The Medici Podcast

The Pope, his nephew, an archbishop, and a mercenary decide Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano have to die (or at least be overthrown). Unfortunately, the conspiracy develops some hiccups, namely having to send a couple of clergy instead of a mercenary to take down Lorenzo...

Lorenzo resorts to unsavory methods in order to keep the Medici bank afloat. In the meantime, his path crosses with the man who would prove to be his most relentless enemy: Christ's representative on Earth himself. 

Not long after coming to power, Lorenzo de' Medici has to fend off enemies at home and abroad. Unfortunately, in the course of protecting Florence from a crisis that could spiral out of control, Lorenzo sets the stage for a humanitarian disaster. But how much was he really to blame?

Even as a small child, Lorenzo had been thrust into the role of the public face of the Medici regime. Now an adult, Lorenzo's own marriage to a Roman noblewoman from a clan claiming the Emperor Augustus and Julius Caesar as ancestors is a chance for the Medici to ascend even higher. Meanwhile, Piero is finally succumbing to his gout, just when both the domestic and foreign situations are starting...

An update on the show schedule for 10/29 and a thank you to everyone making sure this podcast isn't just me talking to myself.

Piero de' Medici narrowly escaped death or abduction. But did everything happen as Piero and his son Lorenzo said? And just how will the Party of the Hill survive when they apparently bet everything on one scheme? 

Piero de' Medici seems to be enjoying a smooth transition to power, but soon enough a rival political party takes shape on the high ground just across the river from the Palazzo de' Medici. When legal measures fail to dislodge the Medici, the so-called "Party of the Hill" proves itself more than willing to resort to more drastic measures. Meanwhile we get a better look at Piero, the math professor...

At the height of his political power, Cosimo de' Medici is being overwhelmed with illness and personal tragedy. Who will succeed him to his invisible, nameless throne? His son Piero, who unfortunately is a middle-aged man so sick no one thinks he will live for much longer. For maps, bibliographies, and more, go to medicipodcast.com. Support the show through Venmo: @ Chad-Denton-15 or https://www.p...

Cosimo de' Medici quickly established a regime that operated within Florence's constitution but gave Cosimo an almost unchallenged power over the state. Unfortunately, Cosimo's government was a delicate structure, and the pandemonium of Italian Renaissance politics threatened to bring it all tumbling down.  For maps, bibliographies, and more, go to medicipodcast.com. Support the show through...

With a combination of patience and political maneuvering, Cosimo turns the tables on his enemies and returns to Florence in triumph. His first major act is to host an attempt to reunify the long-divided Greek and Latin churches. It has rather mixed results, but it does make something clear to the rulers of Europe: Cosimo is no longer just a banker.   For maps, bibliographies, and more, go to...

As soon as he inherits his father's place as head of the rich, international Medici Bank, Cosimo gets a target on his back in a Florence where politics are increasingly molded by the sponsorship of the rich and not by the guilds. The minute he steps on the public arena, not only is Cosimo's political career is in danger, but his very life. 

For the second part of our two-parter on the Renaissance, we look at "the new." We see here how the Renaissance gave us new forms of art, music, and architecture, but also new notions of civility, stricter governments, state censorship, and even the decline of women's political influence. Check out maps, images, and more: medicipodcast.com/  Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/chad...

In part one of a two parter on the origins of the Renaissance, I discuss how Greek and Roman pagan culture survived the rise of Christianity and its persecution of pagans, why and how a bunch of scholars rediscovered the past, and how in their quest to recreate the virtues of antiquity they and their patrons accidentally ended up creating the modern world. 

He was a political exile who sided with the wrong people at the wrong time and lost the love of his life. Also he was one of the greatest writers in history and got to shape the modern Italian language. 

We close out Season 1, "The Early Medici", with a look at the life and death of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, whose descendants would become the branch of the family we usually mean when we talk about the Medici. Not only is the first prominent member of the family, however, he also founded the dynasty in the sense that he started the tradition of sponsoring forward-thinking artists, writers, and...

We take a step back from the life of Giovanni di Bicci dei Medici to look at banking, commerce, and religious and legal attitudes about usury and luxury in Renaissance Florence. How did the Medici and other Florentine dynasties prosper in banking when loans with interest were considered a grave sin and a form of theft? 

Around the dawn of the fifteenth century, two developments unfolded that would sooner or later change the future of the Medici family forever. In one, Valentina Visconti enters a miserable marriage with a French royal. In the other, Giovanni de Bicci de' Medici takes advantage of Europe being split between two and even three rival popes by (allegedly!) bankrolling the church career of a former sol...

Just a quick update along with a sincere thank you for your support. 

After Salvestro de' Medici helps stoke the flames of revolution, violence breaks out on the streets of Florence and a wool-comber is installed in the highest office of the republic. But who will really benefit from this proletariat revolt in the long term? 

In a time of simmering class tensions and growing exploitation of the poor, Salvestro de' Medici turns against his conservative comrades and declares he's on the side of the downtrodden. On his political agenda? Backing an all-out war against the Pope. 

In the spring of 1348, the Black Death reaches Florence, devastating its population but also clearing new avenues for the non-rich. In the aftermath, a moderately affluent landowner, Salvestro de' Medici, embarks on a political career. Just how far can Salvestro make it, between siding with the conservative establishment against his own family's populist sympathies and the antics of his violently...

In this special tangent episode, I take a step back from Florence and talk about republics in late medieval and Renaissance Italy, particularly how they functioned and what words like "republic" and "democracy" and "rights" meant to people at the time. 

Just giving a little peak behind the curtain and providing a brief update on when new episodes are coming. 

Facing famine, plague, an unending war, and an economic recession, the Florentines resort to handing the keys over to a French nobleman with a glamorous but mostly empty title. Meanwhile the Medici, although still lurking in the shadows from our point of view, manage to establish themselves as populists during the chaos and violence to come. 

Sometime before the dawn of the fourteenth century, a family named the Medici moved from a small village in the Mugello Valley in the Apennines to the bustling city of Florence. Eventually, they became successful bankers and one member was elected to the republic's top office. They also jumped right into the city's latest violent class and factional civil war.