Cosimo de’ Medici (1389–1464) was a Florentine financier, statesman, and philanthropist. He was the founder of one of the main lines of the Medici family that ruled Florence 1434–1537 during much of the Italian Renaissance. As the unofficial and benevolent despot of Florence, he contributed much to making it the intellectual and cultural jewel of 15th-century Europe.
Cosimo’s father, Giovanni de’ Bicci Medici, possibly created the Medici wealth, and Cosimo used it to fuel the machine of his power in Florence. In 1433, the ascendant Albizzi faction exiled him for his opposition to the imposition of taxes for what proved a disastrous war to conquer the Republic of Lucca.
Cosimo returned to rule permanently the next year, increased the Medici fortune, strengthened Florence by an alliance with Milan and Naples, and was a great patron of the artists of the early Renaissance. He also funded Europe’s first public library and made Florence the center of the new learning.
Cosimo was renowned for his generosity, mildness, and wit. Upon his death, a grateful signoria firenze (government of the Republic of Florence) decreed that on his tomb should be inscribed the words ‘Pater Patriae’ (‘Father of His Country.’)
Katharine Dorothea Ewart Vernon wrote the popular biography Cosimo de’ Medici (1899.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Cosimo de’ Medici
There is in gardens a plant which one ought to leave dry, although most people water it. It is the weed called envy.
—Cosimo de’ Medici
We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.
—Cosimo de’ Medici
Topics: Friendship, Forgiveness
All those things [meaning works of art] have given me the greatest satisfaction and contentment because they are not only for the honor of God but are likewise for my own remembrance. For fifty years, I have done nothing else but earn money and spend money; and it became clear that spending money gives me greater pleasure than earning it.
—Cosimo de’ Medici
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