Cosimo I de' Medici

Timeline

1. 1519–1537Florence · TuscanyBorn in Florence, son of Giovanni delle Bande Nere. He spent his childhood in Castiglione, away from the political core of Florence. In 1537, after Alessandro de' Medici was assassinated, Cosimo was chosen by the nobles as Duke of Florence at only seventeen. In the batch interval of 1531–1537, he was still a youth receiving a noble education.
2. 1537–1569Florence · TuscanyCosimo eliminated rivals with decisive political tactics and suppressed republican rebellions. In 1539 he married Eleonora di Toledo, daughter of the Viceroy of Naples. In 1555, taking advantage of internal disorder in Siena, he sent troops to annex the Republic of Siena, greatly expanding Tuscany's territory. He actively patronized art and architecture; the Uffizi Palace began construction in the 1560s under Vasari's direction at his behest.
3. 1569–1574Florence · TuscanyIn 1569 Pope Pius V formally invested Cosimo as Grand Duke of Tuscany, raising the Medici family into the highest ranks of European nobility. In his later years Cosimo gradually handed state affairs to his son Francesco, dying in 1574 after nearly forty years of rule.