Read Online The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici by Christopher Hibbert - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Christopher Hibbert
Ads: Link
changes calculated to arouse the least offence. Had it been possible to control and expand his bank without political influence he might, perhaps, have been content to remain even further in the background than he actually contrived to do. For he derived the greatest satisfaction from his business, sayingthat even if it were possible to procure money and possessions with a magic wand he would still continue to work as a banker. But as his father had been forced to recognize, a rich merchant in Florence was ill-advised to try to avoid public office. Even so, Cosimo succeeded in remaining the most powerful man in Florence for years without ever appearing to be much more than an extremely prosperous, generous and approachable banker, prepared to undertake whatever political or diplomatic duties were imposed upon him, and to help direct the financial policies of the State. He acted with the greatest skill to preserve his power, his friend, Vespasiano da Bisticci the bookseller, wrote. ‘And whenever he wished to achieve something, he saw to it, in order to escape envy as much as possible, that the initiative appeared to come from others and not from him.’ Unable to disguise his enormous wealth, he paid tax at a far higher rate than anyone else in Florence; but, like all rich men of prudence, he kept special accounts which, by exaggerating bad debts, showed his taxable income to be much lower than it was. So no one was quite sure just how rich he was. He was
Gonfaloniere
no more than three times in his entire life; he never considered the possibility of assuming a more obviously permanent control over the government, nor of offending Florentine susceptibilities by attempting any basic reform of the far from satisfactory constitution, other than by establishing a new council known as the
Consiglio Maggiore
, which was intended to have absolute control over national security and taxation and which later developed into the Council of One Hundred, the
Cento
. He scrupulously avoided display and ostentation of any kind, riding a mule rather than a horse, and when it suited him to do so, allowing the vain and talkative, flamboyant and ambitious but not over-intelligent Luca Pitti to appear to be the most powerful man in the Republic.
All was not, of course, as it seemed to be. Though the constitutional institutions and offices of the State remained as before, opponents of the Medici were conveniently excluded from election to the
Signoria
in times of political or military stress by the selection of candidates being entrusted to carefully chosen commissioners known as
Accoppiatori
. A majority of these
Accoppiatori
had links with theMedici party to which such prominent citizens as Agnolo Acciaiuoli, now recalled from exile, lent their support and of which the wily, eloquent Puccio Pucci, a brilliant organizer raised by Cosimo from the artisan class, was the acknowledged manager. The party was constantly enlarging its base. At Pucci’s suggestion the
Grandi
were now all declared
Popohmi
which gratified the nobles, who were thus theoretically rendered eligible for election to office, while pleasing the
Popob Minuto
who chose to interpret the measure as commend-ably democratic. The people were given greater satisfaction when it was seen that the most talented amongst them, despite their humble origins, were now considered, for the first time in the history of Florence, worthy of holding official positions in the State, though care was taken to ensure that this process did not go too far. The old noble families were still prevented from exercising any real power; and well over three-quarters of the population remained without any political rights at all. Of the 159 newly qualified citizens from the Santa Maria Novella quarter whose names were placed in the
horse
in 1453, no less than 145 were sons, grandsons or brothers of men who had been considered eligible for office in 1449.
Within a few years the Medici party was so strongly rooted
Gonfaloniere
no more than three times in his entire life; he never considered the possibility of assuming a more obviously permanent control over the government, nor of offending Florentine susceptibilities by attempting any basic reform of the far from satisfactory constitution, other than by establishing a new council known as the
Consiglio Maggiore
, which was intended to have absolute control over national security and taxation and which later developed into the Council of One Hundred, the
Cento
. He scrupulously avoided display and ostentation of any kind, riding a mule rather than a horse, and when it suited him to do so, allowing the vain and talkative, flamboyant and ambitious but not over-intelligent Luca Pitti to appear to be the most powerful man in the Republic.
All was not, of course, as it seemed to be. Though the constitutional institutions and offices of the State remained as before, opponents of the Medici were conveniently excluded from election to the
Signoria
in times of political or military stress by the selection of candidates being entrusted to carefully chosen commissioners known as
Accoppiatori
. A majority of these
Accoppiatori
had links with theMedici party to which such prominent citizens as Agnolo Acciaiuoli, now recalled from exile, lent their support and of which the wily, eloquent Puccio Pucci, a brilliant organizer raised by Cosimo from the artisan class, was the acknowledged manager. The party was constantly enlarging its base. At Pucci’s suggestion the
Grandi
were now all declared
Popohmi
which gratified the nobles, who were thus theoretically rendered eligible for election to office, while pleasing the
Popob Minuto
who chose to interpret the measure as commend-ably democratic. The people were given greater satisfaction when it was seen that the most talented amongst them, despite their humble origins, were now considered, for the first time in the history of Florence, worthy of holding official positions in the State, though care was taken to ensure that this process did not go too far. The old noble families were still prevented from exercising any real power; and well over three-quarters of the population remained without any political rights at all. Of the 159 newly qualified citizens from the Santa Maria Novella quarter whose names were placed in the
horse
in 1453, no less than 145 were sons, grandsons or brothers of men who had been considered eligible for office in 1449.
Within a few years the Medici party was so strongly rooted
Similar Books
