Born in Nancy, she was the daughter of Charles III of Lorraine and his wife Claude of Valois, and granddaughter of Catherine de' Medici.

Seeking a marriage that would preserve his political independence, Ferdinando chose his distant cousin, Christine of Lorraine, the favourite granddaughter of Catherine de' Medici.

[citation needed] The sumptuous and well-documented wedding festivities, celebrated in Florence in 1589, were designed to impress the royal houses of Europe.

The wedding ceremony in Florence Cathedral was followed by outdoor events for the public, as well as banquets and balls, comedies and musical interludes, and a mock sea battle in the flooded courtyard of Palazzo Pitti for the aristocratic guests.

PJ Mariette takes note of the various artists including Santi di Tito, Gregorio Pagani, Camillo Pagni, and Giovanni Battista Paggi, who worked on the ephemeral decorations.

[citation needed] On 28 July 1603 she wrote to Anne of Denmark to congratulate her and King James coming to the throne of England.

In 1610 the Venetian ambassador Giacomo Vendramin wrote home: "the grand duchess wants thus to govern everything absolutely, without any thought to the reputation and the benefit of her son".

Christina was keen to bolster the dynastic claim of the Medici, and commissioned a biography of the first grand duke and her father-in-law Cosimo I.

[8] Maria Maddalena died in November 1631, shortly after her son Ferdinando II had formally assumed the position of grand duke.

The 18th Century historian Jacopo Riguccio Galluzzi remarked on the co-regency "everything started to decline from the moment of Cosimo II' death".

As a consequence patricians started to occupy positions in a range of institutions of the Medici government and in the civil service.

But Boscaglia argued that Galileo's interpretation of his discoveries was wrong, mainly because "the motion of the Earth seemed incredible and could not be true, all the more so since Holy Scripture was clearly against this opinion."

[22] This line of argument resembled Christina's own views on the matter,[23] and is in essence the position the Catholic Church takes today on questions of science.

Through her patronage the Monastero di Santa Croce (or La Crocetta) became the principal residence for unmarried Medici princesses.