The Medicean Succession: Monarchy and Sacral Politics in Duke Cosimo dei Medici's Florence (I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History)

In 1537, Florentine Duke Alessandro dei Medici was murdered by his cousin and would-be successor, Lorenzino dei Medici. Lorenzino's treachery forced him into exile, however, and the Florentine senate accepted a compromise candidate, seventeen-year-old Cosimo dei Medici. The senate hoped Cosimo would act as figurehead, leaving the senate to manage political affairs. But Cosimo never acted as a puppet. Instead, by the time of his death in 1574, he had stabilized ducal finances, secured his borders while doubling his territory, attracted an array of scholars and artists to his court, academy, and universities, and, most importantly, dissipated the perennially fractious politics of Florentine life. Gregory Murry argues that these triumphs were far from a foregone conclusion. Drawing on a wide variety of archival and published sources, he examines how Cosimo and his propagandists successfully crafted an image of Cosimo as a legitimate sacral monarch. Murry posits that both the propaganda and practice of sacral monarchy in Cosimo's Florence channeled preexisting local religious assumptions as a way to establish continuities with the city's republican and renaissance past. In The Medicean Succession , Murry elucidates the models of sacral monarchy that Cosimo chose to utilize as he deftly balanced his ambition with the political sensitivities arising from existing religious and secular traditions. Contents 8 List of Figures 10 Prologue: The Scene 14 Introduction 21 1. The Familiarity of Terrestrial Divinity 29 2. Divine Right Rule and the Providential Worldview 63 3. Rescuing Virtue from Machiavelli 117 4. Prince or Patrone? Cosimo as Ecclesiastical Patron 146 5. Cosimo and Savonarolan Reform 176 6. Defense of the Sacred 205 Conclusion 256 Appendix: Glossary of Names 262 Sources and Abbreviations 272 Notes 274 Acknowledgments 356 Index 358 In 1537, Florentine Duke Alessandro dei Medici was murdered by his cousin Lorenzino dei Medici. His treachery forced him into exile and senate accepted aother candidate, Cosimo dei Medici. Gregory Murry argues that these triumphs were far from a foregone conclusion. Drawing on a wide variety of archival and published sources, he examines how Cosimo and his propagandists successfully crafted an image of Cosimo as a legitimate sacral monarch Cosimo dei Medici stabilized ducal finances, secured his borders, doubled his territory, attracted scholars and artists to his court, academy, and universities, and dissipated fractious Florentine politics. These triumphs were far from a foregone conclusion, as Gregory Murry shows in this study of how Cosimo crafted his image as a sacral monarch.