Lives of the early Medici : $b As told in their correspondence
History
Lives of the early Medici : $b As told in their correspondence
Florence (Italy) -- History; Medici, Cosimo de', 1389-1464; Medici, House of; Medici, Lorenzo de', 1449-1492; Medici, Piero de', 1416-1469
_Magnifice vir et frater honorande_, &c.,--I hardly know how to
express to Your Magnificence with what pleasure and contentment I
have this day espoused in your name the Magnificent and noble Madonna
Clarice degl’ Orsini, a maiden whose looks, carriage, and manners I
conceive merit the bridegroom who was I think destined for her by
Heaven. For this Your Magnificence ought devoutly to thank God who
in this, as in other matters wherein you have been so well treated
by fortune, has protected you; and I, who desire your well-being
and honour as ardently as any one, for many reasons have longed for
this day and congratulate Your Magnificence _ex intimo cordis_; may
it be productive of all good. I pray our Lord Jesus Christ to grant
to both a happy and a long life together and to let you see _filios
filiorum vestrorum usque in quartam et quintam generationem_. I will
say no more because from Giovanni [Tornabuoni] you will have heard
everything. If I can do aught for your service let me know, and I will
do it as willingly as any one alive, as I am sure Your Magnificence
knows _quam Deas diu felicem conservet_.[131]
Lorenzo in his _Ricordi_ writes: “I, Lorenzo, took to wife Clarice,
the daughter of Signor Jacopo Orsini, or rather she was given to me
(_i.e._ betrothed), in December 1468 and the marriage was celebrated in
our house on the 4th June 1469. Till now I have by her two children,
a daughter called Lucrezia ... years old, and a son called Piero ...
months old. King Ferrante is the godfather of the girl. She is again
with child. God spare her to us for a long time and preserve her from
all ill” (see p. 153).
The following description of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s wedding is taken from
a contemporary manuscript existing in Codex 574, Class xxv. of the
Strozziani MSS. in the National Library of Florence. There is no record
of the writer in the manuscript, but his name appears in the catalogue
of the Library as Piero di Marco Parenti, and it may be that it was
on the cover which is wanting. Born in Florence in January 18, 1450,
Parenti died in May 1519, and according to Moreni was the author of
several other works which still exist in manuscript in the Library. The
name of the person to whom the letter was written does not appear, but
from people mentioned, and other indications, he may have been Filippo
di Matteo Strozzi, the builder of the fine Palazzo Strozzi in Florence,
who was then in Naples.
_An Account of the Wedding of_ Lorenzo di Piero di Cosimo, _according
to what was told me by Cosimo Bartoli, one of the principal Directors
of the Festival, particularly as regards Sweetmeats and Sugar-plums,
and also what I saw myself_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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