Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, Duke of Urbino

Biography

The eldest son and heir of Francesco Maria II, Duke of Urbino. His parents were cousins.

Francesco Maria II della Rovere, his father was anxious for heirs to the Duchy of Urbino. His first wife died in 1598 without children. After obtaining permission from the pope to marry, in 1599 married his cousin Livia della Rovere to prevent the extinction of the family. Federico Ubaldo was the product of this second marriage. At the age of 16 he succeeded to the Duchy of Urbino on 14 May 1621.

In order to produce an heir himself, he married Claudia de' Medici, daughter of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Christina of Lorraine. Rovere married Medici in 1621 and following year she gave birth to a daughter Vittoria della Rovere. Rovere himself died a year later in Urbino. The circumstances of his death are somewhat obscure, some belief he was poisoned. However a notary from Urbino, Placido Vagnarelli, has written a much enlightening piece in the beginning of one of his registers. It offers precious details on the time shortly before and after his death. The morning he died, after having supervised the preparation of a horse transport for the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, he returns to bed to sleep, but after 6 pm, as he still has not woken up, his servants search him and find him dead. The consulted doctors established the time of death between noon and 1pm. An autopsy was scheduled. The lungs were infected on one side, and an almost egg-sized accumulation of water was found in his brain. The doctors saw the causes, so tells the notary, in his hairiness and his permanent physical efforts, trying to adapt to the bellicose life-style. The funeral took place on the following Sunday, 2 July, and was accompanied by the whole clergy. The confraternity and 125 high noblemen, all dressed in mourning, with a torch in their hands, the funeral procession went through the city, in front of the whole population of the city of Urbino. His father resumed the throne and saw the disappearance of the line. His father was forced to bequeath all his property to the Papal States. Claudia de' Medici married in 1626 Leopold V of Austria. His daughter married the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1633 but her bloodline died out in 1737.

Issue

1. Vittoria della Rovere (7 February 1622 – 5 March 1694) married Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and had issue.