Piero DI Lorenzo De'' Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy

Uses Piero de' Medici's life as a prism to throw new light on the crisis in Renaissance Italy that revolutionised culture and political thinking.

List of contents

Introduction; Part I. The Early Years: 1. Piero's childhood; 2. Family backgrounds; 3. Education under Poliziano's tutelage; 4. Political tyro at home and abroad, 1484-86; 5. Marrying into the Roman aristocracy, 1487-88; 6. The choice of Hercules: between duty and pleasure, 1488-89; 7. Piero as Lorenzo's deputy, 1490-91; Part II. Between Republicanism and Princely Rule: 8. Cultural patronage and sportsmanship; 9. Ruling as patrons in Florence's dominium and beyond; Part III. Piero in Power: 10. Lorenzo's death and its aftermath, 1492; 11. Balancing power in Italy, 1493; 12. 'The Viper with its tail in Florence', 1493-94; 13. The crux: 1494; 14. The French Descent; 15. Revolution in Florence; Part IV. Piero in Exile: 16. Perambulating Italy, 1494-97; 17. 'Contamination in the labyrinth': networking in exile; 18. The last years, 1498-1503; 19. Piero's burial and legacy; Conclusion: 20. Power and legitimacy in Renaissance Italy.

About the author

Alison Brown is Emeritus Professor of History at Royal Holloway, University of London, having been a British Academy Exchange Fellow at the Newberry Library Chicago, and an Invited Visiting Professor and Fellow at the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at the Villa I Tatti Florence. She is the author of the biography Bartolomeo Scala 1430–97, Chancellor of Florence which won the Premio Arnolfo in Colle Val d'Elsa in 1979 and The Return of Lucretius to Renaissance Florence (2010).

Summary

This life of Lorenzo the Magnificent's eldest son provides a portrait of an aspiring Renaissance ruler, and explains the crisis in Italy that caused his political downfall and exile. A musician, poet, sportsman, patron of the arts and exile, Piero illuminates the Renaissance at the moment of its transition from a civic to a princely culture.

Product details

• Authors: Alison Brown, Alison (Royal Holloway Brown, Alison (Royal Holloway University of London Brown, Alison (Royal Holloway University of London) Brown
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2020
• EAN: 9781108489461
• ISBN: 978-1-108-48946-1
• No. of pages: 350
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Biografien: allgemein, European History, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General, Political Ideologies, Social & cultural history, History - General History, HISTORY / Renaissance, Italy, Political leaders & leadership, c 1000 CE to c 1500, Social and cultural history, Political leaders and leadership, Political ideologies and movements, HISTORY / Europe / Renaissance