Lorenzo de Medici (1449-1492)

The Medici family produced four popes (Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV, and Leon XI) and two queens of France (Catherine de Medicis and Marie de Medicis). All were beneficent and enlightened patrons of the arts and building, probably the most magnificent such patrons the West has even seen. 

The Medici were rulers of Florence from 1434 to 1537. The hereditary principate was set up by Cosimo the Elder (Lorenzo’s grandfather) in the mid fifteenth century, but this had no legal right or title.

On the death of his father, Piero de Medici (the Gouty) in 1469, Lorenzo ruled Florence jointly with his brother, Giuliano. He announced that he would use constitutional methods as much as possible, but, according to the historian Franceso Giucciardini, Lorenzo’s government was “that of a benevolent tyrant in a constitutional republic.”

In 1478 Lorenzo faced a challenge to his authority in Florence, in which his brother was killed. The Pazzi were adversaries of the Medici and had taken away control of the financial affairs of the Papacy from the Medici. They were supported by Sixtus IV, his nephew Riario and the archbishop of Pisa, Salviati. During Easter Mass on April 26 they attempted to assassinate Lorenzo and take over the government. Lorenzo managed to escape but Giuliano was killed. The people of Florence stood by the Medici and seized the conspirators and tore them limb from limb. The Pope threatened Florence with interdiction unless they brought Lorenzo to him. The city and the clergy rejected the proposal. Lorenzo boldly went alone to Ferdinand I, King of Naples, who had supported the papacy. Perhaps intimidated, Ferdinand concluded a peace with Lorenzo. Sixtus, now isolated, had to agree.

This incident greatly increased the prestige of Lorenzo and the Medici. Their status grew higher and higher. Lorenzo and later his eldest son, Piero, married into the noble roman family of Orsini, another of his sons, Giovanni, was given a Cardinal’s hat at 13, and his daughter, Maddalena, married a son of Pope Innocent VIII (born before his father’s entry into the clergy).

As their power grew, however, the business interests of the Medici declined. This was due to both deteriorating economic conditions and to the large sums of money spent patronising artists, architects and writers. Lorenzo's grandfather, Cosimo, began the first public library since ancient times, and Lorenzo greatly extended it.  It is estimated that in the fifty years after its establishment, some twenty million dollars were spent on manuscripts and books.  Lorenzo assembled a group of humanists and poets, called the Platonic Academy of Philosophy.  Lorenzo’s reputation rested not only on his financial contributions. He was respected as a poet of great talent, and his custom of treating artists with affection and familiarity was remarkable at the time.

Artists under his protection included Botticelli, Verrocchio and Leonardi da Vinci. Later in his life Lorenzo opened a school of sculpure in his garden of San Marco. It was here that a 15 year old pupil attracted his attention and was brought up in the palace like a son. It was Michelangelo.

Lorenzo’s health declined towards the end of his life. Lorenzo had requested simple obsequies, but the entire population of Florence turned out.