A Different Education?

When the future Grand Duke Cosimo III was a child, his parents struggled over the type of education to give him. According to The Last Medici, Ferdinando II wanted him to have the finest “scientific education” possible. While, Vittoria della Rovere was more inclined to a theological education, and eventually won out.

Cosimo’s religious policies as Grand Duke are exemplified in two quotes from the day. His personal secretary wrote in 1691 “By the Serene Master's express command I must inform Your Excellencies that His Highness will allow no professor in his university at Pisa to read or teach, in public or in private, by writing or voice, the philosophy of Democritus, or of atoms, or any save that of Aristotle.”

While Gilbert Burnet wrote in 1685, “[Florence] is much sunk from what it was, for they do not reckon that there are fifty thousand souls in it; the other states, that were once great republic, such as Siena and Pisa, while they retained their liberty, are now shrunk almost into nothing…” and likewise, he states “not a single man in Florence can speak Greek, in contrast to the days of the Republic.”

What if Cosimo III had been given the scientific education his father had insisted on? I think for one it might have decreased the hold over him that Vittoria della Rovere had until she died – leading to (possible) more amicable relations with Marguerite-Louise d’Orléans? Thoughts?
 
What if Cosimo III had been given the scientific education his father had insisted on?

What would have a contemporary modern scientific education likely have covered or included?

It would be particularly interesting if Florence became an intellectual center for Enlightenment-era writers and scholars, but is that realistically possible?
 
I'm not sure what Acton in his book means by "modern scientific education". Could I get some help? what was entailed by that description in the 1640s and 1650s
 
Well, the education results depends on mentality
Take Cosimo's granduncle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_de'_Medici
He was a cardinal (=extensive theological education), yet as interested in science as they come. If Cosimo is influenced by his granduncle and wants to imitate him, then we get a result. "Education" in itself means little when talking about interest development, as evidenced by Leopoldo.
 
So the interesting point is Leopoldo de Medici supervising education of his grandnephew - we get less tension with mother (both good and bad thing) as Leopoldo is a cardinal and is unlikely to teach boy anything "heretical", yet he is patron of sciences extraordinare and can influence Cosimo's interest this way.
 
Well, Galileo had died a few years before, surely one of his students/followers could perhaps augment Leopoldo de' Medici's tutoring of the young Cosimo III?

Likewise, Federico Cesi, founder of the Academy of the Lynxes, a scientific academy, had also made an appearance on the scene. IDK when he died, but his works could perhaps also influence Cosimo.

I don't know of any other Italian scientists of the period or how active they were in Italy. I know on Cosimo's tour throigh Europe he stopped in London and Amsterdam - both scientific centres after a fashion - so maybe he could bring one or two Dutch/English scientists home with him to lecture at Pisa etc.
 
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Damn my memory- Leopoldo is uncle to Cosimo, not granduncle. Got my Medicis confused:)
Also, considering this
Tuscany participated in the Wars of Castro (the last time Medicean Tuscany was involved in a conflict) and inflicted a defeat on the forces of Urban VIII in 1643.[9] The treasury was so empty that when the Castro mercenaries were paid for the state could no longer afford to pay interest on government bonds. The interest rate was lowered by 0.75%.[10] The economy was so decrepit that barter trade became prevalent in rural market places.[9]
Ferdinando died on 23 May 1670 of apoplexy and dropsy. He was interred in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the Medici's necropolis.[11] At the time of his death, the population of the grand duchy was 730,594 souls; the streets were lined with grass and the buildings on the verge of collapse in Pisa.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinando_II_de'_Medici,_Grand_Duke_of_Tuscany#cite_note-12
Different education for Cosimo will not result in less crappy inheritance for him.
 
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