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Malaria Was “the Killer” of Francesco I de' Medici (1531-1587)

2010; Elsevier BV; Volume: 123; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.12.020

1555-7162

Gino Fornaciari, Valentina Giuffra, Ezio Ferroglio, Raffaella Bianucci,

Malaria Research and Control

The sudden deaths of Francesco I de' Medici (1531-1587), Second Grand Duke of Tuscany (Figure 1a), and his wife, Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), have been shrouded in mystery, and the cause of death has been debated for the past 4 centuries. Still About Francesco de' Medici's Poisoning (1587)The American Journal of MedicineVol. 128Issue 10PreviewIn 2010, Fornaciari et al1 detected Plasmodium falciparum in the skeletal remains of Francesco I de' Medici (1541-1587), Grand Duke of Tuscany. Francesco and his wife died within a few hours of each other, with the official report giving the cause as pernicious malaria. However, others suspected they had been poisoned by Francesco's brother and successor as Grand Duke, Ferdinando. The Fornaciari group argued that their findings confirmed the official explanation of Francesco's death and removed any suggestion of poisoning, although toxicologic studies published in 2006 had found arsenic concentrations within the lethal range in the remains of Francesco and his wife. Full-Text PDF