Contessina de' Bardi
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Contessina de Bardi was born about 1390 and died in Florence in October 1473.
Biography
The family of Contessina de Bardi had been exceptionally rich for some time, but following the bankruptcy of the family bank 1343 when King Edward III of England defaulted on loans from the bank, the family's importance was considerably reduced. The family had however succeeded in maintaining their well-off condition by making several acquisitions, mainly in the form of land, of castles and fortified towns, located in strategic places to the north of the Republic of Florence, such as the collar of Vernio. They enjoyed a certain fame as suzerains and condiotorie. Medici's called on them thus, on certain occasions, for armed support of their political hegemony.
Contessina de' Bardi married Cosimo de' Medici, together the couple had two children: Piero it Gottoso and Giovanni. She turned a blind eye to the escapades of Cosimo who had an illegitimate son, Charles de Médici. She survived her husband by ten years, who died in 1463, and she remained a reference for the grandchildren, so that Lorenzo de'Medici called his daughter Contessina de Médicis in honour of her.
Marriage
In 1414 she married Cosimo de Medici.