The Medici

Annotated and Illustrated in Two Complete Volumes

 

By George Frederick Young

 

.

 

" Facta duds vivent, operosague gloria rerum;

Haec manet; hate avidos effugit una rogos."—Ovid.

" Nescire autem quid antea quani natus sis acciderit,

id est semper esse puerum."—ClCERO..

 

WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

IN TWO VOLUMES.

 

[Translation.]

" The leader's deeds and hard won glory live ;

This remains ; this alone survives the funeral fires."—Ovid.

" Not to know the events which happened before one

was born, that is to remain always a boy."—ClCERO..

 

 

" The little present must not be allowed wholly to elbow

the great past out of view."—Andrew Lang..

 

 

THE MEDICI

 

Medici family members placed allegorically in the entourage of a king from the Three Wise Men in the Tuscan countryside in a Benozzo Gozzoli fresco, c. 1459.

 

 

PREFACE

 

There are in English several histories of three or four of the more important members of the Medici family; but there is none, either in Italian or English, of that family as a whole, the history of no less than nine out of thirteen generations having remained hitherto unwritten.

 

The history of the Medici is a deeply interesting story; while, besides its intrinsic interest, it helps us to acquire much knowledge about the re-birth of Learning and Art, about the history of Europe in perhaps its most important period, about the birth of Science, and about the great collections of Art possessed by Florence. For without referring largely to all these subjects no true picture of the Medici can be given.

 

My aim has been to write of them as a family — their rise, their " course upon the mountaintops of power," and their decline and end — and to keep the parts always in subordination to the whole. It may perhaps be thought that more might have been said in the case of one or two members of the family; but to have gone into greater detail regarding individuals would have had the effect of obscuring the general view, besides making the book far too long.

 

This history takes a somewhat different view of the Medici from that which has hitherto generally obtained. It is a strange fact that in their case the violent partisanship which swayed the historians of their time has been carried on into our own, and writers about them, whether belonging to their age or ours, are banded into two furiously opposing camps;1 making it very difficult to arrive at a true estimate. Those on the one side can see no faults, and give a picture which one feels to be untrue to life by reason of its successive eulogy ;2 while to those on the other the name of Medici appears to act like an intoxicant, rendering them incapable of seeing what the very facts recorded by themselves demonstrate, and making even facts telling strongly in favour of those concerned appear to such writers only to show a subtle policy towards a nefarious end. And it is those of the latter type who have been best known,8 and have consequently been followed by writers who, in guide - books on the art and history of Florence, have had occasion to allude to the Medici. There have been Florentines of note (now passed away), well read in the archives of their country, who have said that if only the world at large could study those archives it would discover that the time-honoured view of the Medici which has thus grown up was to a very large extent unjust, and far from the truth; but their voices have not been generally heard.

 

To " whitewash " historical characters is as great an offence to history as to traduce them, and the view to which I have gradually been led regarding the Medici has not been due to any original bias in their favour. On the contrary, I began this study entirely imbued with the time-honoured theory I have mentioned, and was only brought by degrees to a different opinion by coming to see that the admitted facts refused over and over again to square with the view of this family usually presented to us. I have therefore preferred to judge those concerned by their acknowledged deeds, rather than by comments thereon which (emanating from writers violently biassed against them) are found uniformly attributing good actions to ignoble motives, or distorting those actions until they become full of impossibilities..

 

Avoiding any attempt to make out the Medici as either this or that, I have endeavoured, eschewing all "legends," to detail simply the facts for which we have evidence. No crimes attributed to them have been omitted or slurred over. If the result is to show the Medici in a better light than hitherto has been the case, that is not due to any Such facts, for instance, as that when Cosimo returned to power in 1434 none of those who had attempted to take his life and ruin his family were put to death, or that Piero put down an armed rebellion without the loss of a single life and turned his enemies into friends, or that Lorenzo saved the life of the Cardinal Riario who had just attempted to murder him, are seen in their true significance when looked at apart from all such comments..

 

desire to " whitewash" them, but is simply the consequence of a want of any evidence for a large proportion of those crimes which have furnished the darker shades in the traditional picture of this family. I have also endeavoured to leave the facts to speak for themselves as far as possible, to narrate rather than to explain, leaving readers to form their own conclusions; as I am confident that in this way what the Medici were and did is likely to be more forcibly appreciated.

 

As regards the elder branch of the family, this book relates for the first time the histories of Giovanni di Bicci, Piero il Gottoso, and Lorenzo (Duke of Urbino); brings to notice certain points not previously known with reference to Cosimo Pater Patriae, the manner in which that title was given him, and his singular tomb; and throws some new light on the character and deeds of Lorenzo the Magnificent. It takes a different view from that hitherto held regarding Pope Leo X., Catherine de' Medici, and Pietro the Unfortunate. And it discloses for the first time the inner history of Pope Clement VII., the scheme which he formed, the manner in which he carried it out, and the motives underlying his (hitherto imperfectly understood) political manoeuvres with Charles V., Francis I., and Henry VIII.

 

As regards the younger branch of the family, this history is the first that has been written. In this portion of the subject the most notable points are: The various important achievements of.

 

Cosimo I. and Ferdinand I.; the character and importance of Eleonora di Toledo; the history of Anna Maria Ludovica, a member of the family who has been practically unknown, though most deserving of record; the solution of a problem long unsolved connected with the feeling regarding the Medici in their own city; the unveiling (through the results of recent research) of many misconceptions regarding Cosimo I. and his sons; the exposure of such errors as the common one of supposing that the palace known as the Pitti Palace was built by that family instead of by the Medici; the demonstration of the unique connection of the Medici with the birth of modern Science; and the disclosure of the immense gift made by the last of the Medici to Florence.

 

In the absence of any history of this portion of the family, it has not been recognised that the deeds of the younger branch in the domain of Literature, Art, and Science were, though different in character, of scarcely less importance than those of the elder branch. The elder branch advanced Learning and Art by the liberal expenditure of their wealth in that cause, their enlightened patronage, and their artistic taste; their art collections, however, being swept away. The younger branch did for Science what the elder branch had done for Learning; while it was they who collected all those artistic treasures1 which now form the attraction of Florence. Thus this portion of the history necessarily furnishes a large amount of information which was hitherto entirely wanting regarding the artistic possessions of Florence.

 

Lastly, as regards Art, this book explains for the first time the meaning of certain pictures, hitherto misunderstood, but whose true meaning a complete study of the Medici history reveals.

 

The chief of these are:—Gozzoli's frescoes in the Riccardi Palace (the Medici Palace), to which frescoes an entire chapter has been devoted; and the true meaning of Botticelli's pictures, " The Adoration of the Magi" " Fortitude" " The Birth of Venus" the "Primavera" and " Calumny." It also brings to notice a hitherto unknown statue by Gian da Bologna, called " The Genius of the Medici"; a hitherto unknown portrait of the celebrated Clarice Strozzi, of whom it had been supposed that no portrait existed; and a hitherto unknown portrait of the Princess Violante Beatrice, of whom also it had been supposed that no portrait existed; and gives the first reproduction of a lost portrait of Maddalena, eldest daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, of the recently discovered portrait by Raphael of Giuliano, third son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, which had been lost for three hundred and fifty years, and of nine other portraits of members of the Medici family which have not previously been known. And it demonstrates that the recent theories put forward regarding several of Botticelli's most important pictures are erroneous..

 

In the chapters relating to the earlier members of the family short notices have been introduced of the prominent artists of the time, not merely in order to show to how large an extent the Medici were concerned in their steady advancement to greater achievements, but still more because this is essential if the Medici are to be shown in their proper "setting." The favourite method of separating the history of the time from the history of its art would in this case have been exceptionally destructive; for it would have excluded from the biographical sketch of each head of the family that which in the case of many of them was their chief interest in life; and even to place such notices at the end of the chapter would have caused a similar separation.

 

The course adopted preserves better that close touch with the world of Art which is here essential, while it also assists to maintain the due sequence of events in regard to Art. These notices cease after the time of the " Interregnum " (1494-1512); to have continued them beyond that point, when the Tuscan school, which had so long led the way, began to merge into the larger field of Italy, would have had the effect of obscuring the history of the Medici with matters in which they had ceased to be any longer an important factor.

 

In the earlier chapters short abstracts have been given from time to time of contemporary events taking place in other countries, as this course, though unusual, is I think in the case of a history of this kind helpful, by keeping it in

touch with general history as it proceeds. The need for such abstracts gradually decreases as the history of the family advances.

 

In regard to the vexed question of references to authorities I have endeavoured to steer a middle course between quoting chapter and verse for every statement (a method as much loathed by the general reader as it is liked by scholars) and quoting no authorities at all. Either method is, of course, open to criticism from one side or the other, but I think the middle course adopted is that likely to be preferred by most readers.

 

In the notices on contemporary artists I have freely used extracts from other writers in detailing the special characteristics of the art of various painters and sculptors; as on such a subject it has seemed to me preferable to quote the words of others whose opinion must necessarily have far greater weight than my own.

 

I desire specially to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr F. A. Hyett's Florence in regard to the characters of Cosimo Pater Patriae and Lorenzo the Magnificent, to Mr E. Armstrong's chapter in vol. iii. of The Cambridge Modern History in regard to the administration of Tuscany under Cosimo I., to his Lorenzo de' Medici in regard to the character and writings of the latter, and to Count Pasolini's Life of Catherine Sforza in regard to that remarkable ancestress of the later generations of the Medici. Also to Miss Hope Rea's Donatello, Mrs Ady's Fra Angelico, Mr Langton Douglas's Fra Angelico, and Dr

Williamson's Pemgino, in regard to the art of those masters.

 

Original research has been carried out chiefly (though of course not entirely), with regard to that portion of the history relating to the last six generations of the family. And here a very large part of the information has, even more than from books and manuscripts, been gathered from what buildings and tombs, pictures, statues, and monuments have to tell, these having proved as valuable a mine of information as the records of the archives.

 

Added to this, I am also indebted to the researches of the late Professor G. E. Saltini for much valuable information in regard to this portion of the history of the family.

 

This book is written primarily for the general reader, but not exclusively so, and I trust that scholars may find in it not a little that is new to them, both in the domain of History and of Art.

 

At the same time, it does not pretend to be more than a very inadequate memorial of this interesting family; and none know its imperfections so well as myself. G. F. Y.

 

 

Florence, 12th October 1910.

 

 

VOL. I.

 

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED HISTORY

 

Florentine Histori1, by H. E. Napier.

 

Histoire de Florence, by Perrons.

 

History of the Commonwealth Florence, by Adolphus Trollope.

 

The First Tico Centuries of Florentine History, by Professor Yillari.

 

History of the Popes, by Rankc.

 

History of the Papacy, by Mandell t'reighton, Bishop of Loudon.

 

Histoire rles Papes, by Dr Louis Pastor.

 

The Cambridge Modern History, Vols. II. and III.

 

Italy and her Invaders, by Professor Hodgkin.

 

Lectures on Mediceval Church History, by Archbishop Trench.

 

Florence, by F. A. Hyett.

 

La Diplomatic Venitienne, by M. Armand Baschet.

 

Lettres de Catherine de Medicis, edited by Le Comte de la Fcrriere.

 

La Jetmesse de Catherine de Medicis, by A. de Reumont.

 

Venetian State Papers (1202-1607).

 

Spanish State Papers (1558-1G03).

 

Foreign State Papers—London (1558-1580).

 

Histoire de France, by Michelet.

 

Le Istorie Florentine, by Niccolo MachiavellL Istorie della Citta t-'i Firenze, by Nardi.

 

Storia Fiorentina, by Varchi.

 

Storia Fiorentina, by Guicciardini.

 

Ritratti (fhuomini illustri di Casa Medici, by Ammirato.

 

Histoire des liipubliques Italiennes, by Sismondi.

 

Storia della Bepubblica di Firenze, by Gino Capponi.

 

Archivio Storico inguardante la Storia dItalia; Firenze.

 

Storia del Qranducato della Toscana, by Galluzi.

 

Serie a"Autori risguardante la celebre famigliu Medici, by Moreni.

 

Celebrifamiglie Italiane, by Conte Pompeo Litta.

 

Firenze dai Medici ai Ijorena, by Giuseppe Conti.

 

Fatti e Aneddoti di .Storia Fiorentina, by Giuseppe Conti.

 

Firenze Citta Nobillissima, by Migliore.

 

Sotizie Istoriche delle Chiese Florentine, by Richa.

 

U Ville Medicee, by Baccini (1897).

 

Tragidie Medicee, by G. E. Saltiui (1898).

 

Xotu e Informazione della Signoriu di Firenze, by G. E. Saltini.

 

Gfi I'Uimi dei Medici, by Emilio Robiony (1905).

Gius Pubblico Popolare dei Toscuni, e Storia della R. Famiglia dei Medici, by il Cav. Comm. S. L. Peruzzi.

 

Life of Lorenzo the Magnificent, by William Roscoe.

 

Life of Leo the Tenth, by William Roscoe.

 

Lorenzo de' Medici, by Professor E. Armstrong.

 

Life and Times of Savonarola, by Professor Villari.

 

Life and Times of Niecolo Machiavelli, by Professor Villari.

 

Luerezia Borgia, by Gregorovius.

 

The Age of the Condottieri, by Oscar Browning.

 

Private Life of the Renaissance Florentines, by Dr Guido Biagi.

 

Florentine Life during the Renaissance, by Walter Scaife.

 

Cosimo de' Medici, by Miss Ewart.

 

Beatrice d'Este, by Julia Cartwright (Mrs Ady).

 

Isabella dEste, by Julia Cartwright (Mrs Ady).

 

Life of Catherine Sforza, by Count Pasolini.

 

Life of Charles the Fifth, by William Robertson.

 

Charles the Fifth, by Professor E. Armstrong.

 

The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy, by Burckhardt .

 

The Renaissance in Italy, by J. A. Symonds.

 

Florence, by C. Yriarte.

 

The Makers of Florence, by Mrs Oliphant.

 

Giovanni deUe Bande Nere, by Adolphus Trollope.

 

Jean des Bandes Noires, by M. Pierre Gautier.

 

Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini.

 

Life of Benvenuto Cellini, by J. A. Symonds.

 

Marie de Medicis and her Court, by Louis Battifol.

 

Women of the Valois Court, by Imbert de Saint Amand.

 

Women of Florence, by Professor Isidoro Del Lungo.

 

Milan under the Sforza, by Miss C. M. Ady.

 

The Medici Popes, by H. M. Vaughan.

 

Etudes de Critique et d'Histoire Religieuse, by Dr E. Vacandard.

 

Man and Manners at the Court of Florence (Horace Mann's letters to Horace Walpole), by Dr Doran.

 

Siena, by Langton Douglas.

 

Echoes of Old Florence, by Leader Scott.

 

Walks in Florence, by the Misses Horner.

 

The Palaces of Florence, by Mrs Ross.

 

The Chateaux of Touraine, by M. H. Lansdale.

 

ART The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, by Vasari.

 

Modern Painters, by Ruskin.

 

The Renaissance, by Walter Pater.

 

Sketches of the History of Christian Art, by Lord Lindsay.

 

History of Architecture, by Fergusson.

History of Architecture, by Professor Bannister Fletcher.

 

The Cathedral Builders, by Leader Scott.

 

Morning in Florence, by Ruskin.

 

The Principle of Art, by W. White.

 

Tuscan Sculptors, by Perkins.

 

The Appreciation of Sculpture, by Russell Sturgis.

 

Italian Painters, by Morelli.

 

The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, by Bernhardt Berenson.

 

The Painters of Florence, by Julia Cartwright (Mrs Ady).

 

Bruneileschi, by Leader Scott .

 

Fra Angelica and his Art, by Langton Douglas.

 

Fra Angelica, by G. C. Williamson.

 

Donatello, by Hope Rea.

 

Donatello, by Lord Balcarres.

 

Verrocchio, by Miss Cruttwell.

 

Antonio Pottajuolo, by Miss Cruttwell.

 

Luca e Andrea della Robbia, by Miss Cruttwell.

 

Luca della Robbia, by the Marchesa Burlamacchi.

 

Botticelli, by Steinmann.

 

Botticelli, by A. Streeter.

 

Botticelli, by Julia Cartwright (Mrs Ady).

 

Sandro Botticelli, by H. P. Homo.

 

Leonardo da' Vinci, by Edward M'Curdy.

 

life of Michelangelo Buonarotti, by J. A. Symonds.

 

life of Michelangelo, by Harford.

 

Piero della Francesco, by W. C. Waters.

 

Perugino, by G. C. Williamson.

 

Raphael, by H. Strachey.

 

Andrea del Sarto, by H. Guinness.

 

Pinturicchio, by March Phillips.

 

The Dominican Church of S. M. Novella at Florence, by the Rev.

 

J. Wood Brown.

 

 

CONTEMPORARY HISTORICAL EVENTS

1400-1536.

 

ART

1400-1512.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MEDICI

 

Volume 1

 

 

 

PROLOGUE.

 

In the fifth century storm upon storm out of the dark North swept away in a great deluge of barbarism all the civilisation of the western half of the Roman Empire. From the Atlantic to Constantinople, and from the Rhine and Danube to the" deserts of Africa, all that was learned and cultivated, all that was artistic and beautiful, was overwhelmed in an avalanche of ruin in which not only the triumphs of architecture, literature, and art, produced by many centuries of a high civilisation, but also those who could create such things afresh, were involved in one general destruction..

 

Then after a night of thick darkness, obscuring everything in Western Europe for two hundred years, during which these barbarian races are battling over the dead corpse of the Roman Empire, comes in the eighth century Charlemagne, creating a brief light for forty years. But on his death the darkness settles down again, wrapping all in gloom ; and again we read, " Barbarism and confusion reigned throughout Western Europe for a hundred and fifty years." Meanwhile, from

Arabia another deluge, that of the Mahomedans, sweeps in succession over the fair countries forming the eastern half of the Empire, creating there also a similar desolation. Gradually all that is left of the art and letters of the Roman Empire takes refuge in Constantinople, where it remains shut up, surrounded west, north, east, and south by the barbarian flood.

 

At length in the twelfth century the re-civilisation of the West is begun by the discovery in Italy of the code of the Roman law. Then come in the thirteenth century Niccol6 Pisano, and in the fourteenth century, Dante, Giotto, and Petrarch, to arouse men again to a sense of the beautiful and the cultivated; and Art and Literature begin to flow back to their long-deserted Western home.

 

And so, out of the very grave of that old civilisation of Rome, buried deep nine centuries before, comes the new inspiration, the Re-birth.

 

But as yet there was none with power to make these efforts produce their full fruit; none with power to unearth the treasures so long buried, to spread a knowledge of them throughout the West, and to make the voices of those long dead begin again to speak. While after these four fathers of the Renaissance1 had passed away Art and Literature threatened again to die, and the movement thus inaugurated to become but local and temporary.

 

And then, in the city which had produced three of theseTmen, arose a family who, with the_DQwer of wealth, and with a great love for these things, lifted Learning from its grave, spread a knowledge of it through "F.nrnpe gave Art the pnrniirnga.

 

ment it needed in order to advance to its highest achievements, and made that city the Athens of.

 

CHAPTER I. FLORENCE

"O Foster-nurse of man's abandoned glory, Since Athens, its great Mother, sank in splendour, Thou shadowest forth that mighty shape in story, As Ocean its wrecked fanes, severe yet tender; The light-invested angel Poesy Was drawn from the dim world to welcome thee." —SHELLEY.

STANDING on the hill of San Miniato, and looking down from thence, as so many belonging to bygone generations have done, at the city spread out at our feet, we see before us a city such as none other ever can be to a large portion of mankind, one in which things have had their birth which now form the life-blood of all the intellectual existence of Europe. As Yriarte says: "We must dearly love Florence, for she is the mother of all those who live by thought." Her outward beauty is palpable to all. The domes and spires of a smokeless city bathed in sunshine, the slopes of the Apennines, extending almost to its walls, covered with vineyards, olive plantations, gardens, and numberless luxurious villas, the silver thread of the river Arno winding away in the distance through the beautiful Val d'Arno, the "tender" colouring which in Tuscany is so marked a feature of the distant landscape, all these together make up a whole which is a dream of beauty.

But there is more to be seen than this, and Florence's charms are not confined to her outward beauty. For this is the city which produced the Renaissance,1 an achievement which will ever surround Florence with an unfading glory.

The influence she has thus exercised has secured for her a

world-wide interest. Undoubtedly the main attraction of Florence for the modern world is as a place where there breathes a stiller, higher atmosphere than that of the hurrying, striving twentieth century; a place where, if we will, the history of the past is made to rise before us, and where the masterpieces of Art strive to draw the mind upwards from the low level of the trivial, the ignoble, and the commonplace. It has been said, "The arts are the avenues by which the mind of man soars to its highest limits." If that be so, then in Florence if anywhere in the world must the truth of those words be felt. For in this city of Dante and Petrarch, of Ghiberti. Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Michelangelo, of Giotto, Orcagna, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci, not only one of those avenues, but no less than four of them, have been followed as far as the mind of man has ever penetrated along them.

We are going for a little while to be occupied amidst scenes instinct with the spirit of these men. Therefore, in looking at beautiful Florence let us try to think chiefly, not of her outward beauty, but rather of all the deep interests which she is able to unfold to us—in art, in history, in literature— bound up with the name of Florence for all time. To consider the high-souled thoughts which gave their birth to all that we go there to see: produced by minds which were able to make their city pre-eminent among all cities in painting, in sculpture, in architecture, and in poetry, and at the same time pre-eminent also in learning, and in the science of their age.

Thus, as we look down upon Florence from San Miniato we shall be drawn to think of the high aspirations of those who first planned to build that mighty dome,2 and who directed their cathedral to be designed "so as to be worthy of a heart expanded to much greatness"; to think of the conceptions of him who, while he was the father of all painting, could also be so great in architecture as to design that beautiful bell tower by its side; 3 of the strong character of

those freedom-loving Florentines who erected that solidlybuilt city fortress 4 to guard their supreme council from the effects of their own turbulent spirit; of all that lies collected under that small pointed spire in the background,5 telling of the dawn of the Renaissance of Art; or, again, of what a world of high-souled thought is represented in the line of statues in that colonnade 8—Florence's "Valhalla"—extending from the river to the fortress; that galaxy of the great, in poetry, in art, in learning, and in science, all produced by this single city, and containing, even though Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, and Botticelli are not there, at least twelve great names of which any one would suffice to make any other city famous. And as they look down upon us from their niches, they invite us to walk their streets in spirit with them—with Dante, and Giotto, and Orcagna, and Donatello, and Leonardo, and Michelangelo, and Galileo —and to be uplifted into the world where their thoughts dwelt, so that we too may be, if but for a moment, "among the immortals.".

Lastly, we shall be drawn to think of that family who for so many generations took a chief part in all that interests us in Florence; whose care for Learning and Art produced such wide effects; who preserved to the world most of those treasures of art which we now visit Florence to see; and who all lie buried in that church of San Lorenzo 7 which is marked by the smaller dome in the distance, where as their line came near its end they erected tombs which are those of crowned heads, tombs visited by all the world for their masterpieces of art and their magnificence.

The city is what those who once lived in it have made it.

And as we look at the memorials of themselves which they have left behind them (and which still belong to their descendants) we must not omit all thought of the race which made these men what they were. For this is Etruria, a country which has always, from the earliest times, led the way

in Italy, and from whence in the Middle Ages there came forth (as leaders of the movement which we call the Renaissance) a great succession of men of whom it has been said, "The dazzling light of their genius shines on through the centuries to show to future generations what man can be and do."3 So that these memorials of Florence's past are no dead records of a bygone time, but afford the strongest inspiration to us of the present day.

And since the Signoria of Florence, when starting at the end of the thirteenth century to build their cathedral, declared, in the document conveying their instructions to its architect, Arnolfo di Cambio, that the desire which animated them was that it "should be designed so as to be worthy of a heart expanded to much greatness, corresponding to the noble city's soul, which is composed of the souls of all its citizens," the great dome of Florence (whose construction was thus inspired by an aim so different from that which later on called into being its rival at Rome) may well, whenever from far or near it strikes upon the eye, act as a clarion-call to high and noble aims. The men who, in a mere government document ordering a great public work, could reach such a level were no common men. And in commenting on their words, Mr. Walter Scaife justly asks:—"Has the much-vaunted progress of civilisation during the six centuries that have since passed carried us so far beyond either the sentiments or the work of these men?".

But there is yet another attraction which Florence possesses for the modern world. And that is the vividness with which the past is there made to live before us; the way in which the twentieth century is enabled to look at the fifteenth even with the outward eye, and as if four swiftly-flowing centuries that have intervened were rolled back. The massive strength of the Bargello, of the Palazzo Vecchio, and even of ordinary buildings in every direction, forces upon us the recollection of the fierce fighting which these narrow streets have time after time witnessed. And while other cities have preserved

little round which interest connected with men eminent in History, Literature, or Art who passed their lives there can gather, Florence, which has held a leadership in Art and letters equalled by no other city except Athens, teems with memorials of those who gave her that leadership. The dome of the cathedral brings to our minds Brunelleschi, its nave re-echoes with the thundering eloquence of Savonarola, its beautiful campanile recalls to us Giotto; the Loggia de' Lanzi reminds us of Orcagna, the Baptistery bears record of Ghiberti, the Torre del Gallo still keeps alive the memory of "the starry Galileo." We see the house where Dante lived; we pass the shops where Giotto, Botticelli, and Andrea del Sarto worked; we follow the same streets by which Verrocchio, Ghirlandajo and Michelangelo went to their daily tasks; we stand before church doorways made beautiful by the art of Luca della Robbia; we listen to Donatello's voice as we gaze at the statues surrounding Or San Michele; we pace the corridors and cloisters of San Marco accompanied by the spirits of Fra Angelico and Savonarola. And in many an old fresco the faces, dress, and manner of life of the men and women of the Renaissance are brought before us with startling vividness.

But the full effect of this vivid realisation of the past which Florence forces upon us is best seen by comparing her with her great rival Venice. Mrs. Oliphant, speaking of Venice, says: 9— "After the bewitchment of the first vision a chill falls upon the enquirer. Where is the poet, where the prophet, where the princes, the scholars, the men whom could we see we should recognise wherever we met them, with whom the whole world is acquainted? They are not here. In the sunshine of the Piazza, in the glorious gloom of San Marco, in the great council chambers of the Ducal palace, tince so full of busy statesmen and great interests, there is scarcely a figure, recognisable of all, to be met with in the spirit—no one for traces of whom we look as we walk, or whose individual foot-

steps are traceable. Instead of the men who made her what she was, and who ruled ,her with so high a hand, we find everywhere the great image of Venice herself.... In her records the city is everything, the individual nothing. Venice is the outcome, not great names of individual Venetians." Mrs. Oliphant's subsequent remarks show that the root of the reason why Venice produced no prominent men was the inordinate love of money. A race with whom money-making and money-spending is the one serious interest cannot penetrate those "avenues by which the mind soars to its highest limits." Florence also loved money, but it was not her chief interest. And so we have this significant result: Florence, with Art and Learning as her passion, and with her long line of immortal names in every branch of these, the city which led the way in producing the civilisation of Europe; and, on the other hand, Venice, producing next to nothing of the kind,—no great poet, no great scholar, no great sculptor, no great statesman known to all the world, no great painter, even, until her rival had been leading the way in that particular for a hundred and fifty years, and had produced a host of such,—and leaving nothing behind her but her own exalted name, nothing still able to elevate mankind after her own glory had passed away.

It is a great contrast. And just as it is the lack of the human interest in the case of Venice that causes that "chill" to fall upon the enquirer, so on the other hand it is the abundant possession of the human interest that gives Florence her great attraction. The seed from which the fruit grew was, in the one case, the love of money, in the other, the love of Art..

.

CHAPTER II. THE MEDICI

WE turn from this glimpse of the city to those who were for over three hundred years its most prominent citizens.

The history of the Medici covers three and a half centuries (1400-1748), two of those centuries, the fifteenth and sixteenth, being the most interesting period of any both in History and in Art. It is a period which covers the change from mediaeval to modern history (which may be held to commence with the long triangular duel between Francis I, Charles V, and Henry VIII); it covers the time when the conditions changed from those consequent on the feudal system and small, isolated states, to those brought about by regular armies and powerful countries with clawing interests; it covers the time when the chief political power in Europe shifted from the great independent states of Italy (Venice, Milan, Florence, and Naples) to the northern countries, France, England, and Germany; it embraces the Reformation, with all that brought it about and that followed from it; and it includes the extinction of the (Christian) Eastern Empire and establishment of the (Mahomedan) Turkish Empire in its place, the discovery of a new world in America, the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, and in general the settlement of the different nations of Europe, after centuries of transition, in the localities they now occupy. As regards Art the period is even more impor- ''' tant; for with the year 1400 there began that wonderful fifteenth century which saw the birth of the Renaissance in Art, and produced a galaxy of great men in every branch of Art, such as the world had never seen before, and is never likely to see again.

The gradual rise of the Medici from comparative obscurity, and not by military conquests, to so high an eminence is one of the most remarkable things in history. From simple bankers and merchants they rose, in spite of much opposition and many vicissitudes, until they became the most powerful family in Europe, and indeed until there was a Medici on the throne of nearly every principal country.1 They are interesting from several very different points of view:— The important place which they took in history makes their story at times almost that of Europe. Cosimo Pater Patriae, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Pope Leo X, Pope Clement VII, and Catherine de' Medici, not to mention others, have made the name of Medici occupy a larger place in history than was probably ever taken by any other family.

Their patronage of Learning and Art. In this domain the Medici have never been approached by any others among the rulers of mankind. The Rothschilds of their time, their immense wealth was lavishly expended on the revival of Learning and the encouragement of Art. In painting, Fra Angelico, Lippi, Gozzoli, Ghirlandajo, Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael; in sculpture, Ghiberti, Donatello, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo; in architecture, Brunelleschi, Michelozzo, and Bramante; with a host of lesser names, all owed much to their assistance. As re-_ gards Painting this had specially important results; and just as the age of Pericles in Athens became the "classic period," or period of highest development, of the art of Sculpture, so the age of the Medici has become the classic period of the art of Painting.

Their connection with the Reformation. In this great~~ movement which convulsed all Europe throughout the greater part of the sixteenth century, the two Popes who belonged to this family2 were those chiefly concerned— namely, Leo X, Luther's great antagonist, and Clement VII, the Pope in whose pontificate England repudiated the claim

of the Church of Rome to exercise supremacy over the Church of England. Naturally this again adds much interest to the story of the Medici.

Lastly, owing to an exceptional many-sidedness they touched life at so many points. In statesmanship and financial capacity, in learning and artistic taste, in civil administration and sympathy with the feelings of the people, in knowledge of commerce and agriculture,_in all these different directions did the this was joined ~T6 qualities of courtesy^- agreeableness of manner, absence oT arrogaTTceTand a free and generous disposition, which mucK~enh5nS3Itheir power of influencing those with whol^TieY^ere_bjQjugEtISlcQntact. They were not, however, assisted by any attractions of personal appearance, their portraits showing that they were by no means a handsome family, their only good feature being their fine eyes, which were proverbial. These various characteristics make them an interesting family apart from the other aspects of their history.

Two grave charges have been preferred against them: first, that they by a long course of duplicity deprived their country of its liberty, and exalted themselves into despots over it; and, second, that there is to be attributed to them an evil pre-eminence in crimes of murder. How far these charges are just will be best seen as we follow the course of their history; but regarding the second some general remarks are called for.

The charge is a strange one in view of the contemporary history of other countries. For the history of this family embraces thirteen generations, and out of this number there are no less than ten generations to whom no such crimes have been even attributed. It is not until we reach the seventh generation that we have the first murder committed by a Medici ; and even that was committed by one who had no legitimate right to the name.3 While it is not until we reach

the eighth and ninth generations that we meet with that series of these accusations which has been the main cause of the reputation which has been given to the family.4 Such a charge against a whole family involves comparison; and when we compare even the whole of the cases attributed to the Medici with those authenticated as committed by other contemporary ruling families, not only in Italy, but also in France, England, and Spain, it becomes evident that the popular belief ascribing to the Medici an evil pre-eminence in such crimes can only be due to a lack either of information or of the sense of proportion. Among ruling families of the time there are few to whom there have not been attributed more crimes of this nature than to the Medici.

Nor do we stigmatise the whole line of the sovereigns of England or France because three out of thirteen generations may have committed crimes of this character.

Some writers, while admitting the injustice of this graver charge, and while ready to allow that the Medici were capable, intellectual, and patriotic, assert that nevertheless they were grasping, cruel, intriguing, and stained with vices which were rampant in their times. It is hoped that this history will demonstrate convincingly that the Medici were decidedly not either grasping, or cruel. To say that they were intriguing is merely to say that they were men of their age.

Regarding the fourth point, while they certainly were not free from the vices rampant in their times, the indictment in the manner it is made is an exaggeration, implying as it does that the Medici were worse than others, whereas all evidence tends to show that they were distinctly better in this respect than other contemporary families. This general statement, on a point to which modern histories do not conisider it necessary to allude except in general terms, will perhaps suffice; but it will be found to be borne out by various facts in the lives of many members of the family as these are followed.

Symonds makes a complaint against the Medici that they “were "bourgeois." Of course they were bourgeois: it is the very pith of their story: and instead of giving ground for a gibe to be cast at them it contributes much to their honour. It is the essence of their history that they belonged entirely to the people, that their rise began from their championship of the latter against the nobles, and that theirs was an aristocracy, not of birth, but of talent and culture.

They present to us in following their story the most opposite extremes both of conduct and of fortune. Marvellous as to their rise, pathetic as to their vicissitudes, magnificent as to their liberality towards objects for the lasting benefit of mankind, tragic as to many episodes of their career, despicable as to their ignoble decline and end (except for one last act worthy to rank with those of their best days), their history is like a great drama extending over three hundred years, and played out on the widest of stages..

CHAPTER III. GIOVANNI DI BICCI

Born 1360. Died 1428

IN the year 1400 the Medici were an ordinary middle-class family in Florence. The family can be traced back as far as the year 1201, when Chiarissimo, eldest son of Giambuono de' Medici, and a member of the Town Council, is noted as being the owner of various houses and towers in the Mercato Vecchio; but the only branch of it with which we are concerned is that which made so great a name in history, and was destined to run an eventful course of nearly three hundred and fifty years.1 Of this branch Giovanni de' Medici was at this time the head. For some reason or other his father, Averardo de' Medici, was nicknamed by his companions "Bicci." Among the Medici the same Christian names recur so frequently that each is in history known by some addition or sobriquet, and Giovanni, the founder of the historic branch of the family, is always known as Giovanni di Bicci (i.e., Giovanni, the son of Bicci). He was at this time a man of forty years of age, and highly respected for his character and business ability.

The family were bankers2 and already possessed of considerable wealth, which Giovanni by his financial ability increased. Several of his ancestors had taken part in public affairs. His great-grandfather Averardo, who had begun the prosperity of the family by successful trading operations, had been Gonfaloniere in 1314; his grandfather Salvestro had been one of the envoys of the Republic deputed to conclude the treaty with Venice in 1336 and two of his father's first cousins had 'been Gonfaloniere in, respectively, 1349 and 1354.

But Giovanni di Bicci de' Medicis came of a family which had signalised themselves in another way than this.

For they had on several occasions taken a prominent part in the struggles of the people against the nobles (grandi). A distant cousin of his father (also named Giovanni) had, in 1343, been seized and put to death by the tyrant of Florence, Walter de Brienne, Duke of Athens, as one of the most dangerous of the citizens (popolani). And when Giovanni di Bicci was eighteen years old, he had seen, in 1378, a distant cousin of his grandfather (another Salvestro), by his powerful words in the Signoria, bring about the riot known as that of the Ciompi (the weavers, dyers, and minor workmen of the guild of wool), which riot, we are told, "broke the power of the nobles, and destroyed the oligarchy of the 'Parte Guelfa'"; while another cousin of his father's, Vieri, had pacified the rebellion of 1393. Thus the family had as its tradition antagonism to the nobles and championship of the cause of the people. Giovanni di Bicci was destined to go far in the same course, as well as to found a family whose influence was to spread far beyond the sphere of the petty politics of Florence.

Let us first see what, in this year 1400, were the conditions surrounding him, (i) in his own city, and (ii) in the larger world beyond it.

(i) Florence, after fierce struggles between rival factions for a hundred and fifty years, had at last settled down with the most democratic government on record. In 1260 the banished Ghibellines, under Farinata degli Uberti, had at the battle of Monteaperto defeated the Guelphs and reentered Florence in triumph. The Ghibellines had thereupon proposed to raze Florence to the ground; against this Farinata degli Uberti had "raised his single voice,"4 and prevailed; for which act he has obtained lasting honour in Florence, and his statue (the only Ghibelline one) has received a place among those of Florence's greatest men in the Uffizi colonnade. Then had succeeded in 1289 the battle of Campaldino, giving the final victory to the Guelphs; whereupon the community had been divided into guilds (arti), whose representatives formed the governing body, the Signoria. In 1298 had begun the building of the cathedral, and of the Palazzo della Signoria, the order for the latter to Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect, stating that it was required "for the greater security of the Signoria in this city so given to sudden and violent tumults." But the internecine strifes did not cease even though the Ghibellines had been driven out; the same fierce conflicts as before broke out under new names—Cerchi versus Donati, White Guelphs versus Black Guelphs, and so on. At length, in 1343, Walter de Brienne, a foreigner whom the city had made its governor, was driven out, when a time of anarchy and frequent revolutions followed; during which occurred, in 1348, the great plague described by Boccaccio, and in 1378 the above-mentioned riot of the Ciompi. As a result the Signoria was reconstituted and composed of representatives ("Priors") from each of the twenty-one guilds, instead of from the more important ones only; these were directed to be chosen every two months (afterwards extended to a longer period); while it was ruled that no noble should be eligible as a member of the Signoria. The president of the latter body was the Gonfaloniere, chosen from among the members of the Signoria, and elected for a similar short period. Nor did even this satisfy Florence's fiercely democratic instincts. Although all power was vested in the representatives of the various guilds, yet on any large question the great bell, "the Vacca," in the tower of the Palazzo, della Signoria,5 summoned the whole male population into the square below, when the question was decided (ostensibly, at any rate) "by popular acclamation." This form of gov ernment continued for a hundred and fifty years; it had been established about twenty years at the time our story begins.

Passionately indeed was Florence enamoured of freedom.

In a struggle of some two hundred years she had first gradually shaken herself free from subordination to the emperors, then fought against and thrown off the power of the nobles, and lastly had established "the most republican republic the world has ever seen." And in deep dread of being brought again under the yoke she had developed so greats jealousy of any action, either by an individual or a family, tending, however remotely, to threaten her independence, that this feeling had become a mania. There was a very short shrift in Florence for any one suspected of harbouring an intention of exalting himself into any position of authority above that of an ordinary citizen.

Florence was at this time at a high level of power, ruling over various subject cities, and constantly increasing her territory by little wars with neighbouring states. Republics such as Florence were of a peculiar kind, since only the citizens of the capital city possessed any political power. None others were allowed any voice in the policy of the state. This complete subjection to the capital city accounts for the fierce struggles of Pisa, Prato, Pistoia, Volterra, and other cities gradually conquered by Florence, against being subdued by her. It is also, no doubt, the reason why history at this period always speaks of "Florence" to denote that state which at a later period we speak of as "Tuscany." As regards trade and commerce, Florence was at this time the most flourishing state in Europe. Her citizens owned banks in all countries, and the golden florin 6 had become the general European standard of value; marking the leading position in commerce held by Florence.7 Macaulay, speaking of the revenue about this time, says:-r"The revenue of the Republic amounted to three hundred thousand florins: a sum which, allowing for the depreciation

of the precious metals, was at least equivalent to six hundred thousand pounds sterling: a larger sum than England and Ireland, two centuries later, yielded to Elizabeth."3 The chief trade was in wool and woollen cloth, both that produced by Florence itself and that sent there from other countries to be dyed and refined by a secret process, and reexported: a trade memorialised in the still existing names of two celebrated streets in Florence, the "Calimala" (or Calimara) " and the "Pelleceria." And the guild of the wool merchants was the most important in Florence; so much so that to this guild was committed the work of building the cathedral.10 The principal part of the trade of Florence was with England.

(ii) Turning now to the larger world outside Florence we find the other states in Europe situated as follows:— Venice, a republic of a very different kind and ruled by an oligarchy of nobles, was rapidly advancing to the height of her power, having in 1380 crushed her maritime rival Genoa, and was year by year extending her territories by fresh conquests.

Milan, an imperial duchy, was under the rule of her great Duke, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the most capable of that family, the builder of the cathedral of Milan and the Certosa of Pavia. He had conquered almost all northern Italy (extending his dominions even as far as Perugia and Spoleto), was at this time only resisted by Florence, and was in full expectation of shortly subduing Florence also, when he would make himself King of Italy.

Naples-and-Sicily, a kingdom, but of the feeblest kind, was in its usual state of anarchy, the bone of contention between the rival houses of Anjou and Aragon, as it had been for a hundred and fifty years.

The Papacy. The situation of the Papacy at this time was most deplorable. There had in 1378 begun "the great schism," with rival Popes at Avignon and Rome: a state of things

•which had brought down the Papacy to the very dust. For there was here no case of an anti-Pope; both Popes had been duly elected, and each had an equal right to be considered the true Pope. On the side of the French Pope were France, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, Savoy, and Lorraine; on the side of the Italian Pope, were England, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and Poland. Whereas salvation was held to depend on being in communion with the true Pope, none during all this period could feel sure that he was so; while it was at any rate certain that one-half of Europe was not.

The position was. intolerable; and its results during the forty years it lasted were such as to degrade the Papacy to the utmost depth of humiliation.

As regards the remaining countries of Europe:—in England Henry IV had just usurped the kingdom from Richard II, whom he had murdered; in France Charles VI was king, but was mad, and the country in the greatest disorder; Germany was a mass of insignificant states, and the Emperor almost a cypher, the seven princely "electors" invariably choosing as emperor some prince of small dominions and power who would be unable to oppose their own assumption of independence; in the Eastern Empire Constantinople was being closely pressed by the Ottoman Turks; Spain was not as yet one country, Aragon and Castile being still petty independent kingdoms, while all the southern half of Spain was held by the Saracens, or, as they were called, the Moors.

The above is an outline of the general state of Europe before those great changes began in which the Medici were to play so large a part.

The Florence in which Giovanni di Bicci passed his life, though very different in aspect from that with which we are acquainted, nevertheless contained a good deal which we should still recognise. The Baptistery, then already many hundred years old, was much the same as now. So also the Bargello, built about a hundred and fifty years before this

time; and close to it the Badia, built in 1330. The Palazzo della Signoria (known to us as the Palazzo Vecchio), built in 1298, was, as to the front portion, much as we see it, but did not extend at the back down the Via de' Gondi, while along the front ran a raised platform, the ringhiera, from which proclamations were made. The Loggia de' Lanzi had lately been completed. The cathedral,11 which had been building for over a hundred years, was still unfinished; and its great dome had not even been begun, while many doubted whether so vast a space could ever be covered in this way.

Its beautiful campanile, "Giotto's tower," was finished. The Ponte Vecchio, with its shops (though not then jewellers' shops), was as now; except, of course, for the "Passaggio" on the roof of the shops, constructed long afterwards. Of the two chief churches, Sta. Croce and Sta. Maria Novella, the latter was completed, except for its facade, while Sta. Croce was approaching completion. The city was surrounded by its ancient and picturesque walls, which are now gone, but its main streets still follow the same course as then, and many of them present much the same general appearance.

Or San Michele, the curious square church, built by the guild of the wool merchants, was nearly finished; and behind it stood as now the guildhouse of this celebrated "Arte della Lana." As we look at this old house of the great guild of wool (with their emblem of the lamb over the door), and think of the many works in which this guild were then occupied in Florence, we cannot but be impressed with the thought of how many other things besides money-making engaged the attention of this enlightened body of merchants, and of how much in Florence's after-glory has had its birth in that now little-noticed old building.12 And it was in connection with these things that a movement was about to begin which was soon to be the paramount question in Florence. For in our review of the Florence of 1400 we have also to think of the existing state of things in regard to Art and Learning. These, though in the previous

century roused from their long sleep by Dante, Giotto, and Petrarch, appeared to have sunk back again into slumber.

Dante, whose "swanlike dirge of the departing middle ages" had inspired all mankind for a time, had died eighty years before, and no successor to him had arisen. Giotto,13 the shepherd-boy whose kiss had aroused the sleeping beauty, Art, from her nine centuries of slumber in her Byzantine palace, had died sixty-three years before; his great pupil Orcagna had died thirty-two years before; and the painters of the time (the Giotteschi) had no idea beyond that of a slavish copying of Giotto, and so had sunk into a conventionalism almost as complete as that Byzantine tradition from which Giotto had rescued Art. Lastly, Petrarch, the great scholar who had led men to study the long-buried writings of the classic age, had passed away twenty-six years before, and no other like him had arisen.14 Thus, when the year 1400 dawned it seemed as though the movement which had begun in the time of Dante and Giotto was merely a passing phase, already moribund, if not defunct.

It was, however, not so. There was soon to be a fresh movement destined far to surpass all that had gone before.

And the latter half of Giovanni di Bicci's life, with which we have to do, the period from 1400 to 1428, is the time of this "morning" of the Renaissance; of that extraordinary outburst of Art in every branch, which, felt in some degree in other cities of Italy also at this time, seemed in Florence to permeate the whole people with its throbbing life, producing results the influence of which was, before another hundred years were over, to be felt to the utmost bounds of Europe.

Giovanni di Bicci, with his wife, Piccarda Bueri, and his two sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo (who in the year 1400 were boys of eleven and five), lived first in an old house in the Via Larga, and then in one which still stands in the Piazza,

del Duomo; and the familiar view which daily met Giovanni's eye from the windows of his house must have been that of the slowly-rising walls and dome of the cathedral, begun so long before, and intended by Florence to be grander than any yet built..

By the year 1400 Giovanni di Bicci was a man in middle age, gracious in manner, retiring in disposition, and much respected by all around him. He has received very little notice from historians, but he was the author of various important works for the benefit of his countrymen and for the encouragement of art. He was distinguished for his ability as a financier, and for his "prudence" (the quality always specially admired by the Florentines), and had made himself highly popular with the people by the liberal way in which he spent his wealth for the public benefit, and by his constant readiness to be their champion in the never-ceasing struggle against the nobles. Being regardless of fame or notoriety, it is only here and there in the history of the time that notice of him is to be found. Moreover, during his lifetime the chief influence in Florence was possessed by the Albizzi family,10 who, notwithstanding the law affecting the nobles, managed (chiefly by influencing the elections) still to exercise power. Meanwhile Giovanni was laying the foundations of a family which was ere long to obliterate all memory of the sway of the Albizzi.

The first occasion when we find him specially mentioned is in the year 1401. In the picture of the Florence of that age one point has still to be noted without which that picture would not be complete, namely, the terrible outbreaks of the plague which again and again devastated the city in those days, keeping the thought of death and the hereafter ever present in the minds of all men. And our story opens in the midst of one of these awful visitations; and again,, as in 1348 and so many other occasions, large numbers of all classes were being daily carried off by this terrible disease. In this distress Florence determined on a costly

votive offering to be placed in her oldest and most highly venerated church, San Giovanni Battista (better known as the Baptistery), and that this offering should take the form of two pairs of very elaborate bronze doors. An international competition was instituted to settle who should execute this work, and Giovanni di Bicci, as a leading citizen and a great patron of art, was appointed one of the judges in this competition. It is an interesting and significant coincidence that the first mention we have of the first of the Medici should be his taking a prominent part in an event which has always been held as the "birthday" of the Renaissance in Art.

During the next seventeen years (1402-1418) the chief notices which we have of Giovanni are those showing his quiet but steady advancement in public affairs. In 1402 we find him elected by his guild, that of the bankers (Arte del Cambio), as its "Prior," which made him a member of the Government; and we find him again thus elected in 1408 and in 1411. It is specially recorded that he kept aloof from the many political intrigues of the time, and that these and subsequent higher honours were forced upon him unsought.

In 1417 Florence suffered another of those terrible visitations of the plague which afflicted her on so many occasions. This time it carried off 16,000 of the inhabitants.

Giovanni did his utmost to relieve the many sufferings of the people, while we are told that he "did not confine his help only to the poor, but was no less ready to alleviate the misfortunes of the rich." We must now glance at what had been going on in Europe during these eighteen years.

The first eighteen years of the fifteenth century were years of various great events in Europe, all of which closely affected Florence and its Signoria.16 In 1400 the Emperor Wenceslaus was deposed by the "electors" for his worthless, savage, and drunken character.

In his place they chose Rupert, Palatine of the Rhine.

In 1401 the Turks, under Bajazet, having at last come to

the final stage of the long campaign of centuries against the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and having reached and begun to besiege the capital itself—Constantinople, the Eastern Emperor, Manuel Paleologus, who had in 1391 succeeded his father, John Paleologus (John VI), like him visited Italy, Germany, France, and England to try to rouse them to aid in saving Constantinople, and prevent such a dire calamity to all Europe as its fall into the hands of the Turks. He was received everywhere with impartial honours and much sympathy; but as regards Italy, the Papacy was paralysed by the great schism, and also would do nothing unless the Eastern Church would agree to acknowledge the supremacy of the Church of Rome, while the other Italian states were at almost constant war, and threatened at the moment with extinction by Milan. Germany was in chaos, the Emperor having just been deposed. In France the King was out of his mind, and the country in the utmost confusion. , And in England the King was a usurper, threatened with civil war. So the Emperor Manuel Paleologus had to return as unsuccessful as his father had been. Help, however, came to Constantinople from an unexpected quarter. The Turkish dominions were suddenly invaded by the Tartars under Timour (or Tamarlane), which called away the Sultan Bajazet from his attack on Constantinople; and at the battle of Angora in the following year he was defeated and taken prisoner by Timour. This defeat shattered for a time the power of the Ottoman Turks, and gave Constantinople a last lease of life for another fifty years.

In 1402 Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, suddenly died in the midst of his schemes of conquest, relieving Florence of her most formidable enemy, and enabling her four years later to conquer and annex a part of his dominions, Pisa. This conquest of Pisa extended Florence's territory to the coast and gave her a seaport.

In 1409, in Florence's new subject city, took place the Council of Pisa. The effects of the "great schism," with half

the countries of Europe recognising one Pope and the other half another, became at length so intolerable that all Europe began to cry for "a reformation of the Church in head and members," a phrase constantly on men's lips all through this fifteenth century; and this was the first of three attempts to that end. The cardinals of both the rival parties deserted their Popes and summoned a Council of the whole Western Church at Pisa to solve the difficulty. To this Council there came about 200 bishops, nearly 300 abbots, over 400 doctors of theology, and the representatives of most of the sovereigns of Europe.

The primary point to be fought out was whether a Council was supreme over a Pope, and therefore able to reform errors in the Papacy, or whether a Pope was above a Council. The sixth century would have been amazed that such a question could be debated, the supreme authority in the Church throughout the early centuries having been a General Council of equal and independent bishops, each himself under the authority of such a Council. But since then one bishop had exalted himself step by step, until the time had come that such a question could be debated.

However, the Council, by the mere fact of assembling on its own authority, and in defiance of two Popes, virtually declared itself the highest power in the Church. Moreover, it at once proceeded formally to lay down the same. And this done, it deposed both the rival Popes for their crimes. Then the Council made the mistake which nullified all its work: instead of proceeding to reform the abuses in the Church, and only after this had been done electing a fresh Pope, it elected a Pope (Alexander V) before attempting to carry out reforms. The natural result followed: Alexander V promptly found means to adjourn the Council, nominally for three years, practically for an indefinite period.

This futile conclusion of the first attempt to reform the Church left matters worse than before. The two deposed Popes refused to accept the sentence of the Council; so that

the only result was that there were now three rival Popes instead of two. And so the "great schism" continued. Florence, for allowing that detested thing a Council to assemble in one of her subject cities, was, on behalf of one of the three Popes (Gregory XII), attacked by King Ladislas of Naples, and while the Council was sitting, had to protect its deliberations and her own territory by force of arms. With the result that the Florentine army captured Rome.

In 1410 Pope Alexander V died, and was succeeded by Pope John XXIII. And in the same year Sigismund, King of Bohemia, the younger brother of Wenceslaus, was elected Emperor.

In 1413 in England Henry IV died, and was succeeded by his brilliant son, Henry V. And in 1415 the latter invaded France, because that country would not give him Catherine, the King's third daughter, and with her Normandy, Maine, and Anjou. Then followed the great battle of Agincourt, with its crushing defeat for France.

In the same year as this great battle between France and England there took place the Council of Constance, the second attempt to reform the Church. This Council was summoned by the Emperor Sigismund, that holder of the imperial dignity whom Carlyle sarcastically calls "Sigismund super grammaticam."" The widely representative and authoritative character of this Council may be judged by the list of those who composed it. It included 2 7 archbishops, 300 bishops, ?.o cardinals, 300 abbots and doctors of theology, and 14 deputies of various universities; while there also attended its deliberations 26 princes, 140 counts, and about 4000 priests. It sat for over three years at Constance, whose chief fame it has made. It was purposely held out of Italy, whose bishops could not be depended upon to give an independent opinion. And since these latter outnumbered those of all other countries put together, it was ruled that to prevent their having an undue preponderance the voting should be by nations.

This Council put an end to the "great schism," which for more than a generation had been the scandal of Christendom. Having met and appointed the Emperor Sigismund to preside, and having formally declared its authority over all ecclesiastics, the Pope included, it deposed all the three rival Popes; and this time they were unable to refuse obedience.

Pope John XXIII was in addition on account of his crimes imprisoned for three years in the castle of Heidelberg. But the Council then made the same mistake as that of Pisa, and before proceeding to reform the abuses in the Church, elected a fresh Pope, Martin V. He at once used all his power to prevent any real reforms being passed, concluded separate concordats with each national party, and terminated the Council as soon as possible. And so this Council, like the former one, failed to achieve that reformation of the Church which all good men throughout Europe desired.

One other thing this Council did which has brought upon it and the Emperor Sigismund lasting infamy. This was the burning of John Hus and Jerome of Prague for teaching the opinions of Wickliffe in Bohemia, and notwithstanding that they were at the Council under the Emperor's own written safe-conduct. The disgraceful and only too well-known argument was employed (here, perhaps, for the first time) that faith need not be kept with those who were heretics. Sigismund thus dishonoured his word because he feared that otherwise the Council, to bring about which he had laboured earnestly, would break up. They were burnt at Constance (1416) with every circumstance of odious cruelty; and all else achieved by this Council is for ever blackened by this detestable deed. This action provoked such indignation in Bohemia that it caused a furious war, in which priests were burnt in pitch, whole towns destroyed, commerce ruined, the death of King Wenceslaus caused, and the Emperor Sigismund three times defeated, and finally driven out of the country.

These years (1400-1418) are also those of the extensive

conquests made by Florence's powerful rival, Venice. Between 1400 and 1414 Venice conquered Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Belluno, and Feltre; also Lepanto and Patras; also Guastalla, Casalmaggiore, and Brescello. In 1416 Venice gained a great naval victory over the Turkish fleet at Gallipoli; and in the next few years subdued all the towns on the Dalmatian coast, besides waging successful war against Hungary. Venice was at this time at the height of her glory, growing richer and more powerful every year, with annual exports valued at 10,000,000 ducats, while the wealth and magnificence of her governing class was unbounded.

Meanwhile Florence was in these years laying the basis of a very different kind of glory, the results of which were to be of much more permanent importance to the world at large.

And this wondrous morning of the Renaissance in Art, which shone forth in his time, and with which he was intimately connected, must ever be the main interest in looking at the life of this first of the Medici; especially since owing to his retiring disposition we only see occasional glimpses of him among events at that time forming all the principal life of Florence.

The fifteenth century started from the very beginning on its wonderful career in this respect. In the first year of the new century occurred that event already mentioned, the competition for the execution of the bronze doors of the Baptistery.

The work being a votive offering on the part of the entire city was intended to be of the very best description, for which reason this competition to determine by whom it should be executed was instituted "among artists of every country." The subject fixed was a bronze panel representing the sacrifice of Isaac.

It is impossible to describe the rivalry and enthusiasm called forth by this competition: it was a time when the stirrings of Art were felt throughout the entire population of Florence, and the excitement over the matter was intense.

When the models were sent in, three of them were considered superior to all others, those of Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Jacopo della Quercia, the two former being Florentines and the third a. native of Siena.19 They were all quite young men, Jacopo della Quercia being twenty-seven, Ghiberti twentythree, and Brunelleschi twenty-two. After further consultation the panel by Ghiberti was judged the best, and the construction of the bronze doors was given to him. The models by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi are preserved in the museum of the Bargello, and there is no doubt that the decision of the judges was correct. Brunelleschi in disgust went off to Rome, declaring that he would learn another art in which Ghiberti should not be able to excel him. This he did, and became the great architect of his time.

Ghiberti began his work at once, and was occupied on the first pair of doors (which represent scenes in the life of Christ) for the next twenty-two years. The labour expended on this work, which was more perfect than anything seen in Art up to that time, and which to this day has never been surpassed, was incalculable. Again and again the panels were recast, Ghiberti always striving after something more perfect, and his patience and determination being so great that he again and again destroyed the results he achieved, being resolved not to desist from his labours until he attained the ideal after which he strove. And very wonderful was the aim which he set before himself. In Ghiberti's hands bronze reliefs became in reality pictures in bronze,20 even the clouds being represented, and the effect of distance being marvellously rendered. Ghiberti himself tells us (and what he says, while simple enough to us all now, is most interesting when we remember that this is in the early days of Art) as follows:— "In modelling these reliefs I strove to imitate nature to the utmost.... 1 sought to understand how forms strike upon the eye, and how the theoretical part of sculptural and

pictorial art should be managed. Working with the utmost care and diligence I introduced into some of my panels as many as a hundred figures; these I modelled upon different planes, so that those nearest to the eye might appear larger, and those more remote smaller in proportion." As this work proceeded its influence on Art in general was extraordinary. Ghiberti had to employ a number of assistants, and these pictures in bronze, with their life-like figures and excellent relief, became, as the details of their execution were followed out, a perfect school of Art, in which all who had either the sculptor's or the painter's instinct learnt valuable lessons. Besides the effect thus produced on the Art world generally, two at least of the assistants employed by Ghiberti in this work learnt therein that which enabled them afterwards to attain fame exceeding even his, the painter Masaccio and the sculptor Donatello.

Then followed in 1412, while the above work was still in progress, another event likewise contributing to help forward the outburst in Art. This was the completion by the guild of the wool merchants of their church of Or San Michele, and the decision to adorn the outside of the walls with statues of Apostles and Saints, each statue to be given by one of the principal guilds. Hence fresh emulation, each guild desiring its statue to be the finest, and all the best sculptors vying with each other in the production of these statues; Or San Michele thus becoming another centre of Art inspiration. In this way there were produced during the next few years:— In 1412 Donatello's statue of St. Peter.

In 1413 Donatello's statue of St. Mark.

In 1414 Ghiberti's statue of St. John the Baptist.

In 1415 Ghiberti's statue of St. Stephen.

In 1416 Donatello's celebrated statue of St. George.

In 1418 Ghiberti's statue of St. Matthew.

Statues by other masters followed in subsequent years.

Life in Florence in Giovanni's day was a very different thing from that which it became two generations later. Anything in the direction of luxury was condemned by plainliving Florence as a sign of degeneracy. And when Giovanni, in order to give assistance to struggling artists, had the whole of the walls of his house decorated with frescoes (a form of decoration hitherto confined to churches), we may be sure that this action was looked upon by many as a questionable innovation betokening a reprehensible tendency to voluptuousness.

For very austere indeed was the style of living then customary. The palaces of even the most wealthy were furnished with a plainness which scorned all idea of either beauty or comfort. Heavy tables and straight-backed wooden chairs covered with leather; bare stone floors, desperately cold in winter; whitewashed walls, only covered with tapestry on state occasions; a huge credenza containing vases, glass, majolica, and silver, for use at banquets; wide, hard; comfortless beds, and great chests containing linen and clothes: such were the surroundings, and such the only furniture considered necessary even in the palaces of the noblest families.

As to dress, there was the same austerity; and here Florence enacted very strict laws to check undue extravagance.

These laws laid down with the most minute exactness what a lady's dress might be like, and what it might not be like; and the same as regards the men. No lady might have her dress made of other material, nor of greater length or breadth, than was.laid down; nor wear any of numerous forbidden ornaments. While for the men was prescribed, for all above the class of artisans, the plain garment, buttoned straight down the front and looking like a priest's cassock. We do not hear much about the ladies of this period; it was not until a generation or two later that they began to come forth from the seclusion considered correct in Giovanni's time; but they evidently fought vigorously against these laws about dress.

They evaded them in numberless ingenious ways, and waged

an untiring warfare with the authorities on the subject. In this contest, which went on perpetually between the ladies and the officials charged with seeing that these sumptuary laws were obeyed, for which thorny task "foreigners" (i.e., non-Florentines) were purposely appointed, the officers concerned had evidently no pleasant time. One of them reports as follows:— ^ "When, obeying the orders ye gave prj»f I went out to seek for the forbidden ornaments of your women, they met me with arguments such as are not to be found in any book of laws. There cometh a woman with the peak of her hood fringed out and twined around her head. My notary saith, 'Tell me your name, for you have a peak with fringes.' Then the good woman taketh this peak, which is fastened round her hood with a pin, and, holding it in her hand, she declareth that it is a wreath. Then going further he findeth one wearing many buttons in front of her dress, and he saith unto her, 'Ye are not allowed to wear these buttons.' But she answers, 'These are not buttons but studs, and if ye do not believe me, look—they have no loops, and moreover there are no buttonholes.' Then my notary goeth to another who is wearing ermine, and saith, 'Now what can she say to this? Ye are wearing ermine,' And he prepares to write down her name. But the woman answers, 'Do not write me down, for this is not ermine, it is the fur of a suckling.' Saith the notary, 'What is this suckling?' And the woman replies, 'It is an animal.' "21 No wonder that the authorities remark, "We do but knock our heads against a wall"; and that in the next generation these sumptuary laws were gradually allowed to become a dead letter, the ladies having gained the victory.

In 1418 we hear of Giovanni giving a large sum of money to assist one whose "deservedly incurred misfortunes," we are told, "roused his pity." In conjunction with the chief of the party of the nobles, Niccolo da Uzzano, he obtained after strong efforts the release of the deposed and imprisoned Pope John XXIII, on condition that a ransom of 38,000 ducats

should be paid; and the whole of this sum Giovanni himself gave. Pope John on being released came, broken down and destitute, to Florence, and was given an asylum there by Giovanni, who, when the deposed Pope died in the following year, erected to his memory the beautiful monument which is to be seen in the Baptistery.

In 1419 we find Giovanni at his own cost erecting and endowing an important charitable institution which remains to the present day, the Foundling Hospital of Florence, the "Ospedale degli Innocenti." And in carrying out this charitable work he also managed to help forward the cause of Art.

Brunelleschi had by this time returned to Florence, having in the intervening years carried out his determination to learn another branch of art in which Ghiberti should not be able to rival him; but he had not yet obtained any opportunity of displaying his powers. Giovanni gave him this opportunity by entrusting the construction of his new hospital to him. Though afterwards eclipsed by his other achievements, the Foundling Hospital remains notable as being the great architect's first prominent work.

In 1421 Giovanni received the highest mark of esteem which his country could confer. In spite of the opposition of the nobles, who urged that it was unsafe to allow one so wealthy and so popular to hold that office, he was, without any seeking for it on his part, elected Gonfaloniere.

In 1422 Florence entered on a four years' war with Milan, whose Duke, Filippo Maria Visconti, the cowardly and treacherous son of Gian Galeazzo, was threatening to absorb all northern Italy. Giovanni di Bicci was against this war, feeling that Florence was not strong enough for it, and could not afford the cost. And in it Florence suffered no less than six serious defeats within a space of about two years. Nevertheless she gained in the end the object for which she fought; after four years of war Venice joined her against Milan, with the eventual result that the designs of the Duke of Milan were frustrated, and he was forced to conclude a peace the

terms of which were honourable to Florence. Thus twice during twenty-five years had Florence stood in the breach and prevented two successive Dukes of Milan from subduing all Italy. These two wars are said to have cost Florence a sum equal in our present money to £6,000,000 sterling.

In 1426 Giovanni succeeded in effecting, in spite of every kind of opposition from the nobles, the chief political measure of his life. This was his celebrated catasto, the new form of taxation devised by him. The main tax on the people had hitherto been an irregular poll-tax, which bore very unfairly upon them, and gave unlimited opportunities to the nobles to exercise oppression. It was consequently hated by the people. Giovanni worked out a scheme to substitute for this a fixed tax on property, which would be regular in its incidence and prevent the nobles from evading their due share of the general taxation, and by his weight and influence in the Signoria succeeded in getting this measure passed. And this, notwithstanding that it increased very largely the amount he would himself have to pay. The nobles were, of course, furious, and accused him of all sorts of ulterior motives; but Giovanni having no such motives went on his way undisturbed; and for this immense boon which he had procured for them, the people looked on him as their saviour and benefactor, and were ready to do anything for one who had fought thus strenuously on their behalf.23 In 1427 Giovanni performed his last act as a champion of the cause of the poorer classes. A number of the nobles, headed by Rinaldo degli Albizzi and Niccolo da Uzzano, held a secret meeting24 to devise means for reducing the power of the people in the government. The plan they eventually settled upon was to put forward a suggestion to the Signoria to reduce the number of the inferior guilds, and also to remove the prohibition against members of the nobili being eligible for election to the Signoria, using the argument that the time had passed when such a prohibition was necessary.

Having elaborated the details of their plan, the nobili on a suitable occasion submitted their suggestion to the Signoria for discussion. The proposal in the manner in which it was put forward was a specious one, while its real object was kept carefully veiled. But Giovanni, ever on the watch to defend the cause of the people, fathomed its real intention.

He exerted the whole weight of his influence to oppose the measure; and entirely through his vigorous opposition it was defeated. By this, the last act of his public life, he increased still more his popularity with the people. The wrath of the nobles was proportionate; and all the more so since they could not openly show it without disclosing to all what their object had been. Giovanni on this occasion showed the sagacity to detect, the courage to oppose, and the sound judgment to foil without an open conflict, a dangerous attempt to revolutionise the Government.

The chief events outside Italy during these years were the following:— In 1420 Henry V of England having by this time conquered all France north of the Loire, the Treaty of Troyes was executed. By this treaty the crown of France was secured to him (to the exclusion of the Dauphin Charles) whenever the mad king, Charles VI, should die; and meanwhile Henry was made Regent of France, and at last married to the French King's daughter, Catherine.

In 1422 Charles VI and Henry V both died, and the latter was succeeded by his six months' old son, Henry VI, the Earl of Bedford being, appointed Regent of France on his behalf during his minority.

In 1425 the Emperor Manuel Paleologus died, and his son, John Paleologus (John VII), succeeded him as Emperor of the Eastern Empire, by this time reduced to little more than its capital city, Constantinople.

In 1428 the regent Bedford, having gained several victories

over the Dauphin Charles, crossed the Loire, and began his memorable siege of Orleans, the key to the south of France.

The years 1418 to 1428 were years of still further developments in that outburst of new life in the world of Art taking place in Florence.

In the year 1418 the cathedral, begun by Arnolfo di Cambio a hundred and twenty years before, and which when finished would be the largest then existing, was approaching completion. But it still wanted its dome, and all concerned were in despair as to how a dome was ever to be thrown over so vast a space. At length Brunelleschi, who was then building the Foundling Hospital, came forward and offered to do it, but would not say how. There was great opposition to giving the task to him, and the reason is important as showing the conditions from which Art had gradually to emancipate itself.

Every citizen of Florence who aspired either to have any political rights, or to take any part in the important public works from time to time being executed, had to belong to one or other of the twenty-one guilds. The seven major guilds were (1) wool merchants, (2) dyers of foreign cloth, (3) silk merchants, (4) furriers, (5) bankers, (6) judges and lawyers, and (7) doctors and apothecaries. There was no special guild for the workers in art; the painters had to belong to the guild of apothecaries; 25 the architects and sculptors either to the guild of the wool merchants, or to that of the silk merchants. The fourteen minor guilds were simply those of the various trades, and had lesser privileges.26 Up to the time when Brunelleschi made the above refusal to announce his plans, every great public work such as this was done collectively, under the auspices of some particular guild, and anything like independent working in such matters was unprecedented. And the whole work of erecting the cathedral was carried out by a Board of Works acting under the orders of the guild of the wool merchants. Brunelleschi,

being of an independent character, detested this system, which hampered all artists much, but especially architects. Since his disappointment over the bronze doors he had spent nearly twenty years in studying architecture, more especially the ancient buildings at Rome, and was now confident that he knew a way of building the great dome, and without using any scaffolding, this point being the chief difficulty. But if he succeeded in building it, he desired that it should be his, and not that of the Board of Works; and did not want to tell his secret only to have it appropriated by a corporate body, who might also modify his designs. But this was just what the Board wished to be able to do; such novel independence was in their opinion most objectionable, and required putting down; and so there was a tremendous contest.27 However, eventually Brunelleschi prevailed, simply because all knew by this time that he was the only man who could construct the dome; the work was given to him, and the construction began in 1420. And though even after this there were constant battles, still by degrees the great dome slowly rose on his designs and under his superintendence.

It was built without any scaffolding, and on a principle Brunelleschi had learnt from studying the roof of the Pantheon at Rome. He tells us that managing while at Rome to get on the roof of the Pantheon, and to take off some of the outer stones, so as to inspect the ribbing of the vault, and discovering the way the blocks of stone were dovetailed into one another so as to be almost self-supporting, this gave him his ideas for the dome of Florence; while it also led him to conceive how to utilise cross-beams to gird the ribs together, and how a second dome within the first would strengthen the whole. The dome is built on this principle, one dome within the other and the two bound together so as to support each other, with a space between sufficient for a staircase, and each dome resting on a "drum." It was the first of the kind ever constructed, was considered the

wonder of the age, and is the largest double cupola in Europe.28 Domes had, of course, been a feature of Byzantine architecture, but the great change made by the Renaissance was that caused by lifting the dome on a "drum," the dome thus becoming the chief feature of the building. It is interesting to notice how, as it had been with Learning, and as it had been with Sculpture, so here again with Architecture we have a resurrection of the long past; and Brunelleschi receives his inspiration from the Pantheon, built by Marcus Agrippa fourteen hundred years before.

In 1425 Giovanni di Bicci gave a commission to Brunelleschi which resulted in one of the three chief works29 for which the latter has obtained fame, the church of San Lorenzo, now so famous on account of its tombs of the Medici family. This church, one of the most ancient in Italy, having been consecrated30 by St. Ambrose himself in 393, was in 1423 falling into ruins. Giovanni now undertook to rebuild it, devoting thereto a large amount of his fortune; 31 and after his time it was when completed endowed by his descendants, and became the family church of the Medici.

On this church Brunelleschi lavished all his talent, and it is one of his finest creations. Symonds, speaking of it, says: 32— "Not a form or detail in the whole church is at variance with classic precedent, and yet the general effect resembles nothing that we possess of antique work. It is a masterpiece of intelligent Renaissance adaptation." Following as he did the sobriety and correctness of the classic style, the keynote of which is harmony, Brunelleschi's buildings are remarkable for this latter characteristic. They never give one that jar which, like a discordant note in music, is produced by a falsity in architecture, and whose effect we feel even though perhaps unable to point out wherein it lies. His churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito are both

of them examples of this characteristic of harmony, and to it is undoubtedly due their indescribably peaceful effect.33 In 1424 the first pair of bronze doors on which Ghiberti had so long been at work were at last finished. They had taken him twenty-two years. The enthusiasm when they were set up was tremendous; nothing like this in Art had been seen before; all Florence crowded to see them; and the Signoria, who never quitted the Palazzo della Signoria in 1 body except on the greatest occasions, came in state to applaud the work and do honour to the artist. When we think }f all that this work had called forth in every branch of Art during the long years he had been employed on it, of the genius which had created this wonderful new departure, and of the determined perseverance by which alone the work was brought to such perfection, we are led to feel34 that Ghiberti deserved any honour which his countrymen could confer upon him.

Ghiberti, by this time a man of forty-five, at once set to work on his second pair of doors, which were destined to take him still longer, and to surpass even the first pair in excellence.

In 1423, seven years after Donatello had produced his statue of St. George, three years after Brunelleschi had begun to construct his dome, and one year before Ghiberti finished his first pair of bronze doors, Painting showed that same new burst of life which had already been shown by Architecture and Sculpture. For in that year Masaccio, afterwards so famous, and destined to advance the art of Painting by so immense a step that he became the leader of all painters after him, began his frescoes in the Brancacci chapel of the church of the Carmelites,35 the Carmine.

The influence of Ghiberti's work of the bronze doors is in the case of Masaccio directly traceable. Born in the year of the competition of 1401, hs worked as a boy under Ghiberti

on the panels of these doors, and there learnt the knowledge of form, effect of light and shade, and other secrets which he afterwards elaborated in his paintings. In these, by a proper use of light and shade, he gave roundness to the limbs; was the first to give to figures natural attitudes and a life-like appearance, and to drapery natural folds; improved the drawing of heads and hands; and, as Vasari says, "improved everything." But this was not recognised until after his short life had ended. He was crushed with poverty,36 burdened with the maintenance of younger brothers, always ready to do a good turn to others but careless about his own affairs, and, entirely absorbed in his painting, was almost unknown. Dying at the age of twenty-seven, only four years after he began painting these frescoes, his life was so short, and he was so hampered by debt, that he has left very few works; except for two small unimportant pictures at Berlin, and one in the Accademia at Florence, no picture of Masaccio's is in any of the galleries of Europe, and all his fame rests on the frescoed walls of one small chapel in Florence.37 Nevertheless, with him Painting entered on a new epoch, and the Brancacci chapel has become sacred ground to all painters, since there almost all the great masters after him, including, Vasari tells us, Perugino, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael,38 Michelangelo,39 Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolommeo, and many of lesser genius, have studied and copied the works of one who is the inaugurator of all that we understand by modern painting.

"In this chapel wrought One of the few, Nature's interpreters, The few, whom genius gives as lights to shine, Masaccio.

• •••'•• Look around And know that where we stand stood oft and long, Oft till the day was gone, Raphael himself;

Nor he alone, so great the ardour there, Such while it reigned the generous rivalry; He, and how many more, once thither drawn, Anxious to learn of those who came before, To steal a spark from their immortal fire Who first did break the universal gloom, Sons of the morning." 4° Giovanni di Bicci, in his readiness to befriend struggling artists, assisted the poor youth who was then so little known, and Masaccio introduced a portrait of him into his fresco picture of the consecration of the Carmine church in 1422, but this fresco was destroyed when the greater part of that church was burnt in 1721.

At some time during the year 1427 Masaccio ended his painting for the Carmelite community and went off to Rome, none know for what purpose (for of such an insignificant person nothing was at that time recorded), but presumably in order to obtain work; and there in the following year he died in poverty and obscurity, unknown to fame until after he was dead, when the world awoke to the knowledge of what a genius had been living in that obscure corner of Florence where he had worked.41 Giovanni died in 1428, at the age of sixty-eight, and at his death left an immense fortune to his two sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo. He died deservedly esteemed by his countrymen, beloved by the humbler classes of the people, who had so often found in him a defender and whose welfare he had consistently promoted, remembered with gratitude by all who, struggling to rise in some branch of Art, had never failed to receive from him a helping hand, and respected even by some amongst the nobili who, though always opposed by him, had never found him other than an honourable antagonist. Machiavelli, describing his character, says:—

"He never sought the honours of government, yet enjoye.

them all. When holding high office he was courteous to all Not a man of great eloquence, but of an extraordinary pru dence." Giovanni had assisted at the birth of the movement i; which Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Masaccio wer the leaders; he had helped its onward course, and he die,'.

as its "morning" ended with the death of Masaccio am.

began to pass into full noon. Thus the chief interest connected with his life will always be that memorable outburs in Art which took place between the years 1400 and 142? burning with such ardour among the Florentines that it threw even politics into the background, and formed the prominent feature in the life of Florence during his time He lies buried with Piccarda, his wife, in the "Old Sacristy," 4 in the church of San Lorenzo, the only portion of the rebuil church which was finished at the time of his death. Thei fine tomb,43 richly ornamented with figures of putti an,i garlands of flowers, stands in the centre of the sacristy with a large marble table over it. The tomb is interesting fror the fact that isolated tombs like this, though common i other countries, were very rare in Italy.

Such was the founder of this family which was destine to have so momentous a history. He laid the foundations c the family solidly, not so much by the popularity which h won through his steadfast championship of the cause of th humbler classes, as by the principles of magnanimity, ge1 erosity, courtesy, and care for the people which he taugl his sons, and caused to become an unwritten law in th family for three generations after him. As we look at tr kindly and sensible old face in his portrait we feel how we it was for Florence in after years that Giovanni di Bicci d Medici possessed the character that he did. It will be sec how, on his death, the party of the nobles took steps • destroy his work, as well as to prevent these "upstart Medic from rising any higher..

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PART I.

PART I GIOVANNI DI B1cc1's,two sons were Cosimo and Lorenzo Cosimo's branch, which includes all the greater Medicf, eventually in the seventh generation died out, when the succession passed to Lorenzo's branch, which carried on the family through six more generations, attained that crown which the elder branch had striven for and made possible, and at last in its turn also died out in 1743.

As the best way of avoiding confusion the history follows the elder branch right down to its end (Part I), before returning to take up (Part II) the story of the younger branch, from its commencement with Lorenzo downwards. This is rendered the easier since the first few generations of the younger branch have scarcely any independent history of their own, theirs being almost entirely merged in that of the elder branch; so that the period when the younger branch has an independent history is a comparatively short one..

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CHAPTER IV. COSIMO (PATER PATRIAE)

Born 1389. (Ruled 1434-1464.) Died 1464

WHEN Giovanni di Bicci died his eldest son Cosimo was forty years old. Up to that time we have only one episode recorded of him, viz., that when in 1415 the Council of Constance was assembled and Pope John XXIII, forced by the Emperor Sigismund, very reluctantly proceeded to it, Cosimo de' Medici, then twenty-six years old, who had known him before he became Pope, went with him at the risk of his life to help to defend him; and had to fly in disguise when Pope John was deposed and imprisoned by the Council.

Cosimo had shortly before this adventure been married to Contessina de' Bardi; 1 and his eldest son, Piero, was born (apparently in the Bardi palace) while Cosimo was absent at the above Council. The Bardi were in the fourteenth century the richest banking family in Florence. Though they themselves have disappeared their oldest palace 2 still stands in the street which was all once their property, and still bears their name, the Via de' Bardi, always to us reminiscent of "Romola." But they had fallen on evil days before Cosimo's marriage to the eldest daughter of the house, having been gradually ruined owing to the loss of a large sum of money which, lent by them to Edward III of England, had never been repaid.3 By this marriage the Bardi palace came into the possession of the Medici family, and Cosimo appears during his father's lifetime to have lived there, his arms with eight red balls 4) being still to be seen in some of the rooms..

Cosimo had been educated at the celebrated school attached to the Camaldolese monastery of Sta. Maria degli Angeli in the Via degli Alfani.5 He knew Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, besides several modern languages, and was passionately fond of both Learning and Art. He also possessed all the qualities which distinguished his father, and on becoming head of the family soon showed that he would be likely to play a more prominent part in Florentine affairs than his father. The family were by this time growing enormously wealthy, owning banks in as many as sixteen capital cities in Europe; 6 and Cosimo's great wealth, courteous demeanour, ability, and tact, all joined as it was to a generous disposition, made him fully as popular with the people as his father had been.

In Cosimo de' Medici the party of the nobles (the Grandi), then headed by the powerful family of the Albizzi, saw a formidable opponent. They already detested this wealthy family who were rising from the class of the Popolani and gaining such influence, and they saw in its new head one who aroused their bitterest jealousy. They therefore determined that the Medici must be entirely rooted out of Florence. This, however, was not easy to accomplish, Cosimo's popularity being so great; moreover, the most respected of their number, the aged Niccolo da Uzzano, was against any such design. Machiavelli tells us that when the other nobles consulted him regarding their proposed action against the Medici he warned them that in a trial of strength the latter would win; that if Cosimo were put to death as they desired, Florence would be in danger of having Rinaldo degli Albizzi as a despot, and that if either was to prevail, of the two he preferred Cosimo; "but," he added, "God deliver this city from private usurpation." So that for the present the nobles were forced to bide their time.

^ In 1430, two years after his father's death, Cosimo began to carry out a project which he had had under consideration from the time he succeeded his father, that of building a

new palace for the family. For this he chose a site in the Via Larga,7 the widest street in the city, at the corner where it was joined by a short street, the Via de' Gori, which ran down to the church of San Lorenzo, then being rebuilt with the family money, and which when completed he purposed to endow.

This palace Cosimo intended should be a model of architectural art, and should surpass anything of the kind up to that time seen. Brunelleschi was now the foremost architect of the age; his dome was approaching completion, he was also building the church of San Lorenzo, and in this same year 8 began his other church of Santo Spirito. So Cosimo had at first proposed to employ him in designing his new palace.

But on seeing Brunelleschi's plan he considered it too grand in character, and instead of it accepted a less pretentious one by Michelozzo, an architect then coming into notice, and who (chiefly through this work) became recognised as second only to Brunelleschi. For the adornment of the cortile of the palace, when it should be completed, Cosimo gave various commissions to Donatello, by this time acknowledged as the leading sculptor. These included the bronze statue of David (now in the museum of the Bargello), the bronze statue of Judith slaying Holofernes (now in the Loggia de' Lanzi) and the medallions copied from antique gems, still to be seen over the arches of the cortile. The first of these works, the David, was an epoch-making statue in the history of Art, having probably a greater influence than any other single statue ever executed; 9 it was f1nished within the next three years (before Cosimo's exile 10), the other commissions being completed later.

In 1432 Niccolo da Uzzano, for so many years the respected leader of the nobili (though latterly thrown into the shade by Rinaldo degli Albizzi), died. He was one of the best statesmen Florence had ever possessed, consistently employing his influence to check the party rivalries of his countrymen.

His restraining influence being removed, the nobles proceeded to carry out their resolve to get rid of these Medici who were becoming such formidable champions of the people.

Complete success in this object required, they considered, the death of Cosimo himself and the banishment of the rest of the family, including his brother Lorenzo and their first cousin Averardo; in the case of a family of bankers such a banishment, particularly if they were dispersed, would soon cause their ruin. With the Albizzi family at their head the nobili now took steps to effect these objects. And the new palace, so much superior to any hitherto built in Florence, assisted them in their design, now that the walls began to attain sufficient height for the general style of the building to be appreciated, and particularly the novel and expensive rustica style of the lower storey.

Having by a skilful manipulation of the elections of the year 1433 obtained a Signoria considerably under their influence, the Albizzi party accused Cosimo to the Government of scheming to exalt himself above the rank of an ordinary citizen (the worst charge possible in Florence), and pointed among other things to the new palace as being too grand for a simple citizen, denoting an ambition dangerous to the Republic. Whereupon Cosimo was suddenly arrested, and consigned to a cell in the tower of the Palazzo della Signoria, while arrangements were made for his speedy judicial murder. But the temper of the populace when they heard what was going on became so formidable that that plan had after a day or two to be abandoned. The nobles then attempted to employ poison, and commissioned two of their number to effect this; Cosimo had from the first expected that this method would be employed, and for the first three days of his imprisonment would eat nothing; but this second plan also failed, as Cosimo's jailer, Federigo Mala void, refused to be corrupted. So the nobles had to be content with his banishment; but Cosimo had a narrow escape. In due course a sentence of banishment was passed by the Signoria, a regular

decree of ostracism, in the Greek style, being drawn up; the whole of the Medici were exiled, Cosimo and his family to Padua,12 his brother Lorenzo to Venice, and his cousin Averardo to Naples; and they were escorted under a guard to the frontier. The decree declared that the Medici were banished from the city and state of Florence "being dangerous to the Republic by reason of their wealth and ambition." The sentence of exile, and the reasons for it, were published in all other states, so as to make their disgrace as public as possible. And the nobles, though they had failed to secure Cosimo's death, were satisfied that they had nevertheless achieved the ruin of the Medici.

Thus were the Medici for the first time cast forth in ignominy by Florence as foes to her Republic. It was an experience they were to undergo three times in the course of their history. On this first occasion it occurred solely to satisfy the desire of the nobles to get rid of the one family that stood in the way of a return to that state of things wherein the power had been in the hands of the nobles, an object the latter had never ceased to work for since the reform of the constitution which had placed all power in the hands of the people. It is often asserted that the germs of an aim to destroy the Republic and erect a despotic monarchy in its place, existed in the Medici from the first. But so far, at all events, as this first banishmer1t is concerned the statement is proved in the most practical manner to be untrue.

For whereas suspicions of this nature when once aroused have, if there be any basis for them, a tendency to grow stronger in the absence of the accused (and certainly would do so in such a city), yet in this case the very reverse occurred; and Florence by her action a year afterwards conclusively proved that there were no grounds for the charge.

By Cosimo's exile the work on the Medici Palace was brought to a standstill, and as neither Michelozzo nor Dona, tello desired to remain in a city which had cast him out they also went into exile, Michelozzo accompanying Cosimo and

Donatello proceeding to Rome13 to study such remains of the classic sculpture as were to be found there, though these were at that time extremely few,14 the Popes not having begun to collect such things, and all the treasures now to be seen in the sculpture galleries of the Vatican and the Capitol then lying buried under the ruins of the devastated city.

The chief events during the first five years after Cosimo became head of the family were the great change which at this time came over the long struggle between France and England (known as the "Hundred Years' War"), and the assembly of the Council of Bale, the third of the attempts of the fifteenth century to reform the Church. Also, on a smaller stage, Florence's two wars, against Lucca and against Milan.

Regarding the first of the above events, it has been noted how in 1428 the English, then masters pf all northern France, advanced southwards and laid siege to Orleans. Then came Joan of Arc, and in three years (1428-1431) changed the whole aspect of affairs in France. The details of her career, ending in a death which was to the lasting disgrace of both English and French, are well known. The English power in France never recovered the blow dealt it by her victories, and from this time forth the English were steadily driven backwards.

In 1431, the same year that Joan of Arc was burnt at Rouen, the Council of Bale was assembled. In that year Martin V, the Pope who had been elected at the Council of Constance, died. He had revived the autocratic view of the Papacy which had been maintained by the Popes of the thirteenth century, had ruled that archbishops and bishops are merely the delegates of the Pope, and had endeavoured to prevent all further assembling of councils to reform the Church by ruling that Popes were superior to councils. It was a strange outcome of the work of such a Council as that

of Constance. However, on his death his rulings were ignored, and a third attempt to reform the Church was made by the assembly of the Council of Bale. It was convened (like that of Constance) by the Emperor Sigismund. The new Pope, Eugenius IV, having failed in his endeavour to prevent its meeting, or to get it dissolved as soon as the preliminary proceedings were concluded, was, through fear of being deposed, at length forced to acknowledge that a Pope is subject to a council, and sent four cardinals to represent him at it.

This Council was sitting at Bale from 1431 to 1438. It passed various decrees of reform which the Pope accepted; then as it proceeded to deal stronger blows at the Papacy the Pope tried to remove it to Italy. The Council, however, refused to be removed. Its subsequent dealings with Pope Eugenius IV will be noted hereafter.

During the years 1429 to 1433 Florence was dragged into two small wars which brought her much discredit. The Albizzi, wielding the chief influence, first persuaded the Government to enter on an unjust aggressive war against Lucca, and then prosecuted this war with such an utter want of ability that it was no wonder that it was completely unsuccessful; and Florence in this attempt to conquer Lucca reaped nothing but expense, failure, and loss of prestige.

This war produced one with Milan, which languished on undecisively until 1433, when a temporary peace was patched up. These two wars, whose only result was an increased expenditure, brought much disfavour upon the Albizzi, who were entirely responsible for them.

The first exile of the Medici lasted only for one year.

The large majority of the population loved this munificent and gracious family, and by the time a year had passed saw that they had been made a catspaw to assist the manoeuvres of the nobles, and that while there was no ground for the accusation against the Medici, there was every ground for

suspecting the motive of the nobles. For the Albizzi and their party, when once they had got rid of the people's main supporter, proceeded, by their scarcely concealed plotting against that democratic form of government which Florence had gained through so many struggles, to give the people good reason for such fears. So in September 1434 the decree of banishment against the Medici was annulled, and messages were sent inviting their return. The Albizzi thereupon flew to arms, assembled their adherents to the number of about eight hundred, and made an attempt to seize the Government before Cosimo should return; but the Signoria obtained troops from Pistoia, and the attempt failed. On the 6th October Cosimo re-entered Florence with a public triumph almost like that given to a conqueror, and in the midst of a rejoicing populace. Machiavelli says:—"Seldom has a citizen returning from a great victory been greeted by such a concourse of people, and with such demonstrations of affection, as was Cosimo on his return from exile." And Cosimo's unassuming demeanour, even on the occasion of so honourable a triumph over his enemies, increased still further his popularity.

His subsequent conduct did him equal honour. In any other state in Europe at that time of the world's history such a return to power would assuredly have been followed by the putting to death of those whose enmity had caused what had been endured. Cosimo and his whole family had been treated with the bitterest animosity by the nobles, and with the greatest ingratitude by those members of the Signoria whom the nobles had induced to do their will; the humiliation of himself and his family had been made known in all the surrounding states; they had been put to much fear, inconvenience, and loss; his own life had been attempted, and nothing had been omitted to secure the total ruin of his family. Yet, when thus triumphantly brought back by the will of the people with ample power to retaliate, we find Cosimo firmly refusing to allow any of those who had caused

these things to be put to death. On the other hand, that some should suffer banishment on account, not of what had been done to the Medici, but of the attempt which had been made, before their return, to overthrow the Government, was inevitable; the Albizzi and their party could not expect to get off unpunished after such an endeavour. Those writers who are anxious to find cause against the Medici have accused Cosimo of a "vindictive policy" on this occasion; but this is unjust. The Signoria, terribly frightened at the attempt (which had nearly succeeded) of the Albizzi and their party to seize the Government by force of arms, passed a sentence of exile against some eighty of them.15 It was not an unnatural result of their conduct. But in any case there is no evidence that this and other repressive measures against the Albizzi party, some of which measures had been already taken before his arrival, were instigated by Cosimo at all.16 A few months after the above triumphant return Cosimo received from his city the most practical demonstration it could give of its entire revulsion of sentiment towards him, and regret for the treatment which he and his had received.

He was elected Gonfaloniere, and held that office for the next two months.

Meanwhile Pope Eugenius IV had become involved in many troubles, mainly through his continued opposition^ the Council of Bale. The Emperor Sigismund at length being determined to force the Pope to submit to the reforms which the Council was striving to pass, but which the Pope's delegates were obstructing, proceeded to Italy, being invited thither by Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan, who hoped that the Emperor would assist him in the war he was then carrying on against Florence and Venice. After staying for some time with the Duke of Milan, and after being crowned with the iron crown of Lombardy, the Emperor, avoiding Florence's territory, proceeded by way of Lucca and Siena to Rome, where he was crowned by Pope Eugenius in St. Peter's

(1433). Thence he started on his way back to Bale, apparently less ready than he had hitherto been to support the Council against the Pope. But immediately afterwards Fortebraccio, commander of the Milanese troops, marched upon Rome, while at the same time Francesco Sforza, also in behalf of the Duke of Milan, seized a large part of the Papal territories in Romagna, declaring that he was authorised to do so by the Council of Bale. The eventual result was that Pope Eugenius was, in 1434, forced to fly from Rome in disguise and in danger of his life, the people of Rome joining with his other foes in expelling him. He took refuge at Florence, arriving there just at the time of Cosimo's recall from exile. And at Florence this Pope resided for the next eight years, while Rome remained in possession of his enemies.

Cosimo at the time of his recall from banishment in 1434 was forty-five years of age, and thenceforth became the acknowledged leading citizen of the Florentine Republic.

But knowing well the fickle nature of popular favour and the peculiar temperament of his countrymen—their habit of constant change, their tendency to fall a prey to one faction after another, and above all their jealousy of any individual who seemed inclined to exalt himself—he saw that an immense task lay before him if he was to retain that position.

It has generally been assumed that Cosimo was actuated solely by personal ambition; but he had other motives than this. Apart from all question of personal or family ambition, he desired to retain that position for two reasons eminently honourable to him. The poorer classes were ground down under a crushing burden of taxation, due to the heavy cost to each individual citizen of wars so constantly undertaken by a state whose population was comparatively small. This evil he desired to remedy by so guiding foreign affairs as to make such wars less frequent. Again he saw that the same cause was

severely hampering Florence's commerce, while as a banker on a wide scale he felt that if he could create peace, he would be able considerably to extend Florentine markets and increase the commercial wealth of the Florentines. Feeling that he possessed in himself the ability to do these things, it was in every way natural that he should wish to show that he could do them. Ambition of this kind is not a fault, but a virtue.17 But to do all this he must be Florence's leading citizen, no matter who might from time to time be Gonfaloniere.

And in order to retain permanently this position—one which could never be more than tacitly granted—two things would be necessary: first, to make all foreign countries recognise that he, and he alone, was the motive power in the Florentine state; and, second, to convince his own countrymen that no one else could so satisfactorily manage their affairs, and in particular their foreign affairs, so that they should be glad to leave all such matters in his hands. And both these things must be done in such a way as never to arouse in the Florentines that peculiar jealousy of any kind of authority which they were so apt to develop. Such was the task before Cosimo, one at which any man might have quailed, in view of the temperament of the Florentine people of his time, as well as the conditions of perpetual intrigue in the midst of which it must be carried out. Yet, as will be seen in the sequel, he accomplished with complete success this difficult task.

But it was not only in the political sphere that Cosimo won renown. Many and varied were the matters which he took in hand for the advancement of Learning, the encouragement of Art, and the assistance of charitable institutions.

Before all else he was a deep scholar; one of those who loved learning for its own sake. He maintained a regular staff of agents always employed in searching in the East for rare and important manuscripts,13 which became the nucleus of the great library which he founded; he instituted the celebrated Platonic Academy for the study of the rediscovered Plato, of whose writings he was an enthusiastic

admirer; no scholar applied to him in vain, and the ways in which he promoted the cause of Learning were numberless.

Gibbon says of him:— "Cosimo was the father of a line of princes whose name and age are almost synonymous with the restoration of Learning.

His credit was ennobled into fame; his riches were dedicated to the service of mankind; he corresponded at once with Cairo and London; and a cargo of Indian spices and Greek books were often imported in the same vessel." To Art he gave similar assistance; he was a liberal patron to the painters Fra Angelico and Lippi, to the sculptors Ghiberti and Donatello, and to the architects Brunelleschi and Michelozzo; he collected objects of art of every kind; and he made his collections open to all artists. No less lavish were his charities; he gave large sums for the rebuilding of many churches and monasteries, including the Badia of Fiesole, the monastery of San Marco, and the church of San Lorenzo, built a hospital at Jerusalem for sick and infirm pilgrims, and bore a large part in every charitable work undertaken in Florence. Such was the man who in 1434 became the leading citizen of the Florentine Republic, and set forth on the political task which has been mentioned.

In 1435 Francesco Sforza, the celebrated condottiere commander, visited Florence. During this visit he developed a great liking for Cosimo, and thus began that friendship between them which in after years had important political results. .

In 1436 Brunelleschi completed his dome, and the cathedral,19 begun a hundred and thirty-eight years before by Arnolfo di Cambio, was at last finished.

This completion of the great work upon which four generations had laboured was a notable event, and a ceremony worthy of the occasion was arranged. Pope Eugenius IV was at this time residing at the monastery of Santa Maria Novella,

and the cathedral was solemnly consecrated by him on the Feast of the Annunciation, 25th March 1436. "A raised passage, richly carpeted and decorated with tapestry, damask, silk, and flowers, was constructed from the door of Santa Maria Novella, and passing through the Baptistery, to the western door of the cathedral." Along this an imposing procession, consisting of the Pope, thirty-seven bishops, seven cardinals, the Signoria, and the envoys of foreign powers, passed from Sta. Maria Novella to the cathedral. The consecration ceremony occupied five hours, after which the procession was re-formed and returned in the same way.

A tablet on the wall of the cathedral commemorates this event. Brunelleschi, more fortunate than Giotto,20 lived to see the completion of his great work and to take part in the above ceremony. The completion of the dome and the consecration of the cathedral serve to mark the beginning of Cosimo's rule in Florence.

In 1437 Cosimo set about rebuilding at his own expense the afterwards far-famed monastery of San Marco in Florence. This monastery of the Dominican Order had at this time in its community two men who will ever live enshrined in the memory of men as representing all that was best in the spirit of that age, and as counter-balancing much that was evil, Giovanni of Fiesole, called Fra Angelico, and Antonio Pierozzi, called Antonino, afterwards Archbishop of Florence.

Situated near the new palace which he was building, its Prior a man so justly beloved,21 this monastery seems to have been looked upon by Cosimo as a well-beloved retreat to which he could retire for rest and congenial companionship when harassed by the cares of State and the vexations of political life. And with his usual liberality in all that he undertook he spent money upon it "with a generosity which the modesty of the friars had to restrain." The rebuilding of it cost him 36,000 ducats, in addition to which sum he gave it a large endowment. He had a special cell set apart for his own use, and thither often resorted for converse with the Prior and others of the community; he gave as a nucleus for the monastery library over four hundred valuable manuscript books; and it was at his expense that the walls of the monastery were decorated with those frescoes by Fra Angelico which all the world now visits San Marco to see.

The effect of having at the head of the State a man like ; Cosimo showed itself at once in the impetus given to all i branches of Art. As a result we find Art taking great strides during these first five years of Cosimo's supremacy in Florentine affairs, and artists at work all over the city whose names have since become famous throughout the world.

Ghiberti was employed on his second pair of bronze doors; Brunelleschi was engaged on his two churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito,22 besides several palaces; Michelozzo was at work on the Medici Palace and the monastery of San Marco; Donatello, having returned from Rome, was busy in San Lorenzo and on his various works for Cosimo's new palace; the dead Masaccio's name was earning great fame, for by this time men had recognised his genius, and all painters were eagerly studying his works in the Brancacci chapel; Luca della Robbia was completing his marble .screen of the Cantoria; Fra Angelico was beginning his frescoes in San Marco; Lippi was painting pictures for Cosimo, in which he was to show the world the lessons which Masaccio had taught; Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Veneziano, Paolo Uccello, and many other artists were at work in Florence, most of them brought thither directly by Cosimo to execute various works for him, while he was besieged with letters by others at a distance importuning him for commissions.

From 1434 to 1436 Florence was again at war with Milan, Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan, being stirred up to attack Florence's territory by the banished Rinaldo degli Albizzi and his party, "who urged the Duke to make war on Florence,

promising to aid him with a contingent of juorusciti, and by fomenting insurrection within the city." At length, however, in February 1437, Florence gained a victory over the forces of Milan at the battle of Barga, which for a time put a stop to Milan's efforts; whereupon Florence again attacked Lucca, but without any success. Milan, however, renewed the war in 1438, and it dragged on, with varying success, for several years, without definite result.

In the year 1437 the Emperor Sigismund died; and immediately upon this Pope Eugenius IV came to an open breach with the Council of Bale, and summoned a fresh council to meet in Italy, the place chosen being Ferrara. Its main object was to consider proposals made at this time by the Eastern Emperor. The Emperor John Paleologus, following the example of his father and grandfather, proposed making a personal visit to the West to solicit help against the Turks to save Constantinople, which must otherwise fall. The Pope invited him, together with the Patriarch and bishops of the Eastern Church, to a conference, holding out hopes of such aid if the breach between the Churches of the East and the West could be healed.

Upon this action on the Pope's part of convening on his own authority a fresh council to meet in Italy (a step he had never been permitted to effect so long as the Emperor Sigismund lived), the Council of Bale, refusing to be thus broken up, declared Pope Eugenius deposed. But the feeling of Europe was against the creation of another schism, and by degrees the Council of Bale dwindled away and came to an end, after having sat for eight years and effected practically nothing towards that reformation of the Church for which it had been assembled. Thus again did the last reforming Council—for it was the last—fail as completely as the two which had preceded it.

Meanwhile the Emperor John Paleologus and his retinue, together with the Patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph, and a numerous body of bishops and theologians, sailed from Con stantinople, and in due time arrived at Venice. The Emperor was received with great pomp by Doge Francesco Foscari, and entertained at Venice for a month; after which he proceeded to Ferrara, where Pope Eugenius having also arrived, the Council began its sittings (5th January 1438).

Cosimo, in that task which has been mentioned of gradually bringing foreign nations to recognise in him the motive power of the Florentine state, and also gradually convincing his countrymen that their interests were best served by leaving foreign affairs to him, had had to exercise much patience.

He had a matter to effect which necessarily moved but slowly, and during the first few years he had been forced to be content with a very partial control, and often been obliged to acquiesce in action which he was as yet without the power to direct as he would wish. But by the end of the year 1438 he was beginning to have this power, foreign affairs being more and more left to him to manage in his own way. And he now took the first independent step, one which had very important results to Florence. He proceeded to Ferrara, where the Council between the Eastern and Western Churches had been sitting for nearly a year, and so used his influence with Pope Eugenius IV that he got the Council transferred to Florence; whereby he obtained for his city increased political influence, brought to it much added trade, and secured for it additional advantages in the advancement of the cause of Learning. Accordingly the Council removed in February 1439 from Ferrara to Florence, which thus became the centre of interest in this great historical event.

This Council is one of the most interesting assemblages of this kind that ever took place. A gathering which included an Emperor of the East and his retinue, a Patriarch of Constantinople, the principal authorities of the Eastern Church, a Pope of Rome, the principal authorities of the Western Church, and all the most learned men of both East and West, had never before been seen. Moreover, it was the last oc casion on which such an assemblage was possible; fourteen years later the fall of Constantinople swept away all that formed its peculiar interest, making it impossible for such a gathering ever to occur again.

This occasion gave Cosimo a great opportunity, both in the political sphere and with regard to the cause of learning.

Nor did he allow the cost of entertaining these distinguished visitors to fall upon the State, but made them all his own guests, an action which gained him universal commendation.

Residences were provided for them such as they could not have obtained in any other city. The Patriarch of Constantinople was lodged in the Ferrantini palace in the Borgo Pinti; the Pope and his suite in the extensive range of buildings at that time attached to Sta. Maria Novella; while to the Emperor and his retinue were given the whole of the Peruzzi palaces23 then surrounding the Piazza de' Peruzzi, a group of palaces in which the Eastern Emperor and his suite were more splendidly lodged than they could have been in the dwelling of any prince in Europe. The Council began its sittings on the 2nd March. It sat in the cathedral, beneath Brunelleschi's glorious dome, at that time the wonder of Italy, and worthy to be first used on so unique an occasion.

This gathering gave an immense impetus to what was beginning to be called the "New Learning." It brought to Florence the most learned churchmen of Eastern Christendom, such as Bessarion, Bishop of Nicsea, and also the most learned scholars of the East, such as Gemistos Plethon, whom Cosimo induced to settle permanently at Florence; it brought many rare manuscripts, most of which found their way into Cosimo's library; and, above all, it created personal contact and friendliness, destined to have large results when a few years later this Greek learning should find itself driven from its home in Constantinople. The effect of all this was to advance Florence still further on that path of unearthing the long-buried literature of the past on which Cosimo's efforts had already been long engaged.

And this "New Learning," among many results which it was to have in the future, was to have one result of which men little dreamed, and least of all those most occupied in fostering the cause of learning. For it was destined in time to produce that great convulsion extending over all Europe which we know as the Reformation.24 The "New Learning" operated in two different ways to produce this result. First, in its work of increasing a knowledge of the ancient literature it opened up large tracts of history till then scarcely known. It made scholars acquainted with writings belonging to the centuries preceding the dark period before the time of Charlemagne, writings hitherto accessible, if at all, only to ecclesiastics, and able to be read only by a few even of the latter. A large number of these writings referred to Church matters, and had been written by eminent bishops of that period.25 And these soon disclosed to scholars that during at least six centuries of the Church's earliest life its constitution had been very different from what they now saw it, and with no supremacy of one See over all others; while such writings also made them acquainted with the proceedings of the six great General Councils of the Church which had taken place in those centuries, some of which Councils had given decisions bearing on this very point.

And to this new knowledge of the history of the Church the gathering in Florence added considerably. For it enabled the dignitaries of the Eastern Church to converse face to face, and in their own language, with enquirers on such subjects belonging to the West. And since the Eastern Church prided itself on never deviating by one hair's-breadth from what was held at the beginning, and since the special point upon which the discussions of the Council were taking place was this very one of the claim of the Church of Rome to a supremacy which the Eastern Church maintained did not exist at the beginning, the Eastern bishops and theologians gathered at Florence would be certain to corroborate any

discoveries on the above point which the "New Learning" might reveal to the eager scholars of Florence. And what scholars learnt in one generation all mankind would, through them, learn in the next.

Pope Eugenius, therefore, in bringing the bishops26 and theologians of the Eastern Church into contact with the hotbed of learning which was growing up in Florence, had done the most fatal thing he could to the cause of the Papacy.

Moreover, the time was soon to come when one of these scholars of the Renaissance, poring in some dim library over the documents of the eighth century, would make the amazing discovery that the so-called Donation of Constantine, and the celebrated Decretals (now known as The Forged Decretals), upon which the whole claim of the See of Rome to a supremacy had been based, were nothing less than a series of immense forgeries. As the general result of all this the "New Learning," which now received so strong an impetus, was bound, as soon as it should spread to Germany and England, and as soon as the invention of printing should come to aid it in doing so, to produce the Reformation.

The process would take time, but the effect was certain.

Where the Councils of Pisa, Constance, and Bale had failed, the "New Learning" would assuredly not fail. It was a train of gunpowder laid, in an ever-widening circle, from Florence as a centre; though the man was not yet born whose hand would, eighty years later, far away in Germany, eventually set fire to the train.

The second way in which the "New Learning" tended to the same result was of a different kind. It gave a strong impulse towards the study of Plato and other non-Christian thinkers of the classical age, and a tendency to look at all religions from their standpoint. And here also this gathering in Florence had much effect. We are told that Cosimo, always a great admirer of Plato's philosophy, formed the idea of his celebrated Platonic Academy from conversing with the Greek scholar Plethon, the most learned of the Greeks

who came to the Council. This famous Academy became the home of the richest intellectual life of the century, and though many of its members made endeavours to reconcile Platonism and Christianity, its general tendency was against the existing order of things in religion. Its influence became later on very widespread, and Symonds says that it would be impossible to over-estimate the influence upon European thought which this Platonic Academy came to exercise about the time of the Reformation—in Italy through Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, and in Germany through Reuchlin and his pupil Melanchthon.27 This great gathering of 1439 in Florence had its effect also on Art. We are often inclined to wonder where such ! painters as Fra Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, and Gentile da Fabriano got the idea of the gorgeous robes and strangelooking head-dresses which we see in their pictures of Eastern subjects. It was all taken direct from the life of Florence pf this year. During that summer the inhabitants of Florence saw a perpetual succession of grand processions and imposing functions in which these visitors from the East appeared in every kind of magnificent and strange costume.

Vespasiano da Bisticci and other writers of the time dilate upon their rich silken robes, heavy with gold, and their fantastic-looking head-dresses, regarded with deep interest by the learned on account of their ancient character. And the painters reproduce these before us in pictorial records which are valuable to us on that very account, and because this was the last occasion on which these costumes were destined to appear.

As regards the objects with which the Council of Florence was assembled, no results followed. The venerable Patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph, died in Florence one month before the Council came to an end.28 After his death an agreement between the Greek and Latin Churches was made by the Council and published with much ostentation by the Pope.29 the basis of it was that submission of the Eastern Church

to the Church of Rome which had been an aim of the Papacy ever since the tenth century; and the failure of any agreement from that standpoint was a foregone conclusion. The Emperor on the termination of the Council returned at once to Constantinople, and as soon as the terms of the agreement he had made became known, it was violently repudiated by the entire population, and a tumult so great arose that the agreement made at Florence was forthwith dropped and never heard of again.30 Thus the Emperor John Paleologus, the third in succession to strive to get help from the West to save Constantinople, was no more successful than his father and grandfather had been. It was evidently vain to hope that the nations of Europe could be induced to lay aside their mutual dissensions even to protect themselves from a danger which threatened them all, and the days of the great capital of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, which had blocked the path of Mahomedan conquest for eight hundred years, were now plainly numbered.

In 1440, shortly after the above concourse had dispersed and Florence had returned to her normal conditions, the palace in the Via Larga which Cosimo had begun to build in 1430 was sufficiently completed for occupation, and he moved into it. The members of the family who were thus the first to take up their abode in this palace to which so much of the after history of the Medici attaches, were Cosimo and his wife, Contessina, and their two sons, Piero and Giovanni, then respectively twenty-four and nineteen years old. A few years later both the latter were to marry and bring their wives also to live in the family palace, which, before Cosimo's death, echoed to the childish voices of yet a third generation. Cosimo's brother Lorenzo died just as this change of residence of the elder branch took place.

In the same year the long and desultory war with Milan was brought to a conclusion. The Milanese army, under

Piccinino, after threatening Florence, retired into the Casentino, where, being followed by the Florentine army, it was defeated at the battle of Anghiari, by which success Florence gained the fertile district of the Casentino, and Venice, her ally, gained Peschiera and Bergamo.

In the following year (1441) there occurred an incident out of which has originated an accusation against Cosimo of the gravest kind—to the effect that he instigated the murder of Baldaccio d'Anghiari, commander of the Florentine infantry. The crime was an atrocious one, but there is not a particle of evidence that Cosimo had anything to do with it. During the war with Milan in 1440 a Florentine named Orlandini was in command of the troops which had been stationed to hold the important pass of Marradi, on the Faenza road, a strong position covering Florence on the north, and between which and Florence there were no other troops. The Milanese army, under Piccinino, having failed in their attack on the pass of San Benedetto, then attempted to force that of Marradi, where they should have been still more easily repulsed. But on the approach of the enemy Orlandini had ignominiously fled, ordering his troops to do the same, thereby leaving the road to Florence open to the enemy, who advanced and occupied the heights of Fiesole, placing Florence for a short time in great danger. And Baldaccio d'Anghiari being a brave soldier, had boldly denounced Orlandini's cowardice which had had such serious results. In 1441 Orlandini became Gonfaloniere, and while holding that office sent for Baldaccio, "under the garb of friendship," to come and discuss some military affairs at the Palazzo della Signoria. The latter accordingly went to the palace, was received by the Gonfaloniere with every sign of friendship, and conducted by him to his own room, where, on a sudden, hired assassins, placed in concealment by Orlandini, rushed upon Baldaccio and killed him, throwing his body into the cortile below. His head was cut off and his mangled remains exposed to the public in the Piazza della

Signoria, where it was proclaimed that he had been put to death by the Signoria as a traitor to the Republic.

The accusation against Cosimo is that Baldaccio on his way to the palace happened to meet him, and asked his advice about going, and that Cosimo treacherously advised him to go: it being declared that Cosimo desired Baldaccio's death because he feared the growing influence of Neri Capponi, whose close friend Baldaccio was. The motive alleged is exceedingly lame, while the whole story of Baldaccio's having met Cosimo at all or received any advice from him is apparently due solely to political animosity. It is only mentioned by one historian of the time, Cavalcanti, whose hatred of Cosimo is well known.31 And as the story is not mentioned by any other writer, and comes from a source so unreliable in this particular case, it is now rejected by all historians as unworthy of credence. Gino Capponi in similarly rejecting it says that Cavalcanti "always writes in hatred of Cosimo, while wishing to appear not to do so." 32 Some writers have urged that even if Cosimo did not instigate the crime he must be held no less responsible, since he took no action against those guilty of it. But this ignores the fact that the latter were not private individuals, but the government of the country; that at the date when this occurred (1441) Cosimo had by no means yet gained the degree of power he afterwards attained; and that any action by him against the Signoria under the circumstances would have been at any rate highly unconstitutional, and would practically have been to head a rebellion against the constituted authority of the State. Lastly, the crime is so opposed to the whole tenor of his life that we are justified in rejecting absolutely the idea that he had any part in it, especially as the charge is entirely unsupported by any evidence.33 Nor except for the desire to find material for a damning charge against Cosimo does the crime appear to differ from many others common at that time. The facts of the case are amply sufficient to account for Orlandini's deed; while he probably

had reason to know that the members of the Signoria were not men likely to refuse to support his action before the people, backed as that action was by the evidence of traitorous conduct which he asserted that he possessed against Baldaccio d'Anghiari.

In the same year (1441) Cosimo arranged the purchase by Florence from the Pope of the town of Borgo San Sepolcro, for a sum of 25,000 florins; while we are told, "Cosimo in-, creased the obligation of the State to him in the matter in that he himself advanced the purchase money." In 1443 Pope Eugenius IV was at last able to return to Rome. Rome was at this time a ruined city,31 devastated by the long conflicts between the Orsini, the Colonna, and other great barons, and destitute of all culture or civilising influences; and the contrast was all the more severe to the Pope since Florence, where he had been living for eight years, was in advance of all other cities in Europe.

V In 1444 Cosimo founded the celebrated Medici Library, the first public library35 to exist in Europe, and from the example of which the Vatican Library at Rome was thirty years afterwards formed. This library, housed at first in their own palace, was steadily added to by the Medici family in succeeding generations, and by them in 1524 the building in which it is now located (in the cloisters of San Lorenzo) 3e was constructed, designed by Michelangelo. It contains about ten thousand manuscript books of Greek and Latin classical authors, many of them of the rarest value. Among these it possesses the original copy of the Pandects of Justinian (A.D.

533), the discovery of which in the twelfth century caused so great an influence on the civilisation of Europe, and on which our study of the Roman law almost entirely hinges.37 Also the best manuscript of Cicero's letters; two manuscripts of Tacitus, one of them being the sole existing copy containing the first five books of the "Annals"; a very ancient copy of the tragedies of Sophocles; a most important manu wipt of -flischylus; a Greek treatise on surgery; the Commentaries of Julius Caesar; a Virgil of the fourth century; a Syriac Gospel of A.D. 556; the Bible copied from 690 to 716 by Ceolfrid, Abbot of Wearmouth, and called the Codex Amiatinus; a Pliny of the tenth century; and numerous literary treasures connected with the time of Dante and Petrarch and the Florence of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; the whole representing a vast sum of money spent by the Medici on this splendid contribution towards the advancement of Learning. It is the parent of all the great libraries of Europe, and as such deserves to be duly honoured.38 In connection with this library it is curious to note how little printing, when, six years after this, it appeared, was at first welcomed. "Those who owned these rare and costly manuscripts of the past, with their beautiful calligraphy, looked with no favour on crude and ugly reproductions thereof by a mechanical process." It is recorded by Gre?orovius that Federigo Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino (a prince who was at this time beginning to follow Cosimo's example in regard to the encouragement of Learning and Art) would not have a printed book in his library.

In 1446 a general war broke out in Italy. As usual, Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was its leading spirit, and he had as his allies the Pope and the King of Naples. Against this powerful coalition were ranged Venice, Florence, Genoa, and Bologna. The latter were entirely successful, especially when Cosimo at length managed to separate Naples from the coalition, and this brought about peace.

In the same year Brunelleschi died.39 Grand funeral obsequies were held in the Duomo, where his body lay surrounded by candles beneath the mighty vault that he had constructed, and was visited by the whole city. He was buried in the Duomo, his monument being placed opposite that of Arnolfo di Cambio, he who began and he who finished thus lying

opposite each other in the building which is their joint creation.

In 1447 Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan, the last of the Visconti family, and the perpetual enemy of Florence, died; whereupon two years of revolutions in Milan followed. Cosimo now executed his greatest stroke of foreign policy. The perpetual state of war with Milan wasted the revenues of Florence and prevented her development. Cosimo therefore determined to entirely change Florence's traditional foreign policy, and instead of Venice for ally and Milan for enemy, to reverse the position. He was opposed by many in his own state who had less political foresight, but he carried his point.

Francesco Sforza, the successful soldier, who ever since his visit to Florence in 1435 had maintained a strong friendship with Cosimo, had since married Bianca Visconti, the late Duke's only child. To him Cosimo now gave both political assistance and liberal supplies of money, and as the result of this aid, Sforza, early in 1450, gained possession of Milan, and became its Duke and Cosimo's fast friend.

Venice, of course, was greatly incensed, but Florence had no reason to fear Venice, which was neither so valuable as an ally nor so formidable as a foe as Milan. It proved a most successful stroke of policy, bringing to Florence peace instead of constant wars, and making Cosimo acknowledged as the most powerful force in the politics of Italy.

As regards France and England at this time, the "Hundred Years' War" was still proceeding, devastating all northern France, but with the general result that the English were steadily losing their hold of that country.

In 1440 Frederick III became Emperor. He was destined to hold the imperial title without dignity or influence for over fifty years (1440-1493).

In 1447 Pope Eugenius IV died. As his successor there was elected a man of far greater energy and ability, "the eager little scholar," Tommaso Parentucelli, who was a Great

friend of Cosimo, and had acted as librarian to the Medici Library when it was being formed; and he, on becoming Pope, having taken part in all the life of Art and Learning at work in Florence, was burning to inaugurate a similar state of things in Rome. He took the name of Nicholas V; 'and," we are told, "he determined to make Rome, at this time so desolate and ruined, the metropolis of the world." He took active measures at once, both in the domain of Art and in that of Learning.

In 1450 there was invented at Mayence the art of printing, fraught with greater consequences to mankind than many other events of this time which then seemed of far greater importance than this at first obscure invention. ' In 1452 the Emperor Frederick III visited Italy, and on his way to Rome passed through Florence, where he stayed with Cosimo in the Medici Palace.

In the same year war again broke out in Italy, caused by Alfonso, King of Naples, who, on the death of Filippo Visconti, had taken his place as the disturbing factor in Italy, and who now invaded Florence's territory. In the war that followed Naples and Venice were ranged against Florence and her new ally, Milan. This was the balance of power which Cosimo had with much labour striven to create. It was shown to be thoroughly satisfactory, Venice and Naples being able to effect nothing against Florence and Milan; and after a time, discovering this, they became ready to agree to the peace which through the Pope was proposed and concluded. Pope Nicholas V took no part in the war, urging all states to abandon their feuds and combine against the Turks to prevent the fall of Constantinople, then closely besieged; but none heeded him.

For nearly twenty years Cosimo's administration of foreign policy had given him unremitting labour. But these efforts had been crowned with success. He had by degrees

brought all foreign countries to realise that he was the motive power in the Florentine state. And he had also (through attaining unvarying success) gradually convinced his own countrymen that no one else could manage their affairs so well. It had required much patient tact to convert his countrymen to an opposite policy from their traditional one of having Venice for friend and Milan for foe, to counteract the ill-favour against him which, in consequence, Venice endeavoured to stir up in his own city, and to do all this without losing his position in the process. But the successful issue of the war of 1452 convinced all that his view was correct, and left none any longer anxious to dispute his administration of their affairs. And so long as he continued in the same course (and at the same time shunned, as he was wont, all ostentation of power), he might do almost what he would.

Not that Cosimo was immaculate. He often employed measures to consolidate his power which were harsh and indefensible; he contrived to obtain the banishment of families opposed to him, or to ruin them by financial methods which his power as a banker enabled him to carry out; and on the other hand he managed to elevate citizens dependent on him or devoted to his family. But such practices were part of the customary politics of the time, nor are they quite unknown in modern political life; while it was much that throughout the long and strenuous conflict which he had to wage to retain his position there was no bloodshed.

Above all, the welfare of Florence as a whole was so successfully effected, both in home and foreign affairs, that much could be forgiven regarding measures necessary to maintain Cosimo in power, since by this alone was that general result to the country achieved. And the Florentines evidently saw the matter in that light.

But Cosimo's political labours did not end even when he had achieved this result. He had to exercise a never-ceasing attention in order so to conduct the foreign policy of Florence amidst the intrigues of the time as to maintain a bal ance of power among the various Italian states, small as well as large, and thus secure peace in Italy and preserve Florence from the wasting effect of petty wars. The manifold anxieties of such a position were enough to break down any man; and even upon Cosimo they told severely. It was no wonder that he often sought a few hours' retreat from such anxieties in the quiet monastery of San Marco; nor that by the time he was sixty-four his health had already begun to give way.

In 1453 the "Hundred Years' War" between France and England came to an end. Between the years 1431 and 1453 the English had gradually lost all that they had conquered in France, and when at length in the latter year the aged Talbot was killed at the siege of Castillon, this war, which had lasted a hundred and sixteen years, ended. It left the condition of France utterly wretched. "From the Loire to the Somme all lay desert, given up to the wolves, and traversed only by the robber and the free lance." But a greater event than the conclusion of this long war, and one whose effects still continue, occurred in the year 1453. This was the fall of Constantinople, bringing to an end the Eastern Empire of Rome (29th May 1453). It was an event which struck all Europe with horror. For Constantinople was not merely the storehouse of the ancient learning and culture of the Roman Empire; it was also the one great capital city in Europe which had always, from its very birth, been Christian; a city whose foundation had signalised the adoption by the civilised world of that religion, and which had come to be called in the East "the Christian city." That such a city should be captured by the Turk, and be henceforth the headquarters of the Mahomedan religion, and of Turkish misrule and tyranny over the Christian populations of the Eastern countries, was hateful in the eyes of Europe. And it happened solely because the Western nations were too much occupied with mutual dissensions to

combine to prevent it, as three successive Emperors of the East, in 1361, in 1401, and in 1439 had come in person t'implore them to do.

The Emperor John Paleologus had died in 1448, and been succeeded by his younger brother, the brave Constantine Paleologus, the last of the long line of emperors who during eleven hundred and thirty years sat on the throne of Constantine the Great. It was a strange coincidence that the last Emperor of Constantinople should have borne the samename as the first. Of Constantine Paleologus we are told "He was in no way inferior to any who ever sat upon that throne." In this final contest he, at any rate, did his par' nobly, thereby throwing into deeper contrast the behaviour of the Western nations.

Deserted by Europe, with the armies of the Turks all round him, with none but himself to depend upon, with far too small a garrison to defend thirteen miles of walls, with a vast crowd of women and children and other non-combatants, the defenceless population of a great city, all looking to him to defend them from the atrocities of the terrible Turks, with every sort of difficulty to be coped with inside the city, whose inhabitants saw themselves abandoned by Christendom, Constantine, solely by his own ability and strength of character, conducted for a year and a half a splendid defence, and in such sort that instead of the ignoble scenes witnessed when Rome fell before Alaric, the manner of the final fall of Constantinople has been felt to be one of the most glorious episodes in all her lcng history.

The immediate consequences of the fall of Constantinople were four:— Intoxicated by their victory the Turks, wild to press on and subdue the whole of Europe (where Mahomed II now planned to set up at Rome the capital of a world-wide empire), advanced into Hungary. But there the brave John Hunniades barred their way, like another Charles Martel, and they got no further.

To the Pope, Nicholas V, who alone had laboured to prevent it, the fall of Constantinople was the cause of the deepest grief. He tried to rouse France, England, Germany, and Venice to retake Constantinople and turn the Turks out of Europe. But what with the incapacity of the Emperor Frederick III and the general disunion between the different countries, he could effect nothing. After two years he died (1455), it was said of grief and horror at the capture of the Christian city by the infidel, and at his failure to rouse the Western nations to retake it.

To Venice the fall of her rival was her doom; she began to decay from that hour, losing territory after territory to the Turks, and her commerce at the same time. It was a just retribution. For it was the crime of her treacherous attack upon and capture of Constantinople in 1204 (committed under the name of a "crusade," and solely to satisfy her insatiable greed of wealth) which so weakened the Eastern Empire that the decline in power wrought thereby ended, after two hundred and fifty years of constant defeat, in the final fall of Constantinople, and brought the Turks into Europe.

And it was fitting that on Venice should fall the chief punishment. Her wealth rapidly departed; others, Portugal especially, gained the commerce which she lost; and by the end of the century the decay of the once mighty Republic was fully established.

To Florence the fall of Constantinople was a gain. It scattered westwards all that accumulation of the ancient learning which Constantinople had so long preserved, most of which naturally gravitated to the city where many of the leading men of Constantinople had been hospitably entertained only fourteen years before, and where they knew they would find friends. And this helped forward still further that pre-eminence in Learning and Art which was Florence's greatest glory.

As to what happened to Constantinople itself, that is best told in a single sentence by a traveller of our own day, who

writes:—"I have never in all my travels grieved so much as at the sight of the once beautiful city, defiled, squalid, and misgoverned." We have now to look at Cosimo from a financial point of view: at his general as well as his charitable expenditure, and the financial arrangements made between the two branches of the family.

Cosimo, besides his work in the world of politics, had to administer a great banking business. In this sphere he has, by all writers, been given the reputation of a financier of the first rank. Notwithstanding his immense expenditure (which included private subsidies towards State expenses, the entertainment of distinguished visitors to Florence, large sums given to advance the cause of Learning and Art, and the equivalent of a million sterling given to charitable objects), he more than doubled the fortune inherited from his father, and left his son and successor Piero the wealthiest man at that time in Europe.

Another feature of his financial work is the way in which he made his operations as a banker assist those connected with his position as head of the State. He frequently made his immense banking transactions a weapon with which to force other countries to the course required for the welfare of Florence. Thus by his financial assistance the Venetian Republics were enabled to withstand the united attacks of the French and of Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan; but on being deprived by Cosimo of this support were unable to do so. Again, in the war of 1452, in which Venice and Naples were allied against Florence, one of the chief means by which Cosimo obtained his success was by calling in such immense debts from those countries that they were deprived of resources for continuing the war. Again during the War of the Roses Edward IV obtained such enormous sums from Cosimo's agent in England that he might almost be con sidered as the means of maintaining that king upon the English throne.

As regards charities, the Libro di Ragione shows that Cosimo's private expenditure on churches, monasteries, and charitable institutions exceeded 400,000 gold florins; 40 and this at a time when the whole income of the Florentine state did not reach more than half that sum.

About the year 1453, as Cosimo was growing old and his brother Lorenzo was already dead, a computation was made of the family income and a resolution come to between the two branches as to the manner in which the profits of their banking business should be divided between them. The share of these profits which thus fell to each branch of the family was equal to about half a million sterling—an enormous fortune in those times.

Cosimo built for his family, besides the Medici Palace in the city itself, various villas outside Florence. The chief of these were, Careggi, about two miles to the north-west of the city, Cafaggiolo,41 in the valley of the Mugello, and the Villa Medici, on the slope of Fiesole, built by him for his son Giovanni. Careggi was Cosimo's favourite residence, and there he was fond of gathering round him the learned society which he loved.

The chief historical events in other countries during the last ten years of Cosimo's life were the following:— In England, two years after the "Hundred Years' War" with France had ended, began in 1455 the "War of the Roses." This kept England in a state of civil war during the next thirty years.

As regards the Papacy, on the death of Pope Nicholas V in 1455 the Pope elected was Calixtus III. He died in 1458, and was succeeded by the celebrated ^neas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pius II), the chief episodes of whose life are depicted in the series of fresco pictures by Pinturicchio in the library of the cathedral of Siena. This Pope paid a visit

to Florence in 1460, and stayed with Cosimo in the Medici Palace.

In Venice there came in 1457 the end of the long and glorious thirty-four years' rule of the Doge Francesco Foscari, who died in that year. He was the last of her great Doges.

In France, in 1461, Charles VII, the king placed on the throne by Joan of Arc, died; in the same year that in England Henry VI was dethroned in favour of Edward IV.

Charles was succeeded by his cowardly and treacherous son, Louis XI, "the royal trickster." Detestable as were his long list of murders, carried out by the most treacherous methods, he brought order out of chaos in France.

The thirty years' rule of Cosimo shows us the new movement in Art advancing with rapid strides to greater and greater achievements through the genius of Donatello, Fra Angelico, Luca della Robbia, Ghiberti, and Lippi.

Donatello, the third in age of the four leaders of the Renaissance in Art, exercised by far the deepest influence of the four. Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Masaccio each did their part; but Donatello infused a new spirit into the whole matter, breathing into it the breath of life. Sixteen years old when the new movement in Art began, and living to the age of eighty-one, he exercised for fifty years the leading influence in the world of Art. We have therefore to look at him under two aspects, (i) as a sculptor, and (ii) as a guide to the Art world as to the true aim of Art.

(i) Donatello, the first sculptor "in the round" since the time of Greek art, introduced as great a revolution in sculpture as Giotto did in Painting. The nature of this revolution has been well described by a recent writer of his life as follows: 42— "In order to estimate the full significance of the new departure in Sculpture inaugurated by Donatello, that sculpturing of isolated statues which had not been attempted since the last artist of antiquity laid down his chisel, it must be

borne in mind that for centuries the accepted form for this art had been relief; while also sculpture had not been used as a prime vehicle by itself for conveying the artist's idea, but as an adjunct and ornament to architecture.

"Thus in Orcagna's celebrated shrine in Or San Michele in honour of the Madonna, we find the Madonna sentiment diffused throughout all its parts. Her story is told by a series of reliefs; her character is suggested by a carefully-thoughtout arrangement of figures representing the accepted virtues of that character, appropriately placed between those stories which appear to illustrate them; symbols are freely employed; and even the material and colours, the white marble, spangled with precious stones and mosaics, contribute their qualities to aid in the expression of the ideal associated in the mind of the artist with the personality of the Blessed Virgin.

This was essentially the mediaeval form of Art.

"Now the genius of classic art was exactly the opposite of this. Where the mediaeval genius was diffuse, the classic genius was concentrated. Where the mediaeval sculptor flew to symbols to express 'the eternal things of the supernal glory the sculptor of the classic age, choosing the most perfect form in nature—the human—so refined and idealised it, and so transfused it with the spirit and thought desired to be expressed, that it spoke by suggestion to all who had ears to hear. Donatello's predecessors were mediaeval, one and all; he himself was a scholar in their school; yet when only twenty years of age, and twelve years before he was admitted as a master in his guild, we see him turn his back on the entire mediaeval method, and choosing the way of antiquity, begin his series of isolated heroic statues." 1 Thus did Donatello, while still quite young, feel the inspiration of that re-birth in Art which was permeating all Florence; and four years after Ghiberti began his first pair of bronze doors, on which Donatello had worked as an assistant, this youth of twenty made that bold and independent return to earlier principles which marks the true genius.43 After various statues representing Joshua, Daniel, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Abraham, St. Peter, St. Mark, the marble

statue of David, and others, all intended to occupy niches on the walls of the cathedral, the campanile, or the church of Or San Michele, Donatello produced in 1416 his 5;.

George, generally considered his masterpiece, which gave him the position of the first sculptor

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