Ippolito de' Medici

Ippolito de' Medici
Portrait of Ippolito de' Medici by Titian.
Lord of Florence
Reign	19 November 1523 – 16 May 1527
Predecessor	Giulio de' Medici
Successor	Alessandro de' Medici
Born	1511 Florence, Republic of Florence
Died	10 August 1535 (aged 24) Itri, Kingdom of Naples
Noble family	Medici
Father	Giuliano de' Medici
Mother	Pacifica Brandano

Ippolito de' Medici (1511 – 10 August 1535) was the illegitimate only son of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici.

Ippolito was born in Urbino. His father died when he was only five (1516), and he was subsequently raised by his uncle Pope Leo X and his cousin Giulio.

When Giulio de' Medici was elected pope as Clement VII, Ippolito ruled Florence on his behalf. After the siege of Florence (1529–1530), however, Clement favored his other illegitimate nephew Alessandro, and made Ippolito first archbishop of Avignon and then cardinal instead (1529), sending him as Papal legate to Hungary, where he evinced a talent for soldiering.

He was a friend to, and possibly had a liaison with, Giulia Gonzaga, the Countess of Fondi. He loved Catherine de' Medici but they never married. Alessandro de' Medici caught him and Catherine de' Medici in a private embrace. However, when he was sent away as a Cardinal, they weren't allowed to see each other any longer. Some theories suggest that is the reason Clement made him Cardinal: to keep him and Catherine de' Medici apart.

In 1535, he acted as Florentine ambassador to the emperor Charles V. Ippolito died from malaria in Itri, in southern Lazio, although there were rumors that he had been poisoned by Alessandro de' Medici, whose abuses he was intending to denounce.