The Medicean succession : monarchy and sacral politics in duke Cosimo dei Medici's Florence / Gregory Murry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murry, Gregory, 1982-

Series:

I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History

I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History ; 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cosimo I, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, 1519-1574.

Cosimo.

Medici, House of.

Monarchy--Italy--Tuscany--History--16th century.

Monarchy.

Divine right of kings.

Florence (Italy)--Politics and government--1421-1737.

Florence (Italy).

Tuscany (Italy)--Politics and government--1434-1737.

Tuscany (Italy).

Florence (Italy)--Kings and rulers--Biography.

Tuscany (Italy)--Kings and rulers--Biography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (360 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1 halftone, 6 graphs

Other Title:

Monarchy and sacral politics in Duke Cosimo dei Medici's Florence

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1537, Florentine Duke Alessandro dei Medici was murdered by his cousin and would-be successor, Lorenzino dei Medici. Lorenzino's treachery forced him into exile, however, and the Florentine senate accepted a compromise candidate, seventeen-year-old Cosimo dei Medici. The senate hoped Cosimo would act as figurehead, leaving the senate to manage political affairs. But Cosimo never acted as a puppet. Instead, by the time of his death in 1574, he had stabilized ducal finances, secured his borders while doubling his territory, attracted an array of scholars and artists to his court, academy, and universities, and, most importantly, dissipated the perennially fractious politics of Florentine life. Gregory Murry argues that these triumphs were far from a foregone conclusion. Drawing on a wide variety of archival and published sources, he examines how Cosimo and his propagandists successfully crafted an image of Cosimo as a legitimate sacral monarch. Murry posits that both the propaganda and practice of sacral monarchy in Cosimo's Florence channeled preexisting local religious assumptions as a way to establish continuities with the city's republican and renaissance past. In The Medicean Succession, Murry elucidates the models of sacral monarchy that Cosimo chose to utilize as he deftly balanced his ambition with the political sensitivities arising from existing religious and secular traditions.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

FIGURES

PROLOGUE: THE SCENE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. THE FAMILIARITY OF TERRESTRIAL DIVINITY

CHAPTER 2. DIVINE RIGHT RULE AND THE PROVIDENTIAL WORLDVIEW

CHAPTER 3. RESCUING VIRTUE FROM MACHIAVELLI

CHAPTER 4. PRINCE OR PATRONE?

CHAPTER 5. COSIMO AND SAVONAROLAN REFORM

CHAPTER 6. DEFENSE OF THE SACRED

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX: GLOSSARY OF NAMES

SOURCES AND ABBREVIATIONS

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780674416208

0674416201

9780674416192

0674416198

OCLC:

1041189692