By William Landon, Northern Kentucky University
Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici had been elevated to the papacy as Pope Leo X. The Medici pope had taken firm control of his family, and of the Roman Church. Pope Leo also began publicly promoting an alternative to Giuliano’s headship of the secular side of the Medici family—the young Lorenzo, son of the pope’s discredited brother Piero ‘the Unfortunate’.
Giuliano Rejects His Nobility
In Florence, Giuliano de’ Medici was making it abundantly clear he was not interested in grasping the reins of political power. He had even voted to support the resurrection of the republican government’s Great Council (a move which Giovanni nipped in the bud, ensuring that Florence’s government remained in his pocket).
And, perhaps more troubling, Giuliano shaved his beard, adopting a meticulously clean-shaven appearance. In early 16th-century Florence, an aristocrat shaving his beard was a political statement; men of Giuliano’s status all wore beards. A full beard was a visible symbol of one’s status. When Giuliano shaved, he was publicly rejecting his own nobility.
Upon learning of this, Leo X ordered Giuliano’s servants (who had sided with the pope over their own Medici lord) to report on all of Giuliano’s actions.
This article comes directly from content in the video series How the Medici Shaped the Renaissance. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Lorenzo de’ Medici
Pope Leo began promoting Lorenzo de’ Medici in place of Giuliano, even though Lorenzo had inherited all of his father’s worst characteristics. But Lorenzo was eager for fame and, therefore, more willing to do the pope’s bidding.
In the late summer of 1513, Giuliano, who desired the life of a private citizen, turned over his responsibilities in Florence to Lorenzo.
In the next two years, Lorenzo’s rise was meteoric. After Giuliano refused the pope’s command to make war against the Duke of Urbino because he had been treated so kindly by the duke while the Medici were in exile, the pope maneuvered votes in the Florentine government so that Lorenzo could be named the ‘Captain General’ of the city.
Lorenzo’s Attempt to Create His Own Medici Dynasty
Lorenzo laid siege to Urbino and, after numerous battles over many months, the Florentine forces took it. Pope Leo X’s response was to divest the Della Rovere family of their title. The pope invested it in Lorenzo in 1516.
Lorenzo had been wounded during the early stages of the siege at Urbino and was forced to return to Florence. Back at home, he became a constant thorn in the pope’s side. Lorenzo began to make unilateral treaties, cozying up once again to the French—something the pope had strictly forbidden, and even going as far as to take a French noblewoman as his wife.
The pope realized that Lorenzo was set upon forming his own Medici dynasty, which would rival rather than cooperate with the pope’s.
Church Goes Bankrupt under Leo X
Meanwhile, Giuliano had died, and Leo X had spent the Church into bankruptcy. He had inherited the construction of the New St. Peter’s Basilica from Julius II. The building’s future architect, none other than Michelangelo, had grown up in Lorenzo the Magnificent’s home, raised as a brother to Giovanni and Giulio de’ Medici.
Michelangelo had turned out to be a staunch republican in the late 1490s (David, his masterpiece, was created between 1501 and late 1503, commemorating Florence’s victory over the Medici family).
Michelangelo could not refuse papal orders. He remained torn between duty to the Church, to the republican tradition, and to the family that had nurtured him.
As the scale of the St. Peter’s project became clear, the pope’s personal spending also increased, leaving him with no choice but to seek additional funding sources. He turned to the German states, where the pope permitted priests of the worst sort to sell indulgences.
Leo X overestimated the control he had over his own family, and his financial calculations did not take sincere Catholic rebellion against his papal proclamations into account. He had thrown Florence, Italy, and Europe more widely into chaos.
Lorenzo Solidifies His Position at Florence
Lorenzo de’ Medici used the bedlam in the Church to his advantage. He began to solidify his position at Florence, acting openly as its prince—which caused republican sentiment to be rekindled. Meanwhile, his marriage to Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne had produced an heir—Caterina de’ Medici—who we know as Catherine, the future queen consort of France.
When Lorenzo died, most likely from syphilis, in 1519, only a few weeks after Catherine’s birth, she was sent to Rome where she was raised in the home of Filippo Strozzi and his wife, Clarice de’ Medici.
Common Questions about the Rise of Lorenzo de’ Medici
In early 16th-century Florence, an aristocrat shaving his beard was a political statement; men of Giuliano de’ Medici’s status all wore beards. A full beard was a visible symbol of one’s status. When Giuliano shaved his beard, adopting a meticulously clean-shaven appearance, he publicly rejected his own nobility.
Giuliano de’ Medici had made it abundantly clear that he was not interested in grasping the reins of political power. It was then that Pope Leo began promoting Lorenzo de’ Medici in place of Giuliano. Lorenzo was eager for fame and, therefore, more willing to do the pope’s bidding.
After Lorenzo laid siege to Urbino, Pope Leo X divested the Della Rovere family of their title and invested it in Lorenzo in 1516. Back in Florence, Lorenzo became a constant thorn in the pope’s side. He began to make unilateral treaties, cozying up once again to the French—something the pope had strictly forbidden, and even going as far as to take a French noblewoman as his wife. The pope realized that Lorenzo was set upon forming his own Medici dynasty, which would rival rather than cooperate with the pope’s.
