Pirolo, Paola, ed. Lorenzo dopo Lorenzo: La Fortuna Storica di Lorenzo il Magnifico. Florence, 1992.
Plebani, Eleonora. Lorenzo e Giuliano de’ Medici: Tra Potere e Legame di Sangue. Rome, 1993.
Plumb, J. H. “Milan: City of Strife.” In The Penguin Book of the Renaissance. Middlesex, 1961, 155–69.
———. “Rome: Splendour and the Papacy.” In The Penguin Book of the Renaissance. Middlesex, 1961, 189–208.
Plumb, J. H., ed. The Penguin Book of the Renaissance. Middlesex, 1961.
Polizzotto, Lorenzo. “Lorenzo il Magnifico, Savonarola and Medicean Dynasticism.” In Lorenzo de Medici: New Perspectives, Bernard Toscani, ed. New York, 1992, 331–55.
Rendina, Claudio. The Popes: Histories and Secrets. Trans. Paul D. McCusker. Santa Ana, 2002.
Reumont, Alfred von. Lorenzo de’ Medici the Magnificent. 2 vols. Trans. Robert Harrison. London, 1876.
Rochon, Andre. La Jeunesse de Laurent de Medicis (1449–1478). Paris, 1963.
Rocke, Michael. Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. New York, 1996.
Roeder, Ralph. “Lorenzo de’ Medici.” In The Penguin Book of the Renaissance. Middlesex, 1961.
———. The Man of the Renaissance. Four Lawgivers: Savonarola, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Aretino. New York, 1933.
Roscoe, William. The Life and Pontificate of Leo X. 2 vols. London, 1893.
———. The Life of Lorenzo de Medici, Called the Magnificent. London, 1889.
Ross, James, and Mary Martin McLaughlin. The Portable Renaissance Reader. New York, 1953.
Ross, Janet. Florentine Palaces and Their Stories. London, 1905.
———. Lives of the Early Medici. Boston, 1911. London, 1910.
Ross Williamson, Hugh. Lorenzo the Magnificent. New York, 1974.
Rubin, Patricia Lee, and Alison Wright. Renaissance Florence: The Art of the 1470s. London, 1999.
Rubinstein, Nicolai. “La Confessione di Francesco Neroni e la Congiura Anti-Medicea del 1466.” ASI 126 (1968): 373ff.
———. “Florentine Constitutionalism and Medici Ascendancy in the Fifteenth Century.” In Florentine Studies: Politics and Society in Renaissance Florence, Nicolai Rubinstein, ed. Evanston, 1968, 442–63.
———. The Government of Florence Under the Medici. Oxford, 1997.
———. “Lorenzo’s Image in Europe.” In Lorenzo the Magnificent: Culture and Politics, Michael Mallet and Nicholas Mann, eds. London, 1996, 297–312.
———. The Palazzo Vecchio, 1298–1532: Government, Architecture, and Imagery in the Civic Palace of the Florentine Republic. Oxford, 1995.
Rubinstein, Nicolai, et al. The Age of the Renainssance. London, 1967.
Rubinstein, Nicolai, ed. Florentine Studies: Politics and Society in Renaissance Florence. Evanston, 1968.
Ruggiers, Paul G. Florence in the Age of Dante. Norman, 1964.
Scalini, Mario. “Il ‘Ludus’ Equestre nell’età Laurenziana.” In Le Tems Revient, ’L Tempo si Rinuova: Feste e Spettacoli nella Firenze di Lorenzo il Magnifico, Paola Ventrone, ed. Florence, 1992.
Schevill, Ferdinand. History of Florence, from the Founding of the City Through the Renaissance. New York, 1961.
———. The Medici. New York, 1949.
Simonetta, Marcello. “Federico da Montefeltro Contro Firenze: Retroscena Inediti della Congiura dei Pazzi.” ASI 596 (2003): 261ff.
Smith, Dennis Mack. “Federigo da Montefeltro.” In The Penguin Book of the Renaissance. Middlesex, 1961, 279–94.
Soranzo, Giovanni. “Lorenzo il Magnifico alla Morte del Padre e il Suo Promo Balzo Verso la Signoria.” ASI 400 (1953): 42ff.
Toscani, Bernard. “Lorenzo, the Religious Poet.” In Lorenzo de Medici: New Perspectives, Bernard Toscani, ed. New York, 1992, 85–107.
Toscani, Bernard, ed. Lorenzo de Medici: New Perspectives. New York, 1992.
Trachtenberg, Marvin. “Found the Palazzo Vecchio in 1299: The Corso Donati Paradox.” RQ 52, (1999): 967ff.
Trexler, Richard. “Lorenzo de’ Medici and Savonarola: Martyrs for Florence.” RQ 31 (1978): 293–308.
———. Public Life in Renaissance Florence. Ithaca, 1991.
Van Passen, Pierre. A Crown of Fire: The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola. London, 1961.
Ventrone, Paola. “Feste e Spetacoli nella Firenze di Lorenzo il Magnifico.” In Le Tems Revient, ’L Tempo si Rinuova: Feste e Spettacoli nella Firenze di Lorenzo il Magnifico. Florence, 1992.
———. “Lorenzo’s Politica festiva.” In Lorenzo the Magnificent Culture and Politics, Michael Mallet and Nicholas Mann, eds. London, 1996, 105–16.
Ventrone, Paola, ed. Le Tems Revient, ’L Tempo si Rinuova: Feste e Spettacoli nella Firenze di Lorenzo il Magnifico. Florence, 1992.
Villari, Pasquale. The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola. 2 vols. Trans. Linda Villari. London, 1888.
———. The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli. 2 vols. Trans Linda Villari. London, 1898.
Viroli, Maurizio. Niccolò’s Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli. Trans. Antony Shugaar. New York, 2000.
Viti, Paolo. “Il Mito di Lorenzo nell’umanesimo fiorentino.” In Lorenzo dopo Lorenzo: La Fortuna Storica di Lorenzo il Magnifico, Paola Pirolo, ed. Florence, 1992.
Waley, Daniel Philip. The Italian City-Republics. New York, 1969.
Watkins, Renée Neu, ed. Humanism and Liberty: Writings on Freedom from Fifteenth Century Florence. Columbia, 1978.
Weinstein, Donald. “The Myth of Florence.” In Florentine Studies: Politics and Society in Renaissance Florence, Nicolai Rubinstein, ed. Evanston, 1968.
Weissman, Ronald F. E. “Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Confraternity of San Paolo.” In Lorenzo de Medici: New Perspectives, Bernard Toscani, ed. New York, 1992, 315–31.
Wright, Alison. “A Portrait for the Visit of Galeazzo Maria Sforza to Florence in 1471.” In Lorenzo the Magnificent: Culture and Politics, Michael Mallet and Nicholas Mann, eds. London, 1996, 65–92.
Young, G. F. The Medici. New York, 1933.
Photographic Insert
Panorama of Florence looking north with Palazzo della Signoria (left) and Duomo (right): The center of Florence looks much as it did in Lorenzo’s day: a sea of terra-cotta rooftops dominated by the centers of secular and religious power, the Palazzo della Signoria and the Duomo. (Miles Unger)
Palazzo della Signoria: Built as the seat of government, the Palazzo della Signoria (also known as the Palace of the Priors and Palazzo Vecchio or “Old Palace”) was a symbol of Florentine might. Its fortresslike appearance reflects the pervasive fear of civil unrest. (Miles Unger)
Palazzo Medici-Riccardi: Cosimo built the new family palace on the widest street in Florence, the Via Larga, as a symbol of his wealth, taste, and power. Designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo and with sculptures by Donatello, decorations by artists like Antonio del Pollaiulo and Paolo Ucello, and an unparalleled collection of antiques and rare manuscripts, the building was as much a museum as a residence. (Miles Unger)
Benozzo Gozzoli, Adoration of the Magi, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, c. 1459: This fresco in the chapel of the Medici Palace, ostensibly a biblical scene, contains numerous portraits of the family—including Cosimo, riding a donkey, flanked by Piero on a white horse—along with their chief allies. The ten-year-old Lorenzo is depicted in the retinue of the youngest Magus, Caspar. (Art Resource)
Duomo, Interior: The center of religious life in Florence was also the scene of its most famous act of violence, the attack on Giuliano and Lorenzo, April 26, 1478. In the distance is the high altar, beneath Brunelleschi’s famous dome, near where Giuliano was struck down. (Art Resource)
Domenico Ghirlandaio, “Angelo Poliziano with the Sons of Lorenzo,” from The Confirmation of the Rule of the Order of St. Francis by Pope Honorius III, the Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita, c. 1483–86: This fresco was commissioned by Francesco Sassetti, general manager of the Medici bank. In homage to his boss he included portaits not only of Lor
enzo but also of his children. Here Angelo Poliziano is shown with Lorenzo’s three sons, from left to right, Giuliano, Piero, and Giovanni. (Art Resource)
Medici Villa at Fiesole, 1450s: Unlike the medieval villas of Trebbio and Caffagiolo with their towers and crenellations, Fiesole, designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, was neither a working farm nor a fortress. It was a favored haunt of poets and intellectuals like Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola. (Miles Unger)
Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, 1440–61: This family chapel at Santa Croce was commissioned by Andrea de’ Pazzi, a friend of Piero’s who restored the fortunes of the ancient clan. Designed by Brunelleschi and decorated with terra-cotta reliefs by Luca della Robbia, the chapel was built both to emulate and rival the Medici Chapel at San Lorenzo. (Miles Unger)
The Villa Ambra at Poggio a Caiano, 1480s: Lorenzo’s favorite villa, Ambra was designed by his favorite architect, Giuliano da Sangallo. Lorenzo was himself heavily involved in planning both the building and the landscaping, which reflect his vision of the villa as an ideal place of retreat. This villa was a model for generations of country houses, from those of Palladio to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. (Miles Unger)
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1480: This masterpiece of the Florentine Renaissance is thought to have been commissioned by Lorenzo’s cousin Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici. The erudite classicism and sensuality reflect the ideas of the philosophers and poets who gathered around Lorenzo, and the painting’s allegorical theme appears to be largely based on the poetry of Lorenzo and Poliziano. (Art Resource)
* Lorenzo’s homeliness was proverbial among Florentines. When Machiavelli was describing to a friend an encounter with a particularly hideous prostitute, he could think of no better insult than to compare her appearance to that of Lorenzo de’ Medici.
* According to the Florentine calendar Lorenzo was born in 1448; Florentines began the new year on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation.
* It is not clear whether Piero and Lucrezia contemplated an ecclesiastical career for Giuliano. This would have made it all the more important that Lorenzo quickly produce heirs of his own to carry on the family name.
* The author has been tentatively identified as Piero Parenti, the nineteen-year-old son of Marco.
† For example, see Chapter XII for a description of Cardinal Pietro Riario’s banquet.
* Tommaso had used his positions on important financial committees, including as director of the state-funded debt, the Monte, and as one of the twelve officers of the Pratiche et Banchi, to boost his own private fortunes. This was not an unusual practice in a system where the wall between public and private finance was so porous, but Tommaso seems to have been more than usually diligent in using public office to line his own pockets.
* The Papal States comprised much of central Italy, bounding Florentine-controlled Tuscany on the north, south, and east. The pope’s temporal realm derived from multiple sources, including grants from the Carolingian and Byzantine empires. In the Middle Ages a document known as “The Donation of Constantine” was fabricated to establish a more ancient and holy title to these territories. The fraud was exposed by the Renaissance humanist Lorenzo Valla, though not acknowledged until much later.
† Like many of the Renaissance’s most unpleasant characters, Sigismondo was a refined patron of the arts. He filled his time between murderous rampages commissioning refined works of art and architecture. The Temple of San Francesco he had built in Rimini by Leon Battista Alberti is one of the masterpieces of Renaissance architecture. Its serene sense of order belies the violence of the man who conceived it.
* The alliance among Milan, Florence, and Naples had been the chief diplomatic triumph of Lorenzo’s grandfather Cosimo, cemented by the Peace of Lodi in 1454.
* Galeazzo Maria did not acquire his full authority until January 1469, when he turned twenty-five. Before that the government was in the hands of his mother, Bianca Maria, and her minister Cicco Simonetta, who continued to serve in a similar capacity with the young duke.
* Lorenzo’s second trip to Milan that summer, where he stood godfather to Galeazzo’s firstborn son, was in part an attempt to rebuild the Duke’s shaken confidence in the Medici. While there, Lorenzo reminded his guests of the benefits of Medici friendship by presenting the Duchess a necklace of gold and diamond valued at 2,000 ducats. He in turn was received “with much honor, more so than the others who came for the same purpose”(see Ross, chapter 7).
* According to Sacramoro, seven hundred attended the meeting, while Marco Parenti claims that there were only five hundred, though they were “citizens of every sort” (see Parenti, Lettere, no. 75). Another participant counted only four hundred.
* The Medici palace was situated toward the end of the journey on the Via Larga. In later years viewing stands were set up outside the palace.
† In his Florentine Histories (vii, 25), Machiavelli places Lorenzo and Giuliano at the meeting, but contemporary accounts don’t seem to support this.
* The extent of Giuliano’s power and influence in the government has been much debated. In the beginning, at least, Lorenzo was the dominant figure while his brother was a valuable assistant.
† Michelangelo’s now lost Hercules was a posthumous tribute to his friend and patron.
* The magnificent tomb that Lorenzo and Giuliano commissioned to hold the remains of Giovanni and Piero was created by Verrocchio with help from his assistant Leonardo da Vinci. Work on the tomb was begun shortly after Piero’s death.
* Though set in 1468, the work was probably written in 1472, shortly after the death of the main protagonist, Leon Battista Alberti. (See the introduction to the Disputationes Camaldulenses by Peter Lohe, especially xxx–xxxiii, for a full discussion of the controversies surrounding the dating of the manuscript.) Published in 1480, the work was dedicated to Federico da Montefeltro.
* According to Giovanni Cavalcanti, a contemporary of Cosimo’s, during the Albizzi oligarchy the government was in the hands of some seventy or so principali who rotated through the various pratiche (committees) where policy was debated and legislation proposed. Within this group, certain key figures like Maso degli Albizzi or Niccolò da Uzzano dominated through their prestige and force of personality. In the Medici era, various attempts to enshrine a reliable inner core in such councils as the One Hundred, the Seventy, and the Forty give some idea of the small number of men whose loyalty and prestige entitled them to a permanent place in the inner circle. By contrast, those constitutionally eligible for high office—and who, if the constitution were followed to the letter, could expect to serve at numerous times in their lives—numbered in the thousands. In theory anyone matriculated in one of the Major Guilds or Minor Guilds should have played his part in the government of the city. In reality, most found themselves on the outside looking in.
† He lists twelve whom he calls “principals” of the government. Another group, which includes, interestingly, Jacopo de’ Pazzi, a man regarded as Lorenzo’s enemy, he refers to as belonging to the “second tier of the state”(see Dei, Cronica, 35v).
* Medici opponents like Alamanno Rinuccini feared this social mobility. He described del Nero as “a base rag dealer…most iniquitous, most rapacious, bearing enmity toward all upstanding citizens”(see Rinuccini, Ricordi Storici, cxxxvii).
* Public television recently ran a series titled The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance.
* To some extent these differences can be ascribed to the different disciplines of the scholars who study the Medici: political historians tend to focus on the way they undermined the republican institutions of earlier centuries; art historians who focus on their role as patrons tend to be more forgiving of the stratagems they used to maintain themselves in power. While in earlier centuries historians dazzled by the achievements of the Florentine Renaissance were often too uncritical of the family that presided over its golden age, contemporary scholars have gone too far in the other direction by underestimating the role
Cosimo, Piero, and Lorenzo played in fostering the artistic achievements of these years.
* Lorenzo is the dark-haired young man on the right of Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi (now in the Uffizi Gallery), a row or two in front of the artist himself.
* Strange as the Florentine system might seem, contemporary Americans should feel a certain twinge of recognition. It was the same suspicion of too much power concentrated in too few hands that led to the American system of a government by “checks and balances.” Though Florentines singularly failed to strike the right balance, their goals were essentially the same as those of James Madison and the other Founding Fathers.
* According to Sacramoro’s analysis, the course Soderini chose over the coming months (initially portraying himself as a partisan of Milan while moving inexorably into the camp of the king of Naples) was determined by his belief that in times of war “the offices and affairs…must be entrusted to a smaller number in order to be kept more secret” (see Clarke, 185).
Magnifico Page 56