While Muzio Atten-dolo Sforza made his name as a condottiero mercenary leader, it was his son Franceso who became duke of Milan in 1450 with the aid of Cosimo de’ Medici.. Piero came ba
Trang 1at sea A great shift in the Italian balance of power
took place when Cosimo shifted the historic
Floren-tine support to the rival city of Milan, where the Sforza
family was fighting for supremacy While Muzio
Atten-dolo Sforza made his name as a condottiero (mercenary
leader), it was his son Franceso who became duke of
Milan in 1450 with the aid of Cosimo de’ Medici
Meanwhile, Cosimo was establishing himself as one
of the great patrons of the Renaissance Countless rare
documents formed the foundation for Cosimo’s library;
he also patronized the leading artists of his day
Piero de’ Medici was a civic-minded ruler, as was
his father, Cosimo He already had experience in
Flo-rentine diplomacy and public affairs He wed
Lucre-zia Tornabuoni, whose family had turned its back on
its noble heritage Together, they had three daughters,
Maria, Bianca, and Lucrezia, and two sons who would
mold the future history of Florence, Lorenzo and
Giu-liano Lorenzo was precocious and unusually gifted for
his age His father entrusted him with diplomatic
mis-sions throughout Italy
However, within Florence, serious opposition was
building to Medici rule Luca Pitti, perhaps Piero’s chief
adviser, was secretly planning to seize power In March
1464, taking advantage of the death of Francesco
Sfor-za, the conspirators made their plans When Piero was
ill and left the city in August, they struck Piero came
back in force at the end of the month after Lorenzo had
gathered loyal troops The coup collapsed Luca Pitti
was pardoned; others were banished
When Piero died in 1469, Lorenzo was the natural
choice to take his place Unlike Cosimo and Piero, he
ruled more as a prince or an ancient Roman tyrant than
a man of the people At the same time, there was a
chill-ing of relations between Lorenzo and the new pope,
Sixtus IV The main reason was a struggle over the town
of Imola, which Lorenzo wanted to gain for Florence
because it guarded the strategic road from Rimini to
Bologna The pope wanted Imola as a gift for his
neph-ew—possibly his son—Girolamo Riario The cold
feel-ings developing between Lorenzo and Sixtus led to the
pope’s replacing the Medici as the papal bankers with
the Pazzis, rivals of the Medici
The enmity between Lorenzo and the pope, now
allied with the Pazzis, led to one of the bloodiest
inci-dents of the Italian Renaissance: the Pazzi Conspiracy
The conspiracy aimed at wiping out the Medici The
plotters knew too that Lorenzo suffered a serious
weak-ness: His strong ally, Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan,
had been assassinated in December 1476 The
conspir-ators struck on Easter Sunday, April 26, 1478, while
Lorenzo and Giuliano were at mass In the bloodbath that followed, Giuliano was stabbed 19 times, but Lorenzo escaped In a purge that followed, many of the conspirators were killed, including five who were publicly hanged Pope Sixtus continued his campaign to oust the Medicis from Florence Finally, in a bold move, Lorenzo decided to make a trip and attempt to make peace with one of Florence’s most implacable enemies, King Ferrante of Naples, in December 1479 Amazed
at the Medici’s bravery, Ferrante made peace with Flor-ence, and Sixtus’s war came to an end Lorenzo returned
to Florence in triumph Under him, Florence entered a new era of greatness
In January 1492, Lorenzo fell ill and died in April
of that year He was succeeded by his son Piero, who had the misfortune to rule at one of the most disastrous epochs of Italian history King Charles VIII of France invaded northern Italy in 1494 with a large and well-equipped army His artillery, perhaps the most modern
in Europe, destroyed Italian citadels and caused cities
to surrender before he even approached them Piero, lacking the fortitude of his father, fled Florence and died in exile
During the next century, the rise of the family to the ranks of the Italian nobility gave proof of the singular determination of the family, and the faith of the Floren-tines in the Medici clan
The Medici rise continued when Cosimo I became duke of Florence in 1537 Like Lorenzo the Magnifi-cent, Cosimo I was young, coming to power at 18 However, like Lorenzo, he understood the art of poli-tics but showed a ruthlessness more characteristic of a Borgia than a Medici Cosimo I added Siena and Luca
to his realm In 1569, his rise to eminence was recog-nized when he became grand duke of all Tuscany
On the death of Cosimo I in 1574, Cosimo’s son Francesco I ruled as grand duke until his death in 1587, and his rule proved to be a weak and uninspiring one His son Ferdinand II restored luster to the Medici name Cosimo II became grand duke in 1609 but died in 1620, never having fully recovered from a fever he had suf-fered in 1615 His son Ferdinand II became grand duke
on his father’s death
With the reign of Ferdinand II, the House of
Medi-ci began its period of decline It was the misfortune of the heirs of Ferdinand II to live in the era of the rise
of the European great powers Ironically, Marie de’ Medici (Médicis) played a role in the demise of her family’s duchy In 1600, she married King Henry IV
of France, and when he was assassinated in 1610, she served as regent for her son, King Louis XIII