[12] Marguerite Louise's extravagances perturbed Ferdinando because the Tuscan exchequer was nearly bankrupt; it was so empty that when the Wars of Castro mercenaries were paid for, the state could no longer afford to pay interest on government bonds.

Marguerite Louise wanted to return to France, and Saint-Mesme sympathised with this, as did much of the French court, so he left without finding a solution to the heir's domestic disharmony, incensing both Ferdinando and Louis XIV.

[19] By January 1669, he had arrived in Portugal, being welcomed by the Court and Peter II, where he stayed until March, visiting several villages and cities such as Lisbon, Setúbal, Santarém, Coimbra, Rates and Viana.

[22][23] Of the various monuments, convents and churches visited, it was the Monastery of Saint Denis of Odivelas that most aroused the curiosity of the Florentines due to the libertine lifestyle of the nuns living there.

[29] At the time of his death, the population of the grand duchy was 720,594 souls; the streets were lined with grass and the buildings on the verge of collapse in Pisa, while Siena was virtually abandoned.

Cosimo III commenced his reign with the utmost fervour, attempting to salvage the sinking exchequer and allowing his subjects to petition him for arbitration in disputes.

[31] Marguerite Louise, deprived of any political influence, went about arranging Prince Ferdinando's education and arguing with Vittoria over precedence, which only further encamped Cosimo on his mother's side.

[33] Marguerite Louise feigned illness at the start of 1672: Louis XIV send Alliot le Vieux, Anne of Austria's personal physician, to tend to her.

[35] The saga between them continued until 26 December 1674, after all attempts at conciliation failed, a beleaguered Cosimo agreed to allow his wife to depart for the Convent of Montmartre, France.

[44] Louis XIV, tiring of Florence's petitions, retorted: "Since Cosimo had consented to the retirement of his wife into France, he had virtually relinquished all right to interfere in her conduct."

[49] Negotiations with the Portuguese were intense, but stalled over certain clauses: Ferdinando and Isabel Luisa would live in Lisbon, Ferdinando would renounce his right to the Tuscan throne unless the Infanta's father, King Peter II, remarried and had male issue, and if Isabel Luisa became Queen of Portugal, and Cosimo III, Gian Gastone and Francesco Maria died without any male heirs, Tuscany would be annexed by Portugal.

The Emperor, anxious to avoid friction, suggested that Anna Maria Luisa should marry Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine to compensate for the affront.

[51] The Elector Palatine, two years later, several months before his marriage to Anna Maria Luisa, went about acquiring the aforesaid style for Cosimo and his family, despite the fact that they had no claim to any kingdom.

Tuscany was not alone in its feudal ties to the Empire: A large part of northern Italy was also bound to pay the Emperor, but at a much higher magnitude than Cosimo, who merely paid on his few undisputed Imperial fiefs.

Young men were not allowed to "enter into houses to make love to girls, and let them dally at doors and windows, is a great incentive to rapes, abortions, and infanticides..." If a man did not comply, he was liable to receive enormous fines.

[57] Prostitutes were oft thrown into the Stinche, a jail for women of that profession, for years, with scant food, if they could not afford the fines levied on them by the Office of Public Decency.

[60] In a letter dated 10 October 1691, Cosimo's personal secretary wrote, "By the Serene Master's express command I must inform Your Excellencies that His Highness will allow no professor in his university at Pisa to read or teach, in public or in private, by writing or voice, the philosophy of Democritus, or of atoms, or any save that of Aristotle.

The Grand Duke responded by declaring special days of devotion, and erecting a "fertility column" in the Cavour district of Florence, an act which attracted popular ridicule.

Her allodial possessions, the Duchies of Montefeltro and Rovere, inherited from her grandfather, the last Duke of Urbino, were bestowed upon her younger son, Francesco Maria de' Medici.

Pope Innocent XII, after much persuasion, created Cosimo a Canon of Saint John in the Lateran, in order to allow him to view the Volto Santo, a cloth thought to have been used by Christ before his crucifixion.

[65] Cosimo recognised Philip, duc d'Anjou, as Carlos's successor, whose administration refused to sanction the Trattamento Reale reserved for the royal family.

A contemporary recounted that "The Grand Duke knows all the monks of Saint Mark at least by sight..."[71] This, however, did not occupy all his efforts: He was still trying to coax Anna Maria Franziska to Florence, where he believed her caprices would cease.

Following the Battle of Turin, a decisive Imperial victory, the Emperor sent an envoy to Florence to collect feudal dues, amounting to 300,000 doubloons, an exorbitant sum; and to force Cosimo to recognise the Archduke Charles as king of Spain.

[75] Cosimo wrote desperate missives to the Electress Palatine: "I can tell you now, in case you are not informed, that we have no money in Florence..." He added that "two or three-quarters of my pension are fallen into arrears".

Cosimo, in an act of desperation, had Francesco Maria, the Medici family cardinal, renounce his religious vows and marry Eleanor of Gonzaga, the youngest child of the incumbent Duke of Guastalla.

[79][better source needed] The plan was about to be approved by the powers convened at Geertruidenberg when Cosimo abruptly added that if he and his two sons predeceased the Electress Palatine she should succeed and the republic be re-instituted following her death.

Realising how unforthcoming he had been, Charles wrote to Florence agreeing to the project, mentioning but one clause: the Tuscan state must not be bequeathed to the enemies of the House of Austria.

Elisabeth Farnese, heiress to the Duchy of Parma and the second wife of Philip V of Spain, as a great-granddaughter of Margherita de' Medici, exercised a claim to Tuscany.

[83] In May 1716, the Emperor assured the Electress and the Grand Duke that there was no insurmountable obstacle preventing her accession, but that Austria and Tuscany must soon reach an agreement regarding which royal house which was to succeed the Medici.

[citation needed] Cosimo III left Tuscany one of the poorest nations in Europe; the treasury empty and the people weary of religious bigotry, the state itself was reduced to a gaming chip in European affairs.