Lorenzo II became lord of Florence in 1516, after his uncle,
Giuliano de' Medici died. Ambitious by nature, Lorenzo II, despite being appointed Captain of the Florentine militia, lacked patience with Florence's republican system of government and thus, in 1516, convinced his uncle,
Pope Leo X to make him Duke of Urbino at the age of 24. So began a conflict with the city's previous duke,
Francesco Maria I della Rovere. During the protracted
War of Urbino, Delle Rovere recaptured the city, only to have Medici —
commanding a 10,000-man Papal army — in turn, retake the city. During battle, Lorenzo was wounded, which prompted him to retire to Tuscany. In September 1517, he regained Urbino via treaty; however, it remained under the Medici family's rule for only two years. In 1521 the duchy reverted to the
Della Rovere family. On 13 June 1518, Lorenzo married
Madeleine de La Tour, daughter of the Count of
Auvergne. The marriage produced a daughter, Catherine, in 1519.
Catherine de' Medici went on to become Queen of France, via a marriage to the future King
Henry II of France, arranged by the second Medici Pope,
Pope Clement VII. Madeleine died 28 April 1519, followed by Lorenzo, who died 4 May 1519. Thus his daughter Catherine was raised primarily by the Medici Popes, Leo X and Clement VII, and their surrogates. Lorenzo II's tomb is in the
Medici Chapel of Florence's
Church of San Lorenzo. There is disagreement over which of the two tombs is Lorenzo II's. The received view is that Lorenzo's tomb that is adorned by
Michelangelo's sculpture
Pensieroso, which offers an idealized portrait of Lorenzo II, and that its companion piece, also sculpted by Michelangelo, represents Lorenzo II's uncle
Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici. But historian Richard Trexler has argued that Lorenzo II, having been Captain of the Florentine militia, must be the figure holding the baton, symbol of military authority conferred by the Republic. Trexler also notes that the "Pensieroso" is holding a mappa, the symbol of military authority in ancient Rome, which would be an appropriate symbol for Giuliano di Lorenzo, who was appointed Captain of Roman forces. In sharing the same name with his illustrious ancestor,
Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Duke's tomb is often mistaken for that of his grandfather. Famously,
Niccolò Machiavelli dedicated his political
treatise The Prince to Lorenzo to advise him of tactics to use to maintain his authority. == Issue ==