Maria Cristina de' Medici
| Maria Cristina | |
|---|---|
 Portrait, unidentified painter | |
| Born | 24 August 1609 Florence Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Died | 9 August 1632 (aged 22) Villa del Poggio Imperiale Arcetri, Florence Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| House | Medici |
| Father | Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany |
| Mother | Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria |
Maria Cristina de 'Medici (24 August 1609 – 9 August 1632) was a Tuscan princess and the first born child of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Born deformed and possibly mentally impaired, she died unmarried in 1632.
Biography
Born ten months after her parent's marriage, Maria Cristina de 'Medici was born on 24 August 1609[1][2] in Florence as the first child of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria.[2][3] She was born with a deformity[1] and was possibly mentally disabled. She was baptized in the Catholic faith on 21 November 1610.
Once proposed as a bride for Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma, he instead married her sister Margherita.[4]
In 1619 she was sent to live in the Convent of the Holy Conception run by the Order of St. Stephen, but never took monastic vows.[5]
She died on 9 August 1632[1][2] at the Villa del Poggio Imperiale, and a portrait (not pictured) of her survives at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.[6]
In 1857, her tomb in the Medici Chapel was opened[7], and her remains examined. During this examination, it was discovered that of the clothing she was buried in, "only the lace, completely decayed, and a little metal from the flowers from which the crown was made remained," and her remaining hair "separated from the skull and mixed with the bone".[7]
References
- ^ a b c "MARIA MADDALENA d'Austria, granduchessa di Toscana - Enciclopedia". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-08-02.
- ^ a b c www.archiviodistato.firenze.it https://web.archive.org/web/20160205135306/http://www.archiviodistato.firenze.it/memoriadonne/cartedidonne/cdd_02_arrivo.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2025-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Lippi, Donatella (2006). Illacrimate sepolture : curiosità e ricerca scientifica nella storia delle riesumazioni dei Medici (PDF). Firenze: Firenze University Press. ISBN 8884535212. OCLC 608291893.
- ^ Archivio storico per le province Parmensi (in Italian). 1909.
- ^ Lipp, Charles (13 May 2016). Contested Spaces of Nobility in Early Modern Europe. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-16036-6 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Maria Cristina de' Medici (1609-1632) im Alter von drei Jahren". KHM.at (in German). Retrieved 2025-08-02.
- ^ a b Lippi, Donatella (December 1, 2006). www.fupress.com (in Italian). p. 53 https://web.archive.org/web/20160917161000/http://www.fupress.com/Archivio/pdf%5C4415.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-17. Retrieved 2025-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)