Description
Book SynopsisThe voluminous correspondence of Maria Salviati de’ Medici. In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in Maria Salviati de’ Medici, specifically, in her role in Medici governance and her relationships with other members of the Medici court. Maria Salviati’s surviving correspondence documents a life spent close to the centers of Medici power in Florence and Rome, giving witness to its failures, resurrection, and eventual triumph. Presented here for the first time in English, this book is a representative sample of Maria’s surviving letters that document her remarkable life through a tumultuous period of Italian Renaissance history. While she earned the exasperation of some, she gained the respect of many more. Maria ended her life as an influential dowager, powerful intercessor for local Tuscans of all strata, and wise elder in Duke Cosimo I’s court. The first critical, analytical, biographical work on Maria Salviati de’ Medici’s life and letter-writing in English.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction: A Life in Letters
Maria’s Early Life
Maria as Wife
Maria as Widowed Mother
Lady Maria: Dowager Queen
Lady Maria: Manager of the Children’s Court and Wise Elder
Remembering Maria
Maria Salviati de’ Medici as Letter Writer
The Afterlife of Maria’s Correspondence
Note on the Translation and Edition
Selected Letters
Letters 1–40: Maria as Wife, 1514–1526
Letters 41–75: Maria as Widowed Mother, 1527–1536
Letters 76–150: Lady Maria, 1537–1543
Appendix A: List of Selected Letters
Appendix B: Genealogical Tables
Appendix C: Names, Dates, Measures, Currency, and Time
Bibliography
Index
