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The Family Medici

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Overview

Having founded the bank that became the most powerful in Europe in the fifteenth century, the Medici gained massive political power in Florence, raising the city to a peak of cultural achievement and becoming its hereditary dukes. Among their number were no fewer than three popes and a powerful and influential queen of France. Their influence brought about an explosion of Florentine art and architecture. Michelangelo, Donatello, Fra Angelico, and Leonardo were among the artists with whom they were socialized and patronized.Thus runs the "accepted view” of the Medici. However, Mary Hollingsworth argues that this is a fiction that has now acquired the status of historical fact. In truth, the Medici were as devious and immoral as the Borgias. In this dynamic new history, Hollingsworth argues that past narratives have focused on a sanitized view of the Medici—wise rulers, enlightened patrons of the arts, and fathers of the Renaissance—and their story was reinvented in the sixteenth century, mythologized by later generations of Medici who used this as a central prop for their legacy.Hollingsworth's revelatory re-telling of the story of the family Medici brings a fresh and exhilarating new perspective to the story behind the most powerful family of the Italian Renaissance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681777108
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	607,397
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mary Hollingsworth is a scholar of the Italian Renaissance. She is the author of The Cardinal's Hat; The Borgias: History's Most Notorious Dynasty; and Patronage in Renaissance Italy: From 1400 to the Early Sixteenth Century. She divides her time between Italy and England.
Mary Hollingsworth is a scholar of the Italian Renaissance. She is the author of The Cardinal's Hat; The Borgias: History's Most Notorious Dynasty; and The Family Medici: The Hidden History of the Medici Dynasty. She divides her time between Italy and England.

A Note to the Reader 9

Prologue: A City Under Siege: 'Florence in ashes rather than under the Medici' 10

1 Migrants

Bonagiunta, Chiarissimo and their descendants, 1216-1348 23

2 Survivors

Salvestro, Foligno, Bicci and Vieri, 1348-1400 43

3 The Fortune

Giovanni di Bicci, 1400-1425 63

4 Politics

Giovanni di Bicci, Averardo and Cosimo, 1426-1433 79

5 For Honour and Profit

Cosimo the banker, 1434-1450 97

6 The Republican Toga

Cosimo the politician, 1451-1464 115

7 The Succession Crisis

Piero the Gouty, 1464-1469 133

8 Youth at the Helm

Lorenzo and Giuliano, 1469-1479 151

9 Pride

Lorenzo the Magnificent, 1480-1492 171

10 Nemesis

Piero and Cardinal Giovanni, 1492-1503 191

11 Exile

Cardinal Giovanni, Giulio and Giuliano, 1504-1512 209

12 Age of Gold

Pope Leo X, 1513-1521 225

13 Age of Iron

Pope Clement VII, 1521-1530 249

14 Imperial Poodles

Pope Clement VII, Ippolito, Alessandro and Cosimo, 1531-1543 269

15 The New Augustus

Cosimo I, 1544-1559 291

16 Grand Duke

Cosimo I, 1560-1574 309

17 Adultery

Francesco I and Cardinal Ferdinando, 1574-1587 327

18 Cardinal to Grand Duke

Ferdinando I, 1587-1609 347

19 The Unlucky Prince

Cosimo II, Christine of Lorraine and Maria Magdalena of Austria, 1609-1628 369

20 Science and Religion

Ferdinando II, 1628-1670 387

21 Vanity

Cosimo III, 1670-1723 407

22 Extinction

Gian Gastone, 1723-1737 429

Epilogue: Revival 437

Genealogical Trees 442

Maps 450

Bibliography and Sources 452

Notes 460

Image Credits 466

Acknowledgements 468

Index 469

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Editorial Reviews

★ 01/01/2018
Unimpressed with the celebratory legend, British scholar Hollingsworth (The Borgias) builds on her previous work regarding the Italian Renaissance to show how the ambitious Medici family moved beyond their banking origins to acquire the power to essentially strangle burgeoning republicanism in Renaissance Florence. Each generation receives an unsentimental overview centering on its most prominent male member, showcasing the public achievements and transgressions that gave the family enormous power and wealth. Well-known figures such as Lorenzo the Magnificent and Duke Cosimo I appear in short, enjoyable chapters, but Hollingsworth strives for fairly equal representation, which benefits the later, lesser-known family members who rarely receive book-length treatments. Images of well-known period art, much of which resulted from Medici patronage or revealed a link to the family, adorn each chapter. The visuals provide a break from the never-ending machinations that Hollingsworth details, such as Cosimo’s manipulations of the electoral process and Lorenzo’s use of art “as a political tool.” She admirably handles political maneuvers elsewhere, especially in Central Europe. If there’s a flaw here, it’s a minor one—the odd decision to avoid discussing, beyond a mere mention, Henry VIII’s attempts to gain an annulment from Medici Pope Clement VII, which led to the English Reformation. Hollingsworth’s clear, concise family chronology serves as an excellent introduction or handy reference guide to one of the Renaissance’s most infamous families. Illus. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Vivid and well-researched. Hollingsworth's implication is correct and praiseworthy—that we should remember the Medici for what they were, not for what they wanted us to think they were."

Christian Science Monitor

A book as rich and quirky as the Renaissance itself.

David Starkey

Beautifully judged and deeply researched. (Praise forThe Cardinal's Hat)”

The Sunday Times (London)

A brilliant piece of historical detective work and narrative reconstruction.

The Guardian

"Anne Flosnik brings her years of narrating experience to bear for the tour of Renaissance genealogy, moving effortlessly from one Medici to the next." —Library Journal Audio Review

From the Publisher

07/01/2018
One of the most powerful families in Italian history, the Medici were known for their wealth and generous support of Renaissance art. Representing the most Machiavellian of Machiavellians, powerful patriarchs including Lorenzo the Magnificent and Cosimo expanded their financial empires and exerted their power at the expense of everyone from pope to priest. In this exposé of the entire clan, Hollingsworth (The Borgias) moves chronologically through the rise and fall of the family in encyclopedic fashion. The coverage is remarkably broad, spending significant time with even the most obscure members spanning 1216, when the family was "irredeemably bourgeois," to the death of Gian Gastone in 1737. Chapter titles including "Imperial Poodles," "Pride," and "Adultery" certainly reveal the author's sentiments on the family. For the audio, Anne Flosnik brings her years of narrating experience to bear for the tour of Renaissance genealogy, moving effortlessly from one Medici to the next. The pacing is exceptional as Flosnik regales listeners with tales of one bad egg after another. VERDICT An essential audio for fans of popular history.—Brian Odom, Huntsville, AL

Library Journal

★ 2017-12-07
A fascinating warts-and-all history of the rise and fall of the Medici.Hollingsworth (The Borgias: History's Most Notorious Dynasty, 2011, etc.) effectively debunks the myths surrounding this legendary family, from the first moneylenders who moved into Florence in the 13th century through the end of the dynasty in 1737. Throughout the centuries, the author amply shows, the Medici lied, cheated, inveigled, and sweet-talked their way into absolute diplomatic and political power. They built up their banking business through the generations, and it became the basis for the family wealth. The Medicis understood the power of local politics and used their money to control it until Florence was no longer a republic but rather a dictatorship. Some of the best elements of this eye-opening book are the casts of characters and their relationships, which begin each chapter. Since so many Medici shared the same first name, these lists are extremely helpful in keeping the players straight. Equally illuminating are the dozens of illustrations. A major event in the family's history occurred in 1420, when Giovanni di Bicci relinquished control of the bank to his sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo, who, despite his later appellation of "Magnificent," was an inexperienced playboy who lacked political acumen. His blatant embezzling, plus the decline of the economy, gave rise to the attacks of Savonarola on the materialism and corruption of his administration. Hollingsworth also points out that Florence was not the only important city during the Renaissance; Milan, Rome, Venice, Naples, and Mantua were also significant. Florence certainly profited from the architects, artists, and writers of the period, but the Medici's use of those artists was for the greater glory of Medici, not Florence. The true builder, Cosimo I, came to power in 1544 and became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. He grew the economy and city and laid the foundation for the persisting perception of Medici greatness.A vital acquisition for anyone who studies the Renaissance and seeks the true role of the Medici in the history of Florence.

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The Family Medici

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