Lorenzo Piero de Medici (8th February 1453 - 18th July 1512), was a Florentine politician and Lord of Florence. He is most commonly know for surrendering the Republic of Florence to the Milanese invaders in 1494.
Childhood[]
Birth[]
Lorenzo Piero de Medici was born on the 8th of February 1453 to Luisa Contessina de' Bardi and Giovanni de Medici. He was their 5th child and 3rd son. He was baptized shortly afterwards.
Early Childhood[]
Lorenzo grew up surrounded by the Medici wealth, in which they had gained through the Medici Bank. He was not expected to inherit the Medici fortune, so he was educated poorly in his early childhood. He learnt the basics of reading and writing, he learnt Archery and hunting with his older siblings in which he was particularly good at. At the age of 10 he became fascinated by the church, that is when his parents decided to giver him a better education and include theology to his teachings.
Early Adulthood[]
The 5th of May 1465, Lorenzo was accepted into the church at only the age of 12, he focused extremely hard on his studies of theology. He was told of his father's death at the age of 13th, Lorenzo was so devastated he refused to eat for week, before his mother had to order him to eat. He moved on to the Basilica San Miniato al Monte, to continue his priesthood. He enjoyed his quiet life away from the politics of Florence in the Basilica, but things did not last long there as he was called to Rome to work as a Diplomat of Florence.
Diplomat in Rome for the First Time[]
He was raised to the Position of Bishop, during his time in Rome he met Lucrezia Barberini, who would later become one of his principle lovers. Lorenzo was not one of the clerics of the time who respected his vows of chastity just in his time in Rome from the 3rd of January 1470 to the 7th of June 1475, it is expected he had 12 illegitimate children, 3 of which are known as Maria Luisa de Medici, Emmanuele de Medici and Piero-Cosimo de Medici, the others remain unknown to this day.
Florence, 1475[]
On the 7th of June 1475, he was called back to Florence, for the funeral of both his mother and his Older brother, who were murdered by the Pazzis. During the time he spent back in Florence he spent a lot of time enjoying himself and is said to have amassed a debt of 100,000 Florins on women, wine and the occasional men, which his family refused to pay off. He met his first favorite lover during this time who happened to be a commoner named Vincenzo. He was raised to the position of Archbishop of Florence before being called back to Rome yet again, bringing Vincenzo with him.
Diplomat in Rome for the Second Time[]
On his arrival in Rome, he had amassed a debt of 250,00 Florins, he had to find a way to pay off his debts and he asked his friend, the Pope, who willingly agreed as long as he was more careful with his money and that he left Vincenzo, which Archbishop Lorenzo agreed to. In 1477 he was made a Cardinal by the Pope and he met his
first Favorite lover Lucrezia Barberini. She was viewed as a great beauty in Rome and caught the Cardinal's eye very fast. He fell madly in love with her and she did as well. She had great influence on Lorenzo, that same year they had their first child, Lucrezia de Medici. He spent Lavishly on Lucrezia, he bought her jewels, dresses and other gifts, the estimated amount of money he spent on her was about 300,000 Florins.
In 1478 shortly after Lucrezia gave birth to their second child, Giovanni de Medici, Cardinal Lorenzo was summoned back to Florence for Good this time.
Lord of Florence[]
He was brought back to Florence to be announced his other Brother had died and that he was declared the Medici Lord of Florence. To his excitement he had to adapt to the political life of Florence, he also had made a promise upon hearing the news, to his lover Lucrezia that he would legitimize their children. In 1479 Lucrezia had yet again given birth to another son, Lorenzo de Medici, he started to grow bored with Lucrezia and by December 1479 he found someone new, Contessina Mancini. He broke his promise to Lucrezia, but he did legitimize their first child, Lucrezia de Medici. He now had 2 former lovers to deal with so he got the marvelous idea to marry Lucrezia to Vincenzo, which was a horrible match seeing as Lucrezia was nobility and Vincenzo a common man. In 1480 the Pazzi decided they had enough of the Cardinal and tried to have him assassinated but the attempt failed. Lorenzo was a horrible politician and was easy to beat, he was invited to take the Medici seat in the Plazzo Vecchhio, the seat of the Republic. From 1481 to 1487, it is reported he had 6 children of which we know of and 8 alleged children, he also lived very extravagantly, spending atleast 170,000 Florins.
Later Adulthood[]
Rome, 25 July 1492[]
Lorenzo was summoned back to Rome for the Papal elections. He had managed to become a popular choice for the Papacy, since such was a good possibility for him he decided to try to bribe other cardinals. But he was no match for the Future Alexander VI. Cardinal Borgia happened to be much more popular than Lorenzo, so it became a battle of the bribes between the 2 men leading to his loss and Cardinal Borgia became Pope Alexander VI. After his defeat for the Papacy he returned to Florence where his long term mistress Bianca de Medici, who happened to be his second cousin.
War with Milan[]
The 27th of August 1493, the Duchy of Milan declared war on the Republic of Florence, Lorenzo along with most of the other Politicians of Florence decided it would be best to defend against the Milanese troups, even though they controled most of the North of the Italian Peninsula. His eldest son would seek to fight against the Milanese forces in the battle of Pontremoli. After a month of fighting the Florentine forces were defeated after the Milanese broke through the walls, leading to the death of Giovanni de Medici, aged 16.
Battle of Pisa, June 17th 1494[]
The Battle of Pisa was a long battle lasting from June to September. The Milanese decided they would invade the Coastal City of Pisa with their Navy, but they did not expect the to be Cornered by both the English fleet and the Tuscan Fleet. None the less the Milanese prevailed and sunk the Tuscan fleet and sent the English sailing off. The city remained strong for months even being visited by the Cardinal himself. Lucrezia de Medici, was said to be living in the city at the time and was given the order to surrender the city, little did she know that by surrendering the city she left herself vulnerable and was executed with the City leaders, on the orders of the General of the Milanese fleet.
September 1494 - August 1495[]
The Florentine Republic had lost most of its lands, the Milanese Forces, pushed the Florentines back to the provinces of Sienna, Frienze, Prato and Arezzo by October 1494. With the winter months approaching it made it much easier to defend the cities until then. While war raged on in the Republic, the Political spectrum of Florence went crazy. Almost every day the Plazzo Vecchio was filled, debates on what to do next would happen regularly. The Cardinal remained fierce on his views, as 2 of his children had died at the hands of the Milanese, he always would fight other politicians especially the Pazzi to continue the War with Milan.
Siege of Florence[]
The Milanese troops managed to push their way to Florence by the August of 1495, but the City remained strong and did not wield. Many of the City's politicians had either fled to Rome, or barricaded themselves in their homes. They were severely outnumbered by September and the Milanese had still not attacked but they surrounded the entire city. By this time the people had overthrown and killed many of the important politicians, Bianca de Medici scared for her life, got Lorenzo to barricade themselves in the Medici Palace in Florence, with their 3 children. The Milanese decided they would let the Florentines destroy themselves from the inside. Lorenzo being the horrible politician he was ended up Angering the people of Florence who then called for his head, but luckily Bianca had come up with a solution. They surrendered the Republic on the condition that no one be harmed by the Milanese forces, which they accepted. Lorenzo gained popularity for Bianca's actions and opened the Gates for the Milanese forces.
(WIP)