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Home , Gonfaloniere of Justice, House of Medici, Medici Bank, Pazzi, Piero Soderini, Republic of Florence

The

Committee Background Guide

General Crisis Committee Empire Model United Nations Conference VII New York University - November 20

2 Table of Contents

Welcome Letter 1

Map 2

History 3

Renaissance Era 3

The Road to Exile 5

Politics 8

Foreign Affairs: & The Holy League 9

Military 11

Economics 13

Hello Delegates!

Welcome to the greatest committee of EMPIREMUNC 2021, the Medici crisis committee! Your Chair, Ricardo DeLeon, and Crisis Director, Vedant Misra, are elated to have you on board. Over the next few days, you will be diving into the rich world of -era , we hope you enjoy the crisis simulation we’ve spent so long crafting for you.

Your Chair is Ricardo DeLeon, a freshman at NYU studying Global Liberal Studies and Spanish with a minor in Business Studies. This will be his very first year running this committee as Chair, but, rest assured, he has had plenty of rich experiences as a MUN delegate and committee director for multiple MUN conferences, this conference will be the best one yet for him. Besides MUN, Ricardo enjoys reading books centered around politics and philosophy, jogs for fun near NYC’s piers on the westside of Manhattan, and loves conversing with his friends and teachers about current world affairs.

Your Crisis Director for this conference is Vedant Misra, a junior at the Stern School of Business studying Finance & Management with a minor in Mathematics. He’s a part time student this semester studying remotely from Boston. In his free time, Vedant spends much of his time listening to hip hop music, playing video games like Pokemon, and watching critically acclaimed films. This will be his sixth year participating in Model UN and third year organizing a crisis committee, and hopes to make this as enriching an experience as possible for all of you.

Whether this is your first conference ever as a novice delegate or a fourth year delegate ready to pull another ‘you have infringed my national sovereignty’ card, be prepared to have a great time. By no means will this conference be a walk in the park; on the contrary, this committee session will hone your schools as a delegate by testing your knowledge on the notorious Medici family—as well as your character. As the conference approaches, remember that these unfortunate conditions will not serve as an impediment to your conference experience, you will still have the same intellectually stimulating discussions and resolution making. EmpireMUNC’s staff spent long hours with infinite dedication to make sure your experience this year is as fluid as last year’s. Nevertheless, please feel free to contact Ricardo or Vedant should you have any questions or concerns about this conference or committee.

Warm Regards,

Ricardo DeLeon ([email protected]) Vedant Misra ([email protected]) Chair, Medici Crisis Committee CD, Medici Crisis Committee EmpireMUNC VII EmpireMUNC VII

1 1

1 Image retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Italy_(1494)-en.svg

2 History

Fifteenth-century was unlike any other place in . It was divided into independent city-states, each with a different form of government. Florence, where the Italian

Renaissance began, was an independent . The Medici family emigrated to Florence around the 12th century, and arose from humble origins to become one of the most important houses in Florence.

The Renaissance Era

The Medici family was notoriously known in Florence for its huge role in developing

Florence’s and culture during the Renaissance Era. The Medici family line begins with

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, a future banker with humble beginnings. By no means was

Giovanni born into wealth; he had to work hard to get the family to where it was before he passed away. The Italian banker Vieri di Cambio de' Medici2 taught Giovanni everything he knew, and after Vieri retired in 1392, Giovanni founded the Medici in 1397 where he began taking on clients. By 1408, there were four other Medici established all over eastern

Europe: Florence, , , , and . Not only did Giovanni have a stake in the realm of banking, but he also had planted a foothold in Italy’s politics by serving as Prior for the

Florence government and performing duties as . By the time Giovanni died in 1429, the earned a grand fortune of 180,000 florins for the family, which is approximately USD $25M in today’s currency. As a result of manipulation and

2 Tessa Cole. "Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici: The Man Who Began the ." The Medici Show, 20 Nov. 2016, http://medicidynasty.com/giovanni-di-bicci-de-medici-the-man-who-began-the-italian-renaissance/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

3 , the Medici family would conquer the rest of Italy in the social, political, and economic spheres.

In 1429, Giovanni de' Medici died, and management of the bank passed into the hands of his eldest son, Cosimo. Cosimo increased his father’s trading and banking business and became one of the wealthiest men of his time. In 1433, the dominant family ostracized Cosimo within elite circles due to his perceived support of the lower-class citizens of Florence. In 1434, he was repatriated from exile and became the de facto ruler of Florence until his death. During this time, wealthy Florentines flaunted their money and power by becoming patrons, or supporters, of artists and intellectuals. Cosimo became the greatest private patron of his time; only he fully appreciated the propaganda value of and sculpture. In fact, he was known to have commissioned various paintings during the Renaissance to showcase arts and cultures in antiquity. From Brunelleschi, to , many famous paintings and artists widely known today were produced at this time3.

Lorenzo de' Medici, known as "Lorenzo the Magnificent," who ruled Florence during

1469–1492, was as able an administrator as his grandfather Cosimo. Lorenzo married into an important and well-established noble family, the Orsini’s, which gave the wealth and political clout of the Medici the support of aristocratic blood. His success as a diplomat and politician enabled Lorenzo to gain influence with the papacy, which had relied on the Medici Bank for many years. Lorenzo was more capable of leading and ruling a city, but he neglected the family banking business, which led to its ultimate ruin. To ensure the continuance of his family's success, Lorenzo planned his children's future careers for them. He placed his son Giovanni within the Vatican, where, at the ripe age of 13, he was made a cardinal.

3 N.a. " and Patronage | Western Civilization." Courses.lumenlearning.com, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc- worldhistory/chapter/art-and-patronage/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

4 Despite Lorenzo’s political success and popularity among the Florentines, he made a significant error in diplomacy in the 1470s when he attempted to prevent the at the time,

Pope Sixtus IV from establishing power in a region called . This led to the Medici

Bank’s loss of the account of the church and the formation of a conspiracy between members of the pope’s family and the Florentine family to overthrow Medici rule. In April 1478, the

Pazzi assassinated Lorenzo’s brother Giuliano but failed to kill Lorenzo, and the insurgents, denied support by the citizens, were captured and executed. This resulted in the Pazzi family’s expatriation from Florence. In the aftermath of the conspiracy, Pope Sixtus IV interdicted

Florence from engaging in mass and communion and encouraged King Ferdinand to wage a two year long war against Florence. In this case, and , two of Florence’s traditional allies, failed to come to Florence’s rescue. Therefore, Lorenzo paid King Ferdinand a conciliatory visit in Naples in hopes of lessening the tension caused by the Medici’s. He was arrested and spent a few months in prison, but due to his self-righteousness and relentless perseverance, Lorenzo was able to convince Ferdinand to pardon Florence, despite the pope’s wishes of maintaining war between Florence and the Papacy.4

The Road to Exile

Upon the death of Lorenzo, his elder son Piero II (also known as Piero the unfortunate) came to power in 1492. Piero was not talented in the political sense, and he owes the name “the

Unfortunate” mainly to his own errors of judgment. During his time in power, Ferdinand of Naples was standing up to the invading French power in Italy. Piero decided to support the prince of Naples, thus abandoning the old alliance with France. Soon the French advanced

4 N.a. "HISTORY OF THE MEDICI." Historyworld Encyclopedia, http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa24#719. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

5 under Charles VIII, crossing the in 1494. Under the pressure of the French invasion Piero sued for peace with Charles. The disastrous peace agreement he struck with Charles, which was viewed unfavorably by the , aroused a wave of indignation in Florence. A revolt broke out and the Medici was ransacked by mobs; the Medici Bank went bankrupt. Piero was forced to flee the city while the populace sacked the Medici Palace.5

In 1494, the was guided by and his right hand man, Nicolo Machiavelli. Since his years as a student, Savonarola has always been aware of the alarming corruption of church leaders in Italy where papal authority was diminishing. His role as a Dominican friar led him to create the San Giorgio revelations, which entails the seven reasons for judgement on the church, Europe, and Florence. Notable for his virtuous intellect and unapologetic religious values, he prophesied the coming of a ‘New Cyrus,’ a biblical allusion to the Old Testament. In this parable, Cyrus frees the Jews and allows them to go back to their home territory of Jerusalem. When he successfully predicted the ‘New Cyrus’ emerging in the form of French ruler Charles VIII, Friar Savonarola was elevated to a new level of political genius and reputation. In order to secure his rights to the Neapolitan throne, King Charles VIII of

France invaded the Italian peninsula in 1494, consolidating power and advancing French holdings due to the lack of opposition during the first Italian war. Concessions were made to end the war as soon as Savonarola negotiated Florence’s freedom in exchange for the banishment of the Medici family. Freed from the influence of the Medici family, Savonarola and Machiavelli instituted republic ideals and values into the Florentian framework of government. This new regime was a practical necessity, according to Machiavelli. From this point onward, Savonarola reasoned that Florence was destined for power and glory, saying that, “Florence will be more

5 N.a.. "The Medici Family – The Leaders of Florence." The Italian Tribune, 2 Apr. 2014, http://italiantribune.com/the-medici- family-the-leaders-of-florence-5/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

6 glorious, richer, more powerful than she has ever been.” In other words, as Florence repents for their associations with the Medici’s, God will continue to furnish them with counsel, riches, and prosperity. The Pope and Savanorola had a falling out over the French invasion, and thus,

Salvonarola was excommunicated as a result of his inability to cooperate with the Pope’s interdiction from preaching. After directly disobeying the papacy, he ended up becoming a martyr, whose death stimulated the Protestant movement in the next century.6

After Savorola’s fall, control of Florence fell into the hands of , one of

Piero II’s former friends. Soderini had been an ambassador to France for many years, and in

1506, he was conferred the title of Ganfaloniere For Life by the Signoria, for the purpose of stabilizing republican rule. He was not the great politician Lorenzo was, but he won approval for his capture of the city of , with whom the Florentines had been waging a costly war for many years. The mastermind of that victory was actually Niccolo Machiavelli, who established and led

Florence’s first standing army (as opposed to the armed mercenaries they used to hire). 7

When Piero II was expelled from Florence in 1494, his brother Giovanni, the younger son of Lorenzo who was a cardinal at the time also went into exile. In 1500, Giovanni went to Rome where he managed to convince the Pope to allow Medici back into power. He was appointed papal legate in Bologna by Pope Julius II, and in 1512, won approval from the Pope to allow the

Medici to return to Florence. With the help of a Spanish army, Giuliano de Medici (Lorenzo’s third son, not to be confused with Lorenzo’s assassinated brother) marches back into Florence and assumes power once more.

6 Gore, Bruce. "The Medici, Savonarola, and Renaissance Florence." YouTube, 25 Dec. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UaU_TKm1Xs. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020. 7 di Zaccaria, Raffaela. "SODERINI, Piero." Treccani Enciclopedia, 1 Oct. 2020, https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/piero- soderini_(Dizionario-Biografico). Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

7 Politics

Since 1250, the Republic of Florence has been ruled by a political structure known as a

Signoria, or Lordship. Designed to keep one individual or family from gaining absolute political power, the signoria is a rotating council of citizens chosen at random from a pool of eligible candidates who serve for two months at a time. Each Signoria is made up of nine members, known as the Priori. Six Priori are chosen from the major of the city, and two are chosen from the minor guilds. The ninth Priori is the Gonfaloniere of Justice, who is appointed by the eight Priori drawn from the previous batch.

To be eligible for a position in the Signoria, in addition to being a member of a , a citizen must be above the age of 30, have not served a recent term, and have no relation to the names of the men who have already been called. Every two months, the names of all eligible men were placed into eight leather bags and drawn out at random. Upon their election, all Priori are expected to move into the Palazzo della Signoria, where they reside until the end of their term. 8

The last member, the Gonfaloniere of Justice, acts largely as a regular Priori, with a few notable privileges. In addition to his voting powers on the Signoria, the Gonfaloniere is in charge of the internal security forces of the Republic of Florence and uses them to maintain law and order. As the symbolic representation of Florentine political power, he is charged with bearing the banner of the Republic, one of the highest honors that can be granted upon a private citizen.

In theory, the Gonfaloniere can be chosen from any of the craftsman guilds, and so could be

8 N.a. "Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance." PBS, 2003. http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/renaissance/republic.html. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

8 anyone from a lawyer to a cook. In practice, however, the position of Gonfaloniere often fell into the hands of the most wealthy and powerful, and had the most influence in the city.

As a governing authority, the Signoria have full legislative power over the Republic of

Florence, consisting of the city proper and the various townships and counties immediately surrounding it. Although not required, the Signoria often consulted with two permanently elected councils, the Dodici Buonomini (“Twelve Good Men”) and the Sedici Gonfalonieri (“Sixteen

Gonfaloniere”). When the situation arose, they might assemble other temporary councils, such as the Dieci di Balia (“Ten of War”), Otto Di Guardia (“Eight of Security”), or Cinque del Contado

(“Five of Commerce”). These councils were also chosen from the guilds, but members of the elite tended to hold large sway over who was nominated.9

Foreign Affairs: France & The Holy League

The Italian War of 1494–1498 set France against the powers of the Holy ,

Spain, and an alliance of Italian city-states led by Pope Alexander VI. Pope Alexander VI’s predecessor, Pope Innocent VIII had offered Prince Charles VIII of France the Kingdom of

Naples after excommunicating King Ferdinand I of Naples due to his refusal to pay papal dues.

While Pope Innocent later reconciled with Ferdinand, but the offer to Charles remained a point of contention. When Ferdinand’s successor, Alfonso II, laid claim to the , the current , Ludovico Sforza allied with Charles VII, prompting him to invade the Italian peninsula. His march down the peninsula, aided by Swiss mercenaries, remained largely unopposed by the Italian city-states. As he approached Florence, he sent envoys to Piero de’

Medici, head of the Medici family and de facto ruler of the Florentine at the time, to ask for

9 Laura De Angelis. "Florence’s ruling class at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries." Cairn International, 18 Nov. 2015, https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_RFSP_646_1123--florence-s-ruling-class-at-the-turn-of-t.htm#. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

9 support in his claim to the Neapolitan throne. Piero responded that Florence would remain neutral. In return, Charles VIII sacked the fortress of Fivizzano. Despite initial attempts to resist by Piero, which were impeded by lack of support from Florence’s elite who were supporters of the priest Girolamo Savonarola, he eventually decided to negotiate with Charles. Without informing the Signoria, Piero met with Charles and acceded to all his demands. Upon his return, he faced public backlash and was forced to flee with his family from Florence, ending Medici rule in Florence for the next eighteen years.10

Following Piero’s exile, other members of the Florentine oligarchy worked with Charles to come to a peaceful agreement. One of these members was Girolamo Savonarola, hoping that with Charles at his side, he could finally turn Florence into a “City of God” as he’d always intended. However, his support for an alliance with France drew ire from the papacy. After the

French’s capture of Naples, the Italian states had formed a loose anti-French alliance with each other, as well as the Kingdom of and the , known as the Venice

League in 1495. Ludovico Sforza, now recognizing the danger Charles posed to his own claim to the Duchy of Milan, appealed to Pope Alexander VI, who also joined the alliance. When

Savonarola, and by extension Florence, refused to join the Holy League, Pope Alexander VI excommunicated him and threatened to place Florence under an interdict. Public opinion turned against Savonarola and he was later accused of and hanged to death. Either way, by 1498,

King Charles had died and the French were driven out of the Italian peninsula. An uneasy peace remained among the Italic states until 1512, when the still pro-French Piero Soderini was driven out by the return of the Medici family, this time backed by Pope Julius II. 11

10 Encyclopedia Britannica. "Charles VIII | king of France." Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-VIII. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020. 11 N.a. "Girolamo Savonarola." Catholic Encyclopedia, 2013. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13490a.htm. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

10

Military

Before 1506, Florence did not have its own army, but instead relied heavily on mercenaries, a tradition that resulted in many military defeats. Condottieri, companies of mercenaries hired by city-states to fight their wars, increased spending, and dependence on them led to the deterioration of military tradition in Florence. Following the death of Lorenzo and exile of the Medici family, Girolamo Savonarola placed his right hand man Niccolo Machiavelli in charge of Florence’s military affairs. In the aftermath of Savonarola’s downfall, Machiavelli managed to consolidate his power under Piero Soderini’s reign as head of state beginning in

1502. He was assigned to re-establish authority over Pisa, which had seceded from Florence in

1495 during the French invasion. Attempts to regain control over Pisa failed, partly because the unreliable mercenary army Florence had used refused to advance on the city. Italian city-states had relied on the use of mercenaries during the , since they did not have standing armies. Machiavelli also observed the ease with which Charles VIII of France seized Naples, largely due to a lack of fidelity by mercenaries, who fled at the first sign of danger and were unwilling to die for the cause.12

While Milan and Naples were integrating the condottieri into their own armies,

Machiavelli advocated for a Florentine civilian militia. In 1506, he convinced the Grand to create a citizen-based army, recruiting a force of 20,000 volunteers that were equipped with Florentine weaponry. Most of these volunteers were peasants with minimal training, yet he believed that their value would be greater as their patriotism outweighed their

12 Cafferro, William. "The Florentine Army In The Age Of The Companies Of Adventure" Vanderbilt University Press, 18 Nov. 2019, http://repositori.uji.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10234/172086/Caferro.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

11 inexperience. Florence also had the mills and manufacturing capacity to make handguns, harquebuses, spingards, cannons, and gunpowder.

The new Florentine militia was meant to be modeled upon the Roman legion. The force was divided into 25 units of about 800 men each, with 150 men on active duty at any given moment of time. Each unit was headed by a captain, who was in command of the forces, and a corporal, the second-in-command. To keep them from gaining influence over their units, captains were rotated throughout the units every few months. In total, 70% of these men were armed with pikes, 10% with muskets, and the remaining 20% with halberds, spears, or other close combat weapons. 13

The militia established by Machiavelli did what the hired mercenaries could not in Pisa, and managed to take back the city. However, during the Medici’s return in 1512, the militia was defeated by the full and professional army of Spain. Additionally, after Machiavelli’s failed uprising against the Medici family, he was punished, imprisoned, and banished from ever attaining an active role in politics. Later that year, the Medici formally abolished Machiavelli’s militia and returned to the Condottieri format.

Common Weapons of the Florentine Militia

13 Delbrück, Hans. History of the art of war. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Print.

12 Economics

In Florence, guilds organized every aspect of the city’s economy. Most artisans, craftsmen, or merchants must have registered with their respective guilds, which functioned similarly to modern-day labor unions: they ensured the quality of their crafts, mandated their work hours, established market days, and provided benefits. No businessman could be considered an upstanding member of his craft if he was not a member of his respective guild.

Entrance into the guild was also highly competitive; in order to become a full member, one must have been the son or son-in-law of an existing member, demonstrated competence in the given skill, and paid an entrance fee. The seven major guilds are as follows: the judges and notaries, the bankers and international traders, the money changers, the merchants, the doctors and apothecaries, the merchants, and the fur dealers. The ten minor guilds are as follows: the butchers, the bakers, the vintners

(winemakers), the tanners, the masons, the carpenters, the innkeepers, the cooks, the locksmiths, and the leather workers.14

Between the 14th and 15th centuries, textile industries were the main export of the

Florentine economy. Of the many guilds in Florence, those representing textile industries wield a great deal of power. Since much of Florence's wealth was dependent on the manufacture and of wool and silk, the Medici family had a history of investing in this industry; this included financing and acquiring many silk and wool shops and factories. The Medici also diversified

14 N.a. "Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance." PBS, 2003. http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/renaissance/republic.html. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

* Image retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilds_of_Florence

13 their economic risk by engaging in the trade of a large number of other commodities that included alum, spices, olive oil, brocades, jewelry, plate, and citrus fruit.

During this time, Florence benefited greatly from the Silk Road, as it opened commercial networks to the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Untreated wool was often purchased from

England and Iberia while the best dyes were sourced from the Orient. From there, the Florentine textile workers would treat the wool and wove it into high-quality cloth. The finished products made in Florence were often sold throughout the rest of Italy, other northern European cities, and even the Levant. Additionally, the Arno River played a big role in the cloth trade as it allowed the Florentine workers to clean wool and provided Florence with access to the sea via the Port of

Pisa. Venice, as the center of trade and commerce, also played an important role in the commercial exchange of Florentine goods. 15

While Venice acted as one of the greatest trading centers in Europe, Florence became the center of banking. The Medici Bank, with its advanced double-entry system and the leadership of Cosimo de Medici, became the largest banking house of its time. The Medici Bank was organized as a where the Medici family ran the parent bank and invested in numerous branches in different cities. The Bank established branches in multiple major cities in

Italy such as Venice and Naples, in addition to other European cities such as , ,

Geneva. This system allowed the Bank to take advantage of international trade as well as prevented the parent bank from collateral damage caused by the of individual branches from localized economic difficulties. The Medici Bank itself performed many functions. As the chief bank for the Roman , it collected taxes and tithes paid to the church and organized its inflow of money. The church, in turn, would pay discretionary

15 N.a. "Renaissance textiles Florence." Beloved Linens, 2009. https://belovedlinens.net/fabrics/renaissance_florence_textiles.php. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

14 deposits or gift donations to the bank. Unlike the exchange banks involved in international trade at the time, which primarily offered currency exchange or fund transfer services, the Medici

Bank was also a lending institution and made its money by giving out loans and charging interests. Since openly charging interest — a practice known as — was prohibited at the time, the interests were often disguised as other exchanges or charged in other ways. When

Cosimo died in 1464, the bank had passed its peak, and slowly lost its ground due to mismanagement in the hands of the subsequent leaders. In 1494, the Medici were ousted from

Florence and the bank, already tottering on bankruptcy, was confiscated and further deteriorated under its new owners.16

Many of the Medici Bank’s funds were used to finance the spending of the royal courts or the exploits of the condottieri. The family also used a significant amount of its wealth to commission artists such as ,

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Donatello, and Fra Angelico. These art projects embellished the city and gave rise to the Renaissance, and thus raised the status of the family in the city. However, public projects under the rule of the Medici were often criticized as several were funded by tax money. Apart from public projects, the government also needed money to fund defense spending and payoff budget deficits. The communal government used a few ways to raise money including the castato — a combination of income and property tax, as well as the prestanze — a forced loan to the government. The implementation of these measures, however, were fairly unsuccessful and faced the challenge of public dissent. For example, when Cosimo de Medici rose to power, he reformed the tax system by reducing taxes

16 N.a. "The Medici Bank." The Medici Family Estate, 11 Nov. 2015, http://www.themedicifamily.com/The-Medici-Bank.html. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

* Images retrieved from http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth213/Medici_patronage.html

15 on the middle and lower classes while raising taxes on the wealthy. The tax reform gave Cosimo favor with the middle and low-class citizens but amplified the discord of the ruling families. There was also a large number of workers and artisans in

Florence who did not belong to any guild and therefore could not participate in government. As a result, they experienced lower wages and exploitation. From 1378-1382, the heavy taxes placed on these workers resulted in their revolt that, although eventually crushed, acted as a warning of caution for the Florentine government. 17

Inside of the , built in the direct center of Florence and only about 5 minutes away from the Duomo di Firenze (perhaps Florence’s most iconic landmark and city-hub).18

17 Veseth, Michael. "Reaganomics Versus Medici-conomics: Public Finance In Rennaissance Florence". National Tax Association, 1986. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42910490?seq=1. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

18 Image retrieved from http://www.loveflorenceitaly.com/historylesson/palazzo-medici-riccardi/

16