Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519-1574).
Many of the influential men in Florence favoured him as the new duke. Several hoped to rule through him, thereby enriching themselves at the state's expense.
Cosimo proved strong-willed, astute and ambitious and soon rejected the clause he had signed that entrusted much of the power of the Florentine duchy to a Council of Forty-Eight.
When the Florentine exiles heard of the death of Alessandro, they marshalled their forces with support from France and from disgruntled neighbors of Florence.
Toward the end of July 1537, the exiles marched into Tuscany. When Cosimo heard of their approach, he sent his best troops under Alessandro Vitelli to engage the enemy, which they did at Montemurlo. After defeating the exiles' army, Vitelli stormed the fortress, where Strozzi and a few of his companions had retreated to safety. It fell after only a few hours, and Cosimo celebrated his first victory.
In 1537, Cosimo sent Bernardo Antonio de' Medici to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to gain recognition for his position as head of the Florentine state. That recognition came in June 1537 in exchange for help against France in the course of the Italian Wars. With this move, Cosimo firmly restored the power of the Medici. The help granted to Charles V allowed him to free Tuscany from the Imperial garrisons and to increase as much as possible its independence from the overwhelming Spanish influence in Italy.
Cosimo next turned his attention to Siena. With the support of Charles V, he defeated the Sienese at the Battle of Marciano in 1554 and laid siege to their city. In 1559, Montalcino, the last redoubt of Sienese independence, was annexed to Cosimo's territories. In 1569, Pope Pius V elevated him to the rank of Grand Duke of Tuscany.
In the last 10 years of his reign, struck by the death of two of his sons by malaria, Cosimo gave up active rule of the Florentine state to his son and successor Francesco I.
Cosimo was an authoritarian ruler and secured his position by employing a guard of Swiss mercenaries. He also was an active builder of military structures, as a part of his attempt to save the Florentine state from the frequent passage of foreign armies.
He laid heavy tax burdens on his subjects. Despite his economic difficulties, Cosimo was a lavish patron of the arts and also developed the Florentine navy, which eventually took part in the Battle of Lepanto, and which he entrusted to his new creation, the Knights of St. Stephen.
His gardens at Villa di Castello were a prototype for the Italian Renaissance garden. They had a profound influence on later Italian and French gardens through the eighteenth century. He also finished the Pitti Palace.
He was an important patron of the arts.
He was married to Eleanor of Toledo then Camilla Martelli. He had 12 children.
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