Selected Letters, 1514–1543

Maria Salviati de’ Medici (1499–1543) was a Medici daughter, wife, and mother of a Medici duke. Her surviving correspondence documents a life spent close to the centers of Medici power in Florence and in Rome that witnessed its failures, resurrection, and eventual triumph. Presented here for the first time in English is a representative sample of her surviving letters that document a tumultuous life spent as a wife, widow, and mother who used her Medici connections to further the interests of husband and son. She earned the exasperation of some but gained the respect of many more including her son, Cosimo. 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.

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

NATALIE R. TOMAS is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, Australia. She is the author of The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence (2003).