The Medici Family in Florence

The rule of the Medici family in Florence had an enormous influence on the city-state and on the Renaissance in Italy and Europe. The Medici family advanced the cultural and civic life of Florence, making it the cultural center of all Europe. Politically the Medici, especially Lorenzo de'Medici, was responsible for establishing the peace of all Italy at a time when the country consisted of competing city-states and the attempts of foreign powers for control. During the family's early years in Florence, in the late Italian Renaissance, their political and economic power, coupled with their patronage of the arts, made them the most significant figures in the social, cultural, political and economic development of the Northern Italian Renaissance as a whole. In addition, the contributions of the Medici family members were vital in achieving the transition from the medieval to the modern periods. This paper will examine the Medici family and its influence on the development of Italy.

The Medici were farmers who lived in the Italian countryside until moving to Florence in the 13th Century where they initially became merchants and bankers, and later rose to prominence as a family of great wealth and political influence. Within a few generations, the Medici became "the unofficial rulers of the republic of Florence and afterwards the recognized sovereigns of Tuscany (Catholic Encyclopedia: House of Medici).

During the Renaissance period, Italy was divided into a num

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contribution toward the establishment of a university in Pisa (Cronin 220). Lorenzo's interest in Renaissance arts and literature can also be seen in the many poems and songs that he composed during his life. In this regard, it has been noted that Lorenzo "distinguished himself in a form of poetry of a distinctly Florentine and urban flavor" (Schevill 162). He was not, however, only known for his patronage of the arts during Florence's Golden Age; he also became known as a tyrant and a forceful leader, as seen in the incident of the revolt at Volterra, a small town under Florentine control. When members of the town tried to rise up against Florence, Lorenzo financed a military expedition to crush the rebellion. Martines claims that Lorenzo reacted "with fury to the charge that he was a �tyrant,' hence lawless by definition. He had to try to believe in the legality, or at least the rightness, of his political place in the republic" (260). On Easter Sunday, April 1478, an assassination attempt was made on Lorenzo. A year before, Pope Sixtus IV and Francesco Pazzi had developed a plot to kill Lorenzo and his younger brother Giuliano. Lorenzo had refused an important loan to the Pope, and Pazzi belonged to a rival family of weal

Category: History - T