After the final extinction of the Florentine Republic, the hopes of the Medici, who now aspired to the dukedom of Tuscany, rested on three bastards—­Alessandro, the reputed child of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino; Ippolito, the natural son of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours; and Giulio, the offspring of an elder Giuliano, who was at this time Pope, with the title of Clement VII.  Clement had seen Rome sacked in 1527 by a horde of freebooters fighting under the Imperial standard, and had used the remnant of these troops, commanded by the Prince of Orange, to crush his native city in the memorable siege of 1529-30.  He now determined to rule Florence from the Papal chair by the help of the two bastard cousins I have named.  Alessandro was created Duke of Civita di Penna, and sent to take the first place in the city.  Ippolito was made a cardinal; since the Medici had learned that Rome was the real basis of their power, and it was undoubtedly in Clement’s policy to advance this scion of his house to the Papacy.  The sole surviving representative of the great Lorenzo de’ Medici’s legitimate blood was Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Urbino by Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne.  She was pledged in marriage to the Duke of Orleans, who was afterwards Henry II. of France.  A natural daughter of the Emperor Charles V. was provided for her putative half-brother Alessandro.  By means of these alliances the succession of Ippolito to the Papal chair would have been secured, and the strength of the Medici would have been confirmed in Tuscany, but for the disasters which have now to be related.

Between the cousins Alessandro and Ippolito there was no love lost.  As boys, they had both played the part of princes in Florence under the guardianship of the Cardinal Passerini da Cortona.  The higher rank had then been given to Ippolito, who bore the title of Magnifico, and seemed thus designated for the lordship of the city.  Ippolito, though only half a Medici, was of more authentic lineage than Alessandro; for no proof positive could be adduced that the latter was even a spurious child of the Duke of Urbino.  He bore obvious witness to his mother’s blood upon his mulatto’s face; but this mother was the wife of a groom, and it was certain that in the court of Urbino she had not been chary of her favours.  The old magnificence of taste, the patronage of art and letters, and the preference for liberal studies which distinguished Casa Medici, survived in Ippolito; whereas Alessandro manifested only the brutal lusts of a debauched tyrant.  It was therefore with great reluctance that, moved by reasons of state and domestic policy, Ippolito saw himself compelled to accept the scarlet hat.  Alessandro having been recognised as a son of the Duke of Urbino, had become half-brother to the future Queen of France.  To treat him as the head of the family was a necessity thrust, in the extremity of the Medicean fortunes, upon Clement.  Ippolito, who more entirely represented the spirit of the house, was driven to assume the position of a cadet, with all the uncertainties of an ecclesiastical career.