Madeleine Lartessuti (1478–1543), also known as Magdeleine Lartessuti or Madeleine Lartessuti de Medicis, was a French shipper and banker. In Marseilles, she became one of the most well-known female maritime traders of her time.

Her father was the lawyer Pons Lartessuti of Avignon, France, and her mother was Thore de Medicis (d.1490). She was married 31 January 1492, at about the age of twelve, to a French aristocrat named Joachim de Sade.

Madeleine Lartessuti

In 1502, she left her husband in Avignon and settled in Marseilles, where she engaged in sea maritime trade with North Africa, Italy, and Egypt. She was also involved in finance and became a nationally powerful banker for the king. She financed ships for King Francis I of France, and provided loans and supplies for Bertrand d'Ornesan, Baron de Saint-Blancart, Vice Admiral of the East Mediterranean Fleet, who was reportedly also her lover. On 19 March 1539, d'Ornesan died.

Madeleine Lartessuti

Lartessuti also provided a ship of her own to the Royal Navy.

Madeleine Lartessuti

After the death of her estranged spouse in 1540, she negotiated the help of the Pope to recover her dowry.

References

1479 births

1543 deaths

French bankers

16th-century French businesswomen

Ship owners

History of Marseille

Businesspeople from Marseille