Even amidst challenges to her rule, the new queen regent Marie de’ Medici is sure that she has her son, King Louis XIII, firmly in line, at least for now.
Author: chad
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Episode 71: Royal Dysfunction
Marie de’ Medici finds herself in a turbulent domestic life with an adulterous husband and a troubled son. And history is going to repeat, propelling her toward a more dramatic role.
A portrait of Marie de’ Medici with the future King Louis XIII as a child by Charles Martin (c. 1603). Source: Museum of Fine Arts of Blois 
King Henri IV’s portrait by Frans Pourbus the Younger, painted sometime around the time of his marriage to Marie de’ Medici (c. 1600). Source: The Weiss Gallery. -
Episode 70: Poor Little Rich Girl
We wrap up with the shoddy and bloody reign of Grand Duke Francesco and meet his daughter Maria, the lonely girl destined become the other Medici queen of France.
A portrait of Marie de’ Medici as a child, artist unknown (1551).
Source: Uffizi Gallery. -
Episode 69: A Deadly Scandal
The reign of Grand Duke Francesco was inflicted with multiple scandals, but none were worse than the fates of the Grand Duke’s own sister and sister-in-law.
A portrait of Isabella de’ Medici by Alessandro Allori (c. 1550). Source: The Uffizi Gallery. 
A portrait of a woman, likely Leonora di Toledo, by Alessandro Allori (date unknown). Source: Historical Art Museum, Vienna. 
Francesco de’ Medici, by Alessandro Allori (early 1580s). Source: Private collection 
An engraving depicting Pietro de’ Medici by Adrien Helweigh (1691). Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. -
Episode 68: The Ghetto
Cosimo’s legacy was to give Florence stability and prosperity it had not known in about half a century, but there is a much darker side to that legacy too.
An artist’s view of the Jewish ghetto of Florence, by Telemaco Signorini (1882). Source: The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art (Rome). -
Episode 67: Making of the Medici Legend
Besides being a political reformer, Cosimo was also a master at using art and literature to glorify not only himself, but his ancestors.
The Apotheosis of Cosimo de’ Medici (1563-1565) by Giorgio Vasari. Source: Palazzo Vecchio. 
An allegorical depiction of Cosimo I planning the conquest of Siena with Silence and the other virtues by Giorgio Vasari (1563-1565). Source: Palazzo Vecchio. 
Perseus with the Head of Medusa (1545-1554) by Benvenuto Cellini. Source: Piazza della Signoria, DS (Wikimedia)
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Episode 66: The Conquest of Tuscany (Mostly)
Although kept on a leash by the Emperor Charles V, Cosimo I completes Florence’s consolidation of the rest of Tuscany…except for one hold-out.
A painting by Giorgio Vasari depicting the Siege of Siena (c. 1560). Source: Palazzo Vecchio. -
Episode 65: Building a State
Now secure in his reign, Cosimo sets about building something like a modern state. But was he a reformer, a tyrant, or something in-between?
The Uffizi, built during the reign of Duke Cosimo I. Source: Arek N.
A portrait of Eleanor of Toledo by Agnolo Bronzino, which was based on an earlier, now lost portrait and painted on the occasion of her death in 1562. Source: Palazzo Pitti.
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Episode 64: The Medici Phoenix
In the wake of Alessandro de’ Medici’s assassination, the Medici family’s country cousin Cosimo becomes the new duke. Right away, he has to fight for his throne and prove that he is no pawn.
A portrait of Cosimo I as a young man (ca. 1545) by Angelo Bronzino. Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales. -
Episode 63: Anticlimax
The Wars of Religion reaches its crescendo with a three-way struggle, and Catherine watches as her most beloved child makes a horrific and bloody mistake that would prove too much for her to bear.
Henri III inspects the corpse of Henri, Duke of Guise, in this early 19th century painting by Charles Durupt (date unknown). The painting lies where the murder of the Duke of Guise took place. Source: Chateau de Blois. 
The grave monument of Catherine de’ Medici at Saint-Denis. Source: CDT93. Support the podcast on Patreon. You can also drop some change in the tip jar by going to the Contact/Donate page and see my other work here.
Turning Modern 