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FRANCESCO  C) FERDINAND I., Pietro, Isabella, C) Virginia, 1541-1587 0w+ 1549-1609 1554-1604 1542-1576 {o --Cesare =1 . Joanna:- y =Cristina of =Eleonora =Paolo P d'Este, of Austria, -Ha Lorraine, of Toledo, Giordano 0- duke of f 7578; " -• t 1537• t 1576 . Orsini. is Modena . 2 . Bianca a„ Q, Cappello, '~ N t r~87• I I I {} I Maria, t1642 ----Henry IV., king of France . Co D 0 wo I I I ! 1 I I I Giovanni, 1467-1498 =Caterina Sforza Riario, t 1509 . Giovanni delle Bande Nere, 1498-1526 =Maria Salviati, t 1543 . Cos1MO I., 1519-1574, =1 . Eleonora of Toledo, f 1562 . 2 . Camilla Martelli .

Cosimo II., n Caterina= Claudia 1590-1621 -I . 4' - . ~r Ferdinand =1 . Federigo =Maria ' o o c g $

Gonzaga, della Rovere, Maddalena a a o duke of hereditary of Austria, • c • a Mantua. prince of ' f 1631. p Urbino; Lorenzo, 1305-1440 =Ginevra Cavalcanti, Pier Francesco, t 1467 -= Laudomia Acciaitioli . ft . 2 . Leopold of Austrian Laudomia . Maddalena Giuliano Piero =Roberto bishop of Strozzi . Strozzi . Beziers . Lorenzo, t 1503 Semiramide Appiani . Pier Francesco, f 1525 =Maria Soderini .

Tyrol . FERDINAND II., Francesco, Mattia, Leopoldo, Giovanni

Anna Margherita 1610-1670 t 1634. f 1667. cardinal, Carlo, Ferdinand =Odoardo Vittoria =Vittoria della t 1675. cardinal, of Austrian Farnese . della Rovere . Rovere, f 1694. f 1063 . Tyrol. duke of' Parma . I i Cosnlo III., 1642-1723 Francesco Maria, 1660-1711 (cardinal until 1709) =Marguerite Louise of Orleans, t 1721 . Eleonora Gonzaga . Ferdinand, 1663-1713 GIOVAN GASTONE, 1671-1737 Anna Maria Luisa, 1667-1743 =Violante of Bavaria, t 1731 . =Anna Maria of Saxe-Lauenburg, f 174r . = John William of the Palatinate . Cosimo had a passing idea of reconstituting the Florentine republic, but, this design being discountenanced by the Euro- pean powers, he determined to transfer the succession, after the death of Giovan Gastone, to his sister Anna Maria Louisa, who in fact survived him . For this purpose he proposed to annul the patent of Charles V., but the powers objected to this arrangement also, and by the treaty of '1718 the quadruple alliance of Germany, France, England and Holland decided that Parma and Tuscany should descend to the Spanish Infante Don Carlos . The grand-duke made energetic but fruitless protests .

Cosimo III. had passed his eightieth

year at the time of his decease in October 1723, and was succeeded by his son Giovan Gastone, then aged fifty-three . The new sovereign was in bad health, worn out by dissipation, and had neither ambition nor aptitude for rule . His throne was already at the disposal of foreign powers, and his only individuals; while the grand-duke, compelled to pass the greater part of his time in bed, vainly sought diversion in the company of buffoons, and was only tormented by perceiving that all the world disposed of his throne without even asking his advice . And when, after prolonged opposition, he had resigned himself to accept Don Carlos as his successor, the latter led a Spanish army to the conquest of Naples, an event afterwards leadrAg to the peace of 1735, by which the Tuscan succession was transferred to Francesco II., duke of Lorraine, and husband of Maria Theresa . Giovan Gastone was finally obliged to submit even to this . Spain withdrew her garrisons from Tuscany, and Austrian soldiers took their place and swore fealty to the grand-duke on the 5th of February 1737 . He expired on the 9th of July of the same year . Such was the end of the younger branch of the Medici, which had found Tuscany a prosperous country, where art, letters, commerce, industry and agriculture flourished, Giovan Oilstone . and left her poor and decayed in all ways, drained by taxation, and oppressed by laws contrary to every principle of sound economy, downtrodden by the clergy, and burdened by a weak and vicious aristocracy .