Isabella de' Medici

Princess Isabella Romola de' Medici (31 August 1542 – 16 July 1576) was a Tuscan noblewoman and the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo. Beautiful, intelligent, witty and refined, she is often referred to as the Star of the House of Medici (La Stella di Casa Medici), in recognition of "her playfulness, vibrancy, often sarcastic sense of humour, sharpness and interest in a huge variety of topics - not to mention the great parties she held".^[1] She received a humanist education alongside her brother, Francesco de' Medici, who succeeded their father as the Grand Duke of Tuscany. To secure Tuscany's southern borders via a relationship with the powerful Roman Orsini family, Isabella's father arranged her marriage to Paolo Giordano I Orsini when she was 16. At her father's behest, she remained in Florence after her marriage, affording her an unprecedented level of independence for a woman of her era.

Isabella Romola de' Medici
Portrait of Isabella de' Medici, by Alessandro Allori, Uffizi, Florence. The pearls and roses of Isabella's attire symbolise the union of the Medici and Orsini families.
Duchess of Bracciano
Reign	1560–16 July 1576
Born	31 August 1542 Florence
Died	16 July 1576 (aged 33) Villa di Cerreto Guidi
Spouse	Paolo Giordano I Orsini
Issue	Francesca Eleonora Orsini, Duchess of Segni Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano
House	Medici
Father	Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Mother	Eleanor of Toledo

Following her mother's death and while Cosimo I was alive, Isabella served as the primary female figure in the Medici family and the First Lady of Florence, a role that was also recognised by other European courts during official occasions.

Isabella de' Medici's legacy epitomises the dawn of modernity in Renaissance Italy, embodying progressive ideals ahead of her time. Recognised as an exceptional figure among the Medici women, Isabella wielded a rare combination of qualities, shaping Florence's cultural landscape.

Practically a Grand Duchess in all but title, Isabella embodied beauty, culture, and intellect. Following in the footsteps of her Medici ancestors, she occupied a central role within Florence's vibrant cultural milieu, establishing a cultural circle including writers, poets, painters, and musicians, while championing the cause of female artists. Her dynamic spirit and cultural influence infused the Medici court with renewed vigour, propelling its second flourishing and transformation into a bustling hub of musical and literary innovation, all the while spearheading initiatives to establish vernacular Tuscan as Italy's official language.

Rejecting the conventional notion of being defined solely as her husband's possession, Isabella lived by her own principles, championing autonomy and personal freedom. Maintaining a distinct residence under her own name and continuing to use her maiden name after marriage, she defied societal norms that considered women as property of their husbands, asserting her autonomy and individuality. By reportedly engaging in a twelve-year long romantic relationship with her husband's cousin, Troilo Orsini, she sought parity with men, who enjoyed unrestrained liberties at the time.

Following the death of her father, Isabella was possibly murdered by her husband, with the complicity of her brother, in retribution for her relationship with Troilo. Despite her significant contributions to Tuscan scholarship and arts, Isabella, a prominent intellectual figure in the late Medici court, saw her legacy overshadowed and possibly intentionally erased following her untimely death, prompting scholars to suggest the issuance of a damnatio memoriae against her by her brother.^[2]

Biography

Early life (1542–1558)

 

Bronzino's portrait of Isabella de' Medici as a young girl, National Museum of Stockholm

Isabella de' Medici was born in Florence on August 31, 1542, as the third child and second daughter of Cosimo I, Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora Alvarez of Toledo. Alongside her brothers and sisters, she lived first in the Palazzo Vecchio and later in the Palazzo Pitti, spending much of her time as a child at her father's ancestral country home, Villa di Castello.^[3] The Medici children were educated at home by tutors in a range of subjects such as classics, languages, and arts, overseen by Cosimo's mother Maria Salviati, until her death. From the age of five, as a young Medici princess, she studied Latin and Greek under the tutelage of Antonio Angeli da Barga and Piero Vettori.^[4]

From an early age Isabella showed a great love for music, which in her adulthood she used as means for self-expression, according to biographer Caroline Murphy.^[5] Her music instructor, Mattia Rampollini, known as Squitti, served as her mentor from 1551 to 1554. Remarkably, at just nine years old, Mariotto Cecchi commended her as "learned", and her tutor, Pier Francesco Riccio, received a letter proudly stating, "She makes Latin verses that are lengthier than a bible".

Educated in the classics, she was also fluent in five languages, namely Spanish, French, Latin and Greek, in addition to her native Tuscan. A great beauty, she had a lively, high-spirited and vivacious character that was commented on by courtiers.^[6]

From a young age, Isabella was also noted for her participation in traditionally male-dominated sports, such as hunting, where her equestrian skills are said to have surpassed that of many men in her entourage.

Marriage and independence (1558–1576)

 

Wedding portrait of 16-year-old Isabella de' Medici by Alessandro Allori, private collection, England.

At the age of eleven, she was betrothed to twelve-year old Paolo Giordano Orsini of Aragon, the lord of Bracciano and Anguillara.^[7] This union aimed to secure Tuscany's southern borders where the Orsini owned land, and to strengthen the longstanding connection between the Medici and Orsini families, dating back to Lorenzo de' Medici's marriage to Clarice Orsini and their son Piero's marriage to Alfonsina Orsini.^[8] The marriage contract, signed in Rome by Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza of Santa Fiora, acting as guardian of Paolo Giordano, and Averardo Serristori, ambassador and prosecutor for Cosimo I, is dated July 11, 1553.^[9]

The religious ceremony took place privately three years later in Florence on January 28, 1556, shortly before Paolo Giordano's departure to participate in Pope Paul IV's war against the Spanish. The marriage, as historical records indicate, was consummated in the villa of Poggio a Caiano on September 3, 1558, at the conclusion of the war.^[10] Paolo left the following day. In honour of the couple, Francesco Corteccia, the court musician, composed a Latin motet, and the Flemish composer Philippus de Monte wrote a madrigal in which Isabella was described as wiser and more beautiful than Flora.^[11]

Despite Paolo Giordano's efforts to establish his residence in the Castle of Bracciano after the founding of the Duchy of Bracciano by Pope Pius IV at the behest of Cosimo I (as a gift to his son-in-law), the couple's official residence remained the ancestral Palazzo Medici on Via Larga, in accordance with Cosimo I's wishes. Concerned by the spending habits and indebtedness of his new son-in-law, Cosimo decided to keep his daughter and her 50,000 scudi dowry in Florence, giving her greater freedom and control over her own affairs than was customary for Florentine women of the time.^[12]

In 1565, Isabella received the Villa Baroncelli, later known as Poggio Imperiale, as a gift from her father, Cosimo I. To furnish the residence, Isabella commissioned sculptures from Vincenzo de' Rossi and Vincenzo Danti. Having a residence in her own name and independently from her husband granted her freedom rarely seen for a woman of her time.

Role as the First Lady of Florence (1562–1574)

 

Alessandro Allori: Portrait of Isabella de Medici (c. 1565)

Following the deaths of her two sisters, Maria (1559) and Lucrezia (1561), and, most significantly, the passing of her mother Eleonora in 1562, Isabella became the sole woman in Cosimo I's family. As she had not yet borne children, her brother Francesco entrusted her with the responsibility of caring for their younger brothers, Pietro and Ferdinando, and, above all, their ailing father, whose health deteriorated as a result of the family's tragic losses.^[13] Thus, Isabella became the emotional mainstay of her family.^[14]

During Cosimo I's lifetime, Isabella held a prominent position as the preeminent female figure within the Medici family, a role acknowledged by other European courts during formal events.

Prior to Joanna of Austria's arrival in Tuscany as the wife of Francesco de' Medici, she and Isabella maintained a warm correspondence. Their bond was further solidified when Isabella, in December 1565, extended hospitality to Joanna in Poggio a Caiano, in line with the welcome her own mother, Duchess Eleonora, would have offered. Accounts by Mellini vividly depict Isabella's role in orchestrating Joanna's grand entrance into Florence, where she was greeted with the esteemed company of fifty Florentine noblewomen at Isabella's court. ^[15]

Even after Francesco de' Medici's marriage, Isabella continued to overshadow the sovereign and was considered 'the real grand duchess' by many. Stefano Rossetti, a madrigalist, composed a song in her honour, which was published alongside 'The lament of Olympia' (Venice, 1567),^[16] where she was celebrated as "worthy of a royal crown and empire".

In 1570, when Cosimo I entered Rome to receive the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany from Pope Pius V, the protocol of the pontifical master of ceremonies reserved for Isabella the honour of the solemn entry immediately after her father, just as it had for her mother a decade earlier.^[17]

Isabella's esteemed position and diplomatic prowess allowed her to participate in the intricate network of relationships among the wives of princes, involving continuous exchanges of favours and secret alliances that operated outside official channels. Isabella's direct correspondence with foreign monarchs, including Catherine de' Medici and Elisabeth of Austria, both queens of France, King Henry III, Catherine of Austria, queen of Poland, as well as notable figures like John of Austria and Margherita of Savoy, underscores her esteemed position within the European political network of her time.^[18]

Her political abilities even challenged the intransigence of Pope Pius V and the strictures of the Inquisition. Beginning in 1569, Isabella's Florentine household provided a safe haven for Paolo Ghislieri, the nephew of the pope, who had been deposed from his position as the governor of Borgo, stripped of his possessions, and exiled due to his extravagant lifestyle. Additionally, Fausto Sozzini, an anti-Trinitarian theologian, served the dukes of Bracciano between 1569 and 1573, and found refuge within Isabella's household.

Personal life

Relationship with Troilo Orsini

Engaged at the tender age of 11 and wed by 16, Isabella's marital arrangement challenged the societal conventions of her era by granting her the rare privilege of residing separately from her spouse. In an unconventional turn, it is reported that in the early 1560s, her husband Paolo entrusted his cousin Troilo Orsini, hailing from the Monterotondo Orsini lineage and also a distant fifth cousin of Isabella's through their shared relative Clarice Orsini, to supervise Isabella during his absence.

Isabella's free-spirited personality sparked speculation with regard to the nature of her relationship with Troilo, leading to widespread rumours.^[19] These rumours, echoed in subsequent studies, suggested that Isabella and Troilo were involved romantically.^[20] Historians widely agree that between 1564 and 1566, they engaged in a secret romantic affair, which lasted until Troilo's banishment from Florence in 1575. That said, the presence of several letters jointly addressed to Isabella and Troilo may imply that their relationship may not have been as clandestine as believed, suggesting a more overt connection between them.^[21]

Whilst no explicit love letters between the two remain, historians endorsing the theory of a romantic entanglement between Troilo and Isabella refer to a series of letters exchanged between Troilo and an unidentified woman. These correspondences validate the existence of an extramarital affair with a married woman of prestigious Florentine lineage who ardently professed her love for him ("from the first day that I spoke to him I was so excited about him that I have never lived quietly, and your lordship be sure that I love him and adore him as much as possible"^[22]).

In her research, Murphy presents a compelling array of evidence linking these letters to a married woman of the highest echelons of the Medici court, likely Isabella (her sisters having already passed away). She suggests that, given the inherent dangers, Isabella would have taken extraordinary precautions to conceal her true identity, including refraining from signing her name or using her own handwriting.^[23] However, it remains unproven that this enigmatic woman was indeed Isabella.

Moreover, Murphy documents an incident from December 1574, as recounted by Giuliano de' Ricci, wherein Troilo fatally wounded Torello de Nobili da Fermo, a member of Pietro de' Medici's inner circle, 'because of the Lady Isabella de' Medici, with whom both men were in love'.^[24]

In the eighteenth century, Riguccio Galluzzi reported on Isabella's demise, suggesting that her husband strangled her out of jealousy towards Troilo Orsini, her kinsman, who was later assassinated in France.^[25] This perspective was widely adopted by novelists and memoirists of the era.

Troilo, never formally wedded, also faced rumours of paternity concerning Isabella's children due to the circumstances and timing of their births, as well as Isabella's numerous losses of pregnancies by her husband before. Ferrarese ambassador Ercole Cortile's dispatches even allege the birth of a third child to Isabella in May 1576 in the Medici villa of Caffagiolo, whose father could not have been her husband due to his prolonged absence. While these claims remain unsubstantiated, Paolo Giordano had expressed intentions to disinherit Virginio and Eleonora Orsini following Isabella's demise, alleging that the children were not his.^[26]

Children

 

Portrait of Isabella de Medici Orsini with her son Virginio by Alessandro Allori (1574)

After enduring several miscarriages, Isabella eventually gave birth to two children. In March 1571, her daughter Francesca Eleonora Orsini was born,^[27] followed by her son Virginio Orsini in September 1572. Isabella raised her children according to her father's wishes, alongside Giovanni, the son of Cosimo I and Eleonora degli Albizzi. Francesca Eleonora, affectionately known as Nora, inherited her mother's musical talent and eventually married her cousin Alessandro Sforza, assuming the title of Duchess of Segni. Meanwhile, Virginio inherited the Duchy of Bracciano and also gained recognition as 'the best of the Orsini dukes' as well as Duke Orsino in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Isabella is known to have been a doting mother, devoting more time to her children than was typical for noblewomen of her era. Additionally, she is notable for being the sole noblewoman on record to have personally painted the official portraits of her children.^[28]

Death and controversies

Isabella's literary and artistic contributions notwithstanding, her notoriety is primarily associated with the circumstances of her death, a subject that has been extensively covered by literary and historical traditions.

On 16 July 1576 Isabella died unexpectedly at the Medici villa in Cerreto Guidi during a hunting holiday. According to her brother, the Grand Duke, this occurred "while she was washing her hair in the morning". "She was found by Signor Paolo Giordano on her knees, having immediately fallen dead."^[29] However, the official version of events was not generally believed, and the Ferrarese ambassador, Ercole Cortile, obtained information that Isabella was "strangled at midday" by her husband in the presence of several named servants.^[30] Isabella was the second sudden death in an isolated country villa in the Medici family, her cousin Leonora, having died of a similar "accident" only six days before.^[31] Most historians assume that Paolo Giordano killed Isabella, in reprisal for carrying on a love affair with Troilo Orsini.

Alternatively, some suggest he acted under the instructions of Isabella's brother the Grand Duke Francesco, especially as Isabella's growing influence and popularity began to rival Francesco's power. Additionally, with the birth of Isabella's son Virginio, concerns of a potential coup may have further motivated Francesco's actions.^[32]

One scholar, Elisabetta Mori, has argued that Isabella de' Medici died of natural causes and that the rumour that Paolo Giordano murdered her was spread by enemies of the Medici.^[33]

Nevertheless, the story of Isabella's death spread widely across Europe, captivating the imaginations of writers and artists long after her passing.

Damnatio memoriae

Isabella's role as a leading intellectual luminary within the late Medici court was abruptly curtailed before she reached the age of 34. Despite her elevated status as her father's favourite daughter and trusted confidante, coupled with her prolonged presence in Florence as a central figure in the city's cultural milieu alongside Cosimo's court, her noteworthy contributions to Tuscan scholarship and the arts have been overshadowed by what appears to be a concerted effort to erase her from historical recognition.

Karla Langedijk and Gabrielle Langdon posit that following her death, a damnatio memoriae was issued against Isabella, possibly by her brother as a means to restore family honour tarnished by her alleged adultery. The two scholars present a compelling case for its existence, citing the conspicuous absence of acknowledged portraits of Isabella within Medici collections, including that of her father, Cosimo. This prominent omission gains added significance when one considers her high rank, position as her father's favoured daughter, longevity in comparison to her sisters, and enduring influence on Florentine cultural life.^[34]

Legacy

Isabella: muse, artist and patron of arts and scholarship

 

Giovanni Maria Butteri - Virgin with Child and Members of the Medici Family as Saints

"Wit, beauty and talent made her conspicuous among all the women of the day, and she captivated every heart except her husband's. Speaking Spanish, French and Latin fluently, a perfect musician, singing beautifully, a poetess and improvvisatrice by nature, Isabella was the soul of all around her, and the fairest star of the Medici."^[35]

Isabella was contemporaneously described as vivacious, beautiful, cultured, and wise. She was likened to fellow princess and scholar Saint Catherine of Alexandria and compared to the goddess Minerva. She was famously depicted as Saint Catherine in Giovanni Maria Butteri's altarpiece she commissioned, titled 'Virgin and Child and Members of the Medici Family as Saints', prominently featured in the bottom left corner of the painting.

Notably, the intellectual communities of Siena and Florence orbited around her during the 1560s and 1570s. Writers, musicians, and poets dedicated their works to her:

• Beltramo Poggi, for instance, chose Isabella for his work 'La inventione della Croce di Giesù Christo' (Florence 1561) because he considered her among the "most illustrious and exceptional women in the world, distinguished not only by her status but also by her devotion and spirituality".
• Sozzini's collection of 'Rime' contains a sonnet in the form of an acrostic celebrating Isabella as "a conduit for the light of God", a theme dear to Dante and Petrarch.
• Stefano Rossetti, a madrigalist, composed a song in her honour, which was published alongside 'The lament of Olympia' (Venice, 1567),^[16] where she was celebrated as "worthy of a royal crown and empire".
• Girolamo Bargagli, a leading figure in the Accademia degli Intronati, dedicated his 'Dialogue of the games that are used to be played in the Sienese old age' (Siena 1572) to Isabella.
• Mario Mattesillani also dedicated a work to her titled 'The happiness of the most serene Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany' (Florence 1572).
• The cosmographer Egnazio Danti, who served as her mathematics teacher from 1562 to 1566, presented her with the text for his course held at the Florentine Studio ('La sphere of Proclus Liceo...' Florence 1573).

 

Isabella de' Medici with sheet music (1560s, school of Alessandro Allori). Aristocratic women cultivated music as a social grace, however portraits celebrating female musical talent are rare, due to its historical association with seductive sirens, imbuing it with erotic connotations. This portrait was likely created for personal consumption.^[36]

Using music as her favourite form of self-expression, Isabella is known to have composed music herself - while contemporaries often admired her beautiful compositions, the sole surviving work by Isabella is a lute composition titled "Lieta vivo e contenta".^[37] This composition has been transcribed in Cosimo Bottegari's book of songs and lute, which is preserved in the Estense University Library in Modena.

Isabella also played a significant role as a female patron, supporting the professional career of Maddalena Mezari, known as Casulana, a famous madrigalist who dedicated her compositions to her ('Il libro primo de 'madrigali a quattro voci', Venice 1568).

A keen linguist and passionate about the correct use of Tuscan, Isabella's cultural significance extends to her pivotal role in the emergence of the unified Italian language, evidenced by her regular hosting of scholarly debates preceding the establishment of the Accademia della Crusca. The 'questione della lingua', a widespread debate reverberating across the Italian peninsula regarding the standards for codifying Italian, held profound significance for Cosimo's ambition to position Florence as the preeminent cultural centre of Italy. Florence, boasting its association with literary giants like Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch—all originating from Tuscany—naturally became the epicentre of this discourse. In 1550, Cosimo's commissioning of a new grammar for the Tuscan vernacular propelled the 'questione della lingua' to the forefront of the cultural agenda for the new Medici generation. Isabella's notable contribution to this dialogue and her scholarly stature in this endeavor were recorded in 1573 by Giovanni Battista Strozzi. He references Isabella's arbitration document advocating for the definitive use of 'mai' (never), citing Boccaccio's Decameron as her authoritative source.^[38]

Despite her untimely demise, Isabella's legacy as a true Renaissance woman - encompassing her roles as an artist, scholar, muse, and patron of the arts - endures, symbolising a beacon of modernity with a personality ahead of her time. As Murphy writes, "there was never another Medici woman like her" as "Isabella possessed a remarkable mix of qualities that even today are hard to find".^[39] Her dynamic influence revitalised the Medici court, fostering a renaissance of musical and literary innovation, including the establishment of vernacular Tuscan as Italy's official language.

Today, each July, the village of Cerreto Guidi commemorates Isabella's life with a festival known as 'La notte d'Isabella' (The Night of Isabella).

Literary references

Isabella's influence continues to resonate through various artistic mediums, including uncovered paintings from Agnolo Bronzino, Alessandro Allori as well as Giovanni Maria Butteri.

Her life has also been immortalised by Renato Brogi in the opera titled 'Isabella Orsini, Duchessa di Bracciano', debuting on the 24^th of April 1920.^[40]

In more recent times, Isabella's life has been the subject of both research and fiction.

In terms of research, Caroline Murphy extensively covers Isabella's biography in her book, 'Isabella de' Medici - The Glorious Life and Tragic End of a Renaissance Princess,' while Gabrielle Langdon provides further analysis of her artistic and scholarly contributions in 'Medici Women - Portraits of Power, Love and Betrayal.' Donna Cardamone delves deeper into Isabella's impactful contributions to the music of her era in the book titled 'Gender, Sexuality, and Early Music'. Finally, scholar Elisabetta Mori also published a book documenting Isabella's correspondence with her husband, family members, as well as sovereigns and foreign dignitaries.

In terms of fiction, Carla Maria Russo's Italian novel 'La Figlia Più Amata - Storia delle sorelle Medici' delves into the lives of the Medici sisters, with the main storyline focused on Isabella's life.

Additionally, the novel 'The Marriage Portrait' by Maggie O'Farrell, fictionalising the story of Isabella's sister Lucrezia, draws on known details from Isabella's life as inspiration, including the circumstances leading to her death (given that Lucrezia passed away at 16 and not much is known about her).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabella de' Medici

8. Giovanni il Popolano 4. Giovanni delle Bande Nere 9. Caterina Sforza 2. Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany 10. Jacopo Salviati 5. Maria Salviati 11. Lucrezia de' Medici 1. Isabella de' Medici 12. Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez, 2nd Duke of Alba 6. Pedro de Toledo y Zúñiga 13. Isabel de Zúñiga y Pimentel 3. Eleanor of Toledo 14. Luis Pimentel y Pacheco, 1st Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo 7. María Osorio y Pimentel, 2nd Marquise of Villafranca del Bierzo 15. Juana Osorio y Bazán, 1st Marquise of Villafranca del Bierzo

Notes

1. Murphy, Caroline (2008). Isabella de' Medici - The Glorious Life and Tragic End of A Renaissance Princess (1st ed.). Bloomsbury House, 74-77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA: Faber and Faber. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-571-23031-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
2. Langdon, Gabrielle (2007). Medici Women - Portraits of Power, Love and Betrayal. University of Toronto Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-8020-9526-8.
3. Murphy, 24-28
4. Mori, Elisabetta. "de' Medici, Isabella". Enciclopedia Treccani.
5. Murphy, 40-44
6. One ambassador wrote about the teen-age Isabella: "Her liveliness never leaves her, it is born within her." Murphy, 47
7. Archivo di Stato di Firenze, Miscellanea Medicea, 580, c. 233v: Donazione dell'anello matrimoniale a I. figliola di Cosimo primo fatta da Paolo Giordano Orsino duca di Bracciano in dì 28 gennaio 1555 (stile fiorentino)
8. Murphy, 54
9. Archivio notarile Urbano, Sez. I, vol. 464, cc. 627-628: atti del notaio Massa da Gallese, 11 luglio 1553
10. Murphy, 54
11. F.A. D'Accone, Corteccia's motets for the Medici marriages of 1558, in Words on music. Essays in honor of Andrew Porter, a cura di D. Rosen - C. Brook, Hillsdale, NY, 2003, pp. 36-73
12. Murphy, 67-68
13. Mori, Elisabetta. "de' Medici, Isabella". Enciclopedia Treccani.
14. Langdon, Gabrielle (2007). Medici Women - Portraits of Power, Love and Betrayal. University of Toronto Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-8020-9526-8.
15. D. Mellini, Descrizione della entrata della serenissima regina Giovanna d'Austria..., Fiorenza 1566, pp. 4, 9, 68
16. Rosetti, Stefano. "Il lamento di Olimpia et canzone (Venice, 1567): Three Works for Isabella de' Medici".
17. C. Firmano, Della solenne incoronazione del duca Cosimo Medici in granduca di Toscana..., a cura di D. Moreni, Firenze 1819, pp. 6, 19
18. Mori, Elisabetta (2019). Lettere tra Paolo Giordano Orsini a Isabella de' Medici. Rome: Gangemi Editore spa International. pp. 421–449. ISBN 978-88-492-3721-4.
19. Arditi, Bastiano (1970). Diario di Firenze e di altre parti della Cristianità, 1574-1579 (in Italian). p. 164.
20. Murphy, 170–180.
21. Murphy, 176
22. Archivio di Stato di Firenze,Miscellanea Medicea, 505, c. 144r
23. Murphy, 173.
24. de' Ricci, Giuliano (1972). Cronaca (1532 - 1606) (in Italian). Milan/Naples. p. 85.
25. Galluzzi, Jacopo Riguccio (1781). Istoria del Granducato di Toscana (in Italian). pp. 268–270, 325.
26. Murphy, 312, 346.
27. Langdon, 148
28. Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, I, 158, 184
29. Murphy, 324
30. Murphy, 324–325
31. Murphy, 316–324
32. Murphy, 328–333
33. Mori
34. Langdon, 166
35. Langdon, 146
36. Langdon, 161-165
37. I canti di Euterpe, sec. XVI. Ensemble Laus contentus. Recorded in 1998. La bottega discantica, Discantica 37, 1998, compact disc.
38. Langdon, 160
39. Murphy, 24-28
40. https://archiviostorico.operaroma.it/opera/isabella-orsini/

References

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Isabella de' Medici.

• Langdon, Gabrielle. Medici Women: Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal in the Court of Duke Cosimo I. University of Toronto Press, 2006.
• Mori, Elisabetta (2011): L'onore perduto di Isabella de' Medici. Garzanti. ISBN 978881174119-0
• Murphy, Caroline P. Murder of a Medici Princess. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-531439-7
• Reiss, Sheryl; Wilkins, David. Beyond Isabella: Secular women patrons of art in Renaissance Italy. Truman State University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-943549-88-4
• Cardamone, Donna G. Isabella Medici-Orsini: a portrait of self-affirmation, a chapter in Borgerding, Todd M. Gender, sexuality and early music, New York-London 2002