Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence

Alessandro de' Medici was born 22 July 1510 and earned the nickname "il Moro" for his dark complexion. He became Duke of Penne, then ruler of Florence in 1530, and in 1532 was named first Duke of the Florentine Republic — the first Medici to govern the city as a hereditary monarch rather than behind the veil of republican forms. For seven years he held Florence, the senior line's final turn at the helm. On 6 January 1537, his distant cousin Lorenzaccio assassinated him. The ducal title passed to Cosimo I de' Medici, and the junior branch took the city forward.