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MEDICI

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 40 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MEDICI  , the name of a See also:

family renowned in See also:Italian See also:history for the extraordinary number of statesmen to whom it gave See also:birth, and for its magnificent patronage of letters and See also:art . They emerged from private See also:life and See also:rose to See also:power by means of a very subtle policy that was persistently pursued from See also:generation to generation . The origin of the family is buried in obscurity . Some See also:court historians indeed declare it to have been founded by See also:Perseus, and assert that Benvenuto See also:Cellini's See also:bronze Perseus holding on high the See also:head of See also:Medusa was executed and placed in the Loggia dei See also:Lanzi at See also:Florence to symbolize-the victory of the Medici over the See also:republic . But this only proves that the real origin of the family is unknown, and equally unknown is the precise signification of the Medicean arms—six red balls on a See also:field of See also:gold . The name appears in Florentine See also:chronicles as See also:early as the See also:close of the 12th See also:century, although only casually mentioned in connexion with various offices of the republic . The first of the family to be a distinct figure in history was Salvestro dei Medici, who, in 1378, took an active See also:part in the revolt of the Ciompi—so called because it was led by a See also:wool-carder (ciompo), one Michele di Lando, and because the See also:chief See also:share in it was taken by the populace, who held the reins of See also:government for some See also:time, and sought to obtain extended See also:political rights . Although Michele di Lando was the nominal chief of the revolt, Salvestro dei Medici was its real See also:leader . The latter, although a member of the greater See also:gilds, had joined the lesser and sought to be at their head, in See also:order to See also:lay the See also:foundation of his own power and that of his kindred by attacking the Albizzi, who were the leading men of Salvestro. the greater gilds . The victory of the Ciompi, however, was brief, for the excesses of the See also:lower classes brought about a reaction, in which they were crushed, and Michele di Lando sent into banishment . Nevertheless the lesser gilds had gained some ground by this See also:riot, and Salvestro dei Medici the See also:great popularity at which he had aimed . His policy during that See also:period had traced the See also:sole possible road to power in See also:liberty-loving Florence .

This was the road henceforth pursued by the Medici . On Salvestro's See also:

death in 1388 the Albizzi repossessed them-selves of the government, and conducted the See also:wars of the republic . Vieri dei Medici, who seems to have been the next head of the family, understanding the See also:temper of Giovanni. the times, abstained from becoming a popular leader, and See also:left it to his successors to prosecute the task under easier conditions . Then, in the See also:person of Giovanni, son of Averardo Bicci dei Medici (1360-1429), another See also:branch of the family arose, and became its representative branch . Indeed this Giovanni may be considered the actual founder of Medicean greatness . He took little part in political affairs, but realized an immense See also:fortune by See also:trade —establishing See also:banks in See also:Italy and abroad, which in his successor's hands became the most efficient engines of political power . The See also:Council of See also:Constance (1414-1418) enabled Giovanni dei Medici to realize enormous profits . Besides, like his ancestor Salvestro, he was a See also:constant supporter of the lesser gilds in Florence . Historians See also:record his frequent resistance to the Albizzi when they sought to oppress the See also:people with heavier See also:taxation, and his endeavours to cause the chief See also:weight to fall upon the richer classes . For this See also:reason he was in favour of the so-called See also:law of cattalo, which, by assessing the See also:property of every See also:citizen, prevented those in power from arbitrarily imposing taxes that unjustly burdened the people . In this way, and by liberal loans of See also:money to all who were in need of it, he gained a reputation that was practically the foundation-See also:stone of the See also:grand family edifice . Giovanni dei Medici died in 1429 leaving two sons, Cosimo (1389-1464) and Lorenzo (1395-1440) .

From the former proceeded the branch that held See also:

absolute sway for many generations over the nominal republic of Florence, and gave to Italy popes like See also:Leo X. and See also:Clement VII . On the extinction of this See also:elder See also:line in the 16th century, the younger branch derived from Lorenzo, Cosimo's See also:brother, seemed to acquire new life, and for two centuries supplied grand-See also:dukes to See also:Tuscany . Cosimo, surnamed Cosimo the Elder, to distinguish hifii from the many others bearing the same name, and honoured after his death by the See also:title of See also:pater patriae, first' succeeded Gostmo the in solving the See also:strange problem of becoming absolute E~de~ ruler of a republic keenly jealous of its liberty, with- out holding any fixed See also:office, without suppressing any previous See also:form of government, and always preserving the See also:appearance and demeanour of a private citizen . See also:Born in 1389, he had reached the See also:age of See also:forty at the time of his See also:father's death . He had a certain amount of See also:literary culture, and throughout his life showed much See also:taste and an See also:earnest love both for letters Early . Bearers of the Name . and art . But his father had mainly trained him to See also:commerce, for which he had a See also:special liking and aptitude . He was devoted to business to the See also:day of his death, and like his forefathers derived pecuniary See also:advantage from his friendly relations with the papal court . He accompanied See also:Pope See also:John See also:XXIII. to the Council of Constance, transacted a vast amount of business in that See also:city, and made very large gains . He then travelled in See also:Germany, and after his return to Florence discharged several ambassadorial See also:missions . At the death of his father he was possessed of a vast fortune and an extended experience, and inherited the leadership of the opposition to the then dominant party of the greater gilds headed by Rinaldo degli Albizzi, See also:Palla See also:Strozzi and Niccolo da Uzzano .

Of See also:

gentle and kindly See also:manners, generous in lending and even in giving money whenever he could gain popularity by that means, at See also:critical moments he frequently came to the succour of the government itself . He was very dexterous in turning his private liberalities to See also:account for the increase of his political See also:prestige, and showed no less acumen and still fewer scruples in making use of his political prestige for purposes of pecuniary profit . Indeed, whenever his own interests were at stake, he showed himself capable of See also:positive villainy, although this was always tempered by calculation . Cosimo proved his skill in these knavish arts during the See also:war between Florence and See also:Lucca . He had joined the Albizzi in urging on this war, and many writers assert that he turned it to much pecuniary advantage by means of loans to the government and other banking operations . When, however, military affairs went badly, Cosimo joined the discontented populace in invectives against the war and those who had conducted it . This won him an enormous increase of popularity, but the hatred of the Albizzi and their See also:friends augmented in equal degree, and a conflict became inevitable . The Albizzi, who were far more impetuous and impatient than Cosimo, were now See also:bent upon revenge . In 1433 one of their friends, Bernardo Guadagni, was elected gonfalonier, and thereupon Cosimo dei Medici was called to the See also:palace and summarily imprisoned in the See also:tower . A See also:general See also:assembly of the people was convoked and a balia chosen, which changed the government and sent Cosimo into See also:exile . Undoubtedly the Albizzi party would have preferred a heavier See also:sentence, but they did not dare to See also:attempt their enemy's life, being well aware of the great number of his adherents . Cosimo had some See also:apprehension that he might be poisoned in See also:prison, but Federigo dei Malavolti, See also:captain of the palace guard, showed him the utmost kindness, and, to soothe his fears, voluntarily shared his meals .

On the 3rd of See also:

October the prisoner was sent to See also:Padua, his allotted See also:place of exile . The Albizzi speedily saw that they had done either too much or too little . While seeking to keep the government entirely in their own hands, they beheld the continual growth of the Medici party . When it was necessary to make a See also:campaign in Romagna against the See also:mercenary captains commanding the forces of the See also:duke of See also:Milan, it was plainly seen that in banishing Cosimo the republic had lost the only citizen banker in a position to assist it with considerable loans . The Florentines were defeated by See also:Piccinino in 1434, and this event greatly increased the public exasperation against the Albizzi . Meanwhile Cosimo, who had gone to Padua as a private individual, was entertained there like a See also:prince . Then, being permitted to See also:transfer his See also:residence to See also:Venice, he entered on a course of lavish See also:expenditure . He was overwhelmed with letters and appeals from Florence . Finally, on the 1st of See also:September 1434, a signory was elected composed of his friends, and his recall was decreed . Rinaldo degli Albizzi determined to oppose it by force, and rushed to the Piazza with a See also:band of armed men; but his attempt failed, and he left the See also:country to return no more . The Medici were now reinstated in all their former dignities and honours, and Cosimo, on the evening of the 6th of September, rode past the deserted mansions of the Albizzi and re-entered his own dwelling after an exile of a See also:year . For three centuries, dating from that moment, the whole history of Florence was connected with that of the See also:house of Medici .

Cosimo's first thought was to secure himself against all futurerisk of removal from Florence, and accordingly he drove the most powerful citizens into exile to all parts of Italy . Nor did he spare even his former political adversary, Palla Strozzi, although the latter had been favourable to mTheneGtof overn- him during the See also:

recent changes . His rigour in this Florence, particular See also:case was universally censured, but Cosimo would tolerate no rivals in the city, and was resolved to abase the great families and establish his power by the support of the lower classes . He was accustomed to say that states could not be ruled by paternosters . Still, when See also:cruelty seemed requisite, he always contrived that the chief odium of it should fall upon others . When See also:Neri See also:Capponi, the valiant soldier and able diplomatist, gained great public favour by his military prowess, and his See also:influence was further increased by the friendship of Baldaccio d'Anghiari, captain of the See also:infantry, Cosimo resolved to weaken his position by indirect means . Accordingly, when in 1441 a See also:partisan of the Medici was elected gonfalonier, Baldaccio was instantly summoned to the palace, imprisoned, murdered, and his See also:body hurled from the window . No one could actually See also:fix this See also:crime upon Cosimo, but the See also:majority believed that he had thus contrived to rid himself of one enemy and cripple another without showing his See also:hand . It was impossible for Cosimo openly to assume the position of See also:tyrant of Florence, nor was it See also:worth his while to become gonfalonier, since the See also:term of office only lasted two months . It was necessary to discover some other way without resorting to violence; he accordingly employed what were then designated " See also:civil methods." He managed to attain his See also:object by means of the balls . These magistracies, which were generally renewed every five years, placed in the See also:ballot-bags the names of the candidates from whom the signory and other chief magistrates were to be chosen . As soon as a balia favourable to Cosimo was formed, he was assured for five years of having the government in the hands of men devoted to his interests .

He had comprehended that the art of politics depended rather upon individuals than institutions, and that he who ruled men could also dictate See also:

laws . His See also:foreign policy was no less astute . His great See also:wealth enabled him to See also:supply money not only to private individuals, but even to foreign potentates . Philippe de See also:Comines tells us that Cosimo frequently furnished See also:Edward IV. of See also:England with sums amounting to many See also:hundred thousand florins . When Tommaso Parentucelli was still a See also:cardinal, and in needy circumstances, Cosimo made him consider-able loans without demanding guarantees of See also:payment . On the cardinal's See also:accession to the See also:tiara as See also:Nicholas V. he was naturally very well disposed towards Cosimo, and employed the Medici See also:bank in See also:Rome in all the affairs of the See also:curia . At the time when See also:Francesco See also:Sforza was striving for the lordship of Milan, Cosimo foresaw his approaching See also:triumph, showed him great friendship, and aided him with large sums of money . Accordingly, when Sforza became See also:lord of Milan, Cosimo's power was doubled . Without the title of prince, this See also:merchant showed royal generosity in his expenditure for the promotion of letters and the See also:fine arts . Besides his palace in the city, he constructed See also:noble villas at Careggi, See also:Fiesole and other places . He built the See also:basilica of Fiesole, and that of St Lorenzo Cosimo's in Florence, and enlarged the See also:church and monastery ofA~ ` of St See also:Mark . Even in distant See also:Jerusalem he endowed a See also:hospice for the use of pilgrims .

The artists of the day comprised men like See also:

Donatello, See also:Brunelleschi, See also:Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, and many others, and Cosimo's magnificent commissions not only See also:developed their See also:powers but stimulated other men of wealth to the patronage of art . Without being a schola'^,-Cosimo had a genuine taste for letters . He See also:purchased diany See also:Greek and Latin See also:manuscripts; he opened the first public library at St Mark's at his own expense, and founded another in the See also:abbey of Fiesole . The Greek refugees from See also:Constantinople found a constant welcome in his palace . During the Council of Florence (x439--1442), Gemistus Pletho spoke to him with See also:enthusiasm of the Platonic See also:philosophy . Cosimo was so deeply attracted by the theme that he decided to have the See also:young Marsilio See also:Ficino trained in philosophy and Greek learning in order to make a Latin See also:translation of the See also:complete See also:works of See also:Plato . And thus & version was produced that is still considered one of the best extant, and that Platonic See also:academy was founded which led to such important results in the history of Italian philosophy and letters . On the 1st of See also:August 1464 Cosimo breathed his last, at the age of seventy-five, while engaged in listening to one of Plato's dialogues . The concluding years of his life had been years of little happi- ness for Florence . Being old and infirm, he had left the govern- ment to the management of his friends, among whom Luca Pitti was one of the most powerful, and they had ruled with disorder, corruption and cruelty . The lordship of Florence accordingly did not pass without some difficulty and danger into the hands of See also:Piero, surnamed the Gouty, Cosimo's only surviving legitimate son . Afflicted by See also:gout, and so terribly crippled that he was often only able to use his See also:tongue, the new ruler soon discovered that a See also:plot was on See also:foot to overthrow his power .

However, showing far more courage than he was supposed to possess, he had himself See also:

borne on a See also:litter from his See also:villa to Florence, defeated his enemies' designs, and firmly re-established his authority . But his success may be mainly attributed to the enormous prestige bequeathed by Cosimo to his posterity . Piero died at the end of five years' reign, on the 3rd of See also:December 1469, leaving two sons, Lorenzo (1449-1492) and Giuliano (1453-1478) . The younger, the gentler and less ambitious of the pair, was quickly removed from the See also:world . Lorenzo, on the contrary, at once seized the reins of See also:state with a See also:firm grasp, and was, chronologically, the second of the great men bestowed upon Italy by the house of Medici . In literary See also:talent he was immensely See also:superior to Cosimo, but greatly his inferior in the conduct of the commercial affairs of the house . In politics he had nobler conceptions and higher ambitions, but he was more easily carried away by his passions, less prudent in his revenge, and more disposed to tyranny . He had studied letters from his earliest years under the guidance of Ficino and other leading litterati of the day . At the age of eighteen he visited the different courts of Italy . At his father's death he was only twenty-one Lorenzo. years old, but instantly showed his determination to govern Florence with greater despotism than his father or grandfather . He speedily resorted to the See also:system of the balie, and was very dexterous in causing the first to be chosen to suit his purpose . He then proceeded to humiliate the great families and exalt those of little account, and this was the policy he constantly pursued .

His younger brother Giuliano, being of a mild and yielding disposition, had only a nominal share in the government . Lorenzo's policy, although prosecuted with less caution, was still the old astute and fortunate policy initiated by Cosimo . But the See also:

grandson bestowed no care upon his commercial interests, although squandering his fortune with far greater lavishness . Accordingly he was sometimes driven to help himself from the public See also:purse without ever being able to assist it as Cosimo had done . All this excited blame and enmity against him, while his greed in the See also:matter of the See also:alum mines of See also:Volterra, and the subsequent See also:sack of that unhappy city, were crimes for which there was no excuse . Among his worst enemies were the Pazzi, and, as they formed a very powerful See also:clan, he sought their ruin by competing with them even in business transactions . They were on the point of inheriting the large property of Giovanni See also:Borromeo when .Lorenzo hurriedly caused a law to be pass°d that altered the right of See also:succession . The hatred of the Pazzi was thereby exasperated to fury . And in addition to these things there ensued a desperate See also:quarrel with Pope See also:Sixtus IV., a See also:man of very impetuous temper, who, on endeavouring to erect a state on the frontiers of the Florentine republic for the benefit of his nephews, found a determined and successful opponent in Lorenzo . Consequently the Pazzi and See also:Archbishop Salviati, another enemy of Lorenzo, aided by the nephews of the pontiff, who was himself acquainted with the whole matter, determined to put an end to the family . On the 26th of See also:April 1478, while Giuliano and Lorenzo were attending high See also:mass in the See also:cathedral of Florence, the former was mortally stabbed by conspirators, But the events we have narrated cannot suffice for tie full comprehension of this complex See also:character, unless we add the record of his deeds as a See also:patron of letters and his achievements as a writer . His palace was the school and resort of illustrious men .

Within its walls were trained the two young Medici afterwards known to the world as Leo X. and Clement VII . Ficino, Poliziano, See also:

Pico della See also:Mirandola and all members of the Platonic academy were its constant habitues . It was here that See also:Pulci gave readings of his Morgante, and See also:Michelangelo essayed ,the first strokes of his See also:chisel . Lorenzo's intellectual powers were of exceptional strength and versatility . He could speak with II Piero the (Jorryy . equal fluency on See also:painting, See also:sculpture, See also:music, philosophy, and See also:poetry . But his crowning superiority over every other See also:Maecenas known to history lay in his active participation in the intellectual labours that he promoted .. Indeed at certain moments he was Lorenzo as positively the leading spirit among the litterati of his a man of time . He was an elegant See also:prose writer, and was Letters. likewise a poet of real originality . At that period Italians were forsaking erudition in order to forward the revival of the See also:national literature by recurring to the See also:primitive See also:sources of the spoken tongue and popular See also:verse . It is Lorenzo's lasting See also:glory to have been the initiator of this See also:movement . Without being—as some have maintained—a poet of See also:genius, he was certainly a writer of much finish and eloquence, and one of the first to raise popular poetry to the dignity of art .

In his Ambra, his Caccia del See also:

falcone and his Nencia da Barberino, he gives descriptions of nature and of the rural life that he loved, with the graphic power of an acute and tasteful observer, joined to an ease of See also:style that occasionally sins by excess of homeliness . Both in his art and in his politics he leant upon the people . The more oppressive his government, the more did he seek in his verses to incite the public to festivities and See also:lull it to slumber by sensual enjoyments . In his Ballate, or songs for dancing, and more especially in his See also:carnival songs, a See also:kind of verse invented by himself, Lorenzo displayed all the best qualities and worst defects of his muse . Marvellously and spontaneously elegant, very truthful and fresh in style, fertile in See also:fancy and See also:rich in See also:colour, they are often of a most revolting indecency . And these compositions of one filling a princely station in the city were often sung by their author in the public streets, in the midst of the populace . Lorenzo left three sons—Pietro (1471–1503), Giovanni (1475–1521) and Giuliano (1479–1516) . He was succeeded by Pietro, whose See also:rule lasted but for two years . During this brief term he performed no See also:good deeds, and only displayed inordinate vanity and frivolity . His conduct greatly helped to foment the hatred between Lodovico Sforza and See also:Ferdinand of See also:Naples, which hastened the coming of the See also:French under See also:Charles VIII., and the renewal of foreign invasions . No sooner did the, French approach the frontiers of Tuscany than Pietro, crazed with fear, Pietro . hastened to meet them, and, basely yielding to every demand, accepted terms equally humiliating to him-self and the state .

But, returning to Florence, he found that the enraged citizens had already decreed his deposition, in order to reconstitute the republic, and was therefore compelled to See also:

escape to Venice . His various plots to reinstate himself in Florence were all unsuccessful . At last he went to the See also:south of Italy with the French, was drowned at the passage of the Garigliano in 1503, and was buried in the See also:cloister of See also:Monte Cassino . The ensuing period was adverse to the Medici, for a republican government was maintained in Florence from 1494 to 1512, and the city remained faithful to its affiance with the French, who were all-powerful in Italy . Cardinal Giovanni, the head of the family, resided in Rome, playing the patron to a circle of litterati, artists and friends, seeking to increase his popularity, and calmly waiting for better days . The See also:battle of See also:Ravenna wrought the downfall of the fortunes of See also:France in Italy, and led to the rise of those of See also:Spain, whose troops entered Florence to destroy the republic and reinstate the Medici . Pietro had now been dead for some time, leaving a young son, Lorenzo (1492–1519), who was afterwards duke of See also:Urbino . The following year (1513) Cardinal Giovanni was elected pope, and assumed the name of Cardinal Leo X . He accordingly removed to Rome, leaving Giovanni his brother Giuliano with his See also:nephew Lorenzo in (Leo x), Florence, and accompanied by his See also:cousin Giulio, otuttano, who was a natural son of the Giuliano murdered Lorenzo. in the See also:conspiracy of the Pazzi, and was soon destined to be a cardinal and ultimately a pope . Meanwhile his kinsmen in Florence continued to govern that city by means of a balia . And thus, being masters of the whole of central Italy, the Medici enjoyed great authority throughout the country and their ambition plumed itself for still, higher flights . This was the moment when Niccolo See also:Machiavelli, in his See also:treatise The Prince, counselled them to accomplish the unity of Italy by arming the whole nation, and expelling its foreign invaders .

Leo X., who is only indirectly connected with the history of Florence, gave his name to the age in which he lived in consequence of his magnificent patronage of art and letters in Rome . But he was merely a See also:

clever See also:amateur, and had not the literary gifts of his father Lorenzo . He surrounded himself with versifiers and inferior writers, who enlivened his See also:board and accompanied him wherever he went . He liked to See also:lead a See also:gay and untroubled life, was fond of theatrical performances, satires and other intellectual diversions . His patronage of the fine arts, his genuine See also:affection for See also:Raphael, and the numerous works he caused to be executed by him and other artists, have served to confer an exaggerated glory on his name . He had not the remotest See also:idea of the See also:grave importance of the See also:Reformation, which indeed he unconsciously promoted by his reckless and shameless See also:sale of indulgences . The whole policy of Pope Leo X. consisted in oscillating between France and Spain, in always playing fast and loose, and deceiving both powers in turn . Yet the evil results of this contemptible policy never seemed to disturb his mind . He finally joined the See also:side of the See also:emperor Charles V., and in 1521, at the time of the defeat of the French by the See also:Spanish troops on the See also:river See also:Adda, he ceased to breathe at his favourite villa of Magliana . Giuliano dei Medici had died during Leo's reign, in 1516, without having ever done anything worthy of record . He was the See also:husband of Philiberta of See also:Savoy, was duke of See also:Nemours, and left a natural son, Ippolito dei Medici (1511–1535), who afterwards became a cardinal . Lorenzo, being of more ambitious temper, was by no means content to remain at the head of the Florence government hampered by many restrictions imposed by republican institutions, and subject to the incessant See also:control of the pope .

In his eagerness to aggrandize his kinsmen, the latter had further decided to give Lorenzo the duchy of Urbino, and formally invested him in its rights, after expelling on false pretences its legitimate lord, Francesco Maria della Rovere . This prince, however, soon returned to Urbino, where he was joyously welcomed by his subjects, and Lorenzo regained See also:

possession only by a war of several months, in which he was wounded . In 1519 he also died, worn out by disease and excess . By his See also:marriage with Madeleine de la Tour d'See also:Auvergne, he had one daughter, Caterina dei Medici (1519–1589), married in 1533 to See also:Henry, duke of See also:Orleans, afterwards See also: