Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Medici family The bourgeois Medici family rose to prominence during the Renaissance and became a political and economic powerhouse. The Medici ruled Florence from 1434 to 1737, and many members of the family married into other powerful European families. The result of those unions included the reign of Medici women on the thrones of France, Spain, and England; the marriage of a Medici to the sister of the Holy Roman emperor; and the election of three Medici popes. This powerful family that enjoyed such prominence in later years emerged from fairly humble roots in 12th-century Italy. The growing influence and strength of the family paralleled the manifold changes that transformed Italy and the rest of Europe in the centuries following the Middle Ages. Like the majority of their countrymen, the Medici began as farmers. In the 14th century, they moved to the urban center of Florence, and over the next few centuries, they became the predominant commercial and political family in the city-state of Florence, as well as one of the most influential families in all of Renaissance Europe. The middle class had grown in power and influence as the medieval practice of serfdom disappeared. Economically, the High Middle Ages that directly preceded the Renaissance were marked by stagnation and decline. Yet by the 15th century, that trend began to reverse itself. Among the most important aspects of this economic rejuvenation was the growth of the merchant banking class, which included the Medici. The first Medici family member of consequence was Salvestro, who was a leader in the famous Florentine lower-class revolt of the ciompi (wool carders) in 1378. In the aftermath of the uprising, Salvestro rose to a position of power in Florence, but his heavy-handed ways resulted in his subsequent banishment from the city. As a result, the Medici family's prestige suffered, and it remained damaged until the early 15th century. It was then that Giovanni de Bicci de' Medici successfully led the family back to prominence. In addition to restoring the family to power, Giovanni is credited with laying the foundation of the family's tremendous wealth. He made vast sums of money in banking and in the collection of rents for the city of Florence. While he established close ties with the masses—a gesture that would distinguish the Medici—Giovanni also became the first in a long line of Medici to patronize the arts. A time of profound social and cultural revival, the European Renaissance began in about the 14th century and reached its climax in the 16th century. Among the most striking transformations took place in the realm of art, and nowhere was that artistic revival as dramatic or influential as in Italy. Renaissance art thrived through a system of patronage in which wealthy benefactors subsidized artists' work by funding academies and individual artists. The Medici were the most generous and influential patrons of the day. Giovanni, for example, funded Filippo Brunelleschi's renovation of the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Yet perhaps Giovanni's most important accomplishment was solidifying the political position of the Medici family. He successfully challenged the long-standing tradition of aristocratic political and social hegemony, and it was under his leadership that the Medici became the richest dynasty in Italy. In contrast to most other powerful European families of the time, the Medici were not part of the aristocracy. They became a powerful family not through birth rights but through their many ventures in business and politics. The success of the Medici reflected a significant change in European society: inheritance was no longer the sole determinant of one's fate. Giovanni's two sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo, became the patriarchs of the two, often competing, branches of the Medici family. While the younger son, Lorenzo, became the patriarch of the Popolani branch of the family, it was the elder son, Cosimo, born in 1389, who headed the more powerful Cafaggiolo line of the family. Cosimo became the most successful of all the Medici progeny. Under his guidance, the family's bank emerged as one of the most successful in the country—it ultimately acquired virtually every bank in Florence—and he solidified the Medici family's business holdings and consolidated its political power. The family's business interests were far ranging. The Medici were involved in the lucrative silk and wool industries, and they traded in spices and other coveted goods from the Near East. Moreover, they conducted business throughout Europe, from the Italian cities of Venice and Rome to French principalities and beyond. They were often the primary lenders to powerful princes and popes. Cosimo used the family's tremendous wealth to launch a political career. In so doing, he strengthened Florentine autonomy as well. A shrewd politician, Cosimo created an alliance with his Milanese and Neapolitan neighbors to halt the encroachment of the Papal States into Florentine territory. The family's burgeoning political power did not go unchallenged, however. In 1434, rivals drove Cosimo from Florence, and he remained in exile for the next year. On his return to Florence, Cosimo resumed his control of the city. Along with his political pursuits, he continued the family tradition of patronage. He supported such artistic luminaries as Donatello and Pico della Mirandola. By the second half of the 15th century, Cosimo's grandson had assumed power. From 1469 to 1492, Lorenzo de' Medici, or "Lorenzo the Magnificent," led Florence, and he was perhaps the only Medici to equal the social and political import of Cosimo. Yet like his grandfather, Lorenzo had political opponents. One challenge to Lorenzo came in the form of the reformist Dominican friar Savonarola, who charged him with corrupting the Florentine state. Furthermore, in 1478, members of the rival Pazzi family, in a deal with Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew Geralmo Riario, plotted to emasculate the Medici family and to enlarge the territory held by the Papal States. They planned to kill off Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano and thus to eliminate Medici power in Florence. However, the plot backfired. Giuliano was murdered, but Lorenzo escaped virtually unharmed, and Medici loyalists captured and killed the plotters. Like his ancestors, Lorenzo was famous for his generous patronage of the arts. His benefaction made possible the creation of some of the greatest works of art ever produced. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Sandro Botticelli were only a few of the artists whose genius Lorenzo cultivated. Lorenzo died in 1492, and although none of his descendants achieved anything near his stature, his son Giovanni was elected Pope Leo X in 1513. Leo's tenure as pope was plagued by the challenge of the Protestant Reformation, but he distinguished himself by continuing his father's patronage of the arts. A decade later, Giovanni's cousin, Giulio, became Pope Clement VII. He also faced challenges, including the break of the English church from the Roman Catholic Church. Subsequently, another Medici pope, Leo XI, reigned briefly in 1605. The Medici line also produced a number of powerful women, among them Catherine de Médicis. Born in 1519, Catherine was related through her mother to the French royal family. She married the future French king Henry II at the tender age of 14 and became queen of France in 1547. For the next decade she was essentially powerless, but by the end of the 1550s, she assumed a position of power. During the latter years of her life, she was mainly occupied with the reconciliation of tensions between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Huguenots. Catherine is often blamed for exacerbating the religious tensions she sought to alleviate. Gian-Gastone de' Medici was the last of the House of Medici. His life was largely dissatisfying, and for years he led a semi-reclusive existence. Although he married, he had no male child, and his death in July 1737 marked the end of the Medici dynasty. The legacy of the Medici, however, is phenomenal: their commercial achievements helped to transform Renaissance Italy, and their contributions to the political evolution of Florence were great. Yet perhaps their most enduring legacy lies in the countless works of art and architecture created by the geniuses they supported. ASSIGNMENT ***After reading the article on the Medici family, please fill out the following graphic organizer on the influence of the Medici Family during the period of the European Renaissance.