Medici Family – Powerful Renaissance Godfathers And Patrons Of Galileo Galilei

David Tee - AncientPages.com - The term Renaissance Godfathers describes the Medici family well.

The fact that the Medici family were bankers at heart gave them access to untold resources, which they used to gain civic power in Florence. As history tells us, they were not the only famous or powerful family of the Renaissance era, but they lasted the longest and ruled Florence for roughly 250 years.

Left: Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the last of the Grand Ducal line, in Minerva, Merkur und Plutus huldigen der Kurfürstin Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (English: Minerva, Mercury and Pluto pay homage to the Electress Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici) after Antonio Bellucci, 1706. Credit: Public Domain.
Middle: The Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena, the Grand Duke Cosimo II, and their elder son, the future Ferdinando II. Credit: Public Domain. Right: Cosimo III, the Medicean grand duke, in Grand Ducal regalia. Credit: Public Domain

The Albizzi family were far more powerful and richer than the Medici, but they preferred war to governing and were soon ousted for their war efforts. Luca Albizzi married a cousin of the Medici family, which helped bring the Albizzi's riches and political power to an end.

Other families that became enemies of the Medici’s were the Pazzi and the Borgia. Both families made accusations and engaged in treacherous acts against the Medici family, but neither succeeded. They fell into ruin not long after their failures.

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