to look for his bride among the
marriageable maidens there.

With an ever open eye to a goodly marriage portion, Messer Giovanni "_Il
Popolano_" viewed the daughters of the Salviati with approval. That
house was famous for its financial prominence--rivalling that of his
own, and Messer Giacopo's three girls were noted for good looks and
clever brains. Whether love, or money, was the magnet, or whether the
two ran together in double harness, young "_Giovannino_" took tight hold
upon the reins, and he and Maria Salviati were betrothed in the autumn
of 1517.

To be sure there was a difficulty about the new marital habitation, for
a soldier upon active service has no settled home. Love, however, knows
obstacles only to overcome them, and so, somehow or another, the young
Madonna brought into the world, one wintry day in February--it was the
nineteenth--1519, her first-born, a son. Cosimo they christened him,
perhaps after his great ancestor Cosimo "_Padre della Patria_"--
"_Cosimonino_." When mother and child could be moved Giovanni sent them,
for safety, into Florence, where they were lovingly welcomed by her
parents, Messer Giacopo de' Salviati and his wife Lucrezia, daughter of
Lorenzo il Magnifico.

Pope Leo X., who had in his heart ambitious desires for the predominance
of his House, not alone in Tuscany but throughout Italy, regarded the
young soldier as one of his most trusty lieutenants. Designing, as he
did, to create Giuliano,--later Duke of Nemours,--King of Naples and
Southern Italy, and Lorenzo,--Duke of Urbino,--King of Lombardy and
Northern Italy, he made Giovanni "delle Bande Nere" Commandant of the
Papal armies.

Leo spent much time in Florence, having the Condottiere by his side, and
using him as an envoy,--first to the King of France, and, then to the
Emperor, in matrimonial negotiations which concerned Giuliano and
Lorenzo. The imbroglio about the Duchy of Milan found him at the head of
the Papal contingent of the Imperial army, but his success as commander
was checked by a disastrous peace concluded by the Pope. The early
years of young Cosimo's life were critical in the affairs of Tuscany; a
fierce struggle for the suzerainty of all Italy was being fought out
between Francis I. and Charles V. The Pope, Clement VII.--Cardinal
Giulio de' Medici--who had succeeded Adrian VI. in 1523, sided with
either party as suited his ambitions best. When favourable to the
French, he handed over one division of t