House of Medici

"Medicis" redirects here. For the pharmaceutical company, see Medicis Pharmaceutical. For the CERN facility, see CERN-MEDICIS. For other uses, see Medici (disambiguation).
Medici
Noble house
Coat of arms of the House of Medici
Blazon: Or, five balls in orle gules, in chief a larger one of the arms of France (viz. Azure, three fleurs-de-lis or) was granted by Louis XI in 1465.[1]
CountryRepublic of Florence
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Papal States
Duchy of Urbino
EtymologyBy Medico, Castellan of Potrone, considered the first ancestor of the house
Place of originMugello, Tuscia (present-day Tuscany)
Founded1230; 794 years ago (1230)
FounderGiambuono de' Medici[2]
Final rulerGian Gastone de' Medici
Final headAnna Maria Luisa de' Medici
Titles
Members
DistinctionsOrder of Saint Stephen
TraditionsCatholicism
Motto
("make haste slowly")
Heirlooms
List
Estate(s)
Dissolution1743 (1743) (original line)
Cadet branches14 cadet branches; still alive only 2:
List

The House of Medici (English: /ˈmɛdɪtʃi/ MED-itch-ee, UK also /məˈdiːtʃi/ mə-DEE-chee;[4] Italian: [ˈmɛːditʃi]) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of Tuscany, and prospered gradually in trade until it was able to fund the Medici Bank. This bank was the largest in Europe in the 1400s and facilitated the Medicis' rise to political power in Florence, although they officially remained citizens rather than monarchs until the 16th century.

In 1532, the family acquired the hereditary title Duke of Florence. In 1569, the duchy was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany after territorial expansion. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy from its inception under the builder Cosimo I until 1737, with the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici. The Medici produced four popes of the Catholic Church—Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), Pope Pius IV (1559–1565)[5] and Pope Leo XI (1605)—and two queens of France—Catherine de' Medici (1547–1559) and Marie de' Medici (1600–1610).[6] The Medici's grand duchy witnessed degrees of economic growth under the early grand dukes, but was bankrupt by the time of Cosimo III de' Medici (r. 1670–1723).

The Medicis' wealth and influence was initially derived from the textile trade guided by the wool guild of Florence, the Arte della Lana. 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 Italian Renaissance was inspired by the Medici along with other families of Italy, such as the Visconti and Sforza in Milan, the Este in Ferrara, the Borgia and Della Rovere in Rome, and the Gonzaga in Mantua.

The Medici Bank, from when it was created in 1397 to its fall in 1494, was one of the most prosperous and respected institutions in Europe, and the Medici family was considered the wealthiest in Europe for a time. From this base, they acquired political power initially in Florence and later in wider Italy and Europe. They were among the earliest businesses to use the general ledger system of accounting through the development of the double-entry bookkeeping system for tracking credits and debits.

The Medici family financed the construction of Saint Peter's Basilica and Florence Cathedral, and were patrons of Donatello, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Machiavelli, Galileo, and Francesco Redi, among many others in the arts and sciences. They funded the invention of the piano,[7] and arguably that of opera,[8] They were also protagonists of the Counter-Reformation,[citation needed] from the beginning of the Reformation through the Council of Trent and the French Wars of Religion.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Woodward162 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Litta, Pompeo (1827). Famiglie celebri italiane. Medici di Firenze.
  3. ^ Luisa Greco (22 May 2015). "Cosimo de Medici e l'amore per le tartarughe con la vela". Toctoc. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Medici". CollinsDictionary.com. HarperCollins. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  5. ^ The family of Pius IV, the Medici of Milan, considered itself a branch of the House of Medici and was recognized as such by the Florentine Pope Clement VII and by Cosimo I 'de Medici in the early 16th century. Historians have found no proof of an actual connection between the Medici of Milan and the Medici of Florence, but this belief was widespread during the life of Pius IV and the Medici of Florence allowed the Medici of Milan to use their coat of arms.
  6. ^ "Medici Family – – Encyclopædia Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  7. ^ Pollens, Stewart (2013). "Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence". The Galpin Society Journal. 66: 7–245. ISSN 0072-0127. JSTOR 44083109.
  8. ^ "Music and the Medici – The Medici Archive Project" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2023-01-23. Retrieved 2022-04-20.