ABOUT THIS BOOK

The voluminous correspondence of Maria Salviati de’ Medici.

In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in Maria Salviati de’ Medici, specifically, in her role in Medici governance and her relationships with other members of the Medici court. Maria Salviati’s surviving correspondence documents a life spent close to the centers of Medici power in Florence and Rome, giving witness to its failures, resurrection, and eventual triumph. Presented here for the first time in English, this book is a representative sample of Maria’s surviving letters that document her remarkable life through a tumultuous period of Italian Renaissance history. While she earned the exasperation of some, she gained the respect of many more. Maria ended her life as an influential dowager, powerful intercessor for local Tuscans of all strata, and wise elder in Duke Cosimo I’s court. The first critical, analytical, biographical work on Maria Salviati de’ Medici’s life and letter-writing in English.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Maria Salviati de’ Medici (1499–1543) was a Medici daughter, wife, and mother. Natalie R. Tomas is an adjunct senior research fellow and an associate of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Monash University, Australia. She is the author of The Medici Women.

REVIEWS

In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in Maria Salviati, in her role in Medici
governance, and in her relationships with other members of the Medici court. The fact that
her extensive correspondence — over 300 letters — has never been published in a single critical edition makes this collection of 150 letters particularly valuable. Tomas is just the person to bring these letters to a wider Anglophone audience. She is a leading authority on Salviati, Medici women, and the complex Florentine transition from republic to principate. Having assembled the scattered correspondence — a herculean feat in itself — Tomas has selected an array of texts that illuminates Salviati’s personality and epistolary style. This volume of Salviati’s Selected Letters will be an important resource for students and scholars alike.
- Sharon Strocchia, Professor of Italian Renaissance History, Emory University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction: A Life in Letters
Maria’s Early Life
Maria as Wife
Maria as Widowed Mother
Lady Maria: Dowager Queen
Lady Maria: Manager of the Children’s Court and Wise Elder
Remembering Maria
Maria Salviati de’ Medici as Letter Writer
The Afterlife of Maria’s Correspondence
Note on the Translation and Edition
Selected Letters
Letters 1–40: Maria as Wife, 1514–1526
Letters 41–75: Maria as Widowed Mother, 1527–1536
Letters 76–150: Lady Maria, 1537–1543
Appendix A: List of Selected Letters
Appendix B: Genealogical Tables
Appendix C: Names, Dates, Measures, Currency, and Time
Bibliography
Index