Il tirannicidio visto con gli occhi di una donna: l’uccisione di Alessandro de’ Medici nell’Eptameron di Margherita di Navarra

This essay presents a critical reflection on the narration offered by Margaret of Navarre in her work the Eptameron of the story of the assassination of the Florentine duke Alessandro de' Medici by his cousin, presumed friend and courtier, Lorenzino de’ Medici on the night of Epiphany 1537 in Florence. The Florentine tyrannicide had provoked a momentary crisis in the political balance of the Italian peninsula, undermining the system created by Charles V. Alexander was also linked to the emperor by family ties, having married Margaret of Austria, the Habsburg's natural daughter. There was then a broad debate on the legitimisation of tyrannicide, significantly evoking recourse to the myth of Brutus, already elaborated by humanistic-Renaissance culture. The description of tyrannicide offered by Margaret of Navarre, a woman of wide literary culture, but also active in the political events of her time, in support of the demands of the French court, therefore appears worthy of interest also from the point of view of political-ideological analysis.