came to overshadow Florentine politics from 1434 until the 1492 expulsion ofPiero de’ Medici by manipulating both networks of patronage and the electoral controls that had been created at the end of the previous century. As Michelangelo would have witnessed during his time in Lorenzo de’ Medici’s household, this one family decided who was in and who was out and succeeded in establishing itself as the head of a ruthlessly powerful oligarchy. Indeed, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (laterPope Pius II) observed that Lorenzo’s father, Cosimo, was “not so much a citizen as the master of his city.” “Political councils,” Piccolomini noted, “were held at his house; the magistrates he nominated were elected; he was king in all but name.”
This is not to say that such a reggimento (regime) was without its critics. On the one hand, the Medici oligarchy inevitably generated enmities from families envious of their influence. It was precisely this that catalyzedthe bloody but abortivePazzi Conspiracy in 1478, in the course of which Lorenzo’s brother, the rather handsome Giuliano, was stabbed to death in Santa Maria del Fiore and the ringleader,Jacopo de’ Pazzi, was defenestrated by an angry mob. On the other hand, there were those who were ideologically opposed to the dominance of so limited an oligarchy and equated the Medici reggimento with tyranny. In his Memorie ,Marco Parenti reported thatCosimo de’ Medici had imposed “a sort of servitude” on the city that was contrary to liberty, and later theformer Medici loyalistAlamanno Rinuccini launched a vitriolic attack on Lorenzo for precisely the same reasons in his Dialogus de libertate . This line of attack was subsequently pursued byGirolamo Savonarola.Outlining his views in the Trattato circa il reggimento e governo della città di Firenze (1498), Savonarola inveighed against the “tyranny” of individual rulers who have regard only for their own interests, and contrasted this strongly with the “civil government” that Florence had (he believed) enjoyed in the period 1382–1434.
But criticism was not the same as ideological divergence. Perversely, very few—if any—of the Medici’s critics attacked the underlying structure of Florentine politics. It was more a matter of personnel than principle. The Pazzi conspirators, for example, sought mainly to replace the Medici reggimento with their own, and few of the family’s other enemies actually espoused clear constitutional reforms. Neither Parenti nor Rinuccini seems to have shown much interest in substantial political change, and even Savonarola’s Trattato left some doubt as to how “civil government” differed from “tyranny” at a structural level. While particular oligarchs were sometimes resented, therefore, the system of politics that facilitated oligarchy remained almost unchallenged. The transition from Medicean oligarchy to Savonarola’s “theocracy” and to the new Florentine Republic was thus little more than a matter of shuffling around the people at the top of the pile without disturbing the underlying structure. Indeed, the shuffling wasn’t even particularly extreme in most cases: Michelangelo’s patron,Piero Soderini, had served as a prior in 1481 and had been a close friend ofPiero de’ Medici’s before being elected gonfaloniere a vita (standard-bearer for life) in 1502.
When Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1501, therefore, he encountered a political world that was alien but also familiar. The Florentine Republic was more committed to “republican” ideals than ever before but was as far from being a “popular” government as it had always been. The same built-in tendencies toward oligarchy that had characterized the Medicean ascendancy (1434–94) were still there. Although much was made of theintroduction of “new” families into the executive, not a single member of the Signoria in 1501 belonged to a family that had not previously held office, and it was
This is not to say that such a reggimento (regime) was without its critics. On the one hand, the Medici oligarchy inevitably generated enmities from families envious of their influence. It was precisely this that catalyzedthe bloody but abortivePazzi Conspiracy in 1478, in the course of which Lorenzo’s brother, the rather handsome Giuliano, was stabbed to death in Santa Maria del Fiore and the ringleader,Jacopo de’ Pazzi, was defenestrated by an angry mob. On the other hand, there were those who were ideologically opposed to the dominance of so limited an oligarchy and equated the Medici reggimento with tyranny. In his Memorie ,Marco Parenti reported thatCosimo de’ Medici had imposed “a sort of servitude” on the city that was contrary to liberty, and later theformer Medici loyalistAlamanno Rinuccini launched a vitriolic attack on Lorenzo for precisely the same reasons in his Dialogus de libertate . This line of attack was subsequently pursued byGirolamo Savonarola.Outlining his views in the Trattato circa il reggimento e governo della città di Firenze (1498), Savonarola inveighed against the “tyranny” of individual rulers who have regard only for their own interests, and contrasted this strongly with the “civil government” that Florence had (he believed) enjoyed in the period 1382–1434.
But criticism was not the same as ideological divergence. Perversely, very few—if any—of the Medici’s critics attacked the underlying structure of Florentine politics. It was more a matter of personnel than principle. The Pazzi conspirators, for example, sought mainly to replace the Medici reggimento with their own, and few of the family’s other enemies actually espoused clear constitutional reforms. Neither Parenti nor Rinuccini seems to have shown much interest in substantial political change, and even Savonarola’s Trattato left some doubt as to how “civil government” differed from “tyranny” at a structural level. While particular oligarchs were sometimes resented, therefore, the system of politics that facilitated oligarchy remained almost unchallenged. The transition from Medicean oligarchy to Savonarola’s “theocracy” and to the new Florentine Republic was thus little more than a matter of shuffling around the people at the top of the pile without disturbing the underlying structure. Indeed, the shuffling wasn’t even particularly extreme in most cases: Michelangelo’s patron,Piero Soderini, had served as a prior in 1481 and had been a close friend ofPiero de’ Medici’s before being elected gonfaloniere a vita (standard-bearer for life) in 1502.
When Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1501, therefore, he encountered a political world that was alien but also familiar. The Florentine Republic was more committed to “republican” ideals than ever before but was as far from being a “popular” government as it had always been. The same built-in tendencies toward oligarchy that had characterized the Medicean ascendancy (1434–94) were still there. Although much was made of theintroduction of “new” families into the executive, not a single member of the Signoria in 1501 belonged to a family that had not previously held office, and it was
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