The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici
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Authors: Christopher Hibbert
PENGUIN BOOKS
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE
HOUSE OF MEDICI
Christopher Hibbert was born in Leicestershire in 1924 and educated at Radley and Oriel College, Oxford. He served as an infantry officer during the war, was twice wounded and was awarded the Military Cross in 1945. Described in the
New Statesman
as ‘a pearl of biographers’, he is, in the words of
The Times Educational Supplement
, ‘perhaps the most gifted popular historian we have’. His many highly acclaimed books include the following titles, most of which are published by Penguin:
The Destruction of Lord Raglan
(which won the Heinemann Award for Literature in 1962),
London: The Biography of a City, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, The Great Mutiny: India 1857, The French Revolution, Garibaldi and His Enemies, Rome: The Biography of a City, Elizabeth I: A Personal History of the Virgin Queen, Florence: The Biography of a City, Nelson: A Personal History, George III: A Personal History
and
The Marlboroughs: John and Sarah Churchill 1650– 1744
.
Christopher Hibbert is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Hon. D. Litt. of Leicester University. He is married with two sons and a daughter, and lives in Henley-on-Thames.
CHRISTOPHER HIBBERT
AND FALL OF
THE HOUSE
OF
MEDICI
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Allen Lane 1974
Published in Penguin Books 1979
34
Copyright © Christopher Hibbert, 1974
All rights reserved
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
ISBN: 978-0-14-192714-5
FOR EVE WEISS
AND IN MEMORY OF
ROBERTO
FLORENCE AND THE FLORENTINES
‘
A Florentine who is not a merchant… enjoys no esteem whatever
’
THE RISE OF THE MEDICI
‘
Always keep out of the public eye
’
ENEMIES OF THE ALBIZZI
‘
He has emblazoned even the monks’ privies with his balls
’
EXILES AND MASTERS
‘
He is King in all but name
’
WAR AND PEACE
‘
Rencine? Rencine? Where is Rencine?
’
ARTISTS AND MOURNERS
‘
Too large a house now for so small a family
’
THE YOUNG LORENZO
‘
A naturally joyful nature
’
THE POPE AND THE PAZZI
‘
Do what you wish provided there be no killing
’
THE SAVIOUR OF FLORENCE
‘
That son of iniquity and foster-child of perdition
’
LORENZO: PATRON, COLLECTOR AND POET
‘
He had a full understanding of such and all other things
’
THE EXCOMMUNICANT
‘
Someone has his seat in Hell already
’
RETURN OF THE MEDICI
‘
The town of Prato was sacked, not without some bloodshed
’
‘PAPA LEONE!’
‘
God has given us the Papacy. Let us enjoy it!
’
THE MARCH ON ROME
‘
To teach the Pope a lesson he would never forget
’
SIEGE AND MURDER
‘
Mild measures are useless
’
DUKE COSIMO I
‘
There is little joy to be discerned in the faces of the people
’
THE HEIRS OF COSIMO
‘
Such entertainments have never been seen before
’
COSIMO III AND THE GRAND PRINCE FERDINANDO
b‘
Eighteen years is enough. It will serve out my time
’
THE LAST OF THE MEDICI
‘
Florence is much sunk from what it was
’
NOTES ON BUILDINGS AND WORKS OF ART
THE PRINCIPAL MEDICI PORTRAITS, BUSTS AND STATUES IN FLORENCE