House of Medici

In Florence 1389, a boy is baptized, he was not of noble birth. He was the son of a local merchant. His name was Cosimo De Medici. According to the book “Culture & Values: A survey of the Humanities” by Lawrence S. Cunningham, John J. Reich, and Louis Fichner-Rathus, “ Cosimo de’ Medici (de facto ruler of Florence from 1434 to 1464) was an astute banker and a cultivated man of letters” (382). From humble beginnings, his dynasty would seek for power and influence and not stop until they secured the papacy itself. This was a world where power came at a price in three: murder, assassination, and war. However, the city of Florence was also home of creativity and for the greater glory of the family. The Medici would protect and pay for the greatest artists and thinkers of that age, Michael Angelo, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Leonardo, Galileo. An expression of ideas that will shutter the medieval world and resonate for centuries with a single word, renaissance –rebirth-. Behind it, there is still The Medici, the godfathers of the Renaissance. In a side street of the main plaza in…

“Machiavellian,” a term which originated partly because of numerous ideas put forth by Machiavelli in his controversial political treatise, The Prince. However, modern scholarship has revealed that there is more virtue to Machiavelli’s supposed amoral statements than traditional critics believed. Before Machiavelli retired to his estate and penned The Prince, he resided in Florence at the time when Lorenzo de’Medici and the House of Medici, an influential banking family that…

▪ Summary of the main ideas Machiavelli started his book by glorifying the Prince Lorenzo De Medici that he is writing for, he wanted to present him the most valuable thing he owned; his accumulated knowledge and experiences from his long years working in their contemporary affairs and his continual studying to history before his exile. The book is concerned of how to establish a despotic regime? how to consolidate and maintain this regime after establishment? ▪ In the First part, the Author…

like the most of the Italian peninsula during this time, was constantly changing political representation. When the Medici family took power in 1513, Machiavelli was forced into exile. This fall from the occupation he adored weighed heavily on him; forcing him to seek desperate measures to try and get back into his esteemed political profession. His work, The Prince, he thought, would be…

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli was written as a gift to gain favor of Lorenzo de Medici, the de facto oligarchic ruler of the Florentine Republic and one of the most powerful persons of the Renaissance. Niccolò Machiavelli was a Renaissance historian, diplomat, philosopher, and writer. He witnessed the expulsion of the Medici family and the rise of Girolamo Savanorola, a Dominican religious zealot who controlled the region after. During this time, Italy became a landscape of political…

As mentioned in the book, the most important of these cities are Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples. This chapter is about Italy during the Renaissance during the 1500s. Trade flourished during this time period and merchants were a big part of the recovering economy. There were several extremely wealthy families that had a major influence on Italy. An example is the Medici family of Florence. The Medici family helped to build up a system of banking, manufacturing, and trade. Capitalism…

History has proven that oftentimes hierarchy powers are willing to use barbaric, vicious, and remorseless strategies to get to the top. An example of this is the Borgia Family who was a dominant family during the time of the Renaissance. The Borgia Family was an Italian family with Spanish origin, mainly known for their heartless reputation. Along with the dominating families, the Papacy had much control over Italy. Both the Borgia Family and the Papacy were extremely relevant and significant…

fourteenth century the Medici had already tremendously influenced their surroundings; analysis and research show how impactful the Medici family had throughout that time period with the use of problem, solution, and effect theme. Although the Medici came to posses unrivalled wealth and power they had to struggle with many other families to obtain their status. During those time of conflict they were able to trigger a revolution of the arts but also the culture. Over the next three hundred years…

The question of whether it is better that you feared or loved is very interesting and many people have their own opinions on this matter. One of the people who analyzed this question was Niccolo Machiavelli – one of the most famous Italian thinkers and political leaders of the Renaissance period. When the Medici family gained power in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli, who was back then a civil servant in the Florentine Republic - was accused of conspiracy and imprisoned. To…

The Renaissance through the Baroque, Chapter 19 In the early Italian Renaissance what major family influenced artists and give three examples? The Medici family was very influential in the art world due to their creation of the Platonic Academy of philosophy. Many artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo, were apart of the Platonic Academy of philosophy. This academy not only funded many artists, but it also gave birth to the beliefs of Neoplatonists. Neoplatonists believed that in the…