Spouse(s) Lucrezia Gaetani Mother Taddea Malaspina Grandchild Angelica de' Medici | Noble family Medici Died 1600, Pisa, Italy | |
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Father Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence Children Cosimo di Giulio de' Medici Parents Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, Taddea Malaspina Cousins Francis II of France, Henry III of France, Charles IX of France, Margaret of Valois, Francis - Duke of Anjou Similar Alessandro de' Medici - Duke of F, Giulia de' Medici, Pope Clement VII, Lorenzo de' Medici - Duke of U, Catherine de' Medici | ||
Giulio de' Medici (between 1533 and 1537 [1] - 1600) was the illegitimate son of Alessandro de' Medici, the Duke of Florence, and probably of Taddea Malaspina.
Aged no more than four at the time of his father's assassination, he was passed over as a choice for the succession in favour of Cosimo I de' Medici, the first of the "junior" branch of the Medici to rule Florence. He was placed under the guardianship of Cosimo I and raised at his court. In 1562 he was appointed the first knight of the Order of Saint Stephen, an order founded to combat pirates and Turks in the Mediterranean Sea. As Admiral of the Order, from 1563 to 1566, he was sent to help the Knights Hospitallers during the Siege of Malta in 1565. He also acted as an ambassador, to Mantua in 1565; to Rome in 1571 and again in 1573.
Giulio was married to Lucrezia Gaetani. They had a daughter, Caterina, who became a Benedictine nun and died in 1634. He also had two illegitimate sons, Cosimo, who followed him as a knight of the Order of Saint Stephen, and Giuliano.