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THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI


BY EDGCUMBE STALEY


AUTHOR OF "THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE," "RAPHAEL," "FRA ANGELICO," ETC.


ILLUSTRATED




TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER THOMAS STALEY




PREFACE


When Alexandre Dumas wrote his _Crimes of the Borgias_--and other
"Crimes"--he fully intended to compile a companion volume, treating of
episodes in the great family of the Medici. With this project in view,
he collected much material, and actually published, tentatively, two
interesting brochures: _Une Annee a Florence_--in 1841, and _Les
Galeries de Florence_--in 1842.

Nothing, however, came of his more ambitious "idea," and, until to-day,
no one has taken in hand to write _The Tragedies of the Medici_. My
attention was first directed to the omission during the preparation of
my _Guilds of Florence_, published in 1906; and I determined to address
myself to the forging of that lurid link in the cat