Medici, Lorenzo de', called the Magnificent 1449-92
Florentine ruler

The son of Piero I de' Medici and grandson of Cosimo de' Medici, he succeeded as head of the family upon the death of his father (1469), and was an able, if autocratic, ruler who made Florence the leading state in Italy. In 1478 he showed courage and judgement in thwarting an attempt by the malcontent Pazzi, rival bankers, to overthrow the Medici, with the encouragement of Pope Sixtus IV, although the rising led to the assassination of Lorenzo's brother, Giuliano (1453-78). Lorenzo was a distinguished lyric poet as well as being, in the words of Machiavelli, 'the greatest patron of literature and art that any prince has ever been'. He aroused the criticism of Savonarola for his secular tastes during his later years.