The Medici, Volume 2

by G.F. Young

The history of the Medici is a deeply interesting story; besides its intrinsic interest, it helps us to acquire much knowledge about the re-birth of learning and art, about the history of Europe in perhaps its most important period, about the birth of Science, and about the great collections of art possessed by Florence. For without referring largely to all these subjects no true picture of the Medici can be given.

The authors aim has been to write of them as a family - their rise, their "course upon the mountaintops of power," and their decline and end and to keep the parts always in subordination to the whole.

Young has endeavored, eschewing all "legends," to detail simply the facts for which we have evidence. No crimes attributed to them have been omitted or slurred over. If the result is to show the Medici in a better light than has been the case, that is not due to any desire to "whitewash" them, but is simply the consequence of a want of any evidence for a large proportion of those crimes which have furnished the darker shades in the traditional picture of this family.

672 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2005

Reviews

[Blake Hiatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two volumes to this work and it is an incredibly in-depth look at one of the most infamous families that ever lived. Surprisingly, the Medici were no better or worse than their times, and, in some ways, were quite a bit better than the common consensus would have us believe. Yes, it's long, it can be a bit tedious, but, in the end, it's a fascinating overview of a fascinating family. I might add, a very solid case can be made that, without Medici patronage, there would not have been an Italian Renaissance.