Giuliano de' Medici

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (1360-1429) was a Florentine banker who founded the Medici Bank around 1397, building it into one of the largest and most respected financial institutions in Europe through careful management and close ties to the papacy. He avoided the ostentation of rival families, cultivated a reputation for civic modesty, and served in senior offices of the Florentine republic without seeking overt political dominance. His sons Cosimo and Lorenzo the Elder inherited both the bank and its fortune, and it was Cosimo who transformed the family's wealth into lasting political power. Giovanni is regarded as the founder of the Medici dynasty, laying the financial foundation on which four centuries of Medici influence in Florence and beyond were built.

Lorenzo de' Medici (1395-1440), called Lorenzo the Elder to distinguish him from his more famous great-nephew, was the younger son of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici and the brother of Cosimo de' Medici. He worked alongside Cosimo in the family bank but did not seek the same political prominence in Florence. His son Pierfrancesco de' Medici founded what became known as the 'Popolano' or junior branch of the family, a line that later produced Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and, through him, Cosimo I, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. Though less celebrated than his brother's descendants, Lorenzo the Elder's branch ultimately inherited rule over Florence when the senior line failed.

Pierfrancesco de' Medici (1430-1476) was the son of Lorenzo de' Medici the Elder and grandson of Giovanni di Bicci, heading the junior, 'Popolano' branch of the family descended from Cosimo the Elder's brother. He and his branch held a significant share of the family bank's capital but, unlike his cousins descended from Cosimo, largely stayed out of the front rank of Florentine politics during his lifetime. His two sons, Lorenzo and Giovanni di Pierfrancesco, both called 'il Popolano', continued the branch; Giovanni's marriage to Caterina Sforza produced Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, whose own son Cosimo I would eventually inherit rule over Florence after the senior Medici line died out in the sixteenth century.

Piero de' Medici (1472-1503), called Piero the Unfortunate, succeeded his father Lorenzo the Magnificent as head of the family in 1492 but lacked his father's political skill. Facing the French invasion of Italy under Charles VIII in 1494, he agreed to humiliating terms that ceded Florentine fortresses without consulting the city's government, provoking a popular uprising that expelled the Medici from Florence. He spent the rest of his life in exile attempting unsuccessfully to regain power, and died in 1503 during a military campaign in southern Italy, having never recaptured Florence. His son Lorenzo II, Duke of Urbino, later restored the family to power, and his granddaughter was Catherine de' Medici.

Giovanni de' Medici (1475-1521) was the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, made a cardinal in his teens through his father's influence with the papacy, and elected Pope Leo X in 1513, becoming the first Medici pope. His pontificate was marked by lavish patronage of art and architecture in Rome, continuing the Medici tradition of cultural sponsorship, but also by the sale of indulgences that helped provoke Martin Luther's protest in 1517 and the start of the Protestant Reformation. He restored Medici rule in Florence after the family's earlier expulsion and used his position to advance Medici family interests across Italy. He died in 1521 without legitimate children, and his cousin Giulio later became Pope Clement VII.

Lorenzo de' Medici (1492-1519), grandson and namesake of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was made Duke of Urbino in 1516 by his uncle Pope Leo X after a campaign to seize the duchy from its ruling family. He governed Florence on behalf of the Medici papacy and married Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, a French noblewoman, in 1518. Both parents died within weeks of each other in 1519, shortly after the birth of their only child, Catherine de' Medici, who was raised as a ward of the family and later became queen of France. Niccolo Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to Lorenzo, though the two are not known to have had a close relationship. He is traditionally identified as the father of Alessandro de' Medici, first Duke of Florence.

Giovanni de' Medici (1498-1526), known as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere ('of the Black Bands') for the black mourning insignia his troops adopted after Pope Leo X's death, was born in Forli to Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de' Medici and Caterina Sforza, the formidable Countess of Forli. He became one of the most celebrated condottieri, or mercenary captains, of the Italian Wars, commanding troops for Florence, the papacy, and various Italian states and earning a reputation as a brilliant, unconventional military tactician. He married Maria Salviati, a granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, uniting the junior and senior branches of the Medici family. He died in 1526 following a military campaign against Imperial forces, leaving an infant son, Cosimo, who would become Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Alessandro de' Medici (1510-1537) became the first Medici to hold the hereditary title Duke of Florence, installed in 1532 by his relative Pope Clement VII with the backing of Emperor Charles V, whose illegitimate daughter Margaret of Austria he married. He is traditionally recorded as the son of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, though some historians believe his father was actually Clement VII himself; his mother is generally identified as a servant in the Medici household. His autocratic rule proved unpopular, and in 1537 he was assassinated by his cousin Lorenzino de' Medici. Having no legitimate heir, he was succeeded by Cosimo I, from the junior branch of the family, ending the senior line's direct rule over Florence.

Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) was the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, orphaned within weeks of her birth and raised under the protection of her great-uncle Pope Clement VII, who arranged her marriage in 1533 to Henry, later King Henry II of France. As queen consort and then queen mother, she wielded major political influence in France for three decades, ruling as regent for her young sons and navigating the country through the Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots, an era most notoriously marked by the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. Three of her sons became kings of France. She was a significant patron of the arts and architecture, and her life brought the Medici name to the center of French royal history.

Francesco I de' Medici (1541-1587), eldest surviving son of Cosimo I and Eleanor of Toledo, succeeded his father as second Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1574. More interested in science, alchemy, and the arts than in governing, he founded the Uffizi's Tribuna and a grand-ducal workshop for crafting hardstones and glass. His first marriage, to Joanna of Austria, produced his heir Marie de' Medici, future queen of France, though the marriage was unhappy. After Joanna's death he married his longtime companion, the Venetian noblewoman Bianca Cappello. Francesco and Bianca died within a day of each other in 1587, and he was succeeded by his brother Ferdinando I.

Ferdinando I de' Medici (1549-1609) was the fifth son of Cosimo I and Eleanor of Toledo, made a cardinal in his teens, and resigned that position to become the third Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1587 after the death of his brother Francesco I. He proved an able administrator, promoting trade by declaring Livorno a free port open to merchants of all faiths, improving Tuscan agriculture and infrastructure, and pursuing a foreign policy more independent of Spain than his predecessors. He married Christina of Lorraine in 1589, and their descendants ruled Tuscany until the extinction of the Medici line in the eighteenth century. He continued the family's tradition of artistic patronage, expanding the Uffizi and Medici art collections.