The Medici: A chronology
1600-1743
1609
17 February: Ferdinando I dies suddenly and is succeeded by his 19-year-old son Cosimo II. His first act is to close the Medici companies and bank. He will have nothing to do with commercial activity, arguing that involvement in business is degrading for a prince. Subsequently there is a precipitous decline in both the industrial and mercantile sectors of the Florentine economy.
1610
14 July: The future Ferdinando II is born, son of Cosimo II and Maria Maddalena of Austria, sister of the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II.
Cosimo offers Galileo a position at court, after the scientist dedicates Sidereus Nuncius to him and his family.
1620
28 February: Cosimo II dies and is succeeded by his 10-year-old son Ferdinando II. Governing in the boy's stead until he comes of age are Cosimo's mother Christine de Lorraine and his wife Maria Maddalena. Their court is increasingly ostentatious and the two women plunder the Medici coffers.
1627
The 17-year-old Ferdinando II is sent to tour the European capitals to widen his horizons. Instead it makes him rootless and indecisive.
1630
When plague hits Florence and the rest of the nobility flee, 20-year-old Ferdinando II remains behind with his brothers to help his people.
1633
When his mentor and tutor Galileo Galilei is summoned by the Inquisition because he has proposed a sun-centred universe, Ferdinando II tries unsuccessfully to have the charges dropped, and then stops supporting Galileo altogether.
Galileo Galilei
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/e-h/galileo.html
A brief account of the Italian scientist who challenged the Catholic Church and lost.
The Galileo Project
http://galileo.rice.edu/index.html
Everything you might want to know about the scientist who fascinated a Medici grand duke.
1642
The future Cosimo III is born, son of Ferdinando II and Vittoria della Rovere.
1657
With his brother Leopold, Ferdinando II establishes the Accademia del Cimento (Academy of Experiment), a forerunner of the more permanent scientific academies. It lasts 20 years.
1670
23 May: Ferdinando II dies and is succeeded by his son Cosimo III. He spends his entire reign trying to ape the Sun King, Louis XIV, whose cousin, Marguerite-Louise d'Orleans, he marries. He shows not the slightest interest in either the arts or the sciences.
1671
Gian-Gastone is born, son of Cosimo III and Marguerite-Louise d'Orleans.
1723
Cosimo III dies and is succeeded by his 52-year-old unmarried son Gian-Gastone, a dedicated botanist.
1735
October: In the Treaty of Vienna between Austria, France, Britain and the Netherlands, it is agreed that Tuscany should be given to Austria in return for Lorraine going to France.
1737
Austrian troops occupy Tuscany. One of Gian-Gastone's last acts as Grand Duke is to erect a memorial to Galileo in the church of Santa Croce and to inter the scientist's remains there. Gian-Gastone has no male heir, and on 8 July, the House of Medici dies with him.
1743
Gian-Gastone's sister Archduchess Anna Maria Ludovica – the
last of the Medici – dies. She inherited all the works of art collected
from the days of Giovanni de' Medici to her own. Her will stipulates that
all this – paintings, sculptures, books, furniture, silverware, medallions,
tapestries and much more – is part of the patrimony of the Grand
Duchy of Tuscany and must remain in Florence where it is to be made accessible
to everyone.
