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

Cosimo de’ Medici’s political power in, 3, 86–87, 106, 107–8, 137, 139–41, 143, 153–55

daily toil in, 37–38

dominions of, 67, 70 , 71, 77, 79, 85–86, 200, 205, 226

dry exchanges banned in, 46

duomo of, see duomo

emblem of, 17

French invasion of, 4, 9, 244–45

galley ships of, 118, 178–79, 198

Giovanni de’ Medici elected gonfaloniere of, 62

gold currency of, see florins, Florentine

government debt bonds in, 80–81

as international center of credit and art, 2

in Italy’s internal wars, 66–79, 84, 88–90, 99–100, 106, 116–18, 141, 146–47, 150, 218, 221, 244

Lorenzo de’ Medici’s political power in, 4, 199–200, 209, 225–27

Lorenzo de’ Medici’s political reform of, 226

Lorenzo de’ Medici’s proprietary view of, 208

Lorenzo de’ Medici’s taking of money directly from, 220

Medici-Albizzi power struggle in, 88–98

Medici bank branch in, 49, 81, 83, 91, 94, 112, 171, 180, 217, 231, 232

Medici family’s expulsion from, 234, 246

Medici family’s roots in, 28

Medici political power in, 117–18, 143–45, 148–49, 167, 200, 204, 217, 223

in “Most Holy League,” 147

nobility excluded from government of, 77, 162

Orsanmichele neighborhood of, 29

pawnbrokers fined or licensed in, 31

Piero de’ Medici’s flight from, 4, 9, 245

Piero de’ Medici’s political power in, 3, 155, 160, 163–67

political parties banned in, 84, 137

political structure of, see balia ; Councils; gonfaloniere della giustizia ; parliament, of Florence; priors; signoria

population of, 7

post-Cosimo de’ Medici power struggle in, 153–57, 163–67

pre- and post-Medici upheavals in, 6–9

property and wealth register in, 73, 81–83, 85

property tax in, 147–48

republican constitution of, 6, 88, 137, 148, 154, 158, 159

“secret things of,” 136–38, 151, 209

silver currency of, see piccioli

smells of, 37

tax assessments in, 33

Ten of War committee of, 86, 89, 90

textile industry in, 82

towers built by nobles in, 16

two ideal self-images of, 121, 127

Volterran tax rebellion against, 85–86

war debt in, 77, 79, 88

Florentine Histories (Machiavelli), 74–76, 78–79, 86–87, 90, 140, 147, 157

florins, Florentine, 17, 79–80, 90, 92

description of, 17

exchange between piccioli and, 31–35

as indivisible unit of currency, 36

sealed, 43

worth of, 34–37

florins, Roman, 43

Fortebraccio, Niccolò, 85–86

France, 65, 67–68, 183

Italy invaded by, 4, 9, 244–45

Franciscan order, 81

Frescobaldi, Castellano di Tommaso, 50

fundamentalists, compromisers and, 23

galley ships, 118, 178–79, 198

gambling, banned for Medici bank employees, 63

General Church Council of Lyon, 10

Genesis , 236

Geneva, 66, 72

as currency center, 112–13

Medici bank branch in, 76–77, 91, 112–13, 115, 170, 175

Genevan golden mark, 43

Genoa, 67–68, 77, 195–96, 198, 226

Germany, 9, 49, 50, 65

Ghibellines, 16

Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 8, 13, 62, 131

Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 166 , 168–69, 170, 225

Giotto di Bondone, 5, 10, 14, 123

Giovanni XXIII, Pope (Baldassarre Cossa), 55

Giovanni de’ Medici and, 47–48, 51, 57

struggle for papacy lost by, 51–52

tomb of, 53, 56 , 57–59, 121, 125, 242

God, Florence as city of, 121, 127, 136

Goes, Ugo van der, 178

gold coins, of Florence, see florins, Florentine

golden mark, 43, 113

gonfaloniere della giustizia , 106, 143, 155, 156, 160, 216

Cosimo de’ Medici elected as, 140

description of position, 62

election of, 87–88

function of, 94, 137

Giovanni de’ Medici elected as, 62

length of term served by, 87

Gonzaga, Federico, 238

Good Men of San Martino, 108–9, 127

gout, 5

description of, 3

suffered by Cosimo de’ Medici, 119, 127, 150

suffered by Lorenzo de’ Medici, 4, 226, 240

suffered by Piero de’ Medici, 3, 151, 157

Government of Florence Under the Medici, The (Rubinstein), 107–8

Gozzoli, Benozzo, 128–29, 129 , 151, 168, 169

Greece, 147

Greece, ancient, 57

Greek language and philosophy, 185

Gregory XII, Pope, 51

grossi , 114

Guadagni, Antonio, 100

Guadagni, Bernardo, 97–98, 100

Guelfs, 16

Guicciardini, Francesco, 6–7, 8–9, 193, 203, 222, 225, 226, 239, 243–44

Guidetti, Tommaso, 231

guilds, 33, 88

see also Exchangers’ Guild

Guinigi, Pagolo, 90

hell, 20, 21, 26, 45, 54, 57

blasphemers in, 14

sodomites in, 13–14

usurers in, 13–14

Henry IV, King of England, 24

Henry VI, King of England, 136

Hermaphroditus , 103

Hibbert, Christopher, 92

Histoire de la Peinture en Italie (Stendhal), 223

holding system, introduction of, 48–49

Holy Roman Empire, 6, 16, 51

Holy Sepulchre, 121, 131

Holy Sepulchre, Church of, 127

Holy Trinity, 116, 134–35

homosexuals:

Cosimo de’ Medici accused of having sympathy for, 102 , 103

viewed as sinners, 13–14

humanism, 19, 116, 172, 184, 211

art affected by, 130

Cosimo de’ Medici’s education in, 55, 159

Cosimo de’ Medici’s relationship with, 92–93, 108, 119, 121, 185–86

and justification of leaders, 238

Lorenzo de’ Medici’s relationship with, 206, 208

Lorenzo di Giovanni de’ Medici’s education in, 55

middle ages dismissed by, 206–8

philosophical breakthrough of, 57

prominent early figures in, 55

Savonarola’s fundamentalism as reaction to, 235

secularization of the West begun by, 92–93

Hundred Years’ War, 174

Iliad (Homer), 11–12

illustrissima , 65

Imola, 204, 213

indulgences, 20, 123, 125, 203

Innocent VIII, Pope, 225, 226, 228, 234, 241, 244

insurance, shipping and, 40

interest:

banche a minuto and, 31

discretionary deposits and, 23–24

on exchange deals, 44–45

exchange transformed by, 13

fifteenth-century vs. contemporary views of, 15

on tax loans, 80–81

see also usury

Isaac and Abraham, 8, 13

Ischia, 194–95, 196, 197

Islam, 14, 147, 195

Italian language, 225

Italy:

French invasion of, 4, 9, 244–45

illegitimacy and etiquette in, 64–65

Lorenzo de’ Medici’s political power in, 225

loss of independence of, 9

monopoly on European finance held by, 5, 21

political factions and warfare in, 6, 15–17, 66–79, 84, 88–90, 99–100, 106, 116–18, 141–42, 146–47, 150, 218, 221, 225, 244

political map of, 69

protective figures in, 66

Turkish invasion of, 223

united against Ottoman Turks, 147

Izmir, Gulf of, 195

Jerome, Saint, 64

Jerusalem, 127

Jesus Christ, 25, 74, 75, 116, 124, 130, 131, 238, 246

Jews, 116

Cosimo de’ Medici and, 103

as Florence’s only legal pawnbrokers, 31, 103

wearing of yellow circle required of, 103

John the Baptist, 53

John XXIII, Pope, 47, 52

Journey of the Three Kings (Gozzoli), 151

Kent, Dale, 108

kings:

coinage and, 12, 17

monetary exchange governed by, 12

Koran, 14

language, used as legal or moral camouflage, 24, 31

Last Judgment (in Baptistery), 54