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Florence and the Medici
The enduring fascination of the Medici springs from their ability--as individuals and as a family--to control the government of Florence, first as a quasi-democracy and finally through inheritance. Based on the latest research, this perceptive study, by one of the finest Renaissance scholars of the day, reveals the causes and the nature of the Medicis' power of patronage from the early 15th-century through the early 18th. "...probing, sharp-eyed, utterly unsentimental...some of the most revealing insights come...in a chapter about the growth of the Medici legend.."--Roy Foster.
206 pages, Paperback
Published December 31, 2001
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About the author
J.R. Hale
29 books9 followersAKA John R. Hale
British historian specializing in the Renaissance, first Professor of History at the University of Warwick.
British historian specializing in the Renaissance, first Professor of History at the University of Warwick.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 10, 2020
First published in 1977, JR Hale's "Florence and the Medici: the Pattern of Control" centers on the dynamics of power between the city and its most famous family. The time frame is early Renaissance, but not much before, all the way into the 18th century. Politics is central to the book - the structure of Florentine government and the role of the Medici in acquiring political power and altering the government to sustain control. JR Hale details the transformation of the city's republican ideals, conception, and structure to the rise of dynastic, hereditary, authoritarianism. The story is how and why Florentines accepted and legitimized those changes. At only 196 pages and covering such a very long time period it seems to just scratch the surface of things. What's here is not bad, but I think it is possible to find something better. I have read two other books by JR Hale on Early Modern Europe both of which I found to be superior to this one - "The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance" and a short book on Machiavelli. I will have to give this one 3.5 stars.
October 19, 2025
Professor J.R. Hale's Eloquent, Erudite Study Examines Three Hundred Years Of Medici Political History.
Born in Ashford, Kent, England, Sir John Rigby Hale lived from 17 September 1923–12 August 1999 & was the recipient of several prestigious scholastic honors throughout his esteemed & prolific academic career, among them the Emeritus Professor of Italian History at University College, London, where he headed its Italian Department from 1970 until his retirement in 1988 & was a Fellow of the British Academy in London, as well as a Fellow & Tutor in Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford from 1949 - 1964. He was an instructor at Cornell University, New York, & the University of California, & also authored numerous highly-acclaimed scholarly works on subjects related to the Italian Renaissance, among them : Artists & Warfare In The Renaissance, Machiavelli & Renaissance Italy, & this present work, Florence & The Medici: The Pattern Of Control, which was first published in 1977 in Great Britain by Thames & Hudson.
The content of The Pattern Of Control is divided into 6 well-organized, effectively-presented chapters, with smartly-named titles such as The First Steps To Power, Towards The Principate, & Grand-Ducal Tuscany that are further divided into subsections which go a long way to assist the reader in ascertaining the topic & period under discussion, as Professor Hale does jump around a bit in the middle chapters that concern the papacies of Popes Leo X & Clement VII & foundation of the Medicean Principate under Alessandro de'Medici & his successor, Grand Duke Cosimo I. All of the subject matter in the entire treatise, including the extended notes, bibliography, & suggested further reading, possesses a tremendous degree of polish & must have taken years to prepare, judging from the incontrovertibly high-quality of the material to be found here.
Professor Hale's succinct-yet-informative explanation of Florence's republican institutions is likely the most masterfully-written & clearly explained to be found anywhere for a reader who is unfamiliar with the subject, & the book is highly recommended for this fact alone, among many, many others. The study is filled with masterfully written prose & adept erudite eloquence that is as exceptionally informative as it is simply marvelous to read, most assuredly not an easy task to accomplish in the manner which the author seemingly manages to accomplish here almost effortlessly.
The Florentine government was a complex & multi-faceted political machine which was comprised of a series of elected councils that worked with one another, voting on various issues while performing much-needed checks & balances to prevent one entity from becoming too powerful. It also contained specialized commissions both temporary & permanent which were responsible for administering civic functions or were convened only during certain times to fulfill a certain purpose, & then dissolved. The Signoria was a 9-man elected body that was comprised of 8 priors, 2 from each of Florence's 4 quarters which in turn were represented by a standard, called a gonfalon, with the 9th position known as the Standardbearer Of Justice, or Gonfalonier Di Giustizia. The Signoria was the Florentine Republic's principal & most powerful governing body, & along with its 2 supporting councils that also played vital roles, the 12 Good Men, who were known as the Dodici Buonuomini, & the 16 Standardbearers, the Sedici Gonfalonieri, the 3 dominant entities were collectively called the Tre Maggiori, or Three Leading Offices. The Dieci Di Balìa was a 10-man war commission which was convened during times of emergency to negotiate military contracts & facilitate wartime communication between Florence & her mercenary commanders, the condottieri, & the permanent 8-man security commission, the Otto Di Guardia, was responsible for suppressing internal threats to the state & functioned similar to a modern secret police force.
The Byzantine chain of events which led up to the notorious Pazzi Conspiracy in April of 1478 can from a reader's perspective best be described as complicated, convoluted, & extremely difficult to follow, yet Hale's masterful synopsis of this confusing morass of murder & political intrigue render it to his audience in a clearly-explained, compulsively-readable, perfectly-distilled fashion which renders it a utter pleasure to learn about & a true pleasure to read. The seeds of the plot are sown when Taddeo Manfredi, Lord of Imola, seeks greener pastures living in luxury & comfort by selling his lordship for a hefty sum to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, who after assuming possession of Imola enters into a confusing arrangement with Pope Sixtus IV by ceding control of the town to Sixtus' nephew, Girolamo Riario, as a partial dowry for Riario's marriage to the Duke's illegitimate daughter, Caterina Sforza, with the dowry's second portion coming in the form of a large sum of cash which the Pope plans to obtain by securing a loan from the Medici Bank of Lorenzo 'The Magnificent'. But having Girolamo Riario as lord of Imola most assuredly does not satisfy the Laurentine prerogative, & Lorenzo's refusal to honor the loan infuriates Sixtus, who quickly replaces him with his Pazzi rivals as the new papal bankers, who are all too eager to satisfy all of his financial needs. These fateful events were the chief catalyst behind the assassination attempt on 26 April 1478 of Lorenzo de'Medici & his younger brother Giuliano which was backed by multiple parties, & came less than 2 years after Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza's own assassination on 26 December 1476.
The first Medici came forth from the valley roughly 20 miles north-east of Florence that is called the Mugello, & the earliest documentary reference to them being in the city itself dates back to the early Duocento. The father of the clan's most successful banker, Giovanni di Bicci de'Medici, was Everardo 'Bicci' de'Medici, & it was his line along with that of his cousin, Vieri de'Medici, who were out of the 9 Medici branches the only 2 who were permitted to hold public offices after a pair of attempted plots to overthrow the government were discovered in 1400. Professor Hale postulates on possible reasons for the at-times lawless behavior of the early Medici of the Trecento : "In part this may have been due to a riotousness that brought a plethora of lawsuits upon them & led to five death sentences in the seventeen years 1343-60. But violence & lawbreaking were common in fourteenth-century Florence. More important, in all probability, were quarrels among the nine branches of the family who had by now moved in from the countryside, their inability to project, as did families like the Strozzi & the Albizzi, a coherent image of what they stood for politically as a clan." Near the end of the century Antonio de'Medici was exiled for conspiring against the government, & in 1378 Salvestro de'Medici was a major participant in the infamous Ciompi Revolt, which can be read about in Book III.13-19 of Niccolò Machiavelli's Istorie Fiorentine. The author does an exceptional job with this section, as there are very few English chronicles of the early Medici to speak of, well-written or otherwise.
Sir John Rigby Hale's 1977 Florence & The Medici : The Pattern Of Control is an uncommonly well-written, impeccably-researched treatise that comes with the strongest possible recommendation to any reader who is curious about possibly learning more about the Medici & would enjoy reading a comprehensive, all-encompassing study with exceptional historical background that provides an excellent overview to the 300 years during which they achieved power first as princes of Florence & then as Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The later chapters focus on such influential Medici leaders as Grand Duke Cosimo I de'Medici, son of Giovanni Delle Bande Nere, the Warrior Medici, Catherine de'Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo II de'Medici, Duke of Urbino, who went on to become Queen of France, & the later Medici Grand Dukes, Cosimo III & Gian Gastone de'Medici. Excellent studies of these later Medici authored by the 20-century British historian Harold Acton, whom also wrote an exceptional 1979 study of the Pazzi Conspiracy. Professor Hale's study is truly a one-of-a-kind experience, & it is abundantly obvious that it is the product of a staggering, & frankly admirable, amount of hard work, dedication, & research. It is most highly recommended for readers with any interest at all in the most famous of Florence's illustrious aristocratic families during the Renaissance & Enlightenment periods.
Born in Ashford, Kent, England, Sir John Rigby Hale lived from 17 September 1923–12 August 1999 & was the recipient of several prestigious scholastic honors throughout his esteemed & prolific academic career, among them the Emeritus Professor of Italian History at University College, London, where he headed its Italian Department from 1970 until his retirement in 1988 & was a Fellow of the British Academy in London, as well as a Fellow & Tutor in Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford from 1949 - 1964. He was an instructor at Cornell University, New York, & the University of California, & also authored numerous highly-acclaimed scholarly works on subjects related to the Italian Renaissance, among them : Artists & Warfare In The Renaissance, Machiavelli & Renaissance Italy, & this present work, Florence & The Medici: The Pattern Of Control, which was first published in 1977 in Great Britain by Thames & Hudson.
The content of The Pattern Of Control is divided into 6 well-organized, effectively-presented chapters, with smartly-named titles such as The First Steps To Power, Towards The Principate, & Grand-Ducal Tuscany that are further divided into subsections which go a long way to assist the reader in ascertaining the topic & period under discussion, as Professor Hale does jump around a bit in the middle chapters that concern the papacies of Popes Leo X & Clement VII & foundation of the Medicean Principate under Alessandro de'Medici & his successor, Grand Duke Cosimo I. All of the subject matter in the entire treatise, including the extended notes, bibliography, & suggested further reading, possesses a tremendous degree of polish & must have taken years to prepare, judging from the incontrovertibly high-quality of the material to be found here.
Professor Hale's succinct-yet-informative explanation of Florence's republican institutions is likely the most masterfully-written & clearly explained to be found anywhere for a reader who is unfamiliar with the subject, & the book is highly recommended for this fact alone, among many, many others. The study is filled with masterfully written prose & adept erudite eloquence that is as exceptionally informative as it is simply marvelous to read, most assuredly not an easy task to accomplish in the manner which the author seemingly manages to accomplish here almost effortlessly.
The Florentine government was a complex & multi-faceted political machine which was comprised of a series of elected councils that worked with one another, voting on various issues while performing much-needed checks & balances to prevent one entity from becoming too powerful. It also contained specialized commissions both temporary & permanent which were responsible for administering civic functions or were convened only during certain times to fulfill a certain purpose, & then dissolved. The Signoria was a 9-man elected body that was comprised of 8 priors, 2 from each of Florence's 4 quarters which in turn were represented by a standard, called a gonfalon, with the 9th position known as the Standardbearer Of Justice, or Gonfalonier Di Giustizia. The Signoria was the Florentine Republic's principal & most powerful governing body, & along with its 2 supporting councils that also played vital roles, the 12 Good Men, who were known as the Dodici Buonuomini, & the 16 Standardbearers, the Sedici Gonfalonieri, the 3 dominant entities were collectively called the Tre Maggiori, or Three Leading Offices. The Dieci Di Balìa was a 10-man war commission which was convened during times of emergency to negotiate military contracts & facilitate wartime communication between Florence & her mercenary commanders, the condottieri, & the permanent 8-man security commission, the Otto Di Guardia, was responsible for suppressing internal threats to the state & functioned similar to a modern secret police force.
The Byzantine chain of events which led up to the notorious Pazzi Conspiracy in April of 1478 can from a reader's perspective best be described as complicated, convoluted, & extremely difficult to follow, yet Hale's masterful synopsis of this confusing morass of murder & political intrigue render it to his audience in a clearly-explained, compulsively-readable, perfectly-distilled fashion which renders it a utter pleasure to learn about & a true pleasure to read. The seeds of the plot are sown when Taddeo Manfredi, Lord of Imola, seeks greener pastures living in luxury & comfort by selling his lordship for a hefty sum to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, who after assuming possession of Imola enters into a confusing arrangement with Pope Sixtus IV by ceding control of the town to Sixtus' nephew, Girolamo Riario, as a partial dowry for Riario's marriage to the Duke's illegitimate daughter, Caterina Sforza, with the dowry's second portion coming in the form of a large sum of cash which the Pope plans to obtain by securing a loan from the Medici Bank of Lorenzo 'The Magnificent'. But having Girolamo Riario as lord of Imola most assuredly does not satisfy the Laurentine prerogative, & Lorenzo's refusal to honor the loan infuriates Sixtus, who quickly replaces him with his Pazzi rivals as the new papal bankers, who are all too eager to satisfy all of his financial needs. These fateful events were the chief catalyst behind the assassination attempt on 26 April 1478 of Lorenzo de'Medici & his younger brother Giuliano which was backed by multiple parties, & came less than 2 years after Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza's own assassination on 26 December 1476.
The first Medici came forth from the valley roughly 20 miles north-east of Florence that is called the Mugello, & the earliest documentary reference to them being in the city itself dates back to the early Duocento. The father of the clan's most successful banker, Giovanni di Bicci de'Medici, was Everardo 'Bicci' de'Medici, & it was his line along with that of his cousin, Vieri de'Medici, who were out of the 9 Medici branches the only 2 who were permitted to hold public offices after a pair of attempted plots to overthrow the government were discovered in 1400. Professor Hale postulates on possible reasons for the at-times lawless behavior of the early Medici of the Trecento : "In part this may have been due to a riotousness that brought a plethora of lawsuits upon them & led to five death sentences in the seventeen years 1343-60. But violence & lawbreaking were common in fourteenth-century Florence. More important, in all probability, were quarrels among the nine branches of the family who had by now moved in from the countryside, their inability to project, as did families like the Strozzi & the Albizzi, a coherent image of what they stood for politically as a clan." Near the end of the century Antonio de'Medici was exiled for conspiring against the government, & in 1378 Salvestro de'Medici was a major participant in the infamous Ciompi Revolt, which can be read about in Book III.13-19 of Niccolò Machiavelli's Istorie Fiorentine. The author does an exceptional job with this section, as there are very few English chronicles of the early Medici to speak of, well-written or otherwise.
Sir John Rigby Hale's 1977 Florence & The Medici : The Pattern Of Control is an uncommonly well-written, impeccably-researched treatise that comes with the strongest possible recommendation to any reader who is curious about possibly learning more about the Medici & would enjoy reading a comprehensive, all-encompassing study with exceptional historical background that provides an excellent overview to the 300 years during which they achieved power first as princes of Florence & then as Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The later chapters focus on such influential Medici leaders as Grand Duke Cosimo I de'Medici, son of Giovanni Delle Bande Nere, the Warrior Medici, Catherine de'Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo II de'Medici, Duke of Urbino, who went on to become Queen of France, & the later Medici Grand Dukes, Cosimo III & Gian Gastone de'Medici. Excellent studies of these later Medici authored by the 20-century British historian Harold Acton, whom also wrote an exceptional 1979 study of the Pazzi Conspiracy. Professor Hale's study is truly a one-of-a-kind experience, & it is abundantly obvious that it is the product of a staggering, & frankly admirable, amount of hard work, dedication, & research. It is most highly recommended for readers with any interest at all in the most famous of Florence's illustrious aristocratic families during the Renaissance & Enlightenment periods.
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April 6, 2016A moving portrait of a great family. The power that resided in the Medici family reigned for centuries. Their empire was incredible.
August 26, 2022
Il ritratto della più grande famiglia italiana e del suo potere attraverso i secoli.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews