The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence Book

A fascinating narrative about the lives of the Medici wives, widows, daughters and sisters! This book emphasizes not on the obvious names that come to mind, like the two Medici queens of France, but on the lesser known female members of the Medici family. It's true, while sad at the same time, that history often forgets the pivotal role these women played in the Medici regime, as underlined in their efforts to protect and advance the family's interests during the two Medici exiles (of which the female members of the family were exempted due to them being deemed politically non-dangerous by their contemporaries because of their gender. Boy, what a mistake that was). To single out only one of these magnificent women would be a disrespect to the others, so I will only say this: upon picking up the book I looked at the cover and wondered who the woman pictured there was and why didn't Natalie Tomas pick a better known Medici woman for the cover. Having finished the book I'm now able to reply to my then ignorant self: this is Lucrezia Tornabuoni. Yes, she was mother to Lorenzo il Magnifico, but she was also a completely badass woman in her own right.