pp.54-56, for Antonio's reception into the Order.] The legend of Francesco's and Bianca's mysterious death is well known.
The Duchess had engaged in fresh intrigues for palming off a spurious child upon her husband.

These roused the suspicions of his brother Cardinal Ferdinando de'Medici, heir presumptive to the crown.

An angry correspondence followed, ending in a reconciliation between the three princes.

They met in the autumn of 1587 at the villa of Poggio a Cajano.
Then the world was startled by the announcement that the Grand Duke had died of fever after a few days' illness, and that Bianca had almost immediately afterwards followed him to the grave.

Ferdinand, on succeeding to the throne, refused her the interment suited to her rank, defaced her arms on public edifices, and for her name and titles in official documents substituted the words, 'la pessima Bianca.' What passed at Poggio a Cajano is not known.