The Fruit of Liberty: Political Culture in the Florentine Renaissance, 1480-1550 (I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History)

"In the middle decades of the sixteenth century, the republican city-state of Florence-birthplace of the Renaissance-failed. In its place the Medici family created a principality, becoming first dukes of Florence and then grand dukes of Tuscany. The Fruit of Liberty examines how this transition occurred from the perspective of the Florentine patricians who had dominated and controlled the republic. The book analyzes the long, slow social and cultural transformations that predated, accompanied, and facilitated the institutional shift from republic to principality, from citizen to subject. More than a chronological narrative, this analysis covers a wide range of contributing factors to this transition, from attitudes toward office holding, clothing, and the patronage of artists and architects to notions of self, family, and gender. Using a wide variety of sources including private letters, diaries, and art works, Nicholas Baker explores how the language, images, and values of the republic were reconceptualized to aid the shift from citizen to subject. He argues that the creation of Medici principality did not occur by a radical break with the past but with the adoption and adaptation of the political culture of Renaissance republicanism."--Résumé de l'éditeur "In the middle decades of the sixteenth century, the republican city-state of Florence-birthplace of the Renaissance-failed. In its place the Medici family created a principality, becoming first dukes of Florence and then grand dukes of Tuscany. The Fruit of Liberty examines how this transition occurred from the perspective of the Florentine patricians who had dominated and controlled the republic. The book analyzes the long, slow social and cultural transformations that predated, accompanied, and facilitated the institutional shift from republic to principality, from citizen to subject. More than a chronological narrative, this analysis covers a wide range of contributing factors to this transition, from attitudes toward office holding, clothing, and the patronage of artists and architects to notions of self, family, and gender. Using a wide variety of sources including private letters, diaries, and art works, Nicholas Baker explores how the language, images, and values of the republic were reconceptualized to aid the shift from citizen to subject. He argues that the creation of Medici principality did not occur by a radical break with the past but with the adoption and adaptation of the political culture of Renaissance republicanism."--Résumé de l'éditeur

In the middle decades of the sixteenth century, the republican city-state of Florence--birthplace of the Renaissance--failed. In its place the Medici family created a principality, becoming first dukes of Florence and then grand dukes of Tuscany. The Fruit of Liberty examines how this transition occurred from the perspective of the Florentine patricians who had dominated and controlled the republic. The book analyzes the long, slow social and cultural transformations that predated, accompanied, and facilitated the institutional shift from republic to principality, from citizen to subject.More than a chronological narrative, this analysis covers a wide range of contributing factors to this transition, from attitudes toward officeholding, clothing, the patronage of artists and architects to notions of self, family, and gender. Using a wide variety of sources including private letters, diaries, and art works, Nicholas Baker explores how the language, images, and values of the republic were reconceptualized to aid the shift from citizen to subject. He argues that the creation of Medici principality did not occur by a radical break with the past but with the adoption and adaptation of the political culture of Renaissance republicanism.

Frontmatter List of Illustrations (page ix) Preface (page xi) Introduction States and Status in the Florentine Renaissance (page 1) 1 Imagining Florence The Civic World of the Late Fifteenth Century (page 15) 2 Great Expectations The Place of the Medici in the Office-Holding Class, 1480-1527 (page 49) 3 Defending Liberty The Climacteric of Republican Florence (page 98) 4 Neither Fish nor Flesh The Difficulty of Being Florentine, 1530-1537 (page 142) 5 Reimagining Florence The Court Society of the Mid-Sixteenth Century (page 189) Conclusion Florence and Reneissance Republicanism (page 228) Appendix 1: A Partial Reconstruction of the Office-Holding Class of France, ca. 1500 (page 235) Appendix 2: Biographical Information (page 254) Notes (page 279) Acknowledgments (page 357) Index (page 359) In the sixteenth century, the city-state of Florence failed. In its place the Medicis created a principality, becoming first dukes of Florence and then grand dukes of Tuscany. The Fruit of Liberty analyzes the slow transformations that predated and facilitated the institutional shift from republic to principality, from citizen to subject.