The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King by HRH Princess Michael of Kent Page A

Florentine apothecaries in the thirteenth century. As the family increased in wealth, it began to infiltrate the political and financial circles of the city. By the fourteenth century, the Medici concentrated on banking and the acquisition of steadily more important appointments within the republic. The aristocratic dynasties and the grand old families of weavers—Florence produced the most elaborate and finely woven fabrics in all Europe—despised the “nouveaux riches” merchant bankers and excluded them from society. Thereafter, the Medici made themselves the champions of the working class, and by the first quarter of the fifteenth century, a Medici had risen to become the head of the republic.
    Once at the helm of power, they never let go again, but continued to control politics and finance in Florence for three hundred years. By the fifteenth century, the wealth and power of the Medici was such that they were in a position to make enormous loans to Louis XI of France. It was due to the French king’s inability to repay that he permitted the
fleur-de-lys
to be placed on the city’s coat of arms and on the central ball of the Medicis’ own armorial shield.
    The wedding arranged by François I and the Medici Pope Leo X would bring their families even closer together. The willing victim of this arrangement was seventeen-year-old Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne, comtesse de Boulogne, daughter of a Princess of the Blood, a substantial heiress, and an acknowledged beauty. Since the king had negotiated the marriage contract between the ravishing Madeleine and the Duke of Urbino, he also presided over the magnificent, almost-royal festivities at Amboise, just days after the baptism of his heir the dauphin, on February 28, 1517. It was here that François met Leonardoda Vinci (who was among the pope’s suite of representatives) and invited the artist to come to France.
    For both occasions—the wedding and the christening—the courtyard of the château was covered and transformed into a huge banqueting hall. The castle walls were hung with rich tapestries, and the awning’s ceiling was decorated with garlands of box and flowers. Diane de Poitiers was a cousin of the bride through her mother, as well as the confidante of the queen, and she played a significant part in the joint ceremonies. 2 The first of these was the christening of the dauphin François.
    Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, standing proxy for the pope, who was godfather, held the dauphin at the font during the ceremony, and presented the king of France with a number of gifts, including two paintings by Raphael. The king, for his part, gave the bridegroom a company of men-at-arms and the chain and Order of Saint-Michel, as well as a handsome allowance for his French bride. This double celebration pleased all parties—the king was able to fortify his links with Rome and Florence; the duke felt himself nearer the realization of his ambition to hold sway over more of the Italian peninsula than just his native Urbino; and the bride’s family was delighted to come within the illustrious sphere of the pope. The joint christening and wedding celebrations lasted for several days of feasting and dancing, but no festivity was complete without a tournament. The king and the bridegroom distinguished themselves at the joust and no one was unduly disturbed when several of the combatants were killed during the mock battle that followed.
    Tournaments were held to enhance the prowess of the warriors by staging competitions. “Jousts,” as they were called, included single combat or teams taking part against one another. Once the trumpets had sounded the start, the audience was bound to total silence. Neither coughing nor hand signals or gestures were permitted. Jousting was carried out in “lists” 3 in an enclosed area, with riders charging at one another on either side of a barrier, their lances poised to knock theiropponent off his horse. Both riders and horses wore armor,