Magnifico

The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de' Medici

Miles J. Unger

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780743254359
• eBook ISBN: 9781416545101
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

A vividly colorful portrait of one of the greatest and most fascinating figures of the Renaissance, Lorenzo de' Medici, focusing on his role as a brilliant—sometimes ruthless—statesman who was responsible for the artistic flowering of Florence, the city where the Renaissance first blossomed. Lorenzo de' Medici—a leading statesman, the uncrowned ruler of Florence during its golden age, a true Renaissance man known to history as Il Magnifico (the Magnificent). Lorenzo was not only the foremost patron of his day but also a renowned poet, equally adept at composing philosophical verses and obscene rhymes to be sung at Carnival. He befriended the greatest artists and writers of the time—Leonardo, Botticelli, Poliziano, and, especially, Michelangelo, whom he discovered as a young boy and invited to live at his palace—and, in the process, turned Florence into the cultural capital of Europe. Though Lorenzo's grandfather Cosimo had converted the vast wealth of the family bank into political power, Lorenzo's position was precarious. Bitter rivalries among the leading Florentine families and competition among the squabbling Italian states meant that Lorenzo's life was under constant threat. Those who plotted his death included a pope, a king, and a duke, but Lorenzo used his legendary charm and diplomatic skill—as well as occasional acts of violence—to navigate the murderous labyrinth of Italian politics. Florence in the age of Lorenzo was a city of contrasts, of unparalleled artistic brilliance and unimaginable squalor in the city's crowded tenements; of both pagan excess and the fire-and-brimstone sermons of the Dominican preacher Savonarola. Florence gave birth to both the otherworldly perfection of Botticelli's Primavera and the gritty realism of Machiavelli's The Prince. Nowhere was this world of contrasts more perfectly embodied than in the life and character of the man who ruled this most fascinating city.

NOTES

CHAPTER I: THE ROAD FROM CAREGGI

“There is in my opinion”: Brucker, Florence: The Golden Age, 10–11.

“nature had been a step-mother to him”: Valori, 30–31.

“cold men”: Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 155.

“did not have much confidence”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories,VII, 5, 281.

“those who have”: Filarete, XXV.

“First stop”: Chamberlin, “Everyday Life in Renaissance Times,” p. 71.

rare gemstones: Filarete, XXV, 319–21.

“[E]very day seems a year”: Ross, Lives of the Early Medici (hereafter Lives), 108.

“with infinite longing”: Ibid., 119.

“You will have received my letter of the 4th”: Ibid., 94.

“I wrote to you two days ago”: Lorenzo de’ Medici (hereafter Lorenzo), Lettere, I, no. 7, 15.

“Piero was dismayed” Machiavelli, Florentine Histories,VII, 13, 291–92.

“with whom I spoke”: Lorenzo, Lettere, I, no. 9, 19.

“Three times I read this”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 431.

charismatic center: Ibid., 419ff.

“Thus it was arranged”: Parenti, Ricordi Storici, 123.

“And returning to the arrival of Lorenzo”: Rochon, 108.

“[Piero] did not, to be sure”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, 13.

lessening the chances of a violent clash breaking out between their armed supporters: Phillips, 246.

on the rebound: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VII, 15.

“[I]n order to better conceal”: Ibid.

his onetime colleague had at least flirted with the opposition: Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 163.

“great goodwill among the people”: Ibid., 107.

“the citizenry would like greater liberty”: Ibid., 161.

“Cosimo and his men”: Ibid., 152.

“[s]ince his own ambition”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VII, 11; Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 159.

“[It was] caused in large part”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, 15.

“Yesterday I went to my estate at Careggi”: Ficino, Letters, I, 1.

“received letters from the regime in Bologna”: Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 184–85.

“every day meets M. Luca”: Ibid., 177.

“man of fine physique”: Pius II, 114.

“Piero be removed from the city.”: Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 184.

“the marquis of Ferrara”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VII, 15.

he dashed off an urgent letter to Sforza: Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 184–85.

“upon receiving this”: Black, “Piero de’ Medici and Arezzo,” Piero de’ Medici, “il Gottoso,”(1416–1469), 26.

It is a puzzle: Andre Rochon is among those who doubt that Lorenzo played a prominent role in saving his father’s life (see La Jeunesse de Laurent des Medicis, especially 82–84), arguing that Medici propagandists would surely have played it up. Their reticence, however, is understandable, since Lorenzo’s glory was won at the expense of his father.

[I]t was through the sound judgment of Lorenzo: Valori, 31.

“[W]hen Piero went off to Careggi”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, 17. Marco Parenti, who believed the whole incident was an elaborate deception, confirms that whatever took place occurred at “Sto. Antonio del Vescovo.” Phillips, 192.

“and thanks to God”: Lorenzo, Lettere, II, 413.

“new Dietisalvis”: Ibid., 276.

I was approaching town along the road: Lorenzo de’ Medici, Selected Poems and Prose, 43–44.

“Above al...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Colophon
• ALSO BY MILES J. UNGER
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Maps
• I •  The Road from Careggi
• II •  Family Portrait
• III •  Master of Ceremony
• IV •  Hope of the City
• V •  Devil’s Paradise
• VI •  Games of Fortune
• VII •  Lord of the Joust
• VIII •  A Wedding and a Funeral
• IX •  Master of the Shop
• X •  Fat Victory
• XI •  Domestic Tranquillity
• XII •  The Shadow of Rome
• XIII •  Under the Sign of Mars
• XIV •  Conspiracy
• XV •  Murder in the Cathedral
• XVI •  The Bloodstained Pavement
• XVII •  Neapolitan Gambit
• XVIII •  The Shadow Lifts
• XIX •  The Garden and the Grove
• XX •  The Cardinal and the Preacher
• Epilogue: The Spirit in the Ring
• Medici Family Tree
• Note on the Government of Florence in the Age of Lorenzo
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Photographic Insert