Piero de' Medici

“ Piero de’ Medici to his son Lorenzo at Milan
I have thy letter of May 2nd from Venice, saying thou wert to leave the next day. Alessandro wrote on the 3rd and told me of thy departure, and of what thou didst at Ferrara to please the Duke, and of thy visits at Venice to the Doge and other gentlemen, all of which I approve and commend, and I think thou hast paid nearly all necessary visits. Thou wilt have received my letter of the 4th telling thee what conduct to pursue, all of which remember; in a word, it is necessary for thee now to be a man and not a boy ”

“ He lived for the magnanimous renown of Florence—she for the selfish prominence of her family.
Francesco de’ Guicciardini wrote of Piero de’ Medici thus: “He was born of a foreign mother, whereby Florentine blood got mixed, and he acquired foreign manners and bearing, too haughty for our habits of life.” The prince gave up most of his time to pleasure and amusement with the young nobles of his court, and encouraged the aims and ambitions of the self-seeking scions of his mother’s family. At a single bound the immense personal popularity of Lorenzo, his father, disappeared. ”

“ Live therefore in dishonour where thou art, as thou hast not known how to live with honour here.”
Piero de’ Medici was forty-eight when his father died. He inherited his love of letters and was of a kindly nature, “it was due to him,” writes Machiavelli, “that his partisans did not stain their hands with the blood of their fellow-citizens.” In June, 1469, his son Lorenzo married Clarice Orsini, and great festivities took place in the Medici palace, soon to be followed by sounds of mourning, for Piero died in December. ”

“ Poliziano accompanied Piero de’ Medici to Rome to meet his bride Alfonsina Orsini, to whom he had been married by proxy at Naples in February the year before. His mother Clarice, who was very ill, had been in Rome since November hoping, as consumptive people do, that the milder air would cure her. With her had gone her favourite daughter, “the eye of her head,” Maddalena, affianced to the Pope’s illegitimate son Francesco Cibò. Piero and his wife, Clarice and Maddalena, all returned together to Florence, Lorenzo having begged the Pope and Cibò to allow Maddalena to come with her sick mother. ”

“ Piero's downfall was hastened by the news that a French army had crossed the Alps under Charles VIII of France, who intended to take Naples. This invasion of Italy terrified the Florentines, for they had become unwarlike since they gave themselves up to luxury and pleasure. They dreaded the arrival of the French troops, which were famous throughout Europe. On these Charles relied to intimidate the citizens of the rich states he visited on his way to enforce a claim transmitted to him through Charles of Anjou. Piero de Medici made concessions to the invader without the knowledge of the people. ”

“ A few weeks after his wedding Lorenzo had to leave his bride and undertake an embassy to Milan. A son had been born on June 20th to Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, and Piero de’ Medici was asked to stand sponsor to the child. He was too ill to travel, and “somewhat unwillingly,” he confesses, sent Lorenzo to act as his proxy. The embassy went by Prato, Pistoja, Lucca, and Pietrasanta to Sarzana, which town and district had been recently purchased by Pietro and added to the Florentine dominions. ”

“ Lorenzo’s son, Piero de Medici, succeeded his father, but he was too weak and incompetent a man to count, and Savonarola, who continued with increasing vehemence to denounce the guilt and corruption of mankind, strengthened his own influence and control over the people. Piero became alarmed and had him removed from Florence, so that for a time he was obliged to preach outside at Prato and Bologna. But soon he returned, journeying on foot over the Apennines, and he was welcomed back with rapture at San Marco. ”

“ These two men represent the two parties who chiefly desired the advent of the French—the enthusiasts, the poor, the children of Savonarola, and the powerful burghers, as rich and may be better born than Piero de’ Medici, who resented their tyrant’s views on the republic, who resented almost more his alliance with the detested Spanish autocrats of Naples. On the other side—the side of the Orsini, of Cardinal 321Bibbiena, of Bernardò del Nero, and the aristocratic party, there is but one man that can arrest us as Capponi or Savonarola must arrest us, and that is Piero de’ Medici himself. ”

“ But, “the son of his father is not always his father’s son,” and this quaint saying is perfectly true of Piero de’ Medici—a youth of twenty-one years of age—the exact age of his father on his succession to the Headship of the State. Physically the young prince was well favoured, he was cultured and, like his unfortunate uncle Giuliano, he was an adept in all gentlemanly exercises. ”

“ But Savonarola now became the most powerful man in the republic, and he exerted himself for reformation of his own monastery, the Church, and the state itself. Soon he prophesied the downfall of the Medici, against whom he arrayed a considerable part of the Florentine people. He predicted that one should come over the Alps and wreak vengeance upon the tyrants of Italy. In 1494 Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, warred against Naples, and advanced on Florence. Piero de' Medici, thoroughly frightened, surrendered his strongholds and agreed to pay Charles two hundred thousand ducats. ”

“ Never had there been more frequent or more daring conspiracies than in this century. The ill success of some never deterred others from immediately treading in their steps.
The first plot was directed against the Medici. Bernardo Nardi, one of the Florentine citizens, who had been exiled from his country in the time of Piero de’ Medici, accompanied by about a hundred of his partisans, surprised the gate of Prato, on the 6th of April, 1470. He made himself master of the public palace, and arrested the Florentine podesta ”

“ The conspirators then determined to murder Piero as he returned to Florence from his villa of Careggi. He was only saved by the presence of mind of his young son Lorenzo, who preceded him on horseback, and noticed armed men loitering on the road. Lorenzo rode quietly on announcing that Piero was close behind him, but sent back in hot haste a messenger to order his father’s litter to take an unfrequented lane. Luca Pitti, perceiving that if the Medici were swept away Neroni and not himself would be the head of the Republic, betrayed his fellow-conspirators, and made peace with Piero. ”

“ For myself personally I forget everything, forgive all wrongs, and remain as a son ought to be towards such a father. [107]
In 1466 Piero de’ Medici’s daughter Nannina was married to Bernardo Rucellai, son of Giovanni, who built the beautiful palazzo Rucellai after the designs of his friend Leon Battista Alberti. Giovanni spent 3686 golden florins on the festivities for his son’s wedding, and for three days the Florentines danced, ate, drank and listened to music, in Via della Vigna Nuova. ”

“ Idleness is so universal in Italy that if things do not change there will be more to write of battles between birds and dogs than of armies and gallant deeds.—January 22, 1474 (1475) .
In this same year was held Giuliano de’ Medici’s magnificent and costly tournament, which would however be forgotten [Pg 177] had not Poliziano written his immortal Stanze per la Giostra del Magnifico Giuliano di Piero de’ Medici, “a masterpiece,” writes Symonds, “which blent the ancient and the modern world in a work of art glowing with Italian fancy.... ”

“ A month later Piero de' Medici fled in his turn, before a rising of the people, and a popular government was established in Florence, with the support of Savonarola, who prophesied that the city would carry the Republic throughout the world. This Republic recognised, however, a king—Jesus Christ. ↑ He was the guest of the nobleman, Giovanni Francesco Aldovrandi, who, on the occasion of certain troubles which ho had with the police of Bologna, came to his assistance. He was then working on the statue of San Petronio and a statuette of an angel for the tabernacle (Arca) of San Domenico. ”

“ When Piero rode out of the Piazza, accompanied by an armed escort, he was met by an exasperated mob who assailed him with missiles and stones. The big bell, up in the Campanile, began to speak its ominous summons, and, in reply to faint cries of “Palle!” “Palle!” renewed shouts of “Liberta!” “Liberta!” proclaimed the abdication of the Medici.
A Parliament was convened and five ambassadors were appointed to treat with Charles and revoke Piero’s surrender. ”

“ His son Francesco was Commissary with the army of Carlo Malatesta and later was sent to Venice, to try and induce the Venetians to enter Lombardy against the Duke of Milan. A keen78 man of business, he stood high in favour with Cosimo de’ Medici and zealously worked to promote his return from exile in 1434. His daughter Lucrezia married Piero de’ Medici and their son, Lorenzo the Magnificent, owed much to her prudence and sagacity and inherited her poetic talent. ”

“ The weakness of the Medicean system stood confessed. An accepted monarchy may survive a weak and wicked ruler, but the Medici had no constitutional position, and were unprovided with props to a tottering throne, or with barriers to keep the crowd away. Their power rested only upon personal influence, upon the interests of a syndicate of families, on the material welfare of the middle classes, and the amusement of the lower. Even without the catastrophe of the French invasion Piero's government must have come crashing down. ”

“ You may think how I love him; particularly when his joyous neighs resound and rejoice all the neighbourhood. I owe you and I send you many thanks for such a fine gift, and I shall try and repay you by becoming what you wish. Of this be sure. I promise you that I shall try with all my heart. We are all well, and we all long for your arrival. God save you.—1479. [257]
Your son Piero at Gagliano. [258]
Antonio Pucci to Lorenzo de’ Medici at Cafaggiuolo
Magnifice Frater honorande,—That priest from Imola has been interrogated. ”

“ Piero dei Medici, Francesco’s brother, murdered his wife Eleonora of Toledo from the same motive. Still louder scandal was caused by the duke’s own conduct. He was already a married man, when, passing one day through the Piazza of St Mark in Florence, he saw an exceedingly beautiful woman at the window of a mean dwelling, and at once conceived a passion for her. She was the famous Bianca Cappello, a Venetian of noble birth, who had eloped with a young Florentine named Pietro Buonaventuri, to whom she was married at the time that she attracted the duke’s gaze. ”

“ Piero dei Medici, in spite of his name and influence, was in the eyes of the French nobility, who considered it a dishonourable thing to concern oneself with art or industry, nothing more than a rich merchant, with whom it would be absurd to stand upon any very strict ceremony. ”

“ Ponte Vecchio rebuilt by Taddeo Gaddi 1374 Petrarch died 1375 Boccaccio died 1376 Loggia de' Lanzi commenced 1378 Salvestro de' Medici elected Gonfaloniere 1389 Cosimo de' Medici (Pater Patrise) born 1390 War with Milan 1394 Sir John Hawkwood died 1399 Competition for Baptistery Gates 1416 Piero de' Medici (il Gottoso) born 1421 Purchase of Leghorn by Florence Giovanni de' Medici elected Gonfaloniere Spedale degli Innocenti commenced 1424 Ghiberti's first gate set up 1429 Giovanni de' Medici died 1432 Niccolo da Uzzano died 1433 Marsilio Ficino born Cosimo de' Medici banished, Oct. ”

“ I trust to God that he will do honour to all your labour, and that our Holy Father will every day be better pleased with him. I wait to know whether I am to send Piero as I wrote, for to me it seems this great gift demands that I should come in person. I shall follow your advice in everything.— [March 14, 1489] . [369]
Lorenzo de’ Medici to Innocent VIII.
With the greatest reverence I have received a Brief from Your Sanctity of the 9th, in which you deign to acquaint me of the promotion of Messer Giovanni (to the Cardinalate) . ”

“ This success the Medici owed mainly to their own obstinacy, and to the weakness of republican institutions in Florence. Their power was founded upon wealth in the first instance, and upon the ingenuity with which they turned the favour of the proletariate to use. It was confirmed by the mistakes and failures of their enemies, by Rinaldo degli Albizzi's attack on Cosimo, by the conspiracy of Neroni and Pitti against Piero, and by Francesco de' Pazzi's attempt to assassinate Lorenzo. ”

“ Piero, hearing no rumours of a rising, retired upon Siena. No favour had been shown to the Medici, but few obeyed the order to join their companies; only the personal enemies of Piero took up arms, and that when he was already retreating. The citizens at large were too indifferent to risk their interests, when either aristocrats or Medici might prove victorious.
The Signoria for May and June, 1497, contained a majority of Arrab-biati; and Savonarola's position became critical. Under pretext of the plague, it forbade preaching in the Cathedral after Ascension day. ”

“ Till now I have by her two children, a daughter called Lucrezia ... years old, and a son called Piero ... months old. King Ferrante is the godfather of the girl. She is again with child. God spare her to us for a long time and preserve her from all ill” (see p. 153) .
The following description of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s wedding is taken from a contemporary manuscript existing in Codex 574, Class xxv. of the Strozziani MSS. in the National Library of Florence. ”