biography
| name: |
Lorenzo de' Medici
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| |
known as the Magnificent
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pronunciation:
[lorenzoh day mayd
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1449–92)
|
| biography:
| Florentine ruler, born in Florence, NC Italy, the son of Pietro I Medici and grandson of Cosimo de' Medici. He succeeded as head of the family upon the death of his father in 1469, and was an able if autocratic ruler, who made Florence the leading state in Italy. In 1478 he thwarted an attempt by malcontents, with the encouragement of Pope Sixtus IV, to overthrow the Medici, although the rising led to the assassination of his brother, Giuliano (1453–78). A distinguished lyric poet, he was, in the words of Macchiavelli, ‘the greatest patron of literature and art that any prince has ever been’. |
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