The Renaissance Times

So back to January 1417. Poggio made a number of book hunting trips that winter. So he must have had a lot of funding from back home. Here’s a short clip from today’s episode:   Bruni wrote to him, saying “keep going, don’t worry about the cost, I’ll cover them all, just find more books” […]

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Poggio had to use all of his talents to talk his way into monastery libraries. In some he had to be super serious. In others, he would tell wild stories about stupid peasants, or sexy housewives and rapey priests. Whatever it takes to get his hands on their books.

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In the year 1417, 17 years before Cosimo De Medici took control of Florence, a man called Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini went hunting in the middle of Germany. Hunting for manuscripts. Thanks to Poggio, we have today several masterpieces of Roman literature, including Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria, Vitruvius’ De Architectura, and Lucretius’ On The Nature Of […]

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The return of Cosimo de Medici! On 5 October, 1434, Cosimo arrived at his villa outside Florence and stopped for some food. The Signoria sent him a message begging him NOT to arrive that day, because they thought it would cause a riot. So he sneaks in at night and goes straight to visit the Pope. Rinaldo degli […]

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By April 1434, six months after Cosimo de Medici’s banishment, the people were turning against Rinaldo degli Albizzi.  Even the banking families weren’t supporting him, not sure he could be around much longer. According to Cosimo, nobody could be persuaded to fill the city treasury ‘with so much as a pistachio nut’. He was so unpopular, that supporters […]

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So Cosimo de Medici is sent into exile by his enemies. As is the rest of the family. But at least he’s alive. And the business survived. So he’s still FILTHY rich.  It could have been a lot worse. He ends up living at the San Giorgio Maggiore monastery in Venice. Florence is in the control […]

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Albizzi tries to get the Signoria to pass the death sentence on Cosimo. Meanwhile, Cosimo waits nervously for his brother Lorenzo, Niccolo da Tolentino and his mercenaries to rescue him from his cell, while expecting his execution to come at any time.  

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Florence’s war with Lucca was like the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. It set off a string of conflicts across northern Italy. When Cosimo gets back to the city, he finds it in chaos and broke. So he bails it out. And then he gets arrested.  

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When the Florentines attack the town of Lucca in 1430, Milan sends mercenary Francesco Sforza to their defense. The Florentines, outmatched militarily, do what rich people always do when they get in trouble – they bribe their way out of it.

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While in Rome, Cosimo gets himself a sexy slave girl – Maddalena. And when Papa Joe dies, Cosi took over as head of the family. He decided the Medici should have a genuine palazzo of their own and commissioned old mate Bruno to design something nice. And he also commissioned sculptor Donatello to produce a bronze statue of […]

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