Piero the Unfortunate

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Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici
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Piero de' Medici
Lorenzo II, Duke of Urbino
Luisa de' Medici
FatherLorenzo de' Medici
MotherClarice Orsini

Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (15 February 1472 – 28 December 1503),[1]: 7  called Piero the Fatuous or Piero the Unfortunate, was the lord of Florence from 1492 until his exile in 1494.[2]

Early life

Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici was the eldest son of Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) and Clarice Orsini. He was raised alongside his younger brother Giovanni, who would go on to become Pope Leo X, and his cousin Giulio, who would later become Pope Clement VII.[1]: 7 

Piero was educated to succeed his father as head of the Medici family and

died of poisoning, very possibly by Piero, on 24 September 1494.[4] Piero was also constantly at odds with his cousins, Lorenzo and Giovanni, the two sons of Pierfrancesco de' Medici, who were both older and richer than Piero.[5]

Marriage and children

In 1486, Piero's uncle

Duke of Urbino; and Luisa, born February 1494.[1]: 7 [7] From baptismal records it appears that in February 1492 he also had another daughter, Maria, who was illegitimate.[7]

Rule of Florence

Italy in 1494

Piero took over as leader of Florence in 1492, upon Lorenzo's death. After a brief period of relative calm, the fragile peaceful equilibrium between the Italian states, laboriously constructed by Piero's father, collapsed in 1494 with the decision of King Charles VIII of France to cross the Alps with an army in order to assert hereditary claims to the Kingdom of Naples. Charles had been lured to Italy by Ludovico Sforza (Ludovico il Moro), ex-regent of Milan, as a way to eject Ludovico's nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza and replace him as duke.

After settling matters in Milan, Charles moved towards Naples. He needed to pass through

lines of communication with Milan. As Charles's army approached Tuscany, he sent envoys to Florence to ask Piero to support his claim to Naples and allow his army to pass through Tuscany. Piero waited five days before responding that Florence would remain neutral. This was unacceptable to Charles, who intended to invade Tuscany, starting with the fortress of Fivizzano, which he sacked and brutally massacred.[5]
: 184 

Piero attempted to mount a resistance, but received little support from members of the Florentine elite who had fallen under the influence of the fanatical Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola. Even his cousins, Lorenzo and Giovanni, allied themselves with Charles, sending him messages to pledge their support and funds.[5]

By the end of October, Piero had not succeeded in gaining any support for Florence, and, without consulting the governing

Sarzanello, and Librafratta, as well as the towns of Pisa and Livorno.[5]
: 186 

When Piero returned to Florence to report back to the Signoria, he was greeted with public outrage, and he and his family fled the city for Venice.

palazzo was looted, and the substance as well as the form of the Republic of Florence was re-established with the Medici formally exiled. A member of the Medici family was not to rule Florence again until 1512, when the city was forced to surrender by Giovanni de' Medici, who in 1513 was elected Pope Leo X
, solidifying the family's power.

Exile

Piero and his family fled at first to Venice with the aid of the French diplomat Philippe de Commines, a retainer of Charles VIII. They supported themselves by selling Medici jewels that had been collected by Lorenzo de' Medici. Piero also tried to reinstate himself in Florence multiple times, once appearing at the Porta Romana in Florence with a band of men, who left for Siena after it appeared that Florentines would not welcome the Medici back as leaders.[5]: 201 

In 1503, as the French and Spanish continued their struggle in Italy over the

Battista da Sangallo.[5]: 324 [8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Piero il Fatuo de' Medici.
  1. ^
    ISBN 0754607771
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  2. ^ Graphics (2 April 2014). "The Medici Family – The Leaders of Florence". The Italian Tribune. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  3. ISBN 9781446477618
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  4. ^ Moore, Malcolm (7 February 2008). "Medici philosopher's mysterious death is solved". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0140050906
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  6. S2CID 152959005
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  7. ^ a b Patrizia Meli (2009). Medici, Piero de' (in Italian). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, volume 73. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed March 2023.
  8. ^ Pier Nicola Pagliara (1983). Cordini, Giovanni Battista (in Italian). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, volume 29. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed March 2023.
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