Family In The Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance was a time when people prospered, in which artists, Inventors, and scientists founded the concepts that helped create the modern world as we know it. Although, behind the great minds of the Renaissance were powerful families, in Florence, and Rome. One family helped fuel the Renaissance with their power and wealth, and another corrupt and power hungry. The Medici’s were one of the most powerful and wealthiest family in Florence due to the Medici Bank. They would lend money to many people, such as foreign princes, The Church, and Florence itself. The leader at the height of their rule was Lorenzo de Medici. He came to power after his father died in 1464, and the people of Florence chose him to take over. They were not mistaken, as “Lorenzo brought traditions of learning and and artistic patronage to a new level.” (Walker) This ultimately gave him the title of Lorenzo il Magnifico which means Lorenzo the Magnificent. Although, tragedy struck in 1478, when a Florentine family, the Pazzi’s, entered a conspiracy with Pope Sixtus IV to overthrow the Medici family. On Easter Sunday of that year, at the Santa Maria del Fiore, the famous Duomo of Florence, the Pazzi struck, and the priest stabbed Lorenzo’s brother Giuliano and a member of the Pazzi Family finished the kill with 18 stabs with a dagger. Lorenzo would survive this, and the people of Florence, outraged, hung the conspirators. However, in 1482, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by Lorenzo to create a silver lyre and “[...] bring it as a peace gesture to Ludovico Sforza, who ruled Milan as its regent.” (Wilde)
Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452. He had a lengthy
apprenticeship with Andrea Del Verrocchio in florence when he was 14. He also became a master artist in florence’s guild of Saint Luke and established his own workshop at 20. It was around this time that he worked for the Medici's. He studied anatomy, botany, geology, zoology, hydraulics, aeronautics, and physics. From 1502 to 1503, he worked as a military engineer for Cesare Borgia, the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) and commander of the papal army. The Borgia reign began in 1492, when Rodrigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI. His oldest son, Cesare, became a Cardinal the very next year. He married his only daughter, Lucrezia, to Giovanni Sforza, and it lasted about five years before it was annulled. Many dark rumors started spreading during this time about Lucrezia and insestaral relations with her father. Then came the first French invasion, but the Pope stood his ground and kept Rome from falling under rule of the French. Soon after, the pope's other son, Juan, was killed, and Cesare became the commander of the papal army, and married King Louis XIII daughter. Lucrezia married again, to Alfonso d’Este to secure some of Cesare’s conquests. “As the alliance with France now seemed to be holding Cesare back, plans were made, deals struck, wealth acquired and enemies murdered to take a change of direction, but in mid-1503 Alexander died of malaria.” (Wilde) This started the end of the Borgia reign in Rome. Cesare fled Rome soon after his father’s death, because his enemies were closing in. Lucrezia, loved by her people in her regent, died in 1519 giving birth, as did many women during this time. The Renaissance was a time period of great genius. A time when people rose from the ashes of plagues. It was not just a time that held a great sense of prosperity, but a time filled with drama in the ruling families. These families went through both triumph, and tragedy. The thinkers, and artists also created the pathway to the future, and we still use their idea’s today. The modern world would not be as it is today without the Renaissance.

Work Cited
Walker, Paul Robert.
The Italian Renaissance. New York: Facts on File, 1995. Print.
"Leonardo da Vinci." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
Wilde, Robert. "Who Were the Borgias and Why are they Perfect TV Show Material?" ThoughtCo. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr.
2017.