752 



MEDICI. 



partly the manner in which the legal relations of 

 the former sovereigns towards their new superiors 

 were settled. The proceeding itself, however, was 

 unavoidable, as appeared in 1815, when it was not 

 only found impossible to restore the sovereignty of 

 the mediatised princes, but new ones were added to 

 the number (Salm, Ilsenberg, von der Leyen). But, 

 by the fourteenth article of the German act of con- 

 federation, provision has been made to fix the legal 

 relations of the mediatised sovereignties. 



MEDICI. It is not uncommon for families, from 

 the common ranks of society, to attain to great opu- 

 lence by industry and good fortune. But wealth 

 imparts influence, and this, rank and distinction. 

 In democratic states, then, it is not wonderful that 

 we find families of originally little importance, after 

 some generations, appearing among the rulers of the 

 state, and even at the head of it. The histories of 

 the Grecian and Italian republics are full of such 

 examples. But, owing to the fluctuating nature of 

 wealth and popular favour, such houses generally 

 decline as rapidly as they rise into consequence. 

 If, therefore, a family from the class of commoners 

 flourishes for centuries amidst the continual vicissi- 

 tudes of conflicting parties, if its influence during 

 this time gradually becomes supreme, and it main- 

 tains this power for centuries, we can confidently 

 conclude that the heads of the family must have been 

 distinguished for wisdom and good fortune. Such is 

 the case with the family of the Medici. The Medici, 

 when they first appeared in Florentine history, in 

 the beginning of the fourteenth century, were al- 

 ready rich and important, having recently acquired 

 affluence by commerce. Corso Donate, the head of 

 the party of the Neri, had expelled the Bianchi from 

 Florence, but found himself neglected by his former 

 friends, the chiefs of the nobility ; he therefore 

 attached himself, for the purpose of forming a new 

 party, to some wealthy families belongii.g to the 

 commoners. Among these, the Medici are the first 

 named, although, according to some, they were in 

 favour of the recall of the banished Bianchi. How- 

 ever that may be, they behaved with so much 

 sagacity, that they soon became one of those fami- 

 lies from which the popular oligarchy of Florence 

 was composed. They principally contributed to the 

 elevation of Walter of Brienne, duke of Athens, to 

 the head of the state, who, however, made use of his 

 power to humble the ruling families, and caused 

 Giovanni de' Medici, who had not defended Lucca 

 against the Pisans with sufficient firmness, to be be- 

 headed. The Medici, therefore, with some other 

 families, entered into a conspiracy against him, 

 which was discovered to him by Matteo di Marozzo ; 

 but, luckily for the Medici, the tyrannical duke, in a 

 fit of caprice, to appear magnanimous, did not inves- 

 tigate the case. This proved his ruin ; for when 

 the dissatisfaction at last broke out into open rebel- 

 lion, the Medici were among the leaders. Thence- 

 forth we find them always in public affairs. After 

 the banishment of the duke, the old nobility were 

 again admitted to participate in the government, 

 from which they had been excluded for fifty years ; 

 hut abusing their new liberty, they were guilty of 

 such violence and excesses, that Alamanno de' 

 Medici, the oldest of the family, called the people to 

 arms, and drove out the nobles. During the next 

 ten years, when Florence was disturbed anew by the 

 Ricci and Albizzi factions, and distracted by the 

 Ammonizioni (as the exclusion of certain individuals 

 and families from public honours under the pretence 

 of Ghibelinism, was called), the Medici joined the 

 Ricci, which was the weaker party. A son of Ala- 

 inanno, named Bartholomew, entered into a con- 

 spiracy against the Albizzi about the year 1360, but 



escaped, on its discovery, from the fate of his ao 

 complices, by placing himself in time under the pro- 

 tection of his brother Salvestro, who was a magis- 

 trate. Salvestro himself, when gonfalonier of 

 justice, in 1378, procured a law by which the Albizzi 

 were humbled, and the Ammonizioni were moderated. 

 The party of the Albizzi being afterwards wholly 

 annihilated, and the popular party having gained 

 the supremacy, Salvestro attained the great distinc- 

 tion which laid the foundation for the future influence 

 of his house. The moderation of Salvestro ami hi* 

 family preserved them from falling, even when, a 

 few years later, the party which had elevated him 

 prepared its own ruin by its arrogance. Thus the 

 Medici, undisturbed in their greatness and affluence, 

 saw the Albizzi, Strozzi, Scali, Alberti, fall around 

 them ; for they did not, like the latter, aspire to the 

 supreme power of the state. Yet they also, at least 

 for a period, became the victims of republican party 

 spirit. In an insurrection of the people against the 

 principal citizens and the revived party of the Albiz- 

 zi, 1393, the furious populace obliged Veri de' 

 Medici, Salvestro's son, and at that time head of the 

 family, to be their leader, and to compel the signoria 

 to grant their demands. Veri might easily have 

 then become the master of Florence ; but he made 

 use of his influence with the people only as a medi- 

 ator, and calmed 'the disturbance. But the signoria 

 failing to fulfil their promises to the people, he and 

 his adherents loudly expressed their dissatisfaction. 

 The suspicious government took advantage of some 

 threats, uttered by a friend of the Medici, to banish 

 all those members 'who were lineally descended from 

 Salvestro, with their friends. Some of these exiles, 

 and among them Antonio, in concert with tluir 

 friends in Florence, attempted, in 1397, to return 

 and seize the government. They forced their way 

 into the city, but found no assistance, and wn-u 

 obliged to take refuge in the church S. Reparata, 

 where a part of them were killed, and a part made 

 prisoners and executed. After the detection of 

 another conspiracy, excited by the duke of Milan, 

 in 1400, among the Florentine exiles in Lombardy, 

 and in which inhabitants of Florence were to have 

 co-operated, the Medici were again banished, with 

 the exception of a few. But these few, who con- 

 tinued to enrich themselves by successful commerce, 

 restored the distinction of their house on a firmer 

 basis. Giovanni de' Medici was, in 1402, 1408, and 

 1417, member of ihe signoria, in 1414 belonged to the 

 council of the Ten, and, finally, when the ruling aristo- 

 cracy was convinced of his moderation and of his im- 

 partiality, became, in September and October, 1421, 

 gonfalonier of justice. The people vainly expected 

 from him the formation of an opposition party, which 

 he was too prudent to attempt ; on the other hand he 

 was honestly devoted to the Albizzi. He died in 1429. 

 Of his sons, Cosimo (Cosmo) and Lorenzo, the former 

 begins the splendid series of the celebrated Medici ; 

 the latter was the ancestor of the grand duke of Tus- 

 cany. Cosmo had already a seat in the signoria, in 

 1416. Though he made little direct opposition lo 

 the ruling party, yet the great liberality which liis 

 immense wealth allowed him to exercise, collected a 

 numerous party around him, which, envious of the 

 Albizzi, neglected no means to weaken them. This 

 does not, indeed, appear to have been effected by the 

 instigation of Cosmo, and his party was not even 

 called after him, but after a certain Pnccio Pucci, 

 who, with Averardo de' Medici, was most zealous to 

 gain him partisans ; yet he was considered by the 

 Albizzi the chief of the party and their most dangerous 

 enemy. He was finally seized and imprisoned, with- 

 out being proved guilty of any crime, except his 

 popular affability and succeeded only by bribing the 



