Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' ruler of the
Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo the
Magnificent (''Lorenzo il Magnifico'' ) by contemporary Florentines, he was a
magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists, and poets. As a patron, he is best known for his sponsorship of artists such as
Botticelli and
Michelangelo. He held the balance of power within the
Italic League
The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the T ...
, an alliance of states that stabilized political conditions on the Italian peninsula for decades, and his life coincided with the mature phase of the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
and the Golden Age of Florence. On the foreign policy front, Lorenzo manifested a clear plan to stem the territorial ambitions of Pope Sixtus IV, in the name of the balance of the Italian League of 1454. For these reasons, Lorenzo was the subject of the
Pazzi conspiracy (1478), in which his brother
Giuliano People with the Italian given name or surname Giuliano () have included:
In arts and entertainment Surname
* Geoffrey Giuliano, American author
* Maurizio Giuliano, writer and Guinness-record-holding traveler Given name
* Giuliano Gemma, actor
...
was assassinated. The
Peace of Lodi
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
of 1454 that he supported among the various
Italian states
Italy, up until the Italian unification in 1861, was a conglomeration of city-states, republics, and other independent entities. The following is a list of the various Italian states during that period. Following the fall of the Western Roman Em ...
collapsed with his death. He is buried in the
Medici Chapel
The Medici Chapels (''Cappelle medicee'') are two structures at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, and built as extensions to Brunelleschi's 15th-century church, with the purpose of celebrating ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
.
Youth
Lorenzo's grandfather,
Cosimo de' Medici, was the first member of the
Medici family to lead the Republic of Florence and run the
Medici Bank
The Medici Bank (Italian: ''Banco dei Medici'' ) was a financial institution created by the Medici family in Italy during the 15th century (1397–1494). It was the largest and most respected bank in Europe during its prime. There are some estima ...
simultaneously. As one of the wealthiest men in Europe, Cosimo spent a very large portion of his fortune on government and philanthropy, for example as a patron of the arts and financier of public works.
[Hugh Ross Williamson, ''Lorenzo the Magnificent'', Michael Joseph, (1974), ] Lorenzo's father,
Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, was equally at the centre of Florentine civic life, chiefly as an art patron and collector, while Lorenzo's uncle,
Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici
Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici (3 June 1421 – 23 September 1463) was an Italian banker and patron of arts.
Giovanni was the son of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder and Contessina de' Bardi, and brother to Piero the Gouty. Unlike the latter, Giov ...
, took care of the family's business interests. Lorenzo's mother,
Lucrezia Tornabuoni
Lucrezia Tornabuoni (22 June 1427 – 25 March 1482) was an influential Italian political adviser and author during the 15th century. She was a member of one of the most powerful Italian families of the time and married Piero di Cosimo de' Medic ...
, was a writer of
sonnets and a friend to poets and philosophers of the
Medici Academy. She became her son's advisor after the deaths of his father and uncle.
[
Lorenzo, considered the most promising of the five children of Piero and Lucrezia, was tutored by a diplomat and bishop, Gentile de' Becchi, and the humanist philosopher Marsilio Ficino, and he was trained in Greek by ]John Argyropoulos
John Argyropoulos (/ˈd͡ʒɑn ˌɑɹd͡ʒɪˈɹɑ.pə.ləs/ el, Ἰωάννης Ἀργυρόπουλος ''Ioannis Argyropoulos''; it, Giovanni Argiropulo; surname also spelt ''Argyropulus'', or ''Argyropulos'', or ''Argyropulo''; c. 1415 – 2 ...
. With his brother Giuliano People with the Italian given name or surname Giuliano () have included:
In arts and entertainment Surname
* Geoffrey Giuliano, American author
* Maurizio Giuliano, writer and Guinness-record-holding traveler Given name
* Giuliano Gemma, actor
...
, he participated in jousting
Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament (medieval), tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying t ...
, hawking
Hawking may refer to:
People
* Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist
* Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name)
Film
* ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Ha ...
, hunting, and horse breeding for the Palio
Palio is the name given in Italy to an annual athletic contest, very often of a historical character, pitting the neighbourhoods of a town or the hamlets of a ''comune'' against each other. Typically, they are fought in costume and commemorate som ...
, a horse race in Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...
. In 1469, aged 20, he won first prize in a jousting tournament sponsored by the Medici. The joust was the subject of a poem written by Luigi Pulci. Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...
also wrote of the occasion, perhaps sarcastically, that he won "not by way of favour, but by his own valour and skill in arms". He carried a banner painted by Verrocchio
Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the ...
, and his horse was named Morello di Vento.
Piero sent Lorenzo on many important diplomatic missions when he was still a youth, including trips to Rome to meet the pope and other important religious and political figures.
Lorenzo was described as rather plain of appearance and of average height, having a broad frame and short legs, dark hair and eyes, a squashed nose, short-sighted eyes and a harsh voice. Giuliano People with the Italian given name or surname Giuliano () have included:
In arts and entertainment Surname
* Geoffrey Giuliano, American author
* Maurizio Giuliano, writer and Guinness-record-holding traveler Given name
* Giuliano Gemma, actor
...
, on the other hand, was regarded as handsome and a "golden boy", and was used as a model by Botticelli in his painting of '' Mars and Venus''. Even Lorenzo's close friend Niccolo Valori described him as homely, saying, "nature had been a stepmother to him in regards to his personal appearance, although she had acted as a loving mother in all things concocted with the mind. His complexion was dark, and although his face was not handsome it was so full of dignity as to compel respect."
Politics
Lorenzo, groomed for power, assumed a leading role in the state upon the death of his father in 1469, when he was 20. Already drained by his grandfather's building projects and constantly stressed by mismanagement, wars, and political expenses, the assets of the Medici Bank reduced seriously during the course of Lorenzo's lifetime.
Lorenzo, like his grandfather, father, and son, ruled Florence indirectly through surrogates in the city councils by means of payoffs and strategic marriages until 1490. Rival Florentine families inevitably harboured resentments over the Medicis' dominance, and enemies of the Medici remained a factor in Florentine life long after Lorenzo's passing.[ The most notable of the rival families was the ]Pazzi
The Pazzi were a noble Florentine family. Their main trade during the fifteenth century was banking. In the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478, members of the family were banished from Florence and their property was confiscated; the ...
, who nearly brought Lorenzo's reign to an end.[
On Sunday, 26 April 1478, in an incident known as the Pazzi conspiracy, a group headed by Girolamo Riario, ]Francesco de' Pazzi
Francesco de' Pazzi (28 January 1444 – 26 April 1478) was an Italian banker and one of the instigators of the Pazzi conspiracy.
On Sunday, 26 April 1478, in an incident known as the Pazzi conspiracy, a group headed by Girolamo Riario, Franc ...
, and Francesco Salviati (the archbishop of Pisa), attacked Lorenzo and his brother and co-ruler Giuliano People with the Italian given name or surname Giuliano () have included:
In arts and entertainment Surname
* Geoffrey Giuliano, American author
* Maurizio Giuliano, writer and Guinness-record-holding traveler Given name
* Giuliano Gemma, actor
...
in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
Florence Cathedral, formally the (; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy ( it, Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally co ...
in an attempt to seize control of the Florentine government. Shockingly, Salviati acted with the blessing of his patron Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...
. Giuliano was killed, brutally stabbed to death, but Lorenzo escaped with only a minor wound to the neck, having been defended by the poet Poliziano
Agnolo (Angelo) Ambrogini (14 July 1454 – 24 September 1494), commonly known by his nickname Poliziano (; anglicized as Politian; Latin: '' Politianus''), was an Italian classical scholar and poet of the Florentine Renaissance. His scho ...
. News of the conspiracy spread throughout Florence, and it was brutally put down by the populace through such measures as the lynching of the archbishop of Pisa and members of the Pazzi family who were involved in the conspiracy.
In the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy and the punishment of supporters of Pope Sixtus IV, the Medici and Florence earned the wrath of the Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
, which seized all the Medici assets that Sixtus could find, excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
Lorenzo and the entire government of Florence, and ultimately put the entire Florentine city-state under interdict
In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits persons, certain active Church individuals or groups from participating in certain rites, or that the rites and services of the church are banished from ...
. When these moves had little effect, Sixtus formed a military alliance with King Ferdinand I of Naples, whose son, Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, led an invasion of the Florentine Republic, still ruled by Lorenzo.
Lorenzo rallied the citizens. However, with little support from the traditional Medici allies in Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
and Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
,[ the war dragged on, and only diplomacy by Lorenzo, who personally traveled to ]Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and became a prisoner of the king for several months, ultimately resolved the crisis. That success enabled Lorenzo to secure constitutional changes within the government of the Florentine Republic that further enhanced his own power.[
Thereafter, Lorenzo, like his grandfather Cosimo de' Medici, pursued a policy of maintaining peace, balancing power between the northern Italian states and keeping major European states such as France and the ]Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
out of Italy. Lorenzo maintained good relations with Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, as the Florentine maritime trade with the Ottomans was a major source of wealth for the Medici.
Efforts to acquire revenue from the mining of alum in Tuscany unfortunately marred Lorenzo's reputation. Alum had been discovered by local citizens of Volterra
Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods.
History
Volt ...
, who turned to Florence to get backing to exploit this important natural resource. A key commodity in the glassmaking, tanning and textile industries, alum was available from only a few sources under the control of the Ottomans and monopolized by Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
before the discovery of alum sources in Italy at Tolfa Tolfa is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome, in the Lazio region of central Italy; it lies to the ENE of Civitavecchia by road.
It is the main center in the Monti della Tolfa, an extinct volcanic group between Civitavecchia an ...
. First the Roman Curia in 1462, and then Lorenzo and the Medici Bank less than a year later, got involved in backing the mining operation, with the pope taking a two-ducat commission for each cantar quintal
The quintal or centner is a historical unit of mass in many countries which is usually defined as 100 base units, such as pounds or kilograms. It is a traditional unit of weight in France, Portugal, and Spain and their former colonies. It is com ...
of alum retrieved and ensuring a monopoly against the Turkish-derived goods by prohibiting trade in alum with infidels. When they realized the value of the alum mine, the people of Volterra wanted its revenues for their municipal funds rather than having it enter the pockets of their Florentine backers. Thus began an insurrection and secession from Florence, which involved putting to death several opposing citizens. Lorenzo sent mercenaries to suppress the revolt by force, and the mercenaries ultimately sacked the city. Lorenzo hurried to Volterra to make amends, but the incident would remain a dark stain on his record.
Patronage
Lorenzo's court included artists such as Piero Piero is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Piero Angela (1928–2022), Italian television host
*Piero Barucci (born 1933), Italian academic and politician
* Piero del Pollaiuolo (c. 1443–1496), Italian painter
* Piero ...
and Antonio del Pollaiuolo
Antonio del Pollaiuolo ( , , ; 17 January 1429/14334 February 1498), also known as Antonio di Jacopo Pollaiuolo or Antonio Pollaiuolo (also spelled Pollaiolo), was an Italian painter, sculptor, engraver, and goldsmith during the Italian Rena ...
, Andrea del Verrocchio
Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the ...
, Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
, Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...
, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Michelangelo Buonarroti
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
, who were instrumental in achieving the 15th-century Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
. Although Lorenzo did not commission many works himself, he helped these artists to secure commissions from other patrons. Michelangelo lived with Lorenzo and his family for three years, dining at the family table and participating in discussions led by Marsilio Ficino.
Lorenzo was an artist and wrote poetry in his native Tuscan. In his poetry, he celebrates life while acknowledging with melancholy the fragility and instability of the human condition, particularly in his later works. Love, feasts and light dominate his verse.
Cosimo had started the collection of books that became the Medici Library (also called the Laurentian Library), and Lorenzo expanded it. Lorenzo's agents retrieved from the East large numbers of classical works, and he employed a large workshop
Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the on ...
to copy his books and disseminate their content across Europe. He supported the development of humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
through his circle of scholarly friends, including the philosophers Marsilio Ficino, Poliziano
Agnolo (Angelo) Ambrogini (14 July 1454 – 24 September 1494), commonly known by his nickname Poliziano (; anglicized as Politian; Latin: '' Politianus''), was an Italian classical scholar and poet of the Florentine Renaissance. His scho ...
and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, ...
. They studied Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
philosophers and attempted to merge the ideas of Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
with Christianity.
Apart from a personal interest, Lorenzo also used the Florentine milieu
The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...
of fine arts for his diplomatic efforts. An example includes the commission of Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil.
Ea ...
and Cosimo Rosselli
Cosimo Rosselli (; 1439–1507) was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento, active mainly in his birthplace of Florence, but also in Pisa earlier in his career and in 1481–82 in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, where he painted some of the large ...
from Rome to paint murals in the Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its nam ...
, a move that has been interpreted as sealing the alliance between Lorenzo and Pope Sixtus IV.[
In 1471, Lorenzo calculated that his family had spent some 663,000 florins (about US$460 million today) on charity, buildings and taxes since 1434. He wrote, ]"I do not regret this for though many would consider it better to have a part of that sum in their purse, I consider it to have been a great honour to our state, and I think the money was well-expended and I am well-pleased."
From 1479 Lorenzo became a permanent member of the committee supervising the rebuild of the ''signoria'' in Florence. He created a court of artists in his sculpture garden at San Marco which allowed him to exert ‘enormous influence on the selection of artists on public projects’.
Marriage and children
Lorenzo married Clarice Orsini
Clarice Orsini (1453–1488) was the daughter of Iacopo Orsini, and his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini both from the Orsini family, a great Roman noble house and was the wife of Lorenzo de' Medici.
Life
Clarice and Lorenzo married 4 June ...
on 7 February 1469. The marriage in person took place in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
on 4 June 1469. She was a daughter of Giacomo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo
Monterotondo is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy.
History
According to some historians, Monterotondo is the heir of the ancient Sabine town of Eretum, although the modern settlement appeared in the 10th-11th ce ...
and Bracciano by his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini.
Clarice and Lorenzo had 10 children, all except Contessina Antonia born in Florence:
* Lucrezia Maria Romola de' Medici (1470–1553), who married Jacopo Salviati on 10 September 1486 and had 10 children of her own, including Cardinal Giovanni Salviati
Giovanni Salviati (24 March 1490 – 28 October 1553) was a Florentine diplomat and cardinal. He was papal legate in France, and conducted negotiations with the Emperor Charles V.
Biography
Salviati was born in Florence to Jacopo Salviat ...
, Cardinal Bernardo Salviati, Maria Salviati
Maria Salviati (17 July 1499 – 29 December 1543) was a Florentine noblewoman, the daughter of Lucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici and Jacopo Salviati. She married Giovanni delle Bande Nere and was the mother of Cosimo I de Medici. Her husband d ...
(mother of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany), and Francesca Salviati (mother of Pope Leo XI
Pope Leo XI ( it, Leone XI; 2 June 153527 April 1605), born Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 April 1605 to his death in April 1605. His pontificate is one of the briefest in his ...
)
* Male twins who died after birth (March 1471)
* Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici
Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (15 February 1472 – 28 December 1503), called Piero the Fatuous or Piero the Unfortunate, was the lord of Florence from 1492 until his exile in 1494.
Early life
Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici was the eldest son of ...
(1472–1503), called "the Unfortunate", was ruler of Florence after his father's death; grandfather of Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...
, queen of France
* Maria Maddalena Romola de' Medici (1473–1528) married Franceschetto Cybo (illegitimate son of Pope Innocent VIII) on 25 February 1487 and had seven children
* Contessina Beatrice de' Medici, died shortly after her birth on 23 September 1474
* Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (1475–1521), ascended to the papacy as Leo X in 1513
* Luisa de' Medici
Luisa de' Medici (25 December 1476 – 1488) was an Italian noble. She was the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici and Clarice Orsini. She was going to marry with her fiancé Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, but she died in 1488 at the age of ...
(1477–1488), also called ''Luigia'', was betrothed to Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano
Giovanni de' Medici, in full Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, later known as il Popolano (the commoner) (21 October 1467 – 14 September 1498) was an Italian nobleman of the Medici House of Florence. He was the son of Pierfrancesco di Lorenz ...
, but died young
* Contessina Antonia Romola de' Medici (1478–1515), born in Pistoia, married Piero Ridolfi (1467–1525) in 1494 and had five children, including Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi
* Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici
Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici KG (12 March 1479 – 17 March 1516) was an Italian nobleman, the third son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and a ruler of Florence.
Biography
Born in Florence, he was raised with his brothers Piero and Giovanni d ...
(1479–1516) was created Duke of Nemours in 1515 by Francis I of France
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...
Lorenzo adopted his nephew Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici
Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...
(1478–1534), the illegitimate son of his slain brother Giuliano People with the Italian given name or surname Giuliano () have included:
In arts and entertainment Surname
* Geoffrey Giuliano, American author
* Maurizio Giuliano, writer and Guinness-record-holding traveler Given name
* Giuliano Gemma, actor
...
. In 1523, after serving four years as ruler of Florence, Giulio ascended to the papacy as Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...
.
Later years, death, and legacy
During Lorenzo's tenure, several branches of the family bank collapsed because of bad loans, and in later years he got into financial difficulties and resorted to misappropriating trust and state funds.
Toward the end of Lorenzo's life, Florence came under the influence of Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction o ...
, who believed Christians had strayed too far into Greco-Roman culture. Lorenzo played a role in bringing Savonarola to Florence.
Lorenzo died during the late night of 8 April 1492, at the longtime family villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
of Careggi. Savonarola visited Lorenzo on his deathbed. The rumour that Savonarola damned Lorenzo on his deathbed has been refuted in Roberto Ridolfi
Roberto Ridolfi (or di Ridolfo) (18 November 1531 – 18 February 1612) was an Italian and Florentine nobleman and conspirator.
Biography
Ridolfi belonged to a famous family of Florence, where he was born. As a banker he had business connections ...
's book ''Vita di Girolamo Savonarola''. Letters written by witnesses to Lorenzo's death report that he died peacefully after listening to the Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
of the day. Many signs and portents were claimed to have taken place at the moment of his death, including the dome of Florence Cathedral being struck by lightning, ghosts appearing, and the lions kept at Via Leone fighting one another.
The Signoria and councils of Florence issued a decree:
Lorenzo was buried with his brother Giuliano in the Church of San Lorenzo in the red porphyry sarcophagus designed for Piero and Giovanni de' Medici, not, as might be expected, in the New Sacristy, designed by Michelangelo. The latter holds the two monumental tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano's less known namesakes: Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, and Giuliano, Duke of Nemours.[Hugh Ross Williamson, p. 270-80] According to Williamson and others, the statues of the lesser Lorenzo and Giuliano were carved by Michelangelo to incorporate the essence of the famous men. In 1559, the bodies of Lorenzo de' Medici ("the Magnificent") and his brother Giuliano were interred in the New Sacristy in an unmarked tomb beneath Michelangelo's statue of the Madonna.[
Lorenzo's heir was his eldest son, ]Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici
Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (15 February 1472 – 28 December 1503), called Piero the Fatuous or Piero the Unfortunate, was the lord of Florence from 1492 until his exile in 1494.
Early life
Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici was the eldest son of ...
, known as "Piero the Unfortunate". In 1494, he squandered his father's patrimony and brought down the Medici dynasty in Florence. His second son, Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X, retook the city in 1512 with the aid of a Spanish army. In 1531, Lorenzo's nephew Giulio di Giuliano – whom Lorenzo had raised as his own son, and who in 1523 became Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...
– formalized Medici rule of Florence by installing Alessandro de' Medici the city's first hereditary duke.
In popular culture
* Lorenzo de' Medici is depicted as a teenager in CBBC (TV channel), CBBC's ''Leonardo (2011 TV series), Leonardo'', played by actor Colin Ryan (actor), Colin Ryan.
* Lorenzo de' Medici appears as a supporting character to the protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, after they help foil the Pazzi conspirators in ''Assassin's Creed II''.
* Lorenzo de' Medici is portrayed by Elliot Cowan in the 2013 TV series ''Da Vinci's Demons''.
* Lorenzo de' Medici is portrayed by Daniel Sharman in the TV series ''Medici (TV series), Medici: The Magnificent''.
References
Further reading
* Lorenzo de' Medici,
The Complete Literary Works
', edited and translated by Guido A. Guarino (New York: Italica Press, 2016).
* Miles J. Unger, ''Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de' Medici'' (Simon and Schuster 2008) is a vividly colorful biography of this true "renaissance man", the uncrowned ruler of Florence during its golden age.
* André Chastel, Art et Humanisme à Florence au temps de Laurent le Magnifique (Paris, 1959).
* Christopher Hibbert, ''The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall'' (Morrow-Quill, 1980) is a highly readable, non-scholarly general history of the family, and covers Lorenzo's life in some detail.
* F. W. Kent, ''Lorenzo de' Medici and the Art of Magnificence (The Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History)'' (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004) A summary of 40 years of research with a specific theme of Il Magnifico's relationship with the visual arts.
* Peter Barenboim, ''Michelangelo Drawings – Key to the Medici Chapel Interpretation'' (Moscow, Letny Sad, 2006) , is a new interpretation of Lorenzo the Magnificent' image in the Medici Chapel.
*
Barenboim, Peter (with Heath, Arthur). ''500 years of the New Sacristy: Michelangelo in the Medici Chapel''
LOOM, Moscow, 2019.
* Williamson, Hugh Ross, ''Lorenzo the Magnificent''. Michael Joseph, London. (1974)
* Parks, Tim, ''Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence'' (W. W. Norton & Company 2005) , is a mixture of history and finance, documenting the logistics of Lorenzo and the Medici Banks
;Historical novels
* Robin Maxwell (author), Robin Maxwell, ''Signora da Vinci'' (NAL Trade, 2009), a novel that follows Leonardo da Vinci's mother, Caterina, as she travels to Florence to be with her son.
External links
Lorenzo de' Medici as patron
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Medici, Lorenzo De
1449 births
1492 deaths
15th-century rulers in Europe
Burials at San Lorenzo, Florence
House of Medici, Lorenzo I
Italian Renaissance humanists
Patrons of literature
15th-century people of the Republic of Florence
Rulers of Florence
Italian art patrons