Medici Money: Banking, metaphysics and art in fifteenth-century Florence

Accepting Piero’s illegitimate daughter, Maria — these little trials came with the territory — Lucrezia produced two daughters, Bianca and Lucrezia, and two sons, Lorenzo and Giuliano. Most of all, she presided over Lorenzo’s extremely noble education and, when his turn came, played an important role in choosing his wife. With Piero’s health so feeble, Lorenzo would have to marry young, while the family still had clout. In Rome, Medici banking agents were already negotiating for the hand of an Orsini. This was a family of feudal lords, cardinals, condottieri. A family with a private army, no less. Inevitably, news of the possible marriage fed the Florentine opposition. Why was Piero looking outside his hometown for his son’s wife? People started complaining, remarks Machiavelli, “that he who does not want citizens as relatives wants them as slaves.” Before bankers and feudal lords could mix, Piero de’ Medici would have to survive this dangerous summer of 1466.

IN BED, Piero calls for lists to be made of those for him, those against. Interestingly, the two lists include many of the same names. It’s a good sign: minds are malleable, or susceptible to patronage perhaps. In late August, the sick man precipitates the crisis. An ambush, he claims, was laid to murder him as he was being carried toward Florence in a litter from the family villa in Careggi. The assassins were troops of Borso d’Este, marquis of Ferrara. Could this be true? They were in the pay of Luca Pitti and Agnolo Acciaiuoli. So Piero claims. Anyway, he is taking up arms in response. Suddenly, the whole Medici countryside to the north of the town is on the move. Two thousand Milanese troops are approaching from Bologna. And I need 10,000 florins, Piero tells his business partner and cousin Pierfrancesco. At once!

Despite having sworn that oath to defend the republic, Pierfrancesco obeys. Why? Does he believe this unlikely assassination story? Is he afraid that if Piero were to be murdered, the bank might collapse? Whatever the reason, he produces this vast sum at once, in cash. Hours later, all the bread, wine, and arms in the town have been bought up. These provisions are a magnet to the waverers. Scaffolding appears around the Palazzo Medici, creating vantage points from which to pelt attackers. The nearest city gate is seized to allow friendly troops to enter. So much for the coward who would run away from everything that required effort.

The opposition is thrown. They are indeed in alliance with Borso d’Este of Ferrara, but can they get the condottiere and his army into the town before the Milanese arrive? Are they willing to put their hands in their pockets, or other people’s, as deeply and drastically as Piero has? They hesitate. To arms, Niccolò Soderini insists. They must ride through the streets, now, rousing the common people who are doubtless on their side. They must attack Piero’s house. There is no time to lose. But what, the others ask, if the people, after winning, want real power? What if, having sacked Piero’s palazzo, the plebs start attacking other palazzi? In the middle of the night, armed men bang on the gates of the Palazzo Medici. Panic spreads among Piero’s defenders. It’s only Antonio Ridolfi, another supporter come to join them. The opposition has missed its moment. It is never enough just to have money — the Strozzi family, for example had had more money than the Medici in 1433, and they were still in exile — you must know how to use it when it matters. Above all, you can never afford to be tight.

Piero staged this melodrama on August 27, one day before a new signoria was to be elected, by lot. Was this because he feared that he would need to be armed if the draw went against him? Or because he had fixed the election somehow and knew it would be in his favor? As it turned out, the new signoria was decidedly pro-Medici. Fixed or not, nothing could have demonstrated more clearly the need for a less erratic form of election.

There is now a four-day interregnum before one signoria hands over to another. The city is surrounded by foreign troops, from both sides. Anything could happen. Negotiations begin. To discourage rash decisions, Piero makes promises. Behind the scenes, the Medici bank’s general director, Francesco Sassetti, goes to talk to the aging Pitti. Time to change sides, Luca. And Pitti, the figurehead of the opposition, betrays his friends in exchange for three guarantees: the promise of a position as accoppiatore for himself; the appointment of his brother to the otto di guardia (with the power over exile); and the marriage of his daughter Francesca to “someone very close to Piero.” By whom Pitti believes they mean Piero’s eldest son and heir, Lorenzo.