DNA Analysis Solves 400-Year-Old Medici Family Mystery

Medici family mystery may be solved after more than 400 years

For centuries, rumors claimed Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici and his wife were murdered by arsenic. Now, ancient DNA analysis from their skeletal remains confirms they died of malaria, not poison. This groundbreaking study, led by researchers from Yale and the University of Pisa, finally settles the debate by identifying genetic traces of the parasite in their bones, though some historians still argue poisoning could have accelerated their deaths.