Madeleine Lartessuti
Madeleine Lartessuti (1478-1543), was a French shipper and banker. She became one of the most well known female maritime traders of her time.
She was the daughter of the Avignon lawyer Pons Lartessuti and a mother of the Medici family. She married Joachim de Sade (d. 1540) in 1492, but left him in 1502 and settled in Marseilles, where she engaged in business. She engaged in sea maritime trade with North Africa, Italy and Egypt. She also engaged in banking, and became a nationally powerful banker of 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. She also provided a ship of her own to the royal navy. After the death of her estranged spouse in 1540, she negotiated the help of the Pope to recover her dowry.