Renaissance in 1535, a Young

Renaissance

In 1535, a young Cosimo de' Medici (1519-1574) rose from obscurity in the Tuscan countryside to lead Florence after the assassination of his cousin Duke Alessandro de' Medici. The Florentine aristocrats who put him in power, believing they could easily control the 17-year-old, were proven wrong when Cosimo did not marry into one of their families. Contrarily, he aligned himself with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V by marrying a Spanish princess. By this marriage, Cosimo became the ruler of Florence. Pope Pius V bestowed on Cosimo the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany, officially enabling Cosimo to his totalitarian rule throughout the Tuscan territories, sometimes violently seizing control of neighboring cities. Despite a ruthless form of rule, the Florentine citizenry grudgingly supported him, most likely for its military security. Cosimo's wide ranging intellect made him popular. Not only was he fascinated in art and literature, but, also, in botany, chemistry and zoology.

Once Cosimo I died, his son Francesco was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was not as dedicated to statecraft as his father, but in the winter of 1569-70, he commissioned the decoration of a small room that was to be his main legacy. This Studiolo in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence was designed by Giorgrio Vasari, and functioned as a hidden vault room where the young prince kept his collection of rare objects and materials. Francesco, like his father, had a lot of interests, which ranged from alchemy to zoology and included such fields as geology, glassmaking, and metallurgy.

The decorations for the room was as treasured as the objects stored therein. The theme was the dynamic relationship between art and nature; the ceiling frescoes related this theme to the four elements, the four seasons, and the four temperaments. Adjacent to each cabinet was a painted repsentation of a scene, either religious, mythological, historical or industrial. Because his collection outgret the studio quickly, the room was taken down in the late 16th century.

The Medici family was important for allowing the Renaissance flourish. The rise of the Medici marks an abrupt transition from late medieval patterns of fluid urban factionalism to the birth of a regionally consolidated Renaissance state. Before the Medici, two centuries of late medieval Florentine politics was defined by a cyclic alternation between guild corporatism and warring urban feudal factions. The Medici were originally apart of this process. After the rise of the Medici, this "ancient rhythm" stopped.

The dynamic process behind Florentine state centralization was diverse: unsuccessful class revolt (1378-82) and fiscal catastrophe due to war (1424-33), and the emergence of a city wide oligarchy. The emergence of this oligarchy brought about the agents of its own destruction: The Medici party, which was a heterogeneous network with contradictory interests and networks. While the Medici's appeared greatly cohesive and capable for sustained collective action, what Medici aimed to achieve is murky through this day.

Cosimo de' Medici was a ubiquitous player, prevalent in Florentine marriage, economic, and patronage elite networks. He was a minor player in a vast macropolitical and macroeconomic forces far beyond his control, although he did found a dynasty in charge of Florentine for three centuries. Apart of this macroeconomic force of which he was a part, was a Europe-wide banking network that facilitated not only international trade, but also state making elsewhere. He financed the Florentine intellectual and artistic breakthroughs we now refer to as "the Renaissance."

Cosimo's power was greatly respected, and by 1434 foreign princes went to Florence to work out international relations. Machiavelli, nearly a century later, still regarded the Medici family as the harbinger of everything good and evil in Florentine life to Cosimo's "deep and ruthless machinations." Despite the influence of Medici, he is portrayed as indecisive and in the background of affairs: "Cosimo was anxious to remain in the background, hiding his great influence, and acting, when need arose, through a deputy. As a result, very little is known of the measures for which he was directly responsible." Cosimo did not expect eternal rule, nor did he ever give a public speech. After 1434, Cosimo appeared increasingly reactive to events around him, seldom offering explanations for his actions. Typically, his actions served his diverse interests.

The Renaissance in Florence was not a period of individualism. Household relationships were typically, but not always, very strong. The turbulent times reinforced defensive cohesion among family units. To define elite in this period is difficult, for this is a large difference between the political and economic elites, partially due to the volatility in international markets. The Medici family in particular had various allegiances based on partisanship and family ties. The central most faction of the Medici party was extraordinarily centralized in a simple, "spoke" network system. The Medici's, therefore, were more cohesive and centralized than the looser and more-cross pressured oligarchies of the time.