15th C.
1434-1494 Medici family controls
quasi-hereditary rule through
manipulation of electoral system;
Cosimo de Medici:
1434-1464 head
of anti-war faction, wealthiest merchant banker
1433 communal elections favor Medici;
Albizzi fear Medici takeover
Cosimo arrested; banished to Venice by
political enemies, Albizzi & Strozzi
1434 Cosimo recalled: asserts control
through manipulation of electoral system;
scrutino
a mano (by hand) by accoppiatori
= 10 electors pro-Medici
exile of enemies of 1433: Albizzi & Strozzi
Cosimo’s office holding: gonfaloniere
of justice for 3 terms (total of 6 months in 30 years);
rules from behind the
scenes through Medici supporters in office
major role = control of foreign affairs
& city finances
Foreign Policy under Cosimo: anti-republican alliance with Milan
1440: Milanese Duke Filippo Maria Visconti allies with exiled Albizzi,
Battle of Anghiari: Milan defeated, end
of Albizzi threat
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 (surviving republican sentiments in
Milan)
Cosimo supports
Sforza against Venice and against Milanese republic
reversal of
traditional republican alliance system with Venice against Milan:
Outbreak
of general Italian warfare:
1454 Peace of Lodi ratified by all
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)
Government
of Piero de Medici (1464-1469) "Il Gottoso" (gout-ridden)
Republican opposition headed by
Niccolo Soderini and Luca Pitti
1465 Soderini leads campaign to restore secret
elections
serves two months
as gonfaloniere; speeches in favor of "liberty"
1466 death of Francesco Sforza
weakens Cosimo's Florence-Milan alliance
Republicans
encourage Venice & Ferrara to attack Florence
balance of power restored by Naples
Milan/ support for Medici Florence
emergency
commission (balia) exiles Niccolo Soderini (but note Niccolo's
brother, Tommaso Soderini, remains as
leader of the Medici faction)
Pitti Palace eventually
comes into Medici hands
For republican
opposition under Piero, see Letters of Alessandra Strozzi,
wife & mother of exiled Strozzi men
remains behind in
correspondence with her sons who are
bankers in Naples & Spain;
her son-in-law, Marco
Parenti: merchant, marries into Strozzi family after 1434 exile
Chronology of Medici rulers: Cosimo de Medici (1434-1464) il Vecchio
Piero de Medici (1464-1469) -- midterm goes through Piero di Cosimo
Lorenzo the Magnificent
(1469-1492) grandson of Cosimo
Piero de Medici (1492-94)
overthrown & expelled by Republic of 1494
1512: Medici re-instated as
rulers of