Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent (vol. 2 of 2)

WHEN Lorenzo wrote that letter to his son his condition might be called hopeless. From his youth up he had suffered from hereditary physical ailments. The attacks had increased...

THE house of the Medici had not its equal in Florence, probably not in all Italy. Its inner arrangements corresponded with its outward stately and beautiful architecture. Three...

IN 1472 certain Venetians addressed to Lorenzo de’ Medici and Niccolò Ardinghelli a pamphlet wherein they extolled the advantages of their city and its inhabitants, and abused F...

THE early years of Cosimo de’ Medici were passed during the great revolution in art by which realism, united with reminiscences of the antique, enforced its claims, and, superse...

THE circle of Florentine celebrities which, though its members were continually changing, always retained its peculiar character, included men of smaller importance than many of...

AN influence hardly less important than that of the philosophers and grammarians was exercised on Lorenzo and his epoch by the literary innovators who, with some infusion of cla...

THE same year 1488, which brought to Lorenzo’s family festivals and family mourning, involved him in political complications with the Republic of a very serious character. The t...

IN order to gain a complete view both of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s own life and of his influence on the scientific progress of his time, it is necessary to contemplate the circle in...

THE reform in the constitution made in the summer of 1480, whereby the decisive part in the affairs of the State was concentrated in the Council of Seventy, had now held its gro...

THE first man to whom Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici gave a commission for a great piece of sculpture, after they became independent, was Andrea del Verrocchio. He was a discip...

FOR a long time past there could have been no question as to Lorenzo’s earnest desire to arrive at a good understanding with Innocent VIII. Immediately after the latter’s electi...

DURING all this time the quarrel between the Pope and the king was assuming serious dimensions. One could hardly expect otherwise when the characters of the two men are taken in...

THE Florentines and other Tuscans gathered together at this period of manifold intellectual activity were joined by men from other parts of Italy, coming as transient visitors o...

IN April 1465, as already stated, Federigo of Aragon, Prince of Naples, and Lorenzo de’ Medici, then seventeen years old, met at Pisa. A letter addressed by the young Florentine...

AFTER the disturbance and unrest which ended the pontificate of Sixtus IV., the reign of Innocent VIII. seemed destined to commence in peace and tranquillity. The Pope’s desire...

LORENZO’S position was anything but enviable. The Florentine merchants at Naples complained that the Duke of Calabria did not fulfil his obligations, and, moreover, treated them...

ARCHITECTURE was always a subject of great interest to Lorenzo de’ Medici; he possessed an unusual knowledge of the art.[164] It was he who made the plan for the façade of Sta....

THE marriage of Maddalena de’ Medici with Franceschetto Cybò took place about this time. When her journey to Rome was partially decided on, Lorenzo wrote to Lanfredini,[322] wit...

THE Pazzi conspiracy was only a prelude to the events which caused a Neapolitan army to stand as an enemy before the walls of Rome. The Pope and the Venetians had had no time to...

FOR many of his contemporaries Lorenzo de’ Medici was the frequent subject of verse, especially Latin verse, which the complimentary art of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries...

THE Medici had always counted on the clergy for support. It would be unjust to attribute this entirely to selfish motives; they had other and nobler aims than merely that of mor...

BOTH contemporary and later writers have passed an unfavourable judgment on Pope Innocent VIII. ‘Though the life of Innocent VIII. was useless for the general good,’ remarks Gui...

IT was a wise decision of Lorenzo to fix on Pisa as a residence for his son Giovanni. His efforts to raise that unfortunate city and to bridge over as much as he could the gulf...

THE last years of Sixtus IV. were disturbed in Rome as well as elsewhere. In both cases Girolamo Riario was the chief person to blame, though it was a great pity that such a gif...

[394] Kervyn de Lettenhove, l. c. ii. 83. The Metz affair was the unsuccessful and fearfully punished treachery of Jean de Laudremont, one of the provosts of the city; see Phili...

THE events of two years had shown that Lorenzo was not quite so secure of the direction of public affairs as he had seemed to be immediately after the conspiracy of the Pazzi. T...

the stomach that the Duke of Ferrara expressed a wish that Lorenzo would send to Milan his own physician, Piero Leone, who was considered the most skilful man of his time. In No...

Latin Poets—Ugolino Verino—Alessandro Bracci—G. B. Contalicio—Tommaso Baldinotti—Pierio Riccio—Pisa and its University before Lorenzo’s Time—Lorenzo de’ Medici and Pisa—Restorat...

Revolution in the Direction of Art when Cosimo was young—Architectural Questions—Brunelleschi—Re-building of San Lorenzo—Abbey of Fiesole—Michelozzo—Church and Convent of San Ma...

Girolamo Riario in Imola and Forlì—Death of Girolamo Riario—Catarina Riario Sforza—Disturbances in Forlì—Forlì remains in the Possession of the Riarii—Dispute about Piancaldoli—...

Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Illness—Remedy for his Sufferings—Changes between Better and Worse—Lorenzo’s Intention of transferring his Affairs to his Son Piero—Political Position—Moral...

Dispute of Venice with Ferrara—The Allies of Both—Beginning of the Campaign at the Po—Preparations in Rome—Sixtus IV.’s Oppression—Proposals to Louis XI.—Battle of Campomorto—Da...

State of Rome in the Last Days of Sixtus IV.—Girolamo Riario—Confusion on the Death of the Pope—Pope Innocent VIII.—The Cybò Family—Character of Innocent VIII.—Congratulatory Em...

Matteo Palmieri and ‘The City of Life’—Burchiello and the Burlesque—The Romantic Epos—Bernardo and Luca Pulci—The ‘Ciriffo Calvaneo’ and the ‘Giostri’—Luigi Pulci and the ‘Morga...

Platonism—Ficino’s Influence on Religion and Philosophy—The Connection of Platonism with Christianity—Speculation and Reality—Marsilio Ficino and Dante—Ficino’s Works—Book on Ch...

Lorenzo de’ Medici and Innocent VIII.—Affair of Osimo—Boccalino de’ Guzzoni—Surrender of Osimo—Boccalino in Florence—Boccalino’s End—House of Medici—Death of Madonna Lucrezia—Ma...

The Medici as Collectors and Art Patrons—Wealth of the House of Medici—Traders and their Purchases—The Garden and Casino of San Marco—The Villas of the Medici—Poggio a Cajano—Lo...

The Ruling Party and Old Enemies—Albizzi, Soderini, Pazzi—Francesco Guicciardini’s Description of Florentine Affairs—Alessandro de’ Pazzi on the Position of Lorenzo de’ Medici—P...

King Ferrante’s Behaviour towards the Pope—Niccolò Orsini as Papal Captain-General—Lorenzo de’ Medici on the Quarrel between Pope and King—Position of Milan and Venice—The Pope’...

Andrea del Verocchio—Sepulchre of Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici, and other Works—Antonio del Pollaiulo—Benedetto da Majano—Monuments of Giotto and Squarcialupi—Chancel of Sta. C...

Benedetto Dei’s Comparison of Florence and Venice—Description of Florence in the latter Part of the Fifteenth Century—Industry and Trade—Interest on Money and Money-Lenders—Mode...

Florence and the Neapolitan Controversy—Archbishop Rinaldo Orsini—Beginning of the Conflict—Alfonso of Arragon in the Campagna—Alfonso of Arragon in Pitigliano—Progress of the W...

Lorenzo’s Letter to Don Federigo of Aragon accompanying a Collection of Old Italian Poems—Opinions on Italian Poetry—The Poets of the Thirteenth Century—Dante and Successors—The...

Clarice and Maddalena de’ Medici in Rome—Maddalena’s Marriage Contract and Dowry—Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Opinion of his Son-in-Law—Connections of the Medici in Rome—Piero de’ Medic...

Position of Lorenzo de’ Medici—Public and Private Finance—Constitutional Reform—General and Select Council—Council of Seventy and their Functions—Opinions of Contemporaries—Ales...

Bernardo Bembo—Ermolao Barbaro—Barbaro’s Visit to Florence and to Lorenzo de’ Medici at the Baths—Lorenzo’s Exertions in favour of Barbaro—Giovanni Pico de’ Mirandola—Pico in Fl...

The Sarzana Dispute in Presence of Innocent VIII.—Lorenzo de’ Medici in connection with Milan and Siena—Disturbances in Siena—Political Balance—Political Situation of the Kingdo...

Poliziano as a Poet and Tutor of the Medici—Poliziano and Madonna Clarice—Winter Residence in Caffagiuolo—Ode to Gentile Becchi—Poliziano’s Letter to Madonna Lucrezia—Dissension...

Lorenzo’s Knowledge of Architecture—Giuliano da Majano at Home and Abroad—Benedetto da Majano—The Strozzi Palace—Giuliano Giamberti da Sangallo—The Castle of Ostia and the Villa...

Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Clergy—Girolamo Savonarola in his Youth—Savonarola’s first Residence in Florence—Fra Mariano of Genazzano and the Monastery of San Gallo—Fra Mariano a...

Innocent VIII. and Franceschetto Cybò—Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Intercession for Franceschetto—Giovanni de’ Medici and Church Benefices—The Abbeys of Passignano and Monte Cassino—The...

Giovanni de’ Medici in Pisa—Delayed Publication of the Brief making him Cardinal—Doubtful State of Health of Innocent VIII.—Publication of the Brief—Festival in the Abbey of Fie...