Museo Galileo
italiano
Virtual Museum
Christina of Lorraine
1565-1636
Christina of Lorraine

Daughter of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (1543-1608), and Claudia, daughter of King Henry II Valois of France (1519-1559). After her mother's early death, her grandmother, Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589), Queen of France, looked after her education and sought a high-status marriage for her. After numerous and lengthy negotiations, Christina eventually married Ferdinand I de' Medici (1549-1609) in 1586. She arrived in Florence in 1589, where she died in 1636. After her husband's death in 1609, she tutored her young son Cosimo II de' Medici (1590-1621). Galileo (1564-1642) addressed the most famous of his "Copernican letters" to Christina of Lorraine in 1615.