Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xiii, 338 pages; 24 cm

Summary

1. "This biography brings to life an important but little known Renaissance figure and also fills a gap in the history of Florence and Italy after the death of Lorenzo il Magnifico in 1492. As Lorenzo's eldest son, Piero enjoyed two years in power as Florence's unofficial ruler before the French invasion of 1494 brought down his regime and led to his nine-year exile. Although condemned as a tyrant and criticized for his princely behaviour as an Orsini, his life and letters reveal an interesting but divided personality: clever and cultured as a scholar, confidant as a patron and sportsman, but diffident as a city-politician and often cowardly in times of crisis. He provides a valuable lens through which to view many aspects of Renaissance society - its social life and marriage rituals, its art, music and cultural patronage, its sports - and especially its politics. As well as shedding new light on his father's double politics, which Piero continued, his life suggests how in less fraught times he might have provided Florence's expanding state with the new sort of leader it needed, more of a patron and mediator than a city politician or prince"--

Subject

1. Medici, Piero di Lorenzo de', 1472-1503
2. 1421-1737
3. Politics and government
4. Florence (Italy) > Biography
5. Florence (Italy) > Politics and government > 1421-1737
6. Italy > Florence

Genre/Form

1. Biographies.

Contents

1. Piero's childhood -- Family backgrounds -- Education under Poliziano's tutelage -- Political tyro at home and abroad, 1484-86 -- Marrying into the Roman aristocracy, 1487-88 -- The choice of Hercules : between duty and pleasure, 1488-89 -- Piero as Lorenzo's deputy, 1490-91 -- Cultural patronage and sportsmanship -- Ruling as patrons in Florence's dominium and beyond -- Lorenzo's death and its aftermath, 1492 -- Balancing power in Italy, 1493 -- The Viper with its tail in Florence, 1493 -- The crux :1494 -- The French Descent -- Revolution in Florence -- Perambulating Italy, 1494-97 -- 'Contamination in the labyrinth' : networking in exile -- The Last Years, 1498-1503 -- Piero's burial and legacy -- Power and legitimacy in Renaissance Italy.

Call number

1. JFE 21-997

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 308-324) and index.

Author

1. Brown, Alison, 1934- author.

Title

1. Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and the crisis of Renaissance Italy / Alison Brown.

Publisher

1. Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 308-324) and index.

Chronological term

1. 1421-1737

Other form:

1. Online version: Brown, Alison, 1934- Piero de Medici and the crisis of Renaissance Italy Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020. 9781108783798 (DLC) 2019038167

LCCN

1. 2019038166

ISBN

1. 9781108489461 hardback
2. 110848946X hardback
3. 9781108746571 paperback
4. 1108746578 paperback
5. 9781108783798 (epub)

Research call number

1. JFE 21-997