hi2 muistiinpanotMedici & Alberti & Albizzi

MediciFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Medici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. The family produced three popes (Leo X, Clement VII, and Leo XI), numerous rulers of Florence (notably Lorenzo the Magnificent, patron of some of the most famous works of renaissance art), and later members of the French and English royalty. Like other Signore families they dominated their city's government. They were able to bring Florence under their family's power allowing for an environment where art and humanism could flourish. They led the birth of the Italian Renaissance along with the other great signore families of Italy like the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan, the Este of Ferrara, the Gonzaga of Mantua, and others.

The Medici Bank was one of the most prosperous and most respected in Europe. There are some estimates that the Medici family was, for a period of time, the wealthiest family in Europe. From this base, the family 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. This system was first used by accountants working for the Medici family in Florence.

History

The Medici family came from the agricultural Mugello region, north of Florence, being mentioned for the first time in a document of 1230[citation needed].

The origin of the name is uncertain although its Italian meaning is "medical doctor". Members of the family rose to some prominence in the early 14th century in the wool trade, especially with France and Spain. Despite the presence of some Medicis in the city's government institutions, they were still far less notable than outstanding families such as the Albizzi or the

Medici

Money to get power, and power to guard the money(Blue sign with gold, yellow background, red dots)

Information

Notable members

Cosimo de' MediciLorenzo de' MediciLeo XCatherineClement VIILeo XI

Contents

1 History o 1.1 15th century

2 Art and architecture 3 Notable members 4 See also 5 References

o 5.1 Text o 5.2 Documentaries

6 External links 7 Popes Leo X, Clement VII, Leo

XI 8 Catherine

Cosimo de’Medici, Lorenzo de’Medici

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Strozzi. One Salvestro de' Medici was speaker of the woolmakers' guild during the Ciompi revolt, and one Antonio was sentenced to death in 1396. The involvement in another plot in 1400 caused all branches of the family to be banned from Florence's politics for twenty years, with the exception of two: from one of the latter, that of Averardo (Bicci) de' Medici, originated the Medici dynasty.

Averardo's son, Giovani di Bicci, increased the wealth of the family through his creation of the Medici Bank, and became one of the richest men in the city. Although never held any political charge, he gained a strong popular support to the family when he supported the introduction of a proportional taxing system.

His son Cosimo the Elder took over in 1434 as gran maestro, and the Medici became unofficial heads of state of the Florentine republic.[1]

The family of Piero de' Medici portrayed by Sandro Botticelli in the Madonna del Magnificat.

The "senior" branch of the family — those descended from Cosimo the Elder — ruled until the assassination of Alessandro de' Medici, first Duke of Florence, in 1537. This century-long rule was only interrupted on two occasions (between 1494–1512 and 1527–1530), when popular revolts sent the Medici into exile. Power then passed to the "junior" branch — those descended from Lorenzo the Elder, younger son of Giovanni di Bicci, starting with his great-great-grandson Cosimo I the Great. The Medici's rise to power was chronicled in detail by Benedetto Dei.

Cosimo and his father started the Medici foundations in banking, manufacturing - including a form of franchises - wealth, art, cultural patronage, and in the Papacy that ensured their success for generations. At least half, probably more, of Florence’s people were employed by them and their foundational branches in business.

15th century

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.

Piero de' Medici (1416-1469), Cosimo’s son, stayed in power for only five years (1464-1469). He was called Piero the Gouty because of the gout that infected his foot, and it eventually led to his death. He had little interest for the arts as his father had. Due to his illness, he mostly stayed at home bedridden, and therefore had done little to further the Medici control of Florence while in power. As such, Medici rule stagnated until his grandson Lorenzo took over. Lorenzo de' Medici “the Magnificent” (1449-1492), was more capable of leading and ruling a city. However, “Magnificent” was a common title and essentially does not mean anything special in itself. He showed his children great love and affection, too. To ensure the continuance of his success, Lorenzo perceived his children’s abilities and planned their futures and careers for them. He predicted, or rather forced, Piero II to be headstrong, Giovanni a scholar, and Giuliano--not to be confused with Lorenzo’s brother who had the same first name--good. Giuliano, Lorenzo’s brother, was assassinated in church on Easter Sunday (1478). Lorenzo adopted Giuliano’s illegitimate son, Giulio de' Medici (1478-1535), the future Clement VII. The incompetent Piero II took over as the head of Florence after his father’s, Lorenzos', death. Piero was responsible for the expulsion of the Medici from 1494-1512.

The Medici remained masters of Italy through their two famous 16th century popes, Leo X and Clement VII, who were de facto rulers of both Rome and Florence. They were both patrons of the arts, but in the religious field they proved unable to stem the advance of Martin Luther's ideas. Another Medici became Pope: Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici (Leo XI).

The most outstanding figure of the 16th century Medici was Cosimo I, who, coming from a retire in the Mugello, rose to supremacy in the whole of Tuscany, conquering the Florentines' most hated rival Siena and founding the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

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Art and architecture

The most significant accomplishments of the Medici were in the sponsorship of art and architecture, mainly early and High Renaissance art and architecture. The Medici were responsible for the majority of Florentine art during their reign. Their money was significant because during this period, artists generally only made their works when they received commissions and advance payments. Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, the first patron of the arts in the family, aided Masaccio and commissioned Brunelleschi for the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence in 1419. Cosimo the Elder's notable artistic associates were Donatello and Fra Angelico. The most significant addition to the list over the years was Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), who produced work for a number of Medici, beginning with Lorenzo the Magnificent. Lorenzo commissioned him often, even as a child, and was extremely fond of him. Lorenzo commissioned Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) for seven years. Lorenzo also was an artist of poetry and song. Later, Pope Leo X would chiefly commission Raphael (1483-1520) — "the Prince of Painters." Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel; the de' Medici family oversaw the construction of the Sistine Chapel as well.

Under Savonarola's fanatical leadership, many great works were "voluntarily" destroyed in the Bonfire of the Vanities (February 7, 1497). The following year, on May 23, 1498, Savonarola and his two young supporters were hanged in the public square, the same location as his bonfire.

In addition to commissions for art and architecture, the Medici were prolific collectors and today their acquisitions form the core of the Uffizi museum in Florence.

In architecture, the Medici are responsible for some notable features of Florence; including the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens, the Belvedere, and the Palazzo Medici.

Although none of the Medici themselves were scientists, the family is well known to have been the patrons of the famous Galileo Galilei, who tutored multiple generations of Medici children, and was an important figurehead for his patron's quest for power. Galileo's patronage was eventually abandoned by Ferdinando II, when the Inquisition accused Galileo of heresy. However, the Medici family did afford the scientist a safe haven for many years. Galileo named the four largest moons of Jupiter after four Medici children he tutored.

Eleonora of Toledo, princess of Spain and wife of Cosimo I the Great, purchased the Pitti Palace from Buonaccorso Pitti in 1550.

Cosimo I the Great patronized Vasari who erected the Uffizi Gallery in 1560 and founded the Academy of Design in 1562.

Marie de' Medici , widow of Henry IV of France and mother of Louis XIII, is the subject of a commissioned cycle of paintings known as the Marie de' Medici cycle, painted for the Luxembourg Palace by court painter Peter Paul Rubens in 1622-23.

Notable members

Salvestro de' Medici (1331–1388), led the assault against the revolt of the ciompi, became dictator of Florence, and banished in 1382

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (1360–1429), restored the family fortune and made the Medici family the wealthiest in Europe

Cosimo the Elder (1389–1464), founder of the Medici political dynasty Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–1492), leader of Florence during the Golden Age of the

Renaissance Giovanni de' Medici (1475–1523), also known as Pope Leo X Giulio de' Medici (1478–1534), also known as Pope Clement VII

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Cosimo I the Great (1519–1574), First Grand Duke of Tuscany who restored the Medici lustre

Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589), Queen of France Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici (1535–1605), also known as Pope Leo XI Marie de' Medici (1575–1642), Queen and Regent of France Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (1667–1743) the last of the Medici line

See also

Alberti Albizzi

References

1. ̂ Bradley, Richard (executive producer). (2003). The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (Part I) [DVD]. PBS Home Video.

Text

Christopher Hibbert , The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall (Morrow, 1975) is a highly readable, non-scholarly general history of the family

Ferdinand Schevill , History of Florence: From the Founding of the City Through the Renaissance (Frederick Ungar, 1936) is the standard overall history of Florence

Paul Strathern , The Medici - Godfathers of the Renaissance (Pimlico, 2005) is an informative and lively account of the Medici family, their finesse and foibles - extremely readable, though very homophobic and full of typographical errors.

Lauro Martines , "April Blood - Florence and the Plot Against the Medici" (Oxford University Press 2003) a detailed account of the Pazzi Conspiracy, the players, the politics of the day, and the fallout of the assassination plot . Though accurate in historic details, Martines writes with a definite 'anti-Medici' tone.

Accounting in Italy Herbert Millingchamp Vaughan , The Medici Popes. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908. Jonathan Zophy , A Short History of Renaissance and Reformation Europe, Dances over

Fire and Water. 1996. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Documentaries

TLC/Peter Spry-Leverton.PSL, The Mummy Detectives: The Crypt Of The Medici One-hour documentary. Italian specialists, joined by mummy expert and TLC presenter Dr. Bob Brier exhume the bodies of Italy's ancient first family and use the latest forensic tools to investigate how they lived and died. Airs on Discovery Channel.

"Among the Medici" (3-part radio series) . BBC Radio 4 (2006).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: House of Medici

Outline of the history of the Medici family

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Genealogical manuscript on the house of the Medici

(German) Genealogical tree of the house of the Medici

Galileo and the Medici Family at PBS Adrian Fletcher’s Paradoxplace–3

pages of Medici portraits and history Medici Archive Project   "House of Medici". Catholic

Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medici"Categories: House of Medici | Papal families | European royal families | Culture in Florence | History of Florence

Pope Leo XFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pope Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (11 December 1475 – 1 December 1521) was Pope from 1513 to his death. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 theses. He was the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, the most famous ruler of the Florentine Republic, and Clarice Orsini. His cousin, Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, would later succeed him as Pope Clement VII (1523–34).

Early Life

For the church, he received the tonsure at the age of six and was soon loaded with rich benefices and preferments. His father prevailed on Innocent VIII to name him cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria in Domnica in March 1489, although he was not allowed to wear the insignia or share in the deliberations of the college until three years later. Meanwhile he received a careful

Leo X

Birth nameGiovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici

Papacy began

March 8, 1513 (elected) March 11, 1513 (proclaimed)

Papacy ended

December 2, 1521

Predecessor

Julius II

Successor Adrian VI

BornDecember 11, 1475Florence, Italy

DiedDecember 1, 1521 (aged 45)Rome, Italy

Other popes named Leo

Pope Leo X

House of Medici

Born: 11 December 1475 Died: 1 December 1521

Roman Catholic Church titlesPreceded b

yJulius II

PopeSucceeded 

byAdrian VI

Contents

1 Early Life o 1.1 Role in Italian Wars o 1.2 War of Urbino

2 Reformation and last years o 2.1 Schism between

Reuchlin and Pfefferkorn regarding the banning of Hebrew books

o 2.2 The Protestant Schism o 2.3 Italian politics o 2.4 Death

3 Behavior as Pope and patron of arts

4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography

7 External links

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education at Lorenzo's brilliant humanistic court under such men as Angelo Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino and Bernardo Dovizio Bibbiena. From 1489 to 1491 he studied theology and canon law at Pisa under Filippo Decio and Bartolomeo Sozzini.

On 23 March 1492 he was formally admitted into the sacred college and took up his residence at Rome, receiving a letter of advice from his father which ranks among the wisest of its kind. The death of Lorenzo on the following April 8, however, called the seventeen-year-old cardinal to Florence. He participated in the conclave of 1492 which followed the death of Innocent VIII, and opposed the election of Cardinal Borgia. He made his home with his elder brother Piero at Florence throughout the agitation of Savonarola and the invasion of Charles VIII of France, until the uprising of the Florentines and the expulsion of the Medici in November 1494. While Piero found refuge at Venice and Urbino, Cardinal Giovanni travelled in Germany, in the Netherlands and in France.

In May 1500 he returned to Rome, where he was received with outward cordiality by Alexander VI, and where he lived for several years immersed in art and literature. In 1503 he welcomed the accession of Julius II to the pontificate; the death of Piero de' Medici in the same year made Giovanni head of his family. On 1 October 1511 he was appointed papal legate of Bologna and the Romagna, and when the Florentine republic declared in favour of the schismatic Pisans Julius II sent him against his native city at the head of the papal army. This and other attempts to regain political control of Florence were frustrated, until a bloodless revolution permitted the return of the Medici. Giovanni's younger brother Giuliano was placed at the head of the republic, but the cardinal actually managed the government.

Role in Italian Wars

At the very time of Leo's accession Louis XII of France, in alliance with Venice, was making a determined effort to regain the duchy of Milan, and Leo, after fruitless endeavours to maintain peace, joined the league of Mechlin on 5 April 1513 with the emperor Maximilian I, Ferdinand I of Spain and Henry VIII of England. The French and Venetians were at first successful, but were defeated in June at the Battle of Novara. The Venetians continued the struggle until October. On 9 December the fifth Lateran council, which had been reopened by Leo in April, ratified the peace with Louis XII and officially registered the conclusion of the Pisan schism.

While the council was engaged in planning a crusade and in considering the reform of the clergy, a new crisis occurred between the pope and the new king of France, Francis I, an enthusiastic young prince, dominated by the ambition of recovering Milan and the Kingdom of Naples. Leo at once formed a new league with the emperor and the king of Spain, and to ensure English support made Thomas Wolsey a cardinal. Francis entered Italy in August and on 14 September won the battle of Marignano. The pope in October signed an agreement binding him to withdraw his troops from Parma and Piacenza, which had been previously gained at the expense of the duchy of Milan, on condition of French protection at Rome and Florence. The king of Spain wrote to his ambassador at Rome "that His Holiness had hitherto played a double game and that all his zeal to drive the French from Italy had been only a mask"; this reproach seemed to receive some confirmation when Leo X held a secret conference with Francis at Bologna in December 1515. The ostensible subjects under consideration were the establishment of peace between France, Venice and the Empire, with a view to an expedition against the Turks, and the ecclesiastical affairs of France. Precisely what was arranged is unknown. During these two or three years of incessant political intrigue and warfare it was not to be expected that the Lateran council should accomplish much. Its three main objectives, the peace of Christendom, the crusade (against the Turks), and the reform of the church, could be secured only by general agreement among the powers, and either Leo or the council, or both, failed to secure such agreement. Its most important achievements were the registration at its eleventh sitting (9 December 1516) of the abolition of the pragmatic sanction, which the popes since Pius II had unanimously condemned, and the confirmation of the concordat between Leo X and Francis I, which was destined to regulate the relations between the French Church and the Holy See until the Revolution. Leo closed the council on 16 March 1517. It had ended the

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Pisan schism, ratified the censorship of books introduced by Alexander VI and imposed tithes for a war against the Turks. It raised no voice against the primacy of the pope.

War of Urbino

The year which marked the close of the Lateran council was also signalized by Leo's war against the duke of Urbino Francesco Maria I della Rovere. Pope Leo was proud of his family and had practised nepotism from the outset. His cousin Giulio, who subsequently became pope as Clement VII, he had made the most influential man in the curia, naming him archbishop of Florence, cardinal and vice-chancellor of the Holy See. Leo had intended his younger brother Giuliano and his nephew Lorenzo for brilliant secular careers. He had named them Roman patricians; the latter he had placed in charge of Florence; the former, for whom he planned to carve out a kingdom in central Italy of Parma, Piacenza, Ferrara and Urbino, he had taken with himself to Rome and married to Filiberta of Savoy. The death of Giuliano in March 1516, however, caused the pope to transfer his ambitions to Lorenzo. At the very time (December 1516) that peace between France, Spain, Venice and the Empire seemed to give some promise of a Christendom united against the Turks, Leo was preparing an enterprise as unscrupulous as any of the similar exploits of Cesare Borgia. He obtained 150,000 ducats towards the expenses of the expedition from Henry VIII of England, in return for which he entered the imperial league of Spain and England against France.

The war lasted from February to September 1517 and ended with the expulsion of the duke and the triumph of Lorenzo; but it revived the allegedly nefarious policy of Alexander VI, increased brigandage and anarchy in the Papal States, hindered the preparations for a crusade and wrecked the papal finances. Francesco Guicciardini reckoned the cost of the war to Leo at the prodigious sum of 800,000 ducats. The new duke of Urbino was the Lorenzo de' Medici to whom Machiavelli addressed The Prince. His marriage in March 1518 was arranged by the pope with Madeleine la Tour d'Auvergne, a royal princess of France, whose daughter was the Catherine de' Medici celebrated in French history.

The war of Urbino was further marked by a crisis in the relations between pope and cardinals. The sacred college had allegedly grown especially worldly and troublesome since the time of Sixtus IV, and Leo took advantage of a plot of several of its members to poison him, not only to inflict exemplary punishments by executing one and imprisoning several others, but also to make a radical change in the college. On 3 July 1517 he published the names of thirty-one new cardinals, a number almost unprecedented in the history of the papacy. Among the nominations were notables such as Lorenzo Campeggio, Giambattista Pallavicini, Adrian of Utrecht (the future Pope Adrian VI), Thomas Cajetan, Cristoforo Numai and Egidio Canisio. The naming of seven members of prominent Roman families, however, reversed the policy of his predecessor which had kept the political factions of the city out of the curia. Other promotions were for political or family considerations or to secure money for the war against Urbino. The pope was accused of having exaggerated the conspiracy of the cardinals for purposes of financial gain, but most of such accusations appear to be unsubstantiated.

Leo, meanwhile, felt the need of staying the advance of the warlike Ottoman sultan, Selim I, who was threatening western Europe, and made elaborate plans for a crusade. A truce was to be proclaimed throughout Christendom; the pope was to be the arbiter of disputes; the emperor and the king of France were to lead the army; England, Spain and Portugal were to furnish the fleet; and the combined forces were to be directed against Constantinople. Papal diplomacy in the interests of peace failed, however; Cardinal Wolsey made England, not the pope, the arbiter between France and the Empire; and much of the money collected for the crusade from tithes and indulgences was spent in other ways. In 1519 Hungary concluded a three years' truce with Selim I, but the succeeding sultan, Suleyman the Magnificent, renewed the war in June 1521 and on 28 August captured the citadel of Belgrade. The pope was greatly alarmed, and although he was then involved in war with France he sent about 30,000 ducats to the Hungarians. Leo treated the Uniate Greeks with great loyalty, and by bull of 18 May 1521 forbade Latin clergy to celebrate mass in Greek churches and Latin bishops to ordain Greek clergy. These provisions were later strengthened by Clement VII and Paul III and went far to

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settle the chronic disputes between the Latins and Uniate Greeks.

Reformation and last years

Leo was disturbed throughout his pontificate by alleged heresy and schisms, especially the kulturkampf touched off by Martin Luther.

Schism between Reuchlin and Pfefferkorn regarding the banning of Hebrew books

The dispute between the Hebraist Johann Reuchlin and Johannes Pfefferkorn relative to the Talmud and other Jewish books, as well as censorship of such books, was referred to the pope in September 1513. He in turn referred it to the bishops of Spires and Worms, who gave decision in March 1514 in favour of Reuchlin. After the appeal of the inquisitor-general, Hochstraten, and the appearance of the Epistolae obscurorum virorum,

however, Leo annulled the decision (June 1520) and imposed silence on Reuchlin. In the end he allowed the Talmud to be printed.

Bulla Contra errores Martini Lutheri of 1521.

The Protestant Schism

Main article: Protestant Reformation

Against the misconduct from some servants of the church, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther posted (31 October 1517) his famous ninety-five theses on the church door at Wittenberg, which successively escalated to a widespread revolt against the church. Although Leo did not fully comprehend the importance of the movement, he directed (3 February 1518) the vicar-general of the Augustinians to impose silence on the monks. On 30 May Luther sent an explanation of his theses to the pope; on 7 August he was summoned to appear at Rome. An arrangement was effected, however, whereby that summons was cancelled, and Luther went to Augsburg in October 1518 to meet the papal legate, Cardinal Cajetan, who was attending the imperial diet convened by the emperor Maximilian to impose the tithes for the Turkish war and to elect a king of the Romans; but neither the arguments of the educated cardinal, nor the dogmatic papal bull of the 9th of November requiring all Christians to believe in the pope's power to grant indulgences, moved Luther to retract. A year of fruitless negotiation followed, during which controversy over the pamphlets of the reformer set all Germany on fire. A papal bull of 15 June 1520, which condemned forty-one propositions extracted from Luther's teachings, was taken to Germany by Eck in his capacity of apostolic nuncio, published by him and the legates Alexander and Caracciolo, and burned by Luther on 10 December at Wittenberg. Leo then formally excommunicated Luther by bull of the 3 January 1521; in a brief the Pope also directed the emperor to take energetic measures against heresy. On 26 May 1521 the emperor signed the edict of the diet of Worms, which placed Luther under the ban of the Empire; on 21 of the same month Henry VIII of England (who was later to split from Catholicism himself) sent to Leo his book against Luther on the seven sacraments. The pope, after careful consideration, conferred on the king of England the title "Defender of the Faith" by bull of 11 October 1521. Neither the imperial edict nor the work of Henry VIII halted the Lutheran movement, and Luther himself, safe in the solitude of the Wartburg, survived Leo X.

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It was under Leo X also that the Protestant movement emerged in Scandinavia. The pope had repeatedly used the rich northern benefices to reward members of the Roman curia, and towards the close of the year 1516 he sent the grasping and impolitic Arcimboldi as papal nuncio to Denmark to collect money for St Peter's. King Christian II took advantage of the growing dissatisfaction on the part of the native clergy toward the papal government, and of Arcimboldi's interference in the Swedish revolt, in order to expel the nuncio and summon (1520) Lutheran theologians to Copenhagen. Christian approved a plan by which a formal state church should be established in Denmark, all appeals to Rome should be abolished, and the king and diet should have final jurisdiction in ecclesiastical causes. Leo sent a new nuncio to Copenhagen (1521) in the person of the Minorite Francesco de Potentia, who readily absolved the king and received the rich bishopric of Skara. The pope or his legate, however, took no steps to remove abuses or otherwise reform the Scandinavian churches. (Some Scandinavian countries still have Protestant state churches.)

Italian politics

Statue of Leo X in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome.

That Leo did not do more to check the anti-papal rebellion in Germany and Scandinavia is to be partially explained by the political complications of the time, and by his own preoccupation with papal and Medicean politics in Italy. The death of the emperor Maximilian in 1519 had seriously affected the situation. Leo vacillated between the powerful candidates for the succession, allowing it to appear at first that he favoured Francis I while really working for the election of some minor German prince. He finally accepted Charles V of Spain as inevitable; and the election of Charles (28 June 1519) revealed Leo's desertion of his French alliance, a step facilitated by the death at about the same time of Lorenzo de' Medici and his French wife.

Leo was now anxious to unite Ferrara, Parma and Piacenza to the States of the Church. An attempt late in

1519 to seize Ferrara failed, and the pope recognized the need of foreign aid. In May 1521 a treaty of alliance was signed at Rome between him and the emperor. Milan and Genoa were to be taken from France and restored to the Empire, and Parma and Piacenza were to be given to the Church on the expulsion of the French. The expense of enlisting 10,000 Swiss was to be borne equally by pope and emperor. Charles took Florence and the Medici family under his protection and promised to punish all enemies of the Catholic faith. Leo agreed to invest Charles with Naples, to crown him emperor, and to aid in a war against Venice. It was provided that England and the Swiss might join the league. Henry VIII announced his adherence in August. Francis I had already begun war with Charles in Navarre, and in Italy, too, the French made the first hostile movement (23 June 1521). Leo at once announced that he would excommunicate the king of France and release his subjects from their allegiance unless Francis laid down his arms and surrendered Parma and Piacenza. The pope lived to hear the joyful news of the capture of Milan from the French and of the occupation by papal troops of the long-coveted provinces (November 1521).

Death

Having fallen ill of malaria, Leo X died on 1 December 1521, so suddenly that the last sacraments could not be administered; but the contemporary suspicions of poison were unfounded. He was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

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Leo was followed as Pope by Adrian VI.

Several minor events of Leo's pontificate are worthy of mention. He was particularly friendly with King Manuel I of Portugal on account of the latter's missionary enterprises in Asia and Africa. His concordat with Florence (1516) guaranteed the free election of the clergy in that city. His constitution of 1 March 1519 condemned the king of Spain's claim to refuse the publication of papal bulls. He maintained close relations with Poland because of the Turkish advance and the Polish contest with the Teutonic Knights. His bull of 1 July 1519, which regulated the discipline of the Polish Church, was later transformed into a concordat by Clement VII. Leo showed special favours to the Jews and permitted them to erect a Hebrew printing-press at Rome. He approved the formation of the Oratory of Divine Love, a group of pious men at Rome which later became the Theatine Order, and he canonized Francis of Paola

Behavior as Pope and patron of arts

Leo X's pet elephant, Hanno

When he became Pope, Leo X is reported to have said to his brother Giuliano: "Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it." The Venetian ambassador who related this of him was not unbiased, nor was he in Rome at the time, nevertheless the phrase illustrates fairly the Pope's pleasure-loving nature and the lack of seriousness that characterized him. And enjoy he did, traveling around Rome at the head of a lavish parade featuring panthers, jesters, and Hanno, a white elephant.

“ Under his pontificate, Christianity assumed a pagan character, which, passing from art into manners, gives to this epoch a strange complexion. Crimes for the moment disappeared, to give place to vices; but to charming vices, vices in good taste, such as those indulged in by Alcibiades and sung by Catullus. Alexandre Dumas, père [1] ”

Leo X was also lavish in charity: retirement homes, hospitals, convents, discharged soldiers, pilgrims, poor students, exiles, cripples, the sick, and the unfortunate of every description were generously remembered, and more than 6,000 ducats were annually distributed in alms.

His extravagance offended not only people like Martin Luther, but also some cardinals, who, led by Alfonso Petrucci of Siena, plotted an assassination attempt. Eventually, Pope Leo found out who these people were, and had them followed. The conspirators died of "food poisoning." Some people argue that Leo X and his followers simply concocted the assassination charges in a moneymaking scheme to collect fines from the various wealthy cardinals Leo X detested.

As patron of learning Leo X deserves a prominent place among the popes. He raised the church to a high rank as the friend of whatever seemed to extend knowledge or to refine and embellish life. He made the capital of Christendom the center of culture. While yet a cardinal, he had restored the church of Santa Maria in Domnica after Raphael's designs; and as pope he had San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, on the Via Giulia, built, after designs by Jacopo Sansovino and pressed forward the work on St Peter's and the Vatican under Raphael and Agostino Chigi.

His constitution of 5 November 1513 reformed the Roman university, which had been neglected by Julius II. He restored all its faculties, gave larger salaries to the professors, and summoned distinguished teachers from afar; and, although it never attained to the importance of Padua or Bologna, it nevertheless possessed in 1514 a faculty (with a good reputation) of eighty-eight professors. Leo called Janus Lascaris to Rome to give instruction in Greek, and

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established a Greek printing-press from which the first Greek book printed at Rome appeared in 1515. He made Raphael custodian of the classical antiquities of Rome and the vicinity. The distinguished Latinists Pietro Bembo and Jacopo Sadoleto were papal secretaries, as well as the famous poet Bernardo Accolti. Other poets such as Marco Girolamo Vida, Gian Giorgio Trissino and Bibbiena, writers of novelle like Matteo Bandello, and a hundred other literati of the time were bishops, or papal scriptors or abbreviators, or in other papal employ.

Leo's lively interest in art and literature, to say nothing of his natural liberality, his alleged nepotism, his political ambitions and necessities, and his immoderate personal luxury, exhausted within two years the hard savings of Julius II, and precipitated a financial crisis from which he never emerged and which was a direct cause of most of what, from a papal point of view, were calamities of his pontificate. He created many new offices and sold them, a move seen by later Catholics as being "shameless". He sold cardinals' hats. He sold membership in the "Knights of Peter". He borrowed large sums from bankers, curials, princes and Jews. The Venetian ambassador Gradenigo estimated the paying number of offices on Leo's death at 2,150, with a capital value of nearly 3,000,000 ducats and a yearly income of 328,000 ducats. Marino Giorgi reckoned the ordinary income of the pope for the year 1517 at about 580,000 ducats, of which 420,000 came from the States of the Church, 100,000 from annates, and 60,000 from the composition tax instituted by Sixtus IV. These sums, together with the considerable amounts accruing from indulgences, jubilees, and special fees, vanished as quickly as they were received. Then the pope resorted to pawning palace furniture, table plate, jewels, even statues of the apostles. Several banking firms and many individual creditors were ruined by the death of the pope.

In the past many conflicting estimates were made of the character and achievements of the pope during whose pontificate Protestantism first took form. More recent studies have served to produce a reportedly fairer and more honest opinion of Leo X. A report of the Venetian ambassador Marino Giorgi bearing date of March 1517 indicates some of his predominant characteristics:

“ The pope is a good-natured and extremely free-hearted man, who avoids every difficult situation and above all wants peace; he would not undertake a war himself unless his own personal interests were involved; he loves learning; of canon law and literature he possesses remarkable knowledge; he is, moreover, a very excellent musician. ”

The Atlantis Blueprint, page 267 by Colin Wilson ©2002

See also

Reformation Martin Luther House of Medici Italian Wars Francis I of France Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VIII of England Portrait of Leo X

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , a publication now in the public domain.

Bibliography

11

Luther Martin. Luther's Correspondence and Other Contemporary Letters, 2 vols., tr.and ed. by Preserved Smith, Charles Michael Jacobs, The Lutheran Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. 1913, 1918. vol.I (1507-1521) and vol.2 (1521-1530) from Google Books. Reprint of Vol.1, Wipf & Stock Publishers (March 2006). ISBN 1-59752-601-0

Ludwig von Pastor , History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources, 40 vols. St. Louis, B.Herder 1898

Vaughan, Herbert M. The Medici Popes. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908. Zophy, Jonathan W. A Short History of Renaissance and Reformation Europe Dances

over Fire and Water. 1996. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Pope Leo XWikisource has original works written by or about: Pope Leo X

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leo X

Catholic Encyclopedia : Pope Leo X Vita de Leonis X life in Latin by Paulus Jovius Henry VIII to Pope Leo X. May 21,1521 Leo X to Frederic, Elector of Saxony. Rome,

July 8, 1520 Paradoxplace Medici Popes' Page About the Taxa Camarae forgery Works by or about Pope Leo X in libraries

(WorldCat catalog)

Pope Clement VIIFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the antipope (1378–1394) see antipope Clement VII.

Clement VII

Birth name Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici

Papacy began

November 19, 1523

Papacy ended

September 25, 1534

Predecessor Adrian VI

Successor Paul III

BornMay 26, 1478Florence, Italy

DiedSeptember 25, 1534 (aged 56)Rome, Italy

Other popes named Clement

Roman Catholic Church titles

Preceded byAdrian VI

Pope1523–34

Succeeded by

Paul III

Contents

1 Early life 2 Election 3 Papacy

o 3.1 Continental and Medici politics

o 3.2 Sack of Rome o 3.3 English Reformation

4 Appearance 5 Death and character 6 References 7 See also

8 External links 12

Pope Clement VII (May 26, 1478 – September 25, 1534), born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.

Early life

He was born in Florence one month after his father, Giuliano de' Medici, was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy. Although his parents had not had a formal marriage, a canon law loophole allowing for the parents to have been betrothed per sponsalia de presenti meant that Giulio was considered legitimate. He was thus the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who educated him in his youth.

Pope Leo X with his cardinal-cousin Giulio de' Medici (left, future Pope Clement VII)

Giulio was made a Knight of Rhodes and Grand Prior of Capua, and, upon the election of his cousin Giovanni de' Medici to the pontificate as Pope Leo X (1513–21), he soon became a powerful figure in Rome. Upon his cousin's accession to the papacy, Giulio became his principal minister and confidant, especially in the maintenance of the Medici interest at Florence as archbishop of that city. On 23 September 1513, he was made cardinal and he was consecrated on 29 September. He had the credit of being the main director of papal policy during the whole of Leo X's pontificate.

Election

At Leo X's death in 1521, Cardinal Medici was considered especially papabile in the protracted conclave. Although unable to gain the Papacy for himself or his ally Alessandro Farnese (both preferred candidates of Emperor Charles V (1519–58)), he took a leading part in determining the unexpected election of the short-lived Pope Adrian VI (1522–23), with whom he also wielded formidable influence. Following Adrian VI's death on 14 September 1523, Medici finally succeeded in being elected Pope Clement VII in the next conclave (November 19, 1523).

He brought to the Papal throne a high reputation for political ability, and possessed in fact all the accomplishments of a wily diplomat. However, he was considered worldly and indifferent to what went on around him, including the ongoing Protestant reformation.

Papacy

At his accession, Clement VII sent the Archbishop of Capua, Nikolaus Cardinal von Schönberg, to the Kings of France, Spain and England, in order to bring the war then raging in Europe to a peace. But his attempt failed.

Ippolito de' Medici, cardinal-nephew of Clement VII and illegitimate son of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici

Continental and Medici politics

13

Francis I of France's conquest of Milan in 1524 prompted the Pope to quit the Imperial-Spanish side and to ally himself with other Italian princes, including the Republic of Venice, and France in the January of 1525. This treaty granted the definitive acquisition of Parma and Piacenza for the Papal States, the rule of Medici over Florence and the free passage of the French troops to Naples. This policy in itself was sound and patriotic, but Clement VII's zeal soon cooled; by his want of foresight and unseasonable economy he laid himself open to an attack from the turbulent Roman barons, which obliged him to invoke the mediation of the Emperor. One month later, however, Francis I was crushed and imprisoned in the Battle of Pavia, and Clement VII veered back to his former engagements with Charles V, signing an alliance with the viceroy of Naples.

But he was to change sides again when Francis I was freed after the Peace of Madrid (January 1526): the Pope entered in the League of Cognac together with France, Venice and Francesco Sforza of Milan. Clement VII issued an invective against Charles V, who in reply defined him a "wolf" instead of a "shepherd", menacing the summoning of a council about the Lutheran question.

Sack of Rome

The Pope's wavering politics also caused the rise of the Imperial party inside the Curia: Pompeo Cardinal Colonna's soldiers pillaged the Vatican City and gained control of the whole of Rome in his name. The humiliated Pope promised therefore to bring the Papal States to the Imperial side again. But soon after, Colonna left the siege and went to Naples, not keeping his promises and dismissing the Cardinal from his charge. From this point on, Clement VII could do nothing but follow the fate of the French party to end.

Soon he found himself alone in Italy too, as the duke of Ferrara had sided with the Imperial army, permitting to the horde of Landsknechts led by Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, and Georg von Frundsberg, to reach Rome without harm.

Castel Sant'Angelo.

Charles of Bourbon died during the long siege, and his troops, unpaid and left without a guide, felt free to ravage Rome from May 6, 1527. The innumerable series of murders, rapes and vandalism that followed ended forever the splendours of the Renaissance Rome. Clement VII, who had displayed no more resolution in his military than in his political conduct, was shortly afterwards (June 6) obliged to surrender himself together with the castle of Sant'Angelo, where he had taken refuge. He agreed to pay a ransom of 400,000 ducati in exchange for his life; conditions included the cession of Parma, Piacenza, Civitavecchia and Modena to the Holy Roman Empire.

(Only the last could be occupied in fact.) At the same time, Venice took advantage of his situation to capture Cervia and Ravenna while Sigismondo Malatesta returned in Rimini.

Clement was kept as a prisoner in Castel Sant'Angelo for six months. After having bought some Imperial officers, he escaped disguised as a peddler, and took shelter in Orvieto, and then in Viterbo. He came back to a depopulated and devastated Rome only in October 1528.

Meanwhile, in Florence, Republican enemies of the Medici took advantage of the chaos to again expel the Pope's family from the city.

In June of the following year the warring parts signed the Peace of Barcelona. The Papal States regained some cities and Charles V agreed to restore the Medici to power in Florence. In 1530, after an eleven-month siege, the Tuscan city capitulated, and Clement VII installed his

14

illegitimate son Alessandro as Duke. Subsequently the Pope followed a policy of subservience to the Emperor, endeavouring on the one hand to induce him to act with severity against the Lutherans in Germany, and on the other to elude his demands for a general council.

English Reformation

One momentous consequence of this dependence on Charles V was the break with the Kingdom of England occasioned by Clement VII's refusal in 1533 to sanction the annulment of Henry VIII of England's (1509–47) marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Clement VII used various stalling tactics and delays. He paid spies to steal Henry VIII's love letters to his fiancée, Anne Boleyn, to prove that they were lovers. However, no evidence could be uncovered and even Clement VII had to grudgingly admit that all impartial evidence from England suggested that

Anne Boleyn was strong-willed but morally upright. Clement VII's procrastination on the issue ultimately resulted in the English Parliament passing the Act of Supremacy (1534) that established the independent Church of England.

Appearance

The Younger Clement VII

During his half-year imprisonment in 1527, Clement VII grew a full beard as a sign of mourning for the sack of Rome. This was a violation of Catholic canon law, which required priests to be clean-shaven; however, it had the precedent of the beard which Pope Julius

II had worn for nine months in 1511-1512 as a similar sign of mourning for the loss of the Papal city of Bologna.

Unlike Julius II, however, Clement VII kept his beard until his death in 1534. His example in wearing a beard was followed by his successor, Pope Paul III, and indeed by twenty-four popes who followed him, down to Pope Innocent XII, who died in 1700. Clement VII was thus the unintentional originator of a fashion that lasted well over a century.

Death and character

Towards the end of his life Clement VII once more gave indications of a leaning towards a French alliance, which was prevented by his death in September 1534. He was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

As for the arts, Pope Clement VII is remembered for having ordered, just a few days before his death, Michelangelo's painting of The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , a publication now in the public domain.

"Pope Clement VII" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia. His son Alessandro de Medici

See also

Sack of Rome (1527) Italian Wars Medici family

15

External links

Paradoxplace Medici Popes' Page

Pope Leo XIFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coat of Arms of Pope Leo XI.(Red balls under blue sign)

Pope Leo XI (June 2, 1535 – April 27, 1605), born Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici, was Pope from April 1, 1605 to April 27 of the same year.

Biography

He was born in Florence: his mother, Francesca Salviati, was a daughter of Giacomo Salviati and Lucrezia de' Medici, a sister of Leo X, while his father, Ottaviano, was a more distant scion of the Medici family. After a late start, he was ordained priest, and Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, sent him as an appropriate ambassador to Pope Pius V, a position which he held for fifteen years. Gregory XIII made him bishop of Pistoia in 1573, archbishop of Florence in 1574, and cardinal in 1583.

Leo XI

Birth nameAlessandro Ottaviano de' Medici

Papacy began

April 1, 1605

Papacy ended

April 27, 1605

Predecessor

Clement VIII

Successor Paul V

BornJune 2, 1535Florence, Italy

DiedApril 27, 1605 (aged 69)Rome, Italy

Other popes named Leo

Roman Catholic Church titles

Preceded by

Clement VIII

Pope1605

Succeeded by

Paul V

16

In 1596, Clement VIII sent him as legate to France where Maria de' Medici was queen. Alessandro was a friend and disciple of St. Philip Neri.

On March 14, 1605, eleven days after the death of Clement VIII, 62 cardinals entered the conclave. Prominent among the candidates for the papacy were the great historian Baronius and the famous Jesuit controversialist Robert Bellarmine. But Aldobrandini, the leader of the Italian party among the cardinals, allied with the French cardinals and brought about the election of Alessandro against the express wish of King Philip III of Spain. King Henry IV of France is said to have spent 300,000 écus in the promotion of Alessandro's candidacy. On April 1, 1605, Alessandro ascended the papal throne with the Medici name Leo XI, being then almost seventy years of age, but was taken ill immediately after his coronation and died within the month.

He was nicknamed Papa Lampo ("Lightning Pope") for the brevity of his pontificate.

Tomb of Leo XI in St. Peter's Basilica, by Alessandro Algardi.

References

original text from the 9th edition (1882) of a famous encyclopedia.

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia : Pope Leo XI

Popes of the Catholic Church

PeterLinusAnacletusClement IEvaristusAlexander ISixtus ITelesphorusHyginusPius IAnicetusSoterEleuterusVictor IZephyrinusCallixtus IUrban IPontianAnterusFabianCorneliusLucius IStephen ISixtus IIDionysiusFelix I

MarkJulius ILiberiusDamasus ISiriciusAnastasius IInnocent IZosimusBoniface ICelestine ISixtus IIILeo IHilariusSimpliciusFelix IIIGelasius IAnastasius IISymmachusHormisdasJohn IFelix IVBoniface IIJohn IIAgapetus ISilverius

Boniface IVAdeodatus IBoniface VHonorius ISeverinusJohn IVTheodore IMartin IEugene IVitalianAdeodatus IIDonusAgathoLeo IIBenedict IIJohn VCononSergius IJohn VIJohn VIISisinniusConstantineGregory IIGregory IIIZacharyStephen II

ValentineGregory IVSergius IILeo IVBenedict IIINicholas IAdrian IIJohn VIIIMarinus IAdrian IIIStephen VFormosusBoniface VIStephen VIRomanusTheodore IIJohn IXBenedict IVLeo VSergius IIIAnastasius IIILandoJohn XLeo VIStephen VII

John XIIIBenedict VIBenedict VIIJohn XIVJohn XVGregory VSylvester IIJohn XVIIJohn XVIIISergius IVBenedict VIIIJohn XIXBenedict IXSylvester IIIBenedict IXGregory VIClement IIBenedict IXDamasus IILeo IXVictor IIStephen IXNicholas IIAlexander IIGregory VIIVictor III

Lucius IIEugene IIIAnastasius IVAdrian IVAlexander IIILucius IIIUrban IIIGregory VIIIClement IIICelestine IIIInnocent IIIHonorius IIIGregory IXCelestine IVInnocent IVAlexander IVUrban IVClement IVGregory XInnocent VAdrian VJohn XXINicholas IIIMartin IV

Innocent VIUrban VGregory XIUrban VIBoniface IXInnocent VIIGregory XIIMartin VEugene IVNicholas VCallixtus IIIPius IIPaul IISixtus IVInnocent VIIIAlexander VIPius IIIJulius IILeo XAdrian VIClement VIIPaul IIIJulius IIIMarcellus IIPaul IVPius IV

Leo XIPaul VGregory XVUrban VIIIInnocent XAlexander VIIClement IXClement XInnocent XIAlexander VIIIInnocent XIIClement XIInnocent XIIIBenedict XIIIClement XIIBenedict XIVClement XIIIClement XIVPius VIPius VIILeo XIIPius VIIIGregory XVIPius IXLeo XIIIPius X

17

EutychianCaiusMarcellinusMarcellus IEusebiusMiltiadesSylvester I

VigiliusPelagius IJohn IIIBenedict IPelagius IIGregory ISabinianBoniface III

Paul IStephen IIIAdrian ILeo IIIStephen IVPaschal IEugene II

John XILeo VIIStephen VIIIMarinus IIAgapetus IIJohn XIIBenedict VLeo VIII

Urban IIPaschal IIGelasius IICallixtus IIHonorius IIInnocent IICelestine II

Honorius IVNicholas IVCelestine VBoniface VIIIBenedict XIClement VJohn XXIIBenedict XIIClement VI

Pius VGregory XIIISixtus VUrban VIIGregory XIVInnocent IXClement VIII

Benedict XVPius XIPius XIIJohn XXIIIPaul VIJohn Paul IJohn Paul II

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_X"Categories: Popes | Italian popes | Martin Luther | People from Florence | House of Medici | 1475 births | 1521 deaths | LGBT people from Italy

Cosimo de' MediciFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (April 10, 1389 – August 1, 1464), was the first of the Medici political dynasty, rulers of Florence during most of the Italian Renaissance; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder'" ("il Vecchio") and "Cosimo Pater Patriae."

Biography

Born in Florence, Cosimo inherited both his wealth and his flair for business from his father, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici. In 1415 he accompanied the Antipope John XXIII at the council of Constance, and in the same year he was named Priore of the Republic. Later he acted frequently as ambassador, showing a prudence for which he became renowned.

In 1433 Cosimo's power over Florence, which he exerted without occupying public office, began to look like a menace to the anti-Medici party, led by figures such as Palla Strozzi and Rinaldo degli Albizzi: in September of that year he was imprisoned, accused for the failure of the conquest of Lucca, but he managed to turn the jail term into one of exile. He went to Padua and then to Venice, taking his bank

Jacopo Pontormo: posthumous portrait of Cosimo de' Medici, 1518-1519: the laurel branch, il Broncone, was an impresa used also by his heirs.[1]

along with him. His grandson Lorenzo joined him after a failed attempt to raise an army to conquer the city by force. Prompted by his influence and his money, others followed him: within a year, the flight of capital from Florence was so great that the ban of exile had to be lifted, making Cosimo return a year later in 1434, to greatly influence the government of Florence (especially through the Pitti and Soderini families) and to lead by example for the rest of his long life.

Cosimo's time in exile instilled in him the need to quash the factionalism that resulted in his exile in the first place. In order to do this, Cosimo, with the help of

Contents

1 Biography 2 Issue 3 See also 4 References 5 Sources

6 External links

18

favourable priors in the Signoria, instigated a series of constitutional changes to secure his power through influence.

In the political sphere, Cosimo worked to create peace in Northern Italy through the creation of a balance of power between Florence, Naples, Venice and Milan during the wars in Lombardy, and discouraging outside powers (notably the French and the Holy Roman Empire) from interfering. In 1439 he was also instrumental in convincing pope Eugene IV to move the Ecumenical council of Ferrara to Florence. The arrival of figures from the Byzantine Empire, including Emperor John VIII Palaiologos himself, started the boom of culture and arts in the city.

Cosimo was also noted for his patronage of culture and the arts, liberally spending the family fortune (which his astute business sense considerably increased) to enrich Florence. According to Salviati's Zibaldone, Cosimo stated:

"All those things have given me the greatest satisfaction and contentment (grandissima contentamento e grandissima dolcezza) because they are not only for the honor of God but are likewise for my own remembrance. For fifty years, I have done nothing else but earn money and spend money; and it became clear that spending money gives me greater pleasure than earning it (ed accorgomi che ancora sia maggior dolcezza lo spendere che il guadagnare)."[2]

He also hired the young Michelozzo Michelozzi to create what is today perhaps the prototypical Florentine palazzo, the austere and magnificent Palazzo Medici. He was a patron and confidante of Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, Michelangelo and Donatello, whose famed David and Judith Slaying Holofernes were Medici commissions. His patronage enabled the eccentric and bankrupt architect Brunelleschi to complete the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, and the dome was perhaps his crowning achievement as sponsor.

In the realm of philosophy, Cosimo, influenced by the lectures of Gemistus Plethon, established a modern Platonic Academy in Florence. He appointed Marsilio Ficino as head of the Academy and commissioned Ficino's Latin translation of the complete works of Plato (the first ever complete translation). Through Ficino and others associated with the Academy, Cosimo had an inestimable effect on Renaissance intellectual life.

The tomb of Cosimo de' Medici in San Lorenzo, Florence.

On his death in 1464 at Careggi, Cosimo was succeeded by his son Piero 'the Gouty', father of Lorenzo the Magnificent. After his death the Signoria awarded him the title Pater Patriae, "Father of his Country", an honor once awarded to Cicero, and had it carved upon his tomb in the Church of San Lorenzo.

Issue

Cosimo married Contessina de' Bardi (the daughter of Giovanni, count of Vernio, and Emilia Pannocchieschi). They had two sons:

Piero the Gouty (1416-1469), lord of Florence after Cosimo's death. Giovanni (1421-1453), who died childless.

Cosimo also had an illegitimate son by a Circassian slave; Carlo (c. 1428 - 1492) became a prelate.

19

See also

House of Medici History of Florence Lorenzo di Giovanni de' Medici

References

1. ̂ After the return of the Medici in 1512, Lorenzo di Piero formed a compagnia for carnival 1513, and called it Broncone; the Pontormo portrait was commissioned by Goro Gheri, Lorenzo's scretary. (John Shearman, "Pontormo and Andrea Del Sarto, 1513" The Burlington Magazine 104 No. 716 [November 1962:450, 478-483] p. 478).

2. ̂ Taylor, F. H. (1948). The taste of angels, a history of art collecting from Rameses to Napoleon. Boston: Little, Brown. pgs.65-66

Sources

Francesco Guerrieri, Patrizia Fabbri, (photography Stefano Giraldi), "Palaces of Florence" (Rizzoli, 1996), for the Palazzo Medici.

Tim Parks Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence. Jacob Burkhardt , The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) 1878. William Connell Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence 2002. Dale Kent Cosimo De'Medici and the Florentine Renaissance.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cosimo de' Medici

"PBS Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosimo_de%27_Medici"Categories: 1389 births | 1464 deaths | People from Florence | Rulers of Florence | House of Medici | Italian bankers | Italian nobility

Katariina de' MediciFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Katariina de' Medici (13. huhtikuuta 1519 - 5. tammikuuta 1589) oli Ranskan kuningatar ja Ranskan kuningas Henrik II:n puoliso. Katariina oli syntyisin Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici ja hän kuului kuuluisaan italialaiseen Medicien mahtisukuun. Katariina oli paitsi Ranskan kuninkaan puoliso myös kolmen Ranskan kuninkaan äiti. Hänet muistetaan ehkä parhaiten siitä, että hänen toisen poikansa hallituskaudella järjestettiin pärttylinyön verilöyly vuonna 1572.

Lapsuus ja perhe

Katariina de' Medicin isä oli Lorenzo de' Medici ja hänen äitinsä oli ranskalainen perijätär Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. Avioliiton

Sisällysluettelo

1 Lapsuus ja perhe 2 Avioliitto 3 Ranskan kuningatar 4 Sijaishallitsija ja

kuningataräiti

5 Lähteet

20

järjestivät Ranskan kuningas Frans I ja Lorenzon setä paavi Leo X. Mahtisukujen avioliitto loppui lyhyeen pian Katariinan syntymän jälkeen, sillä sekä Katariinan isä että äiti kuolivat pian tytön syntymän jälkeen.

Katariina de' Medici.

Paavi Leo X:n serkku kardinaali Giulio de' Medici valittiin paaviksi vuonna 1523 nimellä Klemens VII. Hänen sukulaistyttärenään ja Medicien suvun jäsenenä Katariina oli pienestä pitäen puheenaiheena eurooppalaisten kuninkaallisten avioliittoneuvotteluissa. Klemens VIII onnistuikin järjestämään suojatilleen erinomaisen avioliiton.

Avioliitto

Vuonna 1533 vasta neljätoistavuotias Katariina vihittiin silloisen Orléansin herttuan Henrin kanssa, josta tuli myöhemmin Ranskan kuningas Henrik II. Klement VII kuoli vajaa vuosi avioliiton solmimisen jälkeen maksettuaan Katariinan myötäjäiset vain osittain, mikä sai Ranskan kuningas Frans I:n tokaisemaan: "Tämä tyttö on tullut luokseni ilkosen alasti." (Frieda, s.54). Katariinan avioliitto sai siten huonon alun.

Henrikin isoveli, Ranskan kruununperijä kuoli yllättäen, kun Katariina ja Henrik olivat vasta seitsemäntoistavuotiaita. Nyt Henrikistä tuli Ranskan kruununperijä, dauphin, ja Katariinasta dauphine. Heidän avioliittonsa oli pitkään lapseton, vaikka dauphinilla oli ainakin yksi avioton lapsi, syntynyt vuonna 1537. Avioliiton lapsettomuudesta syytettiin Katariinaa.

Koko 25 vuotta kestäneen avioliittonsa aikana Katariina joutui elämään sivussa ja sietämään miehensä rakastajatarta, joka oli kuuluisa kaunotar Diane de Poitiers. Avioerostakin huhuttiin, kun avioliitto oli jatkuvasti lapseton.

Pariskunnan ensimmäinen lapsi, tuleva Frans II syntyi vuonna 1544 yli kymmenen vuoden avioliiton jälkeen. Frieda (s.68) kertoo, että ennen pojan syntymää kuninkaallisen parin tutki lääkäri Jean Fernel, joka totesi pariskunnan fysiikassa joitakin poikkeuksia. Hän neuvoi, mitä kuninkaallisen parin pitäisi tehdä voidaakseen saada lapsen. Ei tiedetä, mitä vikaa heissä oli tai mitä lääkäri heille neuvoi, mutta nyt Katariina tuli ensimmäistä kertaa raskaaksi. Katariina synnytti lopulta yhdeksän lasta, joista kuusi eli aikuiseksi.

Ranskan kuningatar

Vuonna 1547 Katariinasta tuli Ranskan kuningatar 28-vuotiaana, kun hänen aviomiehensä Henrik II nousi valtaistuimelle isänsä kuoltua. Vuonna 1552 kuningatar Katariina toimi miehensä sijaishallitsijana tämän lähdettyä sotimaan Metziin, mutta hänen valtansa oli hyvin rajallinen, sillä Diane de Poitiersilla oli silloinkin suunnattomasti vaikutusvaltaa. Kun Henrik II kuoli vuonna 1559 turnajaisissa, Katariina antoi karkottaa Dianen. Hänen leskeytensä kesti kaiken kaikkiaan 30 vuotta.

Sijaishallitsija ja kuningataräiti

Henrik II:n kuoleman jälkeen Ranskan kuninkaaksi nousi heikko Frans II, joka oli naimisissa skottien kuningatar Maria Stuartin kanssa. Nuori kuningas kuoli jo 1560. Pojan kuoltua Katariinasta tuli nuoremman poikansa Kaarle IX:n sijaishallitsija. Katariinan vaikutusvalta pysyi ennallaan lähes kaksikymmentä vuotta. Kaarle IX:n hallituskaudella Ranskassa käytiin ns. uskonsotia, joissa taistelivat hugenotit ja katoliset. Katariina ajoi aktiivisesti kompromissipolitiikkaa, mutta uskonsotien vuodet olivat äärimmäisen verisiä. Pojan kasvettua

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aikuiseksi Katariinan vaikutusvalta uhkasi vähetä. Kuningatar muistetaan Pärttylinyön verilöylystä, jonka avulla hän yritti palauttaa vaikutusvaltaansa. Kaarle IX:n kuoltua valtaistuimelle nousi Katariinan lempipoika Henrik III.

Katariina piti aina tiukasti huolta lastensa parhaasta ja järjesti heille edullisia avioliittoja. Hänen vanhimmasta tyttärestään tuli esimerkiksi Espanjan kuningatar Elisabet. Katariina kuoli vuonna 1589 Blois'ssa. Hänen kuolemansa jälkeen Henrik III salamurhattiin, mihin päättyi Valois'n dynastian aika Ranskan valtaistuimella.

Katariina ja Henrik II saivat kaikkiaan kymmenen lasta:

Frans II , s. 1544 Elisabeth , s. 1545 Claude, s. 1547 Louis, s. ja k. 1549 Charles-Maximilien, myöhemmin Kaarle IX, s. 1550 Edouard-Alexandre, myöhemmin Henrik IIIs. 1551 Marguerite eli Margareta de Valois, lempinimeltään Margot s. 1553 Hercules, s. 1555 Victoire, s. ja k. 1556 Jeanne, s. ja k. 1556

Katso myös Medici-suku

Lähteet

Frieda, Leonida (2003): Catherine de Medici.

Haettu osoitteesta http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katariina_de%27_MediciLuokat: Medicit | Ranskan historia | Ranskan kuninkaalliset

Lorenzo de' MediciFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lorenzo de' Medici (January 1, 1449 – 9 April 1492) was an Italian statesman and ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (Lorenzo il Magnifico) by contemporary Florentines, he was a diplomat, politician, and patron of scholars, artists, and poets. His life coincided with the high point of the early Italian Renaissance; his death marked the end of the Golden Age of Florence. The fragile peace he helped maintain between the various Italian states collapsed with his death; and two years later the French invasion of 1494 began and led to nearly 400 years of foreign occupation of the Italian peninsula.

A portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici by Girolamo Macchietti.

Contents

1 Childhood 2 Lorenzo and politics 3 Lorenzo and the

Renaissance 4 Later years 5 Marriage and children 6 See also 7 Further reading 8 Historical novels 9 References

10 External links

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Childhood

His grandfather, Cosimo de Medici, became the first of the Medici to combine running the bank with leading the Republic in both government and philanthropy, spending an enormous portion of his fortune (he was one of the wealthiest men in all of Europe) on art and public works. Lorenzo's father, Pietro 'the Gouty' de' Medici, was also at the center of Florentine life, and extremely active as a patron and collector. His mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni was also a dilettante poet and friend to figures like Luigi Pulci or Agnolo Poliziano.

He was considered the brightest of the five children. He was tutored by Gentile Becchi, a diplomat. He partook in jousting, hawking, hunting, and breeding horses for the palio, a horse race in Siena. His own horse was named Morello.

Piero sent Lorenzo on many important diplomatic missions when he was still a youth. These included trips to Rome to meet with the pope and other important religious and political figures.

Bust of Lorenzo de' Medici.

Lorenzo and politics

Lorenzo, groomed for power, assumed a leading role in the state upon the death of his father in 1469, when Lorenzo was twenty. Lorenzo had little success in running the bank, and its assets contracted seriously during the course of his lifetime.

Lorenzo, like his father and grandfather, ruled Florence indirectly, through surrogates in the city councils, through threats, payoffs, strategic marriages - all the tools of despotism. Although Florence flourished under Lorenzo's rule, he effectively ruled as a despot and people had little freedom. It was inevitable that rival families should harbor resentments as to Medici dominance, and enemies of the Medici remained a factor in Florentine life long after Lorenzo's passing.

On Easter Sunday, April 26, 1478, in an incident called the Pazzi Conspiracy, a group including members of the Pazzi family, backed by the Archbishop of Pisa and his patron Pope Sixtus IV, attacked Lorenzo and his co-ruler brother Giuliano in the cathedral of Florence. Lorenzo was stabbed but escaped; however the attackers managed to kill Giuliano. The conspiracy was brutally put down, with measures including the lynching of the archbishop.

In the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy and the punishment of the Pope's supporters, the Medici and Florence suffered from the wrath of the Pope. He seized all the Medici assets he could find, excommunicated Lorenzo and the entire government of Florence, and finally put the city under interdict. When that had little effect, the Pope formed a military alliance with King Ferdinand I of Naples, whose son, Alfonso, Duke of Calabria launched an invasion.

Lorenzo rallied the citizens. However, with little help being provided by traditional Medici allies in Bologna and Milan (the latter being convulsed by power struggles among the Sforza), the war dragged on, and only diplomacy by Lorenzo, who personally traveled to Naples, resolved the crisis. This enabled him to secure constitutional changes that enhanced his power.

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Thereafter, Lorenzo, like his grandfather Cosimo de' Medici, pursued a policy of maintaining both peace and a balance of power between the northern Italian states and of keeping other states out of Italy.

Lorenzo kept good relations with Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, as the trade with Ottomans was a major source of wealth for the Medicis.[1]

A. Pucci, Lorenzo de Medici and F. Sassetti.

Lorenzo and the Renaissance

Lorenzo's court included artists such as Piero and Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti who were involved in the 15th century Renaissance. Although he did not commission many works himself, he helped them secure commissions from other patrons. Michelangelo lived with Lorenzo and his family for several years, dining at the family table and attending meetings of the Neo-Platonic Academy.

Lorenzo was an artist himself, writing poetry in his native Tuscan. In his poetry he celebrates life even while—particularly in his later works—acknowledging with melancholy the fragility and instability of the human condition. Love, feasts and light dominate his verse.

Cosimo had started the collection of books which 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 to copy his books and disseminate their content across Europe. He supported the development of humanism through his circle of scholarly friends who studied Greek philosophers, and attempted to merge the ideas of Plato with Christianity; among this group were the philosophers Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Later years

A posthumous portrait of Lorenzo by Giorgio Vasari

During his tenure, several branches of the family bank collapsed because of bad loans, and, in later years, he got into financial difficulties and resorted to mis-appropriating trust and state funds.

Toward the end of Lorenzo's life, Florence came under the spell of Savonarola, who believed Christians had strayed too far into Greco-Roman culture. Lorenzo played a role in bringing Savonarola to Florence.

Lorenzo de' Medici died during the night of April 8th/9th, 1492, at the long-time family villa of Careggi (Florentine reckoning considers days to begin at sunset, so his death date is the 9th in that reckoning). Savonarola visited Lorenzo on his death bed. The rumor that Savonarola damned Lorenzo on his deathbed has been

refuted by Roberto Ridolfi in his book, Vita di Girolamo Savonarola. Letters written by witnesses to Lorenzo's death report Lorenzo died a consoled man, on account of the blessing Savonarola gave him. As Lorenzo died, the tower of the church of Santa Reparata was allegedly struck by lightning. He and his brother Giuliano are buried in a chapel designed by Michelangelo, the New Sacristy; it is located adjacent to the north transept of the Church of San Lorenzo and is reached by passing through the main Capella di Medici; the chapel is ornamented with famous

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sculptures, and some of the original working drawings of Michelangelo can still be distinguished on two of the walls.

He died at the dawn of "the age of exploration"; Christopher Columbus would reach the "New World" only six months later. With his death, the center of the Renaissance shifted from Florence to Rome, where it would remain for the next century and beyond.

Marriage and children

Lorenzo married twice.[citation needed]

Lorenzo first married Clarice Orsini by proxy on February 7, 1469. She was a daughter of Giacomo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo and Bracciano by his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini. They had nine children:

Lucrezia de' Medici (August 4, 1470 - November, 1553). She married Giacomo Salviati. Their daughter Francesca Salviati was mother to Pope Leo XI.

Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (February 15, 1471 - December 28, 1503). Twins born in March, 1472. Died shortly after birth. Maddalena de' Medici (July 25, 1473 - December, 1528). Married Franceschetto Cybo, an

illegitimate son of Pope Innocent VIII. Pope Leo X (born Giovanni de' Medici; December 11, 1475 - December 1, 1521). Luisa de' Medici (1477 - 1488). She was betrothed to her cousin Giovanni de' Medici il

Popolano. Contessina de' Medici (1478 - 1515). Married Piero Ridolfi. Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici , Duke of Nemours (March 12, 1479 - March 17, 1516).

After Clarice's death, he married Philippina (Philippa) of Savoy, daughter of Philip II, Duke of Savoy. The couple had no children.[citation needed]

Two of his sons later became powerful popes. His second son, Giovanni, became Pope Leo X, and his adopted son Giulio (who was the illegitimate son of his slain brother Giuliano) became Pope Clement VII.

His first son and his political heir, Piero 'the Unfortunate', squandered his father's patrimony and brought down his father's dynasty in Florence. Another Medici, his brother Giovanni, restored it, but it was only made wholly secure again on the accession of a distant relative from a branch line of the family, Cosimo I de' Medici.

See also

The Medici Family Renaissance Medici giraffe

Further reading

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

Historical novels

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Linda Proud, A Tabernacle for the Sun (Godstow Press, 2005), a literary novel set in Florence during the Pazzi Conspiracy adheres closely to known facts.

Linda Proud, Pallas and the Centaur (Godstow Press, 2004), deals with the aftermath of the Pazzi Conspiracy and Lorenzo de' Medici's strained relations with his wife and with Poliziano.

Linda Proud, The Rebirth of Venus (Godstow Press, 2008), the final volume of The Botticelli Trilogy, covers the 1490s and the death of Lorenzo.

References

1. ̂ Inalcik, Halil (2000). The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600. London: Orion Publishing Group, 135. ISBN 978-1-8421-2442-0. 

External links

Texts of Lorenzo de' Medici

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lorenzo de' Medici

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_de%27_Medici"Categories: 1449 births | 1492 deaths | People from Florence | House of Medici | Rulers of Florence | Patrons of literature | Italian Renaissance humanists

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Alberti (surname)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alberti was an illustrious Florentine family, rivals of the Medicis and the Albizzi. The main lineage died during the Victorian Era, and their lands passed on to in-laws. After numerous legal battles, the Alberty branch of the family recovered several properties.

People

Leone Battista Alberti (1404–1472); Italian polymath, active in many fields. Alberto di Giovanni Alberti (1525–1599), Italian architect and artist Alessandro Alberti (1551–1590); Italian painter. Antonio degli Alberti (c. 1360 – 1415); Italian poet. Charly Alberti (born 1963); Argentine drummer, member of the rock band Soda Stereo. Cherubino Alberti (Borghegiano) (1553–1615); Italian engraver and painter. Domenico Alberti (c. 1710 – 1740); Italian composer and singer; he gave his name to

the musical figuration known as the Alberti bass. Dorona Alberti (born 1975); Dutch singer and actress Durante Alberti (1538–1613); Italian painter. Friedrich August von Alberti (1795–1878); paleontologist. Gasparo Alberti (c. 1480 – c. 1560); Italian composer. Gerlando Alberti (born 1923); known as "U Paccarè", a member of the Sicilian Mafia Giuseppe Matteo Alberti (1685–1751); Italian composer and violinist. Innocentio Alberti (c. 1535 – 1615); Italian composer and instrumentalist. Johann Friedrich Alberti (1642–1710); German composer and organist. Leandro Alberti (1479 – c. 1552); Italian Dominican historian. Micah Alberti (born 1984); American television actor Peter Adler Alberti (1851–1932); Danish politician Pietro Alberti (16??–17??); Italian composer, organist and violinist who lived in northern

Europe. Rafael Alberti (1902–1999); Spanish poet. Silvio Alberti ; Italian race car driver. Willy Alberti ; Dutch 20th century artist. Father of Willeke Alberti. Willeke Alberti ; Dutch singer. Daughter of Willy Alberti

House of Albizzi

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Albizzi family was a Florentine family based in Arezzo and rivals of the Medici and Alberti families. They were the centre of Florence oligarchy from 1382, following the Ciompi revolt, to the rise of the Medici in 1434. The most infamous and influential members of the family were Maso and his son Rinaldo (1370-1442) who countered the rise of Cosimo de' Medici, exiling him in 1433.

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