Habsburg control, signed a treaty with
King Louis XI of France. On the death of
his father Frederick in 1493 he ascended
to the Habsburg throne; in the next year
he married Maria Sforza, daughter of the
Duke of Milan. In 1493 Maximilian signed
the Treaty of Senlis that surrendered Bur-
gundy and Picardy (in northern France)
in exchange for the Netherlands and the
territory of Franche-Comte. He later ap-
pointed his daughter Margaret of Austria
as the regent of the Netherlands.
His marriage to Maria Sforza fired
Maximilian’s ambitions to contest control
of the wealthy cities of northern Italy. This
touched off the Italian Wars with France
that dragged on for a generation and em-
broiled nearly every major city of Italy as
well as the Papacy. After the Battle of Dor-
nach, Maximilian signed the Treaty of
Basel, which granted independence to the
Swiss Confederation. He arranged a mar-
riage for his granddaughter Mary with
Louis, the son of the king of Hungary and
Bohemia, and his grandson Ferdinand to
marry Louis’ sister Anne. These betrothals
eventually brought Hungary and Bohemia
under Habsburg control.
SEEALSO: Charles V; Margaret of Austria
Medici, Cosimo de’ .........................
(1389–1464)
Ruler of Florence and founder of the
Medici dynasty, one of the wealthiest and
most influential clans of Europe. The son
of Giovanni de’ Medici, agonfalero(high
official) of Florence, Cosimo inherited a
fortune made by his father in the new in-
dustry of international banking. The
Medici profited from expanded trade and
business contacts among the nations,
which called for more sophisticated meth-
ods of exchanging and investing money.
On inheriting the family’s bank in 1429,
Cosimo set out to increase business by
lending money to European rulers and in-
vesting in trading expeditions to Africa
and Asia.
Cosimo rankled the aristocrats of Flo-
rence by enlisting the artisans and guilds
of the city to his side. He was arrested in
1433 at the instigation of his most power-
ful rivals, the wealthy Albizzi clan. Threat-
ened with a trial and execution, he was
eventually exiled from the city after paying
a bribe to the head of the city’s justice de-
partment. In the next year, a new Floren-
tine government overturned his sentence,
the Albizzi were banished, and Cosimo re-
turned to the city. He soon held the reigns
of power firmly in his hands, by appoint-
ing his own supporters to the high offices
known as magistracies. Although he held
no formal title, Cosimo enjoyed fervent
support among common people and ordi-
nary workers. With his popularity greater
than ever, he reformed the tax system to
favor the middle class and spent great
amounts of money on important public
works, including the restoration of the
Church of San Lorenzo. He allied the city
with Milan and Venice, in order to balance
the power of Naples and the Papacy. This
balance of power survived into the late fif-
teenth century under the skillful manage-
ment of his grandson, Lorenzo de’ Medici.
Cosimo also began a Medici tradition
of patronage of the arts and letters. He in-
vited artists and sculptors to contribute
their works to his palace and local
churches. He collected manuscripts from
throughout Europe and had them copied
and preserved. The books were gathered
in local monasteries and made available to
scholars and writers. Cosimo also founded
the Academy of Plato, also known as the
Neoplatonic Academy, to teach the phi-
losophy and writings of this ancient Greek
writer, under the leadership of Marsilio Fi-Medici, Cosimo de’