Lorenzo de' Medici

Timeline

1. 1449–1460Florence · Republic of FlorenceLorenzo was born in Florence on 1 January 1449, son of Piero de' Medici and grandson of Cosimo de' Medici. Between 1451 and 1460 he spent his childhood in the Medici Palace receiving the finest humanist education of the day: the humanist scholar Gentile Becchi served as his tutor, teaching Latin, Greek, and classical literature, while the atmosphere of Marsilio Ficino's Platonic Academy deeply shaped his thought. During this period the Medici family under his grandfather Cosimo was at the height of power, and the Florentine court gathered leading artists such as Donatello and Fra Angelico; Lorenzo was immersed from childhood in an atmosphere of fine art and politics alike, laying a solid cultural and political foundation for his later role as "the Magnificent."
2. 1461–1469Florence; Milan; Rome · Republic of FlorenceAs he grew older, Lorenzo began taking part in diplomacy as the family's representative. In 1465 (aged sixteen) he accompanied his father Piero to Milan to meet Galeazzo Maria Sforza; in 1466 Piero suppressed a coup launched by the Pazzi and Pitti families, and Lorenzo witnessed the brutality of power struggles firsthand. In 1469 his father Piero died of illness and Lorenzo formally took over the Medici family, becoming Florence's de facto ruler at only twenty.
3. 1469–1492Florence · Republic of FlorenceIn power, Lorenzo maintained a balance among the Italian states through diplomacy and patronized artistic and literary giants such as Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Poliziano, lifting Florence to the pinnacle of European culture. In the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478 his brother Giuliano was assassinated; Lorenzo himself was wounded but survived, and he defused the crisis through political means. He died of gout and chronic illness at the Villa di Careggi on 8 April 1492, his death seen as marking the end of the Italian Renaissance's golden age.