Christopher Hibbert The Rise & Fall of the House of Medici Paperback Book

At its height Renaissance Florence was a centre of enormous wealth, power and influence. A republican citystate funded by trade and banking, its often bloody political scene was dominated by rich mercantile families, the most famous of which were the Medici. This enthralling book charts the familys huge influence on the political, economic and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the nearlegendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florences slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line. | Christopher Hibbert The Rise & Fall of the House of Medici Paperback Book