Name: Date: The Medici The Medici were a prominent family when Cosimo died after that produced four popes and two French thirty years in power, his queens. They controlled the Italian cityson and grandson state of Florence from 1434 to 1737 and continued his policies. were among the most wealthy and Cosimo’s grandson, powerful families of Europe during the Lorenzo, was not only a Renaissance. shrewd banker and clever Florence has been a prosperous city in politician; he was also a the Tuscany region of central Italy for scholar and a poet. Under Lorenzo’s centuries. After the fall of the Roman leadership, Florence became one of the Empire in the west, a number of most beautiful and prosperous cities on prominent families took the Italian peninsula, as Florence and the Italian control of the city and well as a center of the Language often fought wars among Renaissance. In 1861, the newly united themselves. In the 15th The Medici were Italian government began a century, the leading patrons who funded national literacy program to unify families of Florence artists and scientists. a kingdom with many languages decided they needed a Lorenzo was a patron of and dialects. Even the King, strong person in charge Leonardo di Vinci. Victor Emmanuel, spoke either to take charge of their Galileo Galilei tutored French, or Piedmont, a dialect of city. They chose Cosimo several generations of Italian spoken in northwest de Medici to take control Medici, though the family Italy. They declared the Tuscan of the government. withdrew their financial dialect spoken in Florence—not The Medici had been support for the scientist the Latin dialect spoken in a prominent family in when the church charged Rome—to be Italian, the national the region for centuries. Galileo with heresy. language of the Italy. Their name suggests a The last Medici ruler relationship with medicine; perhaps an died without an heir in 1737. Florence ancestor might have been a doctor. The came under Austrian and later French later Medici were shrewd businessmen control for more whose Medici Bank was the largest and than a century. In most respected financial institution of the 1861, the Florence Renaissance. briefly became the When Cosimo took control of the city, capital of the newly he maintained the appearance of unified kingdom of republican government by appointing Italy. relatives and people he could control to important positions. And sure enough, 2015 Mike Dowling, www.mrdowling.com, All rights reserved. Name: Date: Answer in Complete Sentences 1. Who were the Medici? 2. Explain how the Medici kept control of Florence for generations. *3. Lorenzo di Medici was a Renaissance Man because he had wide interests and was an expert in several areas. Name a man or woman in our society who fits that definition. Explain your reasoning. *This is a higher order learning question. You will earn credit for any reasonable answer. 2015 Mike Dowling, www.mrdowling.com, All rights reserved.