Gian Gastone de' Medici (born Giovanni Battista Gastone; 25 May 1671 – 9 July 1737) was the seventh and last Medicean grand duke of Tuscany.
He was the second son of Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans.Young, p 460 His sister, Electress Palatine Anna Maria Luisa, arranged his marriage to the wealthy and widowed Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg in 1697. The couple despised each other and had no children. As Grand Prince Ferdinando, Gian Gastone's elder brother, predeceased Cosimo III, Gian Gastone succeeded his father in 1723.
His reign was marked by the reversal of his predecessor's conservative policy; he abolished taxes for poorer people, repealed penal laws which restricted Jews and discontinued public executions.Hale, J.R., p 191 The Medici were wanting in male heirs; his father, Cosimo III, wanted the Electress Palatine to succeed Gian Gastone. However, Spain, Great Britain, Austria and the Dutch Republic disregarded Cosimo's plan and appointed Charles of Spain—whose mother, Elisabeth Farnese, was a great-granddaughter of Margherita de' Medici—Gian Gastone's heir.Young, p 481 Charles later transferred his claim to Francis Stephen of Lorraine pursuant to a preliminary peace that was finalized in 1738.Hale, p 192 Francis Stephen duly succeeded at Gian Gastone's demise, on 9 July 1737, ending almost 300 years of Medici rule over Florence. For the latter part of his reign, Gian Gastone chose to remain confined in his bed, tended by his entourage, the Ruspanti.
Biography Early years (1671–1697) On 24 May 1671, the first anniversary of his grandfather Ferdinando II's death, Giovanni Battista Gastone de' Medici was born in Florence to Grand Duke Cosimo III and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans. He derived his baptismal name, Giovanni Battista Gastone, from his maternal grandfather, Gaston, Duke of Orléans.Acton, p 115 Cosimo and Marguerite Louise frequently quarreled. As a result, four years after his birth, Marguerite Louise returned home to France. Gian Gastone and his siblings were left in the care of their grandmother Vittoria della Rovere.
Gian Gastone was tutored by Cardinal Henry Noris, whose company the prince hardly left.Young, p 472 The Tuscan prince was an avid intellectual, being an antiquarian, a botanist and an amateur scientist. In addition, he could speak English, among other languages. However, it was these traits that earned Gian Gastone the disdain of his father and of his elder brother, Grand Prince Ferdinando; Gian Gastone was thus granted a scant allowance by his father and therefore could not enjoy the "dissipations" of court.
Cosimo III considered compelling Gian Gastone to become a cardinal. In order to rally Gian Gastone to its cause, Spain, concerned that another Medicean cardinal—Gian Gastone's uncle, Francesco Maria de' Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro, already enjoyed that dignity—would tip the scales in favour of France at a Papal conclave, offered to create him "General of the Spanish Seas".Acton, p 164 Peter II of Portugal, however, had other things in mind for him: he wanted Gian Gastone to marry his only daughter, Isabel Luísa, Princess of Beira. To marry her, Gian Gastone would have to convince his father to allot him an allowance of "adequate stature". However, the Grand Duke refused and neither the cardinalate nor the Portuguese marriage ever materialised.Acton, p 165
Out of sympathy, Gian Gastone befriended his unhappy sister-in-law, Duchess Violante Beatrice of Bavaria. Her husband, Grand Prince Ferdinando, thought her too ugly and too dull for him.Acton, p 208 At the same time, Gian Gastone sank into a state of melancholy.Acton, p 198 In an attempt to rouse him from this condition, Cardinal Francesco Maria often summoned Gian Gastone to festivities at his villa, Lappeggi. However, these soirées had no effect and Gian Gastone continued to weep unceasingly in his private rooms.
Marriage and Bohemia (1697–1708) By 1697, Violante Beatrice and Ferdinando had been married for eight years and still lacked issue, as did Gian Gastone's sister, the Electress Palatine. Concerned for the future of the dynasty, Cosimo urged the Electress to find Gian Gastone—currently the only one of his children unmarried—a suitable bride.Young, p 4733 She put forward Anna Maria Franziska, her brother-in-law's widow and potential heiress of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg. The bride-to-be was described as "more like a Bohemian peasant than a princess" by a contemporary. They were married in Düsseldorf, the capital of the Electoral Palatinate, by the Bishop of Osnabrück on 2 July 1697.Strathern, p 399 As she did not like cities or courts, Anna Maria Franziska demanded they establish themselves in her Bohemian residences, Ploskovice Castle and Reichstadt, post-haste.Acton, p 212
Gian Gastone found life in the little village intolerable.Young, p 474 Anna Maria Franziska was unpredictable and prone to outbursts of rage, she held "conversations in the stables [i.e. with the horses]" and would rather have remained a widow than have been married again. The lack of intellectual society there and his wife's hostility towards him drove Gian Gastone to increased drinking. Gian Gastone, unable to rein in his disgust, abandoned Anna Maria Franziska for Paris after one year in Reichstadt. When he arrived there, an enraged Cosimo, who had explicitly told his son not to leave Anna Maria Franziksa without his prior consent,Acton, p 215 ordered him back to Reichstadt.Young, pp, 474 - 475 Anna Maria Franziska made an effort to welcome him back; however, her mood turned sour when Gian Gastone brought up the prospect of wintering in Prague.Acton, p 217 Thus, he went to Prague alone but for his suite and favourite attendant, Giuliano Dami.
Gian Gastone's once acclaimed complexion and weight were ruined by the course of dissipation he pursued in Prague, becoming blotchy and bloated respectively. Dami acted as a pimp for the Prince, soliciting countless young men for his master's enjoyment.Strathern, pp. 399–400 The Prince frequently gambled, racking up exorbitant debts, losing on one occasion 150,000 crowns. His ruinous behaviour was relayed to Florence by the Electress Palatine. Gian Gastone replied to Cosimo's ensuing admonishments with an account of his married life, blaming Anna Maria Franziska's "capriciousness, peevish faces and sharp words" for his desperate conduct.Acton, p 219 Considering summoning him to Florence, Cosimo sent the Marquis Rinuccini to scrutinise his younger son's debts. Rinnucci was horrified to learn that the Archbishop of Prague was among his creditors.Acton, pp. 233–234 Anna Maria Franziska greeted Rinuccini warmly, and implied that Gian Gastone pawned some of her jewels to ameliorate his gambling debts.Acton, p 324Strathern, p 403 The Marquis concluded that nothing— not even the Holy Roman Empress's reproaches— could compel Anna Maria Franziska to Florence, where Gian Gastone longed to be. Forced once again to quell his enmity towards his wife, Gian Gastone returned to Reichstadt as per the Holy Roman Emperor and Holy Roman Empress's advice.Acton, pp. 234–235 Nevertheless, their reconciliation was brief, and Gian Gastone left for Hamburg in October 1703, only to return to Prague the next February.Acton, p 235
The Grand Duke tired of the Princess of Saxe-Lauenburg's stubborn ways. He requisitioned the help of Pope Clement XI, who sent the Archbishop of Prague to tell her she must go to Florence with Gian Gastone. The Princess was incensed, replying that there was no point going with him because he was "absolutely impotent."Strathern, p 404 Cosimo III conceded defeat and recalled Gian Gastone to Florence in 1708; he never saw his wife again.
Return to Florence (1708–1723)
As Prince Gian Gastone disliked his father's hyper-pious character, he elected to stay away from him and the royal court. The closed court that Gian Gastone did keep was dominated by his favourite, Dami.Acton, p245 Meanwhile, Grand Prince Ferdinando was slowly dying from syphilis, making Gian Gastone's immediate succession more likely.Strathern, pp. 396–397 Ferdinando, nonetheless, was not alone in his suffering: Guyot de Merville, a French adventurer, took note of Gian Gastone's mental decline: "He carries [apathy] so far that it is said he never opens a letter, to avoid having to answer."Strathern, p 405 Additionally, Gian Gastone's fragile temperament required long periods of isolation; he spent several hours alone each night, drinking and staring up at the moon.
The Grand Prince finally succumbed to syphilis on 30 October 1713, sparking a succession crisis.Young, pp. 478–479 Cosimo III deposited a bill in the Tuscan senate, the nominal legislature, provisioning for a male line succession failure by making the Electress Palatine Gian Gastone's heiress.Young, p 479 It passed and was disseminated to chancelleries across Europe.Young, pp. 479–480 Austria refused to sanction it, fearing that Tuscany would fall into the hands of the House of Bourbon.Young, p 480 However, France and Great Britain did.
The Electress returned to Florence in October 1717, following the death of her husband the previous summer. Violante Beatrice of Bavaria, to whom Gian Gastone had become quite attached, disliked the Electress and therefore left the grand ducal court for the position of governor of the town of Siena.Acton, pp. 265–266 The Electress, now the First Lady of Tuscany, and Gian Gastone were not on good terms: he scorned her for marrying him to Anna Maria Franziska, who, for eleven years, made his life unbearable.Young, p 487
On 4 April 1718, Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic (and later Austria) selected Charles of Spain, the elder child of Elisabeth Farnese (a great-granddaughter of Margherita de' Medici) and Philip V of Spain, as the Tuscan heir, the Electress's rights to the throne being completely disregarded in the process.Acton, p 275 All his ambitions in regards to the succession being thwarted, Cosimo III distributed one final proclamation shortly before his death, on 31 October 1723, decreeing that the Electress should succeed Gian Gastone.Young, p 484 Unfortunately for Cosimo, his declaration was completely ignored.
Reign (1723–1737)
The Tuscany Gian Gastone inherited was in a pitiful state: the army numbered less than 3,000, the royal coffers were empty and Florence was full of beggars.Strathern, p 400Acton, p 271 The ramshackle condition of the capital was noted by philosopher Montesquieu five years into Gian Gastone's reign: "There is no town where men live in less luxury than Florence". Despite these hindrances, Gian Gastone, aged 52, commenced his reign with a burst of ebullience, releasing prisoners, abolishing exorbitant taxes, "Pensions on the Creed" (monies paid to converts to Christianity) and public executions.Young, pp. 486–487Acton, p 279
Gian Gastone recalled Violante Beatrice to the royal court and banished his sister, the Dowager Electress, to the Villa La Quiete.Acton p 280 The Governor reigned supreme over Tuscan society, and Gian Gastone delegated most of his public duties to her, and chose to spend most of his time in bed. Here, Gian Gastone was entertained by the Ruspanti, a team of poor, handsome young men assembled by Dami, who performed sexual acts for and with the Grand Duke.Aldrich; Wotherspoon, p 306 Loathing the aristocracy, Gian Gastone called the foremost Ruspanti by the names of prominent Tuscan nobles. A contemporary dubbed the head of the Ruspanti, Giuliano Dami, "the despot of Gian Gastone's court"; he exploited his influence with the Grand Duke by offering anybody who was willing to bribe him an audience with their monarch.Acton, p 285