Scientia potentia est: The Medici Family

Friday, December 30, 2016

The Medici Family: One of the most powerful families in the History.

Medici family members placed allegorically in the entourage of a king from the Three Wise Men in the Tuscan countryside in a Benozzo Gozzoli fresco, c. 1459. photo: wikipedia

Updated 05/05/2020

After the death of his father Piero, Lorenzo de' Medici wrote:

„The second day after my father's death, although I, Lorenzo, was very young, that is to say, only in my twenty-first year, the principal men of the city and of the State came to our house to condole with us on our loss, and to encourage me to take on myself the care of the city and of the State, as my father and grandfather had done. This proposal being against the instincts of my youthful age, and considering that the burden and danger were great, I consented to it unwillingly; but I did so in order to protect our friends and property; for it fares ill in Florence with any one who possesses wealth without any control in the government.“

Lorenzo "il Magnifico" de' Medici – kleio.org kleio.org

(in: G. F. Young, The Medici, Vol. 1, London 1930, p. 212) kleio.org

Lorenzo de' Medici - Wikipedia

The death mask of Lorenzo "il Magnifico" de' Medici

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Updated today Monday, November 11, 2018

The House of Medici was an Italian banking family, political dynasty and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until they were able to fund the Medici Bank. The bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century, seeing the Medici gain political power in Florence — though officially they remained citizens rather than monarchs.
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Medici: Masters of Florence is an Italian-British television drama series about the Medici dynasty set in 15th-century Florence. From my point of view the film is brilliant in all chapters and we look forward to the next season 4

Medici: Masters of Florence - Next Episode

The Medici produced three Popes of the Catholic Church—Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), and Pope Leo XI (1605) ; two regent queens of France—Catherine de' Medici (1547–1559) and Marie de' Medici (1600–1610). In 1531, the family became hereditary Dukes of Florence. In 1569, the duchy was elevated to a grand duchy after territorial expansion. They ruled the Grand Duchy of Tuscany from its inception until 1737, with the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici.

Raphael's Portrait of Leo X with cardinals Giulio de' Medici (later Pope Clement VII) and Luigi de' Rossi, his first cousins, (Uffizi gallery, Florence) photo: wikipedia

The grand duchy witnessed degrees of economic growth under the earlier grand dukes, but by the time of Cosimo III de' Medici, Tuscany was fiscally bankrupt.

Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian) - Pope Clement VII photo: wikipedia

Their wealth and influence initially derived from the textile trade guided by the guild of the Arte della Lana. Like other signore families, they dominated their city's government, they were able to bring Florence under their family's power, and they created an environment where art and humanism could flourish. They along with other families of Italy, such as the Visconti and Sforza of Milan, the Este of Ferrara, and the Gonzaga of Mantua, fostered and inspired the birth of the Italian Renaissance.

Pope Leo XI photo: wikipedia

The Medici Bank was one of the most prosperous and most respected institutions in Europe. There are some estimates that the Medici family were the wealthiest family in Europe for a time. From this base, they acquired political power initially in Florence and later in wider Italy and Europe.

A notable contribution to the profession of accounting was the improvement of the general ledger system through the development of the double-entry bookkeeping system for tracking credits and debits. The Medici family were among the earliest businesses to use the system.

Legend says the dynasty descended from a giant-slaying knight.

The family’s roots supposedly are linked to one of Charlemagne’s eighth-century knights, named Averardo. As the story goes, Averardo was riding through an area north of Florence known the Mugello when he encountered a giant who’d been frightening people. Averardo fought and killed the giant, and in the process his shield was dented by the iron balls of his opponent’s mace. The Medici family coat of arms, which includes red balls on a gold shield, supposedly was inspired by Averardo and his battered shield.

Coat of Arms of the Medici Family. based on Armoiries Médicis photo: wikipedia

Whether this is true remains unknown; among other theories is the suggestion that the coat of arms was derived from a symbol for medieval money-changers (the balls represent coins), the profession of some early members of the Medici clan. Today, the Medici coat of arms still can be seen on buildings throughout Florence that once were connected to the family.

The Medici bank once was Europe’s most powerful financial institution.

In 1397, Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici started the bank in Florence on which the Medici fortune was built. At the time, Florence had emerged as an important center for banking (the city’s gold coin, the florin, became a standard currency across Europe in the 14th century). Under Giovanni’s son Cosimo, the Medici bank grew into the most powerful in Europe in the 15th century, with branches in Rome, Venice, Naples, Milan, London, Geneva and other locations. The Vatican was a major client, and the bank also was involved in the textile and alum trades.

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, founder of the Medici bank photo: wikipedia

Cosimo used his wealth to influence Florentine politics, launching the Medici political dynasty. As an important patron of the arts, he helped put Florence at the center of the Renaissance. Following Cosimo’s death in 1464, the bank went into decline and by the end of the 15th century had shuttered most of its branches. The Medici dynasty continued, though, and family members served as dukes of Florence and grand dukes of Tuscany from the early 1530s to 1737.

Michelangelo lived with the family.

As a teenager Michelangelo was recommended for admission to a school for sculptors established by Lorenzo de’ Medici, one of the most prominent members of the dynasty (he also was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent).

Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra photo: wikipedia

There, Lorenzo noticed the young artist’s burgeoning talent and invited him to live at the Palazzo Medici, where he was treated like a member of the family. Lorenzo even found employment for Michelangelo’s father, who initially opposed his son’s intention to become an artist.

Lorenzo by Girolamo Macchietti (16th century) photo: wikipedia

Michelangelo stayed at the Medici palace for four years before going on to eventually create such Renaissance masterpieces as the “Pieta” and “David” sculptures and Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings.

The Statue of David, completed by Michelangelo in 1504, is one of the most renowned works of the Renaissance. photo: wikipedia

Sandro Botticelli was another artist who lived at the Medici palace as a young man and benefitted from the family’s patronage throughout his career. Historians have suggested a young Leonardo da Vinci might have resided with the Medicis for some time as well.

One of their chief enemies was a friar.

In the 15th century, fundamentalist preacher Girolamo Savonarola criticized what he viewed as the Medicis’ tyranny and corruption, as well as Renaissance Florence’s general sinfulness.

Girolamo Savonarola photo: wikipedia

In 1494, two years after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, his son and successor Piero was overthrown by an invading French army. Afterward, Savonarola acted as Florence’s reformist leader, and in 1497 his supporters collected books, art, musical instruments and other items deemed “vanities” and burned them in a massive bonfire. However, the friar, who also challenged papal authority, was excommunicated and hanged in Florence in 1498. The Medicis returned to power in 1512.

Galileo was a family tutor.

In addition to backing artists, the Medicis helped support scientists, such as the astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei. In the early 1600s, Galileo, who was cash-strapped and had a family to provide for, took a job tutoring Cosimo de Medici, the teenage son of Ferdinando I, grand duke of Tuscany.

Justus Sustermans - Portrait of Galileo Galilei, 1636 photo: wikipedia

Galileo later was hired to tutor Ferdinando’s wife, who reportedly thought he was an astrologer rather than an astronomer and had him do the duke’s horoscope. In 1610, Galileo published Sidereus Nuncius “The Starry Messenger,” a work describing recent discoveries he’d made with a telescope, including the fact that Jupiter had moons, which he named after the Medici.

Title page of Sidereus nuncius, 1610, by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). *IC6.G1333.610s, Houghton Library, Harvard University photo: wikipedia

Galileo dedicated the book to his former student Cosimo, who had inherited his father’s title, and was rewarded with a lucrative post as mathematician and philosopher to the grand duke.

The Medicis produced two queens.

The Florence-born Catherine de’ Medici was an influential monarch in 16th century France and the mother of three French kings. Orphaned shortly after birth, Catherine was married at age 14 to Henry, the second son of King Francis I of France. When Henry became king in 1547, Catherine reigned as queen until her husband’s death in a jousting tournament in 1559.

Miniature of Catherine de' Medici, "a rare portrait of Catherine before she was widowed in 1559, when she adopted the veil and severely plain dress of a widow." photo: wikipedia

Afterward, the couple’s sickly teenage son, Francis, served as king until his death in 1560. Catherine’s son Charles then inherited the throne and because he was just 10 his mother was made regent, and ruled France during a period of civil and religious conflict. Upon Charles’ death, his brother Henry was king from 1574 to 1589, during which time Catherine remained involved in France’s political affairs.

Maria de' Medici (1575-1642) regina di Francia photo: wikipedia

Another Medici, Marie de' Medici , was queen of France from 1600 until the 1610 assassination of her husband, King Henry IV. Marie then was appointed regent for her young son, Louis XIII, who in 1617 took power and exiled her.

The dynasty collapsed with a debauched duke.

The curtains closed on almost 300 years of Medici rule in Florence with the death of Gian Gastone de’ Medici, the seventh family member to serve as grand duke of Tuscany.

Gian Gastone Grand Duke of Tuscany. A peri-wigged man is resplendent in gold, ermine-fringed coronation robes. The man holds the royal sceptre of Tuscany in his right hand; at the same time clenching the royal crown. The cross of the order of Saint Stephen Pope and Martyr adorns his neck. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore lies crumbling against a dark sky outside the window. photo: wikipedia

Gian Gastone, who came to power in 1723 and led a life of debauchery, died without any heirs. Through an agreement of the leading European powers, he was succeeded by Francis, duke of Lorraine (who later became the Holy Roman Emperor and the father of Marie Antoinette, queen of France). When Gian Gastone’s only sibling, Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, the last of the family line, passed away in 1743 without any children, she willed the Medicis’ enormous art collection and other treasures to the Tuscan state, on the condition they always remain in Florence.

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