money and art tied to, 2, 9, 10, 15, 17–19, 87–89, 93, 100, 108, 117–18, 124, 145, 158–59, 161, 164–65, 212
unofficial, 91
see also democracy
Poliziano, Angelo, 219, 220–21, 225
Pollaiuolo, Antonio, 225
poor, poverty:
Church teachings and, 18–19
cost of warfare and, 77
Good Men of San Martino and, 108–9
picciolo as currency of, 32
sumptuary laws and, 35–36
taxes and, 33, 77, 79–80, 226, 246
Third World, 15
usury and, 11
popes (Curia), 87, 109
Church wealth and, 25–26
cost of bureaucracy of, 169
discretionary deposits and, 23–24
dispute over authority of, 113, 134–35
failure to pay debts owed to, 33
three simultaneous claimants as, 51–52
tributes paid to, 20–21
see also specific popes
Portinari, Accerito, 112, 171–73, 182, 217
Portinari, Beatrice, 83
Portinari, Bernardo, 112–14, 174
Portinari, Folco, 112, 171
Portinari, Giovanni d’Adovardo, 83, 112
Portinari, Maria di Francesco di Bandini Baroncelli, 178, 214
Portinari, Pigello, 112, 171–73
Portinari, Tommaso, 112, 125, 171, 173–79, 182, 196, 197, 211, 213–14, 220, 228, 230, 231–32
Portinari family, 83, 112, 171
Pound, Ezra, 1–2, 10
printing press, 219
priors, 99, 138–40, 143, 160, 192, 216
Cosimo de’ Medici invited back to Florence by, 100
election of, 87–88
function of, 94, 137
length of term served by, 87, 145
number of, 19, 87, 137, 144
political favors and, 143–44
prostitutes, 31, 115–16, 121
purgatory, 12, 20, 54, 123
quattrino bianco, 226, 246
referendums, 95
reggimento, 142, 154
relics, 131, 132, 152
religious confraternities, 62, 84, 108–9, 116, 121
Renaissance:
forward vs. backward-looking views of, 5
as product of money and political power, 2
Republic, The (Plato), 207
Riario, Girolamo, 204, 212–13, 215, 217
Riario, Pietro, 211
Riario, Raffaele, 215
ribellione dei ciompi, 6–7
Ridolfi, Antonio, 164
Rinuccini, Alamanno, 227
riputazione, 74–76
Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, The (Roover), 107
Roman Church, 6, 64, 211
alum and, 195–98, 204, 205
discretionary deposits and, 23–24
excommunication from, see excommunication
fundamentalists vs. compromisers in, 23
international cash flow and trade and, 20–22, 109–10
Medici bank and, 47–48, 51–52, 91, 92, 93, 97, 113, 169, 224, 242
monopolies viewed as unnatural by, 193–94
price of official positions in, 20
as religion of the establishment and the rich, 18–19
schism between Eastern Church and, 116, 134–35
transfers of wealth of, 25
usury viewed as sin by, 1–2, 10–11, 13–15, 23–24, 45–46
see also popes
Roman Empire, 16, 66
Roman florin, 43
Roman numerals, used in written banking transactions, 30
Rome, 6, 28, 87, 127, 149, 193, 201
alum deposit discovered near, 195
Cosimo de’ Medici in, 61, 63–64, 76
credit denied to merchants from, 49
Donation of Constantine and, 93
international trade and, 20–22, 109–11
in Italy’s internal wars, 67–71, 76, 84, 244
Medici bank branch in, 47–48, 52, 61, 64, 83, 91, 110–11, 167, 168, 169, 172, 175, 180, 190, 198, 219, 224, 232
in “Most Holy League,” 147
as “pit of iniquity,” 236
as political and economic center, 20–22
sacking of, 9
see also Papal States
Rome, ancient, 57, 121
Roover, Raymond de, 24, 73, 107
Roses, War of the, 181
Rossi, Lionetto di Benedetto d’Antonio de’, 175, 229, 231
Rossi, Maria de’ Medici de’, 162, 175
Rossi, Roberto de’, 55
Rossore, San, Donatello’s bust of, 132, 133
round ships, 40
Rubinstein, Nicolai, 107–8
Rucellai, Giovanni, 127, 131
Rushdie, Salman, 14
Saint Gemme, priory of, 233
Sallust, 211–12, 219
Salviati, Francesco, 204–5, 211, 212, 216, 217
San Giorgio Maggiore Monastery, 99
San Giovanni Battista, Church of, 8
San Lorenzo, Church of, 85, 127
Cosimo de’ Medici’s tomb in, 152
San Marco, Monastery of, 92, 123, 133–34, 169
Cosimo de’ Medici’s paying for restoration of, 11, 122, 124–28, 126
Cosimo de’ Medici’s private prayer cell in, 114, 128, 210, 241
Savonarola at, 240–41
San Miniato al Monte, Monastery of, 92
Santa Maria del Carmine, Church of, 74, 75
Santa Maria Novella, 127, 166, 168
Sant’Antonio, Convent of, 183
Santa Trinità, Church of, 170
Santissima Annunziata, 127
Santo Spirito, Church of, 201
Sassetti, Cosimo, 229, 233
Sassetti, Francesco, 125, 149–50, 165, 169–71, 180–81, 220, 228, 232, 240
Savonarola, Girolamo, 234–38, 240–43, 245
Apocalypse sermons of, 240
background of, 236
birth of, 136
execution of, 246
fundamentalist preaching of, 234–35
portrait of, 237
as prior of San Marco, 241
Scrovegni, Arrigo degli, 10
Scrovegni, Reginaldo degli, 10, 14
scrutinies, 137, 139, 142, 143, 148, 204
Second Coming, 18–19
“secret books,” 50
“secret things of our town,” 136–38, 142, 151, 209
seduto, 144
“semper,” as Cosimo de’ Medici’s motto, 63
Sforza, Francesco, 141–42, 148, 151, 154–55, 172
as condottiere, 90, 116, 120, 146
death of, 157, 173, 190
as duke of Milan, 65, 106, 146, 150
illegitimate background of, 65
Medici bank and, 106, 117–18, 146, 150
Sforza, Galeazzo, 151, 159, 184, 189, 201, 205, 211–12, 214, 219
Sforza, Ippolita, 190
Sforza, Lodovico, 214, 244
ships:
galleys, 118, 178–79, 198
round, 40
signoria, 88, 89, 97, 143, 147–48, 157, 165, 199, 216, 222, 224, 240
composition and function of, 94–95, 96, 137
power of Council of 100 over, 200
silver-based currencies, 43
of Florence, see piccioli
silver imperial, 43
Silvestrine order, 122–23
sin:
blasphemy viewed as, 14
clarity and, 54
Islamic view of, 14
monopolies viewed as, 193–94, 197
mortal, 24
sodomy viewed as, 13–14
usury viewed as, 1–2, 10–11, 13–15, 23–24, 45–46, 188
Sixteen Standard Bearers, 95, 137
Sixtus IV, Pope, 201, 203–5, 210–11, 212, 217–18, 223–24, 241
slaves, 10, 11, 34, 63–64, 86, 149, 152
Slavic countries, as source of slaves, 10, 63
social order:
currency and, 32–34
money as means of change in, 15, 18, 158
sumptuary laws and, 34–35
taxation and, 80
Soderini, Niccolò, 155, 156, 164, 167, 192, 202, 206
Soderini, Tommaso, 155, 202