Alessandra Macinghi

Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi (1406 – March 2, 1471) was an elite Florentine woman from a political merchant family in the 15th century. Alessandra is best known for her letters, chronicling her fight to stubbornly preserve her family's property and position in Medicean Florence.^[1] Overcoming economic hardship and political strife, she raised her sons to be successful merchants and bankers. Seventy-three letters that she wrote were preserved by her son Filippo Strozzi the Elder and they were compiled and published in 1877 by Cesare Guasti and Alessandra’s letters are currently preserved in the Archivio di stato in Florence.^[2] Her letters remain some of the richest and revealing autobiographical materials to survive 15th century Florence, offering historians a glimpse into the life of a Renaissance widow.^[3]

Early life

Alessandra was born into the Macinghi family, a newly elite merchant patriciate family.^[4] The Macinghi family gained success as bankers and wool manufacturers and were politically engaged throughout Medicean (Medici) rule in Florence.^[5] She was born to Filippo di Niccoló Macinghi and Caterina di Bernardo Alberti. Caterina died while Alessandra was still young, and Alessandra’s father remarried to Ginevra di Albertuccio Riscasoli. In 1420, two years before Alessandra was to be married, Alessandra’s father died before Alessandra's marriage, for which he had already set aside a large dowry of 1600 florins.^[6]

Marriage and Family Life

At the age of fourteen, Alessandra married Matteo Strozzi on June 10, 1422. Matteo was twenty-five at the time, and was of good pedigree. The Strozzi family was one of the largest and most prestigious lineages in Florence, serving as prominent actors in Florentine politics and business since the end of the 13th century.^[6] The Macinghi and Strozzi alliance was considered to be politically and socially beneficial to both parties, as the Strozzi family had strong influence while of modest wealth and the Machinghi family was quite wealthy but not particularly distinguished.^[1]

After four childless years of marriage, the couple started their family. They had eight children, five of which survived to reach adulthood. The Strozzi children in chronological order include: Andreuola (1426), Simone (1427), Filippo (1428), Piero (1429), Caterina (1431), Lorenzo (1432), Lessandra (1434), and Matteo (1436).^[7] Throughout their marriage, Alessandra and Matteo were separated for extended periods of time due to his diplomatic missions in the early 1430s.^[1]

Although the Florentine constitution made political parties illegal, many citizens within the political class were divided into two opposing factions. The Strozzi belonged to the oligarchical faction, a loose alliance of various powerful patrician families, while the Medici faction was supported by the Medici Bank.^[8] In 1433, Cosimo de' Medici, the leader of the Medici faction, was exiled from the city to prevent their anticipated siege of power. A year later, the Medici family retaliated in a more successful assumption of power, exiling almost all of their opponents. Consequently, in November 1434, Matteo Strozzi was exiled to Pesaro, with several other of the Strozzi's adult male members removed from lists of politically eligible citizens.^[8] Although she was not legally compelled to do so, Alessandra joined her husband in exile. A year into his time in exile, Alessandra's husband and three children- Andreuola, Piero, and Simone- died of the plague.^[8]

Widowhood

At this time, Alessandra returned to Florence with her children, and remained a widow. This was a time in Alessandra’s life in which she gained greater familial importance and significant power as a woman. Within Matteo’s will, he specifically named Alessandra “guardian of her children as long as she remained a widow”.^[9] As a Christian woman, Alessandra chose to not remarry, remaining chaste and devoting herself to her children, particularly her sons.^[10] Alessandra was deeply embedded in the Strozzi family, as she received assistance from relatives and kinsman, highlighting the patrician and family solidarity of Florence.^[10]

While Alessandra did become head of the household, Florentine law still required that she have a mundualdo, or male facilitator for court and legal contracts. Alessandra would employ male strangers as a fake facilitators so that she could handle her personal matters herself.^[9] Alessandra's writing reflected the mentality of her class, accepting the hierarchical and patriarchal structure of Florentine society, as her main responsibility as a woman, particularly a widow, in Florentine society was negotiating marriage partners for her children. Arranging marriages for her children was difficult due to the Strozzi's political disgrace, but she managed to negotiate her children's marriages in order to achieve the status her family once had.^[10] Although Alessandra conformed to the societal expectations of women, she certainly stretched her legal and social limitations, holding significant authority for a widow of the Renaissance era.^[11]

Political Involvement

Alessandra oversaw the education of all of her children, especially that of her three sons: Filippo, Lorenzo, and Matteo.^[12] She pushed her sons to study writing and accounting skills in order to save the family’s fortunes.^[13] Once each boy was in his teens, Alessandra experienced the pain of them leaving Florence to go into exile because of the political ban their father and others incurred from the Medici.^[14] Having her sons taken from her sparked her political motivation and employed her familial network to help remove the exile sentence from the Strozzi name. During their exile, her sons went to work for her deceased husband’s cousins in order for them to learn business and banking.^[15] Alessandra became an acute observer of the political scene by keeping track of developments in the political realm and using them to her family’s advantage.^[16] When her youngest son, Matteo, died at twenty-three years old in 1458, she encouraged Filippo and Lorenzo to go into business together for the sake of family solidarity. In that same year the Medici extended the ban for exiles to twenty-five years.^[16]

Alessandra was a very active in handling her family's finances, as a large portion of the Strozzi finances were confiscated by the Medicean government which left Alessandra with many financial issues. In order to pay her taxes, Alessandra sold Strozzi land and possessions,^[14] becoming involved as a “passive” partner in Strozzi businesses as well as commodity trade and sharecropping.^[17] While her sons cosigned on business agreements as her heirs, Alessandra was the sole decision maker in financial matters. Despite the debt that Alessandra’s family found themselves in after Matteo’s death, she was able to salvage the Strozzi family house, villas, farms, and shares.^[9]

Over the course of her lifetime, Alessandra worked on gaining political ground through representing her sons in court, updating her exiled sons on Florentine events. Her sons focused on becoming successful merchants and bankers while receiving advice from their mother. In August 1464, Cosimo de’ Medici died and a two-year power struggle began, involving his son, Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, and other contenders. Through cautiously and patiently observing the struggle for power, gaining favor with both sides, and “committing themselves to neither until the outcome was clear” the exile on the Strozzi brothers was lifted on September 20, 1466.^[18] After being reunited with her sons, Alessandra began arranging marriages for them with great zeal. After marrying off her children, Alessandra died on March 2, 1471. She was buried in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in the Strozzi chapel.^[19]

Writing

Alessandra’s epistolary collection, (August 24, 1447- April 14, 1470), has provided historians with valuable information on 15th-century Florentine family life, women, and customs. The style of Alessandra’s letters reveals her ability to write in Tuscan and keep financial accounts.^[15] The purpose of her letters was to keep her exiled sons informed on the political and societal developments of Florence. The content of her letters ranged from maternal advice, warnings, and teachings in all matters political, economic, religious, and moral, guiding her sons in her absence.^[20]

Although she was literate, Alessandra was not versed in any literary prose and does not display a discernible grammatical structure within her letters.^[21] Based on the several occasions she complained about writing letters, it can be assumed that Alessandra wrote mainly out of necessity.^[22]

Notes

References

• Cocco, Mia. 1994. "Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi (1406–1471)." In Italian Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook, 198–206. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994. MLA International Bibliography.
• Crabb, Ann Morton. "How Typical Was Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi of Fifteenth-Century Florentine Widows? In Upon My Husband's Death, ed. Louise Mirrer. Ann Arbor, Mich, 1992
• Crabb, Ann. 2000. The Strozzi of Florence: widowhood and family solidarity in the Renaissance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• Macinghi Strozzi, Alessandra, and Heather Gregory. 1997. Selected letters of Alessandra Strozzi. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Mirrer, Louise. 1992. Upon my husband's death: widows in the literature and histories of medieval Europe. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472102575

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