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Medici, Piero de', called the Unfortunate 1471-1503
Florentine ruler

The eldest son of Lorenzo de' Medici, he succeeded his father (1492), but his disregard of republican forms made him unpopular. With the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII of France (1494), Piero was obliged to surrender key Florentine forces to the aggressor, a step strongly resented by the civic authorities, who banished the Medici from the state, placed a price on Piero's head and permitted the plundering of the Medici palace. Piero died fighting against the French. The Medici did not return to Florence until 1512, when the head of the family was Piero's brother, Giovanni de' Medici.