^^ (Qacnell Unioecaitg Slibratg JItliaca, ^tm {nrk 19ll;ite fiatocical 2jibcaci^ THE GIFT OF PRESIDENT WHITE MAINTAINED BY THE UNIVERSITY IN ACCORD- ANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE GIFT CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 924 082 463 492 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924082463492 LETTERS OF THE EARLY MEDICI "It has ever been a liobbi/ of mine, though, perhaps it is a truism, not a hohby, that the true life of a man is in his letters. Not only for the interest of a biography, but for arriving at the inside of things the publication of letters is the true method. Biographers varnish, they assign motives, they conjecture feelings, they interpret Lord Burleigh's rwds, but contemporary letters are facts."—Dr. Newman to hi8 Sister, Mrs. John Mozlet, May 18, 1863. LORENZO DI PIERO DE MEDTCT. From a picture at Poggio a Caiaiio. LIVES OF THE EARLY MEDICI AS TOLD IN THEIR CORRESPONDENCE TRANSLATED & EDITED BY JANET ROSS WITH 12 PORTRAITS AND FACSIMILES LONDON GHATTO & WINDUS 1910 All rights restrutd PREFACE a Many book has been written about the Medici ; yet how little has been said about the private lives of the founders of that wonderful family which rose from prosperous middle-class condition to take its place among the sovereign houses of Europe, to seat its daughters on the throne of the Queen- consorts of France, and its sons on the Chair of St. Peter ? Their rival capitalists north of the Alps climbed high in those days when the gulf was dug deep between nobles and all who were below them in the social scale. The Fuggers made many alliances with the German and Bohemian nobles, and the Welsers had the unheard-of glory of mating one of their daughters with the Emperor of Germany ; does not the Phili- pine-Welser Strasse in Augsburg commemorate to this day the renown of the match ? But neither had the fortune to found a dynasty as did the Medici. They are so inseparably connected with the history of their native city that the biographies have insensibly become sketches of Florentine, even of European history. The men and women have disappeared, and we see instead the dexterous manipulators of tortuous Italian diplo- macy, or the splendid patrons of art and literature during the best period of the Renaissance. Yet, in our day, we sometimes like to turn aside from the stage life to learn about the vie intime of personages who have become historical. We aj'e PREFACE curious about their doings within the home circle, about their private loves and hates, whether they were good or bad hus- bands and wives, parents and children. The simpler human interests attract us. This book attempts to supply such details. It is founded on letters, for the most part private, of Medici men, women, and children, and their friends, written during those decades when the family was being moulded for the great European destiny which lay hidden in the future before it. In these old-world epistles Contessina artlessly displays her household economies, Lucrezia reveals her fondness for bathing, Clarice quarrels with no less a tutor than the celebrated Poliziano about the lessons he gave to her children, and the child Piero tells his father how he has studied hard, even writing in Latin, " in order to give a more literary tone to my letters,'" and proudly and persistently demands the pony promised as a reward for diligence. The materials have been gathered from many a quarter. Angelo Fabroni's ponderous tomes, Magni Cosmi Medicei Vita and Laurentii Medicis Magnifici Vita ; the Histories of Florence by Giovanni Cavalcanti, Giovanni Cambi, and Niccolo Machi- avelli ; rare pamphlets, published in small editions of twenty- five or a hundred copies, by Italian men of letters in honour of of the marriage some friend, which are a mine of wealth ; and last, but not least, the Florentine Archives. Most of the letters from the Archivio Medicei ante Principato have never been published before, much less translated; others are given here in full, which have hitherto seen the light only in very fragmentary form. The volume can therefore claim to contain a great deal of thoroughly original matter. In them it will be VI PREFACE seen that well-born or important men and women were addressed as Your Magnificence, and written to and spoken of as The Magnificent. It was, therefore, no special title bestowed on Lorenzo de' Medici, but suiting so well with his character and whole personality it has become, as it were, his property. My best thanks are due to Cavaliere Angelo Bruschi, librarian of the Marucelliana Library in Florence, without whose valid assistance and advice I should have had great difficulty in collecting the letters ; to Dr. Dorini of the Floren- tine Archives, whose aid was invaluable in helping me to de- cipher the almost illegible manuscripts ; and to Signor Gugliemo Volpi, several of whose pamphlets and articles are quoted. I must also thank the Baroness MoUinary of Como for so kindly having photographed for me her most interesting early portrait of Lorenzo the Magnificent, never before published ; and Dr. Giovanni Poggi, director of the Bargello in Florence, for giving me the photograph of Lorenzo's portrait at Poggio a Caiano. The Baroness MoUinary's picture is one of the many that belonged to her ancestor Paolo Giovio, and bears a strong resemblance to the fine miniature of Lorenzo, the property of M. Prosper Villon, reproduced in Le Musie de Portraits de Paid Jove by M. Eugene Muntz, in which, however, Lorenzo looks rather older. Both show the same humorous, kindly face, with a strong mouth, determined jaw, and fine eyes. In the miniatm-e the head and shoulders are against and under a baldaquin, on each side of which is a small bit of landscape. Below is inscribed Lmw M P P and the Medici arms (with six balls), surmounted by Lorenzo's device, three ostrich feathers, white, green, and red (faith, hope, and charity), while a floating ribbon behind bears his motto Semper. The portrait at Poggio vii PREFACE a Caiano is perhaps by Alessandro AUori, therefore of course not contemporary ; it may be a copy of an older and lost picture. I must also express my great gratitude to the Rev. Principal Lindsay of Glasgow for kind help and criticism during the progress of my work. The portrait of Piero de' Medici in the chapel of the Ric- cardi palace, by Benozzo Gozzoli, has been given sometimes as that of his father Cosimo, or even of his son Lorenzo. But if the bust by Mino da Fiesole, in the Bargello, represents Piero, then he is the man grasping his horse's mane with one hand as he rides by the side of his father Cosimo, who, as we know, generally rode a mule. JANET ROSS. vui 1 CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY 1 COSIMO DI GIOVANNI DE' MEDICI (1389-1464) 7 Contessina de' Medici to her husband Cosimo in Ferrara 10 Cosimo de' Medici to Averardo de' Medici, Ambassador to Ferrara 1 Contessina de' Medici to her son Giovanni at Ferrara 14 Cosimo de' Medici to Averardo 4e' Medici at Pisa 15 Cosimo de' Medici to Averardo de' Medici 16 Cosimo de' Medici at Florence to Averardo de' Medici at Pisa 18 Diary of Cosimo de' Medici and his Oration to the Signory of Florence when sentence of exile was pronounced against him 19 Cosimo de' Medici to his son Piero de' Medici 31 Niccol6 Fortebraccio to Cosimo de' Medici and Neri di Gino Capponi 34 Lorenzo de' Medici to his brother Cosimo, Ambassador " to Ferrara, in the name of the " Dieci di Balia 35 Count Francesco Sforza to Cosimo de' Medici 36 Count Francesco Sforza to Cosimo de' Medici 38 Count Francesco Sforza to Cosimo de' Medici 39 Contessina de' Medici to her son Piero 40 Commissio Laurentii de' Medicis, 3 Decembris 1438 42 Additio facta Commissioni Laurentii de' Medicis 43 Francesco Sforza to Cosimo de' Medici 44 Contessina de' Medici to her son Giovanni at the Baths of Petriolo [near Siena] 46 Alberto Averardo de' Alberti, from Rome, to Giovanni de' Medici 47 ix CONTENTS PAGE COSIMO DI GIOVANNI DE' MEDICI—continued Contessina de' Medici to her son Giovanni in Rome 47 The Same to the Same 48 Contessina de' Medici to her son Piero 48 Lucrezia de' Medici, at the Baths of Petriolo, to her husband Piero at Florence 50 Contessina de' Medici to her son Piero at Trebbio 50 Contessina de' Medici to her son Giovanni in Rome 51 Cosimo de' Medici to Giovanni his son in Rome 52 Contessina de' Medici to Giovanni her son at Volterra 53 Contessina de' Medici to her son Giovanni at Volterra 54 The Same to the Same 55 Contessina de' Medici to Ginevra, wife of her son Giovanni, at the Baths of Petriolo 58 Cosimo de' Medici to his son Giovanni at Milan 59 Lucrezia de' Medici (from Careggi or Cafaggiuolo) to her husband Piero at Florence 60 Contessina de' Medici to her son Piero at Venice 62 Cosimo de' Medici to his son Giovanni at the Baths of Petriolo 62 Contessina de' Medici to her son Giovanni and his wife Ginevra at Bagno a Morba 63 Pope Pius II. to Cosimo de' Medici 64 Cosimo de' Medici to Pope Pius II. 65 Cosimo de' Medici to Pius II. 66 Lucrezia de' Medici to her husband Piero 69 Cosimo de' Medici to his son Piero at Pisa 70 Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, &c.