Carlo de' Medici (19 March 1595 – 17 June 1666) was an
Italian nobleman and
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to
* Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae
***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
Early life and ancestry
Born into the powerful and wealthy Florentine
House of Medici
The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo de' Medici, Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first h ...
, he was the fifth child and third son of
Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (30 July 1549 – 17 February 1609) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I, who presumably died from malaria.
Early life
Ferdinando was the ...
and his wife,
Christina of Lorraine. His paternal grandparents were
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...
, and his wife,
Eleanor of Toledo
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages">Provençal dialect ...
, the daughter of
Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca
Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga (13 July 1484 – 21 February 1553) was a Spanish politician. The first effective Spanish viceroy of Naples, in 1532–1552, he was responsible for considerable social, economic and urban improval in the city ...
, the Spanish
viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory.
The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...
of the
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...
. His maternal grandparents were
Charles III, Duke of Lorraine
Charles III (18 February 1543 – 14 May 1608), known as ''the Great'', was Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death.
Life
He was the eldest surviving son of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, and Christina of Denmark.
In 1545, his father died, a ...
and his wife,
Claude of Valois
Claude of Valois (12 November 1547 – 21 February 1575) was a French princess as the second daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, and Duchess of Lorraine by marriage to Charles III, Duke of Lorraine.
Biography
Claude was ...
, daughter of
Henry II, King of France and
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...
.
Biography
Born in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
, as a younger son into an influential
Italian noble family, he was destined for a career in
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
. Fulfilling his promise, he had a successful