The Terrible Tyrants of Tuscany (The Medicis)

It is a constant oddity that the Medicis are so well-known. They were not a very large family and they were fairly short-lived. The region that they controlled was barely larger than Rhode Island and they never expanded outward from their hereditary origin. In all reasonableness, they were a terrible dynasty that never should have achieved all that it did. Regardless, they are probably in the Top 5 of famous European dynasties...somewhere after Habsburgs and Tudors but before Stuarts, I'd bet. And this is the story why...

The Medicis began their rise to power in the remote hills north of Florence, Italy. The region at this time – the 1200s – was known as the Republic of Florence, and was one of a few Italian republics that survived the destructive rise of the Holy Roman Empire. Over the early generations of the family, they had managed to marry into or enter into contracts with many other prominent Florentine families. Their major product that they brought to the Florentine markets was wool. After a short conflict with other businesses in the region, the family was actually banned from government politics except for two figures who avoided the turmoil. It is from one of these, Averardo, that the royal line sprang forth.

Averardo's son, Giovani, founded the Medici Bank, and quickly became the wealthiest man in all Florence. His son, Cosimo, took things a step further and became the first of a long line of Florentine patriarchs. "Patriarchs?" you ask. "Why patriarchs?" Quite simply because Florence was a republic, not a kingdom or duchy. A republic couldn't have a monarch, so the Medicis grabbed the local title of "signore", which pretty much meant patriarch. To make things more clear, the Medicis assumed the power of a monarch without actually abolishing the republican state...rather like the Caesars during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire.

For three generations – from Cosimo to Piero to Lorenzo – the Florentine Republic remained a republic with a strong central government. But everything fell apart when another Piero decided he wanted to take control. The Republic banished him and his family for eighteen long years from 1494 until 1512. When they returned, they also decided it was better to appease Florence than usurp it. Five more Medicis ruled Florence before another revolt overthrew the dynasty in 1527. Yet this time, the Medicis were ready for it. In 1513, one Medici patriarch, Cardinal Giovanni, was elected Pope Leo X of the Catholic Church. Two years after his death, in 1523, another Medici was elected Pope Clement VII and remained so throughout this second Medici exile. Clement used his power to help restore the Medicis to Florence and get Alessandro to become the first Duke of Florence in 1531. His assassination six years later opened a new chapter in the great Medici epic.

In 1537 Cosimo the Great succeeded his distant cousin as Duke of Florence. In 1569 he dissolved the Republic of Florence and declared the Grand Duchy of Tuscany...that's right, it's an official monarchy now. Cosimo's sons began the first major push toward marrying into the higher echelon of society. Francesco de Medici married Johanna of Austria and produced Eleanora, who would marry into the wealthy Dukes of Mantua & Montferrat, and Marie, who would marry Henry IV of France. The next grand duke, Ferdinand, decided that the family needed to balance itself between France and Austria so married Christina of Lorraine, a family that would one day inherit the grand duchy. Yet despite this, Ferdinand was later forced to wed his son, Cosimo, to a Habsburg princess to appease the angered Emperor. The Medicis were in their political prime during this age. The people of Florence were extremely wealthy and the region remained only sparsely inhabited compared to the other regions of Italy. It was only inevitable that the family would decline from this high pedestal.

Since Tuscany provided so many Papal candidates during the 1500s and 1600s (four in total), religious orders, seeking Catholic solitude from the craziness of Protestant Germany, went to Tuscany, buying up land en masse while not having to pay taxes as per Italian law. Then one of the worst tragedies struck the Medici dynasty: the grand duke died leaving a minor as his heir. Christina of Lorraine and her daughter-in-law, Maria Magddalena, took control as regents. During their term, they allowed the duchy of Urbino, a Medici vassal state, to return to Papal control, they banned outside education of Tuscan citizens, and they led the prosecution against Galileo Galilei. When the young grand duke grew up, he was obsessed with technology at the expense of his duchy. He then became involved in the Wars of Castro which literally returned Tuscany to a barter state due to run-away inflation and non-existent interest rates. Tuscany was bankrupt. The cities were covered in grass and the buildings were ready to collapse.

The last vestige of the dynasty grasped desperately for purpose and relief. Cosimo III married the duchess of Orleans, a granddaughter of Henry IV of France. She managed to produce one daughter, who would become the Electress Palatine, and a son, the last grand duke of Tuscany in the Medici line. Cosimo feared a succession war upon his or his heirs' death. The English and Dutch were willing to work with him but Spain wanted the Republic of Siena, once a Spanish fief, back and Austria (well, the Holy Roman Empire) wanted Florence back since it was an Imperial fief. As soon as Cosimo III died in 1723, a war broke out despite the fact that Cosimo's son, Gian Gastone, still was Grand Duke. Spain was originally in line to become the next dukes until the War of the Polish Succession transferred that right to Francis III of Lorraine. When Gian Gastone died in 1737, the state fell to Francis while the Medici family property fell to the last Medici daughter, Anna Maria Louisa. Anna declined the inheritance and returned her family heirlooms to the state in perpetuity, so long as the items remained in Florence forever. Anna died 19 February 1743 and with her ended the House of Medici.

The power and glory of the Medicis were really relatively short-lived. Their influence in European politics was temporary, albeit great, and the height of the dynasty can be ascribed to no more than 100 years. But what the Medicis lacked in dynastology they made up for in culture. No family in Europe can claim such a wonderful Renaissance legacy as the Medicis. Their patronage in both Tuscany and Rome allowed some of the most magnificent artists to reach their greatness. Michaelangelo, Donatello, Masaccio, Raphael, Brunelleschi, and Leonardo da Vinci all were commissioned to create great works in Florence. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence remains one of the foremost art galleries in the world.

Thus, without the Medicis, Italy would have been a bleaker place. But their dynasty was a short and troubled one, with few dynastic breaks and one large dead-end in 1743. Their blood flows through most European monarchs today, but no known male line, legitimate or otherwise, survived the eighteenth century. The Medicis' story tells of success during times of triumph, but also an unwillingness to change with the times. Indeed, they even seemed to regress when things turned tough. Yet they will remain popular due to their culture and craft, and the fame they established throughout Early Modern Europe.