Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano explained

Virginio Orsini
Succession:Duke of Bracciano
Reign:1585–1615
Predecessor:Paolo Giordano I Orsini
Successor:Paolo Giordano II Orsini
Birth Date:11 September 1572
Death Place:Rome
Issue:Paolo Giordano II Orsini
Alessandro Orsini
Maria Felicia Orsini
Issue-Link:
  1. Issue
Issue-Pipe:Among others
House:Orsini
Father:Paolo Giordano I Orsini
Mother:Isabella de' Medici

Virginio Orsini (11 September 1572[1] – 9 September 1615) was the second Duke of Bracciano, member of the Orsini family and knight of the order of the Golden Fleece.

He was the son of Paolo Giordano I Orsini and Isabella de' Medici, and inherited his father's titles and fiefs after his death in 1585. In 1589 he married Flavia Peretti, a niece of Pope Sixtus V, by whom he had 12 children.[2] His son Paolo Giordano became a prince of the Holy Roman Empire through his marriage with Isabella Appiani, princess of Piombino.

Virginio Orsini was a supporter of the Earl of Essex and visited the English court for the Christmas revels in December 1600.[3] He was entertained by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and the play opens with the character of Duke Orsino saying the famous line "If music be the food of love, play on."[4] Queen Elizabeth danced a galliard for him to show the "vigour of her old age".[5] [6]

He died in Rome in 1615.

Issue

By his wife, Flavia Damasceni Peretti, he had twelve children, eight sons and four daughters:[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: MEDICI, Isabella de’ - Treccani . 2024-04-04 . Treccani . it.
  2. Eleanor Herman: Murder in the Garden of God: A True Story of Renaissance Ambition, Betrayal, and Revenge. Createspace. . p. 407
  3. Elizabeth McClure Thomson, The Chamberlain Letters (London, 1966), pp. 29–30.
  4. The First Night of Twelfth Night by Leslie Hotson, p. 15. 1954: HMC 3rd Report: Duke of Northumberland (London, 1872), p. 51b.
  5. [John Sherren Brewer|John S. Brewer]
  6. [Sarah Williams (historian)|Sarah Williams]
  7. Web site: PERETTI DAMASCENI, Flavia in "Dizionario Biografico" . 2023-01-03 . www.treccani.it . it-IT.