The document considers historical factors that influenced the 15th-century family the Medici. From their powerful position, the family had many associations with questionable individuals like Cosimo, while also maintaining this position by manipulating the political and financial worlds of their time. Their ability to excel at these manipulations created regime stability for decades.
Medici Regime
In the 15th century, the most prominent family in the developed world was probably the Medici, whose wealth, power, and political connections kept them in power for many decades and even centuries. When examining the stability of this regime, however, several factors, including war and their connections with ethically questionable persons like Cosimo, it becomes clear that there were significant storms within the regime, echoing the turbulence of war.
According to Kaborycha (111), for example, Cosimo became not only wealthy, but also a highly powerful figure in Florence due to his association with the Medici and other powerful political entities in the country. Specifically during the war effort, his status as money lender changed from a contributing role during the war to dictating political and military policy. Due to his many unethical actions in cultivating this status while also filling his own treasury, Cosimo's trouble began by being arrested for bribery, corruption, and purposely prolonging the war. He was imprisoned along with some members of the Medici family, who were accused of similar wrongdoing. Their sentence, after a month in prison, was exile from Florence.
Cosimo, however, was a resourceful man and would not let the circumstances dictate his actions for long. His enemies did not take account of the many social networks he established not only in Florence, but also in the wider European environment, including Venice, where he was exiled. Here, he was able to use his business and political connections to use by advocating for his return to Florence. In addition to a letter from the Venetian Republic to the Florentine republic, even the pope advocated on his behalf for his return to Florence.
Although the exiled Medici and Cosimo were allowed to return only a year after their exile, the year 1434 signalled the start of a significantly stable regime, all thanks to Cosimo's brilliant political manipulations. This stability would last until 1494.
Cosimo managed to reestablish his power first by exiling all those who conspired against him, numbering some 500 individuals. This was the largest number of exiled individuals at any one time for more than a century. Cosimo established financial stability by imposing crushing taxes and offering loans to individuals to help pay these. Politically, he established stability for the Medici family by appointing election officials to ensure that the Medici family's names were drawn whenever elections were held. This created the illusion of democracy while maintaining the regime of the Medici. This system helped the family remain in power until 1494.
Lorenzo, another powerful member of the Medici family, came into conflict with Pope Sixtus IV as a result of the semi-autonomous town Imola. Both Lorenzo and the pope wanted the strategic advantage of owning the town. Ironically, the pope turned to Lorenzo to lend him the money, which put Lorenzo in a conflict situation. His refusal to lend the pope the money, along with conspiracy to keep others from lending the money, caused not only conflict between the pope and Lorenzo, but also between the pope and the Medici family in general. This conflict led to an attempt at attack by Lorenzo's enemies.
To ensure the success of the conspiracy led by Pazzi (Kaborycha, 172), Lorenzo's enemies planned to murder both him and his brother, Giuliano. After Giuliano's illness foiled their initial plan, the conspirators gathered at the Duomo to kill the brothers while they attended High Mass. With the help of two priests, Giuliano was stabbed to death, but Lorenzo was only wounded. After news of his survival spread, the plot to overthrow the Medici regime failed. The conspirators were executed. Eventually, over 80 people died for their attempt to murder Lorenzo and his brother, discouraging further attempts to do so.
Lorenzo attempted to control the damage created by his conflict with the pope and the political turmoil of his near assassination by appealing to his political allies and the king of Naples to establish peace. Despite some difficulty, he emerged from the crisis as a hero, with new and more solid foundations from which to build relationships among the Medici and their supporters. To ensure further stability, Lorenzo introduced a new council know n as the "Seventy," to include mostly Medici supporters for the reward of becoming senators for their lifetimes. Hence, he became one of the most powerful individuals Florence had ever known (Kaborycha, 173).
Piero di Lorenzo de Medici, Lorenzo's son, was one of the last rulers of the family, coming to power during the last years of the family's regime. Unlike his father, he was not a very good statesman, and frequently showed poor judgment. This caused the Florentines to once again look for alternative rulers in favor of overthrowing the Medici rule.
The end came in 1494, when many in Tuscany began to advocate for the French to overtake rulership and overthrow Piero. In a brave attempt to save not only his skin, but also his family's power, Piero di Lorenzo went to Charles' camp to negotiate peace. He did this when the French troops reached Tuscany. He was, however, a poor imitation of his father and did not succeed (Kaborycha, 188).
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