Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (11 August 1667 – 18 February 1743) was an Italian noblewoman who was the last lineal descendant of the main branch of the House of Medici. A patron of the arts, she bequeathed the Medicis' large art collection, including the contents of the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, and the Medici villas, which she inherited upon her brother Gian Gastone's death in 1737, and her Palatine treasures to the Tuscan state, on the condition that no part of it could be removed from "the Capital of the grand ducal State....[and from] the succession of His Serene Grand Duke."Casciu, pp. 80–88
Anna Maria Luisa was the only daughter of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, a niece of Louis XIII of France. On her marriage to Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, she became Electress of the Palatinate, and, by patronising musicians, she earned for the contemporary Palatine court the reputation of an important music centre. After a single miscarriage, her marriage remained childless, which, combined with her siblings' barrenness, meant that the Medici were on the verge of extinction.
In 1713 Cosimo III altered the Tuscan laws of succession to allow the accession of his daughter, and spent his final years canvassing the European powers to agree to recognise this statute. However, in 1735, as part of a territorial arrangement, the European powers appointed Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine as heir, and he duly ascended the Tuscan throne in her stead. After the death of Johann Wilhelm, Anna Maria Luisa returned to Florence, where she enjoyed the rank of first lady until the accession of her brother Gian Gastone, who banished her to the Villa La Quiete. When Gian Gastone died in 1737, Francis Stephen's envoy offered Anna Maria Luisa the position of nominal regent of Tuscany, but she declined. Her death, in 1743, brought the grand ducal House of Medici to an end. Her remains were interred in the Medicean necropolis, Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, which she helped complete.
Biography
Early life Despite her mother's efforts to induce a miscarriage by means of riding,Acton, p 101 Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the only daughter and second child of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his consort, Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, was born in Florence on 11 August 1667. She was named after her maternal aunt Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier.
Her parents' relationship was quarrelsome; Marguerite Louise took every chance to humiliate Cosimo.Acton, p 93 On one documented occasion, she branded him "a poor groom" in the presence of the Papal nuncio. The enmity between them continued until 26 December 1674; after all attempts at conciliation failed, a stressed Cosimo consented to his wife's departure for the Convent of Montmartre, France. The contract created that day revoked her privileges as a petite fille de France, and declared that upon her death all her assets were to be inherited by her children. Cosimo granted her a pension of 80,000 livres in compensation.Acton, pp. 133–135 She abandoned Tuscany in June 1675; Anna Maria Luisa, who was less than eight years old at that time, never saw her again.Strathern, p 389 Although Cosimo doted on his daughter, she was raised by her paternal grandmother, Vittoria della Rovere.Young p 471
Electress of the Palatinate In 1669, Anna Maria Luisa was considered as a potential bride to Louis, le Grand Dauphin, the heir-apparent of Louis XIV of France. Cosimo III did not like the idea of a French marriage, and never devoted himself fully to the cause (she was later rejected).Acton, p 151 Instead, Cosimo offered her to his first choice, Peter II of Portugal. Peter's ministers declined, fearing that Anna Maria Luisa might have inherited her mother's temperament, and may seek to dominate Peter II while being herself intractable to reason.Acton, p 165 In fact, contemporaries thought her traits to be a combination of those of her father and paternal grandmother, Vittoria della Rovere.
Following refusals from Portugal, France, Spain and Savoy, James II of England put forward his brother-in-law, Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena, but the Princess deemed a duke too lowly in terms of protocol for the daughter of a grand duke.Acton, p 182 Finally, it was Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor who suggested Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine.Acton, p 181 The Elector Palatine obtained the style Royal Highness from the Holy Roman Emperor for Cosimo III in February 1691. (Cosimo had hitherto been outranked by the Duke of Savoy — much to his anger—who derived royal status from his successful pretendership to the abolished Cypriot throne). Consequently, Johann Wilhelm was ultimately chosen. He and Anna Maria Luisa were married by proxy on 29 April 1691. At the accompanying festivities, a contemporary describes the Electress's physical attributes: "In her person, she is tall, her complexion was fair, her eyes large and expressive, both those and her hair were black; her mouth was small, with a fullness of the lips; her teeth were as white as ivory...."
She departed for Düsseldorf, her husband’s capital, on 6 May 1691, accompanied by her younger brother, Gian Gastone. Johann Wilhelm surprised her at Innsbruck, where they officially married. The Palatinate Anna Maria Luisa arrived in was ravaged by the ongoing Nine Years' War, in which Louis XIV assaulted the Palatinate on behalf of his brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, occupying the city of Philippsburg in the process.Wilson, p 88Pevitt, p 14
The Electress became pregnant in 1692; however, she miscarried. It is thought incorrectly by some historians that soon after arrival she contracted syphilis from the Elector, which they think explains why Anna Maria Luisa and Johann Wilhelm failed to produce any children.Hale, p 189Hale, pp. 188–189Hibbert, p 304When her remains were exhumed for relocation, there was no sign of syphilis Anna Maria Luisa and Johann Wilhelm, notwithstanding, shared a harmonious marriage.Lawrence, p 230 The Electress spent her time enjoying balls, musical performances and other festivities. He commissioned a theatre for her where the comedies of French playwright Molière were performed.Mosco, p 185 Because Anna Maria Luisa patronised many musicians, the contemporary Palatine court enjoyed regard as an international centre of music.Chelleri, Fortunato; Vavoulis, Vavoulis, p ix She invited Fortunato Chelleri to court and appointed him maestro di cappella ("music teacher"). Agostino Steffani, a polymath, was sponsored by the Electress from his arrival in Düsseldorf, in 1703, until her return to Tuscany; the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini library in Florence houses two editions of his chamber duets.Timms, p 116
Anna Maria Luisa arranged a marriage for her younger brother at the instigation of their father: On 2 July 1697 Gian Gastone de' Medici married Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, heiress of the eponymous duchy, in Düsseldorf.Acton, pp. 208–211 Gian Gastone's wife repulsed him, and for that reason, they separated in 1708.Strathern, p 404
The same year as Gian Gastone's marriage, the Peace of Ryswick ended the Nine Years' War: French troops withdrew from the Electoral Palatinate and Johann Wilhelm received the County of Megen. Following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a document which had hitherto given rights to Calvinists, in 1685, 2,000 French Huguenots emigrated to the Electoral Palatinate.Otterness, p 14 Johann Wilhelm, under criticism for his treatment of the Palatine Protestants from the Elector of Brandenburg introduced a Religionsdeklaration in 1705, which sanctioned religious freedom.Otterness, p 15
Tuscan succession
Cosimo III wished to alter the male-only Tuscan line of succession so as to allow the accession of his daughter, Anna Maria Luisa, in the event of a male-line succession failure. But his plan was met with fierce opposition from the European powers.Acton, p 255 Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, Tuscany's nominal feudal over-lord, subscribed, but only if he should succeed her. Cosimo and she were at odds with the proposal. Without a concord in sight, the "Tuscan question" became dormant.Acton, p 256
Some years later, as the question of the succession became more urgent, Cardinal Francesco Maria de' Medici, Cosimo III's brother, was released from his vows and coerced into marrying Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla's elder daughter, Eleanor, in 1709. The Electress urged him to care for his health and "give us the consolation of a little prince."Acton, p 246 However, two years later, he died without issue, taking with him any hope of an heir.Acton, p 251
Following the death of his heir apparent, Ferdinando, in 1713, Cosimo deposited a bill in the Senate, Tuscany's titular legislature, promulgating that if Cosimo and his new heir apparent, Gian Gastone, were to predecease the Electress, she would ascend the throne.Young, p 479 Charles VI was furious; he replied that the grand duchy was an imperial fief and therefore he alone possessed the prerogative to alter the laws of succession.Acton, p 261 To complicate things further, Elisabeth Farnese, heiress of the Duchy of Parma, the second wife of Philip V of Spain, as a great-granddaughter of Margherita de' Medici, exercised a claim to Tuscany.Solari, p 282Young, p 480 In May 1716, Charles VI, who constantly changed his stance on the issue, told Florence that the Electress's succession was unquestioned, but added that Austria and Tuscany must soon reach an agreement regarding which royal house was to follow the Medici.Acton, p 262
In June 1717, Cosimo declared his wish that the House of Este should succeed the Electress. Charles VI had previously offered the Grand Duke territorial compensation—in the form of the State of Presidi—if he chose quickly, but reneged. In 1718, Charles VI repudiated Cosimo's decision, declaring a union of Tuscany and Modena (the Este lands) unacceptable.Acton, p 267 Hereafter, a stalemate existed between them.Young, p 482
Return to Florence
The Elector Palatine died in June 1716. His widow, Anna Maria Luisa, returned to Florence in October 1717.Acton, p 264 Dowager Grand Princess Violante Beatrice, her brother Ferdinando's widow, and Anna Maria Luisa did not enjoy an amiable relationship. Upon hearing of Anna Maria Luisa's intention to return, Violante Beatrice prepared to depart for Munich, her brother's capital, but Gian Gastone wished her to stay, so she did.Acton, p 265 To keep the two ladies from quarrelling over precedence, Cosimo III defined Violante Beatrice's status just before the Electress's arrival by appointing her Governess of Siena.Acton, pp. 265–266
On 4 April 1718 Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic (and later Austria) selected Infante Charles of Spain, the elder child of Elisabeth Farnese and Philip V of Spain, as the Tuscan heir (with no mention of Anna Maria Luisa).Solari, pp. 281–282 By 1722, the Electress was not even acknowledged as heiress, and Cosimo was reduced to a spectator at the conferences for Tuscany's future.Acton, p 275 In the midst of this, Marguerite Louise, Anna Maria Luisa's mother, died. Instead of willing her valuables to her children, as prescribed by the 1674 agreement, they went to the Princess of Epinoy, a distant relative.Acton, pp. 272–273