the rise and fall of the house of medici

They and other families of Italy inspired the Italian Renaissance, such as the Visconti and Sforza in Milan, the Este in Ferrara, the Borgia and Della Rovere in Rome, and the Gonzaga in Mantua. Like other families ruling in Italian signorie, the Medici dominated their city's government, were able to bring Florence under their family's power, and created an environment in which art and humanism flourished.

The Medicis' wealth and influence was initially derived from the textile trade guided by the wool guild of Florence, the Arte della Lana. The grand duchy witnessed degrees of economic growth under the early grand dukes, but was bankrupt by the time of Cosimo III de' Medici (r. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy from its inception until 1737, with the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici. In 1569, the duchy was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany after territorial expansion. In 1532, the family acquired the hereditary title Duke of Florence. The Medici produced four popes of the Catholic Church- Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), Pope Pius IV (1559–1565) and Pope Leo XI (1605)-and two queens of France- Catherine de' Medici (1547–1559) and Marie de' Medici (1600–1610). This bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century and facilitated the Medicis' rise to political power in Florence, although they officially remained citizens rather than monarchs until the 16th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of Tuscany, and prospered gradually until it was able to fund the Medici Bank. The House of Medici ( English: / ˈ m ɛ d ɪ tʃ i/ MED-i-chee, Italian: ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici, during the first half of the 15th century. OL456609W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 98.37 Pages 394 Ppi 514 Related-external-id urn:isbn:0688053394 Urn:lcp:houseofmediciits00hibb:epub:b23ad354-c766-48b4-b95b-c188fd150153 Extramarc University of Toronto Foldoutcount 0 Identifier houseofmediciits00hibb Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t1tf0nm98 Isbn 0688003397ħ9026508 Ocr tesseract 4.1.1 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_module_version 0.0.5 Ocr_parameters -l eng Openlibrary_edition Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 23:25:24 Boxid IA132524 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Curatenote shipped Donorīostonpubliclibrary Edition 1st Morrow Quill pbk.

The rise and fall of the house of medici