of Adrian VI., he was elected pope (1523) under the name of
Clement VII., he entrusted the government of Florence to
Cardinal Silvio Passerini conjointly with Alessandro and Ippolito,
who were still too young to do much on their own account.
The pontificate of Leo X. had been a time of felicity to himself if of disaster to Italy and the Church. The reign of Clement, on the contrary, was fatal to himself as well. His policy, like that of Leo X., consisted in perpetual oscillation between France and Spain. By his endeavours to trick all the world, he frequently ended in being tricked himself. In 1525 he was the ally of the French, who then suffered a terrible defeat at Pavia, where their king Francis I. was taken prisoner. The armies of Charles V. triumphantly advanced, without Clement being able to oppose any effectual resistance. Both Rome and Florence were threatened with a fearful catastrophe.
Thus far we have had no occasion to speak of the younger branch of the Medici, descended from Lorenzo, brother to Cosimo the elder. Always in obscurity, and hitherto held in check by the elder line, it first entered the arena of history when the other was on the point of extinction. In fact the most valiant captain of the papal forces was Giovanni dei Medici, afterwards known by the name of Giovanni delle Bande Nere. His father was Giovanni, son of Pier Francesco, who was the son of Lorenzo, the brother of Cosimo dei Medici. History has little to tell of the elder Giovanni; but his wife Caterina Sforza, of whom he was the third husband, was a woman of more than masculine vigour. Giovanni dei Medici married her in 1497, but died in 1498, leaving her with one son who was christened Lodovico, but afterwards took his father’s name of Giovanni (1498–1526).Giovanni delle Bande Nere. Trained to arms from his earliest years, this youth inherited all the energy of his mother, whose Sforza blood seemed to infuse new life into the younger branch of the Medici. Notwithstanding his extreme youth, he had already achieved the title of the best captain in Italy. He had always fought with immense dash and daring, and was devotedly loved and obeyed by his soldiery. He was the only leader who opposed a determined resistance to the imperial forces. He was seriously wounded at Pavia when fighting on the French side. On his recovery he joined the army of the League, and was much enraged by finding that the duke of Urbino, commander of the Venetian and papal forces, would never decide on attacking. When the imperial troops were struggling through the marshes of Mantua, surrounded on every side, and without stores or ammunition, Giovanni could not resign himself to inactivity like his colleagues in command. He was ignorant that the imperialists had just received supplies and artillery from the duke of Ferrara, and therefore daringly attacked them with a small body of men without taking any precautions for defence. One of the first shots fired by the enemy injured him so fatally that he died a few days after. He was married to Maria Salviati, by whom he had one son, Cosimo (1519–1574), who became the first grand duke of Tuscany, and indeed the founder of the grand duchy and the new dynasty.
Meanwhile the imperial army pursued its march upon Rome, captured the Eternal City after a few hours’ combat, and cruelly sacked it during many days (1527). Thanks to his perpetual shuffling and excessive avarice, the pope found himself utterly forsaken, and was obliged to seek refuge in the castle of St Angelo, whence he only effected his escape after some months. He then signed a treaty of alliance with the emperor (1529), who sent an army to besiege Florence and restore the Medici, whom the people had expelled in 1527 on the re-establishment of the republic. After an heroic defence, the city was forced to surrender (1530); and, although it was expressly stipulated that the ancient liberties of Florence should be respected, every one foresaw that the conditions would be violated. In fact, pope and emperor immediately began to dispute as to which should be the new lord of the city. Clement VII. had inherited the traditional family dislike for the younger branch of his kin, and so the choice lay between the two bastards Ippolito and Alessandro. The former being a cardinal, the latter was chosen. Alessandro, who already bore the title of duke of Città di Penna, came to Florence in 1531, and by imperial patent was nominated head of the republic. According to the terms of thisDuke Alessandro. patent, the former liberty enjoyed under the Medicean rule was to remain intact. But no previous ruler of the city had enjoyed hereditary power confirmed by imperial patent, and such power was incompatible with the existence of a republic. Moreover, Clement VII. showed dissatisfaction with the uncertainty of the power conferred upon his kinsman, and finally succeeded in obtaining additional privileges. On the 4th of April 1532 a parliament was convoked for the last time in Florence, and, as usual, approved every measure proposed for acceptance. Accordingly a new council was formed of two hundred citizens elected for life, forty-eight of which number were to constitute a senate. Alessandro, as duke of the republic, filled the post of gonfalonier, and carried on the government with the assistance of three senators, changed every three months, who took the place of the suppressed signory.
The duke’s chief advisers, and the contrivers of all these arrangements were Baccio Valori, Francesco Vettori and above all Francesco Guicciardini—men, especially the latter two, of lofty political gifts and extensive influence. The mind and character of Duke Alessandro were as yet comparatively unknown. At first he seemed disposed to rule with justice and prudence. But encountering difficulties that he was unable to overcome, he began to neglect the business of the state, and acted as if the sole function of government consisted in lulling the people by festivities and corrupting it by the dissolute life of which he set the example. The question of the moment was the transformation of the old republican régime into a princedom; as an unavoidable result of this change it followed that Florence was no longer to be the ruling city to whose inhabitants alone belonged the monopoly of political office. When the leading Florentine families realized not only that the republic was destroyed, but that they were reduced to equality with those whom they had hitherto regarded as their inferiors and subjects, their rage was indescribable, and hardly a day passed without the departure of influential citizens who were resolved to achieve the overthrow of their new ruler. They found a leader in Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici, who was then in Rome,Cardinal Ippolito. embittered by the preference given to Alessandro, and anxious to become his successor with the least possible delay. Under the pressure of terror the duke at once became a tyrant. He garrisoned the different cities, and began the erection in Florence of the Fortezza da Basso, built chiefly at the expense of Filippo Strozzi, who afterwards met his death within its walls.
In 1534 Clement VII. died, and the election fell on Paul III., from whom Cardinal Ippolito hoped to obtain assistance. Accordingly the principal Florentine exiles were despatched to Charles V. with complaints of Alessandro’s tyranny and his shameless violation of the terms upon which the city had surrendered. Cardinal Ippoloto also represented his own willingness to carry on the government of Florence in a more equitable manner, and promised the emperor a large sum of money. Reply being delayed by the emperor’s absence, he became so impatient that he set out to meet Charles in Tunis, but on the 10th of August 1535 died suddenly at Itri, poisoned by order of Alessandro. Such at least was the general belief, and it was confirmed by the same fate befalling other enemies of the duke about the same time. On the emperor’s return from Africa, the exiles presented themselves to him in Naples, and the venerable patriot Jacopo Nardi pleaded their cause. Duke Alessandro, being cited to appear, came to Naples accompanied by Francesco Guicciardini, who by speaking in his defence rendered himself odious to all friends of liberty, and irretrievably tarnished his illustrious name. The cardinal being dead, it was hard to find a successor to Alessandro. On this account, and perhaps to some extent through the emperor’s personal liking for the duke, the latter rose higher than before in the imperial favour, married Margaret of Austria, the natural daughter of Charles,
