Giuliano
Everyone detested Gian Gastone de' Medici, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, except for his trusted valet, Giuliano Dami...
Author’s Note
A warm welcome to my new followers and subscribers and greetings to all. The poem that follows is part of a series dedicated to highlight queer love through the ages.
BACKGROUND
Prince Gian Gastone de’ Medici was the last Grand Duke of Tuscany. His family had dominated Florence, the state capital, since the 15th Century. He inherited the throne in 1723 at the age of 53. Until then, he had been known for his intellectual pursuits, love of languages and dislike of the court.
Gian Gastone’s reign was characterized by his retreat from public life. He often confined himself to his bedchamber for months at a time, where he received ministers and ambassadors with the help of his personal attendants. One of them was his trusted valet, Giuliano Dami.
Dami, a man of humble origins and exceptional physical beauty, was introduced to Gian Gastone long before he ascended the throne. Taken by his charms, he had hired him as his personal servant. Gradually, Dami became part of the prince’s inner circle, his closest companion and lover.
Although there are no surviving records that explicitly document a deep bond between Gian Gastone and Giuliano, there is something to be said about a relationship that lasted for over 30 years. However, public acknowledgment of such a relationship between a ruling Grand Duke and his “low-born” servant would have been socially unacceptable and politically disastrous at that time.
Homosexual relationships were severely stigmatized, both by the Catholic Church and society at large. The more intimate aspects of the relationship would have been closely guarded secrets, especially since the Medici were acutely aware of their image and the potential for scandal. Any written evidence of a committed same-sex relationship would have been destroyed or hidden to protect the family’s reputation.
The records that do survive are mainly exaggerated tales and hostile gossip from people who had a vested interest in portraying Gian Gastone’s private lifestyle as a moral failure. These rumors often focused on his alleged personal habits, drunkenness, lack of hygiene, homosexual promiscuity and incompetence. Most damaging was his portrayal as a weak leader who was easily manipulated by Giuliano Dami, his favorite companion.
Due to Gian Gastone’s reclusive nature, Giuliano Dami’s power within the court had grown significantly over the years and he had become the duke’s deputy and spokesperson, which caused resentment among members of the court and the Florentine aristocracy. As a result, both Gian Gastone and Giuliano were targets of a toxic narrative that evolved into a legend of perverse debauchery which cloaked the duke’s reign.
While there were likely kernels of truth to some of the descriptions of the duke’s unconventional lifestyle, some historians claim that the Medici’s political opponents played a critical role in spreading this legend, primarily to justify their goal to end the dynasty and install a new ruling family.
The most prominent figures to benefit from the rumors were the House of Lorraine, who took over the Grand Duchy after Gian Gastone’s death. They needed to legitimize their rule in the eyes of the Tuscan populace and other European powers. By portraying the last Medici ruler as a debauched, ineffectual, and immoral tyrant they were able to frame the Medici’s loss of power as a form of divine or historical justice.
Giuliano
From this quiet realm,
I speak to you at last,
my sweet Giuliano,
without the shadow
of those who once surrounded us:
the ghosts of my ancestors
and they who watched
our every move and gesture,
yet never spared a glance
to see two men of flesh and bone
beneath our titles and regalia.
You came to me
when you were still a youth,
beautiful and full of light,
and you remained
the single steady presence
that lifted me with tenderness
from my long hours of retreat
in the half-light
of my bedchamber.
They called you low-born,
and spewed filth about us,
mocking us mercilessly
through endless tales
meant to make our lives a spectacle
and our companionship a crime.
What could we have done
but let them cradle their delusions?
My gaze drifted past them
as I slipped into the cave
of my own mind
where memories came unbidden
of desires they called sinful
assailing me
with bouts of mortal terror
and boundless joy.
There I learned
that the heavens that dreamed
all of my lifetimes
also dreamed yours
in a single invocation.
And that I, Gian Gastone,
the last of the Medici,
knew you,
Giuliano Dami.
And you, knew me.
Not as the lampoons
my family’s enemies created
to serve their own designs,
but as consorts and lovers
who stayed together for three decades
without shame
and faced a hostile world
that failed to destroy us.
DCW
Very nicely written!