The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume II / Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels from Prussia Thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &c. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts.

by Freiherr von Karl Ludwig Pöllnitz

go to Leghorn, and see my new Guests safe ashore.

I cannot leave Florence, without thinking it my Duty to mention some Persons of Note to you, whom I was acquainted with at this Court.

The Commandeur d’Elbene is Steward of the Great Duke’s Houshold, and President of his Council, and venerable both for his Age and his Merit.

The Marquis Rinuccini is the second Minister, but is properly the Soul of the Council, having been employ’d in Business a long time; for in 1711 he was the Great Duke’s Envoy at the Hague, and about that Time he attended the late Elector Palatine to the Election of an Emperor at Franckfort. He was afterwards sent Envoy from the Great Duke to the Congress at Utrecht, and from thence he went to England: When he return’d from his Embassies, the late Great Duke admitted him a Member of his Council, and put him at the Head of Foreign Affairs, of which he has still the Direction. ’Twas he that dispos’d the Great Duke and the Electress to submit to the Times, and to recognize Don Carlos, the Infante of Spain, for their Successor: And in fine, he is the Man that settles all Matters against the Arrival of that Prince, who is expected here with very great Impatience.

Tho’ the Nobility of Florence are in general very civil to Foreigners, yet ’tis certain, that the Marquis Richardi is one of those Gentlemen that give them the best Welcome; and as he is one of the richest Gentlemen in Tuscany, he is also one of those that keep the best House; he has three Sons, and one of them is a Prelate; the eldest of them, Don Vincenzo, who is like some Day or other to be the Head of the Family, has travell’d very much, and is certainly a Gentleman of very great Acquirements and Merit.

There are a great many fine Ladies here, but they don’t dress well, and have not near so much Liberty as those of Rome: There’s one Madame Suarez indeed, that cuts a very great Figure, and keeps open House to all Comers; she receives Foreigners in a grand Manner, especially the English; but her House would be better, if there was not so much Gaming in it.

Before I set out from Florence, I can’t think it will be improper to give you a few Particulars concerning the Family of the Medicis, which is near being extinct in the Person of the Great Duke John Gaston.

This Family has given seven Sovereign Princes to Tuscany. Cosmo the First, of that Name, was also the first Great Duke. He obtain’d that Title about Ann. 1568. from the Emperor Maximilian II of whom he had demanded the Title of King of Hetruria; but the Emperor return’d him for Answer, That he knew of but one King in Italy, and that was himself. However, to gratify Cosmo’s Vanity, Maximilian invented the Title of Great Duke, that of Arch Duke being already the Appenage of the House of Austria. The Names of the seven Great Dukes, with their Alliances, are as follow.

Cosmo I. who married Eleanor of Toledo.
Ferdinand I. who married Joan of Austria.
Francis I. who married Mary Magdalen of Austria.
Cosmo II. whose Wife was Claude of Lorain.
Ferdinand II. married to Mary de la Rovero, Duchess of Urbino.
Cosmo III. who married Margaretta Louisa of Orleans.
John Gaston, married to Anna Maria Frances of Saxe-Lawenbourg.