Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Medici family, who dominated Florence's political and cultural life for three centuries. The House of Medici came to prominence in Italy in the fifteenth century as a result of the wealth they had built up through banking. With the rise of Cosimo de' Medici, they became Florence's most powerful and influential dynasty, effectively controlling the city's government. Their patronage of the arts turned Florence into a leading centre of the Renaissance and the Medici Bank was one of the most successful institutions of its day. As well as producing four popes, members of the House of Medici married into various European royal families.
With:
Evelyn Welch Professor of Renaissance Studies at King's College, University of London
Robert Black Professor of Renaissance History at the University of Leeds
Catherine Fletcher Lecturer in Public History at the University of Sheffield
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
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| 0:45.9 | the program. Hello in 1433 Kosemo Day Medici one of France's wealthiest |
| 0:51.9 | citizens was staying in his country village just to the north of the city. |
| 0:55.0 | His enemies seized power and grasped the opportunity to have a Cosimo arrested on a charge of treason. |
| 1:00.0 | He was ordered by the city's chief magistrate to return to Florence where he was |
| 1:04.2 | imprisoned in the dungeon of the town hall. But there was sooner dramatic reverse than Cosimo's |
| 1:08.7 | fortunes. Thanks to Judicious bribery, he was released from jail and allowed to go into exile. |
| 1:14.0 | Yet within a year the Meediche family was back in control of Florence's government |
| 1:18.0 | and Cosimo was able to return jubilantly to the city. |
| 1:21.0 | For the next three centuries or so the House of Madeići |
| 1:23.8 | dominated Florence's political and cultural life. Through their patronage of |
| 1:27.8 | learning and the arts Florence developed into one of the great centers of the |
| 1:30.8 | Renaissance, four Madeii men became Pope and through |
| 1:34.0 | strategic marriages they form connections with the number of major European |
| 1:37.6 | royal families. With me to discuss the Medici are Evelyn Welsh, Professor |
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