Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and the Reformation

Lorenzo supported artists and scholars such as POLIT-
IAN, PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA, BOTTICELLI, and VERROCCHIO.
Despite SAVONAROLA’s denunciations of Florence’s pagan
pleasures and loss of republican freedoms from 1489,
Lorenzo admired and tolerated the preacher. A massive
project to publish all Lorenzo’s correspondence (Lettere,
ed. Riccardo Fubini et al, 1977– ) throws light on his
abilities as a ruler and exponent of realpolitik and on the
means by which he asserted his ascendancy over Florence.
Further reading: Melissa Meriam Bullard, Lorenzo il
Magnifico: Image and Anxiety, Politics and Finance (Flo-
rence, Italy: Olschki, 1994); Lauro Martines, April Blood:
Florence and the Plot Against the Medici (London: Cape and
New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).

Medici family A dynasty powerful in Florence and

Tuscany from the 13th to the 18th century and renowned

for its statesmanship and for its patronage of letters,

music, and the visual arts. The family included four popes

(LEO X, CLEMENT VII, PIUS IV, Leo XI) and two queens of

France (CATHERINE and MARIE DE’ MEDICI). The first

prominent Medici, Chiarissimo, served on Florence’s

council (1201), and his descendants joined Florence’s

elite. After the exile of Salvestro, who supported the

CIOMPIin 1378, another branch of the family headed

by the banker Giovanni (died 1429) became domi-

nant. Giovanni’s son, Cosimo de’ MEDICI(1389–1464),

established the family’s political power; Cosimo’s

grandson, Lorenzo de’ MEDICI(1449–92), ruled Florence

without any formal designation other than the courtesy

MMeeddiiccii ffaammiillyy 3 30099

Medici Family

Piero

(d. 1503)

Giovanni di Bicci

(d. 1429)

Cosimo (d. 1464) Lorenzo (d. 1440)

Pierfrancesco

(d. 1477)

Giovanni

(d. 1514)

Giovanni delle

Bande Nere

(d. 1526)

Piero (d. 1469)

Giuliano

(d. 1478)

Giulio (Pope

Clement VII)

(d. 1534)

Giuliano

(d. 1516)

Lorenzo “Il Magnifico”

(d. 1492)

Giovanni

(Pope Leo X)

(d. 1521)

Lorenzo

(d. 1519)

Catherine

(d. 1589)

m. Henry II

of France

Alessandro

(d. 1537)

Francesco I

(d. 1587)

Marie

(d. 1642)

Henry IV

of France

m.

Cosimo I

(d. 1574)

Ferdinando I

(d. 1609)

Cosimo II

(d. 1621)

Ippolito

(d. 1535)

Rulers or de facto rulers of Florence are shown in a bold typeface; after Alessandro’s assassination in 1537 a junior branch of the family,

headed by Cosimo I de Medici, assumed control.