Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Italian banker and founder of the Medici bank}}

| image = Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici Portrait by Agnolo Bronzino.jpg

| caption = Portrait by [[CristofanoAgnolo dell'AltissimoBronzino]]

| issue = [[Cosimo de' Medici]]<br />Damiano<br />[[Lorenzo the Elder]]<br/>Antonio

| full name = Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici

| death_place = [[Florence]], [[Republic of Florence]]

'''Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici''' (c. {{Circa|1360}} &ndash;– February 1429) was an [[Italian banker]] and founder of the [[Medici Bank]]. While other members of the [[Medici]] family, such as Chiarissimo di Giambuono de' Medici, who served in the [[Signoria of Florence]] in 12011401, and [[Salvestro de' Medici]], who was implicated in the [[Ciompi Revolt]] of 1378, are of historical interest, it was Giovanni's founding of the family bank that truly initiated the family's rise to power in Florence.<ref>Grendler et al. S. v. "Medici, House of."</ref> He was the father of [[Cosimo de' Medici]] and of [[Lorenzo di Giovanni de' Medici|Lorenzo the Elder]]; grandfather of [[Piero di Cosimo de' Medici]]; great-grandfather of [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] (the Magnificent); and the great-great-great-grandfather of [[Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Florence and the Medici|last=Hale|first=J.R.|publisher=Thames and Hudson Inc.|year=1977|isbn=0-500-27301-4|location=New York, New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/florencemedicipa0000hale/page/9 9-20]|url=https://archive.org/details/florencemedicipa0000hale/page/9}}</ref>

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici was born in [[Florence]], Italy. He was the son of [[Averardo de' Medici]] and Jacopa Spini.<ref name=":1" /> His father, Averardo died in 1363 with a respectable amount of wealth. This inheritance was divided among Giovanni and his four brothers, leaving Giovanni with very little.<ref name=":1" /> However, his uncle, [[Vieri de' Medici]], was still a prominent banker in Florence. Vieri helped Giovanni begin his career in the Florentine banking system. He worked his way up through the ranks, eventually becoming a [[Partner (business rank)|junior partner]] in the branch located in Rome.<ref name=":1" /> Vieri de' Medici retired in 1393 leaving the bank in the hands of Giovanni.<ref name=":1" /> From this point the Medici bank grew vastly and quickly. This growth culminated with the acquisition as the Chief Papal Banker, which meant that the Medici Bank now handled the accounts of the Church.<ref name=":1" /> The Medici family bank, which he founded in 1397, became his main commercial interest. The Medici bank under Giovanni had branches throughout the northern Italian city-states and beyond, and constituted an early "multi-national" company.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Giovanni owned two wool workshops in Florence, and was a member of two guilds: the ''[[Arte della Lana]]'' and the ''[[Arte del Cambio]]''.<ref>Hibbert, 33.</ref> In 1402, he served as one of the judges on the panel that selected [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]]'s design for the bronzes on the doors to the [[Florence Baptistery]].<ref>Parks, 8.</ref> Giovanni also funded the construction of the sacristy in the [[San Lorenzo, Florence|Church of San Lorenzo]] in the year 1418.<ref name=":1" /> He picked [[Filippo Brunelleschi | Brunelleschi]] to be the architect and chose [[Donatello]] to create the sculptures.<ref name=":1" /> These are just a few of the many contributions that Giovanni made to the art world.

In 1414, Giovanni bet on the permanent return of the [[papacy]] to [[Rome]] after a long period of exile and schism, and was correct; the papacy was permanently installed in Rome in 1417 under a single pope after the deliberations of the [[Council of Constance]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} Rewarding Giovanni for his support, [[Pope Martin V]] gave Giovanni's general manager control of the [[Apostolic Chamber]].<ref>Grendler et al. S. v. "Medici, Cosimo de.’'"</ref> Subsequent popes also made use of the services of the Medici banks, and in addition, Giovanni was able to secure tax-farming contracts and the rights to many [[alum]] mines from the papacy.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} He set his family on the path to becoming one of the richest dynasties in Europe, thereby making an essential stride towards its later cultural and political prominence. One way in which he laid the groundwork for this was by marrying [[Piccarda Bueri]], whose old and respectable family brought him a large dowry.{{sfn|Pernis|Adams|2006|p=8}}

In 1418, Giovanni Medici collaborated with one of Florence's chief nobles, [[Niccolò da Uzzano]], to secure the release of the deposed [[Antipope John XXIII]], who was imprisoned in Germany. De Medici paid the stiff ransom of 38,000 ducats himself, and when the former pope died the following year in Florence, de Medici sponsored the construction of his magnificent [[Tomb of Antipope John XXIII|tomb]] in the Baptistery.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Medici| author=G.F. Young| publisher=Modern Library| year=1930| pagepages=32–33}}</ref>

In the sphere of politics, Giovanni stayed true to his reputation and the tradition of the Medici family as champions of the people and intractable opponents of the nobility of Florence. In 1426, he exerted his considerable personal influence in the Signoria to replace Florence's inequitable and oppressive [[poll tax]] with the ''[[Catasto]]''. This was a more regularparticular property tax devised by Giovanni, which liftedwherein the tax burden was shifted from the poorer classes in Florence, and mademaking it more difficult for the nobility to evade their share.<ref name="Young">{{cite book| title=The Medici| author=G.F. Young| publisher=Random House| year=1930| pagepages=34–35}}</ref> The following year he once again wielded his personal authority and influence in the Signoria to block the passage of oligarchic reforms proposed by the nobility, which would have repealed the ban on nobles serving in the Signoria, and removed some of the lesser guilds from being represented there.<ref name="Young"/>

When he died, di Bicci was one of the wealthiest men in Florence, as shown by his tax report of 1429.<ref>Grendler et al S. v. "Medici, Cosimo de.’'"</ref> It was reported that upon his death, he was the second richest man in Florence, leaving an abundance of wealth to his son Cosimo. This wealth and banking system led to Cosimo becoming one of the wealthiest men in Europe.<ref name=":1" /> Also upon his death, he had become a favorite amongst the Florentine public, with even professional rival [[Niccolò da Uzzano]]. Niccolò states in a letter to Giovanni's sons that he had made the family beloved by the people and positioned them for great success.<ref name=":0" /> In 1420, Giovanni had given the majority of control of the bank to his two sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo.<ref>Grendler, et al. S. v. "Medici, Cosimo de.’'"</ref> Upon his death in 1429, he was buried in the [[Sagrestia Vecchia|Old Sacristy]] of the [[Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence]],{{sfn|Pernis|Adams|2006|p=9}} and his wife was buried with him after her death four years later.

[[File:Rimini151.jpg|thumb|Bust of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici by [[Romeo Pazzini]] (1855-19361855–1936); Museo della città di Rimini]]

*{{cite book | title=Encyclopedia of the Renaissance | url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0000gren | url-access=registration | authorseditor=Grendler, Paul F., |editor2=M. J. B. Allen, |editor3=William R. Bowen, |editor4=Margaret L. King,|editor4-link=Margaret L. King |editor5=[[Stanford E. Lehmberg]], |editor6=Nelson H. Minnich, |editor7=Sara T. Nalle, |editor8=Robert J. Rodini, |editor9=Ingrid D. Rowland, |editor10=David B. Ruderman, |editor11=Erika Rummel, |editor12=J.H.M. Salmon, and |editor13=William A. Wallace, |editor14=O.P., eds.| year=1999 | publisher= Charles Schribner's Sons, |location=New York, New York }}

*{{cite book | title=The House of the Medici: Its Rise and Fall | url=https://archive.org/details/houseofmediciits00hibb | url-access=registration | last= Hibbert |first= Christopher |author-link= Christopher Hibbert |year=1975| publisher=William Morrow & Company, Inc. | isbn=9780688003395978-0-688-00339-5 |place= New York |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}

*{{cite book | title=Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence | url=https://archive.org/details/medicimoneybanki00park | url-access=registration | last =Parks |first= Tim |author-link= Tim Parks| year=2005 | publisher=W.W. Norton & Company | isbn=9780393058277978-0-393-05827-7 |place= New York and London |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}

* [http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/epo/medalb.htm THE MEDICI Genealogical tree] from Florence Art Guide -– The Renaissance

[[Category:14th-century people offrom the Republic of Florence]]

[[Category:15th-century people offrom the Republic of Florence]]