Giulio de' Medici (died 1598)

Giulio de' Medici
Born	c. 1532 Prato, Duchy of Florence
Died	25 March 1598(1598-03-25) (aged 65–66) Pisa, Duchy of Florence
Buried	San Frediano, Pisa
Noble family	Medici
Spouse(s)	Angelica Malaspina
Issue	Caterina de' Medici Cosimo de' Medici (illegitimate) Giuliano de' Medici (illegitimate)
Father	Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence
Mother	Taddea Malaspina

Giulio di Alessandro de' Medici (c. 1532–25 March 1598) was the illegitimate son of Alessandro de' Medici, the Duke of Florence, and probably of Taddea Malaspina.

Aged about four at the time of his father's assassination, he was passed over as a choice for the succession in favour of Cosimo I de' Medici, the first of the "junior" branch of the Medici to rule Florence. He was placed under the guardianship of Cosimo I and raised at his court. In 1562 he was appointed the first knight of the Order of Saint Stephen, an order founded to combat pirates and Turks in the Mediterranean Sea. As Admiral of the Order, from 1563 to 1566, he was sent to help the Knights Hospitallers during the Siege of Malta in 1565. He also acted as an ambassador, to Mantua in 1565; to Rome in 1571 and again in 1573.

Pompeo Litta mistakenly stated that Giulio was married to Lucrezia Gaetani, who was in fact married to his son Cosimo and bore him Angelica de' Medici (1608-1636). Actually Giulio married Angelica Malaspina and had a daughter, Caterina, who became a Benedictine nun at the Monastero delle Murate in Florence and died in 1634. He also had two illegitimate sons, Cosimo (1550-1630), who followed him as a knight of the Order of Saint Stephen, and Giuliano (d.1598).

External links

• Alessandro de Medici PBS online page discussing his father's ancestry, and his heirs; be careful, though, as it contains at least one known error