View source for Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino

{{Short description|16th-century Italian nobleman}}
{{Distinguish|Lorenzo de' Medici|text=[[Lorenzo de' Medici]], his grandfather}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox nobility
| name              = Lorenzo II de' Medici
| image             = Portrait of Lorenzo di Medici.jpg
| caption           = Portrait by [[Raphael]], 1518<ref>[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/841716?&exhibitionId=%7b2c98eb4f-1cd0-43dc-912e-1fd5d5ef9c00%7d&oid=841716&pkgids=689&pg=0&rpp=20&pos=34&ft=*&offset=20 In private collection, on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from June 26–October 11, 2021]</ref>
| succession        = [[List of heads of state of Florence|Ruler of Florence]]
| reign             = 17 March 1516 – 4 May 1519
| predecessor       = [[Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours|Giuliano de' Medici]]
| successor         = [[Pope Clement VII|Giulio de' Medici]]
| spouse            = [[Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne]]
| issue             = [[Catherine de' Medici|Catherine, Queen of France]]<br/>[[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence]] <small>(illegitimate)</small>
| full name         =
| noble family      = [[Medici]]
| father            = [[Piero the Unfortunate]]
| mother            = [[Alfonsina Orsini]]
| birth_date        = 12 September 1492
| birth_place       = [[Florence]], Republic of Florence
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1519|5|4|1492|9|12|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Careggi]], Republic of Florence
}}
'''Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici''' ({{IPA|it|loˈrɛntso di ˈpjɛːro de ˈmɛːditʃi|lang}}; 12 September 1492 &ndash; 4 May 1519) was the ruler of [[Florence]] from 1516 until his death in 1519. He was also [[Duke of Urbino]] during the same period. His daughter [[Catherine de' Medici]] became [[List of French consorts|Queen Consort of France]], while his illegitimate son, [[Alessandro de' Medici]], became the first [[Duke of Florence]].
==Early life==
Lorenzo was born in [[Florence]] on 12 September 1492, a son of [[Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici]] and [[Alfonsina Orsini]].{{sfn|Stapleford|2013|p=12}} His paternal grandparents were [[Lorenzo de' Medici|Lorenzo the Magnificent]] and [[Clarice Orsini]].{{sfn|Stapleford|2013|p=12}} His maternal grandparents were Roberto [[Orsini family|Orsini]], Count of [[Tagliacozzo]] and his wife, Catherine of [[House of Sanseverino|San Severino]].
==Career==
Lorenzo II became lord of Florence in August 1513, after his uncle, [[Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours|Giuliano de' Medici]], handed over control of its government. Ambitious by nature, Lorenzo II, despite being appointed Captain of the Florentine militia, lacked patience with Florence's republican system of government and thus, in 1516, convinced his uncle, [[Pope Leo X]] to make him Duke of Urbino at the age of 24.{{sfn|Cavallo|Evangelisti|2016|p=74}} So began a conflict with the city's previous duke, [[Francesco Maria I della Rovere]]. During the protracted [[War of Urbino]], Delle Rovere recaptured the city, only to have Medici — [[Captain General of the Church|commanding]] a 10,000-man Papal army — in turn, retake the city. During battle, Lorenzo was wounded, which prompted him to retire to Tuscany. In September 1517, he regained Urbino via treaty; however, it remained under the Medici family's rule for only two years. In 1521 the duchy reverted to the [[Della Rovere|Della Rovere family]].{{sfn|Cavallo|Evangelisti|2016|p=74}}
On 13 June 1518, Lorenzo married [[Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne|Madeleine de la Tour]], daughter of the Count of [[Auvergne]].{{sfn|Fletcher|2016|p=viii}} The marriage produced a daughter, Catherine, in 1519. [[Catherine de' Medici]] went on to become Queen of France, via a marriage to the future King [[Henry II of France]], arranged by the second Medici Pope, [[Pope Clement VII]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/de_medici_catherine.shtml |title = BBC - History - Catherine de Medici}}</ref>
Only 21 days after Catherine de' Medici's birth, Lorenzo II died, "worn out by disease and excess."<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lorenzo-di-Piero-de-Medici-duca-di-Urbino | title=Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, duca di Urbino &#124; Italian ruler| date=30 April 2024}}</ref> Thus his daughter Catherine was raised primarily by the Medici Popes, Leo X and Clement VII, and their surrogates.
Lorenzo II's tomb is in the [[Sagrestia Nuova|Medici Chapel]] of Florence's [[Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence|Church of San Lorenzo]]. There is disagreement over which of the two tombs is Lorenzo II's. The received view is that Lorenzo's tomb that is adorned by [[Michelangelo]]'s sculpture ''Pensieroso'', which offers an idealized portrait of Lorenzo II, and that its companion piece, also sculpted by Michelangelo, represents Lorenzo II's uncle [[Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours|Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici]]. But historian Richard Trexler has argued that Lorenzo II, having been Captain of the Florentine militia, must be the figure holding the baton, symbol of military authority conferred by the Republic. Trexler also notes that the "Pensieroso" is holding a mappa, the symbol of military authority in ancient Rome, which would be an appropriate symbol for Giuliano di Lorenzo, who was appointed Captain of Roman forces. In sharing the same name with his illustrious ancestor, [[Lorenzo the Magnificent]], the Duke's tomb is often mistaken for that of his grandfather.<ref>[http://www.florentine-society.ru/Medici_Chapel_Mysteries.htm Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, ''Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel'', SLOVO, Moscow, 2006]. {{ISBN|5-85050-825-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author = Barenboim&nbsp;P.&nbsp;D. / Peter Barenboim. |url= http://www.florentine-society.ru/The_Mouse_that_Michelangelo_Did_Carve.htm |title= The Mouse that Michelangelo Did Carve in the Medici Chapel: An Oriental Comment to the Famous Article of Erwin Panofsky |year= 2017 }}</ref>
Famously, [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] dedicated his political [[treatise]] ''[[The Prince]]'' to Lorenzo to advise him of tactics to use to maintain his authority.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.themedicifamily.com/Lorenzo-de%27-Medici.html |title = Lorenzo de' Medici, Lord of Florence and Duke of Urbino — the Medici Family}}</ref>
==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
| 1 = 1. '''Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino'''
| 2 = 2. [[Piero the Unfortunate|Piero de' Medici]]
| 3 = 3. [[Alfonsina Orsini]]
| 4 = 4. [[Lorenzo de' Medici]]
| 5 = 5. [[Clarissa Orsini]]
| 6 = 6. [[Roberto Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo]]
| 7 = 7. [[Caterina Sanseverino, Countess of Tagliacozzo|Caterina Sanseverino]]
| 8 = 8. [[Piero the Gouty|Piero de' Medici]]
| 9 = 9. [[Lucrezia Tornabuoni]]
|10 = 10. [[Jacopo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo]]
|11 = 11. [[Maddalena Orsini, Lady of Monterotondo|Maddalena Orsini]]
|12 = 12. [[Carlo Orsini, Lord of Bracciano]]
|13 = 13. [[Paola Orsini, Lady of Bracciano|Paola Orsini]]
|14 = 14. [[Amerigo Sanseverino, Count of Capaccio]]
|15 = 15. [[Margherita Sanseverino, Countess of Capaccio|Margherita Sanseverino]]
}}
==See also==
* [[House of Medici]]
* [[Medici Chapel (Michelangelo)|Medici Chapel]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book |title=Domestic Institutional Interiors in Early Modern Europe |editor-first1=Sandra |editor-last1=Cavallo |editor-first2=Silvia |editor-last2=Evangelisti |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 }}
*{{cite book |title=The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de' Medici |first=Catherine |last=Fletcher |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 }}
*Rothfield, Lawrence (2021). ''The Measure of Man: Liberty, Virtue, and Beauty in the Florentine Renaissance.'' Rowman & Littlefield.
*{{cite book |title=Lorenzo De' Medici at Home: The Inventory of the Palazzo Medici in 1492 |editor-first=Richard |editor-last=Stapleford |publisher=The Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2013 }}
==External links==
*{{Commons category inline}}
{{wikisource author}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120616103542/http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Italian%20Images/Montages/Firenze/Medici%201.htm The Medici (The Senior or 'Cafaggiolo') Family Line – The Glorious 1400s]
{{S-start}}
{{s-hou|[[House of Medici]]|12 September|1492|4 May|1519|name=Lorenzo II de' Medici}}
{{S-reg|it}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Francesco Maria I della Rovere]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Dukes of Urbino|Duke of Urbino]]|years=1516&ndash;1519}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Francesco Maria I della Rovere]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Medici}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medici, Lorenzo 2}}
[[Category:Heads of state of Florence|Lorenzo 2]]
[[Category:1492 births]]
[[Category:1519 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from syphilis]]
[[Category:House of Medici|Lorenzo 2]]
[[Category:16th-century people from the Republic of Florence]]
[[Category:Captains General of the Church]]
[[Category:Dukes of Urbino]]
[[Category:Burials at San Lorenzo, Florence]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian nobility]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:16th-century monarchs in Europe]]