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The remorse of Cosimo de’ Medici for the murder of his dearly-loved child Maria, his first-born, did not hinder his policy of aggrandisement.  He was determined to keep the whip-hand over Ferrara, and to maintain the precedence of his house over that of the Estensi.  He had already sacrificed one daughter, not only to his parental passion but to his sovereign will, and one daughter still remained unbargained; he would use her to hold what he had got.

Lucrezia was no more than twelve years old when Maria passed to Paradise.  Prince Alfonso was twenty-two, and his father, Duke Ercole II., had apparently no fiancee in view for him, and the lad seemed not to be in a marrying mood.  At the moment Ferrara was isolated, but Cosimo, seizing a favourable opportunity, through his relationship with the King of Spain, contrived to arrange a treaty between that kingdom, Tuscany and Parma, which he adroitly extended to include Ferrara.

It was a powerful combination, and Cosimo had his price, and that price was the betrothal of Alfonso and Lucrezia.  The Duke of Ferrara yielded, and in the same month, March 1558, the treaty of alliance was signed at Pisa, and the two young people were affianced there by proxy.

To be sure, there was trouble with Rome.  Julius III., in 1552, had bespoken Lucrezia for his bastard nephew, Fabiano Conte Del Monte—­a man without resources and of no recognised position nor of good character—­it was just a selfish whim of the Pope—­the children never saw each other.  Cosimo, with his usual daring, brushed the whole project aside, and made a liberal contribution to Peter’s Pence that year!

If Lucrezia was somewhat less fair and less clever than Maria, she was, all the same, an attractive girl.  Thin in figure—­as all growing girls—­tall, well-formed, with the promise of a well-proportioned maturity, she had an oval face and a high forehead, well-clustered with curly auburn hair.  There was a peculiarity about her eyes—­black they were or a very dark brown—­they had something of that cast of optic vision which was remarkable in Cosimo, “Il Padre della Patria” and in Lorenzo, “Il Magnifico,” as well as in other members of the family.

“She had a pretty mouth and a dimpled chin, and always wore a pleasing expression indicative of good-nature and resolute affection.  Very unlike her elder sisters, Maria and Isabella, she was somewhat reserved in manner; she spoke little, but expressed her opinion with flashes of her eyes.”  Her father admired her firmness of resolution greatly, and generally spoke of her as “La Mia Sodana,” “my little strong-willed daughter.”

“She is quite a chip of the old block,” he was wont to say of her, “quite one of us—­a Medico in frocks!” Lucrezia shared the lessons of her brother, and had been brought up specially with the idea of a brilliant foreign marriage, and her maid was a girl from Modena who knew Ferrara well.