Lives of the early Medici

“_It has ever been a hobby of mine, though perhaps it is a truism, not a hobby, that the true life of a man is in his letters.... Not only for the interest of a biography, but f...

The ancestors given to the Medici are many, and their origin is not easy to trace amid the conflicting accounts of friends and foes. The latter declare they sprang from the very...

Cristofano Landino, Lionardo Aretino (Bruni), whose translations from the Greek were celebrated for their pure latinity, while his speeches were compared to those of Pericles, a...

On the election of the new Signory (September 1433) it was rumoured that during their rule great changes were to be made. News was sent to me in the Mugello, where I had been fo...

“Thou tellest me in thy letter of the 28th that a slave is offered thee who was here with Lionardo Vernacci and that thou wouldest have taken her but for the old one thou hast i...

If agreements and conventions for the Court are mentioned, such as taxes on houses, jurisdiction, immunity from excise duties in and out of the town and such things, and houses...

The other day I wrote to thee in haste, and have now heard of the arrival of Piero and Pier Francesco.[60] God be praised. We shall be much rejoiced if they have returned in goo...

Most blessed Father,--I received your Holiness’ letter a few days ago, a letter full of grandeur and dignity, whose wisdom, as no one can doubt, could have proceeded from none b...

I record that on the 1st August 1464, at the hour of 22-1/2, Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici quitted this life, having been a great sufferer from pains in his joints, although fre...

Most dear and great Friend,--We have received by our beloved and faithful courier Francesco Nori your letters which you sent to us by him. From him and from your letters we have...

Dati enlarges on the magnificent and marvellous aspect of the Piazza della Signoria, “with one hundred towers, which shone like gold, some on waggons, some borne on the shoulder...

On the way to S. Peter on Thursday morning I met Madonna Maddalena Orsini, sister to the Cardinal [Latino Orsini], with her daughter, who is about fifteen or sixteen years old....

_Magnifice vir, tanquam pater honorande, post commendationem_, &c.,--By Giovanni Tornabuoni I received your letter, and he has given me the message from Your Magnificence. It pl...

The bride has received about fifty rings, costing they say from ten to fifty or sixty ducats each; one piece of brocade; a sweetmeat dish of silver, and many other such things;...

In _Memoirs of Dukes of Urbino_, by J. Dennistoun, vol. i. p. 186, is the following passage: “Federigo’s [of Urbino] condotta in the papal service had just expired, leaving him...

In February or in March of the same year Sarzana, Sarzanelle, and Castelnuovo were bought by the aid of our father Piero from M. Lorenzo and M. Tommasino da Campofregoso; notwit...

_Magnifice et Clarissime Vir_,--The Magnificent Messer Ciccho, my compeer, has advised me that I should be better and more quickly employed in the service of friends of this Ill...

Magnificent Grandmother mine,--Let me know how you are and when you began your baths. It seems to me a thousand years since you left, and every day I say a Pater noster and an A...

Vasari tells in his Life of Verrocchio of three waxen images of Lorenzo, the size of life, made by order of his friends and relations to commemorate his escape from the dagger o...

As to Signor Taddeo we are quite willing to do as you say, but as yet we have not settled with the Lord of Forlì, as he demands more than we can well give. We were willing to pa...

_Magnifice mi Domine_,--I am here at Careggi, having left Cafaggiuolo by command of Madonna Clarice. The cause and the manner of my departure I should wish, indeed I beg of you...

Anyhow I reply briefly to assure you that your affairs and those of your and my Illustrious Lord are most dear to me, and that at present and in the future they are and ever wil...

_Illma. Domina mea_,--The duty I owe Your Excellency compels me to communicate to you the terrible and disastrous blow that has to-day befallen me through the death of my most b...

Thou askest who I am, what is my name, and whence comes this hot and health-giving water that springs perennial? Once I was the loveliest nymph of these woods. Apollo loved me a...

Before supper the Commune of Colle made an offering to Madonna of corn, marzipan, wine, sweetmeats, &c., presented by eloquent orators, three out of the number. The substance wa...

... I again tried to persuade the Magnificent Lorenzo that he would do well and wisely to let Your Highness try and dissipate this misunderstanding between the Illustrious Messe...

I have seen Pier Filippo Pandolfini twice, who is the heart of Lorenzo in the Council and the first citizen of Florence ... to tell him according to your Excellency’s instructio...

My ambassador has written to tell me that at last by the kindness of Your Holiness the contract of the alum works has been awarded to me, for this I owe infinite thanks to Your...

By your letter of the 13th I understand that the Pope has taken umbrage at the note presented by you, so do not proceed further with it. Anything that vexes His Sanctity annoys...

I have nought to report to Your Excellency save that yesterday the Most Rev. Cardinal de’ Medici [Giovanni, Lorenzo’s second son] left for Rome. Last Saturday he received the ha...

Lorenzo lived forty-three years three months and six days, having been born on January 2, 1448.[405] He died so nobly and with such patience, understanding, and reverence toward...

[320] The two future Popes, Leo X. and Clement VII. Giulio was the illegitimate son of Giuliano, Lorenzo’s brother, murdered in the Pazzi conspiracy. Lorenzo’s second son, Giova...

---- Lorenzo de’, the Magnificent, letter to, and Giuliano, from his father, 74; letter to, from Marsilio Ficino, 76; 87; letter from, to Federigo d’Aragona on the old Tuscan po...