Isabella de' Medici

Following the death of her father, Isabella was murdered, with the complicity of her husband and brother, and in retribution for her relationship with Paolo Giordano's cousin Troilo Orsini.

Concerned by the spending habits of his new son-in-law, Cosimo decided to keep his daughter and her 50,000 scudi dowry in Florence, giving her greater freedom and control over her own affairs than was customary for Florentine women of the time.

Isabella's free-spirited personality created rumours with regard to the nature of her relationship with Troilo Orsini, Paolo Giordano's cousin, who was charged with looking after her while her husband tended to military duties.

According to her brother, the grandduke, this occurred "while she was washing her hair in the morning ... She was found by Signor Paolo Giordano on her knees, having immediately fallen dead.

"[7] However, the official version of events was not generally believed, and the Ferrarese ambassador, Ercole Cortile, obtained information that Isabella was "strangled at midday" by her husband in the presence of several named servants.