MEDICI , the name of a See also:

• FAMILY

This was the road henceforth pursued by the Medici. On Salvestro's See also:

• DEATH

From the former proceeded the branch that held See also:

• ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

Of See also:

• GENTLE (through the Fr. gentil, from Lat. gentilis, belonging to the same gens, or family)

On the 3rd of See also:

• OCTOBER

Cosimo's first thought was to secure himself against all futurerisk of removal from Florence, and accordingly he drove the most powerful citizens into exile to all parts of Italy. Nor did he spare even his former political adversary, Palla Strozzi, although the latter had been favourable to mTheneGtof overn- him during the See also:

• RECENT

He had comprehended that the art of politics depended rather upon individuals than institutions, and that he who ruled men could also dictate See also:

• LAWS

The artists of the day comprised men like See also:

• DONATELLO (diminutive of Donato) (c. 1386-1466)

However, showing far more courage than he was supposed to possess, he had himself See also:

• BORNE, KARL LUDWIG (1786–1837)

His younger brother Giuliano, being of a mild and yielding disposition, had only a nominal share in the government. Lorenzo's policy, although prosecuted with less caution, was still the old astute and fortunate policy initiated by Cosimo. But the See also:

• GRANDSON (Ger. Grandsee)

Within its walls were trained the two young Medici afterwards known to the world as Leo X. and Clement VII. Ficino, Poliziano, See also:

• PICO

In his Ambra, his Caccia del See also:

• FALCONE, ANIELLO (x600–x665)

But, returning to Florence, he found that the enraged citizens had already decreed his deposition, in order to reconstitute the republic, and was therefore compelled to See also:

• ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

Leo X., who is only indirectly connected with the history of Florence, gave his name to the age in which he lived in consequence of his magnificent patronage of art and letters in Rome. But he was merely a See also:

• CLEVER

In his eagerness to aggrandize his kinsmen, the latter had further decided to give Lorenzo the duchy of Urbino, and formally invested him in its rights, after expelling on false pretences its legitimate lord, Francesco Maria della Rovere. This prince, however, soon returned to Urbino, where he was joyously welcomed by his subjects, and Lorenzo regained See also:

• POSSESSION
• POSSESSION (Lat. possessio, possidere, to possess)

Giulio, on the contrary, shrank from all responsibility, muddled his brains in weighing the reasons for and against every possible decision, and was therefore a better See also:

• TOOL (0. Eng. tdl, generally referred to a root seen in the Goth. taujan, to make, or in the English word " taw," to work or dress leather)

Thus far we have had no occasion to speak of the younger branch of the Medici, descended from Lorenzo, brother to Cosimo the elder. Always in obscurity, and hitherto held in check by the elder line, it first entered the See also:

• ARENA (Lat. for " sand ")

When the imperial troops were struggling through the marshes of See also:

• MANTUA (Ital. Mantova)

According to the terms of this See also:

• OAK (O. Eng., (lc)

They found a leader in Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici, who was then in Rome, carding1 embittered by the preference given to Alessandro, ~pp.Bto. and anxious to become his successor with the least possible delay. Under the pressure of terror the duke at once became a tyrant. He garrisoned the different cities, and began the erection in Florence of the Fortezza da Basso, built chiefly at the expense of Filippo Strozzi, who afterwards met his death within its walls. In 1534 Clement VII. died, and the See also:

• ELECTION
• ELECTION (from Lat. eligere, to pick out)

And now Alessandro indulged unchecked in the lowest excesses of tyranny, and although so recently a bridegroom gave way to increased libertinism. His whole time was passed in vicious haunts and in scandalous adventures. In order to conceal the obscurity of his birth, he left his mother to starve, and it was even asserted that he finally got rid of her by See also:

• POISON

All Florence eyed them with disgust, but no one foresaw the tragedy that was soon to take place. On the evening of the 5th of See also:

• JANUARY

Enjoining the strictest secrecy, he kept the See also:

• CORPSE (Lat. corpus, the body)

On learning the death of Alessandro and the election of Cosimo, the exiles appreciated the See also:

• NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

Alessandro Vitelli re-entered Florence with his victorious army . and his fettered captives. Cosimo had achieved his first triumph. All the prisoners, who were members of great families, were brought before Cosimo, and were received by him with courteous coldness. Soon, however, a See also:

• SCAFFOLD
• SCAFFOLD, SCAFFOLDING (from the O. Fr. escafaut, originally escafalt, modern echafaud, a corruption of the Italian or Spanish calafalco, a platform, especially a canopy over a bier, a catafalque; this word is composed of O. Span. altar, O. Ital. catare, t

Some, however, thought that Cosimo had caused him to be murdered, and adopted this mode of concealing the crime. The young prince's See also:

• COLD (in O. Eng. cald and ceald, a word coming ultimately from a root cognate with the Lat. gelu, gelidus, and common in the Teutonic languages, which usually have two distinct forms for the substantive and the adjective, cf. Ger. Kolte, kalt, Dutch koude

Only, his state being small and weak, he was forced to rely chiefly upon his personal talent and wealth. It was necessary for him to make heavy loans to the different See also:

• EUROPEAN

As no immediate See also:

• ANSWER (derived from and, against, and the same root as swear)

Cosimo preferred to confer office upon men of humble origin in order to have pliable tools, but he also liked to be surrounded by a courtier See also:

• ARISTOCRACY (Gr. apuvror, best; «paria, government)

Ii was said that one of these boys, See also:

• DON
• DON (anc. Tanais)

He compelled his step-mother to retire to a See also:

• CONVENT (Lat. conventus, from convenire, to come together)

He took some useful measures to promote the rise of a new city at See also:

• LEGHORN (Ital. Livorno, Fr. Livourne)

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 See also:

• CAPPELLO, BIANCA (1548-1587)

Ferdinand I. was thirty-eight years of age when, in 1587, he succeeded his brother on the throne. A cardinal from the age of fourteen, he had never taken See also:

• HOLY

He nevertheless retained the reprehensible See also:

• CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

Ferdinand I. died in 1609, leaving four sons, of whom the eldest, Cosimo IL, succeeded to the throne at the age of nineteen. cosimo ff. He was at first assisted in the government by his mother and a council of regency. He had a good disposition, and the fortune to reign during a period when Europe was at See also:

• PEACE
• PEACE, BREACH OF THE

He gave scanty attention to the general affairs of the state. He was fond of luxury, spent freely on public festivities and detested trouble. Tuscany was apparently tranquil and prosperous; but the decay of which the seeds were sown under Cosimo I. and Ferdinand I. was rapidly spreading, and became before long patent to all and beyond all hope of remedy. The best deed done by Cosimo II. was the protection accorded by him to Galileo Galilei, who had removed to Padua, and there made some of his grandest discoveries. The grand duke recalled him to Florence in 161o, and nominated him court mathematician and philosopher. Cosimo died in See also:

• FEBRUARY

They resumed the practice of trading on their own account, and, without See also:

• REAPING (from O.E. rypan, rypan, probably allied to " ripe," mature, i.e. " fit for reaping "; the cognate forms are found in other languages)

See also:

• URBAN
• URBAN (Urbanus)

This academy took for its motto the words Provando e riprovando, and followed the experimental method of Galileo. Formed in 1657, it was dissolved in 1667 in consequence of the jealousies and dissensions of its members, but during its brief existence won renown by the number and importance of its works. Cosimo III. succeeded his father in 167o. He was weak, vain, bigoted and hypocritical. In 1661 he had espoused See also:

• LOUISE [AUGUSTE WILHELMINE AMALIE LUISE] (1776-1810)

He purchased from the emperor the title of " See also:

• HIGHNESS

After living with her for some time in a Bohemian See also:

• VILLAGE