The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

First published in 1974, this history follows the Medici of Florence from the banking rise of Cosimo the Elder through Lorenzo's dominance, the Pazzi conspiracy, exile and return, the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII, and the later grand dukes of Tuscany, ending with the line's extinction in the eighteenth century. Hibbert treats palace politics, patronage of artists and scholars, and the family's role in Italian and European wars. Cosimo, Lorenzo, Savonarola, and Catherine de Medici are central figures. It is a dynastic narrative of one house, not a general history of the Renaissance.

Bound in plain blue cloth. Gold slipcase printed in blue with a fleur-de-lys and rampant lion pattern.