Cosimo I de' Medici

“ His great wealth enabled him to supply money not only to private individuals, but even to foreign potentates. Philippe de Comines tells us that Cosimo frequently furnished Edward IV. of England with sums amounting to many hundred thousand florins. When Tommaso Parentucelli was still a cardinal, and in needy circumstances, Cosimo made him considerable loans without demanding guarantees of payment. On the cardinal’s accession to the tiara as Nicholas V. he was naturally very well disposed towards Cosimo, and employed the Medici bank in Rome in all the affairs of the curia. ”

“ Cosimo was named Pater Patriæ, though his real work was the foundation of the House of the Medici, which ruled in Tuscany for centuries and mingled its blood with the royalties of Europe; but for us he is the patron of the arts, the friend of artists, and serves as the central figure round which to group the men of artistic genius. ”

“ After the strong personality of Cosimo and his masterful manipulation of commercial and political affairs, perhaps the unambitious rule of his son Piero was a necessary and healthful corollary. Piero de’ Medici maintained the ground his father had made his own, and gave away nothing of the predominance of his family, and he made way, after a brief exercise of authority, for his brilliant son, Lorenzo.
Piero’s character and career again prove the truth of the adage: “Ability rarely runs in two successive generations.” ”

“ Even the high-souled Palla degli Strozzi, who had striven to remain neutral, and whose wealth and talents were devoted to the revival of classical studies, was proscribed because to Cosimo he seemed too powerful. Separated from his children, he died in banishment at Padua. In this way the return of the Medici involved the loss to Florence of some noble citizens, who might perchance have checked the Medicean tyranny if they had stayed to guide the State. The plebeians, raised to wealth and influence by Cosimo before his exile, now took the lead in the republic. ”

“ Cosimo de' Medici was a man of great mental and practical ability: he had been educated as well as possible; he had a passion both for art and letters; he inherited his father's financial ability and generosity, while he added to these gifts a certain genius for the management of men. One of the first things that Cosimo did after his father's death was to begin the palace where we now are, rejecting a plan by Brunelleschi as too splendid, and choosing instead one by Michelozzo, the partner of Donatello, two artists who remained his personal friends through life. ”

“ Of consummate prudence, staid yet agreeable presence, Cosimo was liberal and humane. He never worked against his party nor against the State, was prompt in giving aid to all, and his liberality gained him many partisans among the citizens. Chief amongst those who helped to consolidate his power were Averardo de’ Medici and Puccio Pucci—Averardo by his audacity, Puccio by his prudence and sagacity, augmented his popularity and greatness. ”

“ Cosimo obtained from the Emperor Charles V. the full recognition of his title of Duke of Florence.
There were great doings at the Palazzo Medici in the May of 1539, when Cosimo welcomed his bride, Donna Eleanora, second daughter of Don Pedro de Toledo, Duca d’Alba, the King of Spain’s Viceroy at Naples. She was certainly no beauty, but a woman of estimable qualities, and profoundly imbued with the spirit of devotion. Hardly, perhaps, the wife Cosimo would have chosen, had not reasons of State as usual guided him. Eleanora, nevertheless, proved herself a worthy spouse and an exemplary mother. ”

“ Cosimo and his family of course had many other distractions from the affairs of State. In addition to his attainments as a chemist, in which science he especially interested his eldest son, Francesco, he excelled in his knowledge of botany. With passionate devotion to an attractive subject he taught his children the nature and the use of all growing things. At the Pitti Palace he had his laboratories. ”

“ I hear Piero’s foot has given him some trouble. I know not what thou hast decided about staying or returning; if thou dost return here put all thy belongings together in one place, so that if they are wanted thou wilt not be obliged to ask those women to find them, and so drive them crazy. I think Cosimo has written to thee about the strong box he wants. Here the plague has ceased, and I am glad thou art coming back; although it might be well to stay a little longer and see how thy health goes, but thou canst always return there if necessary. ”

“ This figure is the portrait of Cosimo de’ Medici, the most faithful and animated likeness of all now known to exist of him. The second of the kings is the portrait of Giuliano de’ Medici, father of Pope Clement YIL; and he offers adoration to the divine Child, presenting his gift at the same time, with an expression of the most devout sincerity. The third, who is likewise kneeling, seems to be offering thanksgiving as well as adoration, and to confess that Christ is indeed the true Messiah: this is the likeness of Giovanni, the son of Cosimo. ”

“ But science, discarded by the schools, fortunately finds a refuge among princes. Cosimo de' Medici prefers the testimony of his senses to the voice of authority. He observes the new satellites with Galileo at Pisa, makes him a present of one thousand florins, and gives him a mere nominal office,--that of lecturing occasionally to princes, on a salary of one thousand florins for life. He is now the chosen companion of the great, and the admiration of Italy. He has rendered an immense service to astronomy. ”

“ The last months of Cosimo’s life were passed chiefly at Careggi, and his great solace was in study, as the following letter shows:
Cosimo de’ Medici to the Reverend Master Marsilio Ficino, Platonist
Yesterday I came to the villa of Careggi, not to cultivate my fields but my soul. Come to us, Marsilio, as soon as possible. Bring with thee our Plato’s book De Summo Bono. This, I suppose, you have already translated from the Greek language into Latin as you promised. I desire nothing so much as to know the best road to happiness. ”

“ Naturally, Messer Giacopo’s opposition excited the animosity of Alessandro, who, if he did not actually inspire his assassination, was, at all events, privy to it.
But in spite of all, Cosimo grew and flourished, displaying his father’s courage and his mother’s prudence. At fifteen, his character appeared to be already formed. He was grave of aspect and severe in manner, very backward in forming friendships, and intolerant of familiarities. ”

“ The Medici, it has been said, ‘used taxes as other men use their swords’, and the charge of deliberate corruption that has been brought against them is undeniable. ‘It is better to injure the city than to ruin it,’ once declared Cosimo himself, adding cynically, ‘It takes more to direct a government than to sit and tell one’s beads.’
Neither he nor his descendants were the type of ruler represented by Charlemagne or Alfred the Great. Their ideals were frankly low, with self-interest in the foreground, however skilfully disguised. ”

“ I do not deal in occult secrets, but speak of what I have seen in the past while weighing present events, which are by no means clear. Believe me, Cosimo, my motives are not dictated by passion, because I am the devoted and faithful servant of our Holy Father, of Holy Church, and especially of Monsignore the Florentine Cardinal, therefore I think the present opposition of His Reverence to the Lord of Foligno is, sententia mea, not only untimely but dangerous to the State of His Holiness and may be also to yours. ”

“ When on the death of Filippo Maria Visconti in 1447 Milan declared herself a Republic, popular feeling in Florence ran high in her favour. It needed all Cosimo’s authority and influence to induce his fellow-citizens to assist Sforza in seizing supreme power. Cosimo saw that as a republic Milan would inevitably fall a prey to Venice, and thus the communications of Italy with the North would be cut off. A strong ruler who owed his crown to Florence would be an invaluable ally, and preserve the balance of power in Italy. We shall see that Piero faithfully carried out his father’s policy. ”

“ So in the bronze David now in the Bargello we seem to see youth itself dreaming after the first victory of all the 288conquests to come, while a smile of half-conscious delight, is passing from the lips; tyranny is dead. It is the first nude statue of the Renaissance made for Cosimo de' Medici before his exile. For Cosimo, too, the Amorino was made that study of pure delight, where we find all the joy of the children of the Cantoria, but without their unction and seriousness. ”

“ Cosimo had two sons, our father Piero, born ... and our uncle Giovanni, born ... On September ... 1433 our grandfather Cosimo was imprisoned in the Palace, and in danger of losing his head. On September 9th he was banished to Padua, together with his brother Lorenzo, a sentence confirmed by the Balìa of 1433 on the 11th, and on the 16th December he was permitted to reside anywhere in the Venetian territory, but not nearer to Florence than Padua. ”

“ By Maria Ginevra degl’ Alessandri he had a son named Cosimo, who died in November 1461, at about the age of nine.
Cosimo our grandfather, a man of exceeding wisdom, died at Careggi on August 1, 1464, being much debilitated by old age and by gout, to the great grief not only of ourselves and of the whole city but of all Italy, because he was most famous and adorned with many singular virtues. He died in the highest position any Florentine citizen ever attained at any period, and was buried in S. Lorenzo. He refused to make a will and forbade all pomp at his funeral. ”

“ The letter of Lorenzo de’ Medici and those of Francesco Sforza to Cosimo relate to a second war with Lucca, and need some explanation. The recall of Cosimo from exile, as told in his diary, was followed by a wholesale banishment of his [Pg 33] enemies from Florence, and left him practically master of the Republic. The exiled Florentines naturally desired to return, and according to the custom of the time were eager to invoke foreign aid. The times for long offered no opportunity. But in 1436 Genoa at last shook off the yoke of the Duke of Milan and became a republic. ”

“ Cosimo was wont to meet her restrictions by some such remark as “Well, you see, Eleanora, Maria and Isabella are of the same complexion as myself; we have need of freedom at times to enjoy the pleasures of the world.”
Love, we all know, cares neither for locks nor bars, and lovely young Maria de’ Medici was surely made to love and to caress. She had many adorers, whose ardour was all the more fierce by reason of their inability to press her hand and kiss her lips. She was in 1556 betrothed to Prince Alfonso d’Este, eldest son of the Duke of Ferrara. ”

“ Never to disagree with the policy of the Emperor.
3. To avenge the death of Duke Alessandro.
4. To treat his three illegitimate children with kindness.
Those who come to the front through their own genius or their destiny, upon the first step of the throne accept the conditions of their appointment, but, upon the last step, they commonly impose their own upon their makers. Consequently, although but a youth of nineteen years of age at the time of his opportune arrival in Florence, Cosimo at once showed his intention of assuming personally and untrammelled the government of the State. ”

“ Cosimo and Eleanora inhabited the Medici Palace, in the Via Larga, just five years, and then he transferred his official residence to the Palazzo Vecchio. This he did to show that he was absolute ruler of Tuscany as well as head of the Medici family. With the skilled assistance of Tasso, the architect, and Vasari, the painter, he set about structural and decorative alterations and adornments, which rendered the old building more suitable as a residence for the Sovereign. ”

“ Of these statues, that on the right hand was made to represent the great Cosimo, called the Elder, who, although there had been previously in the family of the Medici many men noble and distinguished in arms and in civil actions, was nevertheless the first founder of its extraordinary greatness, and as it were the root of that plant which has since grown so happily to such magnificence. In his picture was seen painted the supreme honour conferred upon him by his native Florence, when he was acclaimed by the public Senate as Pater Patriæ ”

“ This period witnessed the rise of many charitable institutions of a religious character under the patronage of the grand-duke, as for instance the congregation of San Giovanni Battista. But these could not remedy the general decay.
Cosimo’s dominant anxiety regarded the succession to the throne. His eldest son Ferdinand died childless in 1713. The pleasure-loving Giovan Gastone was married to Anna Maria of Saxe-Lauenburg, widow of a German prince, a wealthy, coarse woman wholly immersed in domestic occupations. ”

“ The ruler of the Florentine State remained citizen, agriculturist, and merchant. In his appearance and bearing there was nothing which distinguished him from others. ... He ruled the money market, not only in Italy, but throughout Europe. He had banks in all the western countries, and his experience and the excellent memory which never failed him, with his strong love of order, enabled him to guide everything from Florence, which he never quitted after 1438." The death of Cosimo occurred on the 1st day of August, 1464. A. von Reumont, Lorenzo de' Medici, book. ”