rather thin, or, one should say, delicate. I couldn't see her breasts because they are completely covered here, but as far as I could see they are well formed. The hands are very slim. On the whole the girl seems well above average. But you can't compare them with Maria, Lucrezia and Bianca. "

The negotiations for the marriage contract lasted a year and a half and were mainly led by the authorized signatory of the Medici Bank in Rome, Lorenzo's uncle Giovanni Tornabuoni , and Clarice's uncle, Cardinal Latino Orsini. On November 27, 1468, the two of them were able to agree on the dowry of 6000 Roman guilders, and on December 10, 1468, in the absence of Lorenzo, represented by the Archbishop of Pisa, Filippo de 'Medici, the marriage took place in Rome.

Lorenzo did not intend to move to Rome. In his memoirs he noted: “I took Lorenzo as my wife Donna Clarice, daughter of Mr. Jacopo Orsini. Or rather, it was made available to me in December 1468. "'

At that time he did not want to see his wife or meet his in-law relatives. Instead, Lorenzo was preparing for a tournament that took place on February 7, 1469 in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence and was observed throughout Italy. Ferrante of Naples, Borso d'Este , Federico da Montefeltro and many others made their best horses and riders available. For this reason alone, the Orsini showed understanding for Lorenzo's absence.

Lorenzo, who fought in the colors of his childhood sweetheart Lucrezia Donati (* around 1450, † 1501), won this tournament. The young Florentine woman was the wife of Niccolò Ardhingelli, who tolerated her close relationship with Lorenzo. Clarice respectfully congratulated her husband on his tournament victory and invited him to come to Rome. As a class-conscious aristocrat, however, she refused to allow a man to prove his social position with sword and lance. It was not considered good form in Rome to show one's riding skills and skill in fencing and lancing in front of the people. Those who were convinced of their social position should not fight themselves, but let others fight - according to the aristocratic Orsini.

Due to the uncertain political situation, Piero did not allow his son Lorenzo to travel to Rome. Instead of Lorenzo, Piero sent his younger son Giuliano to Rome on April 27, 1469 , who then left for Florence on May 15, 1469 with Clarice.

On June 4, 1469 the splendidly arranged wedding celebrations took place in Florence. They lasted three days and all “large” families were obliged to take part in this festival. However, the young wife was not welcome in Florence. The Florentine oligarchy , made up of merchants and bankers , did not think much of Roman nobles, who they accused of arrogance and lack of cultural sensitivity. In the city it was also not customary to marry a "strange" girl. Because of this, this marriage was considered treason by many Florentines. Piero and Lucrezia knew, however, that choosing a Florentine girl would inevitably mean rejecting other girls, and that snub would then result in hostility between families. The Medici intended with the glamorous organization of the wedding celebration to win the Florentine upper class for their connection with the Orsini.

Clarice Orsini, on the other hand, was not affected by these power games and additionally guaranteed an important alliance with an influential family of the Papal States.

1469 to 1488

Medici

The shy and often melancholy Clarice was overwhelmed by the material power of the Medici. She was now the youngest female member of the Medici family, was at the lowest level in the family hierarchy and had to submit to the authority of her in-laws, her husband, but also the widow of Cosimo the Elder , Contessina de 'Bardi. Clarice accepted this. However, she did not succeed in adapting to the Florentine lifestyle and absorbing the tolerant, cosmopolitan spirit of the city. It stood far from humanism, persisted in bigoted religiosity and remained stuck with its origins from the Roman aristocracy.

However, her marriage to the cheerful, witty Lorenzo went well. She gave birth to her husband seven children between 1470 and 1479, during which time she suffered at least one miscarriage. The birth of her last child, Giuliano, weakened her health so much that her doctors advised against having more children. Since the Pazzi conspiracy of April 26, 1478 and the plague epidemic that broke out in Florence a little later, Clarice lived mostly outside of Florence, mainly in Pistoia or in the Medici Villa in Cafaggiola, where she personally looked after and raised her children.

Because of their differing views on the future education of their children, there was considerable tension between Clarice and Lorenzo. Clarice described the humanist and head of house of her family Angelo Poliziano as godless and cynical and pushed through his dismissal despite the objections of her husband. Lorenzo therefore watched with concern the development of his eldest son Piero, who developed into a haughty, quarrelsome young man. Lorenzo explained this as a result of the upbringing of his wife's class and lamented shortly before his death that he had three sons, the first was good (Giuliano), the second was clever (Giovanni), the third was a fool (Piero).

Orsini

In the spring of 1472 Clarice traveled to Rome to visit her family. The humanist Luigi Pulci described her on this trip in a letter to Lorenzo with the following humorous words: “[…] your dear wife was given much honor everywhere; And she did you and us a lot of honor, that's as certain as it seems to me: early in the morning on horseback, not tired, not disgruntled, not obnoxious, like our ladies etc., but always happy, nimble and gallant like a thousand Grater, and above all without make-up. "

Clarice Orsini remained connected to her family throughout her life. She defended their affairs energetically to her husband and managed to get Lorenzo to provide her relatives with generous amounts of money and offices. Her brother Rinaldo became Archbishop of Florence in 1474 and her brother Orso received a lucrative pay contract with Galeazzo Maria Sforza , Duke of Milan. Lorenzo also looked after her widowed sister Aurante and their children before he managed to find her a new husband. For the time being, he himself did not take advantage of the connection with the Orsini.

In 1485, with the support of Pope Innocent VIII , who was the feudal lord of the Kingdom of Naples, the Neapolitan barons rose against the rule of King Ferrante , supported by Lorenzo and the Milanese regent, Ludovico il Moro . Because of this, Lorenzo signed a contract with Virginio, Vicino, Giulio and Gian Paolo Orsini on November 2, 1485 in Florence, 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 expand the Orsini's favorable relations with the Medici family through further 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 Clarice, whose mother Maddalena was a sister of Alfonsina's father Roberto and thus also a cousin of Alfonsina. Clarice was able to convince her husband of the advantages of a further connection between their families and on February 25, 1487 Piero and Alfonsina married.

death

Clarice accompanied her second eldest daughter Maddalena , who was to be married to Francesco Cibo , son of Pope Innocent VIII, to Rome in 1487 . There she fell ill with tuberculosis and returned to Florence seriously ill. After the death of her daughter in May 1488, Clarice's health deteriorated extremely quickly, so that she had to be cared for by her daughters Lucrezia and Maddalena.

Clarice Orsini died on July 30, 1488 in Florence. Lorenzo de 'Medici, who himself was seriously ill on that day for a cure in Bad Filetta near Siena, sincerely mourned her death. “The recent death of Clarice, my very beloved and loving consort”, he wrote to Pope Innocent VIII on July 31, 1488, full of sorrow, “was and is for various reasons of such harm, disadvantage and pain for me that he defeated my patience and perseverance in adversity and fortune, which I didn't believe could bring me anything so painful. And since I see myself being deprived of such lovely company and company, it exceeded all standards and struck and still hits me so deeply in the heart that I don't know what to do. "

The marriage between Lorenzo and Clarice established the decades-long political connection between the Medici and Orsini, who together formed a center of power. Her sons Piero, Giovanni and Giuliano received political and economic support from their Roman relatives during their exile.

children

The following children came from the marriage between Clarice Orsini and Lorenzo de 'Medici in Rome on December 10, 1468:

  • Lucrezia (born August 4, 1470 in Florence, † November 15, 1553); was since September 10, 1486 with Jacopo Salviati (1463-1533), a Florentine banker and politician, married. Her daughter was Maria. She became the grandmother of Cosimo I (1519–1574), the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Pope Leo XI. (1535-1605).
  • Premature birth of twins (* / † March 1471)
  • Piero di Lorenzo de 'Medici (born February 15, 1472 in Florence, † December 28, 1503 in Garigliano near Gaeta) was city lord of Florence from 1492 to 1494. He was married to Alfonsina Orsini (* 1472, † February 7, 1520) since February 25, 1487 . Both are the parents of Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici , who later became Duke of Urbino, and Clarice Strozzi . Furthermore, they are the grandparents of Catherine de 'Medici , who later became Queen of France.
  • Maddalena (* July 25, 1473 in Florence; † December 2, 1519) married Francesco Cibo (* around 1450; † July 25, 1519), the son of Pope Innocent VIII , on February 25, 1487. She was the mother of Innocenzo Cibo (1491–1550), Archbishop of Genoa (1520–1550) and Turin (1520–1548).
  • Giovanni (December 11, 1475 - December 1, 1521) served as Pope Leo X from 1513 to 1521 .
  • Luisa (* 1476/77; † May 1488)
  • Contessina (January 1478; † 1515) married Piero Ridolfi († 1525) in 1493. She is the mother of Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi (1501–1550).
  • Giuliano (born March 12, 1479 in Florence, † March 17, 1516), Duke of Nemours, married Philiberta (1498–1524), daughter of Duke Philip II of Savoy in 1515 . He ruled Florence from 1512 to 1515 and is the father of Ippolito de 'Medici (1511–1535).

In addition to her own children, Clarice Orsini also raised the following children in her household:

literature

  • Ingeborg Walter : The Magnificent - Lorenzo de 'Medici and his time . Piper Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-492-24204-9 .
  • James Cleugh: The Medici - Power and Splendor of a European Family . Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-155-4 .
  • Franco Cesati: The Medici - The History of a European Dynasty . Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg Florenz 2003, ISBN 3-7954-1617-5 (Italian: I Medici. Storia di una dinastia europea . Translated by Felicia Letsch, also: Mandragora, Florenz 1999, ISBN 88-85957-39 ).
  • Paul Frischauer: Leonardo da Vinci - The life of a genius . 5th edition. Ullstein, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-548-22871-2 .
  • Herman Grimm: The Life of Michelangelo . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1995, ISBN 3-458-33458-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quote from James Cleugh: The Medici - Power and Splendor of a European Family. Augsburg 1996, p. 119.
  2. ↑ Quote from James Cleugh; The Medici - power and splendor of a European family. Augsburg 1996, p. 117.
  3. ↑ Herman Grimm: The Life of Michelangelo. Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1995, p. 109.
  4. ↑ Quote from Ingeborg Walter: The Magnificent - Lorenzo de 'Medici and his time. Munich 2005, p. 97.
  5. ↑ Quote from Ingeborg Walter: The Magnificent - Lorenzo de 'Medici and his time. Munich 2005, p. 250.
personal data
SURNAME Orsini, Clarice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Orsini, Clarice degli; Orsini, Clarissa; Medici, Clarice Orsini de '
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of Lorenzo il Magnifico
DATE OF BIRTH 1453
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 1488
Place of death Florence