Still, he continued to amass his fortune once his exile ended. The Platonic Academy was established thanks to his dedication, a place to honor and translate the writings of Plato. Cosimo de' Medici was born on September 27, , the son of Giovanni de' Medici, who founded the family's legendary fortune, amassing enormous sums in trade and banking.
After his father died in , Cosimo continued the family's commercial and financial practices with great success. He brought goods of little weight and high value from the East and lent money to the princely houses of Europe.
Cosimo also adopted the policy, already traditional in his family, of supporting the lesser guilds and the poor against the wealthy aristocracy which ruled the city. These oligarchs became jealous of Cosimo's popularity and fearful of his democratic tendencies. Consequently they sought to destroy him and his family. In , spurred on by Rinaldo degli Albizzi, the most influential of their number, they had Cosimo arrested with the intention of putting him to death. One year later, in October , the sentence of exile was overturned by a new government favorable to Cosimo, and he returned to the city in triumph.
The Bardi family, along with the Peruzzi and the Acciaiuoli families, were the most important Florentine bankers before the Medici became wealthier and more popular. They held political influence within the Signoria and the economy of Florence due to their impressive wealth. However, all three families lost their wealth and power in the financial realm around after they lost an enormous sum during the Hundred Years War.
The families had lent money to King Edward III in order to ensure his victory over the French, but King Edward III never repaid the loans, thus losing the financial support that the popular banking families needed in order to maintain their businesses. Due to the loss of funds, the Bardi family lost most of their wealth and status among the elite families of Florence, only maintaining a small amount of political influence. Eventually, the marriage became more than just a contract; Cosimo and Contessina became closer, both in marriage and partnership within the Medici bank.
The Signoria was the governmental body of the Republic of Florence and consisted of nine members elected from the guilds of Florence. This conflict was supported by another member of the Signoria , Rinaldo Degli Albizzi, who petitioned the Signoria to increase taxes in Florence in order to raise an army to fight against Lucca. Cosimo was faced with a choice: veto the petition to raise taxes and an army because the people could not afford to pay another tax, or alleviate tensions within the Signoria and appease Rinaldo Degli Albizzi by supporting the tax.
With the tax revenue supporting an army, Rinaldo and his men marched towards Lucca, leaving Florence in the hands of Cosimo. With news of repeated military defeats, and with the arrival of a lethal plague reaching Florence, Cosimo attempted to boost the spirit and the economy of the people of Florence by sponsoring and funding the completion of Il Cattedral di Santa Maria del Fiore. But first, Cosimo had to locate and hire an architect competent enough to design and build the dome.
He eventually decided on Filippo Brunelleschi, who designed a double dome structure inspired by the dome of the Roman Pantheon. Before Brunelleschi could begin construction of the vast endeavor, however, a question arose that would involve a difficult solution: how would Cosimo pay for the construction of the dome? Cosimo decided to take a huge risk and fund the entire construction through the Medici Bank.
Unfounded rumors then spread that Cosimo drew the funds from the unpaid papacy tithes, but these rumors lacked sufficient evidence concerning the allocated funds.
Even though the rumors were not supported by evidence, they gained influence and spread throughout Florence, eventually reaching the ear of Rinaldo Degli Albizzi, who was fighting the rebellion in Lucca. After allocating the proper funds, Cosimo financed the construction of the dome while the deadly epidemic and conflict with Lucca continued to devastate Florence.
As the plague continued to rampage through Florence, Cosimo and his family left to live in their countryside home as a way to avoid succumbing to the deadly illness. Shortly after arriving, Cosimo received a letter recalling him to Florence for important Signoria business.
Usury, or lending money at interest as a way of making a profit, was forbidden by the Church and was often viewed as treason, which was punishable by death. During his imprisonment and trial, Cosimo feared that his enemies would attempt to assassinate him as an easy method of removing him as a threat.
To prevent this, Cosimo bribed the jailer to test each meal to check for poison while also working to defend himself against the accusations brought forth by Rinaldo Degli Albizzi. While Rinaldo was arguing for Cosimo to be put to death for the crime of treason, Cosimo managed to bribe enough members of the Signoria to reduce his sentence to ten years of exile. With his plan enacted, Cosimo and the rest of his family left Contessina in Florence and departed for their ten-year exile in Venice, as demanded by the Signoria.
While in Venice, Cosimo worked with the Signoria of Venice to secure his swift return to Florence, while also providing financial and economic stability to Venice. There was a long-running power struggle between Cosimo and Rinaldo degli Albizzi; the beef certainly was personal, political and loaded with old vs.
Cosimo was imprisoned and in , exiled initially to Padua. Albizzi did plan a coup in his absence, and was banished, but not murdered. In fact, he lived to his seventies. Pope Eugenius IV was present in Florence at the time of the conflict. However, he was more sympathetic to the Medici, rather than Albizzi. Yet far from being an enemy of the Medici, he was actually a firm ally.
Though simplified for TV, elections to the Signoria were absolutely as corrupt as the show portrays. Real-life Guadagni was much less scrupulous than the Brian Cox version. He took money from both the Albizzi and the Medici during their feud. Plenty of detail about the Medici dynasty has been altered for dramatic effect.
Cosimo was a twin, but Damiano died as an infant, not in a childhood accident. He also had 2 sons, although only Piero appears in the TV version. Cosimo did have a slave mistress he bought in Venice. For the most part, roles for all female leads have been hugely enhanced for a modern audience. Public life in republican Florence was very patriarchal. The choice of the ecclesiastical career seems to have been imposed on him for reasons of opportunity.
But how did he become pope? Was his election permeated with dishonest games and corruption as shown in the series? His connection with the Medici was true, Cossa was always supported by the Florentine family who, thanks to him, got the management of the collection of papal tithes, gaining profit and power. Cossa died in Florence on December 27, and the friendship with the Medici lasted until the end. So much so that the Florentine family had a tomb raised by Donatello and Michelozzo which was placed, after long discussions, in the baptistery of the cathedral of Florence and which was carried out around Would you like to take a tour of Florence to discover the myths and truths of the I Medici series on site?
Contact Francesca Rachel Valle by calling or by e-mail: francesca.
0コメント