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Cosimo I
Born: 1519
Father: Giovanni de la Bande Nere
Mother: Maria Salviati
Duke: 1537-1569
Grand Duke: 1569-1574
Age: 18
Wife: 1. Eleonora of Toledo (1536)
         2. Donna Camilla Martelli  (1570)
Children: Maria (1540-1557), Francesco I, Isabella (1542-1576),
              Giovanni (1543-1562), Lucrezia (1545-1562),
              Pietro (1546-47), Garzia (1547-62), Antonio (1548),
              Ferdinando I, Anna (1553), Pietro (1554-1604)
              Virginia (1568-1615) (2)
              illegitimate by Eleonora degli Albizzi: Bia (1537-1543)
Died: 1574
Age: 55
Cosimo I by Angolo Bronzino, date unknown
The son of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Maria Salviati, who was also grand-daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Cosimo was to finally reunite the blood of both branches of the family. He was placed in power immediately after the assassination of Duke Alessandro by the magnates of the city (Filippo Strozzi, Niccol� Acciaiuoli, Baccio Valori and Francesco Guicciardini, who perhaps hoped he would marry his daughter Lisabetta), who obviously thought that they would be able to condition this nineteen year old boy, who had been brought up in the country, as they wished. They were quite wrong: Cosimo soon showed his true temperament and, with an able strategem, managed to concentrate all the power in his own hands. Led by the Strozzi family, his opponents took up arms against him but were beaten at the battle of Montemurlo on July 31st 1537.
Having ensured his throne, Cosimo re-established law and order within the State, promoting justice and protecting the weaker members of the community. He encouraged the growth of trade and industry, started to reclaim the swampy land of the Maremma, founded the Order of the Knights of St. Stephen to ward off the threat of the Barbary pirates and organized a Tuscan militia so as not to have to call in mercenary troops.
Source: http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/pers/cospri.htm
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