After the final extinction of the Florentine Republic, the hopes of
the Medici, who now aspired to the dukedom of Tuscany, rested on three
bastards--Alessandro, the reputed child of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino;
Ippolito, the natural son of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours; and Giulio,
the offspring of an elder Giuliano, who was at this time Pope, with
the title of Clement VII. Clement had seen Rome sacked in 1527 by a
horde of freebooters fighting under the Imperial standard, and had
used the remnant of these troops, commanded by the Prince of Orange,
to crush his native city in the memorable siege of 1529-30. He now
determined to rule Florence from the Papal chair by the help of the
two bastard cousins I have named. Alessandro was created Duke of
Cività di Penna, and sent to take the first place in the city.
Ippolito was made a cardinal; since the Medici had learned that Rome
was the real basis of their power, and it was undoubtedly in Clement's
policy to advance this scion of his house to the Papacy. The sole
surviving representative of the great Lorenzo de' Medici's legitimate
blood was Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Urbino by Madeleine de la
Tour d'Auvergne. She was pledged in marriage to the Duke of Orleans,
who was afterwards Henry II. of France. A natural daughter of
the Emperor Charles V. was provided for her putative half-brother
Alessandro. By means of these alliances the succession of Ippolito
to the Papal chair would have been secured, and the strength of the
Medici would have been confirmed in Tuscany, but for the disasters
which have now to be related.
Between the cousins Alessandro and Ippolito there was no love lost. As
boys, they had both played the part of princes in Florence under the
guardianship of the Cardinal Passerini da Cortona. The higher rank
had then been given to Ippolito, who bore the title of Magnifico, and
seemed thus designated for the lordship of the city. Ippolito, though
only half a Medici, was of more authentic lineage than Alessandro; for
no proof positive could be adduced that the latter was even a spurious
child of the Duke of Urbino. He bore obvious witness to his mother's
blood upon his mulatto's face; but this mother was the wife of a
groom, and it was certain that in the court of Urbino she had not been
chary of her favours. The old magnificence of taste, the patronage
of art and letters, and the preference for liberal studies which
distinguished Casa Medici, survived in Ippolito; whereas Alessandro
manifested only the brutal lusts of a debauched tyrant. It was
therefore with great reluctance that, moved by reasons of state and
domestic policy, Ippolito saw himself compelled to accept the scarlet
hat. Alessandro having been recognised as a son of the Duke of Urbino,
had become half-brother to the future Queen of France. To treat him as
the head of the family was a necessity thrust, in the extremity of
the Medicean fortunes, upon Clement. Ippolito, who more entirely
represented the spirit of the house, was driven to assume the position
of a cadet, with all the uncertainties of an ecclesiastical career.
In these circumstances Ippolito had not strength of character to
sacrifice himself for the consolidation of the Medicean power, which
could only have been effected by maintaining a close bond of union
between its members. The death of Clement in 1534 obscured his
prospects in the Church. He was still too young to intrigue for the
tiara. The new Pope, Alessandro Farnese, soon after his election,
displayed a vigour which was unexpected from his age, together with
a nepotism which his previous character had scarcely warranted. The
Cardinal de' Medici felt himself excluded and oppressed. He joined the
party of those numerous Florentine exiles, headed by Filippo Strozzi,
and the Cardinals Salviati and Ridolfi, all of whom were connected
by marriage with the legitimate Medici, and who unanimously hated and
were jealous of the Duke of Cività di Penna. On the score of policy it
is difficult to condemn this step. Alessandro's hold upon Florence was
still precarious, nor had he yet married Margaret of Austria. Perhaps
Ippolito was right in thinking he had less to gain from his cousin
than from the anti-Medicean faction and the princes of the Church who
favoured it. But he did not play his cards well. He quarrelled with
the new Pope, Paul III., and by his vacillations led the Florentine
exiles to suspect he might betray them.
In the summer of 1535 Ippolito was at Itri, a little town not far
from Gaeta and Terracina, within easy reach of Fondi, where dwelt the
beautiful Giulia Gonzaga. To this lady the Cardinal paid assiduous
court, passing his time with her in the romantic scenery of that
world-famous Capuan coast. On the 5th of August his seneschal,
Giovann' Andrea, of Borgo San Sepolcro, brought him a bowl of
chicken-broth, after drinking which he exclaimed to one of his
attendants, 'I have been poisoned, and the man who did it is Giovann'
Andrea.' The seneschal was taken and tortured, and confessed that he
had mixed a poison with the broth. Four days afterwards the Cardinal
died, and a post-mortem examination showed that the omentum had been
eaten by some corrosive substance. Giovann' Andrea was sent in chains
to Rome; but in spite of his confession, more than once repeated, the
court released him. He immediately took refuge with Alessandro de'
Medici in Florence, whence he repaired to Borgo San Sepolcro, and
was, at the close of a few months, there murdered by the people of the
place. From these circumstances it was conjectured, not without good
reason, that Alessandro had procured his cousin's death; and a certain
Captain Pignatta, of low birth in Florence, a bravo and a coward,
was believed to have brought the poison to Itri from the Duke. The
Medicean courtiers at Florence did not disguise their satisfaction;
and one of them exclaimed, with reference to the event, 'We know how
to brush flies from our noses!'