15th C. FLORENCE & THE RISE OF THE MEDICI

I. Florentine Politics & Civic Humanism Republican careers for humanists:

   Coluccio Salutati: lawyer, Chancellor (1375-1406) skills:
      formal Latin correspondence, oratorical ability (rhetoric),
                panegyrics (speech in praise of city, ruler etc.); history (Bruni,
                Guicciardini, Machiavelli all write Histories of Florence or Italy)

   Florence & war with Giangaleazzo Visconti of Milan (1397-1402):

                Baron thesis: Leonardo Bruni (Chancellor, 1406 )

                                In Praise of the City of Florence, 1400: republican liberty as
                                                distinguishing element of Florence vs Milanese tyranny

II. Florentine Government in the late l4th & early 15th C:   
    Oligarchic Republic, l382-1434:
    1378 Revolt of the Ciompi: expansion of the electoral franchise
    l382 restoration of oligarchy: power returned to greater guilds; dominant merchant family = Albizzi (exile of Alberti)

    Foreign policy: from self defense to territorial expansion: Pisa, Lucca, Siena
                   1390-1402 resistance against Milan (see Baron thesis on role of Salutati)
                   1384: purchase of Arezzo from French condottiere De Councy
                   1405: purchase of Pisa from Gabriele Maria Visconti, Milanese heir
                   1406: revolt of Pisa, suppressed militarily, access to sea for Florence
                   1421: purchase of Livorno (seaport) from Genoa

                   1422-8: resumption of Milanese war against Duke Filippo Maria Visconti
                   1429-33: Lucchese war: unprovoked attack on Lucca by Florence;   alliance of Siena and Milan defeats Florence
                                   Florentine war cry = "Ave Maria, grazia piena, avuto Lucca, avremo Siena."
                                                                  (Hail Mary, full of grace; we’ve taken Lucca & will take Siena.)
                               

III. Cosimo de Medici: (1434-1464) emerges as head of anti-war faction
     1433 communal elections in favor of Medici faction; Albizzi fear revolt;
                    Cosimo arrested, banished to Venice: fear governo di uno solo (govt of one man alone)

     1434 Cosimo recalled: controls republic in quasi-hereditary rule through
                                manipulation of electoral system; scrutino: open examination of names
                                                 by 10 electors (accoppiatori) controlled by Medici
                   exiles: action against enemies of 1433: especially Albizzi & Strozzi
         Cosimo’s office holding: gonfaloniere of justice 3 terms (6 mos/30 yrs)

                                                low key presence democratic/merchant style of government;

                                                role = control of foreign affairs, anti-Visconti policy

                   1440: Milanese Duke Filippo Maria Visconti allies with Albizzi exiles,
                         defeated at Battle of Anghiari, end of Albizzi & oligarchic regime

  Foreign Policy under Cosimo:    

                Milanese succession crisis: 1441 Bianca Visconti (illegitimate daughter)
                                marries Francesco Sforza, lowborn condottiere for Milan

                                1447: death of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti during war with Venice

                1447-1450: Ambrosian Republic restored: surviving republican sentiments

      Reversal of traditional alliance system with Venice against Milan: now
                     Cosimo supports Sforza against Venice and against Milanese republic

                Outbreak of general Italian warfare: Milan + Florence vs Venice + Naples
                                Venice allies with Naples' King Alfonso; l453 fall of Constantinople
  1454 Peace of Lodi: ratified by Italian states; ends territorial expansion
                 Balance of power established between surviving major Italian powers:

                                Milan (Lombardy), Venice, Florence, Papal States, Naples: 
                1454-1494 Period of (relatively) stable inter-state relations

                                development of diplomatic procedures (e.g. resident ambassadors)
1464 death of Cosimo, succeeded by his son Piero (Piero il Gottoso = the Gouty)