Medici

Medici, Italian banking and political family that ruled Florence for almost three centuries. The Medici first gained prominence in the city in the early 13th century as merchants and moneylenders, and they entered public life in the 1260s. Through its extensive European commerce and banking, the family became one of the richest in 15th-century Italy. Cosimo de' Medici the Elder, a shrewd politician, established Medici dominance in Florence from 1434. His grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent perfected Medici control and made the family one of the most powerful in Renaissance Italy. Lorenzo patronized such great artists as Michelangelo and Sandro Botticelli and invited philosophers and writers to his court. Patronage of the arts became a tradition in the Medici family and encouraged patronage by others in the community. Twice expelled from the city by their political opponents, once from 1494 to 1512 and again from 1527 to 1530, the Medici were both times reinstated with help from Spain.

Two of the most celebrated Renaissance popes, Leo X and Clement VII, were members of the Medici family. Clement made Alessandro de' Medici duke of Florence. When Alessandro was assassinated, Cosimo I, a member of the junior branch of the family, succeeded to the dukedom and eventually became the sovereign grand duke of Tuscany in 1570. His descendants ruled Florence until 1737. Cosimo's distant cousin Catherine (see Catherine de Médicis) married Henry II of France, and his granddaughter Marie (see Marie de Médicis) married Henry IV of France.