Bidspirit auction | [HISTORY] - Mazzoni’s Funeral Oration

[HISTORY] - Mazzoni’s Funeral Oration for Catherine de’ Medici (Florence, 1589) - MAZZONI, JACOPO - Iacobi Mazonii Oratio habita Florentiae VIII idus Februarii, anno MDXXCIIX in exequiis Catherinae Medices Francorum reginae. Florence: apud Philippum Iunctam, 1589. 4to (214x145 mm.), 20th c. half brown calf, boards covered with marble paper, spine with raised bands, title/date in gold, and small monogram at foot. Bookplate Ginori Conti and embossed stamp of Giannalisa Feltrinelli (her collection dispersed by Christies in 7 sales mainly between 1997 and 1998.). Giunti’s woodcut fleur-de-lys device with motto ‘In Domino confido’ (A54 V69 Z651), and another (different) in an oval at verso of leaf, ff. numb. 15, [1 nn.]. Several blank leaves bound at the end. Only edition of this funeral speech for the death of Catherine de' Medici (Florence 13 April 1519 – Blois 5 January 1589) a Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II and the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. The years during which her sons reigned have been called ”the age of Catherine de' Medici” since she had extensive, if at times varying, influence in the political life of France. Catherine was born in Florence to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne. In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine married Henry, the second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France, who would become Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536. Catherine's marriage was arranged by her uncle Pope Clement VII. During his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from state affairs and instead showered favours on his chief mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who wielded much influence over him. Henry's death in 1559 thrust Catherine into the political arena as mother of the frail 15-year-old King Francis II. When Francis II died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her 10-year-old son King Charles IX and was thus granted sweeping powers. After Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her advice only in the last months of her life but outlived her by just seven months. The author J. Mazzoni also published a famous work in defence of Dante and his ‘Divina Commedia’. Edit16 CNCE 28805; D. Moreni, Bibliografia storico ragionata della Toscana, Firenze, 1805, II, p. 60; Camerini, Annali dei Giunti di Firenze II, 161; BMC STC it., p. 430.