Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici

Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici, Duke of Urbino

Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici (born September 12, 1492 in Florence , † May 4, 1519 in the Villa Medici von Careggi ) came from the influential Florentine Medici family . From 1513 until his death he was the unofficial ruler of Florence and from 1516 Duke of Urbino .

Life

Medici period in exile (1494–1512)

Lorenzo was born in Florence to Piero di Lorenzo de 'Medici and Alfonsina Orsini . Thus he was a grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent . In the years from 1494 he was in exile with his family, from the end of 1503 orphaned on his father's side and only from 1512 did he become a notable figure in politics.

Nepot Pope Leo X. (1513-1519)

After the Medici returned to Florence, it was initially up to the uncle Giuliano di Lorenzo de 'Medici to manage the fortunes and to work in the hometown as the arm of Pope Leo X de' Medici, elected in March 1513 . The poor health of Giuliano helped Lorenzo to the position of the dynastic and political hope of his family. His uncle's death in spring 1516 at the latest set it up accordingly.

After the death of his uncle, the work The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli was dedicated to Lorenzo . The undisputed reason was the family's search for nephew possessions, insofar as they invited to explanations about rulership techniques.

When Francis I of France returned French power to Italy in the summer of 1515, Lorenzo was in charge of the Florentine forces after his appointment on August 12th of that year. However, he did not take to the field against the king, as Leo X did not dare to argue or wavered in his membership of the league formed against the French: In the days before the decisive battle of Marignano , Lorenzo was in Piacenza .

Since Leo X came to an arrangement with the King of France in the course of the Bologna negotiations of December 1515 at the latest, Lorenzo could hope to acquire rule with French arms help. The victim was the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria I. della Rovere , who had given the last pretext for his feudal privation by refusing to support the papal army. After the duchy was withdrawn, della Rovere quickly gave way in the summer of 1516, so that Lorenzo quickly triumphed with a first act against Urbino and was enfeoffed in turn on August 17th. However, the old duke returned from his Mantuan exile in February 1517 and left the Medici afraid until September 1517, as he humiliated the papal nephew with Spanish mercenaries and superior military capabilities. In addition, Lorenzo suffered a head wound from an arquebus on May 29, 1517 in a battle near Mondolfo , a place in Romagna .

Tomb of Lorenzo by Michelangelo (around 1530)

The connection with Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne served to insure the French alliance . After leaving Florence on March 22, 1518, Lorenzo married the count's daughter in Amboise in May of that year . The return fell on September 7th.

Nonetheless, death soon broke the ties: Madeleine died in April 1519 after the birth of her daughter Caterina , who later became Queen of France. Lorenzo died barely two weeks later, on May 4th, after an ordeal of bloodletting and all kinds of treatment attempts. His tomb has been in the Medici Chapel of the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence since it was restored by Michelangelo following his death .

swell

• Emmanuella Lugnani Scarano (Ed.): Opere di Francesco Guicciardini. Storia d'Italia. Turin 1981 (especially vol. 2).

literature

• Massimo Winspeare: The Medici. Florence 2000, ISBN 88-8347-057-5 , pp. 58-59.

Web links

Commons : Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Giovanni de 'Medici	Lord of Florence 1513–1519	Giulio de 'Medici
Francesco Maria I della Rovere	Duke of Urbino 1516–1519	Francesco Maria I della Rovere