User:Kansas Bear/Caterina Cybo

Caterina was the fifth daughter of Franceschetto Cybo and Maddalena de' Medici.

Life
Caterina was the daughter of Franceschetto Cybo, illegitimate son of Giovanni Battista Cybo and Maddalena de Medici, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici. By 1513, at 12, Caterina was a promise bride of Giovanni Maria Varano, Duke of Camerino. The marriage was opposed by her mother, Maddalena, who wanted her daughter married to Sigismondo da Varano, nephew of Giovanni Maria. Her mother died in 1519 and Caterina married Giovanni Maria in 1520.

At the death of Leo X, protector of Giovanni Maria, Sigismondo da Varano took Camerino with the military assistance of Francesco Maria della Rovere. Caterina fled to Civitanova, where she organized a small army and retook Camerino and killed Sigismondo.

On 24 March 1523 Caterina's daughter, Giulia, was born. In November, her uncle Guilio de Medici was elected Pope and took the name Clement VII. Caterina and Giovanni witnessed the pontiff coronation ceremony, to which they asked the return of Senigallia and Sassoferrato, conquered by the duke of Urbino, Francesco della Rovere: as compensation, the husband obtained the absolution for the murder of Sigismondo and Catherine had guaranteed the right of succession to the duchy of Camerino in the event of death of John Mary and daughter Giulia without mileaty heirs.

Giovanni Maria da Varano died of the plague on 10 August 1527, leaving his daughter, Giulia, as heir. At that point Caterina was imprisoned by an illegitimate son of Giovanni Maria, Rodolfo da Varano. He was proclaimed duke, with the support of his brother-in-law Sciarra Colonna. These, put to the narrow from the reaction of the Cybo, the Pontifical and Duke of Urbino, betrayed Rodolfo and tried to legally seize the Duchy, offering to marry Caterina Cybo, but the negotiations of him did not go well. The column was forced to leave the dressing room, while Rodolfo da Varano was executed.

Among the rescuers of Caterina Cybo had been Hercules, Alessandro and Marco da Varano, interested in preserving the territories of the Duchy for his family in view of Giulia's marriage: but now they decided to take care of Camerino immediately, probably because they had news that Caterina was no longer intending to respect the marriage agreement. Cons of them, Caterina asked the help of the Duke of Urbino, promising Giulia to his son Guidobaldo II della Rovere Once the child had four years old: the agreement, remained secret, was formally reached 14 December 1527. The forces of the Duke Francesco della Rovere easily rejected the attempts of the Varano, which were also excommunicated by the Pope on 18 February 1529, while Caterina made them condemn to death in advance.

Caterina Cybo had meanwhile favored the formation of the new Cappuccino Order. The minor friar of the convent of Montefalcone, Matteo da Bascio, during a plague epidemic that struck those provinces in 1523, remained scandalized of the assistance of which they had given proof His confreres, convinced the need to reform the Franciscan Order or to fond another with more rigorous rules. Gone to Rome in 1525 to receive the consent of the Pontiff, he had to settle only promises and even imprisoned from him up to his convent. Caterina made him free him and recommended to the Pope a follower of Matthew, Ludovico Tenaglia from Fossombrone, which on 18 May 18 1525 obtained, for himself and his own followers, permission to bring the typical hood Square and conducting hermitic life. Subsequently, on 3 July 1528, Clement VII emanated the '' Religionis Zelus' bubble, with which the new order officially established.

On April 13th of the 1533 there was a new attempt by Matteo da Varano to take possession of the Duchy. Penetrated with a few armed in the ducal palace, he made Caterina prisoners and her lover of her Pietro Mellini, but he could not even seize the little Giulia, kept in the fortress of the city. The purpose of him was to cancel the promised wedding with the oak, but the refusal of Catherine to bend to the threats of him forced him at the end Matteo to escape.

In October 1533 the Duchess made part of the group of nobles who accompanied, by sea, to Marseille The young Caterina de 'Medici For the marriage with the Prince Enrico di Valois.

New difficulties arose in September 1534 following the death of Clement VII. Disappeared Uncle Protector, it was likely that the new Pontiff, what it was, opposed to the wedding in order to favor the aim of his family on the Duchy of Camerino. By him, Cardinal Innocenzo Cybo, brother of Caterina, tried to collect votes in conclave promising his niece Giulia in wife to the joints of the Cardinals voters.

Faced with such maneuvers, Francesco Maria della Rovere imposed the immediate celebration of the marriage between Giulia and his son Guidobaldo, in exchange for the return to Catherine of his daughter's dowry, and the wedding were celebrated on 12 October 1534 in the Rocca of Camerino. Pope Paul III, elected 13 October, aimed to enlarge the possessions of his family, reacted violently to the news, summoning to Rome Caterina, Giulia and Guidobaldo - who refused to introduce himself - refusing to recognize the marriage and removing the duchy of Visso from Caterina. Meanwhile, Caterina renounced the duchy in favor of Guidobaldo, and on 17 February 1535 Paul III excommunicated Caterina, Giulia and Guidobaldo and placed Camerino under interdict.

By 1539, Caterina's daughter, Giulia and son-in-law, Guidobaldo della Rovere, had to give Camerino to Ottavio Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III, in exchange for 64,000 ducats, while Paul III canceled the excommunication. Giulia died in 1547 A Fossombrone, assisted by her mother, who was also present to the death of the Lorenzo and Innocenzo brothers. In July of 1555 she tested in favor of her nephew Virginia della Rovere.

The evangelical experience
In 1535, Caterina moved to the Palazzo de 'Pazzi in Florence, where her brother Lorenzo lived with his wife and daughter Eleonora. Here she met the writers Francesco Berni, who wrote to her a praise in his Orlando Innamorato, Blessed Verchi, which devoted her a sonnet, Agnolo Firenzuola, who had already dedicated her his Arguments in 1525.

It was also in relation to many religious dissidents: with Bernardino Ocino, the general of the capuchins who in his home, in 1542, left the saio to escape Switzerland, pursued by the order of the 'Inquisition to present themselves in Rome, and with whom he remained in touch epistolary; He made her protagonist of her  Dialogi Seven , in which the theory of justification is expressed from the  spiritual  Juan de Valdés.

Caterina experienced other intellectuals and church men who aspired to a deep reform of the Church, if not in the odor of heresy, like the cardinals Reginald Pole and Federico Fregoso, and the bishop Gian Matteo Giberti. She hosted Marcantonio Flaminio, who published, after having revised him, the Benefit of Christ of Blessed Fontanini, a reference text for Italian reformers. He attended Pietro CarneSecchi, which in the process he had to suffer in Rome, at the end of which, in 1567, was sentenced to death at the stake, introduced her to the inquisitors like a follower del Valdés.

Caterina Cybo died on 17 February 1557 in Florence. She was buried in the Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation, next to her granddaughter Eleonora and other Cybo family members.