Clement, of course, knew very well of the existence of Giovanni delle Bande Nere’s son and heir, and whilst he hailed the death of the father as a gain for his personal ambition, he feared the life of his child would peril his hopes for Alessandro, his own illegitimate son. Cosimo, Giovanni’s boy, must be kept out of the way at all hazards, and Maria the widow was very soon well aware of the Pope’s aims.
By every means in his power, Clement strove to obtain possession of little Cosimo, but his mother was as watchful as she was prudent, and, till her boy reached his twelfth year, she never let him go out of her sight and keeping. She took him away to remote parts of Italy with trusty attendants, that the Pope might not discover their whereabouts. Then she chose a faithful friend of her family, Maestro Pierfrancesco Riccio da Prato, to superintend his further education. If not the wisest of teachers, he was admirable for the exact discharge of his duties and inculcated the best traditions of the Medici.
Together tutor and pupil visited many parts of Central Italy and spent some time at Venice, the chief subject of their studies being the heroic doings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. This was the usual curriculum for growing boys, and doubtless its observance induced that admiration of tyrannicide which marked the character of so many young Florentines.
In 1523, when Clement so artfully persuaded the Florentine ambassadors to request the despatch of the two bastards, Ippolito and Alessandro, to Florence, the only man who maintained his opposition was Messer Giacopo de’ Salviati, and he again protested in person both to Clement in Rome and before the Signoria in Florence, against the creation of Alessandro as Head of the Republic. Once more this “loyal citizen” withstood the bastard Duke, when he put his hand to the building of the fortress of San Giovanni. Naturally, Messer Giacopo’s opposition excited the animosity of Alessandro, who, if he did not actually inspire his assassination, was, at all events, privy to it.
But in spite of all, Cosimo grew and flourished, displaying his father’s courage and his mother’s prudence. At fifteen, his character appeared to be already formed. He was grave of aspect and severe in manner, very backward in forming friendships, and intolerant of familiarities.
In 1536, the Emperor Charles and his court were in residence at Bologna, and, hearing that young Cosimo de’ Medici was also in the city, the monarch sent for him and received him with marked cordiality. Observing the young man’s bearing and evident force of character, Charles took him by the arm and, placing his hand upon the lad’s shoulder, said to him: “You are fortunate, young man, to have had for your father a soldier who made both France and Spain tremble!”
Between fifteen and eighteen we have few records of Cosimo’s life and no hint as to where he was during the terrible years of tyranny and debauchery in Florence. Anyhow, Duke Alessandro owed him no kindness, nor did he enter into any relations with him. What dealings he had with Lorenzino and Giuliano, his cousins, are unknown. They were nearer the succession to the ducal throne than himself—indeed, the former was regarded as next heir to Alessandro. In all probability the young man lived with his mother at the villa at Castello which had belonged to his father, and kept himself very much out of sight.
The news of Duke Alessandro’s assassination very soon got about, and groups of citizens gathered in the Via Larga and also in the Piazza del Signoria. Although considerable excitement pervaded those assemblages, the people remained quiet and self-controlled. “Everybody,” as Benedetto Varchi has recorded, “spoke out quite fully, as though no one doubted but that the Greater Council of the city would at once be summoned. They debated as to who would be chosen Gonfaloniere, and whether for life or not. Meanwhile the Council of Forty-eight had assembled at the Medici Palace at the call of the Cardinal (Cibo), and were in conference in the long gallery upstairs.”
Cardinal Cibo was the son of Maddalena de’ Medici, Lorenzo il Magnifico’s eldest daughter. He with Francesco de’ Guicciardini and Francesco de’ Vettori had constituted themselves, in a sort of way, mentors and advisers to the murdered Duke, who was only too glad to free himself of some of the distasteful duties of State, and confide them to anyone who would relieve him of them.